So yet again, we were off walking. Seriously, why the hell did elementals have to make everything so remote to the point that the only way you could reach them was travelling for hours on foot over hill and dale only to find that the places we were making a beeline for were either abandoned or trashed to the point that it looked like a war zone (Thank you Shadow). I was actually beginning to think that I might have accidently wandered into scene from Lord of the Rings, minus the orcs of course. Then again it wouldn't surprise me if they were real at this point.

According to Shadow, who was leading our little convoy, we were heading towards a sort of train yard, a dumping ground for carriages and engines that were either not in use or were about to be scrapped, not a bad place to hide, but it was also in the middle of nowhere, with the nearest civilisation being fifteen miles away so if something went wrong we'd be stuck in the middle of god knows where with nowhere to run.

Sheira had thought this as well, because for the last half an hour she'd been running through backup plans with me, with the occasional grunt coming from Shadow to let us know he was listening. So far the idea's that we had come up with varied from find a vantage point away from the yard so that we could scout out the exits, to send one person in to negotiate while the other two watched from the side-lines, ready to intervene, to finally run in there, guns blazing and sprint very fast in the other direction if they shot back (Guess which one was Shadow's input). Needless to say, Sheira freezing his head as a way of telling him to button it or die was very effective.

But then again, we were following Shadow, as he was the only who seemed to know where we were going, and he was holding that weird compass of his. Apparently it showed whatever we needed to see but I couldn't tell you how it worked even if I had a PhD in physics. I had tried of course by peering over Shadow's shoulder, but the whole thing was totally unreadable, the gem in the centre would suddenly pulse violently for a few seconds before fading out into nothing while smaller gemstones zipped around the edges like they were from Close Encounters. However, what was even more concerning was the fact that Shadow occasionally stopped to hit the thing before setting off again, which was really comforting. Not!

But he was the designated leader, the man with the plan, the chap with the map (That's not a saying but it rhymed so what the heck), so Sheira and I weren't in a place to argue, we just figured out how to get out of dodge as soon as humanly possible if something went drastically wrong. And knowing our luck, which had previously got us shot at, stabbed, at, almost set on fire and had dropped us into more fights than you could shake a metaphorical stick at, this probably wasn't going to end well.

Granted we had to get there first. I'd realised why Maverick had said that it would take his brother three days to get to where he needed to go as how on earth he managed to make that hike with two kids was beyond me. We had been walking none stop for about four hours at this point, with the blazing sun beating down on our necks and there wasn't even the slightest breeze to offer any form of salvation. This summer was turning Britain into Spain and I was wishing something that went against every part of my English being. I wanted rain.

I know. Shocking.

Every stream and running water was our personal godsend where we could refill our water bottles and splash cool water on our faces. Shadow had cracked first. He made it about an hour before he had his leather jacket suspended over his head like a canopy and a roof of darkness hovering over his head to absorb most of the sunlight, but with the fact that he was in all black, sweat may as well have been dripping off him. Sheira was especially struggling. Ice must mean that you're a little bit more vulnerable to heat, but he was trying not to show it, but she was walking a lot slower than Shadow and I. I fell back and carefully shrugged of my jacket and spread it over our heads.

She smiled gratefully and took a quick glance at my hands. "Has anyone taught you how to control heat yet?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"Okay, let me explain a thing."

For the next hour Sheira gave a quick run down of how to manipulate heat like she could do with cold and before long I was able to create a decent barrier between the worst of the skin peeling temperatures (Not a joke, the back of my neck felt like someone had taken a hot frying pan to it) so it no longer felt like a door to hell had opened up in the sky and was dumping the fiery pit onto the earth and more like sitting in front of a hot oven at full blast. Incredibly uncomfortable but just about bearable. Just.

The long walk was giving me time to practise but other than that it didn't provide much purpose other than a steady slow roast that could end in near certain death and now that the sun was beginning to dip below the hills in the distance we needed to get a move on before the Train actually left at midnight, because it's always midnight.

"Hey Shadow!" I yelled as soon as the sky showed the slightest sign of turning that pale pink of approaching dusk. "Do you have any idea where we actually are?"

"Yes."

