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[Set after this RP.]

The battle was still raging when Aludra finally found she was conscious enough to move. At first she just sat there, listened to the yell and the clash of weapons, the shouting calls of magic and the inhuman sound of the youma. Her youma wasn’t around anymore, that much she could tell. Why it had decided to leave her alone, she didn’t know but she was pathetically grateful.

She was curled up at the base of a tree, holding as still as she could. From here she took stock of her injuries. Some of her ribs were fractured, possibly broken. There was a painful burn on her left arm and in other scattered place. But the worst of it were her burnt hands. They throbbed incessantly snd paled in comparison to anything she'd ever felt before.

You have to get out of here. You’re no use to anyone like this. Whatever the fight she’d walked in on was about, it wasn’t her concern anymore. She didn’t have it in her to care. Aludra just wanted to go home. She wanted to go home and cry and have somebody hold her. But first things first; get to safety.

The chibi slowly, cautiously got up and started shuffled away from the battle; out into the woods until she couldn’t hear it anymore but could still feel the waves of energy.

It was there, shoulder braced against a tree trunk that she realized she wasn’t going to get much further onto her own. With trembling hands she summoned her phone and it hurt just to press the buttons and to hold it steady as she sent a message to the only person she could trust to come for her.

Dionysus, please help.

The reply, when it came, caused a great wave of feeling to roll through her. But it also swept away the last of her strength and she turned her back to the tree, sliding down to a seated position.

She was shaking badly as shock set in and it made her replies short and slow.



She’d barely sent the message when his second arrived and she sobbed loudly, closing her eyes and ignoring the mess off energy somewhere off to her right and instead searching for him. Yes, there he was. Her own aura was almost a desperate shout, calling him to her.



Then she dropped the phone and waited, a young girl in burnt red clothes lost in the forest.

The sight of him, the feel of him, his gentle and comforting touch; it all caused tears to begin tracking silently down her cheeks. It hurt to be carried, despite how careful he was, but Aludra didn’t make any sounds of protest. Knowing she was safe and cared for after her fight with the youma was enough to blunt the edge of the pain.

She said nothing during their travel, for fear of breaking down into painful sobbing and instead used the time to recover, her eyes closed and her cheek turned into his shoulder.

It was strange that only a few months ago it would have been hard to imagine Dionysus treating her so tenderly. Certainly he had never been unkind but he did best to keep his distance. It was entirely impossible to reconcile the young man who held her as the corrupted creature of a future she would make sure would never come to pass.

I’m sorry, she wanted to say, I’m so sorry to have worried you, I’ll be more careful next time, I don’t want to be a bother to anyone, I’ll do better.

Instead Aludra lifted one burnt hand and touched it softly to his cheek. “I made a mistake,” she answered sorrowfully, “and once again I wasn’t strong enough to help anyone, not even myself.” Her voice was raw and croaky and yet she managed a smile. “But you found me. Thank you for finding me. I knew you would.”

"Oh," was the soft sound that Aludra made, the quiet understanding of his inner turmoil and pain. They’d gone through so much and lost both friends and innocence. It was terrible, the things they’d seen. They were young but they weren't children anymore.

"That’s right," she said, keeping the smile firmly in place and reaching for him despite the pain, wrapping her free hand around his where it gripped at her other wrist. "Your path will always lead to me." Even if it was arrogant to say it out loud; it was the only way for her to make it true, to confirm it for both of them.

"I did try. I tried very hard and I’ll try again." Aludra looked up at his face and willed him to hold her gaze. "And I won’t leave you. We promised to look after each other and I won’t let you down." There were other names of people she knew, people she could call friends and potential allies, but she’d still been alone. Not now. Not with Dio by her side.

“I won’t leave you.” Aludra repeated the words. It was far more important that she made sure Dionysus believed her than any of her wounds.

Aludra’s eyes fluttered half-closed and she released her grip on his hand. "You haven’t let met down. We’re supposed to look out for each other and I jumped into trouble without thinking. I’ll wait for you next time." Was this what it felt like to really be part of a team? To trust somebody, to always want to fight alongside them? Yes, this was what she’d been looking for all along. Walking her path had been so lonely until now.

