Her heart was racing.
She was restless, and it was beginning to show in her slow reaction time and the hamfisted attempts at fighting back. Her hair was sticky to her sweaty face and she felt like her head was about to explode.
A fist collided with her stomach, knocking all the air out of her. She lost her balance then, her weapon went flying out of her hand and she was suddenly on the floor, her skull ringing thanks to the impact.
She gasped for air as her opponent stood over her, sword raised high. She had lost.
Again.
"Swordplay is really not your style, huh?" Leah commented, dropping her wooden sword and offering her hand.
"Not fair. You play dirty." Maira gasped out before accepting the offer.
"Eva doesn't play fair, kiddo. No one plays fair except for Angel."
Maira tried to laugh, but her ribs screamed in protest as she heaved. "At least go a little easier? I'm not used to close combat."
Leah shrugged and then went to pick up Maira's wooden blade from where it had landed.
With the hand that was throbbing, Maira pushed her sticky hair out of her face, still trying to catch her breath. Leah wasn't a forgiving teacher, even less so than Logan. It didn't help that the man had never thought to teach her swordfighting. The closest thing to a sword she'd ever held were plastic darts for crying out loud!
Lighting, who had been watching the two train, approached her with a half-empty water bottle.
"Won't lie, you're better with firearms." He said as he watched her gulp down the remains.
"Guns're the only thing I'm good at." Maira admitted once the bottle was empty.
"Bah, who needs these medieval things anyway? Bunch a' show-offs." He joked, glancing at Leah.
"What's your meister anyway?" Maira asked suddenly, before Leah realized what he'd said.
"Me? Doctor mainly. I know my verses, but I've no diploma."
"Yup. The one doctor you don't want treating you." Leah said while undoing her ponytail. The golden strands fell in curls over her shoulder, something Maira was always jealous of; her hair was a perfectly common shade of brown, thick and straight. Sure, she could pull off a lot of hairstyles, but only if she slaved over them for a few hours. Meanwhile, Leah's hair didn't even need styling.
Which begged the question, does Angel straighten his hair?
"Aw, come on." Lighting pouted at Leah, pulling Maira from questions that would likely lead to ruin if asked out loud. "I've never touched anyone!"
"You don't have to touch to be perverted." Leah snapped. It was obvious Lighting was winning this round of jests.
"Right... when do we leave again?" Maira cut in.
"In three days. Of course, it's another three till we get there. Can't travel by plane or we risk the Illuminati knowing we're up to something."
Great.
Maira had always wanted to travel abroad and, in a way, she had managed to do so when she moved from Britain. But, well, she was pretty much homeless now. Her parents kicked her out and she wasn't sure she could set foot in the Academy again- thanks to her own stupidity, that is.
And, as one would expect, Angel wasn't too excited about having her over. For sure, Maira made sure to act properly when he was around and not make a nuisance of herself -unlike Leah- but she was still a very confused, very curious and exceptionally stupid teen (even though Angel hadn't called her the last one yet).
She had yet to meet the rest of her new team. Leah had only told her that one of them was also Branded; a mercenary from India, with no actual knowledge of exorcism. Leah said that she was enlisted because she had combat experience and because they weren't expecting trouble from demons while on mission.
When Maira had asked how they knew to enlist her, Angel had cut in, telling her that the Grigori had begun making files on suspected Branded after Logan brought her to them. Sheela the mercenary was one of the few who had been confirmed as Branded and they had been planning on enlisting her as part of the special unit Leah had once talked about. Unfortunately, the war got in the way of that.
Leah had allowed for a short break in between sessions. The sooner they all learned to fight with each other, the better. That said, when Maira walked into the room again, she didn't know what to expect.
The team was composed of Exorcists of various ethnicities, all with the same rank and clothes. Except for her.
Maira hadn't met any other Branded, save for Leah, but she had always felt drawn to her, as a little girl admiring her role model. Sheela however seemed to drawn her in for different reasons. She wasn't beautiful; she was tall, muscular to a fault and her head was shaved, smooth as an egg. Her Mark was there, on top of her head; a blue, winding flower, whose edges brushed against her eyebrows. Her right eye was almost black, while the left one was grey- a deep, ugly scar below it proved that she was blind in that eye.
There were numerous white scars running along her bare arms, contrasting with her brown skin and showing that she was not to be messed with. Abstractly, Maira wondered what type of demon she'd imprinted with.
Later, after they had all introduced themselves, Maira saw Leah leading Sheela towards her. It was a funny scene, as Leah was a harmless ballerina in comparison to Sheela. Still, the blonde succeeded in dragging her in front of Maira, who was silently cursing her height. Or, lack of it.
"I suposse you're the one she always goes on about?" Sheela said, her voice think with accent.
"I guess. Maira."
Sheela nodded. "Nice to meet you, gori."
"Sheela will be paired up with you. Sentinel's element empowers hers." Leah chimed in.
Maira's brow furrowed in question, and Sheela was kind enough to answer.
"Fire trickster. He's not very helpful." She shrugged and gestured to her defective eye.
"Is he like Amaterasu?" Maira asked.
"Amat- No, no. Fire's just not an easy element to conquer."
"I'll just leave you two to it." Leah said before dancing away to another group.
"She is...an insteresting one, no?" Sheela commented, staring at the golden haired woman.
"The thought of blood excites her." Maira replied. "Not that weird in this line of work."
Sheela grinned at her, showed a row of stark white teeth.
Last few days hadn't been kind to him. Between the heat and Castillo's training program, Shima was absolutely beat. Sometimes he felt so tired he couldn't even sleep. Then again, that was for the best.
Every time he closed he eyes he saw her, bleeding and broken. It was...unsettling, to say the least. It didn't help that he'd been assigned as Lucifer's personal guard either. The Demon King had to be wheelchair bound after his declaration of war; his human vessel couldn't handle the strength of his Heart.
Shima rolled the wheelchair around the barracks; a depressing symphony of dirt, dust and metal. He guessed it came with living underground. Whoever used this place before had left in a hurry, apparently. That, or Castillo had taken it upon herself to clear the residents out.
It wasn't a secret that the woman was violence. In fact, Shima was pretty sure she was the most violent person in the group, which was something. All the other guards under her were either half-crazed with theirs beliefs in Lucifer's vision and the other half was more like her and himself; traitors to the Order.
Lucifer, who had been quietly brooding in his wheelchair, raised a hand. Shima stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his superior, waiting his orders.
"I believe we have a visitor. Take me back to my office." He said, letting his hand fall back on his lap. Shima did as he was bid, and started the long, depressing walk back to Lucifer's quarters which, merit to all the machinery designed to contain his Heart in his vessel, made the rest of the bunker look like a circus.
As soon as Shima opened the door, Lucifer wheeled himself inside. In the room where two contrasting figures. One was Eva, her long, red hair pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck and her arm still bandaged.
The other one was completely out of place. It was also a woman, and she stood with her back to him. Her hair fell down her back and almost seemed like gold under the fluorescent light. When she realized Lucifer had entered the room, she turned slowly to greet him.
Shima's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. The woman was beautiful, more so than any other he'd met so far. He knew his jaw was hanging wide open, but he couldn't bring himself to stop staring. She fell to her knees in front of Lucifer, and took his hand in hers.
"Father."
Shit's getting so real I can't even.
Anyway, Sheela keeps calling Maira 'gori'. It means 'white girl', or 'pale girl', but you get the point. Maira just doesn't get enough sun.
Also, Shima's sequence takes place a day or two before Maira's, despite being presented the other way around.
