She was lying on a stiff cot. Her back was sore and she felt nothing but exhaustion and anxiety. She was tired. It was all she had been for weeks. They would be on Luna soon, and it was the only thing she could think about. Well–that, and the hand that was clasping hers. It was warm and big and its thumb was stroking the back of hers. She let out a groan, not ready for the day to begin. She had had a beautiful dream. In the dream, she was with him and they were happy and safe and in love. They were happy now, but they were not safe, and perhaps he was not in love with her yet.

Someone gave her hand a light squeeze.

"Morning," said a voice.

Everything was blurry when she finally pried her eyelids open, and she couldn't make out details, but she knew who was in front of her, who was speaking–or she should have. Faces and names weren't coming to mind, but it didn't matter. Warmth surrounded her heart and she smiled. A sense of elation filled her–they were finally together. She was still in shock, though it'd been a few days at this point. "Morning."

He planted his lips on hers briefly and she reached up to touch his face with her free hand, stubble scratching her fingers.

"How did you sleep?"

"Terribly."

A laugh. "Me too. Wasn't so bad with you here, though."

She blinked a few times, trying to make out the vision of who was in front of her. The image didn't sharpen. She noticed that he was smiling–a glint of white cutting through the blur of flesh–whoever he was. And perhaps he was handsome, too. Something in her heart was promising that he was, and that she loved him.

Slowly, he started to come into focus.

But then the image crumbled.

Everything was dark. And she felt utterly hollow.

She inhaled sharply as her eyes opened, as if she hadn't been breathing while asleep.

But she instantly regretted it, because the fluorescent lights above her were blinding and her head was pounding. As if she hadn't seen light in days. She cringed a bit, instinctually shutting one of her eyes to help them adjust.

The last thing she remembered was being on the satellite, though that felt as though it was so long ago. Was she still 15? Where was Mistress Sybil, and why was she in a hospital bed? Had there been an accident? Was she on Earth?

She squeezed her eyes shut, tried to think of why she was here. Everything was unfamiliar. Wrong. So, so wrong.

"Cress?"

An unfamiliar voice. Not Little Cress, not Mistress Sybil.

Male. She didn't know any men….

Unfamiliar, but she felt like she should know it. Something was pricking at the back of her mind, but the memory slipped away just as she reached out for it.

Unsure, Cress called up a tactic she knew well. "I am a soap opera star," she muttered to herself, just quiet enough so he couldn't hear. "This is my starring role. I have to get all the lines right."

She risked a glance at him.

His face lit up. Maybe he would be handsome if he didn't look so dirty and as though he hadn't seen a razor or pair of scissors in two months.

She began to be aware of her body, of how strange it felt. Her head felt light and she wasn't wrapped in hair. Tentatively, she lifted a hand. She still had hair, yes, but it was… short.

"Where am I?" It was the only question that came to mind–well, just before she wondered who the man was sitting in front of her. How did he know who she was? Did he rescue her from the satellite? Was he a long-lost brother? Then, where were her parents and why couldn't she remember anything?

He took her hand and she jumped a bit. "You hit your head pretty bad when that thaumaturge attacked you, but I got him, don't worry. You're in the medical wing of the palace in the Eastern Commonwealth."

"Eastern Commonwealth? On Earth?!"

"Well, yeah."

She blinked, surprised, but she had plenty of questions still to ask.

"Thaumaturge? You mean Mistress Sybil?"

His brow creased. "Sybil's been dead, Cress. You were so brave when you stood up to her. Don't you remember?"

Panic started to set in. What'd happened to Mistress Sybil? She'd stood up to her? Cress would never! She would never disobey Mistress Sybil like that! "What's going on?"

"Cress?"

"Who are you?" Her panic was coming through, her heart palpitating. The heart monitor over her bed was beeping rapidly. Everything was too loud and too close and she felt like she was being suffocated.

The man stood and clasped a bandaged hand over his mouth. He said nothing as he backed away and called out for someone.

A tall, tan girl came in next. She had a metal hand and her pant legs were rolled up, revealing one human and one synthetic leg and metal foot.

He said something to her before leaving the room, looking as though he could no longer stand to be there.

The girl regarded her. "Hey, Cress," she said, smiling. "How do you feel?"

Maybe she was a doctor, but she didn't look like one. "Confused. Who was that?"

