I promised you a longer chapter and here it is! The first two chapters were sort of practices and I've realised that they were way too short for a chapter so this one is around 6,000 words. I'm pretty pleased with it, I've spent quite a while on it. The only trouble is chapter 4 probably won't be up on Wednesday. My first exam is tomorrow (it's 00:40am but I'm counting it as Sunday, okay?) and I have an exam every day up until Wednesday, leaving me literally no time to edit the 2,000 word chapter I already have and make it a 6,000 word one like this one. I'm sorry for any mistakes - I've reread it a lot but there still may be some. Please tell me what you think!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Taz, Up or the Starship Rangers but all original characters are 100% mine!

How can I help you say goodbye?
It's okay to hurt and it's okay to cry,
Come let me hold you and I will try,
How can I help you say goodbye?
- How Can I Help You Say Goodbye, Patty Loveless

"Sir, you can't be serious!" Up protested following after his Commander and the small girl he was pulling behind him. He was outraged; he knew the Commander was a little too soft for this girl but to allow her into the Academy? It was unheard of!

"I can assure you, Lieutenant, I'm deadly serious." Herson replied his voice cold and his grip strong on Taz's arm. The pair carried on walking, ignoring the angry Lieutenant keeping up with their every stride.

"Commander, she's 15 years old! You know how hard it is for girls to be accepted into the Academy even when they're the appropriate age! There has never been a cadet younger than 18 before, not even a boy!" The Commander turned on his Lieutenant, still holding onto Taz like she would disappear if he let go,

"Lieutenant, I graduated the Academy when I was 21, just like everyone else, and I've been in the Rangers for 22 years – you don't think I'm well aware of that?"

Up narrowed his eyes, hating that he couldn't lay a hand on his superior officer, "Of course, sir, what I simply meant was the Admiral-"

"The Admiral is an old friend of mine and he owes me a lot of favours – I'm sure he'll accept her into the Academy."

Up thought of the old man who never ventured out from behind his desk and couldn't help but disagree. The Admiral may have been the Commander's friend but he was never big on exceptions and, as Up eyed up the small, beaten teenage girl beside him, he decided that there was nothing in the universe that would convince the Admiral to allow someone like her in.

"What are you looking at, ese?" Taz spat, ripping her arm from Herson's grip and running over to kick Up in the shin. Up was never hurt each time the young girl decided to punch or kick him but he was getting increasingly annoyed with her. He had just saved the ungrateful little shit's life and she was treating him as if he had done something wrong. He breathed deeply through his nose and looked around for his Commander. He saw him walking away with his back to them on the radio, requesting another drop pod because the ensigns had gone on ahead, and seized the opportunity. He grabbed her by the arms and spun her around so his face was in hers. She screamed quietly at the sudden disturbance to her rib and kicked him in the shin yet again. He gripped her arms so tightly it probably, and hopefully, hurt and hissed,

"Stop fucking kicking me, girl. You're not tough, you're not strong and you have no right to command me around, do you hear me? The only reason I haven't beaten you into next week is because your Uncle over there will kick me out of the Rangers if I do but I swear to dead-God, if he wasn't around I would knock you the fuck out. I don't give a shit that you're a girl nor do I care that you're a child, you're getting on my last nerve and dead-God help you if I run my patience with you."

Taz struggled against his grip, desperately trying not to cry as his hold became so tight she was sure she would have permanent bruises, "What are you going to do hijo de puta?" She asked, kicking his leg once again for good measure, "Threaten me to death? You're not that tough either, idiota, you're just hiding behind your status and big-boy threats!"

He growled and pushed her away, "And how do you think I got that status?" He yelled, reaching back out to grab her as she started to tumble backwards towards the ground. He would've let her fall if Herson hadn't been so close. "Like I said, the only reason I haven't hurt you is because of the Commander." He let go of her and stormed away trying to control his frustration. He had never had patience with civilians, or anyone for that matter, but he had never laid a hand on a girl, a child before. While he wasn't feeling immensely guilty, he did still have some morals. He didn't take pleasure in screaming at a woman but this girl really knew how to rub him up the wrong way. Up didn't give a damn what people thought about him but he had never saved anyone before and have them bitch in his face about it. He didn't know what it was about this girl but from the moment he heard her speak he wanted nothing to do with her. She was insolent, arrogant and downright bratty.

