Edited.
*Noella's POV*
She looked down at Booker, and a genuine smile spread across her face. He glared up at her, still groaning in pain. She laughed a real laugh and held her hand out to help him up for the sixth time. She had pretty much beaten all of the boys at least once. Joe seemed to be the best fighter out of the boys while Nicky was a closer second than Booker. He smacked her hand away and closed his eyes, groaning some more. Probably cursing her out in multiple languages in his head. Noella laughed out loud again, still looking down at him.
"Come on old man, I want round seven." She smirked. He was a great fighter, just way too cocky. Every time he's on the verge of winning. He shows his tells and gets sloppy. Booker just rolled over and pretended not to hear her.
Honestly, Noella felt that; She has had her fair share of beatings today, most coming from the skilled hands of Andy, she's terrifying. All of their fights have lasted less than two minutes, her skill and speed are unlike any opponent Noella's ever faced. That woman is scary.
Joe has gotten her more than she has him, giving her a real challenge, he was her favorite opponent.
Nicky had the upper hand on her, but just barely, he's very creative with his style. He was a good opponent, and Noella was certain if she hadn't caught him by surprise that day, the fight would not have been as easily won.
Noella did finally get to see her healing in action. Andy broke her arm and watching the bone line itself up was... weird to say the least, and not something she planned on repeating any time soon. It distracted her enough to gain looks from the others, they still could not believe that it was the first time. It's like they expect her to run into danger, and while yes, that does happen frequently. She was quite sensible when she needed to be, and Noella took little comfort in knowing the Impending sword lesson would likely need that above average healing.
Thinking back, she probably should have been kinder to Booker, he's not going to go easy on her anymore. I may have misjudged this whole situation. Curse being competitive and not planing ahead in the face of a challenge.
"Let's get lunch, then we can start with the swords." Andy said, already walking back inside with Joe and Nicky on her heals. Noella paled at her words, and then even more when Booker shot her a smile from the ground. I was a dead man.
"Book, you know I love you right?" She said unsurely, giving him a shy smile.
"Do I?" He grunted, pulling himself off the ground. "I don't think I got that impression."
Noella took off after that, racing back to the kitchen. She slid into the kitchen and her chair and gave the three an innocent look. Booker followed not long after, giving everyone a smile. Yeah, like she said, she was a dead man. The three gave them puzzled looks before finding their food more interesting. As they were scarfing down the food Andy went back into instructor mode.
"Have you ever worked with a sword before?"
"No. I do have some training with daggers and staffs. But I assume actually fighting with swords is different."
"Very. You may have had the upper hand on us earlier, but now it's our turn." Booker said in a perkier than usual tone.
Noella paled at his words, already imagining the number of cuts soon to be in these new clothes. She briefly wondered how long an arm would take to grow back. Actually... If she were to be beheaded, how would she heal? Head down? Or body up? I need answers.
Noella stared off into the distance trying to determine which was more likely, and whether or not she should risk asking that question and Booker getting and idea. Luckily Andy pulled her out of that rabbit hole before she ended up in wonderland.
"We will run you through the basics first. Then we can start with some easy sparring." Andy said, making direct eye contact with Booker.
"That's not fair!" He yelled.
"She has no experience with swordsmanship, and you do. It would be cruel of us to throw her into a ring to be a human pin-cushion for you to take your anger out on."
Booker muttered something about favoritism under his breath, already sulking. It earned a kick from Nicky under the table that did not go unnoticed by the rest of them. He just smiled and started to pretend he did nothing wrong.
The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Noella mostly tried to prepare myself for the rest of day. She hasn't really had to defend herself since her time at the prison, other than the time in the alley. This was going to bring up some bad memories, especially when the first cut is made upon her skin. She was positive they all noticed the shift in her behavior, although they could not know the reasons for it.
"We are going to start you with a shorter sword, when we believe you have mastered that, we will start you on dual wielding." Andy said getting up to clear her plate.
They all followed suit, the rest joking around and acting as a family would. Noella kind of just held back, no longer in the mood to be her usually cheerful self.
