Battleborn

In The Dark

 My eyes felt like they were glued together. I slowly prised them open, my head thudding. I could see a sterile white sky above me, and hear a steady beat in my ears. Then three faces swam into view, a blur of yellow and grey and stubble. I blinked slowly, dumbly.

 “Morning, sunshine. Wow, your glow today is just blinding,” Zach said sarcastically. Beside him, Ronan, the blonde boy in my training group, and Coin swam into view. I blinked again, my eyes adjusting to the light.

 “Why am I here?” I asked.

 “Well, Ronan decided to beat you bloody…”

 “I’m sorry! You told me to!” Ronan squeaked “You were quite insistent…”

 “Forgiven,” I said, trying for a smile. It hurt to move the muscles on my face “You must have done a good job.” I looked sideways warily at Coin. She was part of the reason I was there, after all.

 “Yes, well,” she said “I am beginning to question your methods of training, Verona-Grey. You’ve not only yourself beaten, but half of your team. You’re not the only one in a hospital bed today, Karissa.”

 “Yes, well. I guess I’m feeling a little impulsive and…irritable as of late,” I said snidely “I wonder why?”

 “Not to disrespect you, President Coin, but I actually believe that Soldier Verona-Grey has taught us a lot these past days,” Ronan said quietly. Coin looked irritated.

 “I agree,” Zach said “She’s knocking us into shape just fine. I don’t think she needs your input.”

 Coin huffed out a little, glaring at Zach “Well no one asked for your input, Zachary.”

 “I figured it was needed,” Zach said, unfazed by Coin’s insult. He picked up a cracked mirror from the bedside table to show me my face. It was a jigsaw of purple and green bruises. My lip was swollen and my nose had a crusted scab over it, but I’d felt worse before. I grinned. At least I still had all my teeth.

 “Well if you’re feeling so fine, maybe you should get back to training what’s left of your team,” Coin spat, turning on her heel and walking away. Ronan shook his head in despair, dipping a cloth in a bowl of water and leaning tentatively to wipe my face. I tried not to wince, because gentle as he was, it still hurt.

 “Life has seriously got so much more interesting since your training started. Why is it you always seem to be in trouble? Your life is like a drama,” Ronan said. Zach grinned.

 “She is a drama. A drama queen,” Zach said “Coin really has it in for you, doesn’t she.”

 I nodded tiredly “She does.”

 Zach patted my face to make me wince and laughed “You’re not the only one. Don’t worry about it, darling. Women like her aren’t likely to live forever. Sooner or later, someone always flips.”

 I frowned, wondering what he meant, but he’d already stood up and left. I sighed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and feeling a wave of nausea hit me as hard as Ronan’s punches. Ronan slipped his hand around my waist to help me up.

 “She wasn’t serious about me going back to training, was she?” I groaned. Ronan smiled.

 “It’s OK. Zach promised to take over for today’s session.”

 “Oh dear,” I joked. Ronan helped me through the hospital wing.

 “You’d be surprised. He’s actually not a bad guy,” Ronan said.

 “I know. None of you are,” I replied. As we passed through the hospital wing, a few of my trainees called out greetings and jokes about the state of me. Strangely, I felt almost affectionate towards them. I didn’t know half their names. We’d only been together a few days. But they were my guys. My team. At least Coin can’t take them from me. The loss of Finch returned then and punched me in the gut, and I would have fallen to my knees then had it not been for Ronan supporting me. He took me back to my quarters where my Mother took over, putting me to bed and nursing me with a cold flannel on my head.