Black Dagger Brotherhood-Lover What?

Payne and Xhex lined the trainees up quickly. It seemed like the males listened more quickly to the females than the brotherhood males. Maybe it was their seriousness, or the way they moved, like they knew they were underestimated because they were female but you'd better bet that they knew how to kick your ass if you challenged them.

"50 push-ups! Now!" Xhex barked out. The trainees all dropped down immediately set to the rhythm Payne was tapping out on her thigh. At thirty, a few of the pre-trans collapsed, including Amy. They sat back until the rest had finished.

"All of you that stopped, step forward." Payne ordered. They reluctantly did, their heads down. "Give me thirty, on my count." A few of the males groaned but they all got down. "Down...up...down...up." Amy could feel her face heating up as she felt the other males watching her. She knew it wasn't just her, it was all the pre-trans that were being singled out right now. But she was embarrassed that she was one of the ones up there. Her arms started shaking horribly at twenty and she fell again. She sat back while the others pushed themselves to the end. She kept her head down as she felt Xhex looking at her.

"This group right here," Xhex said, gesturing to the pre-trans that had been redoing the push-ups, "ten laps around the gym. The rest of you, pair off for sparring."

***

Hailey gladly stood next to Tehmper, signaling her as her partner. Payne took one of the single males and used him to demonstrate some moves, first in slow motion, then quickly, like it should be done. Hailey was a little worried. She wasn't the smoothest when it came to hand-to-hand. Actually, she could be quite the clutz.

"Ready?" Tehmper smirked down to her. Why'd the female have to be so tall? Hailey felt at such a disadvantage with the height difference.

"Of course." Hailey scoffed with false bravado. They stood in the stance that Payne had shown and very slowly worked through the moves, slowly speeding them up.

"Good job, girls." Payne praised as she passed by before turning and correcting someone else's stance. Hailey felt a little bit of pride in the center of her chest: she just got praised, didn't need any correction, and had yet to make some kind of goof. As she stopped and wondered how Amy was doing, her focus moved off of Tehmper.

One second, she was standing in front of her, the next, she was looking up at her from her back on the ground. "Ha!" Tehmper barked out a laugh, "Got 'cha."

***

Amy panted as she ran the fourth lap around the gym. Why'd it have to be so big?

"Come on, female." Xhex muttered next to her. "You can do this." She had chosen to keep pace next to her, the other males in front of them.

"Wish I had ...your vote of ...confidence." she replied, breathing in between.

"Need a little motivation?"

Amy thought for a second. "Might be...best."

"Well then, come on. I know you're small, but you can do this. You gave Zsadist a bloody nose with a freakin' scissor kick. You've survived in the world so far. You can't fall behind these males. You've gotta show 'em that size and gender do not matter. You've gotta push yourself."

Amy's chest got tight as they now entered the sixth lap. "I can't." she gasped.

"Yes you can!" Xhex snapped. "You can make four more laps. You can finish with these weak males. They'll transition and get stronger, but right now, they're as weak as you are." She inwardly smirked as Amy's eyes narrowed. "Are you weak?"

"No."

"I can't hear you. I asked, are you weak?!"

"No!" she shouted, straightening herself, moving into the seventh lap.

"That's what I wanna hear." Xhex smiled. "Two more laps. You can do it." She took a second and lightly reached into the younger female's mind. She quickly found something that could make the girl keep going. "Just think of this: Hailey's at the end; her mood's not good. If you get there in time, you can save her. If you fail on the way there,..." She trailed off.

Amy's breathing turned to pained gasps as they were half-way through the eighth lap. "How'd....you know...about that?"

"Stop talking. You're wasting breath. Use it to get there."she ordered softly.

Amy inwardly cursed at the fact that she was about to collapse - her lungs hurt so bad and her breath was like razors down her throat- and Xhex was next to her without a hitch in her rhythm! She both admired and hated the strong female right then. But that picture of Hailey was so clear in her mind, as if it was actually true and that's why she was running. Somehow, she knew Xhex was doing something to make this image, especially as she saw Hailey sparring with Tehmper at the same time the image in her head had Hailey drawing a knife across her wrist. What was the female doing to her?

Xhex grabbed her arm and stopped her. "You finished. Nice job."

Amy nodded, breathing too heavy to say anything. "Bathroom, please?" she signed.

"Sure. Go ahead."

Amy stumbled to the gym doors, trying not to fall in front of the trainees. She made it out into the hallway and headed for the locker room. She didn't need to go, she just needed to catch her breath and she didn't want to be wheezing in front of those judgmental males.

Her chest tightened more as she stepped into the tiled shower area. It was nice and cool in there. She took gasping breaths, feeling like no oxygen was going to her body. Did she get a freakin' hole in her lungs or something?

Her legs wobbled and she fell to her hands and knees. 'Come on. It couldn't have been that bad.', she thought to herself. She braced a hand against the wall and stood up.

Her vision blacked out.

***

Hailey cursed again as Tehmper knocked her down...again. She felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and wondered if all this slamming from the female was giving her a concussion. She looked up from the mats as Payne gave a sharp whistle.

"Everyone hit the showers!" she ordered. "They'll be no classroom since Butch is not well tonight. Bus leaves in twenty minutes."

Tehmper pulled Hailey up and they started walking to the locker room. "Nice job tonight." Tehmper praised.

"What are you talking about?" Hailey scoffed. "You knocked me on my ass each time!" They laughed as they entered the shower area, stopping short at what was in front of them. "Amy!" Hailey exclaimed, running forward and dropping next to her.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Tehmper asked, standing behind her.

Hailey checked that she had a pulse. "Her heart is going too fast." She watched her chest rise and fall, the breaths too shallow for her liking. "It was the running." she growled as she ran over to her clothes, digging into her jean pockets. She pulled out a small item and hurried back to Amy. "Run and tell Xhex or Payne and have them get Jane down here." she calmly ordered. Tehmper nodded and ran off, using her long legs to go faster.

Hailey lifted Amy's head onto her lap and opened her mouth, putting part of the item in. She pressed on top and waited for Amy to breath in again, taking the medicine into her lungs. Amy gasped before her breathing slowed just a little, but it was still not to Hailey's preference. She moved her hand through Amy's hair, tapping her toes in her shoe as she counted the seconds for Jane to get there. Her fingers found a huge bump on the back of her head. 'So that's what it was.' she thought.

"Keep breathing, chica." she mumbled, "Help is on the way."