p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"I just stared at her, the pain from the branding still causing me to bite my lip, more blood dripping out my new mask, "your petite belong to us, while here you will do as we say, or you will be punished. If you continue to disobey, you will be killed. Follow all the instructors' orders so you will be fed, be in bed by curfew, and get up when you are told in the morning. Now you will be taken to get your uniform and assigned an older girl to teach you our ways and language. Any failure, and she will be punished along with you, understand?" I just nodded yes. Madame B turns to a guard and says something in a language I didn't understand. /span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"He left the room and returned with a short, redheaded girl with stunning green eyes two minutes later. "This is Natalia Romanova; she with be responsible for you; follow her now."/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The guard released my straps, and I followed Natalia out of the room down a long hallway. Armed guards in black uniforms with black masks and automatic rifles stood at intervals. They would stare at us as we passed along the way. I turned to ask Natalia a question; however, she subtly shacks her head; no, I took this to mean. Do not speak. /span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"We continue in silence until we enter a room like a laundry; Natalia then turns to me and says something in that weird language. Natalia must have realized that I didn't understand because next, it was accented English, "What is your name?" I cocked my head to the side, studying her briefly before replying. "Persephone Jackson, yours?" my voice was quiet and scratchy from mostly screaming throughout my life ", Natalia Anastasia Romanova. Do you not have middle names where you come from?" Nodding to her, "We do, but I never knew it." She looked at me strangely. "How could you not know it?". Looking down sadly, I explained how my mother was murdered when I was one, and since then, I have only ever been called things like Worm, Brat and scum./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true""Then choose one" "I'll think of one; now, do we need to get a uniform? I don't want you getting in trouble." She quickly goes to the shelves and returns with a uniform consisting of underwear, grey trousers and a t-shirt. "Ok, let's hurry" I proceeded to get changed, happy to throw the sheet and belt into the trash. As we exit, she turns to me and makes a shushing motion; I nod and follow her. We head down the long hallway to a set of double doors; once inside, there are rows and rows of what appear to be beds. Natalia leads me over to a bed halfway along and points to it, "You can use this one; mine is the one just next to yours. The guards will be in shortly to handcuff us to the beds, so it's best to use the toilet now as you won't get another chance till morning". As I used the toilet along the back wall next to a heap of showerheads, I noticed no stalls or curtains; that didn't phase me as I had never had privacy. The room fills with girls who lie down on the beds and wait. I followed suit and lay down, realizing it was a table with a sheet and pillow. Guards begin to enter the room and handcuff the girls to the bed. The guard grabbed my left wrist and pulled it towards him; the pain from the brand was still fresh, and I flinched my arm back; I was suddenly punched in the stomach and thrown to the floor. He yelled at me in that language I learned was Russian; I didn't understand, so he hit me again, this time in the face. Natalia suddenly sat up in bed and yelled at the guard in Russian. "S/spanem style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"he is new; she doesn't understand Russian" The/emspan style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true" guard then backhanded Natalia so hard her head bounced on the table and screamed back, "She will learn". The guard then grabbed me and threw me on the bed./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"I let a single tear slip out when the guards locked the door behind them and left us alone in the dark-filled room. I could hear Natalia quietly sobbing from the hit she received from the guards. In hushed tones, I comforted Natalia." Thank you, Natalia, but please let them beat me instead of you; I am used to it". Natallia let out a large sniff. "I cannot. I am responsible for you". I sighed " Natalia, I will do everything I can to not get you in trouble. I've never told anyone this, but I'm not entirely blind in my left eye. I see colours where people's hearts should be, and your colours are the same as mine. I think because our colours match, I feel drawn to you. It is telling me to protect you". After explaining this slowly, Natalia's sobs stopped, and she asked, "What colours do you see for me?"