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Darkness could not afford not to hit it. Preparing her sword, she prepared her stance, widening her legs, and took a deep breath. Eyes focusing on the target in front of her, knowing what she must do - she knew she had to hit it, or it would hit her. Years of training and instructing had drilled that into her head, and as appealing as the idea of being struck by some filthy monster who would tear her armour to shreds was, she also knew that at the end of the day if it was for her own pleasure and protecting others - she had no choice but to hit it.
So, just before she swung her sword, she gave a quick prayer to Eris for success, and raised her arms.
“You. Missed,” the deep and reverbing voice of the monster coming from behind her sent an excited shiver down Darkness’ spine.
“I- I did? Did I?” she struggled to register it for a moment, but he was telling the truth. She had failed to hit the target dummy spectacularly, her sword having planted in the ground next to the training dummy.
“Yes,” Cocytus responded without a pause.
“I- I see,” the embarrassment of it all sent a mixture of pleasure and genuine anxiety throughout her - an odd combination she was more than used to at this point. “How many times has this been now?”
“This. Is. The. Thirty. Sixth. Time. You. Have. Missed. In. A. Row,” Cocytus told her matter-of-factly, not at all mincing his words in the slightest. “You. Have. Not. Hit. Once. Since. We. Began.”
“That certainly… is a number,” Darkness finally took the wooden sword she was using to practice out of the ground, and turned to look up at Cocytus.
The giant insectoid had asked to observe her as she practiced her sword techniques, and even though she had been uncertain of his intent - envisioning him pinning her down and having his way with her while she was alone and helpless - she had ultimately agreed, perhaps a part of her wanting the giant monster who towered above her do just that. However, he had mostly kept to himself, doing nothing but observing her and adding a small amount of commentary to her routine.
“It. Is. A. Number,” he agreed with her, not a note of sarcasm in his tone. He moved a few steps closer for a moment, and for a second she wondered if he had finally decided she would no threat and strip Darkness of her armour with his four massive arms - except he stopped a few paces away before he could properly do that, leaving her slightly wanting.
She held her tongue in order to not verbalize her thoughts. For some reason, she had felt the need to keep her thoughts about Cocytus to herself recently, even though she had not done so for anyone else. She would admit, it was strange for her to hold herself back, but she didn’t want to push him away.
She didn’t know why.
“I suppose it must be rather shameful for someone like me to not be able to hit a target that is standing still even once after so many attempts,” she said instead, self-deprecation coming out of her mouth as easily as her lustful thoughts might. She brushed a loose strand of her hair to the side, and then readied her position again in order to have another swing.
“No,” Cocytus said as she had her back turned, and she could hear him let out a gush of cold air that made her shiver even from the distance he was standing from. “It. Is. Not. Shameful.”
Darkness didn’t have time to ask him what he meant before she swung again, and again she missed spectacularly, hitting the edge of the makeshift shield she had planted on the dummy’s left side and then bouncing off of it to the side, making her sword nearly fall out of her hands. Although certainly embarrassing, she gave a quick thank to Eris for not losing her grip on the handle entirely.
“That would be the thirty-seventh time now,” she muttered to herself, hoping that Cocytus would not be able to hear her as she said it. Rebalancing herself, she turned and walked backwards again to her original position.
“You. Do. Not. Give. Up. Despite. Failing. Time. And. Time. Again,” Cocytus noted, and once again Darkness could not tell what tone he was taking with her. Was he mocking her for her failure as a warrior, or praising her for what simply stubbornness? It was confusing to her, and although she would’ve liked to think of it as him deriding her, it didn’t fit with the picture of the insectoid warrior that had slowly been building up inside of her head. He had never insulted anybody, not once.
She planted her blade into the ground for a moment, the tip of the blade being pushed into the soft dirt of the schoolyard, before taking the opportunity to stretch her arms, one hand on her shoulder as she started twirling it in circles. “Despite not being able to hit anything, my instructor told me that if I continued practicing, I would eventually improve on my aim. So, that is what I do,” she realized she came off sounding a bit more defensive than she had intended, but so be it.
Cocytus, however, let out another breath of cold air, and nodded his head for a moment, all six of his eyes closing all at once. “Your. Instructor. Speaks. The. Truth.”
“I-” she hesitated for a moment, letting her arms fall for a moment in confusion. “You agree with him?”