Joe and Nicky were the ones to walk her through the basic forms and motions that she would need to know before starting any actual fighting. It took hours before she was able to make them consistently and accurately. They were very patient teachers, always listening to her complaints and adjusting to her size and stature. However, she could tell they weren't used to being instructors, as they would often have to act it out in order to explain it. It was all instinct and muscle memory for them.
Surprisingly, Booker was also very instructive, stepping in when Joe and Nicky failed to find a constructive explanation. Andy was oddly quiet, she had perched herself on the table and was watching quite intently. Noella was sure she was analyzing her weaknesses, finding new ways to torture her.
"Joe, you are sparring with her. I don't trust Book to go easy on her for the first time." Turning to Noella she whispered "You will do fine, just remember the forms, the rest will come later." Clapping her on the back, she walked out of the ring, perching herself back on the table.
Joe did his best, and while it wasn't necessarily a quick fight, he could have ended it multiple times. He likely kept going to give her some more experience, however, she knew the slow pace was killing him. Afterwards he commented on how well she kept my forms and that extra skill would only come with time. It did little to make her feel better, it felt like a consolation prize.
With Nicky she felt that she did better, the movements were more fluid, and she actually felt like it wasn't an entirely one-sided fight. He was very patient with her and would often stop in the middle of the match to correct her and adjust her form slightly before resuming where they had left off. Like the other match it was over relatively quickly, despite the prolonging for instruction.
Noella knew that no matter how hard she tried she would not be able to avoid the match she had been dreading all day. Booker looked gleeful, and Noella knew that while he may not fight his hardest, blood would be drawn this match.
As usual, he was the first to strike, a typical Booker move. Their blades clashed as the power of the swing moved all throughout her body. She swung back at him, which he blocked easily before moving for a well-placed strike to her shoulder.
Noella barely blocked it moving her body to a more favorable position. He had reach on her, and while she may not be able to win this by her swordsmanship alone, she might be able to outsmart him. After all, his fatal flaw was pride, and he was not expecting much out of her.
She closed the distance between them and tried to place a jab towards his core. He stepped back and swiftly moved out of the way.
He was bringing his sword down towards her body. She ducked under his arm and managed to get behind him, hoping to catch him in his swing.
He anticipated this move and was already bringing his sword towards her shoulder when she looked up, drawing a line down her arm that swiftly healed, successfully drawing first blood. Noella moved back and tried to focus her attention back towards the battle ahead, fighting back the memories from overtaking her.
She could see Joe and Nicky out of the corner of her eye, they moved forward slightly and had concerned expressions on their faces. Even Andy looked put off by the distant expressions that crossed her face.
She steadied herself and started moving towards Booker again; She faked a lunge forward and twisted when he brought his sword into the empty dirt. Using that momentum, she managed to scratch his arm, leaving a line of red.
I hit something! She was giddy.
Noella saw approval flash in his eyes before he did some overly complicated spin move and swept her legs out from under her, using his arms to slam her into the hard ground.
Her vision filled with black spots and she groaned at the feeling, slightly shifting to adjust her core and what she assumed were a few broken ribs. She could see his smiling face looking over her as he basked in the warmth of his victory. Asshole.
"You did good kid, started getting the hang of it towards the end there." He said holding a hand out towards her.
"I'm just going to lay here for a bit, if you don't mind?" Noella panted, trying not to move.
He shrugged and just walked off with a slight skip in his step, clearly pleased with himself.
Not too much longer, Joe and Nicky came over and hauled her off the ground, both wore matching grins of approval. She knew that she had made real progress, they told her as much. Noella just hated that she had lost. She had been an overachiever her whole life, and losing did not bode well with her.
She sparred a few more times, improving with each match, still never winning. Andy did not participate in this type of training, claiming that she does not go easy on people and Noella would likely be healing an entire arm after she was done with her.
When Andy signaled the end of training it took everything Noella had not to collapse on the ground and take a nap right there. She was beyond worn out, and that's why when Joe and Nicky were chosen to cook dinner she did not complain at the lack of task. Instead, Noella just moved to the couch and tried not to fall asleep.
