'You are doing a great job honey', I heard my mother's voice from behind me. I had been practicing my second element, water, the whole day. And because it was my mother's specialty, she helped me. A little cup filled with water from the tab stood on the table outside our house.

It was very warm today. The sun was shining brightly and my mother had her big straw hat on. She only wore it in the summer, when she wanted to protect her head from the sun. To me, that hat presented the sunny days of summer.

I had succeeded in lifting the water out of the cup a couple of inches and letting it fall back in gently and now I wanted to make a small waterspout. It didn't go very well, however. I just couldn't seem to make the water turn.

My mother saw that I got frustrated when it didn't work so she turned me around and looked me in my eyes. I had tears in my eyes because I was disappointed in myself. 'It is okay to cry Aayala. But when something doesn't work out, try and find another way, another solution', she said to me sweetly, hands on my cheeks.

I smiled at her. If she believed I could do it, so did I. So when I turned around again and looked at the water, I let her belief in me help me turn the water into a little tornado. I couldn't hold it long, but I didn't have to. I did it.

'Never forget that you can always do more than you think you can if you just believe in yourself. I will always believe in you'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Months passed, I went on more missions and kept training with Vers. In the days or weeks I was on missions, she would train on her own and show me the progress she had made when I came back. I had to admit, I missed her when I was on missions. The contrast between the emotionless faces of my fellow Soldiers and the smile Vers always wore on her face, was big.

I missed her happy aura that made me feel content. She was the only one who had ever made me feel that way again after I had lost my parents.

I could tell she felt the same way about our trainings. She would tease me, dare me or challenge me. Anything to get a reaction out of me. And if she succeeded, her face lit up like she had won the lottery.

She had her powers under enough control that we started doing hand-to-hand combat again, but with usage of powers. Of course I wouldn't use my fire, I didn't want to burn her pretty face off, but I came a long way with my wind and water which didn't hurt her that much.

I had to look out for her photon blasts though. She almost burned my pretty face off once.

She felt really guilty about that at first, but we laughed about it later. Besides, I got back at her by blowing her legs away from under her with a big gust of wind. She landed on her face and had a small bump on her head for about a week. She could laugh about it though.

It was also impossible to ignore her little flirtations towards me every now and then. I did my best to push down the blush that came on my face every time she did so, but she didn't make it easy for me.

Going back to hand-to-hand meant a lot more touching than I wanted and I just couldn't ignore how my skin burned where she touched it. I tried to convince myself that it was just her powers, but I had to admit that we had subtly gotten a lot closer than I wanted to. I did not like to be touched, but it was a strange dislike. I did not like it, because I craved it too much. I wanted to be held very tight so I would not break.

I was so torn and my head was at war with my heart.

I had put up a wall around my heart the moment I arrived on Hala and promised myself that I would never let anyone in again. My heart was broken by the death of my parents and I wanted to protect myself against ever feeling like that again.

But my father's words kept going around in my head, telling me that without love, any kind of love, life was not worth living. My heart believed that and I could feel that his words were true. So I wanted to let her in, but my head was yelling at me. It was like I had my own angel and devil in my head.

The devil warned me about the risks and pointed me to my training, everything I had learned in my years on Hala. Emotions are a distraction, especially the powerful ones like hate and love. It always seemed to come down to those two emotions didn't it?

Hate and love, Devil and Angel. Two opposites fighting for the throne in my body and I was caught in the middle.

It was so tiring. I couldn't sleep anymore and had trouble concentrating. Something that, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Vers. She had asked me a couple of times if I was feeling okay, but I had just brushed it off. She had learned by now not to ask me any personal questions, even though I saw that she wanted me to open up to her.

I was thinking about ending our trainings and making sure I didn't see her that much anymore. But when I thought about it, I felt a sadness in my body. So I decided to just wait until she didn't need me anymore.

I knew I was just postponing the inevitable, but I didn't want to say goodbye to her now.

However, one day, it looked like I didn't have much of a choice anymore.

It was about two years after I first started training her and I actually felt good that morning. I had slept a little after I had taken some sleeping tablets, something I normally never did, and my head felt clear for the first time in a long time.

I almost walked to the gym with a skip in my step, which probably looked very ridiculous, but I couldn't care less.

Vers saw something had changed in my demeanor when I walked in and knew this was one of my better days.

She had had to deal with a lot of my mood swings recently and she never knew how I was going to show up every morning, but she gave me the same smile every damn time.

Some days I felt really confused and angry at her for messing with my head like this, so I wouldn't talk to her for a week. Other days I just showed nothing and on some rare days, I would actually have a little fun with her.

