**A/N: The first chapter of a short fic. Similar Universe after season 1. Please read and enjoy! :)**

I closed my eyes, and everything changed. What was before no longer existed, and what lay before me was unknown. I remembered slices of what had happened in my previous life; the beauty of cold moonlight on my skin, a trickling piano melody that swooped and soared like birds at midnight, and a smile, a smile that shook my to my core. A smile I could never, ever forget.

"He smiled at me, and I knew I was done for." Who had said that to me?

Everything else was gone, wiped away from me like the falling stars in the night sky. Who I was, what I was called, even my location were details that seemed just out of my grasp. Only, sometimes they shimmered so closely. When I thought of that smile.

When I woke up I was in a field of flowers so beautiful, flowers I'd never seen before. They glimmered in the sun and their scent drifted over me. I looked around to find many more people waking up, all of them lying down, strewn across the field. A giant wall stood behind us. A name tickled my mind. Hell's Gate. How could a place so beautiful be called such a thing? Small tears streamed down my face as I watched those around me awaken and gape with wonder. I was being flooded with emotions that I knew I hadn't felt in a long time.

Then the sky fell. Even in the bright sunlight, the falling stars glowed. Maybe they weren't stars after all, but just fragments of a meteor raining down upon us. I looked around. I didn't recognize anyone surrounding me. They were all nameless faces caught in the confusion of what was happening. Did anyone else remember? I tried to talk to some of them, but it was as if they were stuck in this moment, and the falling sky held them captive.

But even though what I was seeing was so incredible, so monumental, something else within me was driving me. It was telling me to get out, to get away from here. But where? I didn't even have time to answer that question.

Men in black gear were soon upon us, ploughing through the flower fields with heavy vehicles. They had guns and explosives. They rounded us up, killing anyone who tried to flee. Bullets sang and blood stained the ground. I ran. I ran so quickly and without direction, I don't know how I got away, but I did. I would learn later that everyone who woke up in that field in Hell's Gate was shot and killed, their bodies disposed of in a ditch somewhere far beyond the Wall.

I still don't know how I got away, but I knew I wasn't safe, even when I reached the Wall and found a small tunnel that lead to the other side. Someone was bound to be looking for me. After all, I should've been dead, just like all the others. Except for the voice that told me, run!

I laid low for awhile, hiding in back alleys and eating whatever scraps I could find. Military vehicles poured through the streets, looking for anyone suspicious. The city itself was in disrepair; its people hardened and broken, its buildings crumbling. Soon, the vehicles stopped patrolling, and the zone was declared 'safe'. Safe from what? Safe from me? My clothes were in tatters. My hair was a nest of tangles and knots. I didn't know where to go next. What would I do now? Where could I go?

There are others like you. Find them.

I walked the streets, begging for money, begging for help, for anything, but everyone was too afraid. The military had placed strict sanctions for anyone caught harboring a fugitive from the Wall. Somehow, people could smell it on me, see it in my eyes. I wasn't normal. I wasn't human. How could that be? What happened in Hell's Gate?

But then everything changed again. The life I'd thought was going to be spent broken and alone was turned upside down with one simple action.

I was lying on the grass in the park, looking up at the new stars. I guess they were the old stars, but I'd never seen them before. I thought I was alone, but then I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't bother turning around until I heard a voice.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?"

I turned to look at the speaker. He was tall and lean, with shaggy black hair and haunting blue eyes. His voice was raspy and melodic at the same time, like a sad song. He sat down beside me, and for some reason it felt... right. Like we'd done this so many times before.

"How do you know they're real?" I asked after a moment. He looked at me curiously, digesting my question.

"I guess we can't know whether or not they're real, not for sure. But that doesn't mean we can't admire them and enjoy them, right?" he said. I nodded, and we both stretched out on the grass.

"I think they're beautiful," I said. He nodded with a deep breath. Who was he, and why was he here? He wasn't a street dweller like me. His light blue button-up was clean, and he smelled like fresh linen.

"Listen, I need to tell you something, and it's going to seem strange, but please hear me out. I don't know how, but I feel like I know you, or knew you in another life. There is something about you that... called out to me. You're like me, aren't you?"

I processed his words, trying to figure out what he meant. Like him.

"What do you mean, like you?" I asked.

"A contractor. Or at least, what used to be a contractor. Ever since the Gate Incident things have changed. We've changed. The military is trying to get rid of us, but they can't. Not if we band together. I want you to join us. I know things are scary right now and you don't know me, but if you could trust me, I can show you a better life. A life with people who understand. What do you think?"

Contractor. Gate Incident. A better life. All of these words were so familiar and yet so alien. A better life. Anything was better than the way I was existing now. I sat up and looked at him, a stare that felt natural. He didn't look away.

"I think I'd like that," I replied, "but I don't know how I can help. I don't even know my own name."

"Don't ask me how I know this, because I can't explain it, but I think your name is Yin," he said.

Yin. It felt like the missing puzzle piece I'd been searching for. Yin. I nodded.

"Yin... it feels right. Yes, I'll come with you. What are you called?" I asked.

"Hei," he replied.

And then he smiled at me, his lips curling and his eyes stuck on mine.

And I knew I was done for.