Luckily, to save Taz from any more pain and Up from a demotion, Herson walked back to the pair. Noticing the distance between them and the furious look over both their faces he raised an eyebrow, "Everything okay over here, you two?"

"Fabulouso," Taz muttered, sending a quick glare in Up's direction and stalking towards where she could see the drop pod landing and tentatively holding her broken rib.

Herson raised his eyebrows at his Lieutenant as he glared at Taz as she walked away, "Lieutenant?" Up tore his eyes away from the girl and forced a salute,

"Just perfect, Sir."

The tension on the drop pod was unbearable. The only conversation that occurred was when Lieutenant Smith, who was flying the pod, walked out to greet the group; he soon learned to keep quiet.

"Hello, Sir!" He called out waving as they approached behind Taz, "Who's this little treasure you've picked up then?" Smith, being relatively tall, bent down to Taz's height to look her in the eyes. He smiled patronizingly and put a hand on her shoulder, "What's your name, darling?" Before he even knew what had happened he was stumbling backwards clutching his jaw after the tiny girl had punched him. She hadn't broken it, she didn't have the strength to do that just yet, but he was certain she had left behind a very ugly bruise. He quickly decided that he would have to come up with some sort of cover story so the other Rangers didn't know he was almost taken down by a teenage girl.

"¡Idiota! Estoy tan harta de los guardabosques estúpidos como usted pensar que soy una niña pequeña! No me llames 'tesoro' ¿hacer tu tiene eso? ¡He tenido suficiente mierda de ese idiota de allá! ¡Vete a la mierda!" She shrieked, rounding on the Lieutenant again with her fist raised. Her anger flared when she heard Up sigh in exasperation.

Herson stepped forward and pulled Taz into the pod, shaking his head in warning towards the Lieutenant. Smith, having a good understanding of Spanish, laughed and turned to Up, "What the fuck did you do to piss that one off, eh?" Up, not in the mood for jokes from mediocre Lieutenants, snapped his arm back and punched him in the jaw. He stumbled back, clutching his jaw in real pain this time, terrified that he had broken it. At least he didn't need a cover story.

Other than Smith muttering they would be arriving at the ship that would take them to the Academy in 3 hours, no one spoke for the entire journey. Taz allowed Herson to give her some medicine that would get rid of the pain and leave her feeling numb so she was slumped back into the chair, staring out of the small window with her eyes glazed over. Herson and Smith knew what Up was like in one of his rages and neither wanted to test the waters so both sat feeling extremely awkward every time Up exhaled loudly or randomly stood up and punched the metal walls. Up himself knew he was acting like a child but the doped out girl really pissed him off and he had no idea why, it had been a very long time since someone had brought out this level of emotion out of him. He vowed to drop the girl off at the Academy and never lay eyes on her again; she was nothing but bad news. He didn't want to get chucked out the Rangers for killing a girl 9 years his junior.

After an unbearable three hours, the drop pod docked at the ship. Smith jumped up and ran off the pod faster than anyone thought possible while Up stomped his way off, intending to make his way to the gym and take out his frustrations on the punching bag rather than the small girl beside him. Taz was still unable to move because of the medicine so Herson scooped her up in his arms and walked her towards the medical bay. Herson was worried about Taz and his Lieutenant, they would've always clashed, he had known that, their personalities were too similar but it had seemed the pair had already developed a deep hatred for each other.

The medical staff gave a collective gasp as they saw Commander Herson storm into the medical bay with a bruised and battered girl, still in her quinceañera dress, inhis arms. The dress was torn and ruined, one of straps hanging limply off her shoulder while the other was completely black with dirt and her long black hair was a mess of knots and blood. Placing her down on the bed, Herson called for Drane, the head doctor.

He came sauntering over, not having noticed the young girl on the bed and rolled his eyes at the Commander, "What have you done now you bloody fool?" He said softly, running his hands over Herson's torso, looking for any obvious injury.

