Chapter 14: First accident

For the third time outside, the child puffed her chest out as she smiled for yet another adventure outside. Before she could blink, something was abruptly placed on her head, and she realized it was the same hat she had worn the second time she left the hotel to buy clothes and toys with Angel.

She looked up and saw the spider looking at her and commented. - "You know, it's to keep them from finding out you're a living human."

Anya then nodded in understanding, remembering the other two times some had discovered it. Until now, she didn't know why the other inhabitants here saw her as something valuable to be sold or even enslaved.

Before she could continue thinking about it, she heard Angel start walking, and she then ran right after him.

And once again, Anya was back in city but this time, it wasn't as modest as the last one she went to, but it wasn't as poor as the one she stopped at when she first arrived here either.

There were other people passing by, and some even looked at Angel Dust, as if they knew him. The girl could see various thoughts from those people and began to feel dizzy, trying her best not to hear them, to no avail.

She ended up falling to the ground, while feeling her nose wet, and heard Angel's worried voice coming to her.

"Oh my God! Anya, is everything okay?! Do you need medicine or something?!" - he shouted, drawing the attention of the others, who were starting to surround them.

Upon realizing the unwanted attention he was attracting, the spider quickly left, while carrying a stunned Anya with a bloody nose. Once she realized she was out of sight, Dust began to inspect the little girl.

"Hey, Anya? Is everything okay? What's wrong? I think we should go back to the hotel, and see what we can do to-" - out of nowhere, he was interrupted by her.

"No, it's fine, Mr. Dust. Anya just felt a little nauseous around those people. That's all." - Anya tried to calm him down, seeing that several worried thoughts were running through his head.

Angel, however, didn't seem very convinced. - "But Anya, you're bleeding from your nose. That's not normal." - he declared, even more worried.

Anya then used her arm to wipe the little blood from her nose and raised her arms in the air, as she announced to him. - "See? Anya is fine, now. Can we go now, Mr. Dust? Anya really wants to have ice cream." - she finished by clasping her hands, while making puppy eyes at him again.

As much as he wanted to be strict and stern, Angel eventually gave in and sighed. - "Okay. But if this happens again, we'll go back to the hotel right away, okay?" - he declared, followed by the little girl's cheerful nod.

With that, he started walking, deciding to carry her, in case she got sick like that again.

After a while, they both arrived at an ice cream shop in the city center. Angel Dust put Anya down and started talking to an attendant there.

From that distance, the child could see that the two seemed to be discussing something, but she couldn't understand what it was. And then, Dust turned around and asked her.

Which one do you want to know, dear?" - upon hearing the question, Anya thought and seeing in his mind the flavor options they had, she approached the counter and pointed. - "An... I'll have thevanilla, mint with chocolate and strawberry flavor with chocolate sauce and peanut sprinkles on top." - she had to avoid saying her name again.

She saw the waiter's thoughts about how did she know about the flavors that were in the ice cream shop without needing a menu or anything. But they shrugged and started making her an three scoops ice cream.

After finishing, the spider paid for the three scoops ice cream and they both left. Anya tried the three scoops ice cream and loved the taste. But then, she realized that Angel hadn't bought any for himself. - "Hey, Mr. Dust, didn't you want some ice cream or something?" - she asked, curious.

That took Angel Dust by surprise, and then he replied. - "Actually, I'm not really into sweets, Anya. But I'm fine with buying you anything sweet."

The little girl thought about it, and started to feel bad for him. She had even lost the desire to eat her three scoops ice cream, but she also didn't want to waste it, since Dust had bought it for her.

While she was still thinking, the girl stepped wrong and tripped on the ground, causing the three scoops ice cream to fly out of her hands and fall to the ground.

She found herself lying on the street, shocked and taken by surprise. And as she began to whimper, Dust's desperate voice was heard behind her. - "Anya! My God! What happened?!" - he picked her up and lifted her off the ground, while turning her to face him.

