Serah’s POV:

I watched reluctantly as Lydia stormed away. I didn’t want her to sleep on her anger. I could see in her eyes that she was frustrated with me, but she didn’t act on her frustration.

“What am I going to do?” I groaned to myself.

“Tell everyone. See how they feel about you.” Colten replied simply.

“They’re going to hate me, Colt. I’m a royal. I’m supposed to be against royals, but I am one. What’ll Elizabeth say?”

“Hey.” Colten said.

I looked at him helplessly.

“We’re not just your crew, Serah. We’re your family, your friends. You know they’ll follow you with whatever you do and wherever you go.” Colt grabbed my shoulders and turned to look him in the eye, “Remember that time when we were running from that band of rogues and Elizabeth literally jumped off her horse to kick that leader in the face just so that he wouldn’t touch you?”

I nodded miserably.

“And when Tanner dove into your burning cabin to save the maps that you had drawn to find Sammy, when you were afraid to, and he didn’t even ask why the maps were so important?”

Once again, I nodded.

“And look at Lydia. She just listened as you explained your childhood. Did she make fun of you? Did she reject you?”

I shook my head, “But she was hurt…”

“Of course she was. But the only thing that you can do is tell the others, and stop keeping them in the dark. They’ll stick with you no matter what.”

I sighed. Then I turned away from him and began walking towards the edge of town.

“Where are you going?” He called after me.

“I’m going somewhere quiet.”

I turned away and vanished down an alley.

I needed some time alone, by myself and way from the others.

I returned to my previous cliff, and sat down quietly.

I felt the tears begin to force themselves to my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away.

My life was slowly falling apart. I had never given myself the liberty to mourn the disappearance of Sammy, but now all the sadness of not having her around, came flooding back to me. I had shoved all the memories of her back into my mind, but they forced themselves back. I buried my face in my knees and tried to forget about what had happened, again. Silent footsteps approaching made me life up my head slightly, and go silent. But I knew who it was by now, I recognized his footsteps: Perryn.

I buried my face in my hands again, I’d rather him not see my face at all than know that I was trying desperately to not cry. He sat down beside me quietly.

“Are you okay?” He asked finally.

“Fine.” I growled in return.

“Did Louis say something?” He asked.

“…No.”

He was silent for a moment longer. I knew he was struggling to find words to say, but I didn’t want to talk to him. Another feeling tugged at my mind. I wanted him to be here, right next to me, to know that I wasn’t alone.

“What’s going on?” Perryn finally prodded.

“I…” I stopped. Did I want to tell Perryn everything? I suddenly felt like I did. He was different, he listened and never fought against me. I couldn’t decide.

Perryn’s POV:

Serah lifted her head slightly to look over the field beneath the cliff. Gentle tears were streaming from her eyes, making her look somehow even more beautiful. The sun shone bright against her face. She swallowed before she began to speak.

Her voice was shaking, “I made a mistake…that could break the trust of my…crew. I didn’t tell them something, and now…I have no choice but to tell them. I don’t know if they’ll be angry at me for keeping it from them, or they’ll just move on.”

I hesitated, “Do you mind if I ask what it was you were hiding from them?”

She buried her head in her knees again, “It depends on how you’re going to react. Will you be mad or hurt?”

“It depends.” I replied, “But I’ll try to not have any emotion.”

Slowly she lifted her head and looked at me. Her eyes were a deep shade of navy blue, and filled with sadness, “When I was little, I used to have a sister. And older one. She always took care of me. She taught me how to protect myself, how to show myself to be void of emotions, how to…be what I am today. At first, it just felt like basic training, what everyone else around us was doing. But then one day, she decided that I was ready.”

“For what?” I pushed.

“To run away. My father had remarried a woman who had many children. Her children basically replaced us. So we…ran away. I didn’t really care about how my father felt. I knew he had only remarried because he wanted us to have a mother. But it didn’t work out. I never really thought about how much it might hurt him if we just vanished off the face of the earth. Anyway, a few weeks after we ran away, Sammy went missing. We couldn’t find her anywhere. It was as if, she had literally vanished into thin air.”

“Sammy.” I said slowly, “Your sister.”

Suddenly I thought of something that shocked me. Stories flooded my mind of two princesses. Samantha and Serafina, two princesses who had vanished about five years earlier. No one ever saw them again. No wonder her name had seemed familiar. The king of Arcadia had always boasted of the beauty and kindness of his daughters, but then they had vanished and it had taken away his fire.

I stared at her in pure shock.

“You’re…” I stopped, blinking a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, “You’re the missing princess of Arcadia.”