It was an oddly quiet day. No sounds of bokoblins scrambling to fulfill the demon lord's every wish. No noises of complaints. Kella hadn't seen a living soul all day. She shrugged slightly as she squeezed the excess water out of the mop. "It's not that unusual I guess." She mused to herself as she placed the mop and bucket back in the nearby dusty broom closet, closing the door with a light click. Turning swiftly on her heels she started to make her way down the hall to her room, fingers drumming against her leg, when she heard footsteps behind her, quickly approaching. Halting her own feet in the middle of the hallway Kella spun around, hands shifted into a defensive position.
"Oh for the love of- Do you have to always sneak up on me like that!?" She snapped, irritated, as she glared up at the demon lord, meeting his level stare with an icy expression of her own.
Ghirahim didn't even crack a smile, just raised his eyebrows at her as he beckoned her with one hand. "You have upheld your own side of this little deal of ours. I think it is about time that I do the same."
"Wait, do you mean-"
"Yes, skychild, I hope you're ready. For it is time for your first lesson."
Kella grinned, giggling lightly as she pumped her fist in the air. "Alright!" She gave a little jump in the air before turning to him. "Where are we going for it?" She inquired.
"Faron." He announced, holding his hand out for her to take. "Shall we get going?"
"Oh… Uh, yeah, sure, alright." She mumbled, shuffling her feet nervously against the floor as she slowly approached him, her nerves sent into over drive. A moment of brief hesitation occurred as she eyed Ghirahim warily. She still didn't trust him. After all, how could she? He had done nothing but torment her since the day they met. They may be acting under a truce right now, and she may be having second thoughts about him, but trust could not be gained so easily.
He raised and inquisitive eyebrow at her, patience wearing thin. "Are you starting to reconsider this deal of ours? Are you considering giving up for fear of failure?"
"Of course not!' She snapped instantly, her frown forming a deep crease into her forehead.
"Then shall we proceed?"
She nodded, hand balled up into a tight fist and eyes narrowed with stress and concern as she placed her fist in his out stretched hand. Ghirahim chuckled softly as he wrapped his fingers around her fist and delicately raised his hand to the sky. "Nervous, are we?" A loud snap echoed throughout the hallways, forcefully breaking the tension as diamonds sparked and surrounded them. Kella realized for the first time since she'd met the man how beautiful his teleportation spells really were. A subtle swirl of gold and black diamonds surrounded them, dancing around the two before they melted into the oxygen in the air of the Faron country.
Landing lightly on her feet and bending her legs at the knees in order to maintain her balance, Kella scanned her surroundings, barely blinking an eye as she swiftly pulled her arm from the demon's grasp. Beautiful as teleportation may be, Kella hated having to do it just to get anywhere outside of the demon realm. The diamonds may be beautiful, and I may find the teleportation itself especially brilliant, but that doesn't mean I'm especially eager to trust Ghirahim to get me there in one piece without using my vulnerability to his full advantage. A loose shiver passed through her body as another thought struck her like a cannon. "Well, I guess we'll just have to trust eachother, won't we?" I can be pretty stupid sometimes. That's a bit easier said than done. Rubbing her sweaty palm against her legs she turned to him, doing her best to push her uncertain thoughts from her mind as she attempted to maintain a somewhat icy state of confidence. "Alright, so we're in Faron. What now?" She inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.
He smirked, leaning down close so that he was at eye level with her. "Why don't you let me worry about that." He suggested, amused, and then set off down a long path, fingers tracing over marks in nearby trees as they progressed through Faron Woods.
"Hey! Come on, where are we going?" She called ahead, jogging to catch up.
"Why, your new classroom of course." He murmured, voice void of emotion.
"You're not concentrating." Ghirahim commented from where he stood, leaning against a nearby tree in the otherwise abandoned clearing. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes, which held a bored expression, were scanning every move his pupil made critically.
"I am!" Kella snapped, eyebrows furrowed in anger as she face off against five cursed bokoblins.
"Not hard enough." Ghirahim tutted obnoxiously as he summoned two more cursed bokoblins with a wave of his hand.
"I just don't see what the point of this is. I've defeated enough bokoblins through this sick adventure. Why do you need to see me defeat even more?"
"I'd like to have some idea of what I'm working with." He mused, a laugh hidden deep within his voice.
"Haven't you had enough opportunities for that?" She muttered, spinning around to block an incoming attack from one of the bokoblins, stumbling slightly in the process and falling on her back. "I mean, what do you honestly think you're gonna see now that you haven't already?" She snapped harshly as she swiftly stabbed the attacking bokoblin through the torso, kicking him off of her sword before she got to her feet.
