Genius Born In Flames [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2: Training & Talking

The morning sun shines through the window and onto my face. I sleepily open my eyes and look over to my clock, it's just after sunrise. I've training and school lined up for today and right now I could use a good sparring session after last nights dream. I push off my white bed covers and get up and do multiple stretches to limber out my muscles. I put on sweatpants and a tank top for training tying my blonde hair in a ponytail so it won't get in my way.
I smell food and I realize I am starving.

I bound down the stairs my stomach grumbling for food. I'm greeted at the sight of my aunt in similar clothes to mine and 2 stacks of pancakes, my own with an extra 5 pancakes of course. I take my place at kitchen counter drooling at the sight of delicious pancakes.

"Morning Kel" my aunt Allie greets cheerfully
"Morning, Aunt Al" I greet back even more cheerfully

Al is my mother's twin. They were very alike physically but, Al says my mother's personality was kinder and much more soft than hers. Al is a little smaller than me but, is well muscled and tall after years of training and holds herself confidently having authority with her former job. She has blonde hair like me only difference is her gray eyes.

I take my stack of pancakes and practically drown them in syrup. I see my Al's face twist into disgust and I dump nearly half a bottle over it.

"Your mother had a sweet tooth as well, even after these years it still frightens me how much sweetness you can eat" Al says gray eyes looking into my blue with disgust and a dash of wonder.

"Mmm good" I say mouth stuffed

"Finish up that mountain you call breakfast and meet me in the sparring room, I am in the mood for some sparring" she says grinning probably thinking of all the delicious ways to get my ass on the floor. No doubt she'll most likely succeed.

I polish off the last of this so called "mountain" of pancakes and make my way down the hall to the training room. I put my hand onto the wall opening the door to the sparring room. I walk inside, it's admittedly my favorite place in the house and most likely the room I have spent the most time. The room is full of greys and blacks, the walls covered in various deadly weapons and guns most of which I can yield with ease. There's punching bags, weights and all kinds of equipment in the room. There's a panel full on the wall to the right of the door with buttons to change the conditions and terrain on which we are training. It's extremely handy, one of Al's brilliant inventions. Today it is urban rooftops in warm weather conditions. I step onto the platform and look to Al who is on a higher platform. Giving her an immediate height advantage.

She stands tall, poised like a leopard ready to pounce at it's prey. She throws a sparring pole and I catch it in my right hand. I raise it above my head horizontally blocking Al's jump attack. I spin to the right raising the pole to block. The vibrations shoot up my right arm from sheer force. She instantly goes on offensive striking from front with speed. She disarms me, sending my pole to the floor. I roll quickly so I am behind her. She turns but, I sweep her feet from under her using my longer legs. She falls onto the floor and I mount her. I grip her lapel and the use my left arm to rotate my body to tighten my bow and arrow choke. I release and stand up holding my hand to help her up. She takes it gratefully, we're both a little sweaty but, barely warmed up.

"Good move, your technique has improved. I know it's not your go to to defend or be on the ground but, it's important to be able to incapacitate your opponent on the floor as well as standing" she says firmly.

"Your defense is good, now, I want to see your offensive moves, hand to hand this round" she continues staring right into my eyes face devoid of emotion.

I nod and get into a lower stance ready to strike.

I start with a powerful front kick landing on her chin. I don't give her time to recover and go for a roundhouse kick landing in the ribs. She moves in for a chokehold and I push her hands down and knee her in the ribs. She goes for a left hook punch and I catch her wrist and turn it slightly. She recoils in pain and we stop sparring.

"Kel, you alright?" she asks me voice soft with concern
"I should be asking you that" I mumble guilt seeping into my voice

I run out of the room and grab some frozen peas from freezer. I walk back in and see my aunt sitting on raised platform flexing her fingers and wrist. I walk over guilt eating me alive and hand her the peas. She looks up and me and puts it on her wrist.

"What's bothering you?" she asks "And before you say nothing, I know somethings wrong" she continues

"Just my mind wandered in training" I lie

"You think I don't know when your lying after 13 years and don't forget me being the one to teach you it?" she says concerned "Your nearly 18 now, your nearly an adult, you cannot keep things bottled forever, no matter how much you want to, I learned that" she continues putting her hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

I look into her gray eyes, "It's nothing alright?"

"Kel, you have buried these emotions down for too long, I need you to talk about this. Fighting and sparring is all good too, but, you need to talk" Al says giving me a side hug

I look at her wrist and the guilt flows back up. I hurt her and I feel awful for it.

"Kel," she says in a warning tone "Trust me when I say I have gotten a lot of worse injuries at my time at Black Special Forces" she says trying to reassure me.

I believe her too, she showed me the scars she got from grenades, bullets, knives and how they came to be.

"Now, I believe you need to get to school, and before you go, just promise me not to bottle things up like I do" she says getting up from platform.

We walk out of the training room closing the door behind us I decided not to make a promise I mightn't be able to keep.