Part 5

Generally Ariadne was patient and enjoyed getting to know people before judging them, but as she stood in front of Marcius for the second time in Danger Room 3 something about him bugged her and it wasn't a feeling she could ignore.

Blaming her bad mood on an awful first day of school, her only highlight being a silent lunch with Ethelinda, Ariadne tried her best to concentrate on what her teacher was saying without gritting her teeth through her jaw.

The class had just completed their same warm up as the night before, making Ariadne's legs quiver from continuous strain, but she'd finished with much more determination than before, Marcius harsh eyes pressing her onward when she felt like collapsing.

Storm's class, which had been far too early in the morning, had actually gone quite successfully for Ariadne. She couldn't have thought of a better beginner's weapon than a staff and though she had been clumsy for the first few movements she found it came very naturally to her after time. She partially had her father to thank for that, he constantly fought with a staff and knew tricks that could possibly even perplex Storm. However, Marcius's class was a totally different game and she found herself doing worse as the day went on.

The lesson was actually very basic, techniques to get out of a head lock, not too much of a problem for the males, they had the strength to flip and punch. But even Ethelinda, who showed very little struggle, was doing very well for being such a small girl. Once again the only one who could not keep up with the class was Ariadne and this time it was even more embarrassing. When her turn came and Marcius locked his arm around her neck her objective was to successfully throw him over her shoulder, but instead she stood there barely budging his heavy body, the entire class watching. Finally after she'd managed to roll Marcius's body somewhat down her side rather than fully over her the class was instructed to move onto a new exercise.

A crouch kick was the only move Ariadne could successfully use in a fight, or so she had thought up until the moment Marcius barely stumbled from her attempt to knock him over. She was confused when it was her leg that was throbbing when it was suppose to be his and to her disappointment he'd barely budged.

Ariadne wanted to take a moment to consider what she was repeatedly doing wrong, but Marcius barely gave them time to breathe let alone think. She knew it wasn't a size factor for Ethelinda looked just as scrawny as she did but was completing each exercise perfectly. Trying to figure it out caused Ariadne to become yet more frustrated therefore causing her to lose her drive and by the end of the class. There last exercise had been to pair up and practice the day's lesson, but by that time she'd given up and let herself became a useless bean bag for Kevin to toss and turn as he pleased.

When they finally came to a close Marcius sat the group down and began discussing times for their individual critiques. Zack was to be the first and unfortunately Ariadne found herself being the last for the evening, which she was happy she'd get the longest break but was distressed because it gave her more time to fear for her life.

(BREAK)

Ariadne entered the Danger Room as soon as Kevin was leaving; he was soaked from head to toe in sweat and seemed to use the last of his energy to wish Ariadne good luck, which caused her to reluctantly blush.

It was instantly noticeable that the Danger Room was darker than it had been, making Ariadne wonder if their peculiar teacher was planning a sneak attack, but the moment the metal doors slide shut Marcius emerged from the shadows towards her.

Gulping roughly Ariadne was unsure of what to do, she didn't know if she was suppose to position herself to fight or just stand there. When he eventually spoke she felt herself jump, which his hawk like eyes had not let go unnoticed.

"So, Ariadne," he said pronouncing her name very slowly, "seems a little odd that your parents name you after an obscure Greek Goddess whose only known for spinning red string and strangely that happens to be your power. Did your parents name you before or after the manifestation of your mutation?"

Ariadne could tell her eyes were wide with uncertainty, she wasn't entirely sure why, she certainly wasn't afraid of the man before her, in fact he annoyed her, but there was something intimidating about him that made her uneasy.

"Well…" Ariadne stumbled as he leaned up against one of the shadowed walls, disappearing into the darkness, "my parents are from the South… and respect things like magic, voodoo, and astrology, my mother especially… so basically a fortune teller told her what I would be like."

Ariadne expected to hear her teacher burst into laughter but instead received silence. She figured he was either laughing silently or thought it was too ridicules of an idea to acknowledge. Normally she didn't care what others thought, her parents had named all their children based on what the same fortune teller had predicated and she had been eerily accurate for them all, which made Ariadne believe in the old Southern magic, but as she explained it to her teacher it suddenly sounded so silly.

