I slammed the door shut, earning a heavy groan from Reynolds. He stood outside in the hallway, lecturing me through the door as I dug my fingers into my hair with irritation.

"...acting like a child! He has given you a room in his home and fed you graciously, and you are running about like a toddler who didn't get their..."

I tuned the grumpy man out as I fell backwards onto my bed, muffling my face with a pillow as I screamed. I felt so incredibly angry and furious that my emotions visibly made my arms quiver, the pent up energy releasing through this outlet as I yelled into the pillow.

He wouldn't tell me anything! He didn't trust in me at all! Secta couldn't even pretend to have any faith in me even with just my meraki, which I'd already proven to have coursing inside me. He wanted to keep me inside this little bubble of his, act like I was a nuisance, and then he would get rid of me when he was finished. Proud, cruel, and arrogant man!

How was I supposed to try and succeed with him oozing constant negativity? He didn't like me in the slightest, which he'd made very clear with his comments and lack of patience during our lessons. Everything I did was wrong and anytime I couldn't channel my meraki, which was every single time, he turned red in the face or lectured me until we ran out of time. Then, I'd have to go run with Charlie and blow off steam. Now he wouldn't even let me go outside!

I was either locked up like a fugitive or pranced around like show and tell for the other guardians to see from afar, and I was fucking sick of all of it!

"Reynolds!" I yelled, sitting up straight in my bed. "Tell Secta that I am ready to go home! Immediately! I'll pack up... my shoes and be out of here in a heartbeat!"

This made him chuckle, "oh dear! You can't just go home! He wants you here to train and supervise, so you'll stay. He is the Lord of Light, and you listen to him just as we do. He knows best for you and your safety. Simple math really, but you never have seemed very bright..."

I took my sneaker off my foot, throwing it as hard as I could at the door. The thud made him gasp in shock as I stood to my feet. "I am done with this place! Tell him that this is kidnapping! You are all criminals and that I have rights to my freedom and liberty!"

"I doubt that the citizens we save every day would agree with you on the term that we are criminals." He said blandly.

"I don't care what they think or what you think either! Secta needs to let me go because I want him to! He doesn't think I have meraki or any beneficial use so he can just send me home on one of the flying dove things. I won't annoy you any longer and I can be out of this magic bubble land. I never want to see a pair of wings every again in my life!" I stepped closer, punching at the door with my fists. "I am leaving! I hate it here! Let me out of this fucking cell!"

Reynolds cleared his throat, hardly phased by my words in the slightest as he yawned. "You will remain here until Secta specifies otherwise and you should see to finding some dignity and class while you're enjoying your alone time. Dig deep! I am going to get us both lunch because it's nearly noon and I'm famished. Now be a good little girl and stay quiet for me while I'm gone."

"I am not a little girl and I won't listen to you!"

"You're speaking to the man in his fifties, and you should listen to me if you want me to bring you cookies as a desert." He huffed before I heard his footsteps as he walked away.

"Bring the cookies!" I yelled in response before shaking my head. "I hate you, Reynolds." I hissed under my breath before closing my eyes. 

I rested my forehead against the door while trying to calm my beating heart and all the anger inside. I turned around, sliding down the door until I rested my back against it while crisscrossing my legs on the floor.

Wrapping my arms around my waist, I took a shaky breath, a loneliness filling my chest. I was on my own and I had not a single soul on my side who understood me or how I felt at all. The only people who could help me weren't here, and they were all in different places. I sighed, thinking of my little, white house back home that probably didn't exist any more. 

A girl with long, dark curls and a huge, mischievous smile came to mind, filling me with warmth for only a moment as it drained from my body just as quickly. It hurt far worse for the memory to leave than it had to come as I felt its absence like a Jack Warren punch to the gut.

I missed Matilda so much, and I probably wouldn't ever see her again.

My eyes began to water as I wiped the tears away, a constricting tension in my throat that made it feel hard to breath. I rubbed my arms, taking in a deep breath as I closed my eyes. I would get through this.

Unless I turned evil and was slaughtered without a care. I'd disappear for forever and Matilda would never find me. She'd be alone in the world with who knows, probably Warren, and it would be my fault. I couldn't leave her; I didn't want to let her go. 

I missed home so badly that it made my lungs burn as the light around me seemed to turn a deeper shade of grey. Home was where my family was and my friends who cared about me, not here.

But, it might all be gone and all the people I love with it. Maybe I didn't have a home or a family anymore. Then what was the point of all of this if everyone and everything I loved had been eaten alive in the fire? 

I had nothing if it was true, and now I didn't know where to go. Going back to Ultrona would be mean seeing whether or not my entire life died in that fire too. I didn't know if I could survive going back to discover that I was alone all over again in the world with absolutely nothing. Tron had really won.

There was a loud knock on my door that made me jump. I scrambled onto my knees before rising to my feet. "Hello?" I asked, clenching and unclenching my fingers. It definitely wasn't Reynolds because he would be bickering with me by now.

"Can I come in?" Secta's voice was soft, making a knot form in my stomach.

"I'm not sure if I trust you enough to open the door and come inside." I replied sharply, rubbing my eyes. "I think your abilities fall short."

