WARNING: The first part of Nya's point of view (italics) contains explicit abuse.

Chapter 5
Fear's Torment

.:Jay:.

Two months had passed since he and Lloyd had been intensively training Kai. He had been learning at an incredibly fast rate that it was really surprising him and Lloyd. Believe it or not, Kai was at the same level as Brad – something that the younger boy was a bit sour about but got over it within three days.

Kai's speed and endurance had definitely picked up. He was still a little heavy on his footwork but it was faster and lighter than what it was before. The day they had discovered that Kai had training in the samurai arts and in kenjutsu, he and Lloyd had a sword dual - since Lloyd, out of the rest of the team, had the better swordsmanship. Kai put up a good fight but Lloyd was the faster and stronger opponent and after a long minute, finally managed to sweep Kai off his feet.

Apart from training, Jay was still struggling to learn more about his roommate. Like he had promised, he didn't ask Kai about his sister. Instead, Jay had asked Kai more about his interests, his childhood and where he grew up in. Kai answered vaguely what he was interested in and dodged the questions about his past – which infuriated Jay. The only new thing that Jay had discovered was that Kai was a really good inventor.

The two got paired up in their robotics lab to do a project together. Using the basic schematics and blueprints Borg had created for his 'most simplest and plain' robot, the class had to design their own twist onto the robot and build it. Jay was proud of his own ideas that he tried to project; however, Kai had pointed out many flaws that would affect the electrical circuit to other functions of the robot. Then, he would suggest other ways to apply Jay's idea to the robot – which, so far, seemed to be working really well.

Kai may be smart but Jay didn't think he had a lot of creativity. The two kind of complimented each other well for that. Jay got the imagination, Kai got the better intelligence.

At the moment, it was late evening. Jay was in the library, studying with Lloyd for their upcoming history exam. Kai was supposed to join them before saying he had a stomach ache and bailed out on them. It happened before… maybe a month ago? They were eating dinner when Kai claimed he was feeling sick with a stomach ache and left in a rush.

"Let's take a break. I really don't want to talk more about the Serpentine War," Lloyd groaned, banging his head into his textbook. Jay just sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"Neither, but we only took a break ten minutes ago for five minutes."

"So? We can take another break," Lloyd muttered, making Jay snort in amusement.

"Alright, but this time we have to be productive."

"Don't you understand the concept of a break? It means relaxing the brain with something fun."

"We did that not too long ago. I just think we should think about how we should try and start the obstacle training," Jay suggested, watching as Lloyd sat up with more interest. "Kai have learnt a lot. He'll still be learning as we go onto more tournament-orientated activities."

"True but it'll be too hard to do obstacle training. Nearly all teams are using the dojo now to train in spare times."

"Then we just go out to the forest around the academy. Make our own course, climb trees, leap over roots, logs and rocks…"

"That's a really poor substitute but I guess it'll have to do-"

"Hey guys! Is Kai here?"

Both boys looked over their right shoulders to see Dareth standing by the table they were studying at. The greasy-haired boy had three different textbooks clutched to his chest but his dark eyes were looking around… as if expecting Jay's roommate to make an appearance.

"No, he's not here," Jay sighed.

He liked Dareth. The guy was funny but he culd be annoying sometimes. Luckily, Dareth never tried to pursue him but he did try pursuing Lloyd last year. Jay had never seen the blonde so red before – it was just downright hilarious.

"Kai's straight, dude. You need to actually find someone else who have similar interests," Lloyd told the guy who immediately shook off the blonde's comment.

"But he's cute."

"Really Dareth?"

"Come on, when he's flustered, he looks cute."

"Kai? Cute? He'll deck you so hard if he ever hears you say that," Jay snorted, imaging just how the hot-tempered boy would react to such a comment.

"But the way he plays with his hair..."

"Kai plays with his hair?" Lloyd asked, raising a brow. "I know he styles it into that ridiculous do but I never seen him play with it."

"He does, in the back of class. You guys never noticed?"

"Of course not," Jay said with a shrug. "Have you two even talked since his first week here?"

"Ummm… No- Ooh! Jay, you should introduce me to him- like properly introduce."

"Dareth?"

"Yes..?"

"I'm going to introduce you to my fist soon."

"Nah, it's not my type."

"My foot?"

And at this, Dareth remained silent.

.:Nya:.
WARNING: The first part of Nya's point of view (italics) contains explicit abuse.

