Training

The sun was still in the sky. Bella could feel it in her body. It was still an hour or two from sunset, and yet she felt something draw her out of sleep, then poke her, then shove her.

Bella sat up startled when the last shove was hard enough to shake any dreams from her head.

"What the hell!"

"Training!" Edward responded happily. Bella stared daggers into Edward's face.

"I thought you said you wanted to train with me, make you into a fighter, make you an equal?" Edward gently mocked Bella.

Bella's eyes turned stone cold. "Not before the sun even goes down! I need sleep too!"

"Sleep won't help you when you're being attacked. No more complaining, we have work to do."

Bella was not one to throw temper tantrums, and she did asked to be trained, but it is a dangerous task to wake a slumbering Princess. Bella quickly raised her hands by her side commanding Spirit to lift all the pillows on her bed. As soon as the pillows were levitating, she used her powers to chuck them all towards Edward's head. He flashed her a quick smile as the soft projectiles raced through the air towards him, but in the blink of an eye, the pillows hit nothing but wall. Bella scanned the room and found Edward lazily standing on the threshold of the open window.

"And maybe if you train hard, one day, a very long day from now, you might be a match for me. Meet you in the training room!" Edward flashed Bella a winning smile before jumping out of the window.

Bella walked over and slammed the window close and locked it. Yes, Edward was hot, and sweet, and charming, but he was also infuriating. Bella couldn't help but be reminded of the first couple weeks after he was introduced to her as her guardian. She knew he was annoying her on purpose. He was challenging her, because he knew Bella hate to lose. And damn, he was spot on.

Not more than ten minutes later, Bella walked into the guardian training room. Edward surveyed her approvingly. She wore a simple black workout top with black shorts and sensible black tennis shoes. Bella, still miffed with Edward, simultaneously walked towards the center of the room while tying her hair up in a high ponytail. She completely ignored his wandering eyes and instead decided to focus on her annoyance.

"What are we doing?"

"First, you are doing laps."

"Really?" Bella's voice dripped with defiance.

"Yes really, I think thirty laps around the room should suffice as a good warm up. Then I want fifty pushups, fifty sit-ups, and fifty squats."

Grudgingly, Bella did as she was told. Luckily, she wasn't as out of shape as other people. It wasn't cake, but Bella still felt charged and ready to kick some ass after her warm up exercises.

"What now?" Bella ended arrogantly after her last squat was complete.

Edward could sense the attitude, but it only made him smirk wider. He went into a storage box at the side of the room and pulled out two brightly colored, lime green, foam noodles.

"Are you kidding me? Aren't those what children use to float in pools?" Bella's irritation was growing by the minute.

"Why yes they are, and they also serve as great training tools for beginners in self-defense. We will be using these to test and sharpen your blocking skills."

"I thought you're supposed to teach me hand to hand combat?"

"You must learn to crawl before you walk, Bella. Come here and get into a fighting stance."

Bella sighed loudly but proceeded to follow Edward's instructions. He showed her how to properly do a high, low, inside, and outside block using both hands. Once Bella fell into a steady pace blocking the attacks Edward threw at her, she looked at him and rolled her eyes. She wanted him to know just what she thought of this training. Edward used her eye roll as a permission to speed up the blocking.

Bella had natural talent when it came to self-defense, but not even she could imagine the relentless speed at which Edward attacked her with the foam noodles. Forty-five minutes later, Bella was sweating up a storm.

"That was a great start. You still have some work to do, especially with your left hand, but your blocks are improving," Edward directly towards Bella while putting the foam blockers back in the storage container.

Bella was humbled a bit and glad they started out with beginning moves. But she was even more thankful the session was over as she turned to walk back to her dorms.

"Wait! We aren't finished yet."

Bella turned back around and saw Edward carrying a red rectangular pad about a third of the size of his body.

"There's more. Ugh. How long are these training sessions going to be?" Bella asked wearily.

"As long as they need to be to make sure you are ready for whatever is coming for you."

Edward used the new blocker to train her on proper technique for front, back, side, and round kicks. Similar to before, Edward taught slowly and thoroughly before picking up his pace and attacking her with the pad with speed.

"You are enjoying this way too much," Bella huffed out while doing a front kick immediately followed by a turn round kick.

"What are you talking about? I am just happy you are receiving the help you need," Edward replied with cheer.

