HEY EVERYONE(: I don't really have much to say actually. But today, I officially started Junior College! Wheeeeeee. It's been okay so far. I'm trying for dance, they're supposed to be really good. Wish me luck!

Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. I loved writing it. Made me squeal and everything. As usual, I don't own anything and bla.

Enjoy~ And PLEASE. Every review makes. My. Day(:

With a strangled cry, Alex dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

The Sergeant had left them in the plank position for almost ten minutes, with twenty pound weights on their back. Before that, they'd been made to endure shuttle runs between two points- with nine pound weights attached to each foot- forty meters apart, for forty minutes nonstop. It didn't sound like such an ordeal. But it was simply nonstop sprinting with the music of the Sergeant's voice coursing through the air. The countless pushups that followed did nothing to help either.

"Is the sky falling Cub?" The Sergeant stood directly in front of him.

He gritted his teeth and looked up from where he kneeled, "no sir."

"Well then get the hell back up. Even Fawn is holding out better than you, worthless dickless wimp."

Alex bit his lip, and forced himself back onto his elbows and contracted his abdominal muscles. The Sergeant didn't compare him to her when she was 5 laps behind him or a dozen of pushups short, did he, he thought bitterly to himself.

"I'm a dancer."

He tilted his head clockwise slightly to look at her, lying beside him. "What?" He managed to breathe.

"Dancers." She replied, her voice tight, revealing the strain she was feeling as well. "We need… really…" She took another shallow breath. "Strong abs."

He faced the ground beneath him again, his breaths quickly becoming more and more shallow as well. The ground was moist as always, and made up of more grit and dirt than actual soil. He focused on an insect that was navigating its way through the particles, trying to ignore the burning in his body.

"Alright, down."

Alex slowly replaced his elbow with his palms and pushed himself back, stretching, wincing.

"Enough rest babies, zig zag shuttle runs, let's go."

They were pushed to their physical limits and beyond. On their fiftieth lap, Sarah veered off course to the nearest tree and bent over, bracing her hands against her knees. Alex didn't stop, but he heard a sickening splattering sound as he sprinted past where she stood. He was about to call out encouragement when he felt that ominous wrench in his gut which told him he would be able to empathize with her very shortly. Biting his lips together, he quickly veered off their set path as she had and bent over as well. Clear liquid, probably stomach juices, flowed up from his esophagus out his mouth, leaving him with a disgusting acidic taste in his mouth. The sergeant spared them no sympathy and added another dozen laps to be completed once both of them had finished spewing out their insides.

Tom watched from where their group sat and winced in pity. The feelings of helplessness and not being able to suffer with his friend were almost as torturous as what Alex was going through.

Alex could feel the lactic acid building up in his muscles. There was no longer any pain, just a cold numbness that filled his entire body. His stubborn pride didn't allow him to drag his feet as he walked over to where the sergeant stood. But he sure as hell wanted to.

"Fawn, why the hell don't you just cut off all that hair and save yourself the trouble?"

Alex was wondering the same thing. She'd tied up her thick, straight hair at the nape of her neck and pinned up her bangs with two bobby pins. She didn't fuss with it, but it was true it would have been so much easier for her to chop it off. He didn't want to offend her, but she looked very far from the pretty thing he'd found her to be when he first saw her. Then again, he thought to himself, he very much doubted he looked anything like he normally did. He could feel his hair matted against his head, perspiration and grime clumping it together.

She shook her head, declining to say anything. But Alex swore he saw the muscles around her mouth tighten slightly. Not in anger, but something akin to bitterness.

The sergeant shrugged. "Both of you have black belts in taekwondo right now, which is almost sufficient for you to survive. For you to win, you need one or two other forms of martial arts. Normally, it takes people at least five years to attain a black belt in aikido." He paused. "You two are going to attain it in two years or die trying. Understood?" He waited for affirmative replies, then continued. "Wushu will also be added into your training. It might seem like a sissy Chinese thing. But it can be extremely beneficial in fights, especially when your opponent is physically stronger than you. You use their strength against them and win. Fawn, your style of using… dance in combat," he sneered at the word dance, obviously not approving of her unusual choice, "while completely ridiculous looking, has kept you alive so far. You'll be given half an hour to practice that on your own during physical training. Cub here, will be with me in the mean while."

