The carriage rumbled past where I was hidden towards the land of the fey, my home. I swung through the trees, not daring to shrug off the coat to release my glittering light rose colored wings and speed fast through the shadows, avoiding the morning light shining through the leafy branches if I could, tailing the intruder. I was powerful for my small size, the ability to create and change forms flowed through my veins.

I would only change my form to be as small as an insect to sneak up on any potential threats from the outside world. Wearing the colours of a ladybug, I could easily slip into a carriage unnoticed and take someone by surprise and defeat them. A mortal kingdom lived only 10 miles away and was occupied by people willing to hunt my kind down, fearing our power and craving it. The warriors of the village were given the title of akuma and the honor of being granted the quest of hunting my people. As heir to the throne, it’s my job to protect my kingdom from threats and occasionally I must kill innocents that have taken the wrong path to protect our secrets.

    I flew determinedly to the driver and grew to my full size to knock him out before securing the reins to the seat he once sat on to keep the man inside from too much worry. I clasp my dagger in my hand and slit his throat, and throw him off the top of the carriage to the window of the carriage and found it was guarded with glass to my dismay. I put my hand on a small corner of the glass and willed it to take the form the sand it once was. I create a tiny opening and just barely slip through.

Once inside I take a moment to look around at the luxurious box on wheels insides. The man inside was seated right next to me not seeming to be aware of what just happened. He wore the clothing of nobility and had hair that was so golden and shined so bright, I could have mistaken him for the sun. his eyes a grass green, startlingly sharp yet soft. They watered over as he looked at a picture of an older female version of himself with a tiara delicately resting on her head. He said nothing and set it aside, wiping his tears away.

    This felt like a bad time to kill him or talk for that matter, but if I grew to his size, he would be terrified. I only then remembered the horses with no one to steer them and keep them under control as they sped to my home.

    In a split second decision, I threw on my coat and flew to the other side of the carriage and grew to his size. His eyes widened as I became easier to see, he opened his mouth to scream for help but I clamped a hand over his mouth.

    “Your carriage has no one driving it.” I stated, leaving out the fact that I am the reason why. His eyes manage to widen even more, bulging out of his head. I slam open the door, as he peaks around it to see if I’m telling the truth, I push him out.

I don’t know why I saved him, why this specific person?

He let out a loud grunt as he hit the ground, his eyes squeezed shut to try and his body curled up to protect himself from the ground. I jumped out soon after him, stumbling a bit in my landing, my body still getting used to the transition. Normally I fly out tiny so jumping out big felt more than a little jarring. My knees scraped the ground and as I stood I noticed blood prickling where I landed.

I brushed myself off before making my way over to the strange man to help him up. I bent down ignoring my stinging knees and held out my hand to help him up. He paused to catch his breath before accepting my hand and with a sharp tug he was on his feet again.

“I’m going to take you to my village, I’m sorry, it's the closest town for miles.” I can’t just leave him here. I really regret my decision, I acted on impulse and this could jeopardize my people but now I need to live with my mistake. Besides, he didn’t look like an Akuma and, no offense to him of course, he looked kind of weak and unthreatening. Sure it could be a trick but for now I should give him the benefit of the doubt. 

    “Th-thank you m-madame.” he stuttered, still in shock, his hand quivered in mine. It was then that I realized we were still touching and I snapped my hand out of his.

    “It’s- nothing, just try and keep up, it’s a long walk there.” I started trudging towards the forest, the grass soft under my feet. The man took a moment to process that I was walking away before he ran to catch up.

    Inwardly I curse, if I just didn’t save him, I could have used my wings to fly home and I could be curled up with a warm cup of tea right about now.

    I fiddled with my coat’s metal clasp as we walked, glancing back every so often to make sure that he was still with me and hadn’t wandered off yet. There's nothing terribly dangerous in this forest but it would be wise to keep our eyes peeled for any rogue fairies looking for an easy target to lure to their caves.

    Those fairies are the ones that give us a bad rept, the ones that form little cults and drag humans to their caves to trick them into staying forever or dancing till they die and whatnot. They’re the reason Akumas are being sent after us, or at least, that's what my parents say.