They continued with basic blocks and kicks for another hour and half. By the time Edward announced their first session was over, Bella was exhausted. Who knew the basics required so much work to learn?

"Not bad, right?" Edward questioned while walking Bella back to her dorm.

"Easy for you to say, you didn't have to exert much effort." They stopped in front of the entrance into the girl's dorm.

"I promise you, it gets easier and more fun." He quickly gave her a kiss on her forehead before she walked into the common room.

The other girls were just waking up.

"Jeez Bella, what were you doing? You're covered in sweat," one of the girl's commented as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

"Went for a jog, good health, and all that," Bella answered without much gusto. She went to her room, just now noticing how long and tiring it is to climb all those stairs, and jumped into a warm shower.

Just as she dried off, Bella climbed back into bed to grab a few more minutes of sleep. But, at that exact moment, her alarm went off to wake her up to get ready for classes. She was going to wring Edward's neck the next chance she got.

...

The next four weeks were very similar. Bella woke up every day before the sun went down. Edward made her do warm up drills, blocking drills, kicking drills, and threw in punching drills. Bella could feel herself getting stronger and faster with more endurance. She could block 90% of what Edward threw at her. Her kicks were getting a little oomph behind them to the point where Edward staggered back every once in a while from the strength of her hit. And her punches, while sometimes she hit so hard that she would rub the skin off knuckles, were getting faster with more force. She was pleased with her progress, but every time she suggested to Edward to move on to combat against something more than just pads, he would disagree.

On the first morning of the fifth week, Edward met Bella in the training room, once again, but this time, none of the training materials were laid out.

"No drills today! Hand to hand combat?" Bella asked excitedly.

"Not exactly. I have a different kind of training in mind."

Edward led Bella out of the building. It was mid-November and despite the sun hanging low in the sky, the air was still very cold. Edward sparkled as weak rays of light hit his skin while he led her to the much hidden path on the campus grounds. Some of the trees were bare, with all the leaves wilted to the ground, while the woods seemed to still be vibrant with life. She wondered if there was an enchantment or magic to help the trees survive through the winter. Bella and Edward continued walking on a not so visible trail to the small waterfall where she first discovered her powers. And by the side of the water was a group of people.

"Bells! How cool is this place?! Who would have known the campus had a waterfall! Jessica exclaimed.

"Knock it back a level Jess, it's still really early," Angela moaned. Another girl and two guys stood next to Angela and Jessica.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Bella was confused as to why a group of students would get up before the sun set and be at this extremely hidden spot. She looked to Edward for explanation. He was about to begin, when Jessica bounced up in front of her.

"Don't worry, Edward explained to us all about your new training! It's so exciting! You're going to turn into a warrior princess just like Xena! And we've been sworn to secrecy. I wish you would have told us sooner about becoming a badass!" Jessica responded.

Edward took over. "Yes, I asked them here today to help with your training. You are doing well in physical training, but you need to know how to fight with your powers. Jessica for earth, Angela for water. And I want to introduce you to Arianne whose ability is Spirit, Jonathan wields fire, and Nick here is an expert in air. I know them and their guardians very well. The guardians are patrolling now to make sure we can practice safely. I trust them all."

Arianne approached Bella. "I'm so honored to be in front of you Princess Swan! Not only are you an amazing royal, but you have specialized in all five elements. I always thought it was a fairy tale. But here you are, the real living proof of a miracle."

"I'm not sure about all of that, but I'm glad to meet you, Arianne." Nick and Jonathan expressed the same amount of awe and reverence.

Bella shook the hands of all the new comers. She was slightly taken aback from all the praise they bestowed on her, it made her suspicious. In her past, people didn't act like this unless they wanted something in return. But she had to put these suspicions aside. As long as Edward trusted them, she knew she could trust them as well.

"I want to start one by one, using each power at a time. They are going to direct attacks using their element, I want you to practice deflecting their attacks, countering with your own attacks, and blocking."

Bella nodded. Angela was up first. They both moved towards the waterfall so they had the element to command.

Before they began, Edward added, "I won't be able to help you too much here since I don't know exactly how controlling magic works. You are going to have to rely on your own instincts. Everyone knows not to do any moves too dangerous, but they are going to put pressure on you to defend yourself."

"I'm ready." Bella had continued with training of her powers over the past couple weeks. But the professors mostly focused on control of the powers and not exactly on defensive or combative training. She was excited to see what her body could do.

