Disclaimer: I don't own HYD/MG characters, because if I did I could actually afford to buy a pack of gum. : P

****HZL's Mansion****

The next day HZL awoke in his sterile white room staring at the ceiling. It was one of his recent pastimes to spend hour lost in thought staring at nothingness letting his musings overwhelm him until slumber took over. However, this morning there was something that he couldn't shake out of his mind. There was something about that girl yesterday, he thought to himself. The way she smiled at him had completely unnerved him. It had been so long since a female had so genuinely smiled at him. He had memorized her face now making him able to trace every curve in her lips, the look in her eyes when they lit up with joy, and the way her hair would fall ever so delicately into her face. Guilt enveloped him.

I can't think about her. There will never be another to melt my icy heart. She's gone now. Jing.

****DMS's Mansion****

DMS sat upright in his chair in the same position he had found himself in the night before. He had not slept one second in the past 24 hours, but he felt no signs of sleepiness yet. For now, his body was running on pure adrenaline. It replayed over and over in his mind. There was a spirit in that girl that reminded him so much of the younger days when Da Jie was till at home. Now that she was married she had no time to bother with her idiot brother. Now the house felt even more cold and lonely than before.

That girl. She wasn't half as beautiful as Da Jie. She was actually quite raw and crude in appearance. There are so many things telling me not to be swept up by this girl. She's poor. She's rude. She's not half as pretty as any of the models Ximan and Mei Zhou dated. She could never compare to Jing. But why can't I stop thinking about her?

DMS snapped out of his trance by the chime of the old grandfather clock in the hall. It was now 8 o'clock. It was time for school. If that girl was smart she would have not showed up to school. If she did, it would be suicide. The students at Ying De were well prepared for this time-honored tradition. It's been quite awhile since the last red tag. Their pent energy must have been stewing for some time. I recognized that look in their eyes when I pulled out the tag. The color in their eyes matched the tag, blood red. They thirsted for blood.

****At Ying De***

The girl hurriedly ran up the walkways towards the main building checking her watch every few seconds. She couldn't be late this time. After yesterday's fiasco she knew she couldn't' count on HZL bailing her out again. It was a cruel lesson he had helped hr remember.

"In this world you can only rely on yourself," she muttered to herself. She cursed under her breath feeling her cheeks hotly flush at the thought of HZL.

Why should I think about him. Like he said I am no one.

She recalled seeing him standing over her as an angel of mercy freeing her from the grasps of the cruel teacher. It was one of those moments that would forever be burned into her mind.

How sadly I had misjudged his character.

However, Hua Ze Lei was on the lower end of her priorities right now. She had much bigger problems that were on her plate. At home, she was barely managing to keep things afloat with all the bills that flooded in each week. She cringed at the thought of the dreaded fourth notice signifying the utilities would soon be cut off if she didn't make the payments. Then there was the out of the way trips she had to make in the morning to see them. If it wasn't for them she probably would have dropped out of school, but she knew she had to continue for their sake. It was that trip every morning that always delayed her from reaching class on time. Without them she probably would given upon life all together.

As she picked up speed and ran faster towards her classroom, she couldn't help but notice the odd stares she was getting. Her heart stopped suddenly and she fell to the ground with a crash sending her books flying into the air splattering onto the pavement. A hand reached down to her offering to pick her up. She thankfully looked up at the kind smiling face offering assistance and she reached on hand out to him.

"Don't touch me bitch!"

His face quickly changed quickly into a scowl. The kind helping hand now grabbed onto her hair. He pulled her up by her long locks and spit into her face. "Her face isn't' much, but she probably has a nice body under theses clothes" he sneered gesturing to the crowd of boys that now appeared from behind her.

The girl's eyes widened in horror wondering what was a happening and it suddenly hit her. The red tag. She struggled under his grip trying to loosen his grasp from her hair that was now being pulled out. No, they wouldn't, she thought to herself. Emotions of utter despair and hopelessness took over. However, she soon regained her spirit remembering those words she had threatened the day before, "Do your worst". They wouldn't humiliate her as a woman. There was no way they could take that away from her. The wild animal within came out scratching and clawing. She grabbed onto the boy's hand and bit down with all her might. She could now taste the warm blood dripping from her lips. She cockily spit blood from her mouth and wiped the stream of red flowing from her lips onto her sleeve.

"She bit me!" the boy screamed pulling his injured hand from her mouth. He used his other good hand and slapped her across the face sending her reeling backwards onto the floor once again. "Get her!"

The other boys grabbed onto her despite her wild flailing of punches and kicks. They pushed her onto the ground holding down her arms and legs.

