**Author's note (PLEASE READ):

Hello! I didn't think I'd write for this fandom again, but I was greatly inspired by lorenamag, so here I am. Two months of solid writing, and I'm finally posting Part I. There will be a Part II and Part III to this series. Part I is setting up the story, and Part II will dive further into past events to fill in the blanks of Part I and add extra events while being a "Prequel Sequel." Part III will carry on after the events of Part I's ending and fill in more blanks/tidy things up.

Some housekeeping before we get started to avoid me repeating it in each chapter:

1. This story will touch on topics such as abuse and violence. If you've read my work, you know I keep it to a "T" rating and don't get explicit, but be advised: there are triggering things mentioned and explored in this story.

2. The chapters are going to switch between past and present events, so please watch the headings so you're not confused. Part II and III will have the same format.

3. For the sake of this story, Luke Wright is born in 1977 and Rita Vrataski is born in 1980. In the film Safe (2012), they described Luke as being in his 30s, so it kind of fits anyway. I have made up the characters' family members (names etc.) and events growing up. The events of both films will be written into the storyline.

4. While I have finished Part I, I will be constantly editing and reworking it as I post chapters. I might even have to go back and fix/change things as I continue writing Parts II and III (although I hope not). If I do, I will let you know to reread whatever I fix/change. I'm aiming for a once a week update.

5. Medical facts, army/military stuff etc. I always use Google for as I'm not an expert. If it's not right, please PM me and direct me to where I can find the correct information, and I'll fix it.

6. Music inspires my writing so much. I will try to add the song(s) I was listening to in each chapter in case you want to listen to them while reading it to know what helped create the words.

Please enjoy! There won't be long author's notes in the rest of this story, I promise. As always, I look forward to hearing your feedback :)

Song I listened to for prologue: Fallen by Brian Tyler

FULL STORY SUMMARY:

Rita Vrataski prides herself on being tough and emotionless, but there's one person in the world who knows her past and has seen the vulnerable side of her: Luke Wright. When he shows up back in her life, she's thrown back into the past and struggles to maintain the wall she's surrounded herself with while dealing with her feelings. An assassin trained from childhood, Luke has always known a fight of some kind, and when he gets the power to reset the day in the War of the Mimics, he's back in Rita's life. After struggling for years to understand why she left him 17 years ago, he is determined to find the answer despite her avoiding the conversation at all costs. Together, they have to fight in order to save humankind and restore their previous strong bond with each other.

Prologue

2020

It was a nightmare. This whole damn thing was a bloody nightmare. Everywhere he looked on that beach there was nothing but pain and death. He suddenly hated himself for signing up and thinking this was the right thing to do, for trying to find a piece of his past and make things right. It hadn't worked out like he'd thought it would, and he was left feeling angry and confused.

He got thrown, and he landed hard on his stomach. He lifted his head to see her swinging a melee with all her might, slashing at a Mimic. She got thrown down, but she used the guns on her mech suit to take it out. He watched as she stood up and turned to see him. She looked right into his soul, and somehow, the answer he'd been looking for was conveyed to him. It had been there all along; he'd just missed it among her anger and walls. He opened his mouth to call out for her, to say something, anything, that would somehow prove he was sorry and convey the same message back when she was suddenly struck and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

He screamed her name. Another cut to his already broken heart.

He wanted to go to her, but he couldn't. There were too many enemies. He got up and ran for it, dodging and weaving as best as he could. He was no match for the enemy, and he was taken down in minutes. Without hesitating, he reached for the bomb on the front of his vest just as the enemy launched at him. He wasn't going down without a fight. He didn't want to live in a world without her in it anyway.

Then it went dark.