Hey again! So I updated the last chapter when I noticed there were some formatting errors, so those should be fixed now. Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!

The following morning Helen arose to the rays from the early dawn. By no means was she a morning person, but considering the expectations that she held herself to she had learned to accommodate. She turned to her bedside mirror, the same one with a crack in it that she had possessed all those years, and elevated it to see if her face showed how exhausted she felt. It did, but there was no time for the extra sleep she so craved. Moving a few strands of hair that had managed to wrap themselves around her horns she proceeded to make herself look presentable for the day.

As she descended from her room to the inner dwellings of the castle guards would bow as she approached. Most had started to show their respect in such a manner after she had made an example of the one who had dared to question her ascension to power. But since her protection of the castle from Phillip's forces they followed her not only through fear but loyalty. Occasionally she would spare a small nod, but this morning she continued with her usual routine of ignoring them. When she finally entered the large hall that in the past ten years had become where they would eat meals she was the only one there. Slowly walking towards her seat which was at one end of the table she turned to the fire place that was behind her seat and lit the logs that had been placed there the night before. Blue flames quickly took over the space that they were allowed and lit the room.

She watched the flames dance knowing that soon the blue light that engulfed the room would be aided by the green flames that would be in the other hearth opposite of this one. Letting her tired mind wander she waited for the rest of her family to arrive to commence the day's tasks. She lost track of time when she heard footsteps behind her.

"I take it the children have not awoken yet."

Turning around to see Maleficent walking towards her own seat with Diablo perched on her shoulder. "They are late," she replied. Maleficent nodded and lit the fire place that was behind her chair. The green light helped to further illuminate the dimly lit room. Maleficent proceeded to take her seat while Helen stood next to her own. A few of the guards brought in tea and bread as the two women sat in silence waiting on the youngest members of their family to appear. Once they left Maleficent began to pour herself a cup of tea. Helen followed suit using magic for the cup to slowly float towards her and with cup in hand she took her seat. The two continued to sit in silence until foot steps could be heard speeding towards them. Helen proceeded to turn her attention to the door to see the children skidding to a stop. Eleanor attempted to smooth out the wrinkles in her dark green dress while Kasparov proceeded to continue towards his seat on the opposite side of the table.

"I hope this isn't an indication of how your lesson will go this morning."

"Of course not mother," Eleanor replied.

"We would have been on time, well I would have been on time, if I didn't have to wake up…"

"Shut up Kas!"

"Enough! It's too early to listen to both of you arguing," Helen retorted. Eleanor took her seat and proceeded to glare across the table at her brother.

"I agree with your mother. I hope that your progress this morning is not a prelude to your lesson as I was hoping to be impressed by the both of you."

The two children turned their heads towards Maleficent.

"You mean…" Eleanor started

"Yes, her Excellency will be attending your lesson today. So I would highly suggest for neither of you to be tardy for the rest of the day."

"I hope to hold up to your expectations your Excellency," Kasparov replied.

"Kiss ass," Eleanor muttered under her breath.

Maleficent arched an eye brow at the girl who returned her gaze to her hands that she held in her lap. Helen smirked as she took a sip of tea.

"Mother, what will our lesson be this morning?" Kasparov asked.

"Combat my dear," taking another sip of tea, "and no one likes false flattery purely to gain favor, or as your sister so colorfully put it a kiss ass, but I do applaud your attempt at charm." Eleanor smirked at her brother. "Now both of you eat, I will not postpone lessons due to your late start."

The two quickly filled their plates and ate their breakfasts. Idle chatter was maintained between all parties until Helen arose from the table. "I will go prepare for your lesson in the courtyard. I expect you both there in 10 minutes ready to begin." She whisked herself away in a tower of flames.

"She really likes to show off, doesn't she?" Eleanor asked as the flames died down.

"Like you can do that," her brother retorted which gained him a growl of disapproval from his sister.

