A/N: Ok, I need a favor from you guys. If you start to read it, please finish the chapter, it's not as everyday as you think it is. You'll understand when you get to the end. (Please don't skip ahead though, that ruins it!)

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Thirty First Street wasn't the best neighborhood in Manhattan, but neither was it the worst. Like most neighborhoods, it had its run down houses, and it's well kept ones. In the middle of the block was a relatively well kept, yet very small looking house. It was a simple, whitewashed home with blue shutters, and an unpainted wooden fence surrounding a small yard. The front door was painted blue to match the shutters, and opened up into a sparsely, but comfortably decorated living room, an adequate kitchen, and two bedrooms, one medium, and the other small. It seemed to fit its occupants quite nicely. Mother, father, and daughter lived there in their own quiet little world.

Opening the door, and feeling the sunshine on her face, a young girl of fifteen turned and announced into the house, "I'm going to market!"

"Be careful!" was the only reply she got from inside, so she carefully shut the door behind her, and walked down the four steps to the ground, careful to use the railing. She slowly made her way across the lawn, deeply inhaling the scent of the flowering blossoms of the cherry tree in the corner of the yard. There was nothing all too remarkable about this girl, dressed in a simple, freshly laundered brown skirt and white blouse, with sturdy, unadorned shoes, and her dark hair swept up, as if she were just trying to get it out of her face. She walked along the rough wooden fence, reaching out to trail her fingers on the coarse surface until she got to the gate. After fumbling with the latch, she, on a whim, plucked up a stick that was left leaning on the fence boards. Humming a simple tune, she dragged her stick against the edge of the sidewalk, sure of her steps, and the route she had taken so many times before. This was her daily ritual, walk to market and get the fresh bread, milk, and other perishable foods that her small family needed for the day. It wasn't like they could buy their food every two, or even three days, but she liked her daily trips to the market, and the sounds of the bustle of many feet, merchants, customers, and even horses. The smells were always enticing as she walked past the different merchants and their carts filled with food.

After finding her favorite bench to sit at, she relaxed, just enjoying the surroundings of her favorite place. After loosing all track of time for a while, she got up, and continued her walk through the humble market.

Stopping in front of a cart, she heard the merchant's greeting, "why hello miss, what will it be for you today?"

With a grin, she answered back, "Just the usual loaf of bread please, ma'am."

After she paid for her purchase, tucking it into her shoulder bag, she stopped at the fruit cart, and then the store that sold her a bottle of milk, repeating basically the same thing as the first place, she started back home, enjoying the feeling of the setting sun warming her back and neck. Taking a deep breath, she was anticipating the first scent of the cherry tree in her front yard.

Instead of smelling cherry blossoms, the only scent that made it to her nostrils was that of wood burning. Wrinkling her nose in question, she wondered why any of her neighbors would have a fire in the fireplace this time of year, it was just too warm for that. Fleetingly thinking of something she wanted to tell her mother when she got home, the girl quickened her pace, only to bump into someone in the process.

"I'm terribly sorry!" she exclaimed, carefully trying to walk around him. The trouble was, there was a crowd in front of her house. She was so deep in her thoughts she hadn't realized it until she had bumped into someone. Still deeply in thought, she tried to push her way through the crowd, but was unsuccessful.

"May I get through please. I need to go home." She pleaded into the crowd, but was ignored.

Then she heard something that made her blood freeze.

"Yeah, whole place went up in smoke before they could get out. Yeah, a shame, such a pretty house with its blue shutters and door. Aint nothin' left now… well, nothin' worth savin."

Upon hearing this, she suddenly choked, noticing just how strong the smell of smoke was. Holding back tears, she coughed, unable to breathe. She stood there, dumbstruck for a few moments, with the stranger's voice echoing in her ears, "Before they could get out." Then she realized that it was someone else's voice, the whole crowd was buzzing with it. "No survivors. Died. Nothing left."

Choking again on the smoke, she ran off down the street, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She ran as fast as she could, like she had never ran before, not caring where her feet took her. Suddenly, a loose rock in the cobblestone caught the toe of her shoe, and she tripped, running headfirst into a wall, knocking her unconscious.

~*~*~*~*~

"Nah, I think dat Swifty's gonna win da poker game tonight!" Kid Blink announced to Racetrack as they walked towards the lodging house.

"Nah, you know poker's my game, I got dis one!" Racetrack quipped.

"Yeah, same as you got it last time, right?" Blink snickered.

"Why I aughtta-" Racetrack started, reaching out to smack Kid Blink in the arm.

"Watch it." Blink said with a grin as he dodged Race's attack.

After a few seconds of silence, Racetrack reached out and shoved blink into an alley as they were passing, and he stumbled in the semi-darkness over something.

"You ai'ght, Kid?" Race asked.

"Fine, I just tripped over… Race, it's a girl!"

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"She was jest layin in da alley!" Kid Blink stated again to Jack as they looked over at the girl they had laid out on an extra bunk. "I don't know how long she's been there… But that's one heck of a bruise on her forehead, that's for sure…" he said, commenting on the large, swollen purplish black mark above her left eyebrow.

Suddenly, she stirred. Sitting up with a whimper, she felt the bed under her, and the blanket lying across her, her hands skimming the wood and fabric, and fluttering over everything within arm's reach.

Walking over towards her bunk, Blink noticed how she cocked her head to follow the sound of his feet shuffling across the floor, before she panicked. Her hands went up over her head to shield herself, and she painfully scraped her knuckles on the bunk bed over her. Gingerly reaching her hands up to the wooden bed frame, she wrinkled her eyebrows.

Looking at her in amazement, Blink asked, "You're blind aren't you?"

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A/N: It was another idea that I had to get out of my head. I thought it was something that hadn't been done before, so I figured it was my job to do so! *grins, quite pleased with herself*