A/N: Hey guys! This story is progressing slowly, but we'll see how we can ramp things up. Enjoy!


My Monster

Chapter 3: Metal Marrow


"Are you going to sleep all day?" he teased. She squeezed her eyes tighter and grunted before fluttering them open to see him sitting on the bed, grinning down at her. She let out a soft sigh and an even softer whine at having to get up. "I said I would be waking you up for sword lessons. Unless you've changed your mind?"

"Not on your life, pal," she said as she forced herself up, stretching as the sheet fell to her hips. She got out of bed and grabbed her clothes off the floor. "Quit staring, pervert," she teased. He chuckled and shrugged as he stood as well.

"Go get dressed. I'll see you in the training grounds." She nodded as she lazily put her dress on before he kissed her temple and left.

She followed him out of the room, going to her own room to get some pants on. She lazily grabbed them out of her closet, pausing briefly as she saw herself in the mirror. Her face went from healthy pink to tomato red when she saw the marks on her neck. "Ben!" she hissed. She groaned and held her head with a heavy sigh. She supposed it wasn't that terrible since they were married, but for the love of god, she needed to cover this up. "Rose!" she called as she slipped a shirt on and quickly slid on her pants, grumbling under her breath the whole time.

Rose showed up in the doorway a few moments later with a bright smile. "Yes, Re- oh!" she said, stifling a giggle at the marks. She cleared her throat with a wide grin. "H-how can I help you?" she laughed.

Rey sent her a flat look, pointing at her neck. "Can you cover this?"

Rose burst into laughter again, wiping her eyes from the tears. "Yes, of course," she said, barely stopping her laughter. it was cute how embarrassed Rey was, but she understood why she wanted it covered. She quickly went over to the makeup drawer and grabbed a few things before returning to her side. "At this rate, you'll produce an heir in no time," Rose teased.

Rey blushed deeply. Her hand went unconsciously to her stomach, the mere thought of being pregnant terrifying her and exciting her at the same time. Could she really do it? Could she carry a child? Was she meant to carry a child? His child? Her cheeks burned at the thought. She let her hand fall to her side, deciding to brush it off for now. Now wasn't the time to get carried away. They still had to focus on cutting off Luke so he couldn't fund a war. The sooner they cut him off, the sooner they could worry about their personal lives. If there was one after this.

"All done," Rose said, voice chipper as usual.

Rey inspected herself in the mirror and smiled shyly. She was grateful, but she felt naked without it there, having seen it already. Would he be upset if he saw that she covered it up? Was that his way of showing the Knights without words how much he cared and cherished her? She gingerly touched the spot with a sigh and shook her head. She was overthinking everything. "You are. If you're more comfortable covering it up, cover it up." His voice sang in her head, giving her the motivation she needed to smile and decide to leave the cover there. Rose did work hard to cover it up, so she should leave it.

"Thank you, Rose. Can you lead me to the training grounds?" she asked with a smile, fixing her shirt to sit properly on her body.

Rose nodded and bounced out the room, followed by Rey. She led her down the hall, out the side, and past the hedges. There, she saw the training grounds. She heard a ruckus coming from the inside of the compound and smiled at Rose with a nod of thanks. Rose dismissed herself and Rey walked into the compound to see Ben circling the Knights live a vulture. His arms were crossed as he seemed to be scrutinizing the forms of the men. "Back up," he told her as he backed up himself.

She did as she was told as she made her way to his side before Ushar and Vicrul started fighting each other. Ap'lek and Trudgen stopped what they were doing to watch the fight, too. They came to stand next to Ben, watching on with much interest. The rest of the Knights gathered round, too. Ben kept his eyes glued on the two, watching the subtleties in each of their movements. "What are we looking for?"

"Watch their form. Look for their tells of when they're going to move." Rey focused her eyes on the two, darting between them as they seemingly danced around each other in a circle, neither one giving any signs of wanting to move toward the other. It was as if they were sizing each other up, deciding who would take the offense and who would be left with defense. "Vicrul will attack first."

"How do you know?"

"Vicrul has readjusted his footing twice already. It's slight, but you can tell he's preparing to lunge at Ushar. Watch."

Rey sighed softly in frustration. "You keep telling me to watch, but I don't know what I'm looking f-"

"There." Rey's eyes caught it, too. The slight tightening of his hand on his weapon. Their eyes were blank and deadly looking. They weren't wearing their normal armor either, she noticed. They were wearing something similar to their armor, but it was more beat up. She supposed it was training gear. Or sparring gear. She watched Vicrul and Ushar. They stopped circling. She blinked one more time and Vicrul lunged, just as Ben said he would. She watched their movements carefully. Ushar took on the defensive, parrying and blocking all of Vicrul's brutal attacks. She watched Vicrul sweep at Ushar's legs, the latter flipping out of the way as Vicrul turned the single sweep into a makeshift human tornado. Her eyes widened at his techniques. "Impressive..."