/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Without hesitation, I replied, "Sea green, White, orange and neon Blue". After a moment of silence, Natalia whispered so softly I barely heard it, "I feel drawn to you too. Do you promise to protect me?" with my voice full of determination, "Natalia, I will protect you with my life". This time Natalia spoke stronger than before. "Then you will be Persephone Anastasia Romanova Jackson, but you'll be my Perci". "And you'll be Natalia Anastasia Jackson Romanova. But you'll be my Nat". as soon as I finished, Nat and I glowed a faint neon blue. "Did you see that, Perci? What do you think that was?" after thinking for a moment ", It felt like a connection was made. It's almost like I can feel you now. We should talk more another time; we need to sleep to survive, and we will survive. Goodnight, Nat". "Goodnight, Perci"./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The next day I understood fifty girls around my age slept, ate and trained with me from the moment I opened my eyes to the moment I passed out due to exhaustion or a bad hit. The training was overseen by Madam B, Demitri, their ballet instructor and Ivan, their training instructor. He was in the office when I arrived in the red room. /span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Time skip: 6 months/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The trainers discovered early that Perci developed strength, speed and endurance far faster than any they had seen. She also seemed to grow in height even though she was only four; she looked like a ten-year-old. On top of that, she picked up skills almost instantly and had already surpassed all other students. As a result, they trained her harder, and they were more ruthless with her, as it appeared the more her limits were pushed, the higher they went. By the end of the day, her feet bled, her arms were littered with purplish bruises, and all her muscles felt unbelievably sore. She never once screamed or shed a tear in front of the trainers and guards. This led to her getting randomly beaten often to try and make her scream; as a result of the guards focusing on Perci, fewer other girls were hit./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Another thing Perci and Nat discovered about their strange connection was that they could talk to each other in their heads and see through the eyes of the other. When they found that, it freaked Nat out, only seeing one eye and the weird colours in the other. But the most valuable skill was training together in their minds to improve. While Nat was not as good as Perci, she was still at the top of the class with her./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Today started out just like any other day. The double doors unlocked and were pushed open by the guards, who then proceeded to flip on the light, effectively rousing the rest who were not awakened by the door opening; Perci's sea-green eye followed the guards as they walked along, taking their time uncuffing the girls. When the guard got to her bed, Perci waited patiently, lying as still as possible. It was difficult as they discovered she had ADHD. Finally, the dark-haired guard uncuffed her and moved on to the next girl. Perci pulled the thin sheet off her body and swung off the bed to prepare for the day. Perci was both looking forward to and dreading breakfast as they only get two meals daily. It's only ever a spoonful of porridge with some chemicals that are supposed to make us stronger. She gets hers in a tube that fits her mask./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The first task was combat training. Due to my size and build being closer to a ten-year-old than a four-year-old and my flawless combat ability, I was always paired with a couple guards. However, one of the older students made a mistake. As the guard went to punish her, he put his hand on her shoulder, and without thinking, she flipped him. Once she realised what had been done, she went deathly pale as the trainer stopped the class. The girl, identified as Kristina, was called to the front of the class; Ivan then called me forward. Due to my connection with Nat, I could now speak and understand Russian "/spanem style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"You will fight Persephone; get into position"./em/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"I faced Kristina and saw the fear in her eyes and her lip tremble. I had no choice; I must fight to survive for Natalia; she needs me. So, I blanked my face of emotion, got into position, and waited. "begin"./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Kristina made the first move, throwing a kick to my face, which I dodged and swept her legs out from under her, making her fall flat on her back; she recovered quickly and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards her and headbutting me, breaking my nose with a sickening crunch. I winched in pain, feeling a rage stirring inside. I grabbed Kristina's arm, twisting it behind her back, causing her to flip onto her stomach while dislocating with a loud pop./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Kristina tried to roll and get me into a chock hold with her legs, but I saw it coming and threw an elbow into her thigh, causing her leg to go dead. I then wrapped my arms around her neck from behind. She started clawing at my arms, knowing this was the last thing she could do. I looked over to Madame B, who gave a curt nod. Then, without hesitation, I ended it. Even heavy with guilt, my determination to survive for Natalia was more vital. I need to protect her./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"After the body was removed, we returned to our training. A short time later, I saw Natalia at the shooting range. She refused to shoot the man with the sack over his head. The guard smacked her in the face sending her to the ground. I saw as he reached back and drew a knife. He knelt on her chest, preparing to slash or kill Nat. I could feel her fear through our bond, and then I heard her "Goodbye, Perci". I felt something inside me snap; I needed to Protect Natalia. I couldn't let her die. Suddenly I felt a massive heat spread throughout my body, the ground started shaking, and I Screamed. It sounded so unearthly as fire blasted from my body. Killing the three guards, I was training with, I sprinted in a blur of pure black flame, ripping the guard off Natalia and holding him by the throat as he clawed at my arm, screaming in pain. Then I realised that my whole arm was covered in Pure black flames. The flames continued to burn through his throat until the light left his eyes, and he stopped moving. As I turned to Natalia to see her wide-eyed, I felt a pinch in my neck as darkness overtook me. I smiled and said, " I will Always protect you, Nat."