• 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 | 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢

𝟔. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀

It was Thursday. Still a few days until the weekend came around, but it was more than enough time to start with trainings, the first session being at around 7am that morning. The sun was only just appearing, and the air was cold out in the courtyard, your group being the only one awake in the early hours.

"As I saw that most of you have knives that you use both as offence and defence weapons, today we will be focusing on only using them. We all have our own blades, and, in pairs, we are going to switch roles from attackers and defenders. It would be preferred if we didn't have to leave with major injuries"

Once again, you had to stand next to Yelena, unfortunately. You were shivering beneath your cloak, and you could visibly see that you weren't the only one suffering from the early morning temperature. You weren't even sure if you would be able to hold onto your knife correctly with the hand you could barely even feel.

The pairs were assigned, mixing both the volunteers and the women, and you didn't hesitate to bring your partner as far away as you could from the blonde soldier, so as to avoid her judgemental stare.

The man that stood before you seemed about as awake as you were, and you could see his hand shivering from the cold at his side. You started off easy, and as soon as you noticed that he was warming up, the two of you fought each other in a relatively safe way.

Though, one attack skimmed just a little too close to his chest for your liking, and you were quick to give him an apology, a bashful smile on your lips. He was actually quite a pleasant person to go against, and you were glad to try out your abilities with someone new.

A sudden yelp from one of the women put a halt to your defensive stand, however, and both you and your partner looked over towards where the sound had come from. On the ground, one of your comrades was pressing against her side, a red patch spreading across her white undershirt. The one who you presumed was the guilty doer was stood a few metres away from her.

"What is going on here?"

Concurrent to your own approach, Yelena tugged on her own comrade's shoulder, startling him. You leaned down to check up on the woman's state, instantly recognising that she would need her side patched up if she wanted to continue training any time soon. Turning around, you called over other members, who quickly took her inside the building.

The man had yet to speak up about what had happened, and you were starting to get impatient. As you stood up from your crouching position, you looked over at the volunteer, Yelena still at his side.

"What did you do? I thought we established that we weren't supposed to directly attack our opponents?"

He seemed anything but regretful of his actions as he looked back at you, knife still in his hand as it dripped with your companion's blood that had been shed just a few moments earlier.

"She had been going hysterical over me pulling her hair, and it was the only way I could think of to get her to calm down"

"Outright stabbing a comrade? In what moment did you think that would be a good idea?"

The clicks of your heels against the concrete sounded out as you approached the man, utterly bewildered by his way of thinking. What kind of people had Zeke even recruited to his group? You came up to his face, rage once again coming across your own. It was like you were surrounded by lunatics at this point.

"She is now going to have to take a few days off because of your unreasonable stunt. How are we supposed to train if we're going to start losing people like this?"

Rather than with an answer from the man himself, you were responded by the woman stood next to him, who, upon seeing your threatening stance against her ally, grabbed onto your own shoulder, pushing you away from him.