Ch. 771..775: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 771-775

Chapter 0771

It is so, so short a time later when I'm in the back of a transport, racing to the front line of the battle with Jackson and Rafe and Roger by my side. My hands tremble a little as I watch Roger fasten on the earpiece that my father gave him, so that he can use to communicate back to the base.

Because dad's not here - he wanted to come, but sending the King to the front along side the heir and the spare? It just...we decided against it.

Dad - he held me for so, so long before he lifted me onto the transport truck. He didn't say anything -1 don't think he could, not at that moment. But the way he and mom looked as Roger climbed in behind me - their faces pale and serious, their eyes locked on me and my brother.

I knew, in my very soul, how much they love us. How they would never, ever send us off to the front like this unless they had to.

I clenched my jaw now as I remember it, determined not to cry again. Jackson just gathers me closer into his lap, resting his chin gently on my head, cradling me against him. He doesn't say anything or send any emotions down the bond - he just holds me and lets me have a little private moment to vent my exhausted heart. But he's there - always there - just in case I need him.

God, I love him so much.

I look up at him now, steady next to me, and nod, letting him know that I'm all right.

"We can do this," Jackson murmurs, running a hand over my cap, my hair. "No one can do it but us, right? So we're going to do it."

"Yeah," I whisper, giving a tremulous smile, believing him as I secure the earpiece and let my hands fall to my lap on a shaky exhale of breath. "We're gonna do it."

"And then," he murmurs, dropping his head low to speak into my ear, our own private moment. "I'm taking you away from all of this for a few days, and we're going to get you all marked up."

I burst out in a shaky little laugh - because honestly, I haven't thought of anything in the future. Anything beyond getting to this front, and unleashing my power, and sending these Atalaxian forces straight to hell for everything they've taken from me. For Tony, and Juniper, and Jesse...

If, even, that's who took them.

God, I just...I don't even know.

But I let Jackson's promise root me because a few days away from everything and alone with him sounds just right.

The transport slows to a stop and I take a shaky breath, looking over at Rafe and Roger, who are already hopping out of the truck. Jackson helps me to my feet and I follow, my hands shaking as I lift myself down to the ground.

My breath stills in my lungs as I look around. The Moon Valley forces stretching out on either side of us in a long, steady line, but it isn't the sight that stuns me. The noise is...incredible.

All the guns, and the shouted orders, and the sounds of heavy machinery as my people work hard to hold back the Atalaxian forces. Slowly I turn towards the Atalaxian front, freezing and sucking in a great deal of air when I see the extent of the enemy stretched out before us.

There are just...so many of them. Lines and lines of soldiers, and tanks, and guns, and planes and helicopters. God, how have we held them back for so long?

How have we -

"Hey," Roger snaps, making me turn hastily to look up into his serious face. All signs of the mourning father whose son is missing are gone as he presses a gun holster into my hands. No, he's all General now. "You don't worry about them, okay? You leave the worrying to me. You just do your little magic show, baby trouble. We'll handle the rest."

I nod to him, glancing down at holster with the single handgun already loaded inside. I mean, it's a nice gun, but... "Can't I have a bigger one?"

Roger bursts out laughing as he shakes his head at me, as Jackson smirks and kneels down to strap it onto my waist.

"Think of it as your little emotional support gun," Rafe says with a happy sigh, strapping a whole arsenal of weapons to his own broad body. "I told dad you'd want it."

"Unfair," I mutter, drifting a hand passively over Jackson's cheek as he stands up. "I'm a better shot than all of you and I just get the little one."

"Because you are the weapon, trouble," Rafe murmurs, looking over at Jackson as my mate, too, begins to load himself up. "You ready?"

"Yup," Jackson says, nodding

steadily to my brother and my uncle as he drapes weapons all over his body. Rather a nice sight, if you ask me. Jacks senses my thought and sends me a fond glance. "We're good. Let's go."

Chapter 0772

Roger nods once and the four of us fall into a line, moving out towards the front to join the fight.

"Here's the deal," Roger murmurs, glancing down at me from my right. "Cora's got a storm coming in from behind the Atalaxian front that should do a great deal of work towards distracting them. Plus, they won't be able to get many aircraft off the ground with what she's got brewing."

