+++++

A black car drove down a bumpy dirt road on the way to the Quileute reservation, just off of La Push beach. Magnolia sat in the front next to her mother, feet up on the dashboard as she stared lazily at the passing greenery.

"Could you at least try to seem happy about this?" Ariana's voice rang annoyingly through her daughter's ears.

Magnolia rolled her eyes, they flashed dark blue for only a second. She groaned. "It's hard to do that without actually being happy about it, mom. Why am I training with Sam anyway? What is he gonna do? Bite me?" She chuckled bitterly.

"Watch your tone, young lady," Her mother snapped. "It's good for you to practice with someone who isn't blood. It will teach you how to better your abilities." She glanced towards Magnolia, frowning at her obvious detest from missing school for training.

Magnolia once again rolled her eyes, training them on her reflection through the passenger side door mirror. She frowned, wishing she was anywhere but in the cramped car with her mom, dreading to see the tribe again. To see him again.

A pit formed in Magnolia's stomach as they pulled into the reservation, and up to Billy Black's house. Ariana got out first, greeting her old friend and his son. Magnolia saw them all look at her, taking her mother's glare as a warning to get out of the car, now.

Pulling on her sleeves, she walked up to the three of them. Billy smiled kindly up at her from his wheelchair. "It's great to see you again, Maggie," He spoke as Magnolia bent down to hug him. "The girls will be disappointed when I tell them you stopped by." He was referring to his twin daughters, Rebecca and Rachel, who were just a year older than Magnolia.

"Well, tell them to stop by in Forks next time their home, I'd love to see them. How are they anyway?" Magnolia was interested in what her old friends were up to, yes, but she was mostly trying to stall for time, so she wouldn't have to train as much. Her mom didn't seem to notice, curious about the Black sister's whereabouts as well.

Jacob took this as his opportunity to speak up. "Rebecca got married to a Samoan guy and lives in Hawaii now, and Rachel is in school up at Washington." He smiled widely as he spoke.

"Wow, Becca got married? That's crazy." Magnolia couldn't believe how much things had changed since she'd last been to the reservation.

Billy nodded. "I'm very proud of my girls," He spoke, a fond smile crossing his face. Then he turned to his son. "Go run and tell Sam his guests are here." Jacob nodded, quickly running off.

Magnolias' heart dropped. Of course, Billy knew the real reason she was here. There was nothing her mom kept secret from him. "Good," Ariana clapped her hands, releasing a large sigh. "He knows where to meet us. Thank you, Billy." She hugged her friend once more.

"Any time, Ariana."

Magnolia trudged behind her mother as they walked deep into the woods. "Try and keep up." She yelled from a few feet ahead. Magnolia groaned, moving quicker, causing her to trip over a tree root.

"Goddammit!" She hissed, feeling the ruff bark scrape her hands as she attempted to break her fall.

Leaves crunched from behind her, and a voice impossible not to recognize spoke. "Woah, be careful pup," Magnolia reluctantly turned around, looking up into the now much older face of Paul Lahote. He was smirking at her. "Still as graceful as ever, I see."

Magnolia sent him a hard glare, quickly getting up, and dusting off the dirt from her jeans. "What are you doing here, Paul?"

"I live here?" He stated like it was obvious. Which it was. He knows it's not what she meant.

"You know what I mean, jackass." Magnolia shot back.

Paul put his hands up defensively, his smirk still large. His smug face annoyed Magnolia even more. "Damn pup, calm down. Sam asked me to join you, said he could use some extra hands, not sure what for though."

"Stop. Calling. Me. That." Magnolia spoke through gritted teeth, making sure each word was clear, her fists were tightly enclosed in a ball. It took all of her will power not to sock him across the face, even if it wouldn't hurt him in the slightest.

If possible, Paul's smirk grew even bigger. "Anything you say...pup."

Magnolia let out a strained scream in annoyance. "Do you even know what Sam is doing? You're not even a shif-" She paused. Paul didn't know about the shifters in his tribe, as he hadn't shifted himself yet. Why was Sam being so stupid to let him tag along? "Never mind. We don't need your help, no matter what Sam said. Go, Paul."

"Oh I love it when you say my name like that," He teased. Magnolias face turned dark red. Paul chuckled triumphantly, knowing he had successfully got under her skin. "And no can do. If I don't want my ass beat later, I'll do what Sam says."

"Agh! Fine. But don't expect much." Magnolia turned away from Paul, sighing as she noticed her mom had left her to walk down to the meeting spot on her own. She started up the steep terrain, trying her hardest not to trip on any roots, or get hit by low hanging branches.

Finally, she approached the small clearing. Sam and Ariana were talking, but their heads turned at the sound of leaves crunching and trigs snapping, and Paul talking loudly.

Grumbling, Magnolia walked beside her mom, her face contorted in a mix of annoyance and anger. "Sam," She whispered urgently, getting the attention of the wolf. "Why is Paul here?"

Sam sighed, just remembering the history the two had. "He's just here for you to practice fairly. You won't get a hit on me when I'm like this, let alone one that hurts." He laughed at Magnolias' offence.

She groaned. "He'll leave right after a beat his ass?" Her eyes trailed to Paul, who was talking animatedly to her mom.