"Well, my dear It's really not so complicated." Oh, shit. His voice is way closer than it should be. ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! "It is my every hope that what you've shown me so far in all of our encounters isn't truly all you are capable of." Forehead creased in irritation at the condescending tone to his voice, Kella hooked a nearby bokoblins on her sword and used him fling the others away.
"Explain to me what we're doing here! Besides wasting both of our times, that is." She snapped spinning around to face him.
Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at her, raising his hand and snapping his fingers causing all of the bokoblins to disappear in a poof of yellow diamonds. "I'm making sure that you can handle what is to come next."
"I already told you—"
"I am well aware of what you said, but I won't believe that until I see it."
She shuffled her feet slightly, eyes dropping to glare at the ground as though it had seriously offended her. "What exactly does 'handling it' look like to you?" She finally bit out, lifting her gaze to fix her cold stare onto him.
He sighed, looking positively disappointed, and then started towards her. "You are being purposefully difficult, my dear."
"I'm just—"
"You asked for my help." He interrupted her. "You wanted to get strong, so you came to me and asked me to teach you how." He halted a few feet in front of her, lips twisting in a sneer as he continued. "Do you really expect to be able to accomplish that with your current frame of mind in battle?"
Her eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean? What's wrong with my mentality?"
"Everything! Any foe with half a brain can see what you're about to do written all over your face before you even do it."
"That's not true and you know it!" She snapped, gritting her teeth. "I've beaten plenty of foes!"
"Oh yes, bokoblins." He snorted sarcastically. "They aren't exactly the cleverest of creatures."
"You just said last month that bokoblins have families, children who go to school! And they aren't the only things I fight! I've battled giant rocks, robots, lizalfos, and a lot more!"
Ghirahim sighed. "We are getting off topic. Now, as I was saying, you're not—"
"How do you know I can't handle it unless you give me a chance first?"
He could feel himself getting tired of spending his day arguing with her like a pair of children. "You want a chance?" He questioned, crossing his arms over his chest and looking her up and down.
"Yes. I don't need to waste our time with—"
"Alright."
Kella paused mid-sentence, blinking at the sudden and unexpected concession. "Wait. What?"
"I said alright." Ghirahim smirked a little at her stunned expression. "You want a chance? Personally, it seems like common sense to find out exactly what 'getting a chance' would involve, but I'm but a demon, so what do I know?"
Shit. Kella eyed the ground where her blade met grass, unwilling to meet his calm stare. "I'm not…. asking for a really advanced lesson that'll end in my pain and your pleasure," She finally muttered. "I just think it's a waste of time to analyze what you're working with when you've seen all that I am capable of on more than one occasion."
Ghirahim raised an eyebrow. "Everything you've done is truly all that you're capable of?" He sounded... not surprised, but perhaps perplexed that she so easily admitted it.
Kella scowled at the floor, kicking at a rock and lifting her blade from the ground to observe its sharp edges. "... Yeah? I mean, if you think about it, there's really not much else I could do in a fight that you haven't already seen. I've attempted being calm in our fights, being beyond reason and letting my anger call the shots, and just flat out improvising." She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "Not much more to be seen, really. And if I had anything else up my sleeve, don't you think I would've used it by now? There's a reason I asked for your help."
"How disappointing." Kella winced, avoiding his critical stare as she turned the blade over in her hands. "It would appear that this will be harder than I thought. But a deal is a deal, I suppose," He mused, placing his chin in his hand as he hummed thoughtfully.
"Damn straight." Kella muttered, lifting narrowed eyes to meet his gaze.
"Where to start, then?" He pondered, tapping his chin with his index finger. "Ah yes, the basics!" Kella groaned at that.
"Seriously? I think it's safe to say that I already have a firm grasp on the basics."
"No, you've learned the basics for humans. You have yet to learn the basics for demons," Ghirahim chided, hand on his hip as he looked her over once again, openly observing every inch of her.
"Stop that!" She snapped, crossing her arms protectively over her chest.
"What?" He took a few steps forward so that he was standing uncomfortably close to her, eyes still scanning her.
Shit, here comes the flirting. She huffed, shoving him away. "Two things. One, personal space, and two, my eyes are up here, mate!" She snapped, pointing to her face.
Ghirahim held his hands up in surrender, an amused grin pulling up the corners of his lips. "I thought you wanted my help?" He teased.
"I do, but—"
"There will be several things I plan to teach you that'll require that I be within close proximity of you," He pointed out.
He's loving this. Kella sighed. "Fine, fine, whatever, can we just get started already?"
Ghirahim nodded, amused smile turning sly. "Indeed. We've wasted enough time." He gestured to her blade and she ceased turning it over in her hand, letting it slip into her grip.
