Sureiyazu

Episode 16: Princess of Hana Firudo

"Where do you think she went?" asked Heishi. The group, which consisted of Heishi, the three remaining Sureiyazu, and about five guards, was walking through the forest, searching for Yuri.

"I don't know," admitted Akuma. "But I hope we find her."

At the same time, though, Akuma wasn't sure she wanted to find Yuri. She had only been scared for Yuri's life, since she had been seeming a little depressed lately, and, on top of that, wasn't the most likely to know how to survive in the wilderness. According to Heishi, though, Akuma should be scared for her own life, but he wouldn't tell them why.

Suddenly Heishi stopped, examining a tree. "Scratch marks," he muttered before shouting to everyone else, "She's close by!"

They marched a little farther until Heishi stopped again, a fallen tree  blocking their path. Hopping over it, he jogged forward, more fallen trees coming into view. More and more trees lay on the ground the farther the group went, until it could barely be called a forest at all.

Something was in the middle of all the destruction. No, someone. A little farther away there sat a girl in front of a fire, a blank expression on her face. Her teammates, crouching behind a log, exchanged glances and started to form a plan. That is, until the guards of Hana Firudo decided to take charge.

"Hurry!" Heishi urged the guards as they surged forward, the Sureiyazu close behind.

Yuri bolted away, through the remaining trees, but Kasai, abandoning the half-formed plan, raced after her, shooting past the guards, and pinned her down, managing to keep her in place while the others caught up.

"Yuri," she whispered. "It's me. It's okay."

"But them," Yuri protested. "They'll - they'll -"

"Yuri Wakai!" one of the warriors shouted, only a few feet away. Akuma wanted to argue that that wasn't Yuri's last name, that it was . . . but she couldn't think of what it could be. "By the orders of the queen, Her Majesty Rura Wakai, we must take you back to Hana Firudo to discuss the matters of the eighteenth of May, three years ago."

By this time, everyone had caught up and the Sureiyazu were anxiously glancing at each other, Yuri, and the guard who had spoken, trying to piece together the story of what was happening.

"I won't go back with you!" Yuri screamed, trying to force her way out of Kasai's grip.

Heishi stepped forward. "Yuri. Calm down. Please."

"Heishi." Yuri did the exact opposite, managing to regain control of one of her hands, and swatting at him. "Get out of here! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Heishi somehow found the will to smile. "It's okay. I trust you. All we need you to do is come back to the castle." He lowered his voice so only Yuri could hear. "Your mom wants to talk to you."

"No! Go away!" commanded Yuri, and for a moment the guards seemed to want to obey her, stepping back. "Heishi, leave. You don't know when I might transform - I can't control it -"

"Stand back," Aya told the guards. "Let us talk to her." She and Akuma crouched in front of the restrained girl while the guards stepped back, seeming relieved to be even a few feet away from her. The guard who had spoken earlier mumbled something like, Only a few minutes.

"What's going on, Yuri?" Akuma asked. 

Yuri responded by beginning to cry. "Get back, I told you! I can't control it, and I can't stay happy!"

"No one can be happy all the time, Yuri," Akuma comforted her. "It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Yuri's voice sounded different, more like an animal than a human. "You don't understand! Not with me . . ."

Kasai's fist suddenly struck Yuri's hand, which had been creeping closer and closer towards Akuma. As she registered what had happened, she saw that it hadn't only been Yuri's voice changing - her hand had formed into something resembling a claw, dark and muscular.

"Ow," Yuri cried, her hand returning to normal. Akuma wondered if she had imagined it changing at all. 

"Yuri, they won't give us long to talk to you," Aya said, glancing over her shoulder. "What is happening?"

"I'm cursed," Yuri managed to say. "I'm a monster. Now please - go! I can't -"

"Alright, time's up!" the same guard from before, who seemed intent on making things worse, said.

"Go!" Yuri pleaded her friends. "Get as far away  as possible. You're strong, but I can't control it and I'd never forgive myself if one of you ended up dead and -" 

"Yuri -" Kasai started to say. 

"If this is what you want," Aya said, nodding and turning away. "Come on," she told Akuma and Kasai, who followed her halfheartedly. "Yuri, we're leaving now."

"Yuri, you will now be taken to the castle of Hana Fiudo." A deep voice that was probably a guard's said behind the fleeing group. A guttural sound followed, and Akuma told herself not to look behind her.

The team continued to walk, but the noises only grew louder, and finally Aya glanced behind her, horrified.

"Turn around," Aya said. "I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?!" Kasai demanded as she looked behind her.

"I thought if we did what she asked, she might calm down. Apparently, I was wrong." Aya's voice held no emotion, and Akuma was reminded of the fight against Master Shi, the last time she had heard her voice like this.

"Should we go back for her, then?" Akuma wondered aloud.

"I'm afraid of what will happen if we do," Aya said, in the same voice, as a horrific scene unfolded in front of them.

One of the guards had Yuri slung over his shoulder while she kicked, screamed, and roared. Not a figurative roar, either. Monstrous sounds were escaping her throat, inhuman sounds that made anyone near tremble with fear. Suddenly her hands started to grow again, becoming the claw that Akuma had seen earlier. She easily freed herself from the guard's hold, and after a bone-chilling ripping sound and a splatter of blood, she was back on the ground. The guard hit the ground too, but the difference was that he was dead.

"Oh," said Kasai. "Well, that makes things interesting, doesn't it?"

Heishi and the other guards spun around, identical looks of fear on their faces as they realized what had happened.

"Get back," Yuri screamed. "GET BACK!" The guards of Hana Firudo looked tempted to run, but Heishi's stern gaze held them in place.

Yuri's scream filled the air as the darkness rippled throughout her body, expanding to every inch. Fangs grew from her mouth, and her leather armor turned a  black darker than night. Her eyes glowed crimson, and she grew taller and taller as spikes appeared all over her armor, bursting to the surface. Worst of all was that this new Yuri was nothing like the happy-go-lucky girl the Sureiyazu knew. Though she still remembered her teammates, somewhere deep within herself, this monstrous version of her had completely forgotten.

"Yuri?" Akuma whispered.

"Princess," the guards were saying. Their words rippled through the group. "Not again." "Not like before." 

"Yuri," Heishi said quietly. It wasn't desperation in his voice - something else. A loss of hope, a disappointment. "I trusted you. I believed in you."

A deadly silence settled over the forest. 

Heishi breathed deeply. "I don't have a choice, Yuri. My orders from the queen - your mother - I have to bring you back, Princess."