Shatter Fate

A Flicker to the Flame (Saph)

I feel someone shaking my shoulder. I open my eyes and see a scared Anna an inch from my face. I bolt up and while searching her face ask, "What's wrong?" She looks at me scared before she casts her eyes downward.

"I just woke up and I wanted to thank you for saving me." She sounds sincere, but her eyes shine with terror and confusion. Alina must not have explained things well last night. They remind me of myself when I first started staying here.

I get up a hug Anna with all my might and whisper in her ear, "It's going to be alright. You're safe now. I brought you here to where I live so that you could get better from over using your powers. You saved both of us. I'm so proud of you." I look at her again and I see her crying. I wipe the tears from her eyes. "It's okay." I tell her in the softest voice possible.

"Is it really over? I've been running from those hunters most of my life. They took me from my mother and I never saw her again. I've been with them ever since. I don't want to do that ever again." She's bawling now and I don't think she'll stop anytime soon, so I nod and pull her towards me and set her on my lap. We sit in the middle of the bed, both leaning on each other for support. I don't know how long we sat there, but it seemed like an eternity. Finally I hear Anna's breath become even and her crying stop. She's fallen asleep. I place her gently back in the bed and cover her up. I hear my stomach grumbling and realize that I'm starving. I haven't eaten since yesterday. I remember telling Chase to go get some food for me last night, but I must've fallen asleep. I see the now cold soup and sandwich on the nightstand and smile. It makes me happy for some reason. I get up and bring the cold food downstairs. I place it in the microwave, hoping to heat it up and eat it. It's a microwave though, so I will never know. The plate could be scorching hot, but the food freezing cold. The ding goes off as Chase walks in.

"Hey. You're up. Is a Anna okay?" I smile.

"Yeah. She woke up, but went back to sleep. She seems fine, just extremely tired."

"Yeah. Alina did say she would need a lot of sleep." I test the soup and am gladly surprised to find the soup not incredibly hot but not incredibly cold either. It's just right. Suddenly Alina walks in carrying several different bags.

"In two days you are going to school. Be ready." Chase and I both look at Alina at the same time. "I have your school supplies here and we already have the plan, so we should be fine. I forged some documents for you Saph about your past. Chase, you'll be fine." She looks at us, probably expecting questions, but Chase just says, "okay." And walks out. I have a question though.

"What about Anna?"

"She's going to stay here of course. Where else would she go? She's family now and family stays together. 'Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten."

"Lilo and Stitch?"

"You bet! I love that movie. It's so sweet."

"Sure. I'm going to go check on Anna."

"Okay! I'm going to go watch Lilo and Stitch." I sigh and walk back up to Anna. I didn't expect her to be awake, I just wanted to get out of the kitchen, and sure enough Anna is still sleeping right where I left her. I go into my room and grab a book that Alina got me. I bring it back to Anna's room and sit on the bed away from Anna. I open the book and begin to read.

I'm halfway through when Anna finally wakes up. The sun was beginning to set so the room glowed a light orange.

"Hey." I say.

"Hi." She replies tiredly.

"You want some food?" She nods eagerly. I go over to the nightstand where I brought up some food from before, just in case she was hungry. It's just a simple sandwich, but Anna devours every bite. She looks ready to go back to sleep again, but I gently shake her. "Hey. Can you stay awake a bit longer? I think it's time for a bath." She's silent as she gets down from the bed and follows me into the bathroom. It's a small normal sized bathroom with a tub, toilet, and sink. The floor is a white marble tile with splashes of pink and purple here and there for some color. I turn on the bath and make sure it's warm when I turn around to Anna. Her expression surprises me. She has pure shock and amazement written all over her face. It makes me wonder something. "Anna? What's wrong?" Her face heats up in embarrassment and she looks at her feet.

"Well I was never very rich when I was with my mom. Then the hunters got me and kept me in the cell all the time, so I've never really taken a bath before." She mumbles the last part but my heart still breaks at what she says. I walk over and hug her.

"It's okay. I'll be here to help and everything will get better." I smile at her and she smiles back. "I have an idea. Stay right here." She nods, so I walk to the cabinet above the sink and open it to see if there are any bubbles. Sure enough, in the back there are bath bubbles. I walk back over to the bath to turn off the water and add the bubbles. Anna comes over and watches in amazement at the bubbles springing up.

"Woah." I start to laugh and she joins in with me.

"Now let's get you undressed." I help her take off her dress and underwear and lift her over the side of the tube. She sits down and starts playing with the bubbles. The water turns a light brown from all the dirt, and I think it'll turn an even darker brown once I'm done with her. I grab the shampoo from the cabinet and squirt some on my hand. It smells like tropical fruit. I rub it together and lather it on her head. Her hair is a tangled mess of dirt, leaves, and sticks. I comb through it with my hands to try to get as much out as I can without hurting her. I may have to cut some of them out. I'm glad I put the bubbles in the water; she seems to be really enjoying them. She's so young, yet I don't think she's ever had a childhood. My heart hurts at that thought so I try to distract myself with washing Anna. I rub over her arms, back, and legs and the water turns browner from all the dirt. I even had Anna stand up at one point so I could drain the water and get new, clean water. By her request, I put more bubbles in it also. It takes me about five more minutes of scrubbing to finally get her clean. I drain the water once again and wrap a fluffy, white towel around her. I go through my clothes and come up with a long shirt on me, which means a dress on Anna. I guess I'll ask Alina to take Anna shopping for her own clothes, or maybe I can tomorrow. We don't need to be kidnapped again, so I doubt it.

"This may hurt a little, but tell me when it does." I have Anna sitting in my lap on the bed so I can hopefully brush out the rest of the tangles. She nods her head and I begin. It takes about twenty minutes and some tears to get all the knots out. Her hair is actually quite long so I braid it for her. Her eyes dazzle at what I did.

"It's so pretty." She breaths out. I laugh.

"You like it?" She eagerly nods her head.

"Can you do it again tomorrow?" I nod and she jumps up and down at my answer.

"Sure I can. But after tomorrow Alina's going to have to do it. I have something important I need to do, so I'll be gone for a while." Her happiness goes away when I tell her.

"Do you have to leave? I don't want you to." Tears spring up in her eyes as I go to hug her.

"It won't be long I promise. And I'll be able to see you when I get back. We'll spend the entire day together doing whatever you want. Here I know what will help." I walk back to my room and grab my favorite stuffed animal that Alina bought me. It's a fluffy, white dog with an orange collar. It was one of the first things I got when I came here. I go back to Anna and hand her the dog. "Here. You can keep this safe until I get back." She takes him out of my hand and hugs him to her chest.

"What's his name?"

"Well I named him Blue, but you can name him whatever you want." She giggles.

"I like the name Blue. I'm going to take really good care of him until you get back. I promise."

"Good. I wouldn't trust anyone else with this task. Only you, so you have to do a good job." She shakes her head with a smile on her face. I'm glad she's not crying anymore.

"I promise."