"A friend. Thorne," she replied. "Captain Thorne? Carswell Thorne? Is that ringing a bell?"

Cress shook her head. "Who are you?"

"Cinder." The girl walked to her bedside and the heart monitor began to calm a bit. "Do you remember anything?"

"No."

"How old are you?"

"I… I think I'm 15, but I feel like that's wrong."

Cinder grimaced. "You've been sixteen for a few months now." She sighed. "Memory loss," she said. "That's not good."

"What have I missed?"

Cinder smiled. "Later. I don't want to overwhelm you."

Cress looked away. "So, a lot, then."

"You were great, Cress. I'm glad you're okay, even if you can't remember anything. I hope you get your memory back, because we'll never be able to do justice how great you were."

"I was?" She stared down at her hands, calculating. Was this some sort of dream?

The very fact that she wasn't in a satellite and that she seemed to have… friends… was strange. Horrifying, almost. It couldn't be real.

She looked at the now-empty chair that was next to her bed. She wondered how long the man had sat there. What did Cinder call him? Thorne? "Who is he?" she asked, still staring at the seat.

Cinder shrugged. "Not who he used to be," she muttered. "But that's a good thing. You'll figure out everything soon enough."

"Who is he?" she asked again, frustrated. "Stop treating me like a child."

The cyborg winced. "You guys were a thing."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you weren't official, but you were pretty into each other."

Her heart sank. "We were… dating?"

Cinder reached out and took her hand. "Yeah. It's going to be pretty tough for him knowing you don't remember how you felt about him."

Tears pricked her eyes. She felt like a disappointment, which was almost nice, in a sick way because it was such a familiar emotion. She felt a lot of things, none of them good. She wished she could remember him, it would make everything so much easier. "Oh."

"Don't blame yourself for this, Cress."

"This is so horrible." A tear fell. Then, she shook it away. "But I don't get it. In all the net dramas, whenever someone has memory loss, their partner just kisses them and it makes them remember everything! Clearly we weren't that serious if he just left instead of trying to fix it!"

Cinder studied her. "You'll find that real life is much more disappointing, Cress."

"How long has it been?" she asked now. Her mind was swimming with questions and it was so hard to focus on just one.

All she'd known her entire life was that satellite. What had caused everything to change? She was on Earth. She seemed to have friends, and no memory of how she got them.

"You've been out for a few days," Cinder replied. "Medical-induced coma."

"We knew you'd come out of it though," said an older voice. A white lab coat. A doctor. "How are you feeling, Crescent?"

Cress sighed. How many times would someone ask her that before giving her any answers? "Confused!"

"Memory loss," Cinder muttered to him. "She can't remember anything. She thinks she should still be on the satellite."

The lines in the old doctor's face creased. He held his portscreen up and typed in a few things. "Retrograde Amnesia. Common with severe head injuries."

The cyborg seemed to lose focus for a moment, just before she shoved her hand in her hair. "There's a slim chance she'll regain her memories."

"Correct. Triggering memory retrieval is not something we've managed to pin down. The brain is a fascinating specimen. Humans have been around for thousands of years and we still have not figured it out yet." He frowned. "As you've said, there's a good chance Cress may never recover her memories, and there's not really something to act as a catalyst for triggering the memories."

Cress dropped her head. Nothing at all like the net dramas. "It's okay," she said. "I'm used to not having any friends or family."

"Cress, no. We're still your friends. It'll just take some time to rebuild what we had." Cinder gingerly patted Cress's hand, the one with an IV sticking out of it. "You're not alone. Not like you were on the satellite."

Tears clouded her vision. "When can I leave the hospital?"

Cinder cleared her throat. "You're not really in a hospital. We're in the palace."

"On Earth," Cress felt the need to add.

"A hospital setting nonetheless," the doctor said. He smiled at her. "Not right now. A few more days to make sure the swelling in your brain is completely down and that there's no trauma we haven't overlooked. After that, you're free."

Cress's eyes traveled to the ceiling. A few days, that's all she had to get through. It would be overwhelming, she knew, but then, like the doctor said, she would be free.

Author's Note: Chapter 1! I'm hoping to update this weekly like I did TWP, but as I've only just started working on chapter 3, I'm not too sure. I'll have more time to write in the upcoming weeks, so maaaaaaybe I can get a little ahead. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And please, please, please review! Reviews make my day.