I cried out in pain as my face slammed against the ground with the rest of my body landing after it.

"Dead." Matthew said for the tenth time in that hour.

I sighed as he took his hunting knife away from my throat. I hopped to my feet and stared down at my bruised arm.

"Ignore it." Matthew's gruff voice said. His face softened when he saw my confused expression. "That little bruise there is the least of your problems when you're on the battle field."

My eyes widened, even as I let go of my arm.

"Get back into position." The four large men that were helping Matthew train me went back to their designated spots across the yard. Matthew came closer to me, and showed me what I had done wrong, then he let me practice on him so that the next time the men came at me I would know how to block them.

Then Matthew moved to stand in front of the four men. I took a deep breath, readied my sword, and instinctively crouched slightly lower.

We watched each other for a short moment, waiting for the other to make a move or for Matthew to signal a charge.

I was so concentrated on the men's movements I didn't see the archer swing himself up to the roof.

The archer moved slightly to get a better shot, and I finally saw him. I tensed, but didn't move to look at the man, I wanted them all to think I was still oblivious to him.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as he slowly knocked an arrow. I had to make myself wait. Fear and adrenaline was urging me to move, because I knew that the archer would really aim for my head, and he wouldn't hesitate to shoot just because I didn't see him. But I stood my ground.

He finally let the arrow go, the fear in Matthew's eyes made the urge to move even worse than before.

When the arrow was a full foot away from the bow, I dove to my left. I did a barrel-roll, I flipped once and smoothly came to my feet. I used the thrust of the roll to speed my run. I held on tight to my sword and ran at the group of men. They were still standing there, shocked that I had actually missed the arrow.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

I realized that the thumping wasn't my heart; arrows were landing in a steady stream in my wake, as the archer tried to shoot me down.

The men came out of their daze as they realized that I was only a yard away, and I was coming down on them hard. One of them shouted a war cry, and it seemed to throw the rest of them into action. They quickly tried to surround me, like they had every other time, but I had another plan.

I pulled to a halt, and stood stock still. Assuming the deer-in-the-headlights position. They hesitated, I knew in the real war I couldn't do this. But I wanted to win at least one little round in this 'fake' war.

They smiled a this-will-be-an-easy-kill smile, and I could see them subtly let their guard down, it was only a slight lowering of their swords, but it was there, and I used it to my advantage.

I flung my body backwards, letting all of my weight crash into the man behind me. I knew he had a small knife, but he held it as if he had been trained for throwing knives, not for hand to hand combat.

He stumbled back, and fell into a tree. I twisted around, and smashed my fist into his face, I was in survival mode, I didn't care if I might have broken his nose.

I sensed more than heard my next attacker. I ducked and did another barrel roll, I was coming to see how much fun they were, and how easy it was to get away when I used them, I couldn't stop myself from doing it over and over.

As I ran in the opposite direction I glanced back, and saw that the man had ended up slamming into the guy I had punched. I felt sorry for both of them as they went down, holding their stomachs and heads.

Matthew and the two other men were right on my heels. I tucked my sword under my arm, to where it could impale anyone behind me, then I stopped as fast as I could without falling. Matthew hadn't expected me to stop. The sword would have gone through him if I had not secured a large cork on the tip of it before we started.

I smiled as I shouted, "Dead!" Then I was running again. If I had looked back, I would have seen that Matthew had a smile that was identical to mine. Victory was written all over his face… even though he was technically supposed to be dead.

This time, my last two pursuers ran more catty-cornered to me, instead of right behind me. I laughed, and veered off to the left, towards a clump of spiked bushes. I heard the men grunt as they struggled to slow enough to make the turn.

I launched over the bushes, then hid on the other side, waiting for them to walk straight into my trap. They didn't want to get scratched up by the long spikes, so in their eyes, there was no other way. And they were so concentrated on killing me quickly they wouldn't stop to think before throwing themselves over the wall of thorns after me.

I waited for them to catch up. The first man jumped over the bush, I tripped him, then stabbed his heart. The second man, I knew, was expecting me, he had seen his partner go down. He stood right on the other side of the bush, unsure what to do. So I got down on my belly, and started to shimmy under the thorns a little ways away from the man.

He was looking contentedly into the darkness that was right beyond the prickles, he didn't see me sneaking around to his back. I cleared my throat once I was right behind him, he tensed.

"Could you possibly drop the weapon?" I asked in hushed tones.

He slowly lowered his sword to the ground, but when I made a move to retrieve it he swiftly pulled out a small blade he had hidden in his belt. I saw his hand flash and I tried to jerk back, but I was too late. He cut my arm before I could get away.

