I shivered in the alley. I clutched my thin brown rags around my shoulders in a desperate attempt to warm up. I could hear the street gangs coming my way. I was old enough to be the subject of their hunts. I stood up shakily, woozy from the starvation and hypothermia. I moved out of the alley and remained just barely in the streetlamp's light, but enough to discourage the gangs from pulling me back into the alleyways. I found one of 'my' lids out of sight of the local police. I pulled the lid into the hole, and began climbing down the ladder.

I felt safer down here. The gangs remained above ground, and the police didn't figure any criminals would be low enough to hide in the sewer system.

I was going back to my first hideout. The first and last place I remembered having a family.

I surfaced outside of the factory. Knowing that it was abandoned, and had been since the Professor had left, I felt no fear in coming. I slid down a rope that couldn't be more than a few months old. Someone had been here.

But I was cold, and hadn't eaten since I couldn't remember when. If I were nourished, I would no doubt notice the heating system, and that the elevators were working. I also would have noticed the red lights that seemed to follow my progress as I found a corner to curl up in. I also might have noticed that the red lights looked a lot like eyes...and that they didn't look away from me the whole time I was there.

But I hadn't eaten since I couldn't remember when, and I was just happy that I was warm. Finally.

When I woke up, there was someone staring at me. I shrank back. I knew what this person would do. They'd said it was help, but all it did was put me back on the streets.

He held out his hand. "I'm Jeremie Belpois," he said. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled tentatively at the nice boy. I cleared my throat. It had been a very long time since I had last spoke to anyone.

"My name is Anne Britney Hopper. I'm here because I used to live here, and it was cold out."

The blonde boy jumps back. I bite my lip and wish it were bloody. The taste of blood makes things feel so distant.

The boy turned to the monitors that I had passed last night. He turns on a headset and mutters something at the screen. The screens go black, but not before I see the light from the last night. It looks like an eye, and it was staring at me.

Five people spill out of a doorway to my left. A pink-haired girl, a blonde and purple-haired boy, a brunette boy, a black-haired girl, and a black-haired boy.

"What was that, Einstein?" The one with the purple asked. "We were about to get Aelita to the tower when you devirtualized us!" The brunette one nods sullenly. He appears to do everything sullenly, I note.

Then the one with purple in his hair looks to the corner and sees me. I shrink back even farther, even though they all see her. I was here first, I think. If anything, they're the trespassers.

"You pulled us out of a mission for this?!" The sullen one asks. "That's nothing! Just do a return to the past and she won't remember anything.

Jeremie frowns. "Ulrich, that won't work here. She'll come anyway, she knows this place. She says she used to live here."

The one called Ulrich shakes his head. "And I say that I'll get straight A's this semester. Doesn't mean I'm telling the truth."

I shrink back even further to avoid looking at Ulrich, who is looking at me like I'm a piece of trash.

Then the girl wearing black speaks up. "Lay off her, Ulrich. It's not like she disabled the program."

"Yeah, but it is her fault that she's in our factory. If not, we would've deactivated the tower."

I frowned, but I didn't want to upset Ulrich any more. And I was scared he might hurt me. He reminded me of Shank.

"Geez, Ulrich, lay off, huh? It's not her fault," the purple one says.

Jeremie nods. "She has something important to say. Go on," he says to me. "Tell them what you told me."

"I'm cold," I said dully. I couldn't think straight. In all the chaos, my starvation hadn't seemed that important. Since things had calmed down, I remembered that I hadn't eaten since I couldn't remember when. Things started to sway. Jeremie shook me. My eyes snapped open. "No, tell them your name," he said. Why is that important? I wondered. I don't know these people.

But I was tired, and I hadn't eaten since I couldn't remember when. "Anne Britney," I slurred. "Anne Britney..." The world blurred and darkened. Jeremie shook me. But that didn't matter right now. I should get some rest. Things would be better once I woke up.

"When the sun rises tomorrow, my darling, that's when I'll come to you, my darling, and that's when I'll rescue you...my darling." I sang aloud.

A pink blob appeared in my vision. I didn't care, though. They could talk when I woke up.

The world faded into blackness. I felt a sharp pain across my face, and a loud noise. But I was happy now. I would talk when I woke up. But now I was too tired.