Anelie said nothing.

It was clearly heartbreaking for her mother. Days after the incident Frieda would sit beside her daughter, holding her bandaged hand and beg for information. Please, she would say, please just tell us how it happened. They wanted to know if somebody had hurt her, if she’d done it to herself or if it had somehow been a terrible accident.

She stayed in the hospital for a day. Her ribs were only fractured, not broken. Her hands however had received second degree burns. Other patches on her arms and her neck were that hurt the most.

Anelie refused to speak about it.

Her father was planning to file a lawsuit for negligence against the school. She was under their duty of care, he argued and they’d failed. The school principal stopped by to wish her well and the police stood by her hospital bed with clipboards, asking in kind voices for her to tell them everything.

She shook her head and closed her eyes.

In her mind she replayed the battle with the youma. Of the flames, the pain, the struggle and of knowing that your best was not enough. After everything, she was still not strong enough and that was the hardest part to bear. But rather than let the thought fester and turn to doubt, she held it up as a promise. Next time she would be prepared. Next time she would do better.

There were others out there, those who had been consumed by darkness and thus were hurting more than she ever would, no matter how many bones she fractured.

When she returned home, she was instantly grounded. It wasn’t said explicitly but she could see it in her parent’s eyes. They checked on her every hour and watched her with troubled gazes. Keeping her silence was difficult but it was better than a lie. One day, she promised, she would tell them everything. But not yet, not when she was still so young. Not when she still wanted them to hold her tight and tell her she wasn’t going to put herself in danger anymore.

Days passed her by in a blur. Visits to the doctor, sitting at home, staring out the window.

She let herself be consoled, not by her mother or father but by other thoughts. She recalled gentle arms and a soft kiss against her hair. It was funny how things changed.

Yet their paths kept meeting.

From the first moment she’d met Dionysus, just a disgruntled Chibi joining a new team that had come burning down so quickly.

She’d hardly thought of him afterwards.

But her dreams hadn’t let him go.

Neither had her nightmares and she could still see him, leaning over her, felt the mad, giddy joy it had brought her darker self. They’d been older and she’d sought her comfort in different ways. She’d wanted to hold him close and make him desire her more than anything else in the world.

Anelie hadn’t planned on seeing him again. Not after that but still their paths had converged. Now she didn’t want them to break apart. Dionysus. Derek. Aludra. Anelie. They didn’t have to part ever again. She would hold tight and they would fight through this strange and dangerous world together.

It was these bonds that she would continue to fight for.

For those who had fallen from the path, she would help them up and show them the way. Those who stood beside her in battle and picked her up again when she could no longer stand.

That was her purpose.

Her true path.