/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"He left the room and returned with a short, redheaded girl with stunning green eyes two minutes later. "This is Natalia Romanova; she with be responsible for you; follow her now."/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The guard released my straps, and I followed Natalia out of the room down a long hallway. Armed guards in black uniforms with black masks and automatic rifles stood at intervals. They would stare at us as we passed along the way. I turned to ask Natalia a question; however, she subtly shacks her head; no, I took this to mean. Do not speak. /span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"We continue in silence until we enter a room like a laundry; Natalia then turns to me and says something in that weird language. Natalia must have realized that I didn't understand because next, it was accented English, "What is your name?" I cocked my head to the side, studying her briefly before replying. "Persephone Jackson, yours?" my voice was quiet and scratchy from mostly screaming throughout my life ", Natalia Anastasia Romanova. Do you not have middle names where you come from?" Nodding to her, "We do, but I never knew it." She looked at me strangely. "How could you not know it?". Looking down sadly, I explained how my mother was murdered when I was one, and since then, I have only ever been called things like Worm, Brat and scum./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true""Then choose one" "I'll think of one; now, do we need to get a uniform? I don't want you getting in trouble." She quickly goes to the shelves and returns with a uniform consisting of underwear, grey trousers and a t-shirt. "Ok, let's hurry" I proceeded to get changed, happy to throw the sheet and belt into the trash. As we exit, she turns to me and makes a shushing motion; I nod and follow her. We head down the long hallway to a set of double doors; once inside, there are rows and rows of what appear to be beds. Natalia leads me over to a bed halfway along and points to it, "You can use this one; mine is the one just next to yours. The guards will be in shortly to handcuff us to the beds, so it's best to use the toilet now as you won't get another chance till morning". As I used the toilet along the back wall next to a heap of showerheads, I noticed no stalls or curtains; that didn't phase me as I had never had privacy. The room fills with girls who lie down on the beds and wait. I followed suit and lay down, realizing it was a table with a sheet and pillow. Guards begin to enter the room and handcuff the girls to the bed. The guard grabbed my left wrist and pulled it towards him; the pain from the brand was still fresh, and I flinched my arm back; I was suddenly punched in the stomach and thrown to the floor. He yelled at me in that language I learned was Russian; I didn't understand, so he hit me again, this time in the face. Natalia suddenly sat up in bed and yelled at the guard in Russian. "S/spanem style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"he is new; she doesn't understand Russian" The/emspan style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true" guard then backhanded Natalia so hard her head bounced on the table and screamed back, "She will learn". The guard then grabbed me and threw me on the bed./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"I let a single tear slip out when the guards locked the door behind them and left us alone in the dark-filled room. I could hear Natalia quietly sobbing from the hit she received from the guards. In hushed tones, I comforted Natalia." Thank you, Natalia, but please let them beat me instead of you; I am used to it". Natallia let out a large sniff. "I cannot. I am responsible for you". I sighed " Natalia, I will do everything I can to not get you in trouble. I've never told anyone this, but I'm not entirely blind in my left eye. I see colours where people's hearts should be, and your colours are the same as mine. I think because our colours match, I feel drawn to you. It is telling me to protect you". After explaining this slowly, Natalia's sobs stopped, and she asked, "What colours do you see for me?"/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Without hesitation, I replied, "Sea green, White, orange and neon Blue". After a moment of silence, Natalia whispered so softly I barely heard it, "I feel drawn to you too. Do you promise to protect me?" with my voice full of determination, "Natalia, I will protect you with my life". This time Natalia spoke stronger than before. "Then you will be Persephone Anastasia Romanova Jackson, but you'll be my Perci". "And you'll be Natalia Anastasia Jackson Romanova. But you'll be my Nat". as soon as I finished, Nat and I glowed a faint neon blue. "Did you see that, Perci? What do you think that was?" after thinking for a moment ", It felt like a connection was made. It's almost like I can feel you now. We should talk more another time; we need to sleep to survive, and we will survive. Goodnight, Nat". "Goodnight, Perci"./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The next day I understood fifty girls around my age slept, ate and trained with me from the moment I opened my eyes to the moment I passed out due to exhaustion or a bad hit. The training was overseen by Madam B, Demitri, their ballet instructor and Ivan, their training instructor. He was in the office when I