The wind was unexpectedly brisk and chilly on the roof of Aly’s apartment, I felt myself shiver from the gusts of wind that passed us by. Hell, I could almost feel the building move a bit in the wind, but that was because of structural reasons, not anything nefarious. “So,” I started nervously “Why do we have to do it on the roof of your apartment building?” I looked around nervously, noticing that thankfully, there was no one else around.

“Don’t you see Miranda? This is a great place for us to train, fairly spacious, open skies, and out of the way of most eyes. It’s the best thing we’ve got and we’re sure as hell that we’re gonna use it!” She bombastically laughs attempting, and succeeding, to lighten the mood. She smirked at Miranda in a way that was utterly irresistible to her. “Basically, we’re going to test your abilities up here so I can understand where you are physically. “ 

I couldn't help but relax and smile at the prospect. I actually felt pretty down to exercise myself physically for the first time in my life. Now that I think about it, I care way more about my physical well being than I ever have before. Was that the side effect of getting the body you’ve always dreamed of? Maybe. Needing to focus I quickly shoved that train of thoughts back into my head where I can think about it later, maybe. 

“Alright then, where do we start?” I ask apprehensively. 

Alysandra thought to herself, her face twisting into a face that was adorable in ways I didn’t think possible. “First off… I think we should test your leg strength. You know some basics like jumping and kicking.” She spoke with certainty. Oh this was going to be fun wasn’t it?!

“O-k so I just jump normally or…?” I asked nervously.

“Oh yeah, like you normally do, don’t be afraid to experiment though.” She said casually. 

Okay, I can do this! I started off by doing a normal jump, no preparation. Before I probably would’ve pathetically hopped a few inches off the floor before coming back down. This time however I felt myself go up at least five feet! I could see the edges of the roof, and even some of the streets below. I landed with a thud, but I was surprisingly not shaken or injured by my graceless landing. I smiled to myself, and decided to do it a few more times. I couldn’t help but giggle as I went up and down, like I was a kid on a trampoline. I caught Alysandra smirking at me, barely containing her own laughter. I couldn’t help but blush and quickly end my bouncing. She let out audible ‘aww’, but I brushed it off, trying to ignore my own blush. 

I decided to experiment with my jumps, this time I decided that I would use every possible way to enhance it. I crouched down a bit as I felt myself pouring energy into my legs. The release was damn near explosive as I launched myself nearly 3 times as high, easily able to see the streets below. I laughed as I felt so free up here but, I realized that I had to come down eventually. I screamed as I started flying back towards the ground, and I knew this was going to hurt. I closed my eyes and braced myself but the impact never came. Instead Alysandra caught me mid fall with a jump of her own, princess carrying me back to the ground. 

She smirked at me, her hair and eyes catching with the moonlight. Her beauty took my breath away, I was utterly stunned. And I couldn’t help but just stare at her with awe, my heart pounding faster and faster. And when her eyes caught mine and she couldn’t help but blush at my staring. “Like what you see my hatchling?” She slightly stammered, barely keeping her composure. I just nodded lightly, before she put me back on my feet. I nearly stumbled before keeping my balance. 

“That was a lot. Maybe too much? It was fun with the jumping, then a little scary from the falling and then a little-” I rambled, blushing before cutting myself, hoping to stop myself from revealing anything too embarrassing. I quickly looked away hoping to hide my blushing face. “A-anyway I think that I should do… Other training stuff.” 

“Right, right,” Alysandra started regaining her composure. “So how about we do stuff with your arms. Trying to keep yourself balanced on them, how hard you can punch a wall maybe? I’m not sure I really didn’t plan this through.” She admitted meekly.

