Glaring at her brother, some part of Seril marveled at how much he had grown over the years. Due to that fight a few years ago, she hadn't seen Icarth face to face at all. The only times she saw him, were when she caught glimpses of him at the academy.
Of course, now was not the time to observe Icarth. Currently, Icarth's eyes were glazed over with a fire burning in them. Growling, he swung his other hand at Seril's face.
Grabbing the other hand, Seril clamped down on both arms.
"Icarth...Calm. Down." Seril repeated in a low voice, applying pressure on his arms at the same time.
Showing no reaction, Icarth kicked upwards trying to knock Seril away.
Controlling the universal energy, Seril formed a rudimentary barrier that blocked most of the blow.
Seril clenched her jaw to not let out any sound. Increasing the pressure applied on Icarth's arms, Seril pushed down and brought Icarth to his knees.
"Icarth, calm down, Mia is alright," Seril spoke to him in a soft tone, giving him some reassurance that Emmia was okay.
To her words, Icarth finally showed some reaction as the light returned to his eyes.
"..Seril?" Icarth muttered with a shocked expression.
Seril sighed in relief and let go.
"Back to your senses?" Seril asked dryly.
Icarth just nodded silently. Releasing his partial transformation, Icarth turned back into his human form.
"How's Emmia?" Icarth asked immediately.
"She's fine," Seril answered while correcting her beanie so that her ears wouldn't be exposed.
"Can I see her?" Icarth asked after a pause.
"I-" Seril stopped when a group of people walked in on the conversation.
Judging by their uniforms, they seemed to be the head of the security team of the hospital.
"Miss, step aside, we are here to apprehend the criminal who caused a ruckus in the hospital," the leader of the group commanded. He had arrived just in time to see the young woman stop the raging beast so he had a favourable opinion of her.
"First, he's not a criminal. He's my younger brother. Second, there's no need to detain him. I'll make sure that everything here is taken care of," Seril answered the man.
Seril's answer seemed to have irked the man and all previous impressions went up into smoke. Gritting his teeth, he demanded, "Ma'am, this *criminal* assaulted the staff of this hospital. For that, I'll have to take him into custody. Now step aside and let us do our job."
The trio started to move forward, but Seril remained in position adamant not to move.
Narrowing her eyes, she locked eyes with the leader.
"I said, back away. I'll make sure that he doesn't do anything else," Seril stated in a low voice, almost a growl. Her crimson eyes glowed with power.
The leading man stopped with a half-open mouth. His instincts told him not to mess with this lady in front of him. Or else he might lose something forever.
A silent standoff occurred between Seril and the lead guard. His two subordinates looked at him with confused eyes why he was hesitating in front of a weak-looking woman.
Before anything drastic could happen, a clicking sound could be heard and a lady wearing a white coat walked into the halls. Her heels made a clicking sound against the tiled floor.
"Officer Henry, stand down." The lady said. Her white lab coat swayed as she halted abruptly.
Obeying the order, Henry stepped away. After all the lady was the director of the hospital. Whatever she said was the law in this building.
Staring into each other's eyes, Seril looked at the director.
Suddenly the director bowed in front of everyone and apologized, "I'm so sorry Ms. Seril. I'll take care of everything here. You may go."
Under everyone's shocked gaze, Seril nodded and dragged away her speechless brother with her.
Turning to a shocked Henry the director barked out orders in a tone completely opposite of what she had used in front of Seril.
"Go make sure that no one died. Administer them emergency care if they need...."
The director continued to give out orders to the people surrounding her.
But all the people around her just stood stock still as if their feet were glued to the ground.
Finishing speaking, the director found that everyone was still standing in their places.
"What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get to work?!" The director commanded.
At the spur of her words, everyone started moving at once, rushing to complete the tasks that they were assigned.
Henry hesitated for a second and made up his resolve. Walking up to the director he asked politely, "Director Umi, why did you let that rude lady go? Sure she may strong, but nothing me and my team couldn't handle. I could've-"
"You would've been crippled for life if you tried," Director Umi replied dryly to him. Seeing that Henry wasn't satisfied with her answer she chose to reveal to him why she had acted that way.
Director Umi's next words made Henry's blood run cold and dispelled all ill thoughts about Seril.
"You wouldn't want to mess with the Huntress right?"
--------
Icarth stared at his sister's back as she led him up the stairs.
The previous events had indeed shocked him, but he chose to keep that to himself. Seril deserved to have her own secrets.
Silence prevailed between the siblings, the awkwardness almost palpable.
"So, I heard that you didn't attend the academy for a week and a half? Where were you?" Seril started off trying to break the silence. Although it would be classified by many as a horrible way to start.
"..training," Icarth answered refusing to elaborate any further.
"Training? What sort of training requires you to be away from your dorm for more than a week?" Seril asked, her tone becoming sharp.
"...none of your business," Icarth replied flatly.
Seril felt the next words get stuck in her throat.
"Haah, look I'm sorry for what happened. But-" Seril tried.
"Don't try. I won't change my mind," Icarth cut off his bigger sister.
Both of them fell back into an uncomfortable silence. For their relationship to deteriorate this much, only they knew what had happened.
-----
Entering Emmia's room, the duo found a nurse sitting at Emmia's bedside. Upon seeing Seril, the nurse blanched and started trembling.
"I-I t-took care of h-her," the nurse stuttered out fearfully.
"Yeah. Good job, you can go now," Seril waved dismissively.
At Seril's words, the nurse booked it out of the room as fast as she could.
Icarth wasn't paying any attention to the nurse. His gaze was locked on his sister's pale face, as she was connected to various instruments which were monitoring her vitals.
"What happened?" Icarth finally asked after a while. He didn't want to talk to Seril, but this was an exception that he could and would make.
"Well....." Seril recounted the story of what had happened to Emmia to Icarth.
In the end, silence settled down in the room, only being broken by the rhythmic beep of the heart rate monitor.
Silently, Icarth took one last look at Emmia and then walked out without a parting word to Seril.
Watching Icarth leave, Seril sighed once more. She wanted to say a lot more. Wanted to stop Icarth, to tell him she was sorry, but it didn't seem like it was possible. It looked like it was too late for that now.
Resting her face on her palms, Seril felt a myriad of emotions swirling inside her.
Her suddenly started to hurt, latent memories threatened to break free using the emotional turmoil inside Seril as fuel.
Universal energy started to gather around Seril without her intention. Seril was tired. She was tired of trying to repress the memories that assaulted her. The frequency of these attacks had increased over the years. Seril had repressed them initially, fearing for the worst.
While some part of her did want to know who she was, the majority was afraid. Seril was living a good life. Away from her tribe that had condemned and almost had her killed. Together with Emmia and Icarth, who she desperately wanted to make up with. She just didn't know how.
But now? Seril let go of her inhibitions. Letting herself go, Seril let the unknown process do what it wanted to do, feeling disjoint memories flow into her mind.
Around her, the universal energy had formed an invisible yet tangible barrier making sure that Seril wouldn't be disturbed in the process.