“I. Do,” Cocytus nodded again, this time his eyes open and looking in her direction, his gaze seeming to be focused on her face, “A. True. Warrior. Does. Not. Turn. Back. No. Matter. How. Powerful. The. Foe.”
“I- I see,” Darkness wasn’t quite sure how to respond, instead looking up at Cocytus’ inhuman face. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, really, and yet somehow she wanted to all the same. What was going through his mind right now, she wondered to herself.
Her instant thought, of course, was dirty. Perhaps he was praising her to lower her guard, so that he would have an easier time surprising her so that he could have his way with her. Yet- that didn’t sound like Cocytus, not really. It felt wrong, in a way she couldn’t quite place, but it didn’t feel like something he would do - as much as she might want it of him. Yet, nothing else managed to cross her mind, so Darkness decided to put it aside.
Looking to the side, gazing at nothing in particular, trying her best not to look at Cocytus, she continued her stretches. She knew the insectoid watched her, not one of his six eyes moving from her, and she could feel his gaze. Why was he watching her so intently, she wondered. What was he even wanting to get out of this? It was silly that someone like him would be spending time with someone like her.
It bothered her to no end.
Once she had finished her stretches, she picked up her sword and looked down at her sword hand for a moment, before looking at Cocytus. “Would you- would you mind teaching me how to hit it properly?”
For once, she felt as if she had caught Cocytus off-guard - his mandibles twitching slightly - although it could very well be something else entirely, and Darkness wouldn’t have been able to tell either way. Letting out a cold gush of air, he spoke with his usual tone of voice, “If. That. Is. What. You. WIsh. Girl. I. Will. Do. It.”
Stepping forwards, closer to her now than he had ever been before, she could feel the cold that was coming from his body. Yet, despite shivering slightly, Darkness did not dislike the sensation - it was almost calming in a way to have him this close to her.
“Take. The. Form. You. Would. Take. Before. Charging,” he instructed her, and Darkness did as he told her. Raising her sword to the right of her head so her hands were level with her chin, she closed her eyes before opening them again to face the target dummy. Widening her stance slightly, moving her feet into the correct position her instructor had taught her, she-
“Stop,” Cocytus told her, and she did as he said without hesitation. Walking slightly to the side of her, a thought crossed her mind that he was only toying with her by listening to her request, before he would finally take her and make her his. Yet, he did no such thing, instead a hand grabbing her arms and repositioning them slightly.
“Your. Form. Is. Mostly. Correct. However-” he continued fiddling slightly, moving down to her legs, moving the positions of her feet slightly. Having the giant insectoid touching her in such an intimate position made her feel powerless, and yet there was something about it being him, beyond just him being a monster, that made her heartbeat quicken and her face flush red. “You. Need. To. Focus. On. Keeping. Your. Feet. At. A. Proper. Distance. And. Parallel. To. Each. Other.”
“I-Is th-that so?” she stuttered, wondering if he had been observing her for this exact purpose, to instruct her as to what to do. The thought that he had been paying attention to her so clearly that he had picked up on these things - or perhaps, Darkness thought somewhat depressively, it had been so obvious and yet no one had told her, not even her instructor.
“Keep. Your. Mind. Focused. On. Where. You. Want. The. Blade. To. Strike,” he continued to explain, stepping away from her now, giving her room, “Nothing. Else. Must. Matter. No. Other. Thoughts. Or. Feelings. Must. Distract. You. From. Your. Singular. Goal. As. A. Sword.”
“Keep my mind focused…” Darkness repeated Cocytus’ words out loud, gripped the handle of the wooden sword a bit tighter, “Nothing else must distract you as a sword...”
She didn’t try and dispute what he said, yet she wondered why he would phrase it in such a manner. It felt too simple, as if there should be something more - of course she always wanted the blade to strike, and of course she had always been keeping her mind focused. Maybe this was some sort of a ploy by him in order to distract her from his true goals, to keep her mind occupied so that he could swing his massive tail and make her fall before mounting her and-
No, she shouldn’t let her fantasies get the better of her. She was getting distracted, wasn’t she? She had to keep her mind focused on hitting the target, and nothing else. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she began charging without stopping.
Before she knew it, she had swung her blade, and for a second, she feared she had completely missed the target, as she didn’t notice anything special. She had failed, again, even with the advice that Cocytus had given her. Darkness’ heart sunk, and she gritted her teeth in frustration. She had failed, again.