 I nodded and decided to try the former, as I didn’t want to try punching a cement wall yet. I took a quick breath before slowly moving my body more off the ground, and having my arms support the weight. Surprisingly I was able to do it fairly easy, hell my balance hasn’t been this good in years! I eventually tried to hold myself with one arm, which I was able to do, though I was much more wobbly. Eventually I got bored and my arms got tired so I decided, begrudgingly, to try and punch a wall! I slowly moved over to one of the walls that surrounded the entrance to the roof. God this was going to hurt. I reeled up a punch, trying to manage my breathing before launching my fist into the rough concrete. I winced as I felt my fist scrape against the surface, though none of the pain I was expecting from punching a solid wall of concrete! Gosh I really was durable. And that’s when I realized I punched a decent chunk out of the wall, seeing it caused me to gasp in surprise. When I looked to Aly, she was beaming with a look of pride. 

“You’re doing a lot better than I was expecting hatchling! You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” She smirked, looking at me appraisingly. “You’re doing much better than I was when I first was changed. Oh, that reminds me, how about you try to change into your full form? All you have to do is just focus, and think of changing yourself into that form.”

It was worth a shot I suppose. I did what she told me, focusing on changing myself into a form like Aly. I felt a fire inside me ignite as I almost felt the horns starting to grow from my forehead, the wings ready to sprout from my back but… They couldn’t. Something was stopping them from forming. I tried my hardest, focusing more and more but there was nothing. I looked up at Aly who wore a sympathetic, but knowing face. I gulped at what that could mean.

“I had the same issue too. There’s something a little funky with our power, it’s a little finicky. Apparently, we can only access it fully if we are fully accepting of ourselves.” she  stated solemnly, looking at me with that sympathetic look she’s given me before. “My hatchling, I can’t imagine what could’ve happened to you for you to do this to yourself, or whatever they told you that hurt you so.” She gently patted me on the head, I was a little overwhelmed by emotions, but fortunately I didn’t cry! But still… This was not going to be an easy task, I can’t even accept that I’m a real woman it seems. I growled in frustration. Why couldn’t this be easier?!

After that long night of testing, we went back down, had an after-training meal that consisted of a lot of meat. She said that ingesting protein right after an exercise would help build and maintain my muscles. Slowly I found myself in a repetitive cycle of waking up, eating breakfast and lunch, sitting in my room and the bathroom slowly but surely accepting myself, and training before dinner. She still wouldn’t tell me why or for what we were training for, but she promised she’d explain soon. I couldn’t help but wonder what the cost of changing me was or why I have to train the way that I do. I set that aside and trusted that she’d tell me when I was ready. We were able to go about this routine for a few days before we had our first incident.

“Come on! I know you can do better than that Miranda!” Alysandra barked at me as I stumbled and fell again during our training. I wheezed and tried to catch my breath while on the ground after such a strenuous exercise. Who knew that she’d be this strict of a teacher! 

“Why are you working me to the bone like this Aly, I know you want to train me but I’ve only been like this for barely a week!” I pouted looking at her for some form of pity to relent. She clicked her tongue and smirked down at me before her face faltered into a frown.

“You know dear, if you aren’t trained then you’ll get us both killed. I would have preferred to let you acclimate more to your body but… Rules are rules, no matter how much I bend them, and trust me, I bend them a lot.” She glumly replied to my complaint. I still don’t understand what she meant! Who or what would kill us or even what these rules were? I shook my head clearing my thoughts of that before refocusing on my training. I needed to focus on that right now but I knew I was going to get my answers sooner rather than later. I begrudgingly got up, my muscles burning and screaming at me not to. I staggered to my feet, trying to balance myself.

“That’s the spirit hatchling! Now show me what you’ve got.” She readies herself in a defensive stance. Oh right I forgot to mention that this was combat training. Must’ve slipped my mind. I charged at her, using my enhanced legs to thrust me forward at an inhuman speed barreling into Alysandra fist raised. She smirked as she caught me easily, stopping me flat in my tracks and let’s just say physics is not kind on me no matter how durable I am. 

