A/N: Yukie, Hiroki, Historia, Chihiro, Sumire and Hiro are GirlGoneGamer's characters.

June 29th 2007…

'These streets feel so damn cold…' 17 year old Amanda thought as she walked down the sidewalk to clear her head… and stopped, her eyes widening behind her sunglasses.

She crouched down and touched the hand that had touched her foot… only for a terrified scream to scare her, Amanda screaming and ducking as Yukie swung at her.

"Go away! Go away, I've already had enough, you damn jerk bastards!" Yukie cried, as she tried to swing her 'Homeless Teen, Will Work For Food and Job' sign at Amanda.

"Yukie, stop, it's me-" Amanda responded, screaming in pain as Yukie punched her in her right shoulder blade… and reeled back when she saw blood.

"Go away, you already took half of my money! I just wanted some damn food, I haven't ate in three days!" Yukie cried as she took her sign and ran off into the alleyway, where she started crying quietly.

Amanda pulled herself up to where she could sit up… and felt hands on her shoulders, causing her to scream again as her eyes snapped shut.

And it would've scared anyone else off… but Tyler Black knew an abuse victim when he saw one.

"Who fucking hurt you?" Tyler asked, before he ended up hearing footsteps running off in the alleyway.

"My ex did this to me…" Amanda responded, Tyler taking the sunglasses off of her and cringing at the bruises on her face.

"Here, let me take you to a hospital." Tyler suggested.

"My friend, she needs a doctor more than I do… she's in that alleyway, scared and really thin." Amanda replied, Tyler helping her up and tying a towel to her bleeding shoulder blade before they headed down the alleyway.

Yukie opened her eyes… and saw Amanda, running over and the two hugging each other.

But her relief was short lived when she saw the aged bruises on her friend's face.

"What… happened to you?" Yukie managed to ask, while feeling the soreness of her throat.

"Remember John's friend? He wasn't so nice." Amanda responded as Tyler guided the two to his rented Explorer.

At the hospital, Tyler watched over the two girls… and saw that Yukie was sleeping but Amanda wasn't.

"I left and everything further descended into hell…" Amanda replied quietly, Tyler lightly rubbing her right wrist.

"You didn't know she was going to be like this?" Tyler asked.

"I didn't feel safe to come back home… her stepfather is a cold hearted and cruel man." Amanda responded, cringing as stretching lightly aggravated her bruised body and she cried out in pain, Tyler brushing her tears away.

"Well, she's away from him now. But now… she's homeless and probably don't have no one to look after her. Not even her own mother had shown up, since the nurses called the house and the phone got disconnected." Tyler explained.

"I'm doing what I should've done two years ago… I'm not leaving her behind again." Amanda replied before she gave into the pain medication and closed her eyes.

"Get some rest, kiddo. You need it more than ever. She'll be here when you wake up." Tyler responded quietly.

Little did he know how much his life would change…

Present time, July 15th 2007…

Do It Again by Steely Dan played on the jukebox as a man in his late 20s was near the dartboard.

"Nearly took my head off with that one, Karl!" He responded.

"Well, don't stand so close to it, Devitt!" Karl replied… before they heard yelling.

"We're out of here now! You're not going back with those two just keeping you away from me!"

"What does it matter to you what I do in my free time?! I'm not leaving with you and I'm not going back to you, get off me!"

They turned around, seeing a brunette arguing with a dark haired man who easily towered over her and he slapped her hard across the face.

And the two weren't gonna stand by.

Devitt and Karl stormed over, Devitt pulling the man who had slapped the girl away from her and picking him up with ease and throwing him over the bar and into the bottles as Karl pulled the brunette away from the flying glass.

"Holy motherfucker!" The brunette responded in shock.

Amanda had seen a lot of things in her life but had never seen someone pick anyone up and throw them over the bar with ease.

"You okay, Miss?" Devitt asked as he and Karl guided Amanda outside after she had grabbed her purse.

"Yeah… thank you." Amanda replied, shaking slightly.

"How old are you?" Devitt asked.

"17." Amanda responded.

"Right, you're too young to be in a bar." Devitt replied as he, Karl and Amanda got in the Explorer and left.

On the way to the house that Amanda had given them directions to, Devitt had noticed aged bruises on her.

'She walked away from an abusive relationship but he won't take no for an answer…' Devitt thought as Karl slowed down.

"I guess whoever was looking after her had left for a while… she can't stay by herself." Karl responded as he parked the car and shut it off, Amanda knowing that they were right.

She grabbed her key as they got out and walked up to the house, Amanda unlocking it and the three walking in… putting the key away, she closed the door and saw a note before she picked it up.

'Mandy, me and Jon went looking for Yukie as well, let us know if you hear from her, kiddo.'

"Mandy?" Devitt responded after he saw the note, Amanda acknowledging with a cautious nod. "You weren't in there to drink… you were looking for a friend of yours." He replied.

"She was homeless before I found her again. I don't know if she feels like she'll be better off on the streets than around me." Amanda explained, Devitt carefully resting his right hand on her left shoulder.

"We'll help you find her but you look like you haven't slept since she took off. You're not gonna be any good to anyone when you're exhausted. We won't hurt you, we promise." Devitt responded.

"He's right, you need to rest. You're safe, that man at the bar won't find you here." Karl replied.

Amanda nodded and headed upstairs, Devitt turning to Karl.

"That poor kid…" Karl responded.

"I hope I knocked some sense into that prick who was trying to drag her away. She's just trying to heal." Devitt replied.

It was after a while that Devitt checked in on Amanda… and found her half asleep in a queen sized bed.

Being as quiet as he could, Devitt moved the door enough to block out the hallway but not entirely close it and walked over before taking his shoes and socks off before stretched out on the bed as she looked at him with bruised eyes.

"It's okay… close those tired eyes and rest, little lady." Devitt whispered.

Amanda nodded and her eyes closed… and Devitt closed his own.

He and Karl had only just met her but neither of the two friends couldn't bring themselves to leave Amanda alone when she was so vulnerable.