[2009 – October]
Her arms crossed in front of her chest, wearing a tight set of black workout clothes that left only her abdomen bare while covering the rest of her athletic figure including her neck, Laura carried an impassive look on her face as she waited for Celeste in the training room.
In truth though, her heart was rather restless while an uncomfortable nervousness settled in her stomach.
It wasn't the fact that she had never taught someone how to fight that might her feel like this, it was who she was supposed to teach for the first time that caused her current state.
Laura had seen Celeste's curious and innocent gazes. She knew that Emma's daughter had an interest in her that went beyond sim
ple curiosity, which was something she found difficult to deal with since ignoring or intimidating the blonde girl wasn't an option.
It wasn't just because of who Celeste was related to, which admittedly made Laura hesitant since she wasn't willing to harm anyone in Elijah's family and risk the bond that she shared with the dark-haired young man that made her feel accepted and safe.
Naturally, Emma also wasn't someone easily offended and Laura had no doubt that the ice-hearted psychic would tear her mind apart if she maliciously harmed her long-lost daughter.
Still, there was also the fact that she knew very well what Celeste had gone through, which gave rise to a trace of empathy in her wolfish heart, making her feel a strange and admittedly unwelcome sensation of kinship.
It was unwelcome because Laura couldn't find it in herself to trust others easily, especially not those that she had difficulty guarding against. She had learned the hard way that deceit often came with a mask of purity.
So, while her animalistic instincts were telling her that she could trust the frail beauty that had so suddenly appeared in Hellion Mansion, her mind and heart were warning her.
Laura wasn't sure what caused these contradictory emotions.
She only knew that this was different than what it had been like with Elijah. His incredible inner strength and the look of past pains had made an impression on her heart during their very first meeting.
Her inner wolf had howled in tragic triumph as she had finally found someone that could understand and accept her for who she was.
Having later witnessed his monstrous strength and seen his ruthlessness, Laura had known that he belonged to her pack. Or more accurately, she belonged to his pack, since Elijah would never bow down to someone, not even reality itself.
At this moment, Laura also wished that he was here to help her figure out the complicated mess of emotions and thoughts that were making her uneasy.
Hearing the sliding doors open with a soft 'whoosh', Laura suppressed her inner turmoil as best as she could while focusing on the task at hand.
…
Calming herself with a few deep breaths, Celeste tried her best to adopt Phoebe's bold and brave manner, forcing herself to stand upright before she finally moved forward and entered the underground training room.
It was one of the small training rooms on the ground floor of the mansion, so it was flooded with natural light and looked much more welcoming than the underground rooms, which was fortunate as she felt very anxious being underground.
Having never seen the sun herself while she had been raised and experimented on by the Facility, Celeste had developed a strong distaste for the underground area.
The training room looked similar to a ballet studio with mirrors covering one of the walls and small handrails having been installed in front of them. Though while half of the room was laid out with smooth dark wood flooring, the other half was covered with grey mats.
There were a few dummies placed all over the room and some other equipment for different sports activities, though Celeste couldn't really identify most of them.
Her gaze was quickly attracted to the girl that stood on the mats, her arms crossed over her chest while her dark hair was tied up in a tight ponytail. Her gorgeous facial features expressed an impassive attitude while her bright green eyes looked on intensely, burning with an indomitable spirit.
Like the first that she had seen her, Celeste found Laura to still be incomparably beautiful, her heart beating wildly.
A hint of nervousness leaking through, she bit her lower lip as she arrived in front of the dark-haired beauty, smiling a bit shyly as she greeted the other girl in a quiet voice: "H-Hey Laura."
Cursing herself on the inside for sounding so weak, her voice barely raised above a whisper, Celeste felt a bit defeated at how hard it was to be as bold and brave as her sister had been. Suppressing the aching in her heart, she looked at Laura as she waited for a reply.
"Hey.", a voice like warm honey echoed in her ears, the slightest of rasp sounding within.
Her heart skipping a beat, Celeste felt a strange tingling in her stomach. The dark-haired she-wolf had never spoken to her directly so this was the first time that she had heard Laura's voice so clearly.
"We will do some basic stances.", Laura added, telling her of the type of exercises that she had planned for their training session in a rather plain and curt way.
Celeste didn't really have much knowledge when it came to martial arts and close-quarters combat, so while she would have liked a bit more information, she knew very well that it was her rather selfish request to her mother that forced the other party to train her.
She also had a rough understanding of the dark-haired girl's character and knew that she hardly talked with anyone besides Elijah and Jean, so she wasn't that surprised at her brusque attitude.
Taking a few steps back, Laura gestured for her to stand next to her before she moved into a simple fighting stance with raised hands, slightly bent knees, and firm footing.
"Watch.", the black-haired warrioress said before punching out slowly while moving her waist and feet in accordance with her hand movements.
Retracting her hand, Laura used her other fist to slowly punch out this time, once again letting her body follow naturally behind fist movements.
It looked like a simple sequence of actions but while it should have come across as static and staged since it was a demonstration, Celeste found the other girl's movements to be flowing and naturally graceful.
She was sure that this wasn't her imagination, this was simply who Laura was – a fighter.
A hint of redness rising to her cheeks, Celeste couldn't quite help herself as her eyes wandered over Laura's perfect figure, which was a perfect mix of lithe athleticism and womanly curves.
Suddenly stopping, the she-wolf turned to her, a light frown sitting between her slender brows as she said: "Your turn."
Knowing that her actions had not escaped Laura's eyes, the red hue on her cheeks became much deeper though she didn't hesitate to follow the other girl's instructions.
Doing her best to imitate Laura's movements from before, Celeste realized that it was much harder than she thought when the other girl's foot suddenly pushed against her calf while her finger poked her hip in an effort to correct her stance.
The sudden contact though only made it worse for her as she found it hard to concentrate while being touched.
She didn't say anything though and just bit the inside of her cheek while slowly punching out again and again, forcing herself to take this as seriously as she should.
…
Pushing against Celeste's elbow with the back of her hand as a non-verbal signal for the girl to raise her arm higher for the tenth time, Laura was somewhat discontented. The slim blonde was seemingly too distracted to execute the stance like it was supposed to be done.
But she also knew that this was Celeste's first time training, so she naturally couldn't be too harsh in her judgement, even if the girl's half-focused state was quite obvious.
And yet, there was also a hint of respect in Laura's eyes as she looked at the girl.
Beads of clear sweat running down her porcelain skin, Celeste breathed heavily as she performed one basic stance after another without complaint or a hint of laziness despite her obvious exhaustion after an hour of training.
Even while distracted, there was a determined glint in her ice-blue eyes that made Laura's heart skip a beat, a kind of unbreakable spirit glimmering in the depths of her crystal eyes.
Celeste looked a bit meek at first glance, her frail beauty something that would rouse a desire to protect her in those that looked at her.
But now, Laura started to understand that under this shy and somewhat quiet appearance was a core of steel that had been tempered in the living hell that had been her life until just a few days ago.