Luce landed with a loud thump as the announcer threw her away from it. She slowly got on her hands and knees and felt a pang in her arm, Ouch. Luce's hands were filthy with the strange black ooze from the Announcer. The Announcer she went through smelled horrible. It was like she walked through a manure pile. It was nothing like the Announcer she went through with Arriane or Roland or even Miles. She quickly brushed her hands off in the grass where she landed and noticed her whole body was covered with it. "Aggh!" Luce moaned. She would need a shower and quickly. Where am I? Luce looked around at her surroundings. The Announcer she came through had disappeared as she landed roughly on the grassy terrain.

It looked like a park, Central Park for that matter. Luce had never been to Central Park, only seen it in movies that were set in New York. She looked around in Awe. It looked nothing like movies displayed it, at least the modern ones. It looked as if it were almost a century ago. The buildings weren't as tall as they are in the future, but it looked like any normal city set in this time.

It was a cold and cloudy night and Luce stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially because she looked like she just stepped out of the sewer. People were dressed in gowns as if they were headed to a ball or a movie premiere. It was such a beautiful night, Luce had always wanted to know what it was like to live in the early-1900s. Little cars were driving around and people shuffling about made it difficult for her to grasp that she was standing within everyone's view. People were pointing at her, questioning where she came from.

Luce didn't want to start talk, so she ran to the nearest boutique-luckily no one was around. She grabbed the closest dress and pair of shoes she could find and ran out. She was never a thief, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Sadly there wasn't much she could do about her filth. Hmm, Luce thought, maybe a quick swim. She didn't give it much thought, afraid she would talk herself out of it.

Luce ran back to the park not caring if anyone saw her and dove for it after she laid her stolen clothing down. The water cleared her head and she dove deep. She thought about Daniel and what he must be thinking. The pain in his eyes when he'd thought she had died in the Outcast's arms. Oh Daniel, I'm sorry. She didn't want to think it, but Maybe I should go back.

No. I need time to learn about myself and find the truth before they tell me anymore lies. That was the whole reason she was doing this. To lose all the stress and pain caused by the Angels. But the thought of all the pain Daniel was probably going through was enough to make her think hard about whether she should go back, but even if she did want to go back, she didn't know how.

She'd have to wait for Daniel to find her and that might take a while. And as long as she had the time, she could at least look through a few things. She rose to the surface, or maybe Daniel found her faster than she thought…

There he was, standing under a light post looking as sexy as ever, but he looked sad, as he had looked when he was about to kiss Luce for the first time, on that night when she ran off with Cam and Daniel was taking her back to Sword & Cross in Miss Sophia's car.

She sighed defeated. If he could find her this fast, what was the point of running? She was about to call out to him when she saw another girl approach him and all his sorrow was replaced by joy, joy unexplainable. She could see it in his eyes. The girl was indifferent to his joy, as if he'd always looked at her like that. She smiled up at him and they walked hand in hand down the street. Her long black hair waving in the cool brisk air. That girl was her.

If only Daniel was here to explain the story behind Us, during this time. I quickly tried to dry my short hair , although it had grown a bit, and put the blue floor length dress on. The shoes were black, and it didn't quite match, but it was fine for now. I trudged my soaking body through the park to get near the street. I tried to walk as if I knew where I was going, but I kept getting lost. I sighed. This was not working.

"Are you lost?" a man questioned behind me. He was probably about thirty and was growing a slight mustache which made him look 10 years older.

"No. I—I'm just—actually yes." I decided I should ask for help. "Can you tell me where everyone is headed tonight." She hoped he wouldn't be suspicious of her.

"Why yes, they are headed to the ball in the tallest building. It's in… that direction." He pointed North. "You didn't know?" he eyed her attire and noticed I was slightly wet.

"I did, but I forgot where I was supposed to go." I lied smoothly, but it was obvious he didn't believe me.

"It's always held in the same building." His eyes narrowed, but didn't know what to think of me.

"Thank you very much kind, sir. I'll just be on my way." I quickly walked away.

The Tallest building was about 35 stories high. It almost looked like the modern buildings except it wasn't made entirely in glass. There were windows at intervals, almost like there were condos up there.

Luce sighed as she approached. She made her way through the small crowd gathering outside and heard music streaming out through the door. It was classical and soft. Good to the ears and made you want to flow with the rhythm. She walked up some stairs, inside and was greeted with warmth. She didn't even know she had been shivering in that cold weather.

The building was called The Singer and thousands of people were dancing in sync. There was a hostess, asking if Luce wanted a table and pointing to the restaurant through a hallway, closest to her. The far back wall had an open bar with many lonely men. It was upper class party and people were dressed in classy attire. Luce walked around the giant room looking for Daniel and previous life Luce, but everyone kept moving. Once she saw that they weren't on one side of the room, people had switched to other sides and they got mixed together making her start over. She sighed, this is going to be harder than I thought.

That was when she saw a man, a man who was dressed in all black, his tie, his tux, his shoes, and even his dress shirt. His eyes were a vibrant green and his hair was as black as his suit. She groaned as she saw he was staring dead at her from about ten feet away. "Cam." She whispered. He smiled at the mention of his name.

Luce quickly started retreating out through the doors, but ran into another man. He was tall and muscular. He had fair hair that was recently cut for the occasion. His eyes were gray with sorrow and as he saw her, his eyes softened with violet happiness and fear. "Whaa—What are you doing here? You just—" Daniel stuttered. This must be the old Daniel and the old Luce had jus—just disappeared.

Luce ran, but Daniel was too strong. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Who are you?" he questioned.

"Luce." The name didn't sound familiar to him. "I'm a future reincarnation of that girl you were with, running away from a future Daniel."

"Oh, Anna?" Of course my name would change every time I was reincarnated, I never really thought about that. He lost some tension in his expression. "Why are you running away?"

"Oh, just the normal teenage drama, he was telling me things that weren't tru—"

"Wait! How did you get here and why are you still—" he broke off.

"Alive?" Luce whispered. He nodded, sadness in his eyes. "I was never baptized—and I must go! I'm trying to get away from someone right now." She was panicking, seeing more familiar faces. She thought she spotted what looked like Molly in her peripheral and when she looked over she wasn't there.

"Who?" He asked, and made the mistake of letting Luce go.

"I'm sorry." She yelled as she ran. As soon as she was down the front steps to get out of the building she took off her heels and ran. She Ran away from my boyfriend's constant pain that would never cease to stop until the next century, ran away from the girl that has to keep dying because of a boy's love for a girl he never really got to know, ran away from Cam, and mostly the possibility of Daniel finding her now. She has to see how it started. She wanted to go to the first time Daniel met her.

The first time they got together. The moment he fell.

I want to meet the first Luce.