Herson batted his hands away with a smile and motioned to the bed, "Not me, her. She's got at least one broken rib and I'm pretty sure every inch of her is black and blue."

Drane turned his head and let out a small gasp when he saw her, "Dead-God, Greg. What the hell happened to her?"

He just shook his head, suddenly looking unbelievably weary and sad, "Robots. Killed every last one of her family. I'm all she's got left now." He ducked his head to try and stop the rapidly building tears. He was a Starship Ranger, dead-Goddammit, not a teenaged girl.

Drane, finally cottoning on that the young girl was probably Tazia Lopez, placed his hand on Herson's cheek and lifted his face to meet his, "Are you okay?" He muttered, though it was probably a stupid question.

"No. No, John, I don't think I am. I just- I need her to be okay. She's the closest thing I've got to a family now." Drane smiled and kissed him at the corner of his mouth,

"You've got me. And don't worry, she'll be okay. There's never been a broken bone I couldn't fix!"

Herson chuckled lightly and gave Drane a quick hug, "I'm going to go video-chat with the Admiral, call me when she wakes up?"

Drane nodded quickly before shooing him out of the small cubicle, "Now get out and let me work my magic!"

Taz woke feeling groggy and out-of-place. She slammed her hand down to where she knew her bedside table was and where she normally left her phone. Her hand, however, didn't come in contact with anything and she started to panic. All at once, her senses began to pick up signals that meant she wasn't in her house. The itchiness of the sheets, the sounds of the beeping, the smell that was too clean, too sterile to be anywhere but a hospital. She noticed that she was wearing an over-sized t-shirt and some slacks that were just small enough to fit around her hips; they were wearing clothes that were most definitely not hers. Taz shot up in a panic only to be pushed gently back down again.

As her eyes came into focus she registered the kind-looking, middle-aged doctor standing above her. He looked vaguely familiar though she couldn't quite remember where she knew him from. "Hello, Tazia." He said, smiling so warmly she couldn't help but smile back.

"Taz," she corrected, looking around the cubicle. From the many G.L.E.E insignias in the room Taz concluded she was on a Starship but for the life of her couldn't remember why. "Why am I-"

"On a Starship? Yes, I was worried you'd suffer memory loss; that happens sometimes when a person goes through a trauma such as yours. I'm John Drane."

Taz furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to place the name, "John Drane, Tio Greg's husband?"

The doctor looked immensely pleased and clapped his hands together, "Yes! That's the one! Looks like you're only suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a mild case at that, you should remember soon." Then the doctor's eyes grew sad as if he didn't actually want her to remember.

She began to panic because of the sadness in his eyes and desperately tried to wrack her brains for the reason. She was torn between the bliss of ignorance and the overwhelming desire to understand. Finally, giving up, she turned towards Drane. "Can you tell me what happened, Tio John?" Drane's eyes lit up with tears of happiness as Taz slipped so easily into calling him 'uncle' and he sat down on the side of the bed and took her hand in his.

"Well, honey, it was your quinceañera…" It was? She had already been through that horror? She tried to remember, the dress, the shoes, but her mind came up blank. "…but then the robots came and…" Taz closed her eyes and gasped as she saw red laser beams shoot behind her eyelids, she felt a pain shoot through her chest as she began to remember, "…your sister, your mother, your grandmother, your best friend…" She saw each of them fall to the ground, a smoking hole in their chest, an emotionless robot standing above their bodies, each person he listed was like a shot to the heart, "…you were the only survivor…" Yes, she remembered being tied up and beaten with metal poles, she had never known pain like that, but then she remembered being rescued by… "…Lieutenant Up…" That was right, that gigante idiota. The one who made the day that much worse, the mere thought of him made her blood boil,

"Tio! Stop, I remember. I remember it all." For the first time that day (was it still the same day?) Taz allowed herself to cry. She noticed somewhere in the back of her mind that it didn't hurt her rib when she hunched over to cry into her knees and wondered how she recovered so quickly. She heard Drane telling a nurse to get Herson and quickly and she felt him rubbing soothing circles on her back. "They're all dead," she cried, falling against Drane's side, "Every single one of them is dead! Rosa, Carlos, mamá… it's all my fault!"

