Lightning... No Doubt

"Hmm" she sighed, closing her eyes and took in a deep breath. Slowly, she opened them again.

"... "

"Isabel!" Jasper called to her as she stared blankly at them.

And the next thing they knew she started crying.

Jasper felt bad that she was hurt, although he didn't know what had really happened, but seeing her that way, broke his heart.

He took a couple of steps forwards and pulled her in for a hug.

"Shhh, its going to be okay Isabel, I'm here now," he said as his hand moved up to pat her head gently.

"Mother and father... " she started saying but he cut her short.

"I know, she sent us here."

She moved away from his embrace, her eyes flickering as she looked him in the eyes. "She did? Why?"

"To protect and assist you," he answered her, before dropping his hands to his side.

"She told you guys about it?" She asked, her gaze darting between Jasper and Catherine.

They both kept quiet and after a minute Jasper replied her.

"Our parents did," he finally confessed.

Her eyes widened, from his confession. "Did you also know that my dreams were true and I was the baby and that they were visions of the past?"

Although she tried to put up a brave front, her voice shook, betraying her.

She prayed inwardly for his answer to be false, because if it wasn't, then everything about her life really was a lie.

"Yes," he replied after some breaths and averted his gaze, not being able to look her in the eyes.

"And you didn't see it fit to tell me Jasper? I thought we were friends. What else don't I know that I should know?" She asked him, half-yelling at him.

"Our parents didn't want us telling you," Catherine spoke up.

"They told you guys and didn't think of telling me. What the heck is that?"

"Isabel, they didn't want you to use your powers," Catherine added, her face comforted into a frown.

She hated this feeling, they had always wanted to tell Isabel but their parents kicked against it every time.

She had to look her friend in the eye everyday and lied to her. She hated feeling like a betrayer and that was what she and Jasper were.

"Why?"

"Then Claudius would have been able to sense it and found out where you were," Jasper explained.

He lowered his head, gritting his teeth. If only he was there when those imbeciles wanted to rape her, then it wouldn't have resulted to this.

'Damn it.' He yelled in his head. He still couldn't forgive himself for what had happened.

"What else don't I know about?" Isabel asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Well, we are all from Gandera and our parents are part of the guardians," Catherine informed her after a long pause.

"I guessed that much. Wait, if your parents are part of the guardians, meaning... " she said looking at them with her eyes opened wide.

Both of them looked up at the same time. They didn't need to say it as their eyes held all the unspoken words.

"Yes, we all have powers and are the next guardians of Gandera," Jasper said.

Isabel staggered back a bot as the news hit home loud and clear.

"Wait, wait, wait hold up!" A male voice from the back called out.

It was Caspian, he got up with difficulty as he made his way to where they were.

"Hold on, lightning... no doubt she is the princess?"

"And you are?" Jasper asked, looking at the handsome fellow up and down.

"Caspian. You are children of the guardians?" He squinted as he accessed them from head to toe and asked.

"Yes, we are."

"The guardians, Lady Ariana, Lady Ariadna, Lord Gregory and Lord Jamie right?"

"Yes, and you are?" Jasper asked him again as he too sized up the fella.

"We are children of the guardians, well some of us are. Myself, Jewel and Melia."

He pointed to the other girls as he called out their names.

Soon the others got up and went to meet them. "If she is the princess, then... We are truly sorry for our actions earlier."

They quickly knelt down and bowed to her.

"Get up please. Don't do that."

They rose p their feet and looked at her apologetically.

'No wonder we were no match for you," Jewel immediately added.

The last thing she wanted was for the princess to get angry and report it to the guardians.

"Where have you been all these years?" Melia asked.

"Somewhere far from here."

"That's not important now... " Jasper replied but was cut short in his speech.

"Not important? Do you hear yourself. Our kingdom has been in suffering since that mad man seized the throne, and the people's only hope is for the princess to return and fulfill the prophecy and you say it is not important!" Caspian retorted as he walked up to Jasper.

"Calm down Caspian, Jasper. What he meant was that, we need to find your parents. The princess is not ready yet."

Catherine rushed in between them, trying to ease the atmosphere

"Not ready? What have she been doing all these years?" He shouted in anger.

"..."

**********

In the woods, corpses of soldier littered the floor of the forest where they stood. Standing amidst all these chaos was Ariadna and Ariana.

They had both taken care of the guards. After a brief look around, they hurried out of the forest.

"Where would the children be now?" Ariana asked Ariadna.

"Perhaps with Isabel, they should have found her by now," she replied, her face void of any emotion as she walked ahead.

"I hope she is okay."

"Come on Ari, Isabel is strong you know, she can handle and take care of herself. They've been training since."

"The others trained their powers, Isabel never did."

"Have faith in the princess, Ariana. Queen Isabella knew what she was doing. Now let's hurry, perhaps we can find the other guardians at our hideout."

"Yes, it's a good place to start. Let's hurry, I hope they are there. By the way, how would we find the children when we have seen the guardians?"

"Tracking spell."

"But we do not have their belongings."

"I took a strand from Catherine's hair when I hugged her earlier on," she said with a smile.

"Brilliant Ariadna, you never cease to amaze me, good thing you learnt the spell and we can use that."

She turned her head to the side to look at her friend, her smile so bright and blinding as she accepted the indirect compliment.

With that they, dashed off and ran out of the woods.