"So, um… what's first?" She questioned, avoiding his dark.
"Like I said, the basics." He smirked and snapped his fingers, causing a robotic figure around Ghirahim's size to appear. "This is R.A.F. I use him in classrooms to teach demon children fighting basics. I imagine it will work the same with you."
Kella raised a brow at him. "Are you calling me a kid?"
"Essentially, yes." He grinned, a glint of amusement in his eyes as he snapped his fingers again to start up the robotic being's beginner settings. "Now," He stepped back a couple of feet to watch her as he started to explain the task. "First things first, widen your stance," He instructed.
"Really? You're basically saying you keep kicking my ass because of my stance?"
"Among other things, not the least of which being how much more powerful I am then you, yes. Your stance weakens you and leaves you open to attack. It slows down your response as well." His tone turned almost belittling with his criticism, and he met her offended glare without so much as batting an eye.
"Okay, okay. I didn't ask for lessons so that you can spend all day insulting me." She shuffled her feet farther apart and held the sword tightly in one hand, crossing the other hand uncomfortably across her stomach.
"No, you're still too tense."
"Fighting is not about loosening up, it's about surviving," Kella retorted.
"Who's the teacher here?" His voice was suddenly in her ear as he stepped up behind her.
"Stop that." She growled, her grip the sword tightening even more.
"You need to relax, skychild. You're always so uptight that you can't comfortably change your fighting style or move freely if the fight takes a bad turn." He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. "You can start by widening your entire stance. Keep your feet there but widen your arms." He moved a hand down to guide her arm into a position that held the sword up defensively in front of her.
Kella tried to ignore her own pounding heart and the urge to shake him off as she followed his instructions to the best of her abilities. "That's not much different to how I was before." She muttered sorely.
"I haven't even gotten started yet, my dear," He purred in her ear as he used his other hand to grasp the arm that she was pinning to her side.
"Whatcha' doing?" She inquired, narrowing her eyes and resisting the urge to jerk her arm away.
"If you keep this hand restricted against your side like this, it won't be of much use and can cause a fatal injury," He explained, flicking his eyes to the side to meet her blue ones. "What you want to do is either have it at your side ready to block, or tuck it behind you. While having it at your side will be a good extra defense, tucking it behind your back will give you more speed and will give you something to do with it."
"Okay." She pulled her arm out of his grip and tucked it behind her back, hand curling into a fist. Seeing that she had let her sword arm relax too much, she raised it a little higher and shuffled her feet back slightly. "Like this?"
"Yes, somewhat. Not as good as it could be, but definitely an improvement."
Impatience swelled in her gut. "What? Hylia damn you, what else am I doing wrong?" She snapped.
He chuckled softly, amused at her indignation. "That is for another day, skychild. Now, let's just focus on the task at hand. Bend your knees and lower your body so that you have more power in your attacks." Kella huffed, annoyance making her irritable, but she complied and shifted into the proper position.
"Happy?" She clipped.
"Mm. Quite. Now remember this drill. When you block an attack, we call it a 'parry'." He knelt to scoop up a training sword of his own and then proceeded to demonstrate the block. "And when we stab, we call it a 'thrust'." He shot forward, his back leg sticking out while his front leg bended at the knee as he stabbed at the air in front of him. She eyed his form, taking in what she could before he straightened. "You will practice your parry's and thrusts for the remainder of the day," He ordered.
"You know, I may have asked you to teach me but that doesn't make you my boss," She muttered.
"You have been exceedingly difficult today, skychild, more so than usual. I have tried to be a patient and affable host, but at this point it seems that you're just being ridiculous for the sake of it." He scowled at her, clearly displeased with her attitude.
"Ridiculous!?" She practically snarled as she spun to face him.
"Quiet," Ghirahim growled out icily. "I am done with these petty arguments. I want to see your parry's and thrusts."
"Fine." She snapped, spinning around to get started on the robot, frowning at the machine in determination. I'll show him.
Phew. FINALLY got this chapter up. Sorry it took so long, as my fellow writer's will know I can't write until inspiration hits me, and sometimes it hits me when I don't have anything to write with and by the time I come back to the idea the inspiration is gone.
This chapter took me about a week to write and edit. I re-wrote a few things, mainly the beginning of the chapter, and my best friend idlerobin beta read this chapter for me! They are SO awesome, they edited it, and fixed up a lot of the stuff that I didn't see that needed fixing! You guys should definitely go and check them out if you have the chance! They have an account on here, AND on tumblr.
I hope you guys like this chapter as much as I did working on it!
Review?
~Hero's Guide.