By this point Herson had entered the room and rushed towards Taz's side to comfort her, "Hey, now. It's not your fault at all; you did the best you could!"

"The best I could? Tio, if I was doing the best I could I would not be an orphan on a Starship! I'd be at home looking after my family and friends talking about how horrible the robot attack was and how lucky it was that no one got hurt! I've let every one of them down!" She began crying even harder, not even finding it within herself to be ashamed. The guilt that was taking over her body was almost overwhelming; it felt like a heavy darkness that just wanted to creep into every part of her body and suffocate her.

"Taz, it was not up to you to keep them alive! It was a terrible thing and neither of us will never fully recover but I will fight until my dying breath until you believe that this was not your fault!" Herson pulled her close to his side, rocking and shushing the small girl. Her outburst frightened him although it didn't completely surprise him. He had been watching her lock away all of her emotions, save anger, since her father died when she was 10. Truth be told, he had been expecting this breakdown to occur long before.

However, the thing that truly scared him was what she was going to be like when she finally calmed down. He had seen it happen in many people, Lieutenant Up being the prime example. War changed people. It changed his Lieutenant from a compassionate, caring Ensign into a man who did not seem to have emotions. Herson was worried that he was going to watch the same happen to Taz. Sweet little Tazia Lopez who used to bring him wildflowers for the fields near her house. Tazia Lopez who was only 15 and had seen and experienced the horrors no human should ever have to. He knew he had probably lost the man Lieutenant Up once was forever and he prayed to dead-God it wasn't going to happen to the girl who he saw as a daughter.

"I let them die! Every single one of them! I survived and they could've too, it is my fault! I promised papá I would keep them alive and I didn't!" She wailed, falling back against the pillows.

"Taz!" Herson yelled, making her sit up and look him directly in the eye, "This was not your fault. How the hell do you think you would've saved them?" When she didn't answer he continued, "You couldn't. Luckily, Lieutenant Up saved you else you'd have suffered the same fate as them." She made a small noise in the back of her throat; she wouldn't exactly call being saved by the Lieutenant lucky. "I'm just glad you're alive, darling." Herson smiled at her and kissed her head. Taz's tears and heart-wrenching sobs slowly came to a halt although she was certain that the suffocating guilt was never going to leave. She smiled feebly, suddenly feeling all emotions and energy drain out of her. It felt like she was numb.

She watched through hooded eyes as her uncle turned to his husband and whisper in his ear. She couldn't bring it in herself to care about what they were speaking about. All she wanted to do was to fall asleep for a very long time. Just as her eyes were closing she saw Herson turn around and give her a warm smile, "By the way," He whispered, moving in closer to her ear as she tried to wake herself up a bit, "I talked to the Admiral and…" Taz's eyes opened up a fraction and locked onto Herson's, her breath hitched slightly though she reminded herself not to hope for too much. "Welcome to the Academy, Cadet Taz."

Taz smiled sadly, although she was feeling elated, "I'm allowed in the Academy?" She began softly, sounding like she was a million miles away. And she was, in a small town in Mexico to be exact. "But the Lieutenant said-"

Herson looked at her with sad eyes and pushed her worn body back down on the bed as she tried to raise her shoulders, "Yes, well, the Lieutenant was not aware that the Admiral fought with me and your father and that we both made a promise to him to always protect you. We both decided that this was the best option for you."

"Gracias, Tio." She whispered, feebly pushing his hands away and sitting up to hug him. She buried her head into Herson's shoulder and smiled; now she would be able to avenge her family.

Herson, gently but firmly, pushed her back onto the hospital bed and kissed her forehead, "Now get some sleep, Taz. We're going to have a lot to do when we reach the Academy."

The last thing she saw before she succumbed to sleep was her uncles walking out of the cubicle, hands joined and heads close together as they muttered to each other.

"I heard she was the only survivor." A woman's voice whispered, floating through Taz's mind like a knife. She wanted to tell whoever was talking to shut the hell up; couldn't they see she was right there? But her eyelids felt like they weighed 100 tonnes and everything about her body and mind felt groggy and slow.