Anya's lips were trembling as tears began to stream down her face while there was a slight scratch on her forehead. Looking down, he noticed that in addition to her dirty clothes, her legs were scraped and starting to bleed.

That filled the spider with worry, and he began to despair. - "Oh, shit!" - he muttered to himself, and before he could think any further, a loud horn sounded from their side.

"HEY, GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU WHORE!" - shouted the driver of a car, who had stopped near them.

Quickly, Angel carried Anya away and ran to the other side of the street, while still hearing the driver cursing as he drove away. After that, he continued walking, looking for a place to treat the child's injuries.

He looked at her once more, and saw that the girl was wiping her face, while still feeling pain in her legs. This made him feel very bad and guilty, and then he muttered.

"I'm sorry, Anya. I should have paid more attention to where we were going and-" - out of nowhere, Anya interrupted him. - "No, it's okay, Mr. Dust. It was Anya's fault. Anya is the one who should have paid attention to where she was going. Don't blame yourself for this, Mr. Dust."

She saw in his thoughts that the guilt did not diminish, and so, she began to think about how she could cheer him up.

And then, an idea came to her mind. - "What if we go somewhere else, have a drink, Mr. Dust?" - she asked, trying to cheer him up.

That suggestion took Angel Dust by surprise. - "What do you mean, girl?" - "Anya doesn't want Mr. Dust to be sad because of all this. Anya knows that Mr. Dust feels bad, and Anya wants Mr. Dust to be happy again."

The spider was touched by Anya's statement, and he held back the urge to cry right there. After wiping his face, he smiled slightly and nodded.

And then, they both arrived at a bar that luckily sold milkshakes and they both chose two different flavors.

Anya glanced at him briefly, and smiled when she saw that he was slowly feeling better, but he was looking back at her, as if to make sure she was happy after losing the three-scoop ice cream on the way.

Anya was being carried on Angel Dust's back, as he didn't want to risk her getting hurt again on the ground. They had both agreed not to let anyone see their injuries so as not to upset Husk and Vaggie and worry Charlie.

When they arrived at the hotel, fortunately there was no one in the lobby, so they took the chance and went up in the hotel elevator without being seen by anyone. With that, the spider took the child to his room, and sighed after closing and locking the door.

He walked over to the bed and placed the little girl on it, as he began to look for a handkerchief to clean her wounds.

Meanwhile, Anya could see in his thoughts how frustrated and worried he still felt about this. Then he left and went to the bathroom, to wipe the blood off the handkerchief.

As soon as he left, the girl heard footsteps outside. At first, she was afraid it was Charlie or Vaggie, but from her thoughts, Anya realized it was Alastor stayed silent, hoping he wouldn't hear her, but out of nowhere, he stopped walking and was seemingly standing there in the hallway.

After a few seconds of silence, she heard a light snap of fingers, and then the Radio Demon started walking again, this time moving away from there.

And then, Angel came back from the bathroom and was about to wipe her forehead with the tissue, when he realized something. - "Hey, Anya... your injury... it's gone..." - he mumbled, confused and surprised.

The girl then touched her forehead and felt no scratch on her forehead and then looked down and realized that the scratches on her legs were also gone.

And it was then that Anya realized that Alastor had probably healed her injuries in some way, now she didn't know why. But she knew that he would certainly want to charge her with something later.

His mind returned to reality when Angel asked. -"But how is that possible if the hotel's water isn't even magical? And I don't even know if humans regenerate here, either."

The child couldn't tell what she had discovered, so she changed the subject. - "Who knows? The important thing now is that the others won't know that Anya got hurt, right?" - she smiled awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood.

Having no other choice, Angel Dust sighed and nodded. - "Okay, but until then, let's go to your room and get you cleaned up. If anyone sees us in the hallway, we'll come up with something to avoid trouble, okay?" - he suggested, followed by the little girl's nervous nod. In the end, they both headed for the door, hoping that everything would go well.

02/12/2025: And in three days, another chapter will come out, and it was the last one at the end of last year that I wrote.