Pause. "I was hoping for a little more information than that. When are we going to reach the yard?"

"Soon."

There was another pause. "You're a man of few words, aren't you?" I sighed, defeated.

We'd begun to climb again. I glanced back over my shoulder to look back on the way we'd come. The green rolling hills and fields stretched out below us, wooden fences separating whose land was whose, red tractors trundled up and down their respective patches as farmers tended to their crops and livestock before the last light died. The dying light was casting the whole world in a bright golden glow like someone had covered the landscape in an orange blanket, and just cresting the horizon was a thin ribbon of pale blue, where I knew that the doomed town of Greencoast was closing its shop doors, some for the last time.

I turned and climbed again towards Shadow and Sheira who were peering down on the view on the other side of the hill. Ashwood Dale, Greencoast, how long was it before all the other elemental villages fell? And then where would Molly try next? The bigger towns, the cities? London was without a doubt on her hit list and while I wouldn't mind dealing without the rats, overflowing piles of rubbish and the constant smell of urine, that city was my home, always had been, always will be. So that monster was not going to be getting her hands on it, not if we had anything to do with it.

"Oi kid!"

"What did I say about calling me kid!" I grumped. I was too tired to argue with him right now, and anyway, they both looked like they had something important to tell me.

I made it to the top of the hill where Shadow gestured grandly down the slopes. Past a small cluster of trees, sat a square of steel, boxes of metal rusting within its walls, and a wide canal flowing next to the tracks that darted off into the world beyond. We'd found it.

"Told you I'd find it," he said smugly.

Sheira snickered from under my coat that she was still wearing as a hat. "You sound impressed with yourself. I could have sworn I saw panic in your eyes a few miles back."

Shadow's expression darkened, and his eyes flashed dangerously but he didn't say anything as we all made out way towards the patch of trees that was sat about a kilometre or so away from the main gates, close enough so we could pull our own little reconnaissance mission, but also far enough away so that if this place was filled with soldiers, we could get a decent head start if things they decided that they could pull a medieval England and mount our heads on a spike.

As soon as we'd cleared the trees and found a small patch of empty space, Sheira positioned herself under a bush and snapped her fingers at Shadow. "Can I use that multi tool thing?" He handed it to her which then transformed into a pair of binoculars which vanished into the bush along with her. Shadow and I shared a mutual look and a shrug, she had clearly had done weird things like this before.

"So, what now?" I asked enjoying the relief of being able to sit, remove my boots and examine the blisters that pockmarked my feet. I have to admit that I gipped a little at the sight of the blister the size of your standard Olympic gold medal that sat painfully slap bang in the middle of my sole. "That's just nasty. I need to pad out my shoes if we're going to keep hiking around like this, and don't give me that eye roll, I'm a city boy, I can't help it if I'm not physically built for all this walking. Especially not on these feet, do you have a pin by any chan- Erk! Hey! Let go of me!"

Completely out of nowhere Shadow had yanked me backwards by my collar and was now forcibly dragging me into the woods. He was ridiculously strong, so it wasn't taking much effort on his end to pull my sorry ass into the middle of nowhere. Even more concerningly was that Sheira hadn't even reacted, instead she'd just waved us off without moving from under her cover. They were conspiring against me, for some reason...What were they actually planning here?

Still dragging me by the collar we broke free of the treeline into a tunnel of dark green. The trees and bushes were curved into an arch, carved by something big barrelling its way through. Spots of light danced on the overgrown grass, filtered and broken by a ceiling of green leaves. Shadow finally released his grip on my collar and carefully examined the surrounding space.

"Yeah, this will do nicely," he said without filling me in on any detail, as he usually did.

I stared at him incredulously. "Any chance that you're going to fill me in on what's going- OW!"

While Shadow had conveniently forgotten to tell me why he had dragged me into the middle of the woods, while the sun was setting which was rapidly changing the scenery into that from a horror movie, I had also conveniently forgotten that I wasn't wearing any shoes. I could only imagine the look on a soldiers face while I hopped around in pain after my toes hit something very hard, which lead to a loud and painful crunching sound. Shadow naturally offered no help as I carefully examined my toes, hoping and praying to every deity I could recall that I hadn't broken anything.

Satisfied that I couldn't feel anything moving that really shouldn't be moving, I glanced up and tried to find what had nearly turned my foot into a sock with broken glass where bone should be. There seemed to be a long piece of metal running across the ground, half buried beneath the grass and moss. Huh? There was another bar sat parallel to the one that I slammed my foot into, trailing off into the distance.

"Train tracks?" I said out loud, "what are these doing out here?" It seemed stupid to wonder but there was only one way in and one way out of that train yard (That I could see anyway), and I hadn't seen any abandoned lines going into the yard. Hmm...

For once Shadow decided to actually answer one of my questions. "Have you ever seen abandoned train tracks in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yeah?"

"They're not abandoned," he said simply. "During the industrial revolution elementals benefitted as much as the rest of the world, weapons, tools, artefacts, all suddenly mass produced on a scale never seen before. But they needed a way of getting all those raw materials to the factories at the heart of the big cities, hence the creation of the Great Element Railroad, and tracks like these which are still used today."

I carefully edged away from the tracks which Shadow was standing slap bang in the middle of. "So, a train could come by at any moment and you're standing in the tracks. Well it was nice knowing you."

Blackness flared up from his fingers suddenly. He scowled menacingly, "alright first things first if you don't want to be dead by the time this hour is up, drop the wisecracks or else. You don't have to worry about the trains, these lines are pretty much abandoned, well more than the others anyway, and the track will clear if a train does come by, so you'll get a heads up."

"Okay. Tracks clear, run like merry hell in the other direction, got it. But you still haven't explained why you've dragged me out into the middle of the woods, or why Sheira doesn't seem to care about what you're planning, which is more concerning than the fact that my first thought was that you're planning to murder my ass. Joke, joke!" I added quickly when the swirling ball of darkness between his fingers flared violently.

He sighed in defeat and muttered quietly, "I think I'm going to regret doing this..."

"Doing what?"

"For some reason, against my better judgement I might add, I'm going to teach you how to not be a complete failure out in the field."

I stared at him for about thirty seconds in shock. "What?"

"You heard me just fine."

"But...but..." My words had completely failed me, he was going to do what now? "I thought you hated me."

He smirked. "That hasn't changed kid."

I scowled at his use of my little nickname, "Sheira has put you up to this hasn't she?"

"Believe it or not this was my idea, can't believe it myself if I'm perfectly honest, but I'm nothing if not a man of my word and I told you that I would train you, so this is happening."

I cast my mind back to try and remember what sort of deal I would have willingly put myself through, knowing that I would have to spend private time with soldier sarcasm. "Wait a second, told me that you'd train me...wait you mean at the library? You were serious?"

Shadow's expression not only told me that he was deadly serious, but that he was also regretting his life choices. Big time. "Just...put your boots back on, I don't want to be looking at your skanky feet and stand on that rail. And pop that blister while you're at it, its making me feel ill just knowing it exists."

I quickly followed Shadow's military style orders, fumbling to stuff my feet back into my boots while my brain was still stuck on the fact that Shadow was willingly giving me lessons. Me! A guy that he despised openly. Okay, fine, he had technically already agreed to train me, but I didn't think that he would actually going to go through with it. And what the heck was he going to teach me anyway, because let's get one thing straight, I would rather do a walk of shame in the nude rather than get into a wrestling match with him.

"So...uh..." I stammered as I shoved my remaining foot into my boot, "what are you going to go through with me?"

"Sword fighting."

I almost fell over in shock. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"Specifically, disarming techniques," he said like I'd never spoken at all.

"You're showing me how to what?"

He suddenly advanced on me so his glowing red eyes glared into my green ones. "Listen here you," he snapped, "Incaendium might be showing you what to do and you may have a few natural talents when it comes to this sort of thing, but you're still an incompetent rookie with a shiny stick." I felt Incaendium buzz angrily by my side, I steeled myself for a verbal onslaught when I unsheathed him. "All its going to take is one swordsman who is better than you, which is every other guy on the planet at this point, and then you're toast. Done. Pushing up the daisies and gone to join the choir invisible." I bit my cheeks hard to avoid finishing that particular sketch and mentioning something about a parrot that would really turn me in an Ex-Nick.

"This isn't some video game where you've got more than one life, this is real, this is war, and all it takes is one slip up to kill you. Your enemies will be a lot more powerful than you, so you have to start learning the basics. I mean look at your last fight, you were aiming to disarm the guy and you ended up almost cutting him in two-"

"That was an accident!" I protested angrily.

"And we don't need more accidents! You need to know what you're doing if you've got any chance of making it to your family, got that?"

I opened my mouth to protest, and then shut it again quickly. As much as my stubborn ass wanted to deny it, he was telling the truth, I had got lucky. Josh was overconfident, too arrogant and believed that he was a lot better than he actually was. I wasn't going to get that chance again, my only option was to improve my own skills until I was on the same playing field as everyone else, because at the moment I was five hundred miles in the other direction. And if my only way to catch up was Shadow, well then I would have to bite the bullet.

Shadow looked pleased at my slight nod of agreement. "Good, now draw your sword and stand there," he said hoping up onto the other rail.

I gingerly unsheathed Incaendium, wincing from the barrage of unprintable insults that he was hurling at Shadow.

Shiny stick? Shiny stick! How dare he call me that! I am finest piece of weaponry that's existed this century, I am not a SHINY STICK! Ooh...Tell him that he better watch what he says about me, I know all his secrets!

I decided not to ask about what that meant as Incaendium probably wasn't going to reveal anything more than he should. I stood up on the railing (Incaendium still cursing like a sailor) and tried to locate what Shadow would be using as a sword as I knew that the only weapon he had on him was-

Shadow twisted the black ring on his finger and with a sudden flash of black light and a menacing crack, an evil looking longsword was now sat comfortably in Shadow's hand. Long tendrils curled of the blade, which was tinted black as if darkness was directly infused with the metal itself. It pulsed slightly with a dark energy and a formidable and unmistakably evil aura rolled off it in waves that was terrifyingly familiar.

Azazel... Incaendium growled, his own flames raging brighter protectively, he must have felt my fear. I gave the hilt a tighter squeeze in appreciation.

"Hey kid, you ready for this?"

"What if I hurt you?"

"What?"

My mind had involuntarily travelled back to the last time that I held a sword, and as much as Shadow gets on my nerves, I don't want to accidently kebab him. He'd probably come back from the dead and haunt my ass for all eternity knowing my perfect luck.

Shadow sighed irritably and rolled his eyes, again. "You can't hurt me idiot, now put your sword up."

Can't. Not won't, like you won't hurt me because I'm more skilled than you are, he said can't. Like you physically can't hurt me. Was he so confident in his healing abilities that he was one hundred percent sure that I wouldn't pull off an accident like last time. A shot to the heart or as the great Highlander has taught me that a quick decapitation would do the trick. Wouldn't it?

"Oi," Shadow wacked my arm with the side of Azazel, "you finished daydreaming twinkle toes?"

I glared with all the ferocity I could muster. "Never call me that again," I warned.

He smirked, and a terrible evil glint flickered in his eyes. This was not going to be fun. "You're going to have to make me."

For the next hour or so Shadow continued to drill me relentlessly, never letting up, or allowing me to catch my breath for a second. But I could see the point, he was trying to re-enact the feeling of a battlefield. Even the iron railing I was standing on had a point, he was trying to teach me how to keep my balance which was not ending well (I have fallen over from a slight breeze before). All in all, from the constant attacks to the balancing act I was performing, he was succeeding at making it as difficult as humanly possible to even attempt to disarm him.

When it came to the theory of the disarming techniques I was achieving full marks, as for the execution? Not so much. The two methods that Shadow was teaching me were (He said he was grossly simplifying the actual names), the 'Hilt tug' and the 'Twist and pull'. They both basically did what they said on the tin. The 'Hilt tug', as he called it, involved slipping your own blade underneath your opponents hilt and pulling. Simple. Well...simpleish. The slight downside to that one meant that you were putting yourself in the way of the pointy end of your opponents weapon and even if you did manage to pull it away you still might accidently spear yourself, which I had almost done. Twice.

"The aim is to pull your opponent's sword away from them, but removing a few fingers can't hurt either," Shadow cackled when I finally managed to rip Azazel out of his grip. I swear that I had done just that a few time, I'd seen blood, lots of blood, but Shadow kept going like nothing had happened. Maybe I'd imagined it.

The second method was a lot trickier. Basically, you had to twist your own sword in a tight circle and then pull with the hopes of twisting it out of the other guy's hands. I got stabbed a few times attempting that one and by the time I'd finally managed it the sun had almost completely set with only the light of my flaming stick to illuminate my wheezing form on the floor as my body had just completely given out from the two rigorous hours of training where Shadow had hand dragged me through hell with an evil smile on his face.

I was flat out on my stomach, gasping for air, I may as well be taking a shower in my own sweat and I really didn't want to get a second opinion on what I smelled like. Incaendium was still in my hand, he wasn't doing much better if I was being perfectly honest. His flames were flickering weakly, although I had a theory that those were just an extension of how I was feeling as I couldn't possibly understand how a piece of metal could feel anything, but hey, there's a first for everything.

"Feeling any better stardust?"

"Go...to...hell..." I wheezed pathetically.

"Aww, sadly for you you've got two hours with me every day until we reach the boss level. Well sadly for you, I'm looking forward to this."

I moaned, not even bothering to look up from my pit of despair because I knew that I would end up seeing his grinning face looming above me. I also didn't want him to see my face either, because I was, and I am really going to regret even thinking this, kind of looking forward to it. And believe it or not I didn't have a concussion, I genuinely meant it. Shadow was actually a really good teacher, surprisingly good in fact. He flat out refused to go easy on me and while Sheira certainly wasn't a pushover, she was more than happy to punch me in the ribs when I was getting on her nerves, I got the slight feeling that she very occasionally showed a little favouritism, not much, but enough that she didn't go too far in training.

Shadow didn't give a damn about that and was even happier to give me a slight nudge/kick in the side when I didn't show any sign of moving after a few seconds of lying on the damp ground. I yelped in pain and jumped to my feet with all the elegance of a drunken giraffe which involved stumbling, near loss of balance and almost returning to my previous position of being face down in the dirt.

"I hope you're not going to be like this after every session, because I will happily go SAS on your ass, if you know what I mean." Shadow raised a disapproving eyebrow as I lowered myself onto a nearby rock, fully understanding what he meant by SAS. I'd watched all those shows, it didn't surprise me that Shadow did as well.

"I'll be fine," I growled through gritted teeth. "I'll live, I've suffered through worse than this before."

"Somehow I believe you," Shadow said, he flicked Azazel back round in a tight circle between his fingers and with a swish and a click, the black ring slipped back onto Shadow's finger.

I kept my weapon out, partly for company, partly for reassurance that I wasn't failing dramatically at, well, everything. Incaendium was trying to tell me that I was going to be fine and with a few more lessons I might be battle ready, but there was something that was still bugging me. It was that horrible, niggling feeling that sat firmly at the back of your mind, never coming right to the front but occasionally darting forward yelling 'Hey remember me? Well now you're thinking about me for the next few hours! Sucks to be you!' Sigh...I was going to be stuck with that little thought for the rest of the evening.

"Hey kid?" Shadow said, "are you coming?" he jerked his head in the general direction of Sheira.

"Does it get easier?" I asked quietly, "killing people?"

Shadow flinched slightly at my question, freezing for a brief moment and giving me enough to mentally prepare for a lecture. Why a lecture? Because I know what teachers look like when you've said something obvious and they really don't want to explain something.

I heard him sigh (probably in slight annoyance) his shoulders drooping. The look on his face when he turned around confirmed that fact "Look kid, unless you haven't noticed, this is war," he said sternly, "and whether you like it or not, you're going to have to kill people."

"I figured that," I snapped. "What I asked is does it get easier."

"You'll get used to it."

Get used to it? That sounded like I wasn't going to care anymore, like I would just get closed off to it. I don't want to be a murderer. Self-defence and necessity I could deal with, seeking out a fight with the sole intention of barbequing them wasn't my style. I wasn't Shadow. "What if I don't want to get used to it?"