"That explains the enigma," Marcius commented finally emerging from the shadows, "of your name at least. Now let's discuss why the hell you decided to drag your skinny useless body all the way out here to waste my time. "

Snapping her head up Ariadne locked eyes with Marcius whose serenity was causing her blood to boil with anger. Does he not have a single compassionate bone in his body? I haven't even been here twenty four hours and he's calling me useless! Ariadne's mind screamed, very tempted to voice her rage, but instead behaved as she always did and replied back with all the sweetness she could muster.

"I brought my skinny body out here so I could learn and possibly be less useless."

"And how do you feel you're doing thus far? In my opinion you're completely worthless," Marcius snapped stepping closer till he was just an arm's length away from Ariadne.

"Well I thought Ah'd have more than a day to improve mahself!" Ariadne cried, her southern accent becoming more and more noticeable the angrier she became.

"Look Ariadne," Marcius continued in his very harsh but calm tone, "either you got it in you to be a fighter or you don't, I know a fighter when I see one and all I see in front of my is a walking skeleton. You haven't got the strength for it. So why don't you do yourself a favor by calling mommy and daddy and getting out of here before you make yourself look like a bigger moron than you've already done."

"I… I…" Ariadne stammered trying to find the right words to say while at the same time fight back her frustration. He'd hit a raw nerve, she knew she shouldn't have come and tried to be something she couldn't be, but at the same time she hadn't expected to fail so soon, it was humiliating as well as painful.

"Got something you want to say?" Marcius questioned narrowing his eyes, "Either say it or get out of here!" He turned as if to walk away but then suddenly looked back at Ariadne; "Actually…" he exclaimed an eerie smile crossing his lips, "why don't you hit me instead."

"What?" Ariadne cried feeling her fist suddenly itch with the possibility.

"Just hit me, common, you know you want too," Maricus teased raising both arms waiting for her to do something, finally dropping his arms after receiving nothing but a heated glare.

"Knew you didn't have it in you," Marcius laughed suddenly turning intending to leave for good this time.

When he felt the small hand rest on his shoulder he was about to make another snappy remark, but before he could open his mouth he saw the girls small fist make a move for his face, which luckily he ducked, but found himself instantly diving again from another punch. She'd thrown four or five decent ones his way that he'd managed to dodge when he suddenly felt her give him a good one in the gut. It wasn't enough to send him to the ground but he had to admit it hurt, there was no way he was going to stop though, her maroon eyes were on fire and she was giving him the effort he'd tried so hard to get from her all day.

Spinning out of her reach he watched as another punch came flying his way but as he dodged it he ducked and managed to get behind her, grabbing her neck while she was still in a fit of anger. He felt her squirm beneath him and her feet flying on and off the floor, finally she got her feet on the ground and straightened her legs, she was slower than he would've liked for her to be but that wasn't his main concern. Finally, after all his taunting and pushing she was angry enough to grab onto his arm and fling him over her shoulder with all the strength her tiny body had.

Ariadne had almost seemed to blackout through the entire fight, her body moving to its own accord without giving her mind a chance to think about it, and she didn't come to her senses until Marcius was flat on his back against the floor.

"Oh my god," Ariadne cried taking a step away, "I am so sorry…"

"Don't worry about it," Marcius replied as he slowly raised himself from the ground, "you won't have time to apologize to your opponents on the battlefield. Next time you'll want to put more force in your throw so that the attacker hits the ground harder, but what can be expected when you weight nothing at all. Common," he continued as he made his way to the lights turning them all on, "we are going to get you started on weights."

Still a bit overwhelmed from her sudden burst of anger Ariadne nodded and followed as Marcius began making his way to the weight room, she managed to listen intently and was mentally taking notes.

"You will be required to put in four hours of your own time weight lifting each week, I recommend spreading it out and taking it easy at first, later on we will put you on a more intense workout. On top of that you are to eat thirty five hundred calories a day until we get you to a decent weight, the way you are now anyone could pick you up and throw you like a leaf. I'm also going to recommend…"

Marcius managed to talk all the way to the weight room, at which point he became silent only to give a bit of instruction here and there. At first it made Ariadne uncomfortable to work out with him silently watching her, but as the night progressed she became more and more use to him, which she wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing. Something about him still intimidated her and she definitely did not approve of his harsh teaching methods.

Later that evening as she sat in her bed struggling to focus on her schoolwork she wondered what she could possibly do to spark the same amount of intensity she'd had in her brief fight with Marcius into all her fights. It took hours later but she finally understood why he had taunted her, she lacked the self confidence to fight and that was a necessity for a good fighter.

Though she didn't know if she had it in her to do it again she wasn't just going to go back home without trying.