Waking up I see that everything is okay
The first time in my life and now it's so great
Slowing down I look around and I am so amazed
I think about the little things that make life great
I wouldn't change a think about it
This is the best feeling

This Innocence is brilliant
I hope that it will stay
This moment is perfect
Please don't go away
I need you now
And I'll hold on to it
Don't you let it pass you by

~~~ooo~~~O*O~~~ooo~~~

"And you're her… uncle?" the nurse asked, looking between the tall man - who couldn't be more than 24 - and the little sleeping girl on the hospital bed. "And how did you and your son -" she threw a pointed look at the boy sitting patiently by the bed, "- hear about the fire and get here from England that quickly?"

"Well, we were already in town visiting. When the fire broke out, I rushed in to find her."

"And yet you're unscathed, while she is covered in burn marks!"

"She was in the fire longer than I, and I'm not completely unscathed. I do have quite a few 1st degree burns." He gave his signature smile, trying to convince her to go away. The child was going to wake up soon, and it certainly wouldn't help the story if she had no idea who they were.

The nurse sighed, an obvious sign of giving up. "Alright. Just be careful with her. She's been through a lot." and with those last words, she closed the door behind her on her way out.

He sighed. It was getting harder and harder to fool humans these days. It wasn't a matter of them getting smarter; more like they were getting more stubborn. But his mental rant was stopped when a small groan sounded throughout the room.

"She's waking up."

"That she is, Young Master."

"It's about time," the boy muttered.

The first thing she felt was pain throughout most of her body whenever she tried moving. And it was that pain that woke her up all the way, because whenever she woke up to pain, she knew that day wouldn't be good. Slowly, fearing the worst, she opened her eyes…

And was met by two different people than she expected.

"Hello there," the boy said, just like he said in her dream. Same people, same words… Maybe it wasn't a dream, she thought.

She looked back and forth at the two of them. "Now can you tell me who you are?"

"I am Ciel Phantomhive, and this is Sebastian." The taller man bowed as his name was said.

"And your name, my lady?" Sebastian asked.

"Anya. Anya Todd." she looked around at the hospital room, trying to suppress a shudder.

"Is something wrong?" Ciel asked.

"Hospitals freak me out." Anya took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tight, trying to fight off the overflow of memories. She clenched her fist, only to gasp when pain shot up through her arm. Her eyes flashed open, and she looked in amazement at the burn marks that covered her entire arm.

"Please be careful, my lady. You are quite wounded." Sebastian said gently.

"How much?" Anya asked, looking at her other arm, where only half of it was burnt. From the amount of pain when she tried moving anything else, it was probably a lot.

"According to the doctor, at least two-thirds of your body was burned in the fire," Ciel answered. "And by the way, until we leave, the story we've been using is that I am your cousin, and Sebastian is your uncle. We were visiting from England when the fire broke out."

Anya nodded. "Okay. And how much longer til we can get out of here?"

"I'll go check." Sebastian said, leaving the room.

It was an awkward silence between the demon and the six-year-old, Ciel not knowing what to say and Anya not having anything to say.

Ciel studied the girl in front of him. Her soul was a tortured one, full of tragedy, but from what he couldn't tell. He could sense Anya's hatred, but had no clue who - or what - it was directed at.

Anya was worrying. She didn't know who survived, who didn't, how much of the neighborhood was gone, or if it was the entire town that fell victim to the spontaneous fire.

"Hey Ciel?" she asked, finally working up enough courage to know the answers.

"Yes?"

"How much is left? What did the fire not destroy?"

"As far as buildings go, it's rather random. Some homes were completely destroyed; others can be repaired fairly quickly. But nothing truly escaped the fire."

"So… Who didn't survive?"

"I believe it would be much faster and easier to tell you who did survive," Sebastian said, walking into the room. "And that is you."

"Me?" Anya was shocked. "All those people and I'm the only one left?"

"I know it's shocking, but it's true. You are the sole survivor from the fire. Now, the paperwork has been filled and filed, so if you would like, I shall call the nurse in to help you change and we may depart."

Anya looked at Sebastian with a blank look. "… Huh?"

"Everything's ready to go, so we'll send the nurse in to help you change out of the hospital gown, and then we can leave," Ciel clarified.

"Oh. Okay." Anya nodded, then sat in silence as the two demons left. Once the door clicked closed, she slowly started moving.

Moving around hurt, more in some places than others, but Anya dealt with it. She'd been in pain like this before, she could handle it. First she lifted her arms above her head, then stretched out her entire body. Her face turned red from the pain pulsing through her body. But at least now she could tell which parts weren't burnt.

A nurse, different than the one in the room earlier, came in at that moment, carrying a set of clothes and a pair of sandals. "Hi sweetie. How're you feeling?"

"Pretty okay."

"Well, that's good." she helped Anya out of the bed, preparing herself for a round of tears or screams of pain. But Anya didn't show any signs of tears or scream fits. Just slight grimaces when the small burnt part on her feet hit the cold tile floor. "Wow. You're pretty brave, aren't you?" Anya shrugged, not wanting to say anything.

"Okay, so what you're gonna hafta do," the nurse started, as she helped Anya out of the gown and started wrapping white gauze around the burned parts of her skin, "is replace these bandages every morning and every night. They're to make sure the skin grows back together properly, and then heals the right way."

Anya nodded. Surly that wouldn't be too hard, especially with Sebastian and Ciel's help. Then came the clothes. It was a simple white turtle-neck sweater and pair of jeans, and then the sneakers. The nurse had also brought a hairbrush to help manage the tangle of knots and snarls Anya's hair was in. She winced when it was pulled too hard, but never uttered a cry or complaint.

"Now," the nurse spoke again, after a few minutes of fairly comfortable silence, "you need to remember you can't move around too much, although even moving a little probably hurts like mad, right?" Anya gave a little nod, proving her point. "So when you get home, just lay down and rest, okay? I'm sure your uncle is more than capable of handling everything while you heal."

Anya nodded again. "Not very talkative, are you?"

"Not unless I need to be."

"Well, you're all done now. Would you like to go be with your uncle and cousin again?"

"Yes, please."

"Well, it's not a nod." The nurse held Anya's hand as she led her out of the room into the busy halls of the hospital. After walking the long corridors, taking a few turns here and there, they two were in the foyer of the building.

Ciel was sitting, strangely erect for a teenage boy if this day, on one of the end chairs, and Sebastian was standing right next to him, also nearly a perfect line. Ciel stood up as soon as he saw her and the two walked towards Anya.

She held on to Ciel's hand as the nurse told Sebastian everything she had told Anya, then with a 'thank you' and a final goodbye, Sebastian took the six-year-old's other hand and the three braced themselves for the ride that would push them to nearly every limit they had.

Sebastian held the door open for the two younger ones. Anya squeezed Ciel's hand and she stepped into the new world that she pulled herself into. There's that star mark thing on my shoulder, she thought. That has something to do with them, I know it. I wonder how long before they catch on…

~~~ooo~~~O*O~~~ooo~~~

Innocence by Avril Lavigne. Well, that's it for this chapter. (I wrote it in a little more than 12 hours! Finished it at 11:00 pm.) Review, please! Au revoir!

~~~ Up next: That Butler, Rose Garden ~~~