It's Hard to Breathe

Agreements and Spying

Fintan stepped back, shamkniv raised as Gisela locked their blades and pushed. Fintan stumbled back as Gisela pressed him again, forcing Fintan to back up.

"You're pretty good." FIntan remarked offhandedly.

"Pretty good?!" Gisela asked. "I'm beating you by a mile."

"Mmhmm." Fintan scoffed.

Gisela's moon blade streaked toward Fintan's chest. She tilted it at the last second so the blade twisted by his head.

"Like I said, by a mile." Gisela added smugly.

Now it was Fintan's turn to roll his eyes.

Gisela pounced, slamming into him, knocking the shamkniv across the room, and pinning him to the wall.

While Fintan struggled, Gisela brought her moon blade to his neck, the curved edge resting against his throat.

"I wouldn't move, Pyren." Gisela said. "But you're a fool. Don't even try it." she added, pressing the blade harder to his neck.

He winced, a first real show of emotion, which happened to be Gisela's favorite:pain.

She smirked in his face. He snarled. 

She slowly spun so she was facing her desk. Her free hand shot out and snagged Fintan by his collar. She dragged him into her room, and closed her arena.

"I'd rather you didn't see that." She said, her back still to him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because then you'd beg me to train you-which is hopeless because you're terrible-, and I don't have time to do that." She snapped, finally turning around. Her face was a mask of fury and regret.

"Please?" Fintan asked.

"No." Gisela snapped.

"We could do it every day after school. After we do our homework." He added somewhat temptingly.

"Fine." Gisela said.

"I'll train you for an hour after homework every day." She stated reluctantly.

"Yes!" Fintan exclaimed, picking Gisela up and twirling her around. When he set her down, she was giving him the raised-eyebrow-look.

"Did I say you could do that?" She asked contemptuously.

"No", Fintan admitted reluctantly.

"Next time, do something like this." She said, and carefully wrapped her arms around him.

He cautiously embraced her in return, wrapping his arms around her frame. She sank into the hug. And then she started shaking.

Fintan led her over to her bed, and sat down on the edge next to her. They detached, and Fintan saw the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Fintan asked quietly.

After a few long moments of silence, Gisela broke the quiet with a slightly quavering voice.

"My parents are divorced, and my mom is barely in this house. I have to pretend everything is fine when it's not. My aunt, the only person I felt I could talk to, died last month. Two days before her death, I hugged her for the last time, and she was the last person I hugged. She felt so fragile in my arm, I thought she was going to break. And I was right." Gisela's voice broke off as tears streaked down her cheeks.

"I'm so poor off, I'm seeking comfort from you." She added with a watery smirk.

Fintan returned her smirk with a smile, internally relieved that Gisela was acting more like her usual snarky self. Then an idea sprang into his head.