This was one of those days.

'You look happy today', she laughed at me.

'Yes, I actually slept for more than four hours last night so I am ready to kick your ass', I taunted her.

'Ha, you wish', she played along with my little game, when in fact, she had never kicked my butt before. I don't know if she was just holding back when she was fighting me, but she had never actually put me on my ass. She could if she wanted to. She could blast me with one of her photon blasts and I would end up on the floor thirty feet away. But she had never done that before, so I won fair and square every time.

'The day you can put me on my ass, Vers, is the day I will actually believe that', I challenged her, laughing.

'Alright, come on then, I will show you that I can', she dared me.

'Let's go, I am very curious now' I laughed. I stepped in front of her, ready for her attack.

She threw a mean right hook at my jaw that I did not see coming and I ducked just in time. 'I guess I had that coming' I quickly stood up again.

'That was payback for the one you threw at me the first time you attacked me', she said seriously though with a smile in her eyes.

'I think mine was a little harder though', nudged her.

She smiled a little. 'Shut up, I need to concentrate' I was a little surprised at her telling me to shut up, but I just did as she said, wanting to see how this would play out.

She tried to trick me into thinking she was going for a jab at my ribs, when in fact her foot tried to swipe my legs away. I caught her at the last second and jumped over her leg. This continued for a while and she got more and more frustrated she couldn't land a big hit at me. She had hit me a couple times, but not enough to put me down.

When I saw her frustration take over, I blew a gust of wind at her legs so she fell on her butt. Now she looked pissed. 'What the hell did you do that for?! I almost had you!', she said annoyed.

'No you were letting your frustration take over again. Clear your head and try again', I smiled when she pouted like a little child and extended my hand for her to take. But she wouldn't have any of it and stood up on her own.

'You are going down, Aayala' She got ready to attack me again and she looked even more determined than last time.

'That is what you said last time, Vers', I baited her.

'Watch me'

I expected it to go the same way as before, but it looked like she had learned her lesson this time. Her actions were calculated and she anticipated my moves. And after almost two years of training together, she knew my almost every move.

She landed some mean kicks and hits at me, which seemed to encourage her even more, when suddenly she made a move at me that I forgot I had taught her. And I was laying on my back on the floor.

I was so stunned that I didn't even realize at first that she had pinned me down, sitting on top of me, my wrists restrained by her hands. My surprise must have shown on my face because she smiled from ear to ear with a victorious look in her eyes.

'You didn't see that coming did you?', she asked.

But I didn't react because I had finally gotten aware of the position we were in and Vers seemed to realize now too, because her cheeks turned a deep red and I felt mine did too.

However, instead of letting me go and getting off of me, she brought her head closer to mine. Where this woman got her confidence from, I had no idea, but sometimes I wondered if she had a death wish.

'Well isn't this awkward', she murmured in a low voice that sent shivers down my spine. All I could feel was her skin on me and I drowned in her brown eyes. I always believed that you could only drown in blue eyes, but I was drowning in her soft brown ones.

I could not concentrate anymore. My thoughts were running wild and my eyes flickered to her lips when she kept closing the distance between us. I was sure she was going to kiss me and I realized I wanted her to. I had suppressed my feelings for so long and I was tired of it.

The Angel in my head was about to win the war when suddenly the Devil kicked her off her throne and took control again. It was like a switch flipped in my head and I got a shock that brought me back to reality.

I wiggled my wrists away from her loosened grasp and pushed her off me. Probably a little too rough because she looked dazed by the sudden movement. I stood up, ignored her calls of my name and walked out of the gym, not looking back.

My head was spinning with emotions. It was like she broke a dam and my head was suddenly flooded with much more than it could take. I was shaking and all I could see before my eyes were her chocolate brown ones staring at me with so much adoration it made my heart jump.

She had crossed a line we couldn't go back from and I almost let it happen. I wanted it to happen, my heart still screamed at me to go back, walk in and kiss her, but I was too scared.

I couldn't see her again, not even shortly. Our trainings had to stop right now and I had to stay as far away from her as possible. She was just too much temptation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to give credit to two amazing quotes I found on the internet and I used in this chapter:

''I did not like to be touched, but it was a strange dislike. I did not like to be touched because I craved it too much. I wanted to be held very tight so I would not break.'' - Marya Hornbacher, Wasted

And: ''People say that you can only drown in the colour blue, but I was drowning in your soft brown eyes'' -clh

I will probably use more quotes like this in my story and I will mention them at the bottom like this.

A little shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless.

(2356 words)