I grabbed the back of his collar, and slammed him to the ground. Then after I punched him in the gut, I shoved him as hard as I could with my boot, rolling him into the thorns. I could hear him struggle against the pain. I grasped at my arm, which was bleeding heavily by that time. "Jerk." I hissed at him through my teeth.

I spun around to make sure the others were counted as dead. I didn't relax my stance even when I found they had all been counted as dead, mostly because they were in to much pain to continue.

I walked rigidly towards Matthew, "Again." I said through my teeth.

He looked at me warily, "They wouldn't live through another round."

I glared back at him, "Isn't that the point?"

"You're injured, and all of the men are injured. We can take a break." He said in what was supposed to be a calming voice.

"There's no break in the real war, there's a never ending stream of killers coming my way the whole time, If I can't live through this." I gestured at the bush where the other men where trying to free 'the jerk.' "Then I will die immediately out there. Just get fresh men." I waved a dismissive hand at my arm, "I'll be fine.… I need to do this."

He sighed, "It goes against my better judgment…"

I beamed, "Thank-you."

"It may take awhile to find more men like these, go talk to Officer Nicholas, find out your schedule for the next couple of weeks." Matthew said, using the 'official' name of Nick. We were supposed to call him that, but I felt uncomfortable with it, so I just rebelled a bit.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Nick wouldn't want me to keep fighting today if he saw my arm like this. He's been really over-protective lately."

"Suit yourself. But I want that arm bandaged before you start another fight. You may not be able to bandage your wounds immediately on the field, but you can when you're still here." Matthew said in a commanding voice that I couldn't have protested even if I wanted to.

I just nodded, the pain started searing a bit, and I wasn't sure if I could talk without showing how much it hurt.

"Oh, and Rachel?" I turned back to him, "You did a great job out there."

I smiled through my pain, "Thanks, that coming from you means a lot to me."

He smiled tenderly, "That roll was one of your fathers favorite things to do in battle… I always wondered how he could be so graceful. You're a mirror image of him, more beautiful, but still mirroring him. It's strange watching you grow up without him."

The pain from my arm mixed with Matthew's words made me want to collapse on the ground and just cry. That wasn't something I was at liberty to do right then though.

"Go get changed." Matthew said, the softness still lingering in his voice. I turned around and headed into the house. "And put a bandage on that arm!" He called after me. I waved him off without turning around.

I ended up bathing, putting new clothes on, and also taking a nap. Apparently, losing blood makes you tired. I only hoped that I wouldn't get sliced to bits on the real battleground. Because I hated the feeling of weakness, and the overwhelming need for sleep.

"Rachel, wake up sleepy head!"

I groaned, and rolled over… Not a good Idea. I gasped and sat up as pain shot through my arm. I snapped my head to the other side of the bed, where Annabelle was standing with an expression of surprise.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a hesitant voice.

I pulled my sleeve up to my elbow. Then sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth as my shirt caught on the gauze, ripping it off, and sending painful shocks through my body.

Bell hurried around the bed to see what I was staring at, I watched her blanch as she saw the bandage that was caked with my blood laying beside me on the bed.

"What happened?" She whispered. She looked about ready to faint.

I rolled my eyes at her squeamishness, it wasn't like she was experiencing the pain herself.

"It's just a scratch. I was training with Matthew."

She shivered as she tore her eyes away from the blood. "Matthew did this to you?… Wait, what are you training for?"

I stared at her, trying to gauge her seriousness. I saw she was totally oblivious. "The war... Hasn't anyone told you about it?" I asked slowly.

Her eyes widened. "I knew Andrew, Nick, and Jonathan were going, but… I mean… How are you going to… You can't go to war, Rachel. You're weaker than most fifteen-year-old men, how would you be able to fight hundreds upon hundreds of strong men?" She asked, as if the world around her was twisting drastically out of order. That order being, Men are stronger than women in physical strengths. Women are stronger than men in desirability strengths.

I laughed, "I'm much stronger than you think I am."

She narrowed her eyes, "Prove it to me then."

"You don't know what you're saying. You could get hurt."

"Prove. It." She said stubbornly.

I suddenly swung my leg, smoothly knocking her feet out from under her. She fell with a, "Hmmph!" As she sprawled out on her back.

She seemed prodded into more stubbornness, instead of my initial intent; to knock some sense into her.

"That was impressive… but it doesn't mean you could live through a war for one minute." She said as she cocked her head to the side.

We had a stare down that lasted for what seemed like several minutes, before I finally said, "Follow me." Then I marched angrily out of the room.

The back yard was filled with men by the time I got out there. I looked to Matthew with questions tumbling around in my head. I was on the verge of delight, but then I recognized three of the men, and a weird twisting went through me.

