To Reach Yourself (Slash II)

Jeremiah finds himself surprised, striding to a sudden stop watching as Zayn forms another stance before she swings her fist forward, this time hitting tbe dummy's head, destroying half of the dummy's face and creating a small crater behind it, which causes Zayn to slump in disappointment. She continues the same move again and again, this time with every swing that she gets frustrated, she causes more damage, and the more she causes damage-.

Zayn flinches as she swings her fist back again, but this time her fist gets caught into something and—this something being Jeremiah's grasp, as he calmly looks down at her to stop her onslaught of attacks.

Zayn looks between her grasped wrist and Jermeiah, blinking in surprise at the arrival of the Captain.

"G-good morning, Captain." Zayn said, standing up straight to bow her head. "I hope you had a good sleep."

"I slept," Jeremiah said, raising an eyebrow, "but it appears as you haven't. How long have you been out here for?"

"Oh-I-I couldn't sleep, so." Zayn said, shrugging, "so I've been practicing. I still can't seem to full get the head though…wow, I suck."

"You do not suck." Jeremiah said, eyeing the dismembered dummies. "You are overwhelmed, and it seems the more emotional you are, the harder it is for you to control your strength."

"Oh, right…figures." Zayn said, her shoulders sagging, "wish I could just take those away. Feelings, you know? Hate those blasted things."

Jeremiah doesn't say much, he just grabs Zayn's arm and pulls her to the center of the field, stopping in front of her and taking the training sword out of his sheath to throw it away.

"Captain?" Zayn asked, confused by Jeremiah's ready stance and focused eyes.

"You said you want to fight to protect," Jeremiah said, beckoning her forward. "I will teach you so, but that means I need you to maintain you focus in combat—both with offense and defense."

"Oh! So I-? Wait, what if I-?" Zayn said, nervously playing with her hands.

"I will not break that easily, Knight Zayn." Jeremiah said. "You cannot protect anything if you're afraid to even land a punch. So come, throw one at me."

Zayn freezes, watching Jeremiah nod his head at her, but not say much else, and Zayn, clenching her hands into fists, obliges, stepping forward and leaping at Jeremiah, watching as he looks at the speed of her fist in surprise. He easily dodges, putting both of his forearms up before he lunges forward, swinging at fist at Zayn's face, who clumsily ducks, but she launches a kick to Jeremiah's ankles, who staggers back in surprise. Zayn uses this chance to keep forward, throwing another hard fist at Jeremiah's face, but he uses his forearms covered in training armor to deflect, but the impact of Zayn's thick armor cracks a bone in Jeremiah's forearm-.

"Oh Gods!" Zayn yells, rushing forward, holding Jeremiah's broken forearm as she starts to sniff. "I-I'm so sorry Captain-I-oh Gods, I should have-."

"That was excellent." Jeremiah said, nodding his head and giving Zayn an impressed look. "You seem to possess a talent of hand to hand combat and-hm- you think quick on your feet. That's good."

"B-b-but your hand!" Zayn wallows, water dripping from her helmet. Jeremiah looks surprised at her raised voice, before he softly smiles, waving his broken hand before casually snapping the forearm back in place, only flinching as a result.

"Although the chains slow it down," Jeremiah said, "I regenerate pretty quickly, so this is nothing."

"S-still I-I don't want to hurt you!" Zayn exclaims. "Not you, Captain."

Captain clears his throat, ignoring the heat slowly creeping its way to his cheeks. He looks away, readying his stance again as his forearm slowly covers itself in a soft, red and black light before it fades, and Jeremiah's arm is back to normal.

"See? I am fine." Jeremiah said, beckoning Zayn forward. "Do not keep me waiting long, Knighg Zayn."

…

"Wow did he do a number on you or what?" Amur asked, watching Zayn wave at her, Chase, and Ramon from after.

Zayn hurries over to the training grounds with the rest of the new recruits, just making it in time for the recruits to start their warm ups on the dummies before them. Zayn takes her place and stretches, flinching as she whines while she twist her wide hips.

"Yeah—we practice hand-to-hand combat." Zayn said, whining as Amur pats her shoulder and rubs her helmet in comfort. "It was super fun! But I feel so soar! I've never fought like that before! Even training doesn't do justice within comparison to practicing with the Captain!"

"Why do you practice one-on-one with the Captain, anyway?" Ramon asked, hitting her dummy lazily with a slim, wooden blade. She looks up to Amur, Chase, and Zayn that look at her with nervous looks. "What? Did I ask something wrong?"

Amur and Chase share a look before Zayn clears her throat, standing up straighter and looking at her friends before leaning in Ramon's ear and beckong her close like she wants to tell Ramon a secret. Ramon, with a eyebrow raised, leans in, listening as Zayn whispers something in her ear. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she only looks to Chase and Amur before she sighs, nodding her head.

"Completely understand!" Ramon said, "Looks like I need to step it up to…! I already had shortcake beat me once—never again!"

Amur looks to Zayn, who offers a nervous smile, and she wanted to ask Zayn what she said, but there's suddenly a loud cry as a small girl with a large blue Afro and big pink eyes falls to the ground, her practice blade snapping in half by her side as she holds her ankle in pain.

Zayn quickly turns her head, watching as two girls—one of them looks like that girl that was standing with Sierna, and another one looks unfamiliar with brown hair and eyes, but they crowd over the girl to help her and inspect her wound.

"Looks like she fell pretty hard while trying to swing that heavy sword." Ramon said, raising an eyebrow, "Why did she think that'd be a good idea?"

"To be fair, maybe it's just not the weapon for her," Chase said, "many people try lots of weapons until they find the right one."

Ramon doesn't say much after that, but Amhe catches her quick shift of eye color from green to orange.

Zayn watches the small girl cry, slowly putting down her sword and making her way to the crowded girls. Zayn kneels down, examining the wound as the small girl cries.

"It looks swollen…I think maybe a sprain?" Zayn asked, looking over her shoulder as Chase and Amur kneel down next to Zayn to assist her. "What do you guys think?"

"Definitely a sprain," Chase said, "had too many of those to not know."

"Is Ms. Clarke near by?" Amur asked. One of the girls—the one with brown hair and eyes—shakes her head.

"She's suppose to be headed back soon since she wanted to grab some more training supplies." The girl said. "What should we do? I would help her get to the infirmary, but I'm too small..."

"Oh! I can help!" Zayn chirps, offering her back as she beckons her head for the injured girl to get on,."I'll carry you! Just be careful, the sun makes my armor a little warm sometimes."

The girl with the pink eyes blinks, looking between her friends before she hops on Zayn's back. Zayn stands up, gently maneuvering the girl so she's comfortable before Zayn turns to her friends, a smile in her voice.

"I'll take her to the infirmary!" Zayn chirps, "I'll be right back!"

Ramon gives her a lazy salute as Zayn jogs off, but Amur and Chase share a look before they both pale.

"Wait, does she know where the infirmary is?" Amur asked. "We've never been there before?"

Chase sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.