"Enough you two." Both children immediately turned their eyes down as Maleficent's voice filled the room. "There are enough people in this world that wish to cause ill to you so do not isolate yourself from your sibling. You are each other's allies, do not forget that."

"Yes your Excellency," they both replied.

"Now hurry along, an inability to keep appointments does not present well for those of high statuses such as ours." They both nodded their understanding as Kasparov took a few more bites of food and Eleanor stood up to push her chair back to its previous spot before she had taken it. Both quickly left the room to head towards their expectant teacher. Maleficent turned to her familiar, who had not left her shoulder, and said, "They have some ways to go before they are ready, but once Helen can stop worrying about getting Kasparov a proper teacher both will be ready in time for their eighteenth birthday."

~.:.~

Once the two children made it to the gate leading to the courtyard they saw their mother standing in front of the targets that Kas had used the night before for practice. She turned towards them as she heard their steps across the stones.

"This is an improvement from this morning. Shall we begin with your lesson?" They both nodded in agreement listening carefully for their instructions. "Kasparov, last night you worked on accuracy and Eleanor you worked on conjuring projectile magic. Both very important aspects for each of you. However, things in the heat of battle are never that easy or simple. There are distractions all around and you do not have time to make sure you have the perfect conditions to land the fatal blow. You must take any advantage you have and use it against your opponent.

"Today you will be working under pressure to simulate these conditions. But we will work up to that. First you need to be able to land a blow on a target that is much smaller and more mobile than the stationary ones you have used so far." She proceeded to pull her hand from behind her back and slowly tossed an apple up in the air. It hovered in the air for a few seconds before returning to Helen's hand. "We'll start with this. Who wants to go first?"

The question hung in the air, both children looked at each other and then back at their mother. "Eleanor, thank you for volunteering." Again she tossed the apple up in the air but this time it stayed there. "If you could, strike the apple from the air."

Eleanor started to grumble under her breath. She hated how her mother would always seem to expect more from her than her brother. He's the one who has to be king, she thought to herself. With a quick thrust of her wrist in front of her she sent forth an icicle that was headed straight for the fruit in question. Before it was able to pierce its soft red flesh, the stalactite of ice was stopped short and fell to the ground as if it had rebounded off a wall.

"WHAT?!"

Kasparov snickered at his sister's frustration. "Here sister dear, let me show you how it is done." He quickly sprinted to grab the bow and quiver that were laid out for his use a few yards off. Notching an arrow, he aimed for the target that had evaded his sister's blast. He took a deep breath of the cold morning air before he let his arrow fly. His grin started to fade as his arrow met the same fate.

"I see no difference, dear brother," Eleanor sneered at him.

It seems this may take longer than anticipated, Lilith stated. Helen nodded slightly in agreement.

"It seems that neither of you were listening to what I said earlier. The barrier that surrounds your target does not fall from a single blow. The more you hit it in the same spot the stronger it gets."

"Then how are we to complete this impossible task?"

"That my dear is for you and your brother to solve."

Kasparov marched over his face flushed from his frustration, "You set us up to fail."

Helen couldn't deny how much he looked like his father when he was angry. He did look strikingly similar to his father when he wasn't angry, but always seemed to look more so to her when he was angry. Although this was never something she said to anyone verbally. She never told the twins of their lineage other than that both were of noble blood and that they were each to inherit titles when they came of age.

Eleanor threw another pillar of ice at the apple to again have it rebound and hit the ground shattering into tiny pieces. She started to throw blast after blast at the floating fruit that seemed to be mocking her with increasing speed. She let out a cry of frustration when she sent a barrage of ice at her target to meet the same fate as before. However this time there was a momentary crack that was visible for all to see until it mended itself.

Kasparov looked curiously at the anomaly while his sister was trying to catch her breath. He started firing arrows in rapid succession as well to see if the could get the same reaction. The frustration that was shared between the siblings could be sensed by all that observed. A few of the soldiers that were passing through the passageways surrounding the courtyard would spare a glance at the commotion that was occurring, but would quickly avert their gaze when they saw who was giving the lesson and would be about their business.

