*(Is this all we see?)*

~*Chapter 52*~

Zara looked at her two accomplice's. Her sly smile was apparent on her face. "You two can't take credit for my one-on-one training with him." She edged closer to his restricted frame. Midnight remained still even with her so close. "And besides." She pulled them both by their shirts. "You don't even know how to train a dog; let alone an assassin."

She let go of them, kneeling to Midnight's level. "Now listen kid." Zara stayed close to his ear. "I will let you go. Only if you promise not to try and leave."

"Why would I?" He coughed. "You would kill me before I tried."

"True." She stood. "Stand."

"I can't, I'm chained." Zara tilted her head in realization, swirling her hand in front of her body. Soon, the cold metal feeling was gone. The blood in his hands started to warm them. Midnight pulled his hands in front of himself. They were pale, purple. Zara wasn't that far from his height, staring ahead at him. "Now you're not are you?" She scoffed quickly after. "Don't be so helpless. Assassins aren't helpless." She pulled him ahead by his hoodie. "Helplessness gets you killed."

When she let him go, her hand was covered in dark green orbs again, this time, a bow appeared in her hand. She held it out to him. With uncertainty, he backed up. "It's not poisonous. That would be too boring if I killed you right away." Zara repeated the same ritual with the orbs, now having a long bag with arrows peaking out of the tip. "What do I do..?" He took the bag, slinging it around his arm. He had seen people do that on Tv. "Okay. This is practice." She moved behind him. "We practice until you're dead."

"What so you're going to kill me through practice?"

"No." She made her gear appear. "That would be boring."

"So you're not killing me because it's boring?" Midnight held the bow, scanning it with his curious eyes. "I'm surprised you have remorse."

She stared at him with surprise, preparing her bow. "You have guts to talk to me like that." Zara started to pull the string ahead, lifting the bow higher in her hand. "If you were anyone else, I would kill you on the spot." She removed her eyes anywhere from the side where Midnight was. Her eyes planted on the target. The arrow was poking towards the black dot in the middle.

She shot it with a zip of her hand. No breathing, no sigh. She shot. And when he turned his head slowly to look at the board. He felt no surprise seeing the arrow was straight in the middle. Not towards anyone of the circles, just the middle. She mocked him with her stare. "So. Your turn."

"My turn?"

"Yes." She pressed close into his face. "Your turn."

Midnight froze. He didn't know what to do. He had the arrows, sure, but he didn't know how to fire it.  He held the bow in confusion. "What do I do exactly..?"

Zara rolled her eyes as if she was a teenager. She picked   up the bow, throwing it into his right hand, she then grabbed his left hand, putting it on the string. Zara made his bow sit near his shoulder. Zara grabbed one of the arrows and placed it in between his fingers. "Pull the string back." He waited for a moment, taking a breath unlike his now-mentor. He pulled the string back with the arrow end peeking from his side. The string was tight, Midnight really felt weak in front of Zara.

"Now." She started to walk around him. He firmly held the position while also trying to immitate what Zara had done. "Focus ahead. What you need to shoot is straight ahead."  

"I'm going to miss." He replied.

"Don't be pittiful." She sneered. "What if you wer e being attacked and all you had was one bow and one arrow? How would you survive?"

His hands started to shake at the pressure of still holding the bow. "I don't know..not survive?"

"No!" Zara yelled in his ear, jumping him slightly. But not enough to drop the bow. "Good.." She said with a high pitched edge. "Most new trainees drop the bow at the slightest yell. But you--" she chuckled, "how intresting."

He adjusted his hold to be more secure. "Now. Again. Ahead. I want you to aim for the target."
              ==
"And how do I shoot?"

"Let go." Zara stood to his side as she apparently waited. 'Let go?' Why did he find that partly symbolic? It felt connected with his nerves. 'Let go. She's training you. Relax.'

Midnight took in another breath. His nerves from this whole kidnapping bleeding out of him and into the arrow.

He let go.  

~~~~~

"That's like--fifty arrows." Zara stopped counting. "You did great. But you still need practice. Even missing the target means you could be killed." Zara smacked the target, Midnight assuming this meant she wasn't going to take care of this but other assasians that would eventually come running by. She had done this earlier. '5 hours earlier.' He thought. Midnight put the bow down with stinging and aching hands. "Am I allowed to stop now?" He asked exastedly.

"I suppose. You've trained well." Zara turned back to the hall. Her hand waved over her shoulder, the chains appearing on his hands once again, yanking him back down to the ground. His ankles twisted at his fall. Midnight grunted hitting the ground. "What?" He tried to get up. Yank. "We were doing fine! We were training I wasn't going to leave!" He begged. Of course this was an attempt to earn her trust but also as a plead. It was almost 'pitiful' Zara would say.

She scoffed at his plea. "I'm not an idiot Midnight." She pressed a button on the side of the wall she was walking out from. The door started to slide closed. The sound of the sliding door made his nerves arise once again. 'No no no no.' "I know what you would do if I didn't put you back. You're just like every other assassin."

'Everyother assasian?'

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