"Pathetic!"

Nya cried out as his hands gripped agonisingly into her shoulders, his fingers piercing hard into the already-aching muscles underneath her battered skin. But that wasn't the only source of pain. No. When Aidan started to violently shake her, it caused pain to flare up and rippled through her body. Then, with a harsh shove, Nya was thrown off balance, her body landing on a small end-table where the empty vase immediately shattered.

When she landed on the floor, she cried out to feel individual pieces of ceramic piercing through the thin shirt she was wearing and into her skin. But, the shards deepened when her uncle grabbed fistfuls of the front of her shirt, slightly lifting her up before slamming her back onto the floor. Her back flared in sharp pain while her head obtained a violent throb.

"You think you can talk back to me, huh?"

Although his words were drastically slurred, his voice was so full of hatred and anger which was equally matched by his fist which slammed into the side of her face. Agony immediately blossomed on the left side of her face while dark dots swam into Nya's vision. Tears continued as a stream down her face.

After a few more punches, her uncle no longer beat her with his fist but his foot. Each kick was sent to her stomach, but without meaning to, her body curled into something fetal and something primeval as the pain radiated through her body.

"S-Stop!" Nya managed to whimper out between each cry of pain. "P-Please…!"

"You want me to stop?" Her uncle had all but growled, but Nya cried out louder when his hand reached down to grab her hair before brutally dragging her across the room and down the stairs where each step she was dragged down sent her body screaming in pain.

By the bottom of the stairs, Nya was barely conscious of it all. Her mind was drifting in and out of the world of unconsciousness. Her body was aggressively pulsating in agony. It was like a knife was being twisted into her spine; paralysing her body with numbness to everything but the pain.

Suddenly, a searing shot of excruciating pain ran up Nya's body. A scream escaped her lips, the devastating sound bouncing off the room of the forge. Pain seared through her shoulder as the smell of burning skin reached her nose.

"Nya!"

Kai's voice was so distant through the thick fog of pain that flooded her mind. She barely took notice of how her body fell to the floor - she was only concentrating on the pain in her shoulder; however, a small part of her mind told her to get up, despite all the pain.

"Kai, wake up."

Nya didn't know why but she tried. She slowly tried to get up but quickly realised that such a thing was nearly impossible to accomplish.

"Come on, it's just a nightmare!"

Nya had to bite hard on her bottom lip to keep from crying out. Pain, once again, pulsated through her as dots flashes in front of her eyes.

"Just wake up!"

Nya gasped awake as a sharp pain temporarily flashed through her right shoulder. She immediately bolted up, gasping for air – completely ignoring Jay who had yelped out at her sudden movement and stumbled back (he must had just come back from the library since he still had his textbook in his hand). The pain that had occupied her in her dream had dimmed down to a dull ache that still throbbed through her body.

"Kai?" She could hear Jay ask, his voice so full of worry but she couldn't face him. Not now.

So, in a flash, she threw the blankets off her before stumbling her way to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Nya immediately pressed her back to the door, eyes clamped shut. It felt like an invisible hand had clasped over her mouth. It felt like her ribs were bounded by ropes, straining to inflate her lungs. Her mind was becoming a carousel of fear, spinning out of control as memory after memory invaded her mind. Memory of her uncle's hard and angry brown eyes. Memory of the scorching sword that Aidan had pulled out of the furnace to burn her. Memory. Memory. Memory.

"Kai? Are you okay?"

"Fine!" Nya spat out, as she moved from the door and to the sink where she immediately turned on the tap, cold water spilling. Nya cupped her hands under the water and splashed her face, trying to get her mind to concentrate on anything but those memories.

"Are you sure-"

"I said I'm fine!"

"There's blood on the bed! You expect me to think that you're fine?!"

Blood?

Nya's face suddenly morphed into horror as she looked down and immediately cringed to see that her pants were stained red. Of all things, why blood? Why can't her period be like… fairy dust or something?

"Kai, is everything okay?"

"I j-just opened a cut from weapons training this morning."

"A cut?"

"It's not d-deep," Nya lied before looking around the small bathroom.

She had no clothes in here and her tampons were in her bag. She couldn't go back out there and risk Jay seeing her like this. Just because he missed it when she was rushing to the bathroom didn't mean he wouldn't notice it again. She needed him to leave. But how?

Come on, Nya. Think!

