The guards finished healing Michael and left the room quietly. For the first time in a long while, Michael felt that he could use his powers, one in particular, and that he had enough energy to actually do things. He looks around the room quietly; the room is bright - illuminated by the sun from the five open, bay windows – there is a glass of water on a table a few feet away from the bed. Michael stands up quietly and walks over to the middle bay window and looks out at the grounds. Noticing Talya lying in the grass just looking up at the sky - her headphones on, music blasting loud, as she closes her eyes - Michael smiles faintly and leans against the wall next to the window.

Talya plays with a small electric ball in her hands. Other people are walking around the grounds, most of them are young adults or kids. Michael looks out at all of the people and his faint smile grows slightly. Talya stands up and walks inside the building and walks up the stairs to Michael's room and knocks on his door. Michael walks over to the door quietly and opens it, revealing Talya. "Hey," Talya said, smiling.

"Hello."

"How are you?"

"Better than I have been."

"The doctor told me all the injuries that you had," she said as Michael looked down. "You don't have to look down."

"Sorry, I'm not completely used to this yet."

"You'll get used to it, I promise. I did."

"I'm sure I will."

"Just remember, you can go almost everywhere now. You have no boundaries," she said, smiling as she walked away.

Right, I can leave my room now…, Michael stood in his doorway for a while.

A teenaged boy, with blonde hair and blue eyes walked past and looked at Michael, "You must be the new kid." Michael looked down slightly and nodded. "So know anybody or do you need a helping hand to show you around?"

Michael looks up slightly, "Uhm, I know one person – but she left."

"Who was it?" he said, looking at Michael curiously.

"Talya."

"Ah, yeah, she's very difficult to hold in one place."

"I figured that out…"

"She also came from a hard background." Michael nodded quietly, looking down slightly. "A lot like yours, I think. Well want someone to show you around?"

"Sure…" The boy leads Michael around the building, explaining everything about the people and the rooms. Michael nods quietly, following him.

"You don't talk much."

"Sorry, I never really got the chance to talk to people growing up…," he said as he looked down.

"Aw, another abused one. I'm sorry to hear that."

Talya runs up behind them and smiles, "Hey you guys."

Michael looks back at her and smiles faintly, "Hello."

"I see you're making friends."

Michael nods slightly, "I guess."

"Well, there is a sparring match between two of the top guys in the lower field and I was asked to be there in case they go too far," she said smiling as she runs off again.

Michael nods, watching her leave. He turns to the guy standing next to him, "So uhm, we never introduced each other…"

"True we didn't. I'm Kyle," he said, holding out his hand.

Michael takes his hand, "Michael Phantomhive."

"Ah, the ghost; nice to finally meet you," Kyle said as he smiled.

Michael looks down at the mention of ghost, "Yeah…"

"So what do you like to do?"

"Read and play my violin."

"You play the violin, nice."

"I do."

Kyle looks down the hall, "Well there isn't any more building but there is the forty acres with training fields, gardens, giant lake and stuff like that."

Michael looks up, "A lake?"

"Yeah, you can fish, swim, boat, anything really." Michael smiles slightly. "And tanning, you look like you could use one."

"Uhm, yeah, I wasn't allowed out of my room often."

"Aw, that sucks. Well most kids here were almost killed by parents. Talya was left to die in a river and then when she was older, they tried to assassinate her. I was almost fed to a shark."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Eh, its fine, I lived." Michael looks down and nods quietly. Kyle stops and looks around outside, "Beautiful, ain't it?"

Michael looks around and nods, "It is…"

Kyle smiles, "Well you should go look around for yourself a little while."

Michael nods and smiles politely, "Thank you for showing me around."

"I'll do it again if you forget."

"I'll remember that…," Michael said smiling slightly. Kyle nods and walks away, as Michael sighs slightly and walks around the grounds randomly. He walks down a path and ends up at a garden. He places his hands in his pockets and walks around the garden.

Talya looks around wondering where Michael is and stands up, and starts to walk around looking for him. She notices him in the garden and walks over, as he stops in front of some flowers and zones out. Talya walks over to him and taps his shoulder. "Hello," he said as he turned around.

"You were fading out on me."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, I was just making sure you were alright."

"I'm alright. It's just weird being able to go outside whenever I want."

"Oh, true, I guess that might be hard to get used to."

"It is, I keep feeling like Andrew or Sebastion are going to come after me."

"They can't. The council has say over any bond. It's always been like that.

Michael nods, "It's still weird."

"It'll take getting used to, but I think you will get used to it."

"I hope so, it's nice being outside in the daytime."

Talya's eyes widen in feigned fear, "Oh no! You might get a tan!" She laughed a little.

"Then maybe I won't look like a ghost."

"That would probably be a good thing. I hope you aren't mad that I told them."

Michael looks at her, "Told who what?"

"The council about your father."

"Oh, it's fine." Talya looks down and away. "What's wrong?" Michael said, tilting his head to the side slightly, looking at her concerned.

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she said, nodding still looking in a different direction. Michael nods, not completely believing her, yet not wanting to press it any further. Talya sat down in the grass, looking at the garden, as Michael continued to look around the garden. "Have you seen the lake yet?"

"Not yet, I got distracted by the gardens," he said shaking his head.

"Not like the ones where you were, huh?"

"They're so much bigger."

"And there're so many more types of plants. There is a cactus garden; which is very difficult to walk around in," she said, causing Michael to release a soft laugh and Talya joined him. "There was also a rose garden, but it got set on fire."

"Set on fire?"

"Uhm, a kid was practicing his abilities and missed the target. It was kind of funny, he didn't say anything but sorry for a month."

"I would too." Talya stood up and started to walk in the direction of the used-to-be rose garden, gesturing for Michael to follow her. Michael did so and a few minutes later they arrived at a garden area with burnt vines, stems, and roses. A few vines were growing again, they were small but alive and Michael looks around quietly for about three seconds before walking up to a burnt rose bush and kneels down in front of it.

"No one's messed with it since it was burnt. No one knows what to do." Michael quietly cupped one of his hands around a burnt rose, closing his eyes gently, as the rose glows gently and grows into a large blood-red rose. Michael opens his eyes – now a faint blood-red - and smiles. Talya stared at the rose and smiled. "Wow, that's…"

"I haven't been able to do that in forever," Michael said as he smiled weakly.

"Who knows, you might even get better."

"Maybe I will. I used to be able to make a whole bush grow at once."

"Give it a few weeks it might surprise you. You're stronger than I am. I think you'll recover faster than I did."

"I'm not that strong…," Michael said, looking down.

"Well you can't know that. You've never been able to reach your potential."

Michael cupped his hand around another rose, "I guess."

Talya looks at the rose as it glows and grows. She walks over to him, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "You shouldn't push yourself." Michael nods quietly. "They are beautiful."

"Thank you, you know the flowers at the estate?"

"I remember."

"I grew those when I was six years old."

"You did?"

"Andrew and Finny kept them alive for me, and on my night time visits I was allowed to make, I would go through and help a little."

"Well, I hope you can keep these ones alive."

"So do I." Talya walks over to one of the re-grown roses and smiles. Michael tries to stand up, but his knees go weak and he falls to the ground quickly.