arrived in the red room. /span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Time skip: 6 months/span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The trainers discovered early that Perci developed strength, speed and endurance far faster than any they had seen. She also seemed to grow in height even though she was only four; she looked like a ten-year-old. On top of that, she picked up skills almost instantly and had already surpassed all other students. As a result, they trained her harder, and they were more ruthless with her, as it appeared the more her limits were pushed, the higher they went. By the end of the day, her feet bled, her arms were littered with purplish bruises, and all her muscles felt unbelievably sore. She never once screamed or shed a tear in front of the trainers and guards. This led to her getting randomly beaten often to try and make her scream; as a result of the guards focusing on Perci, fewer other girls were hit./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Another thing Perci and Nat discovered about their strange connection was that they could talk to each other in their heads and see through the eyes of the other. When they found that, it freaked Nat out, only seeing one eye and the weird colours in the other. But the most valuable skill was training together in their minds to improve. While Nat was not as good as Perci, she was still at the top of the class with her./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Today started out just like any other day. The double doors unlocked and were pushed open by the guards, who then proceeded to flip on the light, effectively rousing the rest who were not awakened by the door opening; Perci's sea-green eye followed the guards as they walked along, taking their time uncuffing the girls. When the guard got to her bed, Perci waited patiently, lying as still as possible. It was difficult as they discovered she had ADHD. Finally, the dark-haired guard uncuffed her and moved on to the next girl. Perci pulled the thin sheet off her body and swung off the bed to prepare for the day. Perci was both looking forward to and dreading breakfast as they only get two meals daily. It's only ever a spoonful of porridge with some chemicals that are supposed to make us stronger. She gets hers in a tube that fits her mask./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"The first task was combat training. Due to my size and build being closer to a ten-year-old than a four-year-old and my flawless combat ability, I was always paired with a couple guards. However, one of the older students made a mistake. As the guard went to punish her, he put his hand on her shoulder, and without thinking, she flipped him. Once she realised what had been done, she went deathly pale as the trainer stopped the class. The girl, identified as Kristina, was called to the front of the class; Ivan then called me forward. Due to my connection with Nat, I could now speak and understand Russian "/spanem style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"You will fight Persephone; get into position"./em/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"I faced Kristina and saw the fear in her eyes and her lip tremble. I had no choice; I must fight to survive for Natalia; she needs me. So, I blanked my face of emotion, got into position, and waited. "begin"./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Kristina made the first move, throwing a kick to my face, which I dodged and swept her legs out from under her, making her fall flat on her back; she recovered quickly and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards her and headbutting me, breaking my nose with a sickening crunch. I winched in pain, feeling a rage stirring inside. I grabbed Kristina's arm, twisting it behind her back, causing her to flip onto her stomach while dislocating with a loud pop./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"Kristina tried to roll and get me into a chock hold with her legs, but I saw it coming and threw an elbow into her thigh, causing her leg to go dead. I then wrapped my arms around her neck from behind. She started clawing at my arms, knowing this was the last thing she could do. I looked over to Madame B, who gave a curt nod. Then, without hesitation, I ended it. Even heavy with guilt, my determination to survive for Natalia was more vital. I need to protect her./span/p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="color: #0e101a; background: transparent; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true"After the body was removed, we returned to our training. A short time later, I saw Natalia at the shooting range. She refused to shoot the man with the sack over his head. The guard smacked her in the face sending her to the ground. I saw as he reached back and drew a knife. He knelt on her chest, preparing to slash or kill Nat. I could feel her fear through our bond, and then I heard her "Goodbye, Perci". I felt something inside me snap; I needed to Protect Natalia. I couldn't let her die. Suddenly I felt a massive heat spread throughout my body, the ground started shaking, and I Screamed. It sounded so unearthly as fire blasted from my body. Killing the three guards, I was training with, I sprinted in a blur of pure black flame, ripping the guard off Natalia and holding him by the throat as he clawed at my arm, screaming in pain. Then I realised that my whole arm was covered in Pure black flames. The flames continued to burn through his throat until the light left his eyes, and he stopped moving. As I turned to Natalia to see her wide-eyed, I felt a pinch in my neck as darkness overtook me. I smiled and said, " I will Always protect you, Nat."/span/p