The boy who now nursed his bloody hand approached her wild with a look of vengeance in his face. He ripped open her blouse letting the top buttons drop to the ground. "Let me break her in," he jeered. He slowly began to unbutton his belt and watched his friends tug down her skirt. "Sshhhh.. No one will save you now."

She turned her eyes away in defeat hoping it would be swiftly over with. She clenched every muscle in her body trying to ward off his advancement. As the boy tugged off her white lacy bra and lay down on top of her, she prayed to god someone would intervene.

"Get off her!" a voice boomed from a distance.

Suddenly a mysterious figure pulled the boy on top of her off and sent a fist into his stomach. The boy lurched over in pain and looked up to see who had dared go against the protocol of red tagging. For red tag victims were to be treated as nothing more than playthings to be thrown away once it was broken. It didn't matter if this was a human being. They deserved to be stripped of all dignity. He stopped in his tracks frozen in fear.

The figure pulled the other boys away from the girl throwing them against the walls. "Leave!" he commanded.

The boys made no protests at the orders barked at them. They scrambled up from the ground tripping over their own feet trying run away.

The girl opened her eyes and winced at being blinded by the bright sunlight. She quickly pulled her blouse closed and held it closed in embarrassment at being found in such a state. She managed clip the top closed with a pin from her hair. The figure leaned in closer to her and his face suddenly became clearer. He reached out a hand and grabbed onto hers pulling her up form the cold ground.

"That would have been you're first time, right? No girl deserves her first time to be that way." He stared at the broken girl ion front of him who was now sobbing profusely like a crumpled doll. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her tiny frame. Not realizing what he was doing he pulled her close into his chest and let her cry into him soaking his shirt. "Sshh.Everything will be alright now?" He pulled her face from his chest and he lovingly looked into her eyes and smiled. His heart started pounding a little faster seeing her this way, so vulnerable and alone. Every fiber of his being wanted to take away all the sadness that dwelled within her. "My name is Mei Zhou."

The tardy bells began to ring echo through the deadly silent air. The girl pushed him away and picked up her fallen books and bag. Without even a thank you to her knight in shining armor she ran towards her classroom. Clutching his oversized jacket around herself she ran faster and faster.

Mei Zhou stood there in shock. No girl had ever ditched him so suddenly. He was used to be on the departing side of the relationship. He ran his fingers through his hair and laughed to himself. There's something about that girl. He picked up her fallen bra and put it into his pocket. He knew that it would prove to be usefulness evidence to get Ah Si to drop this silliness of red tagging. For some strange reason he was angry at his long time friend.

Sure we've tortured many others in the past. Who knows how many sexual assaults had taken place in the last few years of high school? Only the old walls of the school silently held onto the many secrets. But this time they had gone too far. Not this girl. If the others had seen the look of pure terror in that face they would have put a stop to it perhaps. Ah Si will be angry at me for intervening, but I don't care. I would never let anything happen to her.

He cocked his head to the side and strutted towards the canteen in search of his dictator friend. It was time to put an end to all this.

She burst through the doorways with one minute to spare. She carefully kept her eyes to the ground not making eye contact. She tactfully avoided the fishing wire carefully placed to trip her in the aisle. She hurried to her seat and sat down, but not before placing a sheet of paper over the glue sloppily splattered onto it. Staring straight ahead at the board in complete alertness, she prepared herself for any surprise attacks. Her eyes were now red and swollen. It was only the faint smell of that boy's warm body lingering in his jacket that now gave her some strength and comfort.

HZL casually sauntered through the doorway silencing the other students and drawing their attention away form her for a few moments. He had that effect on people. Actually all of F4 could bring any room to a deathly silence. It was more the fact that HZL had decided to make his second straight day of appearance in class that surprised everyone. It was unusual for nay member of F4 to attend class. It was an unspoken rule that no matter what they did they would graduate with the rest of the class next week. That was the way Ying De operated F4 was guaranteed special privileges in Ying De. It didn't matter whether or not they went to class. They entered the high school and would obviously rise up through the elevator system into the school's university across the campus.

His coldness sent chills through everyone's spines as he passed them by in the aisle with that perpetual dismal face he possessed. He sat down in the same seat as yesterday and turned to the girl beside him. His mask broke for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. She was a mess and her eyes were swollen from crying. He stared at her blouse that had traces of blood and was ripped open. She sat there in complete stillness not breaking her stare of the front board. As an acute observer of people only HZL could see through her. She was trembling inside and was about to break apart. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. He turned his body to her and extended to object to her.

The girl sensed a hand reach out towards her and she cowered back in fear. Could this be some cruel joke? She watched the white handkerchief dangling in front of her and she timidly took it from his hand. She wiped her face with the cloth wiping away any left over traces of dirt and tears. She turned back at her cold companion and reached over to give it back, but he pushed it away.