"Oh," I say, my eyebrows going up as I consider that that is, indeed, going to be help. I think the stars again that I have a powerful weather goddess as an aunt.

"What we need from you," Roger continues, shifting his eyes to the wide front of Atalaxian forces before us. "Is to take out as much of this as you can. We've managed to enter after the battle has already started, so hopefully no one has taken note of one transport truck delivering four soldiers."

"But considering that they always seem to have eyes on us," Rafe murmurs, also glancing at me, "who knows. So, we need to move fast."

Roger nods as he taps his own earpiece. "I've got your dad right here, Ariel, to direct the battle. But mostly we just need you to...take 'em out, in whatever way works for you. We're here for guidance and for cover. But...whenever you're ready, kid."

"Oh," I say, my eyes going wide. Because...I just...go? I think I was expecting more preamble than that. I glance up at Jackson, anxious, and he takes my hand, looking steadily down into my eyes.

The power begins to flow between us, itself a powerful encouragement, making me feel full of energy and ready to blaze.

"You ready, baby?" I whisper.

His face bursts into a smile at the pet name - the first I ever called him, the one I think he likes the most, though he'd hate it if others knew it.

"Ready when you are, tiny," he murmurs in reply. And I watch as he physically restrains himself from leaning down to kiss me.

Because we're at war. And there's no time for that.

But still, the impulse makes me grin, and I exhale a long breath. "Okay. Let's go."

I step forward and join the battle.

I press all the thoughts and worries from my mind - all of my sadness about Tony, and my worries about Juniper, and my horror for both Jesse and Daphne. I tuck it all away, as Roger has done, and instead just look for something to burn.

Because a girl's got to start somewhere.

My eyes catch on a plane soaring high above the Atalaxian forces, heading right for our troops, probably to drop some bombs and steal away even more Moon Valley lives.

"You good if I start there?" I murmur to my uncle.

His eyes move upwards. "The plane? Um. Sure."

"Cool." My mouth turns down into a frown as I concentrate, pulling on Jackson's power. It's only a moment before the plane bursts into flames above the Atalaxian lines. I smirk, imagining the way that surprise must have made them all flinch.

But my joy is short-lived as I begin to I concentrate, pulling on Luca's sputtering wind and Jackson's raw power to grow the fire in the air even as the debris of the plane falls to the ground.

Slowly, the flaming whirlwind forms in the sky above the Atalaxian troops. Even as I miss Jesse and his shadows,

magnifiere is something so...so

magnificent about the bright flame

against the dark sky that thrills within me. I take a moment, not destroying anything else, just... letting the conflagration hang in the air, a clear message to the enemy that reflects all of the rage and pain in my heart.

That I'm here now. And their time is short, because the fire is coming and I'm going to burn them all to ash.

But there's only so much time I can dedicate to a message. And so I begin.

The inferno lengthens, reaching to touch the ground for the first time, and then begins to move. I allow it to tear through the forces closest to it, moving westward in my vision and destroying everything in its path squeeze Jackson's hand as I concentrate, wanting his comfort as well as his strength, because...the magic is wilder than it was before. I'm just not used to the way the wind moves now. It's not a dance

anymore, but a furious rampage.

I loose a shaky breath, working to manage the flames even as the destruction continues forward.

Jackson squeezes my hand right

back and his confidence fills me. A perverse joy sings through my veins as I direct the fire to move,

consuming everything it touches net

and fueling the fire of my rage, my pain, my desire to destroy this horrible army that seeks to take everything from the people I love.

"Holy fuck," Roger murmurs beneath his breath.

"I told you," Rafe says back, sighing in a satisfied way.

But I barely hear them, concentrating as I am on the firey path that I'm blazing through the Atalaxian foe.

Chapter 0773

I glance to the left even as my fire sweeps through the enemy line, consuming everything in sight, realizing that even though I'm raining destruction on our foe there's still...so, so much more work to be done. There are just so much of the Atalaxians. And they're starting to respond, to turn on my whirlwind of flames, to fight back.