Angela started with basic moves, splashing her with water, coming at her from different angles. Bella was able to easily avoid getting drenched. She would use her own water powers to bend the streams away from her and back into the pond. Edward gave Angela the go ahead to kick it up a notch. Angela's lazy streams tighten into a whip like structure and instead of one stream, it multiplied into four. Without hesitation, the whips quickly headed for Bella's arms and legs. Bella rolled to the side just in time, but the whips redirected and headed for her again. Bella used her outstretched hand to force one stream of water into the other knocking it off course, but wasn't fast enough to avoid two of the water tentacles grabbing hold of her wrist and ankle. Angela immediately froze the streams of water so Bella was trapped in their icy grips.

Bella used the streams of water she did have control of to hit the ice with considerable force. The ice cracked and shattered, but in a last minute effort, Angela directed the shards of ice to rain down on Bella. Bella quickly controlled a new set of water from the lake to create a barrier above her head. She froze it right as the sharp pieces began to hit. Once everything was all clear, Bella directed the ice block back into the water.

Everyone clapped for both Bella and Angela.

"Wow Ang, I didn't know you had it in you to attack like that."

Angela looked sheepishly at Bella. "I picked a few things up here and there."

Bella worked just as hard with the rest of the elements. Granted, she accidently burned down a tree, caused a huge fissure in the ground, and blown down some bushes, but she was feeling more confident than ever with her powers. The only power left to work with was Spirit.

Arianne carefully approached her. She was a small girl, and didn't seem particularly powerful, but looks can be deceiving. Once Edward gave the go ahead to begin, Bella felt her mind being penetrated. She tried to use her own Spirit to project a protecting mental layer over herself, but she wasn't fast enough. Arianne didn't hold back. She sifted through Bella's mind pulling out memory after memory of deep dark thoughts: moments with Charlie, times when she felt alone, the piercing pain of a lack of her mother, and then her mother's scream, endless, growing louder with every second. Bella tried to block, but failed. She collapsed on her knees with her hands up against her ears and her eyes shut tight. Over and over in her head, the scream echoed until it was the only thing she could hear.

"Enough!" Edward yelled.

Immediately, Arianne ceased. She ran over to Bella and bent beside her. Edward came just as quickly on her other side.

"I'm so sorry, Princess. Did I hurt you? I wasn't able to see any memories, but I know they were painful ones. I should have started small! Please forgive me!" Arianne groveled.

Bella took a second to catch her breath, removing her hands from her ears and placing them over her stomach. She felt nauseous. After taking a few more deep breaths, Bella reassured Arianne.

"Please, don't worry. I needed to know what Spirit users can really do. I… I just wasn't prepared for what I would experience."

"I know they don't teach Spirit combat in classes, but I was taught when I was little. When used positively, Spirit comes from a place of love and can do wondrous things. But when used to battle, it pulls out every bad memory and nightmare. I'm so sorry again!"

"Arianne, it's seriously okay. But I think I need a break. Maybe we can try again in a few days," Bella directed at both Arianne and Edward.

"Agreed," Edward responded while helping Bella get up. "Thank you everyone for helping out today. Like I mentioned before, this needs to stay a secret. We do not want everyone to know about Bella specializing and do not want to start a panic about a war. I'll contact you later about meeting up in a few days."

Everyone nodded their consent. Jessica and Angela double checked once more with Bella, Arianne offered her apologizes again, and the guys gave Bella praise for her good training for the day. After they all left, Bella took a seat on the bench.

Edward confirmed the area was clear before sitting next to her. He wrapped his arm around her body. Bella relaxed into the embrace working to let go of the awful feeling of being mentally invaded. She felt tired and drained. All she wanted to do was focus on the serenity of the environment. Everything was peaceful around them. The waterfall was trickling in the background as creatures of the forest began to tune up for the songs they would sing throughout the night. Edward sat with Bella for a while before he talked.

"I don't want to pry, but what happened, Bella?"

Bella dredged up images of her mother again, the accident, that scream. She sighed. It wasn't as if she could hide this from Edward forever. And with this being her weakness when it came to a Spirit attack, Bella would have to learn how to deal with it sooner or later, otherwise it would become her Achilles heel.

Edward pulled her closer, laying his head on top of hers. A minute or two later, Bella finally began, "I've never told you about what happened with my family, but I think now is the time."

...

A/N: Please review! Your reviews are what motivate me to write!