"Keep it."

Feeling a growing strength in her again she smiled at him with all the little joy she had left in her. He glanced up at her and for a second she couldn't help but think she saw a smile before he turned his attention outside the window. She clutched the simple white handkerchief in her hand and stared down at it. Embroidered in fine black stitching were the initials, "HZL". She rubbed the smooth, soft fabric between her fingers having never felt anything so soft in her life. Carefully she slipped it into her jacket pocket. For the rest of the class she smiled to herself lost in what little happiness she found in his comfort.

HZL sat back in his seat watching her reflection in the window.

That smile. It was contagious. There was just something about hat girl that could melt even the tiniest bit of my frozen heart. The way her clothes are it's obvious what might or had already happened. That jacket, though it seems so familiar. I've seen it somewhere before. Mei Zhou. He must have found her. I can't help but hope he stopped it all in time. Why do I care anyway? I don't care about other people's business?

The class ended and the girl stood up still smiling as brightly as before with a renewed sense of courage to face the world. From her bag the muffled ring of a phone sounded from her bag. She frantically rifled through her things to find the phone and finally victoriously pulled it out. As she brought the phone to her ear the smile quickly vanished. She slumped back down into her chair and her eyes went dead. She had completely lost sight of her surroundings and just listened intently to every word being spoken to her from the other side. She nodded her head and broke the silence with a "ah" or "oh" once in awhile. Finally the phone slipped out of her trembling hands and fell to the ground with a clack. She snapped out of her daze and quickly picked up the object and muttered, "I'll be right there."

The silent watcher, HZL, witnessed this entire scene. He couldn't help but notice her sudden change in attitude. He stood up to ask her if anything was wrong, but she had already walked out of the room. Her face turned pale like she had seen a ghost.

The girl wandered aimlessly through the halls trying to make sense of where she was going. Little did she know HZL was following from behind watching her every move. Mechanically she made her way outside towards the gardens. What she didn't notice was the meeting going on between MZ and DMS.

"Take the red tag off now, Ah Si!" MZ yelled throwing the bra onto his head.

DMS picked up the foreign object form his head and stared at it. His face blushed red in embarrassment. He looked up at MZ who was normally so carefree and happy. Now his face was darkened. "What does this have to do with anything?! Who's is this?"

"Remember the girl yesterday?! I was lucky I found her before they started their little deed! Playing stupid little pranks on people is one thing, but rape is another. Put an end to this now."

DMS;'s face dropped in shock. "Rape."he mumbled to himself. "I didn't tell them to do that! MZ you've got to believe me I didn't tell them to do it."

"Why are you trying to explain to me. You should be trying to explain this to her!" MZ bellowed pointing at the girl who now had stopped to look on.

The girl stood there dead to the world. She no longer heard the sounds coming from their mouths. To her the exchange between the two friends was nothing more than mimed motions. Nothing mattered to her anymore. She stepped forward and shrugged off the jacket around her shoulders. With a shaking hand she handed the jacket back to MZ who took it with a trepid hand. After returning the borrowed item she walked past HZL, MZ and DMS who reined silent in wonderment of what was going through her mind right now.

"I didn't mean for that to happen." DMS mumbled loud enough for all to hear.

She stopped in mid step and turned around with a hauntingly cold face. "It doesn't matter now," she whispered in a soft voice. She spun her head back to the front and walked away.

The girl continued her slow path towards the school gates ignoring all those around her. Although she was staring straight ahead, her vision was clouded. She walked straight into someone and did not stop to apologize. She just continued walking.

Ximen stopped to look at the departing figure that had so rudely knocked into him. He thought hard and wondered where he had seen that face before. There was something amiss about her. The sudden realization that it was the girl from yesterday struck him. She seemed so lost and alone in her own world. A glimmering object caught his attention on the ground. He bent down and picked up a shiny silver chain with a simple cross pendant dangling from it. It must be hers, eh thought to himself. He ran towards the directions he had come from, but she was nowhere to be seen. He put the object into his and decided to find his friends.

**** One week later

It had been a week already since that day occurred. MZ and DMS were still on uneasy terms after the incident. Everyday DMS secretly waited outside the front entrance hoping to find that girl and formally apologize, but she never showed up. Days passed and he soon lost hope thinking she had perhaps just left school forever. He had stormed into the administrative office to find out of her whereabouts, but to no avail there was no trace left of her. There were no files linking her to ever attending the school. He couldn't' even find out her name or address. It was like she disappeared off the face of the earth. Even with all his family's power and wealth he wasn't able to find a simple poor girl. With each passing day his temper grew and he began to lose control. His friends could see an anger rising within him that they had only once seen before when Da Jie left.

