Sunlight shone into a dark and depressing room. A lone figure lay wearily on a lumpy old mattress, groaning as the sunlight woke her up. Amber rolled over painfully and curled up with the blanket. Wait a blanket? Amber looked at the blanket like it was some kind of foreign object.

"How did this get here?" Amber asked to herself quietly. She picked up the piece of fabric and rolled it between her fingers. She didn't remember much after Layla and Nabu left, just a figure standing in her doorway. When she saw that figure her first instinct was to get up and fight, but exhaustion and hunger caused her to pass out.

Amber shook her head and muttered to herself, "We'll I'm alive now, that's all that matters." She looked down at her wrist and smiled. She still hadn't taken off Alex's watch off since he gave to her. " 8:15," she muttered, "Another half hour before Ms. Fargonda comes. Better start getting ready for the day."

Amber pushed herself off the mattress with a groan. Her injuries were hurting more and more as the days passed. Today in particular was the worse. Amber whimpered in pain as she took a step towards the shower. She stumbled to the bathroom and shut the door with a groan.

"Great," Amber thought as she took off her clothes, "It's only been five minutes and I'm already having problems." Amber shook her head and stepped into the cold shower.

She scrubbed herself down with the menial amount of soap that was provided. "She's just a girl and she's on fire," she sang quietly as she started washing her hair, "Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway." Amber rinsed all the shampoo from her hair while still singing, "She's living in a world and its on fire." She let out an involuntary shiver as the freezing cold water ran down her back. She turned the water knob off and wrapped a towel around herself to dry off. "Feeling the catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away." Once she was dried off she took her tattered, dirty white and blue shorts and put them on followed by her tight blue shirt. "Ohhhhhhh, she got her feet on the ground and she's not backing down. Ohhhhhh she got her head in the clouds and she's not backing down. This girl is on fire! This girl is on fire! She's walking on fire! This girl is on fire!"

Once she was fully dressed Amber stepped out of the bathroom and limped over to the mattress. "Looks like a girl but she's a flame. So bright she could burn your eyes. Better look the other way." She fiddled with the locket that hung around her neck. "You can try but you'll never forget her name. She's on top of the world, hottest of the hottest girls say ooooooh. We got our feet on the ground, and we're burning it down, ooooooh! We got our head in the clouds and we're not backing down. This girl is on fire! This girl is on fire! She's walking on fire! This girl is on fire! Oooooooh." She took the locket off her neck and stared down at it longingly. There were three picture slots. One with two adults and three kids all gathered around and staring into the camera. The other was of the same family but this time the three kids were sparring and the parents were looking at them happily. The last slot was still barren, ready for use if ever needed.

"Everybody stares as she goes by, cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes. Watch her as she's lighting up the night. Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl. And it's a lonely world. So she's gonna let it burn baby, burn baby! This girl is on fire! This girl is on fire! She's walking on fire! This girl is on fire! Ohhhhhhh! Ohhhhhhh! Ohhhhhhh!" She paused for a moment before finishing, "She's just a girl, but she's on fire..." Amber closed her locket gently and put it back around her neck. She was startled when she heard a clap sound from behind her.

Amber whirled around, getting into a defensive position. Her eyes quickly analyzed the room and see if she could use anything to her advantage against her potential enemy. When her eyes laid on said attacker, Amber put her fists down, though her muscles were still tense. "You startled me." she called out to the person by the door.

Riven smirked and said, "Yeah I saw that. You looked like the Devil was about jump on you."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Amber replied evenly. She scooted over so Riven had room to sit on the mattress. Riven, seeing the open invitation to sit, walked over and sat down beside the battered girl.

"You're really good you know," he said. When he saw Amber's confused face he continued, "Your song. You've got a really good voice. And being the boyfriend of the fairy of music, that's saying something. Did you write that song?"

Embarrassed, Amber replied quietly, "Umm... yeah. But it's really not that good. But it gets me by."

"You make it sound like a financial opportunity, as the business people say. In my words it sounds like you make money off of your music." Riven said skeptically. He wasn't supposed to be wasting time talking to Amber. In fact Griselda had told him specifically not to talk to her and to take her up to Griselda's office, but Riven was never one to follow the rules.

Amber smiled softly and said, "You're smarter than you look you know. You'd think you're all muscle and no brain, but that's not exactly true."

"There's more to someone than meets the eye," Riven answered vaguely. This was weird to him. He never really opened up to anyone other than Musa, but she was his girlfriend. Amber was some random chick who just happened to save the girls from certain doom. Seems legit.

"I can vouch for that," Amber laughed in melancholy.

Riven looked at her sympathetically. After hearing the story about her family, he couldn't imagine the pain she had gone through. Riven knew that he had a hard life, but Amber's was harder. He couldn't imagine what it was like watching someone kill his brother and sister right in front of him, or watching helplessly as he watched flames devour his home and his parents.

Riven gave her one of his rare, caring smiles. "Looks like we've got something in common." Riven's smile grew a little when he saw a flicker of happiness flash in her eyes. "Now come on squirt, let's go. We have a meeting with Griselda and Ms. Fargonda."

"We?" Amber questioned s Riven helped her to her feet.

Riven nodded, "Yes, we. You didn't think we'd let you go into that meeting alone? Nah, everyone's coming for support. We're not letting Griselda win this. That's never ben our way."

"Amen to that," Amber laughed as she leaned on Riven's shoulder. Riven laughed and helped Amber walk out the door.

"The others are waiting for us by the staircase," Riven told Amber as he closed the door behind him. "Griselda doesn't know that all of us are coming so this is going to be fun."

Amber nodded and started walking towards the staircase. Soon enough the hero and fairy made it to where the others were waiting.

"It's about time you two got here!" Stella exasperated, "Musa here was getting worried you guys were having an affair!"

Musa blushed deep crimson and screamed, "I was not! Believe it or not, I trust my thickheaded boyfriend. Even if he can be a bastard at times."

Riven gave Amber a mischievous grin before turning to Musa, "Oh so I'm a bastard now? Would a bastard do this?" He picked Musa up and sprinted up the staircase, Musa screaming at him to put her down and laughing at the same time.

Amber sighed and shook her head. "Come on, if we don't keep our eye on those two they're going to ride off into the sunset and we'll never see them again."

"I don't think Riven's exactly what you call a 'Romantic'." Sky said and put air quotes around romantic.

Amber smiled mysteriously at Sky, causing him to wonder what she knew that he didn't. "There's more to someone than meets the eye." Amber repeated what Riven said earlier. Sky gave her a confused look, but decided not to question any further.

Amber smiled and started walking up the stairs, but a sudden pain in her knee and stomach stopped her short. She doubled over with a groan, alerting everyone of her discomfort.

"What's wrong Amber?" Alex asked worriedly as he helped her stand up straight. Ever since Amber had opened up to him, Alex had been much more protective. And this did not go unnoticed by a certain group of girls.

Layla smiled knowingly, but quickly pushed the thought out of her mind when she heard Amber groan out, "I'm fine... just a little sore."

Nabu rolled his eyes and looked at his girlfriend. He leaned over and whispered, "Those two are so into each other." Layla laughed quietly and nodded in agreement. Nabu smiled and straightened up. He took one of Amber's arms and put it over his shoulder.

"Come on Soldier Girl, we've got a meeting to attend to."

I want to start out by saying how happy i was with all the reviews! I had no idea this many people read my story! You guys are the absolute best! Love you all! Sorry for the late update though. I've had some family crisises lately, but things have settled down now. My next chapter will be up by Friday at the latest. Love you!

Forever Courage