"Pain is the only teacher," Leopride's foot came at her like lightning, cracking against her ribs and sent her tumbling. How was she supposed to dodge that? Her face found the earth, her mouth eating up scraps of blood and gravel. More worse, his sneering and attempts at humiliating her accompanied the kick like the residual thunder of pain that usually followed afterwards. "Give it up. Give up on her."

No, Madoka could only think that one defiant thought.

The Beast man's form was swift, agile, and coupled with his size, nigh unstoppable. Madoka and the ground became fast friends, but no matter how many times he would strike her down, the resilience inside of her welled up and threatened to erupt. Her own form, however, was pitiful, like sprinkles of water slapping worthlessly against a towering boulder. That was the shame that kept her up at night. Leopride had no trouble reminding her of that. Thrashing her with a weapon was boring, so he naturally resorted to his fists and kicks. Then he would pulled her up by her hair.

"Again," Leopride roared. She attempted a grapple on the man, only to be bucked off his back from a strong shoulder shove, causing her to fling to the ground like a ragdoll.

No sympathy could bring her out of it. The flame was small, rage simmering beneath her skin, but what good would a tiny flame be against an opponent who was twice her size? Her Highness always shrieked when she saw her state after brutal sparring sessions. Madoka brushed her off. The tears she shed secretly were merely pearls when she needed to drink water and the pain was nothing but useless shells when she needed to eat. The Cherish-man will be here a week from now, she will have to work on herself harder until she is crueler and more violent.

The Princess's exercises soon became easier and easier to do. Soon, Madoka was doing hundreds of those strange "push-ups" with her sitting on her back. Fortunately for her, she could bake well now and eat what she wanted. Back in the Palace, they had to be careful and share food fairly, but here there were no levels of maids. Simpler. Her Highness did not allow her to clean, though she still did so in secret. What else was she supposed to do? Nag like the Head Maid? Soon, her fists were hard as stone. She was plumper now, too. The girl she left behind in the Palace, that was another Madoka. The Madoka now? She could really break things if she was not careful.

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She still avoided mirrors whenever she could, but she knew herself well enough. Her fingers used to wrap around her wrists and now they could not, so therefore Madoka knew she was growing.

One rainy night, the darkness gave way to lightning and thunder. Madoka found it oddly peaceful, the racket was loud enough to distract her from the dreaded weekend when that Cherish man comes. She then shivered as the window began to shake violently under the beating rain. Another bout of thunder rumbled, but she suddenly saw something high above in the sky. She squinted again, waiting for more lightning to illuminate the sky again. Perhaps it was a trick of her eye, or tiredness, but just as she was beginning to doubt herself another lightning strike seared the sky with a blanket of white. Then she saw it.

The massive shadow of a maw, bigger than even the Palace, maybe. It slowly opened as more lightning and rain rattled the walls, as if it wanted to swallow the twin moons whole. They seemed like tiny white pieces of fruit for its massive teeth. Suddenly, a tendril of darkness stretched across the sky, lunging straight to her.

Madoka nearly screamed, but toppled over onto the ground. In a blink of an eye, the vision and the beast in the sky became nothing but clouds again. Kind gods, she felt something warm spreading between her legs. Fear shook her thighs like the window pane and new tears began to form in her eyes. Hopelessly, she burst out the room and ran to the wash. Madoka did not know what she saw, only that she was quite scared. No one was there to hold her, was there not? Not a single soul.

She found her small belongings, switched into another tattered dress after cleaning herself and prepared to sneak back to her chambers when she heard voices coming from behind a dimly lit door. It was the princess and someone else. A man's.

"You've got to believe me," Elise insisted. "Uncle's lands are going to…"

"I do believe in you, Your Highness," the man replied in a gentle tone. Lord Zeron, Madoka crept towards the door to hear him better. "I will be making preparations at once. But I will show you something tomorrow. After training."

"Nae waaah…" Elise's relaxed manner strangely soothed Madoka's troubled spirit. She snuck back to her room, wondering what tomorrow might bring the princess before she drifted back to sleep. Then, as she dreamed she felt a sudden warmth wrapped around her. Someone was holding her somewhere in her mind, and that was kind enough.

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