"I heard she really pissed off the Lieutenant." Another, more high-pitched, voice replied, not caring about volume level whatsoever. Taz felt a small prod to her arm and heard a patronizing sigh, "Poor girl, and look how small she is. They will murder her in the Academy, what was the Commander thinking? Everyone knows he could put her on one of the G.L.E.E's safe-planets with one of the best houses, but no, he decides to destroy the girl he claims is like a daughter to him." The woman scoffed and Taz heard the rustle of papers.

Despite the pounding headache every noise was giving her, Taz found the strength to open her eyes just a fraction and unsuccessfully glare at the nurses standing at the edge of the bed, reading her notes. A woman with unruly, curly black hair (which Taz noted, should really be up and out of the way) gasped. "Get Doctor Drane," She whispered, eyes locked on Taz's, "And hurry!"

The other nurse, who Taz had decided was the second one to speak, nodded and scurried away, no doubt feeling unbelievably embarrassed at being caught. The black-haired woman wasn't fairing any better and her pale skin was flushed a brilliant scarlet. "Hello, sweetie. My name is Mary-Anne and I'm the head nurse on this Starship. How are you feeling?"

"Offended." Taz muttered, sitting up, relieved that the tension in her body and head was disappearing.

Mary-Anne, if possible, flushed an even deeper red and coughed awkwardly, "Yes, well, uh. You heard what Susan said then? Well, you know-"

"How's my favourite patient?" The familiar tones of John Drane came from behind the curtain and Mary-Anne looked gratefully towards the head doctor before hurrying out of the cubicle. Probably running to the nurse's station to gossip about Taz. She found that she really did not care.

"I've got a golpeteo headache and some perras were being annoying, but other than that I feel okay. Are we near the Academy?"

Drane filled a cup with the jug of water on the table that Taz had not noticed and passed it over to her, "You woke up just in time. I was just about to send Greg in with a bucket of cold water." He grinned and winked at her while she feigned offence.

"Starship docking in two minutes." A monotone robotic voice rang out, making Taz wince slightly. Robots were still a raw subject.

Either Drane didn't notice or he simply ignored it as he rounded the bed and helped Taz out, "Excellent, we're at the Academy. I have to take you to Greg now, okay?"

Taz nodded, though she really felt like she had no choice in the matter, and followed Drane out of the medical bay.

The two passed Herson, looking slightly stressed, storming down the opposite direction. When he caught sight of the pair his face relaxed into relief and he hugged them both, "The Admiral is expecting us as soon as we dock, Taz. We need to be at the entrance in about-"

"Starship docking."

"Now. Let's go."

Taz didn't have time to take in the grandeur of the Academy as she was whisked right down the maze-like halls towards the Admiral's office. Faces of boys much older and stronger than her whipped past and she felt trepidation for the first time since she found out she was being accepted into the Academy. She began to wonder if Mary-Anne and Susan were right about her, she was a 15 year old girl who sort of knew how to fight and took down two robots just by accident – how would she ever be able to take them on? Her heart began to race and she breathed heavily, convinced she couldn't do this. Her face, however, remained impassive and unimpressed. She had long ago perfected her emotionless mask.

When they finally made it to the Admiral's office, Herson stormed right past the Admiral's assistant without even acknowledging her.

"Sorry, Sir!" She cried, leaning over the desk with one arm slightly outstretched as if she would be able to stop them from walking through the door, "You need to book an appointment. The Admiral is a very busy man."

Herson rolled his eyes, "The Admiral requested me personally, Chloe. Go back to reading your Space-Vogue or painting your nails." Chloe flushed and sat down with a muttered, 'Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.' Taz snorted with laughter.

Knocking once, Herson let himself into the grand office. Taz looked around in awe at the room; it was filled with literally hundreds of pictures of who she guessed was the Admiral with many different Alien leaders and ambassadors. She raised her eyebrows at these, wasn't he supposed to be a Starship Ranger? How did he have time to visit all of these people?