Ben smirked and nodded beside her. "He's had a lot of time to master that weapon. Many people wouldn't consider the scythe to be a good combat weapon, but he makes it work. Though, the attacks and variations are limited."

Rey continued to watch in awe. Vicrul stopped his human tornado of death, raising the handle to smack Ushar in the face, shoving him back off balance. Ushar grunted, holding his nose as he glared at him. "That was a cheap shot."

Vicrul shrugged with an arrogant grin. "No fouls, remember? Win by whatever means necessary." No sooner that he finished his words did he take off toward Ushar again, swinging, slashing, twirling, sweeping and spinning. Vicrul was a whirlwind of death, sort of like a grim reaper with a shorter scythe. She watched him doing a figure eight motion with the scythe, swinging it toward Ushar and keeping the man on the defensive.

Rey's brows pulled together then. "It's an offensive weapon... He's staying on the offense because he knows that it lacks defense... right?"

Ben grinned down at her. "You're catching on, I see." Rey smiled up at him, quickly turning her sight back to the fight. Vicrul continued his onslaught of Ushar, the smaller man defending perfectly as he jumped and flipped out of the way of his partner's attacks. It was only when Vicrul's scythe and Ushar's club made contact, they glared at each other.

"Ushar's about to take the offensive now. Watch his grip," Ben said, gently nudging her arm with his.

She turned her sight to Ushar now, zeroing in on his grip and position. Ushar tightened his grip on the handle of his club. It was his turn to grin as he shoved Vicrul off of him and went on the offensive. He swung the club, much the same way as Vicrul had with his scythe, in a figure eight motion, the heavier end with the kinetite generator being the point of impact. Vicrul bobbed and weaved out of the way, his footsteps retreating from Ushar's onslaught. Vicrul, having enough of the cat and mouse game, swung his scythe between Ushar's eight motion, only for it to be caught by the latter. Vicrul looked at him and Ushar used the end of his club to slam into the man's stomach, the concussion shoving Vicrul across the field away from him. Rey gasped, hands over her face in shock. "W-what was that!?"

Ben scoffed. "Kinetite generator. The more movement he can get in, the more it charges it. Once it's charged enough, he can release a concussive blast, like what you just saw."

Rey's mouth hung agape as she watched Vicrul struggle to stand, his back having hit the wall a little too hard. "That was a cheap shot, Ushar," he hissed, finally getting to his feet with a grunt, leaning against the wall for support.

"No better than the shot at my nose with your stupid stick," he countered, letting his club rest on his shoulder.

Vicrul scoffed under his breath, sending a glare over at Ben. Ben walked out in the field and made his way over to Vicrul. "Go get some rest. We need to have you at peak condition when we go on the mission in a few weeks."

"It's supposed to be-"

"I know, but plans changed. We're trying things a different way. I'll brief you later. Go rest. Have one of the maids patch you up."

Vicrul mumbled under his breath, but didn't fight Ben anymore. He nodded and limped off the field, glaring at Ushar, who followed close behind, helping his partner back into the castle. Rey could tell by the way Vicrul was grumbling at Ushar that he was unhappy how things ended. She flicked her eyes over at Ben to see what he would do next, only to see him staring back at the other Knights. "I shouldn't have to remind you that using your vibro-weapons is prohibited. It's a skill test; not a dominance test." The Knights all acknowledged him with a 'yessir' and Ben sighed heavily. "There's been a change of plans. All of you go get some rest. I'll brief you all tomorrow on the new plan. As of now, the mission is postponed. Dismissed."

The Knights looked amongst themselves, but didn't push it as they slowly left the training grounds. Rey's eyes followed after them with a soft sigh. She had no idea that the Knights were that skilled. Sure, she knew they had to have been very skilled to be able to take down whole countries by themselves, but she didn't know exactly what that entailed. Now that she'd seen it in person, she understood why she'd been told that Vicrul botched the mission to kill her. She understood fully now. She looked over at Ben to see him rolling up his sleeves. When he was done, he walked over to the weapon rack and grabbed a sword. It was long, but neither skinny nor thick. She supposed it was a standard sword. It was one like Ben carried normally. He approached her and presented it to her. She hesitantly took it by the hilt, looking at the craftsmanship of the whole thing.