    I glanced at the man again who started straying from the path.

    “Hey!” I called, harsh and tried to grab his attention. It worked. “What do you think you’re doing?” I stormed over and caught his arm, dragging him back onto the dirt road. “You leave the road, you die.” I narrowed my eyes at him, making sure he got the morbid point. He nodded fearfully and I waited until he was walking in front of me before I continued. I needed my eye on him at all times to keep him alive.

    After an hour or so of walking, he collapsed. His breathing was ragged and he leaned against an old tree.

    “We’ve only made all of four miles and you’re already exhausted?” I scowled down at him. I felt a bit bad for that considering I was also just starting to feel a bit weary from the journey, I wasn’t used to walking and now was not the time to start getting used to it.

    I let my legs give out under me and I sat criss crossed next to him, my palms digging into the soil to keep me upright.

    “Five minutes, I promise I’ll get up in five minutes.” I barely had the energy to nod. After a moment of silence, I noticed a sound in the distance.

    “Get up.” I shook his shoulder, scrambling to my feet.

    “What is it?” he groaned

    “Do you hear that?”

    “Hear what?”

    “Running water! Okay this is the one time we leave the path, alright? And it’ll only be for a moment.” I tugged him to his feet and with a new burst of energy, dragged him through the forest.

    Lo and behold, a waterfall. We rushed to drink, I didn’t realize how dry my mouth was until I felt the cool water running through it, soothing my throat. Next to me, I suddenly heard the man whimper in fear.

    I wiped around to find a group of fairies surrounding us, brandishing knives at us. Ah great, when will I take my own advice; never stray from the path!

We were surrounded.

“Hey your highness, we know you saw him first but you wouldn’t mind sharing would you?” A girl, I’m guessing their leader, stepped forward, making her way towards the man. She had an orange fox tail necklace dangling from her neck, I noticed her angling it to catch the light and watched the man suddenly become fixated on her. I recognized this woman.

I created a sword from the space around me, brandishing it. “Lila Rossi, this man is under protection of the crown, if you make any attempt to harm him in any way, I will use my power and authority to bring you to justice.”

She shot me a glare. “I thought you valued your people more than that, you are actually bringing the enemy into our village, you’re the one who should be brought to justice.” She looked at him curiously, still hypnotized and not registering our conversation. “Fine, this will be fun to watch, bring him there, I can’t wait to see your people turn on you.” She dropped the necklace and he was snapped out of the trance, forcing me to toss my sword behind me in an attempt to conceal it before he noticed it. “And they will turn on you.”

A smirk played on her face. “But in all seriousness, I thought you were better than that” She paused, looking like she wanted to say more but left it at that. “I’ll see you around.” She motioned for the others to retreat and was the last to follow, keeping her eye on me until she was out of sight.

“What- what happened?” He asked, blinking off the hypnotism, looking around confused.

“Nothing.” I waved his concern off. “Let’s get back to the path, we’ve wasted enough time already.”

It took a long while and many rests before we entered the land of the fey.

I was hesitant at first before going through the gates. There were glimmering lights all around us, if you looked closely, you could faintly see the bodies of the fairies along with other magic wielding towns folk going about their daily lives. Some turned to us, surprised to see me walking alongside a human.

“How di-did you do that back there? You just appeared out of nowhere. And with those fairies that attacked us, I don’t remember anything, what did you do?”

    “Oh, um, I’m just really stealthy, ya, that’s it, I can’t be seen unless I want you to see me, it’s a gift and what happened in the forest, well, um, I don’t know, maybe I scared them off?” I bite my lip, nervose. How do I explain all of this?

    “Huh, well that’s a pretty nice gift, are you sure you weren't cursed by the fey?” he asked. I came to a halt in the middle of the road and some eavesdroppers abruptly stopped their tasks. The once busy streets went quiet, some sounds stayed in the distance, either not hearing him or not caring. You could hear the wind whispers through the trees as he looked around him wondering what he said. I grabbed his arm and yanked him into an alley as the villagers resumed their tasks after a minute.

    “We don’t talk about that.” I hissed, there were a few people glancing over at us warely.

