The sun hung high in the sky like a fiery solar judge watching the young handicapped girl braving Spica's track. A strange sight to many a new onlooker, but not anything close to a rare sight to the solar judge. Sweat poured heavily from the girl's pores, staining the front of her blue blouse. It made her face sting almost as much as the tears that were drying on her cheeks.

"You're going to do great things one day, Raiko. Maybe it will take a while for you or others to see that, but I'm sure it will happen."

Her father's words echoed in her head. She could remember that exact day. The sights, the smells, the people -- all were stored in vivid detail in the front of her memory. It was in elementary school right after a heated race. Two strides from the finish line, she was determined to win, way ahead of the pack. But a cry went up from behind, and it turned out one of the participants - a girl with asthma - had fallen. Hope sacrificed her win to dash back and help her cross the line. They eventually crossed, and the crowd roared with delight. Only...that girl wasn't smiling. She pushed Hope back with an angry hand and screamed obscenities at her. Even spat in her face. Hope had never learned the uncovered the origin of the girl's unexplainable outburst. All she really cared about was helping the girl cross the line.

Her father had approached her shortly after to congratulate her. She hadn't cried, but she had felt her chest tighten in betrayal. Here she had helped that girl, yet that girl wanted nothing to do with her. "Some people just don't like help," he reassured her. The memory was quickly swallowed by the sound of a failing engine, the crackling of flames, screaming, and the crack of bones. She could remember that day too... The screams, the flames, the look of sickened terror on her mother's face. Her trembling legs...

Her legs... The ones that were no longer hers beyond her knees. As if a byproduct from the rare tidal wave of negative emotion, the bottom of one of her prosthetics suddenly clipped the bottom of the track. With a startled cry, she was flung forward onto the grating surface, not having any time to catch herself. She skid a little due to the momentum. Dang it! Now her face surely stung.  That wasn't very professional... Ugh, I'm such a mess right now. Come on, Hope, pull yourself together. Drawing the back of an arm across her watering eyes, she sniffled and looked around, hoping no one saw her wipe out...or the fact that she was crying. That would be embarrassing.