Training in the Dark

She walked over close to him and sat down with her back against a dark, shadow-covered tree. "Not at all. For now, anyway. I need to rest too."

Alex nodded. After a few minutes pasted, he spoke again, surprising himself. "What were they like, Nina?" He asked quietly as he looked up at the sky.

"Hm?" She asked as she played with a few strands of her own hair. It had gotten quite messy in the fight and she was trying to fix it. "What were who like?"

He paused nervously, biting his lip. "Mom and dad. What were they like?" He repeated.

That suddenly made her hesitate. What should she tell him? "Well, uh," She began, over-thinking it. "Your mother was very nice. Jasmine would try her best to do the best for everyone, including Korari who might not have been the greatest. You see, my brother was rather.. selfish and hateful. He wasn't really the greatest brother, but that's mainly because of what happened to us when we were a lot younger."

He turned towards Nina and propped himself up on his hands. "What happened?" He asked. No matter how much he tried to act grown up, no matter all of the things that have happened, Alex was still a little kid. Sometimes, in his weaker moments, that would show through. And now? Dude, this is freaking story time.

Storytime=5 year old time :D

"Well, what started it all was when our parents abandoned us. I was only four at the time and Korari was around twelve. Our father had just randomly decided to blow up on us over a little bit of spilled blood and then he stormed off back into his room. After a few hours, Korari wanted to check on them but when we entered the room, they were gone. All of their things were packed up and gone. They never returned. They just left me and Korari to fend for ourselves and it didn't help any that Korari was being picked on at school," She sighed. "Yeah. He went to a public school in the middle of the day and almost everyone hated him. That's when it all started..." Her voice suddenly trailed off until she was silent. She wasn't sure if she could go on anymore. It pained her too much to try to continue.

Alex frowned. "Please go on..." He said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I want to know about my father."

She sat there for a moment trying to think of how to word it. She didn't want to make her brother come out as a bad guy even if that was what he was. "Well, as you know very well, he had to learn to control himself except he had to do it on his own. Because of this, it took him forever to learn to control blood lust. Well one day, he was still going to school like normal because it was just what we were used to. As he was walking to school, those stupid kids who always picked on him started to get violent that day for some reason completely unknown. Well, because of that.. Korari lost control and... killed them. After that, he never truly gained his control back so that's all he really was was a monster. He didn't mean for it to be that way. It's just how it turned out. After a while, he finally just gave up on the struggle of keeping himself together and just became the monster, and when he tried to cage it again, it wouldn't go down without a fight so he starved himself until Hikari finally killed him."

The forest floor suddenly seemed way more exciting then everything else. He picked up a leaf, trying to think over the story. "So... My dad... Was a monster..." he frowned, and hastily rubbed his eyes. Why exactly was he seeking revenge, if his dad was... Well who he was? It seemed more personal now. He enjoyed having a purpose, and he enjoy spending time with Nina, and he enjoyed fighting, and... See? He realized that it wasn't as much for revenge, though that was a big factor, as it was the thril.
He looked up to see that he wasn't the only one fighting a mental battle. "Are you okay, Nina?" Sure, she wasn't as bad as him at controlling her feelings, but still she seemed upset about talking about the past. He suddenly felt bad about making her tell him the story.

"But it wasn't his fault," Nina complained angrily. "He was the nicest guy you would ever meet. He wouldn't even hurt a fly. Until my parents left... and then he snapped. He wasn't a monster, he was just misunderstood." She then sighed to hold the tears back. "And I'm fine. Delighted. Happy, whatever."

Alex frowned. "You don't look fine. Nor delighted. And happy isn't really on my list of descriptive words for you right now. I'm sorry Nina, I shouldn't have brought it up." he stood up and wiped his hands off on his jeans.

"No its not your fault. Korari's life just shouldn't have ended that way," she said through gritted teeth. "And I cant just let Hikari go without feeling the same fate."

Alex nodded, determination shining once more in his eyes. "Exactly." He nodded, and then reached out his hand to Nina. "Do you want to continue training?" He asked, something in his tone saying that he expected a yes, or at least wanted one.

Nina lglanced up at Alex before looking down at his outstretched hand as she tried to think if she wanted to or not. When she made up her mind, she grabbed onto his hand and used him as support to fling herself to her feet before her fist aimed straight for his face as quick as it could.

Alex cursed loudly in surprise, and barely made time to turn his face so that she hit his cheek intead of head on. He smiled, even through the pain. "Nice one, aunty Nina." He said, focused again. Wasting no time, he calculated his next move, which barely toke a second. Then he stepped forward, jabbing her in the stomach, before darting away again. He keep his face expressionless as before, leaving no sign of their earlier conversation.

Nina staggered backwards as the blow landed in her stomach. When she recovered, she gave him a small smile. "You're already doing very well. You learn very quickly. But here is a trick I learned very recently." Nina then darted towards Alex at an amazing speed with her fist ready, but as soon as she got close enough to him, she vanished... literally. In an instant she repoofed behind him with her foot making contact with his back pretty hard.

Alex cursed again as a sharp pain spread through his back. He landed on the ground, face first and didn't get up immedinately. Finally, he turned over, nose bloody from the fall. He didn't seem to mind. "How'd you do that?!" He asked in astonishment.

She laughed at his shocked face and bloodied nose. "It's something you learn over time. I seriously just learned it not a few days ago. It really helps in fights. Once you're a little older, you might be able to learn it."

Alex smiled and wiped his nose, leaving blood along with the mud on his sleeve. "Alright. I guess I can wait, but it wouldn't really be fair to use it in practice." He said, a slight warning in his voice. And jealousy.

Nina reached up and moved a stray strand of hair out of her face and stuck it behind her ear. "Fair? Nothing is fair, Alex, but I won't do it again. I'm just trying to prepare you for anything because in your life you could be fighting more than just casters. Of course, maybe not." She thought about it for a moment. "Either way, come at me again."

Alex sighed in understanding. "Makes sense... But are you sure you didn't just wanna show off your fancy powers?" He joked, his grin making a reappearance.

Her face suddenly mirrored his grin. "It was a little bit of both. But anyway, do you want to train or not?"

Alex nodded, and like so many times before in this topic, he grew serious once more. I tell you, this kid is bipolar or something. He was a little more observant this time when we moved forward mockingly before he stepped back, watching for any funny business. Then he advanced forward again, this time curving his route slightly, to where he would hit Nina at and angle when he ran by, fist ready and aimed at her face.

Nina's eyes never left Alex as he ran towards her rather quickly. It was only a split second when she put her arm up that his fist made contact not with her face but thankfully with her arm which had such a force that it still made her stumble backwards a few steps. As he ran past her, she used it to her advantage to try to land a blow in his side with her own fist.