Chapter Text
There she was, sitting on at a park table, her hair softly glowing in the midday light. She wore a blue tank top with a denim jacket, and those shorts that she always wore but in black. It was the most beautiful sight that Anthy Himemiya had ever seen.
She found her in just under a year. It was almost a shock that it was so easy, that Akio didn’t even send her to another country. But then again, his hedonistic tendencies often meant he did the absolute bare minimum. Well, that and his lack of magic power and reach.
Once the shock had subsided, however she took off in a run.
”Utena! Utena!” The words flew from her lips almost of their own accord. They caught her attention causing their eyes to meet.
They stood in a silent stand-off for either seconds or eternity. Anthy stood frozen as Utena’s emotions fluttered before her eyes, searching for any hatred or anger. She could find none.
“Himemiya?” The word was stuttered out of Utena’s lips, disbelieving. She stood up and took a few tentative steps towards Anthy. She laced their fingers together, what she tried to do that day, even after everything that had happened.
After everything Anthy had done.
All the lies.
All the manipulation.
All the duels.
And Utena still didn’t hate her.
She closed the space inbetween them, curling into Utena’s chest crying that she was sorry, that she hates herself for what she had done, who she was, anything that could be apologised for.
Utena led them back into her chair, stroking her hair and whispering sweet nothings as Anthy sobbed. She held her tight in one arm and started to rock her, as Anthy felt her other arm move over to something on her right, her attention momentarily diverted. Seconds later it was back in place, holding her closer than she ever did at Ohtori. An odd, but certainly good, feeling of safety washed over her, although niggling doubts at the back of her mind worried away.
Why did Utena forgive her so easily? Anthy stabbed her in the back! Literally and metaphorically in one fell swoop! And she had been regretting that moment since that day. Utena should have punished her somehow, cut her out of her life, done something that wasn’t just caring for her.
She extracted herself from the hug and looked at Utena dead in the eye. “Why won’t you hate me?” She asked, desperate.
“Because you hate yourself enough?” She retorted. “Besides, I have done terrible things to you, and let terrible things happen to you, and you don’t hate me.”
She went on detailing her regrets, many of them just her not knowing things (not her fault, in Anthy’s eyes). Anthy said that there was nothing to forgive. She also instructed her to call her by her first name.
Anthy asked them if they could just forget everything and start anew. Utena shot back that that was impossible, nodding her head to her right, as if there was something obvious stopping her. Something Anthy hadn’t seen.
She looked to where Utena was gesturing and saw a baby carriage. She could see a small blanketed figure inside. Her eyes dragged back to Utena, the gears in her mind unsure of which way to go.
Utena had her classic expression, the one that meant she had forgotten to say something really important or missed a huge detail, like that time she accidentally skipped two pages on a test. She quickly picked up the child in a way that indicated she had had much practice at it. On the light two features became crystal clear.
One. The shock of pink hair.
Two. The deep brown skin.
That could only mean one thing...no.
Utena was looking down at the child, a smile on her face. “I’m sowwy, I forgot to introduce you. Silly Mummy!”
Mummy? Utena met Anthy’s eyes once more. Her suspicions were confirmed even before Utena opened her mouth.
“Hime-Anthy?” She took a deep breath. “I’d like for you to meet Hotaru, my daughter.”