Okay this is my first fallen fic, and I only wrote it because I read Tormented today and I needed to occupy my mind until June. Basically this is Luce's & Daniel's first contact in this life from Daniel's POV. I obviously don't know a few details that still haven't been explained to us, so I made up a few things but tried to stick to the story as much as possible. And I don't have Fallen, my friend has it, and I can't really remember the beginning so I've worked with what I do remember. It's not that good but oh well, tell me what you think :) I don't own anything, though I wished I owned Daniel ;D

He'd been waiting for her ever since it was her birthday. Her 17th birthday. He'd long learned that it was best to avoid her for as long as he could, he wished for just one life where she would make it until her 18th. That's why he enrolled at Swords & Cross, the reform school. Good girl Luce, his good girl Luce, would never commit a crime so terrible that she would be forced to live her life in this prison-like school. The pool was also a church, how ironic. If he and Cam had to duel it would have to be under His careful eye, maybe even in His house of worship, but surely He knew Daniel was still fighting for his name; he always has, ever since the Fall. But his love for her would counter his alliance to Him and that's why he was forced out of the Kingdom of the Highest. For simply loving a human girl. In her present life, she was probably on the honors roll or have a scholarship at some posh school, that sounded like Luce. Captain of the swim team as well, living her life as a normal teenager. Maybe Daniel could save her from the Announcers that always showed up just as he succumbed to her kiss, the Announcers she, and no other mortal, could never see. They had all enrolled together, so no one would have an unfair advantage if they found her first, the angels versus the demons. Two sides of the same coin. It was going okay, the lessons were dull and the hermaphrodite teachers looked on the brink of death, but she wasn't there, maybe he had outran her once and for all.

Then the news came about the newcomers, midway through term. The angels he didn't care about, the insignificant mortal boy he didn't care about. There was one name he did care about, one name that put his heart in his mouth.

Lucinda Price.

What had she done? What could she have possibly done to deserve a place in this school? He groaned, he should've known. She was always drawn to him, no matter where, even if it includes committing terrible acts. He should've chosen a nicer place, she would've found him no matter what. It was heartbreaking for him, knowing the end was coming all-too-soon; he still remembered the last time as if it were only yesterday. The kiss, the flames, the fleeting recognition, then nothing but his aching heart. His love burned once more. He'd tried so hard to like other girls, tried to kiss them and be with them as if he were just a normal boy in a normal relationship with a normal girl. But the truth still stood at the fact that he was far from normal, he was an angel cast out of heaven for falling in love. And he would never stop loving her. He tracked down that girl who never did anything expect be the Principal's adopted daughter: Penn. She had access to all of the files and if he could get her interested in Luce, maybe she would befriend her, he didn't want Luce hanging around any of those nut jobs. Keep it with the angels and demons.

"Um- Penn?" He was knocking tentatively on the door he knew to be hers, he couldn't think of another place she would be. He knocked louder. "Penn!" Slowly, the door opened as if she was scared of the person behind the voice, then again, in Swords & Cross that was probably a good idea. Her glasses-rimmed eyes widened in shock,

"Daniel Grigori? Are you lost?" He laughed dryly, it would sure seem that way.

"No, I'm not lost. Just wondering, have you had a chance to look at that new girl's file? I think her name was something like Lucy? Lucy Price?" Oh, real subtle Daniel. Well done. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion.

"Lucinda." Duh. "And no, this may surprise you Daniel Grigori but I don't look at every kids file here. I haven't looked at yours, I do have a life." That seemed unlikely, he'd never seen her outside meals and class. But, as he had thought, she was a curious girl.

"Why Lucinda Price's file in particular, aren't there more new students?" He glanced nervously away, subtlness really wasn't his thing.

"Um- yeah, there are. But, y'know, she's kind of a big deal? Scholarship student I think. She fell from the highest place possible." Just like me. It was just then Daniel realised that they were still standing in the hallway, in plain sight - and hearing range - of the closest dorms. "Do you think that we could-"

"Let's go get her file." Penn was an I-take-no-shit-from-anyone kind of person, just getting straight to the matter, no questions asked. He sighed with relief, he thought he'd have to talk his way around that for ages.

~.~.~.~

Opening her file, Penn's eyes widened slightly but she was by no means startled by what she saw; there were probably much worse cases at that school.

"Well, looks like she killed the boy she was supposedly with by setting fire to the cabin they were in at the time. But she denys any claims made against her. Cool, a pyro in denial." Luce got arrested for murder? But, she was never violent. No in one past life was she even the smallest bit violent and it was highly unlikely that she was in this life. He immediately sided with her innocence. But the bit he was concentrating on, ignoring all of the alarming murder stories, the bit that really hurt him was her relationship with the victim.

"She was with the boy-?"

"Trevor."

"Trevor. She was with him? As in, together? Like, a relationship?" His voice cracked over nearly every syllable, he could just imagine her with some faceless guy, being kissed and caressed, being held the way he longed to hold her every day. All that happiness and naivety and then, the flames. Only this time it wasn't her. But they followed her everywhere, her entire existence was ruled by the forever impending flames. But she survived, that was what he had to focus on. She was still alive. She was stronger than before.

"Yes," Penn said slowly, wondering why his face was as white as a sheet, "Is that a problem?" Quickly, too quickly, he shook his head.

"No, no. It's just, she doesn't seem like the kind to end up here. Y'know, scholarship, decent b-boyfriend and her whole life ahead of her. Shocking really that she fell off that branch." All because of me. She could have had an entire life. From the very beginning of time, she could have been famous throughout history but not in the way she was. She could've been Florence Nightingale or some other heroine, instead she was stuck, famous because she fell in love and died. What a horrible way to be known.

"Right, well okay I won't ask about your weird, sudden obsession with Lucinda." Luce. His mind corrected her automatically but he luckily held his tongue, he didn't want Penn to think that he'd given her a pet name. He wasn't stalking her or anything. He just had to know what crime she was unfortunate enough to be blamed for, it was his fault afterall. And Luce would never tell him, no matter how close they got in this life. That's just Luce.

~.~.~.~

A few days passed without incident, but Daniel was always on edge, he stayed up every night just waiting for the sound of the new arrivals. Finally, after what seemed like years of waiting, and it probably was, the new students arrived. She was sitting next to Arriane, good, at least it was an Angel and not someone like Cam. He felt her before he saw her, the same way it had been for Milena; his heart clenched and sped up, his breathing was laboured and he broke out in sweat. And Roland was there, saying something hilarious, something he forgot straight away but at the time, it hurt his chest laughing so hard. Maybe it was because he knew she was staring and talking about him with Arriane.

And so began the lie.

He took a deep breath and begged Luce, future, past or present, any version of her, for forgiveness about what he was about to do. He had to keep her alive, even if he hurt her. Even if she didn't understand why she was hurting.

Slowly, he took his sunglasses off and turned to face her. His eyes widened in shock, her hair. It was so short and... not Luce. But it suited her in a way, it would take some getting used to. And then he realised his mistake and narrowed his eyes, though he still couldn't shake off the feeling of suprise at her look in this life. He smiled before he could help it and automatically felt his hand raising into a wave; maybe it was the slight smile that played on her lips but Daniel had the feeling she was experiencing some major De Ja Vu. He quickly caught himself and stopped what he was doing. Time to play the bad guy. He flipped her off.

I just read the extract from the internet when she first sees him and incorporated it into the end so that part pretty much matches. R&R? :D