"I know what you're thinking," The old man sitting behind the desk said, answering her unasked question, "But these old bones couldn't take commanding another mission. I had to step down and take this boring old desk job." He sighed, looking in envy towards Herson's commander's uniform, "Still, I supposed, it isn't all that bad, I get to give special privileges to my friends." The Admiral winked in her direction and she allowed a small smile to grace her face.

"Phil, this is Taz." Herson said, smiling down at the young girl as she stepped forwards and looked the Admiral straight in the eye. She already had a guaranteed place in the Academy but she wanted to prove to him, and to everyone else, that it wasn't because these two men had fought with her father. She wanted to prove that she could do it. That the nurses were wrong. That she was just as tough, no, tougher, than those gigante boys out in the hall. She had once beaten up a boy three times her size back in Mexico, why couldn't she do it now?

The Admiral broke into a large grin at the look on her face, "Bloody hell, Greg. She's the spitting image of Antonio!" He studied her face for a small second and looked surprised at the lack of emotion she showed.

Herson laughed and slapped her on the back, "And she'll be just a good a Ranger!"

The Admiral nodded in approval before his face lit up as if he has just remembered something and he began searching through the many papers on his desk. "Greg, I have decided to re-assign your team. You have spent too much time preventing robot attacks on Earth so how would you and your team like to be reassigned at the Academy? You and your Lieutenants can teach while your medical team can take up the medical bay? And don't worry; I'll be sure to appoint John Drane as head doctor!"

Herson's face spilt into a wide grin and he reached over to shake the Admiral's hand, "That would be perfect, Sir! Thank you! Though…" He began dubiously, "I doubt Lieutenant Up will appreciate the change, though he rarely appreciates much." The Admiral chuckled and nodded,

"I'll give you the full details later, Herson. However, now we should focus on getting this girl to her room. She's in 4031, do you know where that is?"

Herson nodded and began steering Taz out of the door, "I know this place like the back of my hand!" He called, hearing the Admiral's laugh as the door closed behind him.

The pair walked down the winding hallways much slower than the walk to the Admiral's office and Taz finally had time to appreciate the Academy. It was massive, much bigger than she had ever imagined. Herson informed her that she had only seen about a tenth of the entire place and yet she passed the entrance to a mall, at least two gyms, a swimming pool and a library. She made a mental note to check out the library before she went to sleep that night. Herson looked at Taz from the corner of his eye and smiled slightly at the awed look on her face; he as she reached out slightly to skin her fingers against the door.

All the while, mutters followed them down the hallways and heads poked out of dorm rooms to watch them walk down the hallways. One boy even stopped dead in front of them and openly stared as they passed. Herson glared at the boy and stared him down until he finally got the message and fled. Despite feeling uncomfortable under the many gazes, Taz kept her head held high, her back straight and her eyes straight ahead when they weren't admiring another part of the Academy. She wanted to make an impression straight away, she wanted to show these chicos that she was strong enough to make it through the Academy, she wanted to show that she was not like all of the other girls who were focused on hair and makeup and the latest gossip. She wanted to show them she was tough.

When they finally reached room 4031 Taz let out a long breath that she didn't even know she was holding. She shared a quick amused glance with Herson before he swiped the door card and walked her in. Her room was what she assumed was standard for the G.L.E.E; there was one double bed pushed against the far wall and the sheets were a typical white. On the same wall there was a small wardrobe which was propped slightly open and Taz saw was already filled with clothes. Raising her eyebrow at Herson, she walked over and took a look through the clothes. There were about 3 of the blue uniforms Taz had already seen the Cadets wearing and several pieces of casual clothing like tank-tops, jeans and some camouflage cargo-pants. Looking at the bottom of the wardrobe Taz found two pairs of sturdy-looking boots, a bit like the ones Lieutenant Up were wearing.

