Hidden Princess ❦ Judar

| Finale |

"Sera, what's going on?" Kouen shouted out, trying to be heard over the sound the swarm of rukh made. It was almost deafening. "Answer me!"

Kouen rushed forward and went to force his arm through the mass of rukh, but they pushed him back. It was like he had hit against an impenetrable force-field.

The others stood and watched as their elder brother failed to get to Sera. They were all unsure on what to do - they knew that they had no chance of getting to her, especially if Kouen couldn't.

Then, without warning, the rukh fluttered away from the hunched over girl; they stayed close by just in case.

"Are you Ok?" Hakuryuu went to place his hand on her arm, but she slapped it away.

"How many times do I have to say, don't touch me!" Frustration laced her words and Hakuryuu took a step back. Sera pulled the sleeve of her dress down as far as it could go and she folded her arms in front of her. Anger radiated off her petite body. She had never spoken to him like that before, actually she had never spoken to anyone like that before. What has gotten into her?

Something about her was definitely different. Her whole demeanour had changed, from the way she stood and carried herself to the way she spoke.

"What's gotten into you?" Kouen looked at her wide-eyed and couldn't believe what he was witnessing. "Hakuryuu is just worried about you. We all are."

"Worried about me?" Sera couldn't help but laugh at that. "You guys are only worried about my powers and what I could do with them. Or more like, what I might do."

"You all see me the same as them out there." She gestured towards the window and indicated the public with her words of displeasure. "I'm nothing more than the pitiful princess!"

"We don't think that!" Kougyoku cried, tears ran down her face at her sister's accusatory tone.

"We only want what's best for you." Kouen tried to reason with her, but nothing he said would make it better.

"So locking me away in this secluded place, making sure I have no contact with anyone else and always being alone, that's what's best for me?" Her voice was close to sounding like a banshee and she just kept on going. "I understand that you thought you were helping me, protecting me, but it only made things worse. I'm just as scared of my powers and what they are, only now I don't know how to control them. I need help with learning to hone them, how to wield them."

"Sera... I..." Kouen began to speak, but a thud behind where the siblings were still stood interrupted him.

"I can help with that, my dear princess." Judar raised one of Sera's dainty hands and pressed his lips to it.

Sera glared at him with disgust and shoved him away from her. "I told you not to kiss me!"

"Ahaha, did you?" Judar smirked at her and then held up his hands. "Ok, I won't do it again."

Sera continued to glare at him and then turned to look at her brother when he shouted, "didn't I say to stay away from Sera?!"

"Ooo right you did." Judar shrugged and then grabbed Sera's hand. After that he began to drag her towards the door.

"Where are you taking her!" The siblings tried to make a grab for the fallen magi, but he was just too fast for them. He made for the door and jumped onto his flying carpet, pulling Sera up alongside him.

"Judar, what are you doing? Let me down!"

"Sera, Sera, Sera." He waggled his finger at her. "Do you want to stay locked away here forever, or do you want to go and learn more about your powers?"

Sera didn't even have to think twice about it. She sat down and hardened her resolve. "Take me away, Judar."

"Sure thing, my princess." Judar winked at her, then he commanded his flying carpet to rise higher.

Sera looked back at the place she had been hidden in for so long and didn't feel any regret about her decision. However, she felt saddened when she saw the looks on her siblings' faces. Despite her outburst earlier, she still was thankful for everything her siblings had done for her, but she had to go out into the world.

There was so much she had missed out on, so much she hadn't seen or done. And there was information about her powers that was still left to be discovered. She wanted to learn about what it meant to have this power. And even though Judar annoyed her to no end, being with him was better than going through this journey alone.

While these thoughts were racing through her mind, the rukh once again closed around her and she felt herself weakening. And then she collapsed...

"Princess Sera!"