ELENA

I waited outside the cell for Nova,waiting for a good fifteen minutes before he finally showed himself. I spied him as he walked past. He always gave me shivers,and I could never really take my eye's off of him,especially when I'd get a view of his ass.

We'd grown up together he and I. At least since we were seven year's old. Both of us knew eachother from the Army. No jokes,the only reason I joined and worked my way up to General,second to Commander,was so that I could be closer to him. Wherever Nova went,I went.

I followed close behind him as we made our way towards the showers. Nova shut the door behind us. We had our own private bathroom,with our own private sauna,and while many rumours circulated that Nova and I would...do things,in here,we never did.

Nova slowly got undressed,and I was so hypnotised by him taking his clothes off that I forgot all about mine. Almost the whole of his upper body from his waist to his chest were littered with scars. Granted I was mostly just focused on his abs most of the time,just watching them flex as he pulled off his shirt,and his stomach would contract in just a bit as he tugged his shirt off his head,showing even more of his abs to me.

I bit my lip as I watched him undress. Every piece of clothing he took off,I wanted to take off. Every body part he touched,I wanted to touch. I wanted to run my hands over his scars,kiss each and every one of them,learn where he got all of them from.

I took a deep breath as I saw Nova standing naked right in front of me. His ass was the only thing I could see,his um,ahem, crown jewel's were hidden by the locker door which he had opened. He reached into the locker and wrapped a towel round himself then shut his locker and stepped into the warm waters of the pool.

He dove underneath the waters for a few moments before he rose up again,this time,his entire body was moist with warm water,and steam slowly rose from his shoulders. Something else was moist as well but it wasn't Nova's body.

I opened my locker and quickly stopped. Inside was a small black box. I had completely forgotten about it. I had never gotten undressed so quickly in my life. I was desperate to throw all of my clothes on top of the box and cover it up so that Nova wouldn't see it. I then wrapped a towel round myself and leaped into the pool. While I was under water I caught a glimpse of Nova's legs. They weren't hairy,and he shaved them once a week to keep them that way. I always wondered if they were smooth,and soft,and I always,always wanted to explore them.

I shook my head and rose from the water,blinking rapidly to get the water out of my eye's. When I could see,Nova was right in front of me,getting closer and closer until our bodies were connected together. I could feel his body against mine,his breath on my skin...

"Elena?"

I wanted him to say my name again.

"Elena"

Again.

"ELENA!"

My eye's fluttered open. I wasn't in the pool anymore,rather on my back,cold floor beneath me. Nova was on his knee's beside me,his lips were locked with mine,his breath flowed into my mouth. He then pulled away and I yearned for his lips to come back to mine. I felt his hands on my stomach,pressing,over and over. Five times before his lips met mine again.

I then had a different feeling,an uncomfortable feeling. I couldn't breathe. I wanted to,but I couldn't. I tried,but nothing came,and as Nova kept breathing into my mouth,the feeling became more and more unbearable,until I finally gave in a coughed it out.

I choked and retched as Nova retracted away and pulled me up into a sitting position,he hit my back gently as I coughed up what seemed to be litres of water. When there was none left,and I felt I could finally breathe,Nova let out a sigh. Before I knew anything,I was in the air. My towel lay on the floor,and I realised that Nova was carrying me,the way a married man would carry his wife home after their wedding day. But I was completely naked. A part of me wanted to push Nova away,to tell him to leave me alone,but his arms were firm,and he was fairly strong despite not looking that way. He did have some muscle on him,but he wasn't exactly a gym freak.

Nova took us into the water where he sat down on a step with me on his lap. His towel was still around his waist,so I couldn't exactly...you know...but I could somewhat feel him. He wasn't as turned on as I was,I mean! He wasn't...Nova isn't like that!

Anyway,I sat on his lap and he placed his hand on my forehead. My eye's met his and for awhile,our gazes locked.

"Maybe you should see a healer"

To heal me from love?

"Hm?" Nova's voice snapped in my head.

I snapped back into reality and realised that what I had thought was something I had actually just said.

"You said something"

"You must be hearing things,I said nothing"

"I'm not stupid Elena. I heard something about love"

I could practically feel my face start to redden as I climbed off of Nova's lap and slowly went underwater,until at least my mouth was submerged.

Even though I was naked,Nova wasn't the type of person to get aroused by the sight of a naked girl. That's just the way he was. It made loving him extremely difficult.

"So whose the lucky guy you're in love with?" He asked.

Again,my body began to heat up as Nova asked the question.

"Yovglggrlllrvbrltrgllgr" I said beneath the water,making bubbles pop on the waters surface.

"Idiot I can't hear you if you're underwater."

I rose up and spat out the excess water in my mouth.

"I said...I said it's none of your concern."

