We Stay Together

Behind

Cohen was glaring, concentrating on what was right in front of her. She was focused, calmed although her fists hurt. She was getting used to the pain, at least that was a good thing. She was burrowing one of the squad's leather fingerless gloves for her fists. They were bruised and bright pink, only this time, she could handle the pain.

"Come on, stay focused," Hunter said.

Echo had his fists up too, in a ready position to throw a punch. She quickly blocked it with her arm and tried throwing one of her own but missed.

"Remember what I said. You have to be light on your toes," Hunter reminded her.

A drip of sweat slid down to her forehead, they had been training for a while now since the hyperdrive wasn't responding. Tech was working on getting it fixed as Hunter and Echo finally decided it was time to teach Cohen how to properly fight.

"You can't be afraid," Echo said, letting his guard down. "Pretend I'm a smuggler or a bounty hunter-"

Cohen then threw a punch unexpectedly hitting him right in the face. Echo lost his balance and placed his hand right where the pain began to spread.

"She-she just hit me!" He looked at Hunter as he massaged his face.

Hunter tried his best to not laugh. "How hard was it?"

"That was really hard," he backed away from Cohen.

"Good. That means she's getting better."

"You've got to be kidding," Echo scoffed.

"No. Now do it again. This time, try blocking."

Echo sighed but did as he was told. Cohen and he watched each other closely. Both light on their toes and blocking hits or ducking. Echo wanted to get under her skin as payback for what she did.

"I won't be going easy this time," he said.

"I'm counting on it," she replied.

"Your last punch was still weak," he said to get her mad.

"Funny, from what I can see, you're getting your melanin back."

The squad gasped, all stunned from the bickering back and forth.

"I think we've become a bad influence on her," Tech whispered over to the rest.

Echo clenched his jaw angrily and went forward, tackling her to the ground but it wasn't for long. She managed to escape his grasp and pin him down to the metal tiles from the ship. They fought, wrestling each other and trying to throw in some punches in between but continued to miss. Cohen finally tired once more. She gathered all her strength and so did Echo, thrusting their arms forward but instead of hitting each other's faces, their fists impacted.

"OW," they both fell on their backs, holding onto their own hands. They hadn't expected that at all, but it hurt so much. Everyone watched as they rolled on the floor in pain. Hunter quickly helped them up and sat them down.

"Are you alright?" he asked Cohen.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Echo interrupted.

Cohen rolled her eyes. "I'm okay, just that last hit was pretty bad." Hunter helped her take her gloves off and with his hands, he tried to soothe the pain as he massaged her fists.

"Hey," Cohen nudged Echo on the arm. "Sorry I hit you... and about my comment. I don't know what came over me." She was genuinely sorry about that.

Echo chuckled, "Eh, it's fine. It was the heat of the moment. Besides, you are getting better," he complimented. "So, am I really getting my melanin back?" He joked.