Ben unsheathed his own from his side and stood next to her. "Basics for today. We'll work on footwork and stances." Rey nodded. "Show me how you think you need to stand when preparing for battle." Rey hesitantly put one foot in front of the other, crouching down just slightly with both hands on the sword in front of her, her arms rigid and her body bent at the waist as if she were leaning forward. Ben observed her take the stance, waiting for her to remain still. When she was done, she flicked her eyes over at him. He stopped himself from sighing, realizing she was a true beginner, a blank slate. He looked down at her foot positioning. He gave her a light shove from the side, making her falter and struggle to catch herself.

"Ben-"

"Front foot pointed forward. Back foot at an angle," he said as he helped her move her feet into the correct position. She looked down, taking note of her current stance. "If your feet aren't firmly planted, it'll be easy to push you over," he explained. She nodded, taking in every word he was saying. She resumed everything else, minus her fixed footing and he had to inwardly sigh to himself. She'd think he's picking on her, but he had to show her. He walked behind her and gave her another shove, making her stumble forward. Once she regained her footing, she glared at him. "Back straight up, otherwise-"

"Yeah... I'll stumble forward or backwards."

She sighed heavily, fixing her stance to where she was standing up straight. He walked over to her and placed both hands on her hips, pushing slightly so her weight was evenly distributed. She blushed softly at the movement. "Weight needs to be evenly distributed. Back straight. Body slightly lowered, so bend your knees just a little," he said, giving her a slight push down. She bent down a little, a slight crouch, but nothing too uncomfortable. Her thighs quivered a little from being used in a different way than she was used to. "Hold that position for a while," he said as he took the same stance beside her with his own sword.

"How long?"

"A while." She glanced over at him, observing his focus and his stance. It was perfect. Like he'd been doing it all his life. He probably has been, honestly. She looked at his legs and thighs and saw that they weren't quivering like hers were. Her core was starting to shake now, too, she noticed. She whipped her head back over to focus straight ahead, refusing to let herself get distracted by this dashing Duke next to her. She slightly wondered how much longer she'd be able to hold out. Minutes ticked by. Neither of them moved. Neither of them broke formation. "You're doing great," he purred through their connection.

Her cheeks burned at the compliment, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead as her stubbornness started to be the only driving force for her stance now. "Is it supposed to hurt this much?"

"It's only because you're using muscles you haven't used before. You'll stop noticing it after a while." He glanced over at her, not moving his head. "Do you need a break?"

She smiled at the concern in his voice. "I can go a little longer."

Ben's lips curled into a proud smirk as they kept their positions in silence. "Once you've built enough strength to hold this position, we can move on to finding out your fighting style and weapon choice."

"I assumed I'd use a sword. Is that not the case?"

"There are many weapons to choose from. Not everyone is cut out for the sword, and you shouldn't limit yourself to it either," he said as he jerked his chin over to the weapon's rack. She looked over at the rack, allowing her eyes to drift among the different weapons. "The Knights don't all use the same weapons. We all have different fighting styles. If we were all exactly the same, we wouldn't be very effective, would we?"

She gave him a small smile, moving her sight back to straight ahead. "I suppose not. But how will I know what weapon is right for me?"

"You'd have to give them all a shot until you find one that you're most comfortable with."

"Is that what you did?"

Ben was silent for a moment. "I didn't get a chance to." The tone of his voice was a somber one. She didn't fail to notice how upset he was about it. Thinking back, that was a stupid question. She knew he was forced into this life. Why would it be any different with choosing a weapon?

"Have you thought about giving other weapons a shot?"

Ben shook his head. "A sword is so familiar to me, I wouldn't know what to do with anything else," he snickered. She gave him a small smile then. After a few moments, he sighed and stood up, sheathing his sword. "Let's take a break." She nodded and allowed herself to plop onto the ground, lying on her back with a deep sigh. She held her stomach, feeling it cramping up from the exertion. She closed her eyes with a grunt. He couldn't help but grin as he sat next to her, pulling his knee up to rest his wrist on while the other propped himself up behind him. "Are you all right?"

"My stomach hurts," she breathed with a sigh. "And my legs are weak." She opened her eyes to see him smiling down at her, making her smile in return. "I'll keep practicing. But how long will it take until I can move on to actually using the sword?"

Ben shrugged. "That depends on you." She shot him a look. "We need to do this training fairly quickly. The more we wait..."

"The more people that are kidnapped... I know." She sighed heavily. "I'm going to practice often. As often as I can." Ben nodded. "How long are you giving me?"