"Kas I have a plan." The boy stopped and looked across at his sister. "If we both go at it with everything that we have we should be able to form a crack that exposes it just enough to get a shot at it."

"Who will take the final shot then?"

"Does it matter? If you see an opening go for it, don't wait otherwise we will reach exhaustion before we scratch that damn fruit."

He nodded in understanding and notched an arrow. Glancing over at her, he saw that she had started to conjure more ice. "Try adding fire. Your ice will get the barrier cold enough but if you heat it quickly with a blast of flames you may be able to shatter the barrier enough for one of us to get a shot off."

The girl looked down at her other hand and tried to call forth a blaze of flames in her hand. Commanding the ice and snow was no problem for her, but bringing forth a decent enough flame would take more effort.

"Ready?" Kasparov asked, bowstring brought back to his cheek.

His sister looked back at her hand, concentrating to cause a large enough flame to emerge from her palm. Upon doing so she lifted her head up and replied, "Ready."

The two siblings then started to fire as rapidly as possible for them. Eleanor let out a whirlwind of ice that was blasting at the apple at full force while she tried to maintain the inferno in her opposite hand. Kas loosed arrow after arrow at the orb hoping that he was adding enough damage to help bring down the barrier. With a quick flick of her left wrist, Eleanor hurled the fireball at the last of the ice shards that she had released. Once it hit the barrier, just has her brother predicted, three small holes started to form. Both saw it and released a final shot each. The arrow hit the same time as the ice shard did and as soon as they made contact with their target the barrier that surrounded the apple shattered and slowly drifted to the ground in the form of small flecks of light.

Helen held out her hand and the apple slowly came to rest in her palm. She then proceeded to take a small bite out of a portion of the apple that was not pierced. Panting, the two children watched her as she casually enjoyed the fruit in her hand.

"Now then, what did you learn?" she asked wiping a small piece of the apple's flesh from the corner of her mouth.

"You're kidding me right?" Eleanor asked.

"There is a lesson in everything."

"And where would you get an absurd idea like that?" Kasparov retorted.

"That would be from the woman who will be watching both of you later on in this lesson. And I would keep your tone in check when speaking to your elders." Both children immediately stood tall at mention of being watched by Maleficent. "Now again, what did you learn?"

Kasparov went first, "Use every asset you and your ally have to achieve your goal."

Helen nodded and turned her attention to her daughter who replied with, "Same."

"Same? Oh come now I expect something more original than that."

Letting out a sigh, Eleanor gave another answer in the hope that she would please her mother. "Your greatest strength alone may not be enough, so have a contingency plan."

"I see having conversations with her excellency is starting to rub off on you with vocabulary like that," Helen smiled at her daughter. "Now, onto part two. I expect this will push the two of you close to your limits. Your opponents will not be as defenseless as this apple was, but they may only give you a small space to strike and only for a brief moment of time. You have to take advantage of any opening that they may give you, no matter how small."

With a twirl of her wrist, the apple she held in the opposite hand vanished. She then produced two shadowy figures at her side. They were consumed in black smoke which came off of their bodies in wisps. No defining features could be seen on either figure. They stood there silent and motionless as the children stared them down.

"Now these phantoms will charge at you. You need to defend yourself by sending a fatal blow. For now they will not be on the offense, but eventually they will." With a snap of her fingers the figures sprung to life and started to sprint towards her pupils. Eleanor quickly conjured a wall of ice between her and her phantom trying to buy herself some time to bring forth a flame. She knew that was what her mother wanted from her more than to simply show off her ability to defeat an enemy. Kasparov started firing arrows at his figure. They bounced off the it, not phasing its advance in the slightest.