"Whoever he is he might be my best friends new husband. I have to know who he is. "

And just as always,Nova would crush me just like that. What was wrong with me? Was I not good enough? I had the beauty factor down,I knew that. Was my body not to his liking? Maybe I had to be skinnier? Or put on more weight? There had to be some reason why Nova didn't love me even after all the time we've known one another. Since we were children I admired him. The way he would always train so hard. I remember how my father and everyone used to laugh at him when he tried to enlist all those years ago. He was just a boy back then,no older than seven when he would fight grown men to try and join the army,and whilst one man was convinced he had skill,time and time Nova would come and lose,until one day he finally won,and not only against one man,but against fifteen.

He was again,only seven years old. I was intrigued,by this boy who refused to quit or surrender,who was so determined to join the army at such an age when boy's would only be pretending to be in it.

He was so distant,so far away,and the anger that burned in his eye's,I always longed to know why. What had happened in his past to make him hate the world so much. To be so mistrustful towards people and refuse to speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary,but for ten whole years I haven't been able to gain answers...or his heart.

"He's just someone really special...that's all"

Nova sighed and slowly began to relax in the water.

"We have to leave soon. Go back to training the recruits"

"We could just stay here."

"We can't Elena. We have to go."

"Can we please just stay?" I pleaded as I tugged on Nova's towel to try keep him from leaving. A big part of me wanted to just tear his towel right off instead of just tug on it but I fought the urge and calmed myself.

Nova rolled his eye's and relaxed further into the pool's warm water. "Fine. We'll call it a day then,and have the general assessment of everyone's skills and abilities tomorrow to figure out which squad they'll be in."

Before I could even control my body I leaned in and placed a kiss right on Nova's cheek. I immiediatley pulled away and avoided eye contact. Of course I still watched him wipe his cheek and sit there all non aware as always.

"I'm sorry"

"For what?"

"For...kissing you"

"It was just a kiss on the cheek Elena. I used to get it from my grandma all the time. "

Nova slowly shut his eye's and lay back against the steps. My thoughts were racing with way too many images of Nova and I fucki-, Just relaxing together. I watched as Nova's body seemed much more clearer now. I could sometimes see his ribs whenever he breathed out,How his abs would flex as he breathed in and out. I couldn't tell if it was the water I was sitting in or me at this point.

But then something killed my mood altogether,a complete turn off. I realised that when I could've kissed Nova maybe I would've gotten through to him,maybe then he would finally feel how I feel,and he would understand my feelings towards him. And then it hit me that I essentially cock blocked myself.

Gods fucking damnit Elena!

I felt like smacking myself. My one oppurtunity to finally confess and show Nova how I felt and I royally screwed the pooch.

Eventually Nova and I left the pool,got changed,informed the noobs that we were taking the rest of the day off,and made our way back to our rooms. Make things even more unbearable Nova and I had to share a room. Not that I didn't mind,I got to see him change every morning,see him naked,well partially but it was enough to satisfy my eye's,and just wake up to him every morning. Nova didn't sleep well however. He would always wake up in the middle of the night soaked and covered in sweat,his breathing quick and his entire being screamt fear. It was the only time I would ever see Nova afraid or scared.

Either way I would comfort him with a hug and an "It's okay" but whenever I would ask him if he wanted to speak about it,the answer was always no,and Nova would go back to sleep. Again,I've known Nova since we were children,yet I myself still know little to nothing about his past.

Nova shut the door behind us and took off his coat,then pulled his shirt off. Again I had a hard time not staring.

"Elena,you're drooling"

"Hm?"

"You're drooling."

I wiped my mouth as quickly as I could while I kicked myself.

real smooth babe,real smooth.

"You know if you're hungry you should get a bite to eat."

Right now the only thing I wanna eat is you.

"You're mumbling again."

"I just...I'm hungry but the cafeteria's so far away,and I'm just exhausted. I really just want to tone down and hop in bed with you"

Nova stopped and stared at me as he cocked his head to the side. "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"You said you wanted to 'Hop in bed with me'. "

"I-I didn't mean it in that sense! I was just saying!"

I ran over and lept into the bed,pulling the sheets over my head. A few minutes past by and Nova climbed in. He wore no shirt and nothing except for a black cowhide pajama pants. He lay on his side,back faced to me,and before I knew it,he was fast asleep.

I let out a sigh of relief and shuffled closer towards Nova. His body was always cold as the grave,even in the sauna,but his body kept a normal light toned skin colour. He was a normal nordling on the surface,but his accent showed that he was born an imperial just as I was. Nordling's always had a much more...gruff and violent like voice to them,and they were always so intimidating and fierce. But I learned to overcome the fear of them,the fear of the Nords and their strange ways.

I sighed and closed my eye's,and soon I succumbed to the land of dreams.