Could be better…
*A/N: This one was just a thought that expanded in my mind, inspired by the song Academy by BlackGryh0n and Baasik. A cliché concept I'm sure but when an idea strikes, I run with it.*
Late…that was the only way that Pyrrha could've describe what time it was. She'd been practicing in the range for hours, the last other student left quite a while ago and even the teacher monitoring it all had left, only telling her to lock up after she left.
With a heave of her aching muscles, she flings Akoúo̱ into one of the practice dummies around the training floor while pulling Miló on several others.
1….2….3 rounds before the resounding clang of the shield knocking into the first target, deflecting onto its carefully calculated course towards the second.
4….5….6….three more targets shot before the clang again, bouncing towards the next target.
7…8….ni-no….a miss! The bullet impacting harmlessly into the wall as Akoúo̱ strikes its final target and slings back into Pyrrha's waiting hand, stubbing her ring finger a bit.
Her body untenses and she collapses to the floor, taking a knee. Akoúo̱ drops to the ground as she slams her fist into the ground. "Damnit! I missed!" She cries to the empty room, the dummies down at her, grimaces on their faces, as if mocking her for her failures.
"No….I failed…" She slams her fist into the ground again. "I can't fail. I fail, people get hurt. People I care about…." Her teeth grind as she forces her tired frame upright. "I can do better, I have to do better."
'But what if you can't?' That little voice, 'What if this is best you can do and it's all downhill from here?'
The gladiator shook her head, trying to clear that niggling voice from the back of her mind. "No. I can't think like that." She taps the button to reset the room, the various dummies rearranging themselves as she raises her shield and rifle once again.
'Your failure, your inability, will get them all hurt, or worse, killed.'
Her hand tightens around the grip of her shield as she fights back the tears that threaten to well forth., Her body shaking from a combination of fatigue and fear.
Clenching her teeth all the tighter, she hurls Akoúo̱ towards the first target while dropping into a stable firing stance, aiming down at the iron sights and taking her shots more carefully.
1….2….3… All three rounds hitting their targets with perfect accuracy as the shield hits dummy number one.
4…5…6… Another 3 hits followed by the second strike.
7….8….9... The three final shots hit as she intended while the sound of her shield impacting the final target reverberates loudly through the empty training hall.
She catches it with a relieved sigh, sliding it into its proper place on her back. 'You can still do better.'
Pyrrha sighs as she looks out a nearby window at the red horizon of a rising sun. The voice was right, she could do better, she could BE better….in time. Improvement is gradual, and though she'll always have that little voice in her head telling her she could do more, be stronger, Pyrrha resolved that morning, to make that voice a positive motivation rather than letting it tear her apart.
She could be better. Every day was an opportunity to be better in some way.
A smile spread on her weary face as she locked up the training room and trudged back to the dorm filled with her sleeping teammates.
Could be better….but could be worse right?
*A/N: Cliché, yeah. Cheesy, definitely. Its out of my head though and out there for all of you to see and I hope it was of at least minor entertainment. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly dear readers.*