Sam nodded. "Yes," He moved away, clapping his hands to grab the attention of Paul and Ariana. "Alright. Paul, I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to be here," Paul nodded, suddenly becoming serious. "I need you're...skills in combat. You will be training with Magnolia."

Paul let out a booming laugh. "Me? Against her? I'm sorry Sam, but that doesn't seem like a fair fight. I don't want to hurt the little pup."

Magnolia tensed at the nickname. "Let's just get this over with, so we can get to the stuff that actually matters." She spoke through clenched teeth, as she tied her hair up and slipped her shoes off.

Paul raised a brow. "Since when did you want to fight? I thought you were too pretty." He sneered.

Magnolia huffed, shaking her head. "Just fight goddammit, I don't have time for your little games."

Raising his hands defensively, Paul's eyes widened. "Woah, calm down pup. I'll fight, I'll fight." He took his shirt off quickly, then his shoes. He ran a hand through his long, shining black hair.

"Need hair tie for that mess?" Magnolia snapped, narrowing her eyes at him as she stretched.

Paul chuckled, swiftly pulling a hair elastic from his pant pocket, and tying up his hair in a low bun. "Tell me when Sam, and I'll put her in her place."

Ariana chuckled. "I wish you good luck with that." She knew her daughter would have no trouble flooring the cocky teenager.

Sam positions the two about six feet apart. He stood in between them. Both teenagers glared intensely at each other. "I want a clean fight, okay? No dirty tricks," He eyed Paul specifically. "In three...two...one." He backed out of the way to stand on the sidelines with Ariana. The two of them wore smirks on their faces, as the fight unfolded in front of them.

Immediately, Paul rushed forward, aiming to take Magnolia out by tackling her from the torso. Magnolia could see this, he wasn't making his moves very subtle. Calmly, she moved out of the way, sticking her foot out, tripping him. It was out of a cartoon. Paul comically went flying flat onto the ground. "What were you saying, Paul? You'll put me in my place?"

A deep growl emitted from Paul as he rose, his cocky grin wiped right off his face, replaced with an intense glare.

The two circled each other, neither one letting their guard down. Magnolia could tell Paul's anger was getting to him. Soon he would explode and she would have no trouble with finishing this fight. "Come on, pretty boy. Do something." Magnolia continued to taunt him.

He growled once more, finally snapping. "Agh!" He screamed, running top speed towards Magnolia.

She was ready, preparing herself to slam him to the ground. Sticking out her arm, Magnolia went to grab his wrist, but in a sudden flash, her arm was grabbed, and soon she was up in the air and being slammed hard onto the forest floor.

The pain didn't hit right away. Magnolia was in a daze, her eyes unfocused and blurry as she looked around, panicked. "M-Mom?" She called, sticking her arms out and feeling around her.

"Oh god," She could hear Paul's voice in the distance, though she wasn't sure from which direction. "Magnolia I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" A loud smack sounded, and Paul let out a yell in pain.

"Get him out of here, Sam. Now." Ariana's voice sounded about the same distance as Paul did. Magnolia could tell she wasn't happy, though she wasn't sure why. It was just training, Magnolia got hurt all the time from it.

She blinked again, her vision still blurry, though now there was a tinge of red. Then the throbbing started. Magnolia slowly and softly moved her hand to her head. She winced at a sudden burst of pain, a few tears forming in her eyes. "Mom? What's going on?"

Sams's voice sounded. "Paul, go get a healer, tell her where we are." Then footsteps ran off.

Ariana was much closer when she spoke. "Sweetheart, everything's going to be okay. Just breathe and a healer will be here soon." She placed a hand on Magnolia's shoulder, who jumped, then wince once more from the growing pain.

She wiped her eyes as they started stinging, the blood irritating them. "How bad is it? Will I die?" Magnolia felt delusional from saying that, but she couldn't help but worry. When her mom worries, she worries. It's been like that ever since she was a child.

Sam chuckled. Magnolia could see the outline of him now. "Don't you worry, you'll be just fine, and then we can continue with your magic."

Magnolia sighed, nodding. "Okay...good."

A few minutes past, Ariana tended to Magnolia hastily, doing her best to calm her and ease the pain. Finally, a healer arrived. She was a small old woman, with long grey hair in multiple braids and dark, kind brown eyes. Sam lead her over to Magnolia, who was still sitting in the dirt.

She spoke sweetly to the shaken girl, softly tending to the cut on her forehead, finishing up with a bandage wrap. She bid goodbye to the three and made her way back to the main reservation.

Magnolia shakily stood, taking a relieved breath out as she felt the pain of the wound retreating. "So...ready to start, Sam?" She smiled sheepishly.

"Are you sure you can keep going?"

"Honey, I think we should pick this up another time, I don't think you're in any condition to continue."

Magnolia sighed. "We came here for a reason, mom. I'm not letting Paul's anger issues stop that." She took the hair tie out of her hair, surprised it hadn't broken from the force of the impact, and slipped her shoes back on.

Sam nodded. At that moment, he felt the utmost respect for the teenage girl. Not many could get back up after a hit like that. "Alright. Let's start with your shield strength."