HZLwas equally hypnotized by this girl. He attended class everyday hoping he would see her walk through that door, but each day brought new disappointment. Once again his friends noticed him withdraw into his secret world not knowing that the girl had forced him to come out even a little. Each day HZL was consumed with thoughts of fate's cruelty towards him. Whenever some light was brought into his dark world it was taken away as quickly as it appeared.

Even MZ and XM couldn't help but feel changed by that girl. MZ always seemed to be in a far away place when surrounded by his many female admirers. He always kept one eye out for that girl. XM also couldn't help but search through the endless throngn fo girls that seem to envelope him. For some strange reason, he carried her chain around with him everywhere hoping he would see her to return the trinket to her. However, they too met disappointment upon never finding her again.

In an attempt to draw their two odd friends out MZ and XM suggested they celebrate that night. Tomorrow would be their last day as high school students. Next year they would be college men. With graduation tomorrow and the grand parties their parents would be throwing for them tonight would be their only night to spend together doing whatever they wanted. After some coaxing they had managed Lei and Ah SI to drink their sorrows away. By the end of the night they all stumbled out of VS scrambling to get to their cars. As they stepped out of the club they rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Across the street was the girl they had been madly searching for the last week.

She was dressed from head to toe in white. Her long white flowing dress fell down to her ankles and swayed in the breeze. Her face was no longer cold and vacant, but there was an eerie calm peacefulness she emitted. With each graceful step she took her long hair flew back bouncing on her shoulders. She strode down the street smiling to herself swaying her arms in a childlike manner humming a song to herself.

F4 stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the girl. Not wanting the others to know where he was going they quickly excused themselves and ran to their cars. They each jumped into their complimenting silver BMW's they had each received as graduation gifts earlier. Racing off they secretly split up to follow the girl.

In surprise after driving in twists and turns they all found themselves at the beach. They stepped out of their cars to look at the girl who now casually walked along the beach. Each boy quietly crept up from behind her watching her every move. She finally came to a stop to face out towards the ocean on a small cliff overlooking the crashing waves.

DMS, HZL, MZ and XM stopped a few feet behind her. In surprise they turned to see that the others had followed, too. Quietly they waited to see what she would do.

A melodious sweet child like voice echoed through the cold night. The girl sang a sad melancholy folk song.

My love, I wait here so patiently.

Hearing your words to speak to me.

Come back.

Come back.

Return to me love, return to the sea.

The girl repeated those few words over and over again remaining oblivious to the audience behind her. In the moonlight she was lit up by its shimmering glow giving her frame a silhouette of an angel.

DMS stepped forward and called out to her. "Hey!" he roughly bellowed.

She turned around and faced the four boys. They gasped at seeing how hauntingly beautiful she appeared right now. She smiled to them with a joy in her leaving them an unsettling feeling of what was to come.

Once again she began to sing to herself.

Come back.

Come back.

She turned back around and stepped closer the edge making F4 lunge forward, but it was too late. All they could hear were the last few words of the song echo through the air.

Return to me love, return to the sea.

She stepped off the edge and disappeared. F4 scrambled to the edge and peered their head down below to see if she was alive. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was no way she could have survived the fall with the jagged rocks down below. Something from the corner of their eyes caught their attention though. There was a torn off piece of her dress flapping in the wind. DMS snatched it off the piece of rock it had become caught on and looked at it in his hand.

"Where did she go?' he hoarsely whispered.

"She just seemed to disappear," XM gasped in disbelief.

"Should we call the police?" MZ asked shaking.

"What are we going to tell them?" HZl coldly replied.

"What are you boys doing up here?!" a rough voice yelled form behind them sending them jumping back.

"We just saw a girl jump off the cliff! Call the police!" MZ screamed in terror.

"What are you talking about. I just passed by and there was definitely no girl up here. All I saw was you four boys staring towards the cliff."

"Didn't you see the girl?!" DMS lunged forward and pulled the man towards the cliff's edge. He pointed to the spot where the girl once stood. "She was right here!"

The man loosened himself from DMS's grip. "All I know is that I can smell alcohol all over you boys. You've probably had a little too much to drink. Go home before you all kill yourselves falling off that cliff." The man pulled them back from the edge and pushed them towards their cars. "Kids these days going out drinking and seeing things," he muttered to himself.

XM, MZ, DMS, and HZL each got into their cars and sat alone in silence for awhile wondering if it had all been some kind of hallucination. They could still hear her voice echoing through their minds, the song of that siren had left them mesmerized.

DMS pulled the small trip of white cloth he had found on the cliff and held it up to his face. He stared hard into it gripping it in his hand. "Was it all a dream?"