I watch, curious, as the enemy begins by trying martial force, shooting at my flames with shells and bullets. But that does nothing but make me smirk as I continue to destroy everything before me, the flames reaching out to snag tanks and trucks off the ground, reducing them to ash. And it's not just what's on the ground, either. I see the flash of Cora's lightening in the distance, but some helicopters manage to get into the air, heading for the flame. Eager, the blaze reaches for them with what looks like demonic hands, snagging them out of the sky and smashing them to the ground in flaming arcs that look like meteors falling from the sky.

I breathe deeply as I work, joy humming through me, satisfied, finally, to feel like I'm doing something when I have felt so...so helpless in the past weeks and months. And even as joy pulses through me I feel myself shaking too because it's not nearly as effortless as it was, even if I am hungry for it. "Steady, girl," Jackson murmurs, squeezing my hand, pressing himself close to my side.

I nod and loose a shaky breath, pushing forward.

Eventually the Atalaxians get clever and begin to spray my fires with water, which actually does affect them. My magic is mystical, after all, but the flames are very real - they react as any other flames would. I flinch at the first spray from some kind of emergency fire truck, feeling the spray almost as if against my own skin. And I frowning, wondering what to do.

"Start again," Jacks murmurs with a shrug, glancing down at me. I glance back up at him and nod, realizing that he's right.

So I simply drop the whirlwind, giving up on it. I can barely hear it as a great cheer goes up from the Atalaxian forces, who think they've won.

That is, until I just make their firetruck explode and use it as fuel to build a second whirlwind, which rises higher and stronger than the first.

"Does she get tired?" Roger asks, his voice low.

"I don't know," Rafe murmurs back, worried.

"She's fine," Jackson snaps, glancing over at them.

"I'm fine," I murmur, concentrating.

"To the right, Ari," Jackson says, his focus fully on me and the work we're doing. "Do you see it?"

I flick my eyes to the right, frowning, seeing the swell of Atalaxian forces marshalling, moving towards my fire in some vain attempt to stop it.

"What do you think?" I murmur to my mate. "Split it, or fresh flame?"

"Whatever you think, fire sprite,"

Jackson softly replies, the joy he takes in seeing me work with my magic alight in his voice. I take moment to shift my gaze to him, loving him a great deal, loving his pride in me.

But there's only a moment for that before I refocus on the battle, using two tanks as fodder for two new whirlwinds of flame that I set right n the Atalaxian path as they attempt to send aid to those being attacked by my original fires. The two new blazes sputter shakily to life, climbing unsteadily up into the sky before I move them forward.

Jackson frowns, glancing down at me, sending more power down along our bond.

I glance back up at him. "It's not you," I murmur, shaking my head. "It's the stupid...wind. It was easier before, more responsive."

"Okay," he says, nodding. "Don't worry about it now, we can experiment later. Just concentrate on this. You're doing amazing."

I do as my mate bids, sending the two new whirlwinds out to wreak destruction on the foe.

"Got it," Roger snap, nodding once with his hand on his earphone. Then he turns to me. "Ariel, can you... talk while you work?"

"I can," I say, even though I don't

move my eyes to him. I sigh through my nose, frustrated at how much more difficult this is without Luca at my side, wonder, again, just how much help I draw from my mates when they're by my side when they work. I mean, is it just their magic that they lend me? Or something else too? Some kind of...balance.

"Your dad gave me a report," Roger says, working fast. "The Atalaxians were surprised, which is what we wanted, but they're responding now, sending everything they've got. Are you ready? Can you handle more?"

"Yup," I say, nodding once. "Bring it on."

There's a long pause but then Roger nods. "Okay." He turns away, murmuring into his ear piece. "They're trying to distract attention from you, Ariel," Rafe says, stepping close and leaning down to speak to me. "Do you see, over there?"

Rafe points to my right, where the Moon Valley forces are swarming, almost as if they're protecting something at their center. Instantly I realize what they're doing, drawing enemy fire away from me so that I can work.

It works, too - almost as if they were called, Atalaxian tanks appear in formation and begin to roll right for that spot of swarming forces.

I gasp, immediately dismayed - because it's not like those swarming Moon Valley forces are just drones and empty trucks - it's people - my people - and we're using them as bait -

 

Chapter 0774

"No," I say, shaking my head, a little frantic.

"Ari!" Jackson bites out, and I snap my head back to the front ahead of me, realizing that I got distracted - that two of my whirlwinds are faltering.

