It's another challenge, another fight, another rose torn apart to scatter in the wind.

Utena would say she's getting tired of it all but Anthy is waiting, Anthy needs her, and she ignores the bit in her that says you're selfish; you just need to be needed.

But is it so wrong to be needed? She knows she's needed because the people in the school need her (even though that school is all she knows besides that coffin, like she was born within the walls).

She'll protect Anthy, she'll live up to her prince. Things will work out because she is brave, she is honest, she is valiant and she is in love, but she doesn't know with whom just yet. Anthy, the Rose Bride, or Touga, who just seems so much like her prince from all those years ago, or perhaps Akio, or any number of the countless people in the student body.

But it's the feeling that she lives off of because it's like manna to her, keeping her afloat through the duels and confusion. It keeps her world stable.

So it shatters her when Anthy turns to her one day after a grueling duel, parts her lips just so and asks—

"Why don't any of us look alive?"


A/N
Yep, this is based off of the "the school represents purgatory" way of thinking about the anime/movie. I don't know how many other people subscribe to it, but I think it's interesting.