Nick, Jonathan, and Andrew were all standing around conversing with men who looked like they were born with a sword in their hands.

"Wow." I heard Bell say breathlessly. I followed her eyes to the men that were jabbing at each other with swords. I raised a questioning eyebrow. Then suddenly, it hit me what she had been 'wowing'… they were shirtless, and every time they lunged their muscles rippled in a fascinating way. Strange how I no longer noticed these kinds of things. My eyes flashed back to Nick, hoping I had missed the fact that he was shirtless too, but I frowned disappointedly when I found cotton.

Nick glanced up and caught me staring at him, he flashed me a smile, and I couldn't help but return it.

He strode towards me, then he took my hands shoulders, and pulled me to him. It wasn't really a hug, just a way to hold me I guess.

His hands slipped from my forearms, down my arms slowly. I knew he was aiming for my hands so I didn't stop him. Big mistake.

His hand reached the cut that I had failed to wrap or cover again. I could feel him tense about the same time as I did. I had tensed out of agonizing pain, he had tensed because he somehow knew what the sudden warmth on his hand was without looking.

I grabbed the front of his shirt when he didn't let go of my arm, as I did I accidentaly let a pained whimper slip out.

Nick jerked back, gaping at his bloody hand.

I wondered why he was reacting so badly, I was sure he had seen much more blood than that, and it was only a couple weeks ago that he got back from the war.

His eyes slowly raised to my arm, then he seemed to crumple a little bit. His shoulders drooped some, the corners of his eyes were strung tight, and his mouth hung open slightly, but tilted down at the edges.

Matthew appeared beside Nick, and glared down at me. "You were supposed to clean that up and bandage it."

"You knew she was injured and you didn't tell me?" Nick snapped at Matthew.

"She insisted on not going to you. She didn't want you to pull her out of training for the day."

Nick's eyes bore into me with that signature 'Nick glare' that could melt a desert. I looked down, and found I had blood on my boot. "Wow, how did that get there? I wonder if it's 'the jerk's' blood? If it is it would have had to have come from where I nailed his face into the ground…" My mind suddenly jumped back to the matter that was at hand, as Nick cleared his throat.

I looked up, to find that he was fighting the corners of his mouth, as they tried to turn upward against his will. He was laughing at me… and probably all the faces I made while I was spaced out.

"I should have told you." I said. His face immediately became sober.

"Yes. You should have. But I understand why you didn't." He said in a quiet voice.

I smiled at how easily that had been cleared up, "I love you."

He grinned, "I love you, too… That's why I don't want you to get hurt in any way. You deserve a pain free life." He paused, "I promise, someday we'll have lives where all we have to know to survive is how to make a sandwich." He said gravely. I knew he was refering to the war, and how I was having to train for it.

"Again, I love you so much." I said as I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

When I pulled away from him there was something in his eyes that I couldn't read. It was like a burning mischief.

"I thought I would never get to see the day when you two finally said those words. Well I say it's about dog-on time." Matthew interjected in a grumpy old man voice.

"Officer Ralph Henderson reporting, Sir." A strong voice said from beside Nick. I turned and found a tall man dressed in an official looking uniform, he had a salute aimed at Nick. Nick untangled from my arms, and saluted back. The man named Ralph dropped his hand to his side, and continued standing at what I guessed to be attention.

"What's your report, Henderson?" Nick said in a tone of major authority.

"All the men are gathered that we were able to contact today, sir. Several men refused to work under a woman. But the ones that were rational came easily enough." He said this all on one breath. And I couldn't help but wonder how big his lungs were to be able to do that.

"Good. Continue trying to contact those others. I don't care if they live across the world. I want them." Nick replied.

He brought the salute up again, but to my surprise he didn't drop it when Nick saluted back. I wondered what he was doing. His eyes flickered between me and Nick. Nick cleared his throat and nudged me, "He needs you to salute before he's authorized to leave." He said bluntly.

"Oh!" I said as I quickly copied them, and put my hand to my forehead before dropping it back to my side. Ralph walked away with an uncomfortable frozenness on his face that I didn't think I'd ever be able to achieve.

"Okay, now for the fun to begin." Nick said as he turned me towards the throng of men.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered. All eyes were suddenly turned towards me. And the looks on the men's faces varied from doubtfulness, to disgust, to hatred. The only really cheerful smiles came from Andrew and Jonathan who waved when my gaze passed over them.

"You, are going to pick out your army." Nick said with a smile.

"Oh crap, It's true!" Bell exclaimed with big eyes.

(A/N)

Hey!

New chapter has been updated!

I'm sorry it took so long.

But to make up for it I made it an extra long chapy :)

If you don't understand anything just give me a holler, and I'll clear things up for you :)

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A Classic Criminal.

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