They broke off into their respective pair and individual training arrangement.

"Today," the sergeant smiled widely, more sadistic than humorous, "you will be learning how to fall properly."

There were three wooden walls in the training area. One was just slightly higher than Alex, another was about two and a half meters tall. The last was about three and a half meters tall. These walls were constructed simply, with wooden planks providing little or no hand or foot holes.

"Climb." The sergeant gestured to the shortest one.

Alex climbed.

"Drop."

He pushed himself off the top of the wall and landed lightly on the balls of his feet.

"Not bad. But that's for the short wall. For the next few weeks I'll be drilling you in the basics of parkour."

"Free running?" Alex raised his brows, surprised to find the sport that a few of his peers were crazy about in a military training itinerary.

"It might seem like a sport, all fun and games. But we have recently discovered its uses, especially in the special forces when we never know what kind of terrains we will need to work with. You would need this skill to survive as well. What I teach you now, you will drill Fawn later. While I go back to my office for warmth and a rich cup of coffee." There was the heartless smile again.

It was indeed freezing. Alex had gotten used to the cold temperatures quickly. But a few of his peers were already coming down with flues and slight fevers. The thin, tattered blankets they were giving did nothing to help, and sleeping in their thickest clothing did nothing much to help keep the chill away as most of them hadn't expected the temperatures to be so low, thus not bring much warm clothing.

For the next half hour, Alex lost himself in a blur of climbing, falling and gathering all his nerve and willpower to get back up to repeat the cycle again.

A small part of him knew that whatever he was learning extremely beneficial. How many times had he been cornered by his enemies because of a jump he knew was too far below for him to manage?

However that small part was overshadowed by the larger part of him that was exceptionally aware of the numerous bruises his body was collecting.

He flipped, rolled, bounced and winced through the half hour, which seemed a lot longer than a normal half an hour should feel.

"Alright Cub, get Fawn back. Be sure to report to the lecture on time."

"Yes sir."

Alex turned and spotted Sarah. He smiled. He knew it was small of him, and appallingly evil. But it was true, what they said. Those who get abused really did feel better abusing others.

…~~~…~~~…

"That wasn't bad for your first attempt at free running Alex, really. But what you need to do to really get your technique right is…"

Alex appreciated Dash's desire to help him with his training. But after being hounded by him incessantly on the ways to improve his technique, Alex found he really wouldn't have minded another round with the sergeant one on one. At least the sergeant didn't use an unnervingly over enthusiastic tone.

Tom and Jesse sat flanking him, their stuffing their faces with broccoli and overcooked pork, trying to hide their mirth at Alex's overly helpful fan. Chris sat opposite him, his expression getting darker with each passing moment as he tried and failed to tune out the wonders of the techniques of parkour being sprouted by Dash who had plopped himself beside him.

"Sorry," Alex interrupted him. "But I have to…" He spotted Sarah eating alone at a table further off. Not quite outside of their group, but not completely part of it as well. "Discuss some stuff with Sarah. Top secret you know," stepping on Tom and Jesse's feet when they snickered. "Maybe you can tell Tom and Jesse the in-depth information you think I need. I'm sure they'll pass it on to me."

Alex felt them stiffen and slump in defeat. Smirking on the inside, he stood up and picked up his tray before making his way over to her.

"Hi."

"Hi," she looked up and smiled at him. She was already done with her lunch.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"To escape from the wonders of parkour? I'd never deny anyone that relief."

Alex sat opposite her. "You're done fast," he commented, as he shoveled a fork full of broccoli into his mouth.

"I was brought up that way. Since I was old enough to eat independently, my mom would take my plate from me within three minutes, whether I was done or not."

Alex continued chewing, adverting his gaze, looking at the table.

"You're wondering what's my story."