"Shit shit," I murmur, more curses rushing through my mind as I force more power into the original whirlwind and set it again on its path. But I don't start the other two, instead snapping my head back up to the tanks and exploding them into flames, one by one, before they can even reach the bulk of our forces, of my people.

"Fuck, man," Roger murmurs, awed as he takes in the mess of twisted steel that litters the battlefield, as I collect the fire from each of them into a swirling mass larger than the rest - into a hurricane of fire that now stands between the forces and the Atalaxians coming for them.

Because I'm not letting it happen - I'm not letting my people die -

"Ariel!" Rafe barks out. "You can't concentrate on defense! That's not part of the plan!"

"I'm not sacrificing them!" I shout back, pissed off.

He grabs my arm, forcing me to look at him. "Everyone on this battlefield - everyone is as willing to sacrifice themselves as you are, okay!?"

I stare up into my brother's face, shocked by the rare emotion there.

"You need to concentrate on offense, Ariel!" he shouts down at me, shaking his head vehemently. "We need you to take them out - do you understand me!? Not just protect! They - they've got Jesse - we don't know -"

I gasp, even as Roger grabs Rafe and hauls him back, scolding him for bringing Jesse into this, for letting his emotions shine through.

"Do they?" I ask, whipping my head to Jackson.

"No," he bites out, snarling as he looks over at Rafe. "Or, we don't know, Ariel - I don't know why Rafe said that - he's letting his emotions run away with him -"

I frown, looking back towards the battlefield, knowing immediately what I want. If they did take Jesse? If they're holding him?

God, I could kill them all.

I grit my teeth, concentrating on the hurricane of fire, and slowly begin to build it.

"You need to be on the offensive, Ariel!" Rafe barks out, deeply misinterpreting my action.

I ignore him.

"Roger!" I bark out. He snaps his head to me. "Tell Cora to cut the storm. Let them send their air force. If we have any planes in the air, get them out."

"Wh-what?" Roger sputters.

"Oh fuck," Jackson whispers, staring down at me.

"Do it!"

There's a long pause of silence

before Roger does as I say, his hand snapping to his ear piece as he

sends my orders down the line to my father. It takes a few minutes to go into effect, for the storm to dissipate, for the steady hum of aircraft to build in the distance.

I don't say a word the entire time, simply building the hurricane, letting it grow. Whatever the Atalaxians send in the meantime I destroy, adding the fuel to the fire even as I pull on Jackson's incredible well of strength. Building something huge, something unstoppable.

Rafe wants offense? I'll give him fucking offense.

"Steady, trouble," Jackson murmurs at my side, watching as the incredible force I've conjured turns steadily in the center of the battlefield. "Hold some back," he urges, steady. "Just in case."

"No," I growl, completely unable to imagine anything that could stop me now. My canines elongate and

rage pumps in my heart. My whole body begins to hum with it, warm and steady and true.

"Ariel," Jackson's word is anxious. But I ignore him, my eyes snapping to the sky as little dots begin to appear.

"What's that?" Rafe murmurs, snapping his face towards Roger.

"Shit," Roger whispers, tilting his head up. "Shit..."

The rumble of aircraft is louder and louder, building until -

I don't even blink as the armada of

fighter jets appear, streaking through the air, heading right for us. God, hell but they're fast - faster than I thought they'd be. I grit my teeth, my fangs bared, wondering if I've overstepped myself - if I've gone beyond my means

But I don't let the doubt sit long. Because Atalaxia has seized their chance, just as I hoped they would. And they've sent every plane that they've got.

I begin to tremble as I try to be patient, to let them come, to fly over my hurricane of flame. My breath comes in tiny pants as I try to begin to move the huge fire. But it's so heavy - so much slower than I thought-

"Pull it back, Ariel!" Jackson barks out. "The big one - collapse it! Go smaller, take them out one by one like you did with the helicopters!"

I take in an unsteady breath, trying to do as he says, snapping my head upwards as I concentrate on the planes that soar above me. I concentrate on them one by one, my magic moving fast, the panes exploding almost as soon as I set eyes on them -

But there's so many - it's too much -

God, have I completely miscalculated? Have I doomed us all with my arrogance and my rage?