Ben shrugged. "As long as I can. The Knights are still going to go on recon missions and attempt to track down the kidnappers, but if things pick up, or get worse, we need to be ready to go. I suggest you learn this stuff as quickly as you can."

Rey nodded, her brows pulled together in determination. She needed to get all of this memorized as quickly as possible. If she had any hope of helping them, she had to hurry and become proficient with what he was teaching her. She felt his hand on her stomach, gently massaging the muscles and making her squirm in response. It slightly tickled, but it was easing her muscles. She sighed in content as his thumb pressed over the part that was hurting the most. After a few moments, she cracked her eyes open to look up at him. "Thank you."

He smirked and pulled his hand away with a nod. "Ready to continue?" Rey nodded. He got to his feet quickly and offered her his hand. She took it and was pulled to her feet effortlessly, as if she weighed nothing at all. She kissed his cheek playfully and walked over to the weapons rack. What would she choose? She looked down at the sword in her hand. It felt all right. It was balanced enough, but it didn't feel... natural. She looked around at the different weapons. Mace. Morning star. Club. Cleaver. Lance. Bo staff. Twin sai. Daggers. There were too many to choose from. "The sword is the most balanced weapon, in my opinion. Do you want something lighter or heavier?"

"Um... definitely not heavier."

He nodded and lifted a mace, but quickly returned it to the rack, followed by a lance, bo and club. He offered the three to her and she took one at a time, weighing it out carefully. She'd decided that the best option was the bo staff. The lance was too front heavy and the club was too front heavy, too. "I wish there was a way to join the sword and staff together," she said with a small wistful smile.

Ben gave her a small shrug. "There may be a way, but I'll have to look into it." Rey nodded quietly. "For now, you're choosing the staff?" Rey nodded again. "All right. So we went over the starting stance. Try to stand comfortably with the staff." He watched her hesitate, as if debating how the proper way would be. At least he knew she was taking it seriously. With a long sigh, she settled on a stance. He watched her slide her foot backwards, at an angle as with the sword. She bent both knees and held the staff rigidly in front of her. Ben couldn't help but laugh. She sent a glare over at him. "You're so… stiff. No matter what stance you do, you're always so stiff and rigid. Relax a little."

Rey sighed softly and stood up straight, accepting defeat. "I have no idea what I'm doing so it's a little hard to relax when every move I make is the wrong one."

Ben frowned. "That's why you need to learn." Rey quirked a brow at him then. He walked to her side with a small smirk. He held her hands in his over the bo, adjusting them to hold the staff the right way. "You have a small build, so you want to keep your hold small, too, for more strength and speed." He adjusted her hands on the staff gently so that her right hand was facing down and her left was facing up, dividing the staff in thirds mentally. He positioned her hands to hold the staff accordingly, each hand at a third the length of the bo. "One up, one down, hold the staff in thirds. This gives you better leverage," he said as he walked behind her, holding her hands and maneuvering the bo in her hands with his. He spun the bo in a figure eight, then abruptly stopped to strike straight ahead.

She gasped at the unexpected movement. She risked a glance up at him, finding all of this thrilling, but rather involved. She had to say that she found it comforting that he was so well versed with the weapons. "So… how do I stand with this thing then?" she asked, distracting herself from her affections in lieu of learning more.

He stepped back and observed her stance. "That depends. What is your goal?"

Rey shrugged. "You're asking me questions I don't know how to answer." Ben sighed softly. "For the sake of argument! let's say offense and speed."

Ben nodded as he stood behind her again. "Back leg out far enough to support most of your weight." Rey positioned herself as told, finding it hard to hold the position effectively. He put his hands on her waist to steady her. She let out a sigh of frustration. "Don't get frustrated. I told you it would take time." She nodded curtly. "Only the ball of your other foot touches the ground." She did as she was told and the rest of her body followed suit. He watched her pull the staff up, crossing her body diagonally. She looked rather elegant, if he had to be honest. "That looks about right. How does it feel?"

Rey thought about it for a moment. "Comfortable enough, I suppose."

"Once you get used to the basics, you can experiment with your own form and stances. For now, just get used to holding the weapon and wielding it. We need to train your muscles for the workload."

Rey relaxed her stance with a sigh. "Makes sense."

"I think that's enough for today. Keep practicing the stances and we'll train again in a few days." Rey nodded and kissed his cheek, whispering a soft thanks. He nodded quietly. "You're as stubborn as I was when I started. You'll pick it up quickly. But, Rey," he said, earning her attention. "Don't overdo it."

She gave him a grin. "I won't."