"I was at a school camp," she explained. "I felt the fight and all the energy, as if it was a cry for help. When I got there it was chaos, just a mess and before I could do anything, a youma attacked me. We fought and I… I lost." Just thinking of the beast and those flames made her shudder again.

"My ribs are… my ribs are broken, at least I think they are-" Don’t cry again. "-and the burns hurt so much. I don’t know. I want to go home. How do I explain this to my family? I can’t tell them the truth." The thought of going back to camp and spinning a complete lie was almost too hard to bear. What could she even say? She’d been playing with matches and fallen out of a tree?

"I was on a school camp, in a forest, Dio. You can’t be expected to look out for me when I make sudden and silly decision," she retorted and then shifted in his arms, instantly regretting the manoeuvre and giving a soft whimper of pain.

It was harder to keep from crying when his hand was against her cheek, brushing away the dirt and leftover tears. Every gentle touch opened her heart up that little bit more and left it just as raw as her hands. If she could just stay here, sleep in his arms until she was better again, that would be perfect.

"I can’t let you take the blame." Aludra argued but it was weak and uncertain. She was afraid of what was going to happen when she suddenly turned up at home, beaten and burnt. They’d demand explanations and she would have nothing to say.

Then the realization of what he was offering struck home. "Okay" she agreed quietly, humbled. "Okay. We’ll go home and we’ll face them together. I’m so sorry. You can be Dio or you can be… the other you. Whatever you’re comfortable with. I can’t ask so much from you." She still remembered the first advice he’d given her and how he’d left her blocks from her home so that he wouldn’t know where she lived.

It wouldn’t be until later that the gentle kiss to her hair would take on more significance than just a soft and caring gesture from a friend. For now it was just another comfort, something else to hold onto on this crazy night."I think you’re doing a wonderful job. You’re not horrible at it at all." She tried to sound prim but her tone was full of too much fondness.

Aludra looked up at him gratefully and she couldn’t help but think that even if this had been horrible and everything hurt and her parents were going to go insane with worry, at least she’d gotten this out of it. This moment she could hold onto and cherish in the darkest times.

"Derek," she repeated his name. When he stood, she made the slightest sound of pain and then settled again in his arms. "I’ll show you the way, Derek Shepard." And with that Aludra she let go of her powers and revealed her true self; just a young girl in pajamas with a sweater pulled over the top. She was exhausted and in pain but she was still grinning.

"My name is Anneliese Lutgard. It’s lovely to meet you, Derek. You can call me Anelie."

"I’m sure I’ll come up with something," she assured him, eyes closed, as relaxed in his grip as someone could get with ribs poking at odd angles. Derek was a bit of a hard name to work with but there were always ways.

Anelie was quiet during the trip, rousing only to give him the final directions to her home. She opened her eyes and blinked up at the teenager, almost instantly struck by the desire to play with his hair. Another day, she promised herself.

"That one," she told him, leading him towards a modest two-storey house. The front garden was full of rose bushes, all neatly lined and following the path to the front door. It was there, on the front step, that Anelie starting shaking again. It took immense effort not to beg him to take her away and instead slipped out of his arms with a regretful sigh and stood on her own.

This had to be faced now.

“I’m ready,” she said, leaning heavily against him.

They knocked.

It was late and it took two tries before they heard steps from inside. The door creaked open. It was almost comical how her father’s expression went from gruff suspicion to complete shock.

“Anneliese! Was machen Sie hier?”

Within moments they were in the living room, every light on and her mother rushing downstairs in her nightgown, clutching at Anelie’s wrists and exclaiming over the burns.

"This is my friend. He didn’t do this. All he did was help me home," was all Anelie would say, interrupting her parents whenever they tried to grill Derek on where he’d found her or what he had to do with this. In the end, they were more concerned with getting her looked at by a doctor.

"Liebling, take Anelie to the hospital. I’ll take her friend home and meet you there. The school will have hell to pay. How could they let this happen?"

Anelie had time only to give Derek an exhausted little smile that said ‘thank you’ before her father had marched him out the door, a litany of German curses rolling off his tongue. They would see each other again soon.