He nodded once, knowing that if she asked, she would be wondering what his story was too.

"And I'm wondering about yours. But you probably guessed that I'm wondering already." She laughed. "I'm sorry I pretended not to know anything about SAS. I didn't know if I was supposed to reveal my back ground."

"I would have done the same."

"Would you rather wait to talk? Or you want to do it tonight."

Alex knew she was giving him a chance to spend as much time as possible with his friends before they were gone for good. But then once they left, their schedule would be packed.

"Tonight." He decided.

"Alright."

They fell into a companionable silence while he ate.

"I've got bruises on top of bruises." She decided to say. "And I won't accuse you, because you'll deny it. But I swear you looked like you were enjoying seeing me fall just the way you did."

Alex masked his smile with another mouth of pork chop.

…~~~…~~~…

"FASTER. GET UP YOU DICKLESS WIMP."

Dickless wimp seemed to be the sergeant's new nickname for him, Alex noted, gritting his teeth and pulling himself up.

The assault course had had major modifications. It was definitely larger than the last time Alex had visited. More ropes, swaying bridges, rough walls and slime pits had been added.

There was a particularly nasty rope bridge smack in the middle of the assault course that Alex kept getting stuck at. Uneven pieces of wood held up by uneven pieces of rope dangling at uneven intervals across a wide stretch of open air. You miss a step, didn't jump far enough or slipped, and you landed five meters below in thick, foul smelling slime. Alex hadn't fallen yet, but he had several close calls. Any closer and he would have closely resembled the boogey man while continuing the course.

Alex's main weakness was his lack of balance on unsteady objects. Years of taekwondo training had giving him a strong sense of his center of balance… on ground. In the air, it was a different matter. That one time attempt at tightrope walking had been sheer luck. Here, it all boiled down to skill. What he lacked for in balance, he made up for in strength, using his arms and hands to grab hold of whatever he could use to steady himself. However that was quickly depleting his strength and even his stamina wasn't that good.

Sarah had a brilliant sense of balance, due to her dance background. And though her upper body strength was adequate, she had little stamina. What she lacked in physical strength, she made up for in flexibility. Several walls that normally would require one to use their biceps to pull themselves up, she simply needed to take a running leap and grab hold of the edge, before swinging her foot up, at an almost 180 degree angle, to land on the edge as well, using the strength of all three limbs combined to make her climbing task easier. But all the flexibility in the world didn't help her with the dangling ropes she had to climb.

"17 minutes 23 seconds." The sergeant barked. "Am I mistaken or is that worse than your previous timings before?"

Alex said nothing, knowing talking back wouldn't help him.

"And you, 22 minutes. What kind of disgrace are you?"

"Go again. This time together. If you get back within 10 minutes, congratulations, its dinner time. If not, Fawn you can give me a hundred pushups and forty pull ups. Cub you can continue back and forth on that blasted bridge until she's done. Ready. Go."

The sprinted towards the start of the course even before the sergeant had said go, predicting he would try to squeeze in extra seconds to their timing.

They made it across the first three walls easily, beginning the strenuous rope climb at the same time. Alex saw her struggling and not breaking pace, called out "position the rope between your feet closer to the arch, watch mine." She glanced up at him and understood, changing her position ever so slightly and found that it did wonders to lessen the burden on her biceps. Alex reached to top first and reached down to haul her up. She was almost there and let go of the rope with both hands, propelling herself up with her feet. He caught her, their wrist to wrist, and swung her up over the edge.

They both saved their breath, wasting no words and continued on.

They reached the sad imitation of monkey bars made of thick steel rods that were hard to grip due to their width and were placed impossibly far away from each other. He had been spending a large portion of his time at that section. Quickly, he studied the structure surrounding it. He got an idea. He glanced at Sarah and found her staring at the structure as well. She turned to him and smiled.