She threw me back with ease but I wasn’t done yet! My legs burned in agony but I knew I couldn’t stop, even for training. I skidded to a stop from her throw before throwing myself right back at her. I feinted, transitioning from a punch to a kick in an instant. She looked almost shocked and was unable to fully block it as I struck her on the side of her head.

She stumbled back but I didn’t relent in my attack as I pressed my advantage moving quickly towards her throwing a punch with all my might. She caught it. Easily. This was not going to be fun. Her eyes were full of anger as they began to glow her hand held my fist started to crush it, forcing me to my knees from the pain. I noticed her horns had sprouted and her wings had splayed outward. 

“Aly, please! You’re g-gonna break my hand!” I begged her as tears started rolling down my cheeks, absolutely petrified of her. She looked at me again with that anger before it quickly melted into remorse as she let go of my hand, her form reverting quickly.

Aly refused to look at me, keeping her eyes on the ground. “I’m sorry...” She mumbled before she bolted down the stairs, off the rooftop, and back to her apartment, leaving me alone with my tears and pain. I was still reeling from the whole thing and her display of emotions like that stunned me even more. What happened? It was like she was an entirely different person! I shivered as the cold breeze passed me. Fuck, I needed to get inside. I once again was barely able to get to my feet as I stumbled and limped down to her apartment. Or ours? We never really cleared that up and I didn’t really care. As I stumbled into the dark apartment I could hear sobs coming from her bedroom.

I sighed as I realized that this was going to be a long night. I gingerly knocked on her door, anxiety filling me to the brim, threatening to spill out into a full on panic attack. I waited for a few moments as I heard the sobbing momentarily halt from my knocking, most likely from being startled. Eventually after what felt like eternity she opened the door, revealing to me how utterly devastated she was emotionally. She was silent as she looked at me, but opened the door more so I could enter. I awkwardly sat at the end of her bed. 

She sits next to me in a similarly awkward manner, keeping a bit of distance between us. “I…” She croaks, her voice noticeably hitching before she forces herself to speak “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know what I was doing before I realized I was hurting you and… Fuck. Old habits die hard eh?” She laughed bitterly. Oh she’s crying again, oh you poor baby! I instinctually wrap around her in a hug. She gasps and tenses up in surprise for a moment before she relaxes and almost leans into the hug. 

“It’s okay,  I forgive you Alysandra. I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ve done but… I trust you, okay? You gave me this body, you gave me a reason to live. So I don’t care about what you did, I can tell you didn’t mean to.” I cooed giving her a reassuring smile. 

She broke from me with an upset expression “It wasn’t okay though I just… I lost control and I almost badly hurt you! You shouldn’t forgive me so easily why… why should you?” She sobbed, her body shaking with her cries. This time she hugged me tightly “I’m so sorry…” She mumbled sadly crying into my shoulder. I hugged her back tightly and warmly, comforting her in all the ways I could. I rubbed her back soothingly, trying to calm her down and to have her relax. 

Eventually, after a long while she eventually relaxed as her breathing returned to normal, still firmly hugging me. “Sorry I just- I was just reminded of something and it caused me to lose control for a second. Miranda I’m sorry that I let something like this happen during your traini-”

I cut her off quite sharply “Are you kidding Aly?! I don’t give a damn about my training, I care about you! Please, tell me what’s wrong! Or just take it easy until you’re ready to start training me again just… You need to take care of yourself.” I pleaded with her. 

“I-I can’t Miranda! I have to get you ready as soon as possible, your training is more important than my well being! If I don’t train you well enough we’ll both be in danger!” 

I sighed in frustration before angrily shouting “You keep telling me that but I don’t know what you mean Alysandra! Is this the cost you mentioned? Here I thought that I might be a bit demony but hey I got to be me for once, but instead you’ve got me training to become something I don’t understand…” 

She looked at me for a moment before looking in the distance as if deep in thought, before sighing in defeat.  “I-fine… I’ll tell you why we’re doing this then. What we are and why we’re training. Everything.”