    He held his hands up in defense “I’m sorry, has your town had problems in the past with the fey? My father says that they are awful, savage creatures who cursed me.” he abruptly slapped a hand over his mouth.

    “W-what did you say?” I asked, taken aback.

    He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I-nothing, nothing happened, the fey nobility, well, they and my family don’t have a very friendly relationship.'' He saw the fear in my eyes at what he implied and tried to reassure me. “But don’t worry, I won’t let anyone hurt you, I’ll hunt them for you, they cursed you too right?” I nodded, if I told him that I was fey, he might kill me, but if I tell him that I was cursed, he’d kill my family. “I’m sorry, you probably didn’t want to hear part of my sob story. You’re just the first person to really listen, much less the only person I’ve had a full conversation with other than my instructors”

I nodded, not sure if I should pity him or be wary of him.

    “Y-ya, shall I take you to my place?” I felt fear wash over me, my parents were the king and queen of the fey, he wouldn’t even hesitate to kill them if he found out.

    “Thank you very much m’lady, so in which of these quaint buildings do you dwell?” he looked around at the beautiful, colourful painted houses with little garden boxes filled with flowers and shiny copper decorations.

Awkwardly, I raised my hand to point to the grand palace in the distance with spiraling towers, a gold shine peeking out through curtains of green vines. He looks from my home to me, clearly not expecting me to point there.

“Well princess, this is a surprise.” he gave a small bow, embarrassed.

I scrunched up my face confused. “How is that surprising in any light?”

He fumbled for an answer. “Well, I didn’t mean to insult you, I just didn’t-”

“It’s okay.” I waved him off. “I know I don’t really present as one at the moment but I am.” I glanced at the sun hanging lower in the sky.

“Come on, we best be on our way.” We left the ally and still faced the strange looks from my people and some dirty glares at the prince from what he said earlier.

“So…” He searched for a conversation topic. “What’s this town called?”

“Uh,” I searched for the name, this was stupid, I’m the princess of this kingdom but don’t know where I am. Normally I fly over it so I don’t pay attention to where I’m over. If I was coming here on official business or looking on an unmarked map, I could name all of the villages in my kingdom but for now I haven’t a clue.

“Sorry,” I shook my head. “I didn’t look on my way in and I have a terrible sense of direction so I can’t even tell you anything other than we’re near the castle.”

“That’s okay, I don’t get out much either.” Not what I was saying but okay. “So why are you out?” He glanced curiously at me.

“Oh, I just wanted some fresh air I suppose, you?” I was definitely reaching with that answer.

“It’s- it’s personal, I don’t want to unload all of my past onto you.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Aw come on, I told you.” I elbowed his arm, my lips twitching into a gentle smile, the mood feeling a bit lighter.

“Well, it started as planned revenge,” Oh. “But I don’t think I want to really be like my father anymore, you know? I loved my mom but no one can live well with hate in their heart and because I love my mom, I think I’ll stop seeking vengeance.” He flush releasing how much he said. “I just mean, it’s better to give the benefit of the doubt and be kind than assume and seek revenge. I mean, you don’t know me and you decided to save me and protect me in that forest, and- I’m rambling arn’t I? I’m so sorry-”

“Stop, I get it.” I giggled, amused at how flustered he was, I felt much more at ease with him now.

He watched as I relaxed while we walked and his expression softened into a smile.

“So, what’s a princess doing in a knight’s uniform?” He elbowed me back.

“Well aren’t you full of questions! You sound like a detective or something!” I let out a hearty laugh, my cheeks sore from my grins. “Hm, well, it’s a good way to sneak out, me and Nino like to sneak out every now and then.”

“Nino?”

“Mhm!” I nodded. “It’s complicated, but he’s like a brother to me.” I waved my hand, trying to explain.

“Ah.” he nodded looking faintly reassured.

“Come on, we’re not far now.” I tugged lightly on his sleeve. “Race me?” We took off in a sprint, the gates still hidden by trees but I know that we were close. My face burned from the cool wind and I had to brush loose strands of hair out of my face, but my heart was bursting with childish excitement at the moment and I didn’t want to trade that moment for anything in the world.