She took five steps back as he kneeled and brought his hands together, palms up resting on his knee. She ran, three large strides and her left foot landed square in his palms. He pushed up as she jumped. She flew, Alex couldn't think of a better word, and grabbed onto the left pole that joined the parallel rods together. Flipping around, she hooked the back of her knees on the rod and swung upside down, reaching for Alex. He jumped, grabbing her hand, wrist to wrist again as she swung him side to side. On the third swing, he used the momentum and his abdominal muscles, arching his body sideways, kicking up and hooking his right knee on the right pole. They swung themselves up and righted themselves, standing at the same time. They reached up, grabbing the random bits of infrastructure that held the course together and begin walking on the top of the monkey bars. Reaching the end, they put their new parkour skills to good use and front flipped down. It wasn't especially high and they landed easily. The whole sequence lasted less than thirty seconds.

After much crawling, jumping and sprinting, they arrived at the rope bridge. Sarah noticed him hesitate. "Contract your abs, but don't try to over balance." She took the first step, kept moving, calling out advice at the same time. "First step forward, you'll swing forward. Use the momentum, the next step you take, just swing. Lock your knees. Don't stop. Just go."

Alex took a breath and took his first step. The next… the next…

He stepped off the last swinging piece of hell and stepped onto glorious, solid land.

Sarah was already scaling the genuine rock wall. But Alex had a longer reach and he caught up with her quickly.

The next main obstacle was basically random wooden trunks placed across a pool of slime.

Don't think. Alex told himself. They were only a quarter of a way through when he heard a sharp intake of breath. He turned in time to see Sarah lose her balance. Instinctively, he shot out his hands to steady her. They grabbed onto each other in the same manner, wrist to wrist. But it was too late. At the last moment, as she realized there was no way to regain her balance, she leapt off the circular piece of wood she was standing on and landed on the next closest piece.

Alex felt himself wobble and made a split second decision.

Keeping his hands locked on hers, he used the force she had transferred to him through their linked arms and leapt to the next wood piece.

She was thrown off balance again and with her hand still in his, leapt to the next piece.

Keeping this rhythm, they crossed the area without another glitch.

They leapt off their last stepping wooden block together.

Alex turned to look at her as they were mid jump, and was stunned by the look of joy on her face.

They landed together.

They didn't wait for each other, trusting the other to keep up.

After more crawling, jumping and sprinting, they spotted the final wall up ahead.

Sarah put in a final burst of speed and took Alex's previous position, kneeling at the base of the wall.

Alex almost laughed. He ran, his left foot similarly landing on her open palm and jumping as she pushed. He drew up his knees to his chest and managed to land just on the edge. Still in his squat position, he spun, 180 degrees and dropped, lying down, the middle of his chest on the edge of the platform.

He reached down and she grabbed his hands in that now familiar wrist to wrist style, for the fourth time. She kicked off the ground with her left foot and, in an action almost like running, planted her right foot against the wall. Alex rolled onto his back, flipping his arms at the same time. Sarah's left foot just managed to land over the edge of the wall and she pulled herself up, using the drive Alex provided her and flipped onto her back as well.

They lay there for a moment, basking in the feeling of accomplishment and success, catching their breath.

Their hands were still linked, drawn over their heads as they merely lay there. Both secretly liked the feel of that intimate connection of comradeship. And that quiet spark that might possibly grow into something more. Both would never admit it.

The sergeant appeared over them. "10 minutes 3 seconds."

Sarah looked at him and he stared back, waiting for her to cuss or groan. She surprised him by doing neither and, instead, closing her eyes and smiling softly to herself in contentment.

"What are you waiting for? Get going."

Alex let go of her hands and, without a look back, walked outside of the course and only made his way in at the bridge. He knew he could beat it now.

Sarah flipped onto her front and began her pushups.

The sergeant walked off, away from the group of kids watching him, confident those two would follow his orders to a T. He glanced down at his watch, stopped at 09:56. He pressed a button and the screen returned to 00:00. They needed the practice anyway.

Looking around, certain no one could see him, he smiled. That was the most peaceful he'd ever seen Fawn.

Yes. I beg. PLEASE review. Tell me what you liked/didn't like/wanna see. PLEASE(: