Since Jordan had woken up, it had been non-stop action in Martha's little house. Everyone was forced into a strict training regime by Mianite, forcing them to work together as a team to face various scenarios and learn what the best courses of action were. The training resulted in varying levels of success that really depended on whether someone felt like yelling at Wag that day or whether Caitlin voiced an opinion only for Tucker to turn on her instead. Though Caitlin could easily handle herself against Tucker, Wag clearly felt guilty to escape the firing line and would force Tucker's attentions back onto him instead.

Since he had been in his coma for so long, Jordan's strength and muscle mass had gone down massively. This meant that each of the training sessions took a larger toll on his already drained energy reserves, causing many an injury since Jordan refused to accept his limits and continued to push himself to the point of agony. Martha was not pleased with this behaviour but Mianite accepted it, subtly ensuring that the others covered Jordan's weak points in order to retain victory each time. The original heroes fought together like they were in the war, constantly aware and able to instinctively know what needed to be done next.

Fitting Wag, Martha and Mianite into this equation was the main issue. Although Mianite was a seasoned warrior, he tended to be too brash and rushed forward too early – allowing any fake enemy that had been conjured up to strike before his defences were in place. Martha was a remarkably good fighter, using a combination of magic and melee to eliminate groups of enemies effortlessly. However, she was too timid – she relied too much on obvious openings rather than taking risks, which meant that the enemies could predict her movements. Wag's magic made him a valuable asset and he acted mostly as a support to the team, providing healing spells and various boosts to those who needed them. This made him a huge target to the enemies and due to his... past transgressions, nobody really rushed to defend him.

Ianita and Caitlin spent most of the training sessions on the side, doing individual sparring to help catch Ianita up to speed with the rest of the team's combat experience. She was a fast learner and Caitlin was a surprisingly efficient teacher – not completely holding back her punches if they connected. Ianita didn't even seem to feel the punches when they hurt her, even if they did leave marks on her skin and the sound of contact often echoed across the training yard. She merely stopped, brushed herself down and nodded for Caitlin to repeat the move or to attempt to attack her again. Her defensive skills were phenomenal, her arms instinctually moving to block blows and to defend her vital organs. If Ianita truly got involved in the battle she'd be a valuable asset, even from a distance.

"Jordan, Tom! I need your help with something."

Jordan and Tom looked up to see Caitlin beckoning them over to the weapons rack, handing them a bow each and a quiver of arrows. Ianita was standing in the middle of the field about twenty metres away, her eyes closed and a look of focus unwavering on her face. Tom and Jordan looked between her and Caitlin, a quizzical look on their faces as they tried to figure out what was being asked of them.

"I need you to attempt to hit Ianita with those bows. I chose you two because I thought I'd start with the most amateur bowmen amongst you. Martha and Sonja are remarkable shots, I can't guarantee that Mianite won't cheat and Tucker is that competitive he might take it too far."

Tom cocked his head to the side, his voice challenging as he spoke:

"What about Wag?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes at Tom, flicking away his concerns with her hand as she picked up a rock and threw it towards Wag's head – a straight shot that looked like it would hurt a lot. However, the closer it got to Wag the slower it travelled until Wag turned around and caught it in his hand with a small smirk of triumph.

"Wag has an affinity for projectiles. Since they rarely hit him, I can guarantee that he's invested a lot of time and magical energy into defending himself. In order to defend oneself you must understand how to attack – therefore I guarantee that Wag is probably the best shot here. I'm not risking Ianita, whether he betrayed us or not."

Tom and Jordan exchanged looks of worry, neither of them wanting to fire the first arrow and accidentally hurt the little girl they all care so much for. A sound of exasperation escaped Caitlin as she watched the two of them hesitate, causing her to snatch up a bow and fire an arrow straight towards Ianita's leg. Ianita moved slightly to the right, allowing it to fly past her and dig into a nearby tree. Caitlin immediately followed this up with her dagger, sending the shadowy blade whistling straight towards Ianita's stomach – not even looking when she throwing it. Ianita merely turned her body ninety degrees, allowing it to whistle past her and leave her unharmed.

"See? No problem. We've been working on this in training for nearly a week now; if she's going to fight she's going to have to know how to dodge."

Tom stared in open awe at the little girl's dodging skills, a slight pout on his face as he muttered:

"Wish I could do that."

Caitlin immediately snapped back:

"If you whined less and trained more you could do a lot better than that."

Tom averted his eyes from her steely glare and raised his bow, nocking the arrow into place and shuffling his feet so they were shoulder width apart. They'd practised with bows so many times in the old world that the position felt instinctual but Caitlin's assumption of him and Jordan being the worst at archery was incredibly accurate. Jordan tended to have the extremely powerful bows and arrows but his actual skill with it was based on being in close combat, allowing him to pepper his enemies. Tom was rubbish at short range but he was quite skilled at sniping someone – however he needed the height advantage and to be without the time pressure in order to hit someone.

Jordan copied Tom, taking a deep breath and releasing the arrow at the same time as he breathed out. The arrow flew on its path straight towards Ianita's neck, keeping pace with Tom's arrow that was heading for her arm. Neither of them hit their mark. Twirling away from the danger, Ianita had the grace of a dancer as she began to move swiftly around the field, avoiding every arrow Tom and Jordan threw at them. Occasionally one would clip Ianita's arm or shoulder and she'd stumble, only to regain focus as soon as Caitlin shouted at her. By the time the quivers were empty, Ianita was covered in various small cuts and bruises – excluding one arrow sticking out of her left thigh that she pulled out with relative ease.

"Oh my god, Ianita are you ok?"

Martha and Jordan ran over to where Ianita was standing, panting from exertion. They started inspecting all the lacerations on Ianita's body, despite the fact they were healing the moment she began to focus again. After realising that she was, in fact, fine, Martha turned around and immediately confronted Caitlin – poking her in the chest repeatedly to emphasise her point.

"This isn't training, this is life endangering! I won't allow you to endanger Ianita anymore. I thought you'd be capable of training her so she could defend herself in the wild if everything goes wrong but you seem to be training her to be the next elite assassin. Once The Shadows are gone, I don't want you hanging around her anymore. You hear me?"

Martha pushed too hard with the last poke, causing Caitlin to stagger backwards with the force and her left leg crumpling beneath her. She hit the floor rather disgracefully and glared at Martha with a fury that nobody had seen since the war in the old realm. Ianita pushed past Martha and offered Caitlin a hand, pulling her to her feet before turning on her aunt.

"I appreciate the fact you care for me so deeply Martha but what Caitlin and I do in training is really none of your business. I will be fighting this battle alongside all of you and there's nothing you can do about that. Therefore, Caitlin has limited time to give me the best combat training she can and part of that does involve some danger. No pain no gain Martha."

"You aren't fighting in this battle!"

Caitlin cleared her throat, interrupting Martha from starting another long rant about how she wouldn't put Ianita in danger.

"She will fight because it's already been foretold. Ianite saw it in her visions and Ianita's been having dreams about it for months. It's why she sought me out in the first place, seeing as none of you would teach her even the basics of combat."

Martha sat down, her head in her hands as she contemplated the weight of the words. The only real family member she had left, who was still incredibly young and who had never fought in battle before was going to be in terrible danger. The Shadows would almost immediately go after her since they knew how important she was to everyone. Ianita and Jordan were the glue of the team, without either of them things would start to fall apart. They'd topple like dominoes.

Jordan walked over to the tree where most of the arrows, as well as Caitlin's dagger, had landed, aiming to grab them and reuse them later on however something caught his eye as he was picking them up. The dagger handle was ice cold, despite the fact it had been sitting in the sunlight for a good ten minutes. The blade itself glistened, shadows causing the surface to ripple and writhe in front of Jordan's eyes as he stared at it. It was as dark as the void that he had been trapped in for so many weeks. It was the dagger. The fact it was here could only mean more bad news for our heroes.

A/N

Early Update!

Mainly because I finished it and the moving truck doesn't get here till tomorrow. 

So! The next chapter will be a direct continuation of this one. Continuing from moments later, instead of weeks or days afterwards.

Hope you enjoyed this one <3

Drop me a vote and a comment to let me know how much you loved it and tell me what you think the endgame is gonna be! What twists and turns do I have left up my sleeve *evil laugh*

Also my Mianite Oneshot book is back in action so go over there and make some requests!

Much love,

Caitlin <3