A Heart Of Fire (Final Fantasy XV)

~Memories~ Part 2

Nuraya was not the best in the art of wielding a sword. No matter how many times Cor corrected her, she just couldn't get the stance down.

Maybe it was because of the watching eyes of the other soldiers in the training room; The soft muttering of onlookers as they watched the small girl take on the Captain of the Crownsguard.

Or maybe it was the fact that she couldn't physically take down a fully grown man three times her height who has many years of experience in sword fighting.

Either way, she was truly on the struggle bus today.

For what seemed like the millionth time, she was sent falling on her backside on the floor, with the cracking sound of wood on wood echoing in the training room. She groaned in pain and shot a glare up at the man who stood before her.

"That was barely a quarter of my strength," Cor said, staring down at her disapprovingly. "We have been training like this for over a week now, and you still can't even defend yourself against that much?" Nuraya's frown deepened, and she sat up as she glared up at him.

"Did you forget that I'm only, what, eight-years-old or something?" she said as she rubbed the pain away from her aching body.

"So?" Cor retorted. "Did you forget that you asked me to not hold back on you?" Nuraya could hear the quiet chuckles from a few soldiers that were watching in the crowd and looked away and mumbled under her breath with a scowl.

Cor frowned. "Get up. We'll go again." Nuraya continued to grumble to herself as she pushed herself up to her shaky legs. She got in her stance and readied herself like she's done before. Cor held his weapon up with one hand and waited for Nuraya to make her move.

After taking a few deep breaths Nuraya made her move, and charged at the man with a cry and a swing of her weapon. Cor blocked the attack like it was nothing and quickly swung his sword out so it knocked Nuraya's weapon out of her sore hands, and finished her off with a harsh shove to the sternum.

Once more, she was on the ground, clutching her hands and rubbing them gently. The poor girl's body was aching and shaking all over. She didn't know if she could get back up again, but she willed herself to anyway. When she looked up to where Cor was standing, she saw him walking away from the mat with both of their weapons in his hands.

"We're done for today," Cor said from across the room.

"W-Wait a sec! I can still--" Nuraya called back, but was cut off by Cor's annoyed tone.

"No you can't. Your body's shaking all over, and it's obvious you're tired. Go get some sleep and we'll continue first thing in the morning." Nuraya frowned, and jogged her way past the group of soldiers up to Cor and walked beside him.

"Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?" she asked him annoyed. Cor put the weapons back on the rack and turned to her with his stoic face.

"Nothing I haven't already told you," he said. "Your feet are too far apart, your grip on your sword is too tight and close together, and the way you charge at me so recklessly is moronic. If you were out in the battlefield like that, you wouldn't last a minute."

"Well gee, good thing I won't be heading off to the battlefield here soon," Nuraya says in a sarcastic tone. "Maybe I wouldn't have such a hard time if you'd actually show me how to do everything properly."

"Maybe you wouldn't have such a hard time if you actually spent more time listening to me than mouthing off," Cor retorted harshly. Nuraya glared at him, opened her mouth to respond, but quickly stopped herself and bit the inside of her cheek. If you have nothing nice to say then don't say it at all, but that certainly didn't stop Cor from barking orders at her. The two of them grew silent before Cor spoke up again.