Eleanor's phantasmal being phased through the wall that she had called forth and continued back on its advancement towards her. Both figures were about to reach each of the preteens at the same time. With each growing closer, Kasparov pulled a small dagger from his belt knowing that the ranged weapon he was using wouldn't be much help in this situation. Eleanor on the other hand called forth a small inferno with her left hand and shielded her eyes with her right arm.

"Stop," Helen calmly said and both dark figures stopped in their tracks. "A little more difficult this time?"

"How do you defeat a shadow?" Kasparov interjected as he lowered his dagger. Eleanor lowered her arms and stared back at her mother awaiting the answer.

"How indeed…I'll send them again but pay attention this time." The two figures melted into the ground, and as soon as they have vanished they reappeared next to Helen. She sent them off again, both children ready to strike. Eleanor waited till the figure was halfway before she called forth a flame, assuming that was what her mother meant. She projected the blaze at her oncoming attacker and watched as it passed through it.

How? She thought to herself as she threw another at it. Nothing was slowing its advance and it wasn't until it was right upon her that she noticed a small golden light emitting from just below the figure's arm pit. There!

Reaching her left hand out so that she could almost touch the creature she sent a blast of flames through its abdomen. As it ripped through the figure's body, the flames completely engulfed the figure and it started to evaporate before her eyes. She turned to see that her brother had not faired quite as well and was pinned to the ground, struggling to escape the figure's clutches.

She saw that same small light start to shine again, but this time on the creature's head. Eleanor was about to call forth an ice beam, but before she could release it she felt a strong hand grab her wrist. She looked over, angry that someone would try and stop her from helping the boy she had known all of her life and saw that it was her mother with a mixture of worry and anger in her face.

"You do not have the skill to hit it."

"But I…"

"At that close of range you could hit your brother instead and kill him." The girl's eyes widened as she turned back towards the brawl that was still going on. "He has to be able to defend himself."

The two watched as the lone male of their small family continued to try to push the shadow monster from his chest. Helen released Eleanor's wrist once she was certain the girl would not interfere with the battle at hand. There was a brief moment where Kas looked like he would be able to break his hand free but in trying to escape he had the dagger in his hand knocked away. The shadow proceeded to pin him down further by pressing its arm against Kas's throat. The more the boy tried to squirm free the more pressure his attacker provided on his windpipe.

"Enough!" Helen's voice filled the entire court yard. The dark figure evaporated into the air. Once it had relinquished its grasp on the boy's neck Kasparov started to gasp for air, clutching where the assailant had previously pinned his neck down. Helen started to slowly saunter towards the boy, her face stern and unwavering. "You aren't ready yet, your lesson with me is done for the day."

"But I..."

"Nothing you say will change my mind. You are to practice the rest of the day sparing."

"Let me try again."

"No, you couldn't hold your own when they weren't on the offensive, what makes you think that you can handle them when they are trying to kill you."

"It had me on the ground, what do you mean that it wasn't trying to attack?" His frustration becoming evident in his voice.

"Was it brandishing a weapon of any sort? No, it was only meant to immobilize, not threaten."

"Let me prove myself…"

"I already said you aren't ready for this yet. Go find Brenner. He is to oversee your training one final time." Her voice was rising and starting to fill with anger.

"It's not fair…"

"Life isn't fair, especially for us. The sooner you learn that lesson, the better."

The boy pushed himself up to standing and glared at his mother. He stormed off towards the hall that lead towards the practice grounds for the guards. Helen proceeded to turn back to see Eleanor who was watching her stare wide eyed at her.

"Wasn't that a little harsh? You've never been that strict with him."

"Up till now I have been too lenient with your brother. His charm will only get him so far in politics, but it will get him nowhere in the heat of battle." She proceeded to pace towards her daughter. "Continue the rest of the day with your personal studies. I want you to stop by my study before sunset to see how your skills are progressing."

"Yes….your Excellence." Helen looked over at the girl who was in a full curtsy and had started to make her exit. She was bewildered at how she had been addressed. Eleanor had never referred to her with that title.