It must hurt

She turned around to see Professor Thomas standing with his hands behind his back and a grave expression on his face. "Yes. The pain was too much for her to handle without the potion. This might actually be the first time she took the potion willingly." Miss Anhao said, turning to stare at the sleeping figure, all in bandages.

Professor Thomas walked forward and stood beside her and said, "She willingly took the pain-reducing potion? The burns really must hurt a lot then." Miss Anhao nodded and turned to look at him. "What took you so long?" she asked.

Professor Thomas scratched his head and said, "Well, I had just come back from a training session when I sensed all the commotion in the recovery ward. But Aria fell asleep in the time it took me to clean myself up and rush here." Miss Anhao nodded and turned to walk back to her office and Professor Thomas followed her.

Once they were both there, Miss Anhao said, "You can visit tonight if you like. I expect she'll be waking up somewhere around dinner time." Professor Thomas nodded and asked, "Did David?"

Miss Anhao: "He ran tests on her while she was awake. She seems fine, maybe still in a little shock, but that's to be expected."

Professor Thomas: "Her burns?"

Miss Anhao: "I checked them when I changed the dressings a few days ago. All her wounds seem to be healing quite nicely. But I'm afraid. . . . ."

Professor Thomas took one look at her face and hung his head. "She will have the scars." "I've tried everything I could think of, but the burns were deep, and infected on top of that. We might be able to do something, but that will have to be after they are healed." Miss Anhao said, and Professor nodded.

"What did Amber say?" she asked in a small voice, and Professor Thomas shook his head. "She. . . . . . didn't say much." he said with a long sigh, "Amber is still having trouble processing the fact that Aria might be the daughter she had. She says she'll come see her and confirm, but . . . . . ." Professor Thomas hesitated for a few seconds. "I can see she's afraid to. Afraid of the hate she might find in Aria's eyes." he said and stood up suddenly.

"I'll be going to visit her again today. Tell her that Aria woke up. When do you think it will be safe to allow visitors?" Professor Thomas asked.

Miss Anhao stood up too and said, "I can't say for sure right now. I'll let you know once I check up on her wounds." Professor Thomas nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you for all your hard work." Before walking out.

Miss Anhao let out a sigh as Professor Thomas disappeared from view, "I don't need to be thanked. I look at Aria as my own daughter as much as you Professor. Maybe it's some quality of her's, that inspires such a love in everyone. Much like Amber."

The next time Aria opened her eyes, a small smile formed on her lips.

She was back at the academy, all battered and in the recovery ward, but she was home. Helen was safe, no one knew she was a monster, and everything was good.