Then, the training dummy’s upper half began slowly sliding downwards. A cut had severed it in half, fake armour and all, and it slowly crumpled down to the ground, the only thing left standing being half off a straw torso.
Darkness didn’t even realize she had dropped her sword until she heard it fall onto the ground.
“I- I hit it,” Darkness felt the words come out of her mouth without even thinking about them, amazed at what she had managed to do. She had never managed to hit anything properly, not even once - always having nearly hit it at best to extraordinarily embarrassing failures at worse. It felt unreal to her. “I really hit it.”
“Well. Done,” Cocytus congratulated her from behind her, and she could feel a giant hand placed on her shoulder - three long, inhuman fingers delicately placing themselves on her. “It. Was. Your. Best. Yet.”
Darkness felt overwhelmed by Cocytus’ praise for some reason, her face feeling flushed as she looked to the side, her body tensing slightly, rubbing the back of her head in embarassment. “I- Th-thank you, Cocytus- for your, ahem, ah-”
“There. Is. No. Need. To. Thank. Me. Girl,” Cocytus did not take his hand off of her, and as she looked up behind her she could see him looking down at her, right behind her. So close, it made Darkness feel like her cheeks were lit with fire and her heart beating faster than she could ever have imagined.
“It. Was. You. Who. Managed. To. Hit. The. Target. In. The. End,” he continued, as if he hadn’t noticed the way that Darkness was red in the face from him being so close, or he was choosing not to note it at all, “This. Was. Your. Achievement.”
“My achievement…” Darkness placed both hands on her cheeks as she looked down at her feet, her head practically spinning. This was her achievement! She had managed to do this, she had finally managed to hit something with intent. It was hard to describe the amount of feelings which was boiling inside of her. She knew, however, that it certainly felt good.
“Now,” Cocytus let go of Darkness’ shoulder, taking a step back, giving her space even though she didn’t want it, “It. Appears. The. Target. Has. Broken. And. Is. No. Longer. Suitable. For. Practice.”
“I- ah, uhm-” Darkness registered his words, but it took a moment for her to be able to compose herself somewhat, her eyes focused on Cocytus’ face - so inhuman yet so strong-looking, unreadable to her yet still perfect all the same. Shaking her head, she looked at the training dummy she had no sliced in half, “-It would appear so. I should go ask Sir Rerugen for a replacement-”
Cocytus let out a breath of cold air, but did not say anything, as if he was thinking about something. Darkness wondered what was going through that inhuman mind of his - so possibly foreign. He did not seem unfeeling, nor particularly hostile, either, yet she still had very little ability to understand him.
A thought crossed her mind, that she wished she knew what Cocytus thought of her. If he felt the same way about her and her body like she felt about his. If he even liked her, or respected her, or if he only viewed her as a necessary acquaintance. If he had thought about killing her, or holding her, or fighting her, or whatever else it might be.
It was a hard thing, Darkness knew, falling in love with a monster like Cocytus. But she would persevere, despite it all, bottling up these feelings she had for him, knowing full well he would never be likely to reciprocate them.
Finally, he spoke, breaking her own chain of thoughts. “If. We. Sparred. You. Are. Likely. To. Improve. Further,” he said, before turning his head to look at the small building which held all the gym equipment.
Darkness’ eyes widened. “Are you s-sure?” she said without thinking, making him turn to look back at her, making her feel all the more hot in the face, “I mean, ah- I’m not questioning your skill as a warrior, of course! I was just thinking, a weak soft fleshy human like me, sparring with a big monster such as yourself, you could very easily overpower me at any second, and I would find myself falling onto my back and then you would stand over me and- and-”
“I. Will. Hold. Back. Girl,” Cocytus interrupted her wild fantasies, not at all seeming to care about them, “After. All. I. Wish. To. See. You. Improve. As. A. Warrior.”
“I-” her words stopped, and Darkness felt her face contorting in confusion for a moment, wondering if she had heard him correctly, although that was simply her trying to deny what he had just said.
“If that is what you wish.”
With an exhalation of cool, frosty air, Cocytus started turning around. Darkness felt silly standing there, and she watched him go, she couldn't help but think about how attractive he was - how much she wanted him. Her face flushed, looking down to the ground, she knew he would never be able to view her as anything more, but still, she wished.
She muttered a prayer to Eris for success, knowing the Goddess would do nothing for her.