To any previous reader:

I know I had already restarted this story once. But if I tried to continue either of them, it wouldn't end up making any sense. Trust me, it would be total garbage. So, here I am, taking a much different approach.

A lot of things are going to be different in this one, so I can completely understand if you want to unfollow/unfavorite this story. I feel really awful about restarting again because I know that if I were a reader, I would be so pissed. So again, if you want to unfollow I won't hold it against you.

However, I do think that this one is going to be a lot simpler to write (and thus be written better). I guess you'll find out why if you decide to continue reading.

If any previous reader wants to read any of the previous versions of this story please shoot me a PM and I'll be totally physicked to give it to you. In fact, if anyone had any thoughts at all, please review or PM me. I'm not really sure if anyone still actually follows this, so it would be great to know that A) people did still like my story and even better B) will bare with me though one more retry.

Sorry again. Try not to give up on me. :)

~Lauren-kun

Also, on a somewhat unrelated subject, if anyone wants to betaread this, that'd be awesome (I'm not sure how this "finding a betareader" stuff works so this is the only way I can think of to approach it)

The girl arrived in the middle of a storm. Her small frame was soaked to the bone in a combination of rain and mud, and her hair was knotted and wild from the wind. Water filled her boots as if they were moats, making her steps heavy and uncoordinated as she trudged through the flooded grass.

She was alone; or at least, that was her assumption. She could have spent the last hour walking through a raving mob or a secluded meadow and she wouldn't know the difference. The heavy downpour of rain combined with the wind and its debris made it nearly impossible for her to see more than a couple of paces ahead. The storm rolled and crashed and seemed to be heading to all different directions at once. She had to assume that no one else in this small, rural village would be insane enough to step outside, let alone try to walk somewhere in it.

The girl hunched her shoulders in a vain attempt to cover herself with her uselessly soaked coat. When she had exited the train station and decided to brave the storm, she had had a clear destination in mind. But now her sense of direction had been lost in the wind, along with the road she had been following and all the feeling in her feet.

Exhaustion rolled over her in waves, but she knew that if she fell asleep in the mud she would never wake up again. Her stomach grumbled from emptiness, and she ruefully remembered the bread and pastry vendors she had ignored at the train station. She had been on a mission, one close to finishing, and there was no time to slow or delay. What had seemed so unimportant to her less than an hour before was now the main thought occupying her mind.

She remembered her family's kitchen and the way her mother and sister looked as they weaved around each other, working cohesively as they cooked. Even though her dad wasn't as skilled in the culinary arts, he would sometimes help too, always mindful to avoid the weaving bodies around him. The girl would sit by the counter, watching them, ans while she didn't exactly wish that she could cook, she did want to become part of the seamless process.

Occasionally, someone would task her with a small job such as cutting this vegetable or fetching that herb from the cupboard. She would rise slowly from her seat, making sure that she didn't disturb the flow of the room, complete her task briskly, and sit down again.

She was sitting down again...

Cold, thick water rolled into her eyes and mouth as she collapsed. It broke her from her daydream immediately, sending her gasping like a fish out of water. Her entire body was numb, or at least going to be in a few minutes, and everything in her pack was likely ruined. The girl propped herself up on her elbows to avoid drinking anymore of the mud, and found that it was the biggest action she could muster.

Opening her eyes, she stared down at the water that was soon going to serve as her grave. Suddenly, tears were rolling down her cheeks. She wanted to live. She wanted to see her family again -or at least, what she left of it. She wanted to make amends.

She didn't want to die so far away from home only to be discovered as a ugly bloated corpse by some unfortunate farmer.

Sniffling, she dug her fingers into the ground below, wanting to feel the grassy earth beneath her before she died. But what she felt instead made her breath stop short: rough, hard pebbles often found on country roads. Suddenly, she felt a flair of hope rising in her chest. Gravel meant a road, and a road meant houses.

She started to stand, but hesitated. Without being able to feel the road beneath her she would easily lose it again. Taking her boots off was an option, but the risk that her numb feet wouldn't be able to feel the difference between road and grass was just too great.

Fine, she thought, I'm already soaked anyway.

Digging the tip of one of her boots into the grassy muck and the other into the hard road, she pushed forwards in a strange combination of swimming and crawling. Briefly, she wondered why she had stopped shivering. She didn't feel any warmer, but she didn't feel colder either; those feelings had just stopped. She tried to recall if that meant anything, but the water carried her thought away before she had long to dwell on it.

The girl couldn't tell how much time passed. The storm persisted throwing debris in her face and having the wind claw at her back. For all she knew, she could have been crawling in place for twenty minutes or crossing the entire town in twenty hours. Most of the time, she didn't even have her eyes open. After all, she didn't need to see anything in order to feel her way along the road.

It was only when she felt the ground start to rise into a hill that she briefly opened her eyes. The hill wasn't very steep, but it was enough to send the water rolling down it's side. It would be hard to climb it, but that's where the road led, and she wasn't about to turn around. After she had finished her grim assessment of her situation she closed her eyes once more.

Crawling up the hill was very different than what she had dealt with before. The water was shallower as it rolled down the hill, but that meant it was slicker too. The loose mud around her feet would periodically give way, and with nothing to secure her, she would slide under the muddy surface.

Slowly, however, the hill began to work in her favor. The water level decreased, and with it the current. At first the girl thought she was imagining it, but it wasn't long before the flood turned into water barely a quarter-inch tall. Although the storm was still pelting her with rain and flying dirt, she opened her eyes to actually see the road, rather than feel it. Then she stood, feeling more confidence than she had in a long time.

With her eyes open she had a better grasp on time, but too much of it seemed to be slipping through her fingers. All she wanted was out of the storm, then she might be able to organize her scrambled thoughts into something useful.

The house she found at the end of that road wasn't anything special. It had two floors and a v-shaped roof with green trimming around the windows and sides. Four stairs led up to the porch and front door, and a balcony stood above that. A red flag flapped harshly in the wind where the roof formed a "v", but the girl had no idea what it said. In fact, she didn't care.

All that mattered was that there was light in the windows and that someone was home. To her, the seemingly unremarkable house was a godsend. Relief flowed into her body much like the rain had into her clothes, and she ran to the house, praying it wasn't some horrible illusion. When she reached the door she knocked on it loudly, letting herself break into a tired smile.

It was only when someone answered the door that she realized she didn't have a clue as to what to say.

The girl who answered was tall -taller than her- with blond hair that was pulled up neatly into a ponytail, leaving two long pieces to frame her face. She had bright blue eyes, which were confused under the circumstances, and pale slender features.

The soaked girl couldn't think of what to say. She was covered from head to toe in muck and grime, barely able to stand, and smiling as if she had just some back from a pleasant nature walk. She looked like a lunatic, and here she was, on this poor girl's porch.

Her words came out hoarse and sloppy, but she spoke anyway, careful to keep her eyes open. "I was... um... hoping..." she started thickly, licking her lips. "That... I... until the storm's gone... that I could... um..." But that was as far as she got. Without any warning, the girl's eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed, exhaustion finally winning the fight over her body.