It was a quiet meal, other than the remarks about her training and how quick of a learner she was. Maybe in a few decades she would be as good as Andy.
Decades. That was still a strange thing to her. Noella hasn't even been around two decades, and they threw the word around like it meant nothing, and to them it probably did. She wondered when time would end up meaningless to her, just another year in an endless amount of them. She hoped never. If each day didn't mean anything, what stopped her from becoming just like everyone else. Her entire life had been built on the idea of helping people, fighting for those who couldn't fight for themselves. She needed the fight, but what happens when the fights are over?
She was the first to retreat to her room and she jumped in the bath immediately. She was filthy and the hour she took in there was well worth it.
Noella didn't bother looking through the drawers of her dresser and just threw on the first over sized T-shirt she could find before thinking about how she would spend my night. She knew that if she slept her dreams would only be filled with memories and she couldn't handle that right now. Instead, she just opened her window and sat on the ledge, looking at the stars.
Surprisingly, Andy and Booker were the first ones to turn in for the night; She could hear their goodnights and the stairs creaking as they went to their respective rooms. Both paused at her door but didn't enter. Noella just brushed it off and stared off into space, trying to remember the stories behind each constellation.
Joe and Nicky were next, only this time they actually entered her room. Both were shocked to see her still awake.
Joe was the first to speak "What are you still doing up?"
"I don't really want to sleep tonight." Noella said tiredly, not even bothering to lie, before turning back to the stars.
She could hear them both moving closer, likely sharing some meaningful looks as they figured out how to deal with their teenage delinquent.
"Nightmares again?" Nicky spoke softly.
Surprisingly, she wasn't in the mood to lie today so she didn't. "I already know tonight's going to be a bad one. Why bother going to sleep if I know I'm going to wake up screaming?"
A pause. "You can stay with us if you would like?" Joe cleared his throat. "We both had nightmares after we died the first time. You don't have to deal with them alone."
Noella slowly turned around to look at the men. They both had sincere expressions, meaning that they actually meant what they offered. She just didn't know what to do, on the one hand she might actually get a good nights sleep. On the other she could end up disturbing them, and they don't deserve that extra burden after how kind they have been.
She turned back to the stars. "I would hate to burden ya'll. From what I can tell, none of you guys ever sleep."
"We wouldn't have offered if it was going to be a problem." Nicky said looking down at her.
She hesitated. "If you're sure?" Noella spoke unsurely as she weighed the options in her head again before sighing. "Let me grab my blanket."
She got up and grabbed the blanket she had latched onto in Moscow. Turning to look at the guys, she saw that they looked slightly surprised. They were already waiting at the door for her.
"What?" Noella spoke nervously, fiddling with her fingers.
"Its just... Well, that shirt. It was Joe's." Nicky said sheepishly. "And that's the blanket that was in the Moscow apartment."
"Oh... I'm sorry, I can give them back." She said quickly before moving to fold the blanket.
"No!" Joe said quickly. "We all put something of ours into your dresser, so you would have something when we got here. We just find it ironic you picked the thing I donated."
Nicky gestured to the door and she followed Joe out and down the hall. Their room was exactly how she expected it to be. Comfortable. It had a huge bed in the middle of the room and multiple chairs scattered around. She also noticed the balcony that had a great view of the surrounding countryside.
When she looked back at them, they had already settled into the bed leaving her a spot to the left of Joe, with Nicky on his right. Both were watching her, with concerned expressions. She shook her head and gripped her blanket tighter before making her way over and slipping into the bed quietly. As soon as she was comfortable, Nicky switched off the lights and only the moon was left.
They both fell asleep quickly, and she followed shortly after, lulled by the sounds of their breathing. For the first time in weeks, Noella had a peaceful, dreamless sleep. Maybe hanging around wouldn't be such a bad thing after all?
Authors Note: If you liked what you saw, please don't forget to vote! As always if you have any critiques, please don't hesitate to let me know and I will look into them!