Shadow sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You're not going to have a choice."

"I don't want to be a murderer!"

"People are going to try and kill you!"

"I know!" I yelled angrily. "I know that this is a war, I know that I'm going to have to kill people, I know that I'm not going to have a choice, but you still haven't answered my question, does it get EASIER!"

"For god's sake L-" Shadow clamped his mouth shut and a looked angry with himself, but not before a brief flicker of sadness flashed across his eyes. Another name had crossed his mind, another name that had stopped him in his tracks, and by the looks of it, it meant something to him.

"Look, I'm going to be honest with you, it does get easier, but you don't want it to. The act does get easier, trust me, it does, but it never truly leaves you. The aftermath is a thousand times worse than the moment and that's the understatement of the century, you felt it, I can see it when I look at you. You're afraid to hold that weapon, don't deny it you are, you're scared of taking another life because you know that at some point it's not going to an accident when your blades runs true and that guilt is going to be weighing on your head forever. I'm right, aren't I?"

I didn't answer, didn't have to because I knew that he'd just spelled out my worries in plain English. Simple to understand and depressingly undeniable. He sighed again, his gaze just avoiding my own. "I...knew someone like you, a long time ago. When they made their first kill, they were devastated, and the nightmares stalked them or months afterwards. I should know, I was the one that tried to stop the screaming every night."

"What did you say to them?" I asked.

"The same thing I'm going to tell you, close your heart to it. This is surviving on a day to day basis and if someone runs at you with a knife you can be pretty sure that they're going to try and kill you, your only hope is to make sure they don't through any means necessary. Even if that means killing them first. Your only hope is to keep pushing forward and if you get a nightmare afterwards? A nightmare can't hurt you, not like a blade to the gut, so a nightmare means you're still alive to fight another day."

"That...was surprisingly poetic," I said in awe.

Shadow shrugged nonchalantly, "I have my moments. Now shift it, Sheira is waiting."

I trotted off after him, dutifully noting that he had actually referred to Sheira by her first name rather than the nicknames that he had come up with on the road such as 'Precious little princess' and 'Our lady of sarcasm' (Those are the tamer options as I had heard him muttering much more colourful language when it came to our favourite Ice Elemental).

"So, what happened to that friend of yours? Did they actually take your weird advice?"

"You could say that. They got over that little existential crisis and later became one of the greatest sword users I've ever met and possibly the greatest dual wielder that has ever walked upon this rock."

"That good?"

"Are you kidding me? I've never seen a fighter more fluid, moved like the wind. Going toe to toe on their best day would be like trying to shoot at a tornado, you get me?"

I nodded vigorously. Whoever this person was, they were quickly turning into my hero. Ten out of ten on the Hayden Badassery Scale. "This guy sounds awesome, you still know them? I'm taking all the coaching available for a hundred miles in any direction."

That sadness flooded back into Shadow like a wave. His demeanour showed it, his shoulders slumped, his head hung forward and that frown, that felt heart breaking to even look at, graced his face like a mask. I instantly regretted asking. "I...I don't know where they are. I don't...I haven't seen them in years. Could be dead for all I know."

I didn't push him further, for two reasons. One, after seeing the look on his face he really didn't want to talk about it, and two, if Sheira and I asked him anything about his past he threatened us with the lovely image of turning us into mincemeat, pressing us into a burger and feeding us to the nearest carnivore. So yeah, no more questions from my end. But that didn't really matter as we stepped back into the clearing where Sheira was sat patiently waiting for us, looking slightly cute with a ring of leaves stuck to her hair.

"What's the situation?" Shadow asked, taking back his binoculars and peering down at the scene below us.

"Not much," she said with a shrug, "little to no movement, and what I saw might have been an animal for all I know. I did see a couple puffs of steam so at least we now its there. What are you doing?"

"You're wearing a crown of leaves I'm just deflowering you."

Shadow's head whipped round to stare at me in shock while Sheira's mouth dropped open in surprise, a devilish look in her eyes. I on the other hand (While the temperature of my face reached your average red giant) wanted the ground to swallow me whole and or fall into a wormhole and get punted out to the other side of the universe.