"I was coming to apologize and perhaps answer some of your questions because I don't like being an ass," he said, "but it seems that perhaps you aren't..."

"You can come in." I cut him off, holding my breath as silence hung in the air. It was quiet before I heard the lock switch outside and the knob moved. The door opened and Secta stepped inside, brilliant gold eyes looking to me as he bit his lip.

He stepped further inside, glancing up at me with shy eyes. I'd never seen the God of Light look embarrassed before, but by the slight rosy color of his cheeks, I knew that he was sorry and it warmed my heart.

"I apologize for my behavior, Kate. I've evaluated that I took out my irritation regarding other events and subjects on you, which is unfair. You have abilities and I know that one day you will be very talented in whichever area you decide to pursue."

"I accept your apology, and I hope you'll forgive me for being a child." I replied, glancing at my toes before looking back at the tall man. "I need to control my temper at times, but this has been hard for me."

Secta gave me a small smile, "it would be difficult for anyone, and you've handled my mood swings surprisingly well."

His words made me grin. "It requires a lot of patience, which I'm running short of these days."

He licked his lips before shutting the door behind him, turning back to look at me. Our banter was over and he was ready to get into the business of why he'd come. "I'm going to answer a few questions for you, but not them all. Some are painful for me and I would prefer to skip over pieces that resulted in the loss of my family. I believe you would understand that better than most?"

My grin died as I felt a spring of sympathy for this man. He'd had a hard life, and you could read it off his face like the words in a book. His face was kind, and I knew he understood the pain I'd been through as well. "I'm so sorry, and I understand you perfectly."

I took a seat on the edge of my bed as Secta sat in the chair across from me, running a hand through his hair before taking a deep breath. He cleared his throat, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at me. "I don't trust easily, and I've found it very difficult to trust you because of my past."

He continued, "there was another girl before you who showed true potential in being the Prodigy and I took her under my wing in hopes that she could end this war if I taught her well enough. Her name was Penelope Danvers, a friend of Cybele's and a gifted merakian from Earth."

"She was a human?"

Secta shook his head, "she wasn't human, but a magnatom like yourself. I have no idea how she got to Earth, but she was raised there her entire life and had no idea of our world or her meraki. Cybele found her nevertheless and brought her back to Viridis so that the demons wouldn't harm her. When we went to fight Noxia, the serpents Draco and Creatrix by our side, Penelope showed no fear and I believed in her, and I believed that this fight was finally over after millenniums of battle. But, Lucifer killed his mother and brother and Noxia was prepared to turn the girl to the dark, and she succeeded. At the time, I was unaware that Cybele was my daughter."

"You didn't know?" I said with wide eyes.

"It's a long and painful story, but from Penelope's abilities and connection to meraki as well as myself, I believed her to be my child. She wasn't, and the loss of the family she believed she had was excruciating for her. I couldn't convince her to believe my mistake because Noxia was the one to put the pieces together before I could. Penelope turned to darkness in her hurt, and she tried to kill Cybele and myself before Noxia obliterated her entirely to claim the girl's power."

Secta looked up into my eyes, "she wasn't the Prodigy, but she turned in the snap of a finger regardless of the fact that I would have kept her as my daughter in our family. There is always a probability of falling into evil, and I'm more aware of it now more than anyone after watching Penelope abandon Cybele and I. She was closer to me than I am to you, and yet she still had the audacity to taste the forbidden fruit that killed her. Her death and descent into darkness still haunts me. That is why I refuse to allow myself trust you because what happened to Penelope could just as easily happen to you. I loved her, and she still walked away from me."

I realized I'd been holding my breath and I took a deep one in, feeling the goosebumps that had risen on my skin. "She knew she could be a part of your family, right?"

"I told her that she was still my daughter if she wanted the title, but she decided to be Noxia's child instead. That woman used my mistake against me and convinced Penelope that she would love her more than I ever would in comparison to Cybele. She made Cybele Penelope's enemy, and that broke them both." Secta stared at me with a stone face. "Then Noxia snapped Penelope's neck in front of us just so that we could hear her scream."

"How could she have ever believed her?" I asked, shaking my head. "The goddess of evil?"

"She believed just as when Noxia called your name, you answered." Secta said, memories of our walk in my memories repeating inside my head. "She is persuasive and very intelligent. She can read your thoughts to find your weakness, and for Penelope, it was family because she'd never had one. She isolated the girl so she was at her weakest and manipulated her into believing that she was the kind mother she'd been looking for. It is her greatest and most evil talent."

I closed my eyes with a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I really am."

He let out a deep sigh, "it happened and it is over. I pray to Fates that you aren't the Prodigy, Kate. Your life will never be the same again if you are."

Looking up to Secta, I swallowed, "my life would never be the same if I went home either. I don't know which would be worse."

His eyes reflected a new level of pain and age, his expression tired and making him look far older than he looked just a few moments ago. "This is worse. Don't fool yourself."

I gazed at him. I was no fool. Looking at him, I could see his struggle and for the first time, I saw what Secta for who he was: a tired old man who'd been alone for far too long.