– M A K A Y L A –

I wasn't sure exactly how many near death experiences it took to get me to make up my mind about something. Perhaps it was the shot to the stomach that did it... Or maybe it was in the back of my mind when my organs were almost snatched in Sector 52.

Either way, when I slowly opened my eyes to an unfamiliar but very sterile room, I knew that I would no longer play the hapless royal from Sector 1. I'm not that person anymore. I would learn how to survive damn it. If I wasn't a liability it would give Alex less to worry about and probably keep us both further from our death beds...

Besides, I wouldn't live past the end of the week if things didn't change.

I tried to lift myself up on the bed. Searing pain exploded out of my abdomen and I hissed. Maybe I'll give it a few hours.

Then a glass door slid open and she stood there.

The warrior herself with her trademark red cloak and golden eyes now stared at me as if I were a spectre. A few seconds passed and it seemed like neither of us knew what to do. I tore my eyes away from her to look around the room. Then I cleared my throat.

"I like what you've done with the place." I said in a raspy voice. "Very Sector 1-esque."

She remained silent, watching me as if I might vanish if she blinked. So I met her eyes again and tried a smile. She frowned.

I rolled my eyes. "Jesus, Alex can you drop the mute act. I'm fine." I demanded.

She exhaled heavily. Then she finally moved to my side.

"Well, I think we both know how this conversation goes anyway..." She muttered.

"You ask me how I'm feeling—" I smirked.

"—You tell me you're fine and that you're not remotely in any pain...", she continued without missing a beat.

"You tell me I'm lying and suggest some ridiculous notion that I go back to my father's loving and safe arms—"

"I'll have to stop you right there." She interrupted and finally smiled. I saw the familiar mischief return to those eyes. "I'm sorry to shatter the crystalline perfection you have of me but I'm a lot more selfish than that." She moved closer until only a few inches separated our faces.

"You're not going anywhere." She breathed.

Heat flashed through me and the heart monitor hideously betrayed me with frantic beeping. Alex's eyes flicked over to it and she grinned widely. "Oh, the temptation..." she murmured. I could feel the red spreading across my face knowing what she meant.

"You don't play fair." I accused.

Her eyes went back to mine and flashed down to my lips for a second. Then she stood back up and smirked down at me.

"And that, Makayla Xavier, is why I am such fun to be around." She walked backwards and plunked herself down into a plush white chair. Her eyes never left mine. "So... how are you feeling." she drawled with humour dripping from those features.

I snorted and rolled carefully onto my side so she couldn't see my smile.

"Ah. Clearly in the denial phase. Demonstrating passive body language and lack of social ability." She listed off as if she was taking my therapy session.

"Lack of social ability?" I said incredulously. "Your social ability couldn't be more fucked, Alex." I couldn't help the laugh that escaped after I said this.

"On the contrary. I think that depends heavily on whom I speak to." she retorted.

I smirked and rolled back to face her. Her eyes missed nothing and I was sure she caught the small wince of my face when I moved. She didn't comment on it.

"Oh?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, I held my own at that atrocity of a ball your father threw. That counts."

"You held a dagger to Tristan's throat, you almost got a waiter executed and you ruined my dress!" I declared attempting and failing to stay serious.

"First of all, Tristan—" her face darkened as she said his name, "—can go throw himself off all 250 floors of the Emperor's tower. Secondly, I was a far superior dancer." She added quickly.

I scoffed but couldn't argue.

"—Thirdly, I think we both know that was no "waiter" and he enjoyed his objective much more than you know." She said factually.

I opened my mouth to argue with her but she simply held up her hand.

"Finally." She stressed, and ran her eyes along the length of me. Despite being under a sheet I still felt exposed by that stare and of course my heart rate increased ten-fold.

"—let's just say I had a breathtaking wave of jealously seeing you in the arms of dear Velron." she said in a sickly sweet voice that promised anything but.

"Alex..." I warned. "No."

"I'm not going to kill him." She said innocently raising her hands. "Maybe take off a limb." She said under her breath.

I groaned and pushed a hand over my eyes.

"What? One simply does not need all four." She said entirely serious.

"No." I said with finality. Because I knew for a fact that she wasn't the type to bluff.

But before either of us could continue, the glass door slid open to reveal Proximo. He scanned the room quickly and smiled when his eyes settled on me. It was strange seeing any kind of positive emotion on the man's face if I was being honest.

"Don't smile Proximo, it concerns me very greatly." Alex deadpanned.

He chuckled. "Apologies, I was under the impression people used empathy in situations such as this." He said curtly.

Alex flicked her hand in a circle. "Yes, we skipped that part. It's all rather mundane to be honest."

I giggled profusely from my bed. "You two must be all the rage at parties..."

"It's a sight to behold." Alex said, throwing me a wink.

"Actually, Proximo you were just the person I wanted to speak to." I said suddenly.

I felt Alex's eyes dart over to me. Proximo too was in a state of surprise. He cast a quick look over to her before answering me.

"What is it you need?" He said carefully.

"I... would it be possible to receive training." The room went silent. I had to ignore it and press on before I lost the nerve. "I can no longer stand to be the target anymore. Well, maybe that won't change but I'd like to at least do something about it. Become stronger, better equipped to handle myself because there is no denying that I won't be in danger in future and—"

"Training." Alex repeated.

I risked a look at her to see her expressionless face, giving nothing away.

"I just think—"

"—that you need to be able to protect yourself if I can't." She summarised instantly.

"Well... yeah."

The room fell silent once again and Proximo didn't dare respond. He knew that is wasn't his place. This decision fell on Alex and nothing would change unless she accepted it. It took seconds for her to reach her conclusion however. She soon met my eyes again and dropped a nearly imperceivable nod.

I raised my brows in surprise. I had been readying my counter argument for this conversation and it wasn't even necessary.

She smirked at me. "I'm not your keeper, Makayla. If this is something you want to do I won't stop you."

I smiled wholeheartedly at her. "I know, but I also know it's no small thing and I don't want there to be any secrets."

She gave a small smile that told me she knew what I really meant. Proximo then cleared his throat and broke the moment.

"Well, then I will begin making preparations for your training. Our medical team should have you back on your feet in a few days and the nano-salves should repair the tissue damage by the end of the week." He informed me.

A week? Not bad. Even our medical teams in Sector 1 struggled to clear injured guards in that time.

"Thank you." I told him sincerely. "And I look forward to it."

"Oh, you won't be telling me that in a week, Makayla." He said with a dark smile that sent shivers down me.

Alex shot him a glare.

"Goodbye, Proximo."

"Scorpion." He said in farewell with a bow and a fist to his chest. "Makayla." He nodded with a grin.

God, what have I just gotten myself involved in...