"… Can you go and grabbed some bandages?"

"Yeah. I'll be back."

And when the front door closed to signalise that Jay had left, Nya couldn't help but let out a sigh.

How much worse can this get?

.::.

After cleaning herself up and wrapping the bandages around the 'fake wound' on her leg, Nya wordlessly went back to her bed, ignoring the way Jay stared at her. She had noticed that he changed the sheets… which was actually nice of him.

However, Nya crawled back into bed and brought the blankets to cover her thoroughly while keeping her back to Jay.

"… You want to talk about it-?"

"No," Nya answered curtly in a mumble as she closed her eyes shut, trying to push everything out of her mind.

"It isn't healthy to not talk about it."

"I don't care. I'm not talking about it," Nya bitterly muttered.

There was no way Nya was going to talk about this to anyone – and especially not Jay. She didn't need her roommate to know that she was a girl or anything relating to her past because she knew that if she did, Jay would pity her – that was the last thing she wanted.

But… She hated how her uncle was controlling like this. Even though there was so much distance between them, he was always there with her. In her mind spreading fear. That was what Nya hated the most: fear. To some people, their fear consisted of spiders, heights, the dark or water – her brother's fear. To Nya, it ran deeper than that. She wasn't scared of the dark but she was scared of what was in it. She wasn't scared of heights. She was scared of falling with no one there to catch her.

But Nya's biggest fear was her uncle. Not because he could hurt her but because of the way he made her body react. How his memory could make her lungs struggle to breathe, how it could make her panic and how it could make her lose all coherent thought. She hated he made her feel fear. She hated fear just because of what it does to her.

It loitered around inside of her while she tried to helplessly -every time- to shut it out. It crawled around in her stomach while spreading fire in her chest. It poked at her brain and played with her mind. It whispered acidulous words inside of her ears and bit at her tongue. It climbed up her spine, crushing her bones with its unbeatable strength, demanding to be felt.

If fear was a person, it would be the type of person to knock on her door. Even if she were to adamantly refuse its company, it would barge its way in and make itself feel at home… But fear wasn't human. It was an emotion. Humans, you could kill. Emotions, you couldn't.

Nya was slowly drawn out from her thoughts when a soft herbal scent drifted over to her nose. That was when she heard Jay shuffling about from their tiny kitchenette. Soon, his footsteps came towards her bed.

"Drink this."

Nya rolled over, annoyed but she eyed the ceramic teacup within Jay's hand as he held it out to her.

"What's that?"

"Lavender and chamomile tea," Jay answered as he still held it out to her. "It helps with sleep."

"I sleep just fine."

"It might help with the nightmares. Just take it."

Nya sighed but she sat up in the bed and took the teacup from Jay and took a small sip… which soon led her to finishing it in a few seconds, the hot fluid sliding down her throat.

"Feel better?" Her roommate asked, causing Nya to nod. "Good… May as well head to bed early and get in some extra sleep for tomorrow's training."

Jay turned his back to her before preparing for bed. Nya could only stay seated as she stared down at the tea cup. It didn't take long for Jay to change into his sleeping wear (which he did do in front of her but Nya's pretty used to it by now), to turn off the lights and then crawl into his own bed. That was when Nya settled the cup on her bedside table and laid back down onto the mattress.

"… Jay?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks… For the tea, for the bandages, for-"

"It's okay, Kai. Just… Just know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. I don't know what's going on with you but… I just hope you can sort it out."

Me too…

Sorry for the short chapter, I went on a camping, stargazing and road trip with my best friends for a couple of days and then this morning, I woke up at two with a severe flu so at the moment, I'm feeling pretty crappy. But I promise the next one will be longer. But massive thanks to TheNinjaOfArt, Endeavor16, RandomDragon2.0, NatalieSinge, unknown, CatGirl.02, daniaanlyn, Jaell, Just Someone Not Important, Guest, Cerenda and my silent readers for supporting me!

NatalieSinge: Yeah, the fluffy clouds I did get inspired by Zuko and Sokka. I love it too! Is Zuko your favourite character?

Just Someone Not Important: I couldn't believe I forgot about that! I doubled checked with The Lone Wanderer and realised you were right xD Good memory, obviously mine forgot my own story.

Next time, I'll give you all a longer chapter. That's a promise. Until then, I'll see you all next week! Xoxo – ZaneLoverFan88