"I called ahead and asked them to buy you some clothes. I thought it'd be better than what you're wearing now." Taz glanced down and saw she was still in the over-sized clothes and silently cursed herself; she probably looked more like a dishevelled survivor rather than the Academy's youngest recruit. The other Cadets were probably having a good-old laugh at her expense right now. "There should also be some pyjamas and… other things in that drawer over there." Herson pointed to the chest-of-drawers that was next to a door that Taz assumed led into her en-suite. He walked over to the door and stuck his head in, "Ah, yes. Every room is equipped with toiletries and you can always just go and get more from the janitor's cupboards. But if you need anything there's a mall on the 5th deck of the ship." Herson clapped his hands together and looked around, "Yeah, I think that's it! You like it?"

Taz nodded and sat down at the desk that held a high-tech-looking laptop and separate view-screen; she was secretly very excited about using these, the best technology she ever got back in Mexico was her phone which was most probably blown to smithereens. "Es perfecto. Gracias, Tio." She smiled, looking forward to showering and getting into proper fitting clothes.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Herson walked over and pulled out two photos from his bag. They were in a surprisingly good condition and Taz recognized them immediately. "Before I found you… alive. I went back to the house to see if I could find anyone. I found these on the floor and when I found no-one, picked them up as a reminder of you." Taz took the two photos from his hand and stared intently at them. They were the only two pictures of herself that she actually allowed other people to see and kept on display in her room. The first was of her and her entire familia, back when she was 10 and her father was still alive. Rosa had just been born and the 10 year old Taz was looking up at her mamá, laughing as the baby threatened to jump out of her arms. Like his daughter, Antonio was laughing at the scene with his arm wrapped around the waist of his wife and the shoulders of his oldest daughter. Finally, Taz's abuela stood to the side of the picture, smiling slightly as she held onto Taz's hand tightly. The second picture was of her and Carlos. It was taken just over a year before, a couple of days before she turned 14 and one of their friends had come over with a camera and told them to smile. Taz laughed hysterically as Carlos leaned over and kissed her cheek, it was before she had learnt of his crush on her but even after she still kept it on her desk. Taz smiled sadly and allowed one tear to drop onto the picture before she wiped her eyes and stood up.

"Gracias, Tio." She whispered, hugging Herson tightly.

"De nada." He replied, squeezing her back and closing his eyes.

She let go and walked over to the bed-side table and put the two pictures up, now at least she would have something from home, to remind her that it was all real.

"Well, I have to get back and talk to the Admiral about what's going to happen now. Your timetable is on the desk and your lessons start tomorrow at 7am sharp. Please don't be late." She raised an eyebrow and he laughed, "I know you won't, I'm just reminding you. Goodbye, Taz." She waved goodbye and allowed him to kiss her on the cheek before shutting the door softly behind him.

She all but ran to the shower, ripping off the uncomfortable clothes and jumping under the welcome rush of hot water. She spent about 10 minutes untangling her hair, taking out various twigs and shuddering as she saw some blood rush down the drain. She carefully washed her cuts and bruises, not wanting to open anything up again. After about an hour, when she finally felt clean and refreshed, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in one of the surprisingly soft towels.

She walked towards the chest-of-drawers and pulled out some underwear whilst rooting for some clothes to wear; she found some comfy-looking slacks and a white tank-top. Pulling her clothes on she located a hairbrush and started the painful task for brushing through the knots in her hair; finally she was finished and pulled it up in a messy pony-tail. She stared at herself in the mirror and couldn't believe the complete transformation from who she was when she last looked. Before she was an elegant girl with her hair in ringlets and her face covered in makeup. Now she was a worn-looking girl with hair pulled away from her face, revealing the many cuts and bruises. She felt the familiar sting of tears pricking her eyes and had to blink rapidly before she could let them fall. She looked at herself straight in the eye and made a promise to her reflection that she wasn't going to cry anymore. She would show everyone that she was as tough as she knew she could be.

Finally feeling a little bit like herself again she began looking at her timetable and realised with a happy start that she had combat all day the next day. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost 11pm. She felt the weight of everything suddenly take over her and her eyes grow heavy, she dragged herself over to her bed and only just managed to flick the lights off before dropping down into the comfy mattress. She barely had time to contemplate her next day before she succumbed to sleep.

So that's it! This is long for me but I don't know if it's still too short so if it is please let me know! And sorry for the delay that'll come with chapter 4!