"Oh, dear god, please forget I ever said that! I didn't mean it like, I just, I just. Oh god. Don't look at me ever again. Just, moon, come and crush me! Just squish me! I'm ready to die right now!"

"Not happening, I'm remembering that forever," Sheira grinned evilly. Shadow was actually on the floor laughing and struggling to breathe (As per usual, my physical pain and embarrassment was bringing his sadistic ass pure joy).

I buried my face in my hands in complete humiliation, "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

Sheira laughed. It was a nice laugh. Light and good humoured, real. Still giggling she made a less than subtle way to get my mind off of my crippling embarrassment. "How was training at least. Did you have a good time?"

"What do you think?" I scoffed. "Okay he's a pretty good teacher, but he finds amusement in my pain and suffering and he also lobs a ball of darkness at my head if I back chat him. And to make things even better I'm now stuck with him every night. I just want you to know that I completely blame you for this."

She shrugged, "did you at least feel like you were improving?"

"Well kind of..."

"Then you don't really have an argument, so here my advice; grin and bear it." She tapped my nose lightly with the last two words and the waltzed off to collect her stuff.

I shook my head at her with a smile on my face. She was, when she wasn't wielding an ice shard like a knife or freezing someone to an ice cube, quite sweet actually. She reminded me of my primary school teacher, young, kind, pretty but also someone who could be extraordinarily scary if you made her mad. And I liked her for that. We'd probably end up being best friends if we weren't marching into danger against an undead, animated corpse and her minions. You know, as you do.

"Hey Shadow?" Sheira asked.

"What?"

"Who taught you how to use a sword?"

Although I had been wondering that myself I honestly didn't expect Shadows reaction. A loud crash signified the steel water canteen that had slipped between his fingers when Sheira had asked him the question. Sheira and I both froze, staring at the expression that had suddenly clouded his features. It was like I had seen a few minutes ago when Shadow had been talking about that friend of his, but this was worse, this was a thousand times sadder.

This wasn't like before. What I had seen before was nothing compared to this. Before was just thinking back, a slight fondness remaining from someone you'd cared about once upon a time, a memory that hurt to think about. But this was damn near overwhelming. Shadow's hands were shaking but other than that his whole body had completely seized up and his scarlet eyes seemed dull and glazed over as he relived the worst memory of his life.

Sheira glanced over at me, she was clearly mortified that she'd said something that wrong. "I was just wondering, you just have all those weapons in your vault and you can't possibly know how to use all of them so I thought..." she trailed off as Shadow didn't say anything, he only bent down to pick up what he's dropped.

"I...It doesn't matter," he mumbled.

"Well obviously it does matter to you."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Oh god. That was the voice of someone who was very close to detonating, I knew it well. When people asked me about my dad after the incident I just got angry with them, now matter how good their intentions were. When you're like that, you just want to be left alone. But Sheira, sweet kind Sheira, who obviously wanted to help was, without knowing, poking the beast if you will.

"Sheira just leave him be," I pleaded.

She shook her head at me in an understanding way. I took a slight step back. "Shadow," she began, "we can help, if you just let us-"

Shadow snapped round so his piercing gaze burned into the two of us. "I said, DROP IT!!" he roared, the sheer force from his command sending Sheira and I retreating as fast as we could.

I grabbed Sheira's hand and pulled her back, away from the rage that was so clearly burning inside him, tearing him apart like an animal clawing at its cage. But under that anger was something else, something vulnerable and sad. DABDA was something that sprung to mind upon seeing him like this. Its called the five stages of grief and it goes like this; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance and it all happens after losing someone you love.

Trust me, I knew all about it. The school therapist had single handily drilled it into my brain that I could spot someone on that scale a mile away. But Shadow seemed to be stuck at anger, not able to keep going forward, just lashing out at anyone who tried to help because it was a distraction from the pain, the sorrow and the heartbreak.

Shadow stood there staring at the two of us, his fire fuelled gaze unwavering, the swirls of darkness curling round his fingers snapping like flames, until he finally turned, hauled his backpack onto his back and stormed down the hill towards the train yard. Leaving Sheira and I sharing a terrified gaze for a brief moment before following him down the hill.