It's only a moment before the planes reach our lines of troops.

And then the bombs begin to drop.

 

Chapter 0775

The entire ground shakes as the first bomb hits before our line of troops and explodes. It's far - far away from me - but still, the way the earth trembles beneath my feet makes me moan.

Jackson is there immediately, keeping my hand held tight in his but wrapping his arm around me, using it to press me protectively back into his chest. "We need to get out of here!" he barks, glaring hard at Roger, who nods to him.

"No!" I shout, even as two more bombs hit and shake the world. Because I can hear it - I can hear the screams of my allies, my people. "We're not going fucking anywhere -"

"Ariel!" Rafe shouts out, frowning at me.

But I ignore him - ignore them all - and instead snap my head up to the hurricane of flame, the gyre before me. Because it is mine, no matter how heavy it is. And I control it.

I open my mouth then in a snarl that turns into a roar as I shoot my hand up, hurling out all of my power, all of my magic and my energy towards the flames, lifting them high into the air and letting them stretch wide and flat. I scream at the weight of it against my soul, the pull on my magic and on Jackson's. Behind me, I feel him tremble too.

And then I take that fire and push it all upwards with a mighty heave that has me tilting forward against Jackson's arm, my breath gasping as the fire shoots up towards the skies and the Atalaxian planes flying there.

The sight is...unbelievable. In fact, I wouldn't believe it would real - would stand gaping in the way that my uncle and my brother are if I didn't feel it coming from me.

The entire sky turns orange and red and white and blue at the center as the wide flat expanse of fire grows and them continues to roar upwards into the sky, burning everything with it as it goes - hundreds of planes, maybe thousands, all at once. And the fire that they produce as they burn - I capture it all, and hold it together.

And then I turn, my teeth gritted, and focus on the lines before us.

Lines of Atalaxians that move steadily for us now, eating up the ground beneath them as they charge for our lines.

But I'm ready. I'm waiting. And I'm pissed as hell.

The fire spreading across the sky condenses into one line of white-hot fire that comes slamming to the ground before us - far enough away not to scorch any moon valley troops, but not so far that we don't feel its heat as it hits us as a wave.

"Ariel!" Jackson shouts, holding me tight, looking down at me with worry in his eyes. "It's too fucking much!"

But I just snarl and push, push again, forcing that fire forward towards Atalaxia in a mighty rolling bonfire that can't be sotpped.

My breath heaves hot in my lungs, because I want them all to burn, to reduce to ash, to - "She's overheating!" Jackson barks out, pulling me tight against him. "Rafe, we've got to -"

"Ariel!" Rafe shouts. Roger looks at me with wide eyes, speaking quickly into his headset as Rafe reaches for me. But when my brother's hand touches my skin he gasps and pulls it back.

I feel it then, when my brother stumbles away, how hot my skin is - how my blood feels ready to boil - And then my magic sputters. Not because I doubt it but because -

Jackson -

He pulls away, dropping my hand.

"Jacks!" I gasp, tripping forward as I spin to look at him, as my line of fire fades just yards in front of the encroaching Atalaxian foe.

"You're going to burn out, Ariel!" he shouts at me, reaching his hand out, seeking for me to understand. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"They're going to kill everyone!" I

moan, sweeping a hand out at the forces that are now beyond the line! was trying to hold. I groan, and try again my fire sweeping out. The mark on my finger - my connection to Jackson - it pulses -

But it's not enough -

—

I cry out in agony, putting my hands in my hair, tears springing to my eyes. "What did you do!?" I moan, watching them come. "I had them - I had them!"

But even as the tears start to streak down my cheeks, they puff away into steam.

"We've got to get her cooled down," Jackson shouts, terrified, turning to Rafe as he realizes that I'm a lost cause. "She's just a girl - her body is mortal, even if her power is not –“

"Fuck," Rafe breathes, trembling, reaching for me. "We need - we fucking need Tony -"

"Cora sent me with the next best thing," Roger snarls, and from the corner of my eye I see him pull something from a pocket - a syringe.

But I can't concentrate on that - instead, I just wail, watching in horror as the Atalaxian forces fly forward and the Moon Valley troops roll out to meet them.