The woman walked through the streets silently. She often took this route to get home. Her shift ended at nine pm, and she didn't like to drive, so she took to walking. Though she lived in Seattle, and was in a particularly dangerous neighborhood, but nothing bad had ever happened to her, so she was content. Her name was Yang Heart. She was an Asian exchange student, currently going to Seattle's new martial arts school. The new school year began in two months, it was the first of December now, and Christmas was right around the corner.

And Earlier today she had received word that the orientation day would be in a few months from now. Yang was so excited. She'd always wanted to go to America, and to follow something she had a passion for, and now she could do both. But she still had to rent an apartment until then, which meant she needed a job. So she now worked part time at an advertising agency, as a model.

It wasn't what she had in mind, but with her looks she got noticed. She was almost seventeen, she was tall, roughly five foot ten, had long raven hair, that went down her back. She had pale skin, but had certain attributes that would merit her as Asian. She was in good physical shape, and not trying to brag, but was quite top heavy. So she got a part time job as a model pretty easily. The small time company she worked for sold all sorts of dresses, from ball gowns, too simple social dresses. Yang had to admit, she did have fun trying on new dresses, but finding something in her size was sometimes a pain.

But her mind was fixed on the future. It was her dream, to one day compete for the Olympics, in Tiquando. Her dream to wear the golden medal, and stand on the podium, to hear the applause. That was her dream, and she wanted that more than anything. Yang was so focused she didn't notice a thing. Not even the two men who had been shadowing her for two blocks. And definitely didn't notice that they were both armed.

A hard blow landed on the back of Yang's head, and knocked her to the floor. Her vision went dark, and she heard slight giggles, as she felt her body being dragged. When she came around she was in a dark alley, and two men stood over her, and both batons in their hands, and had evil smiles etched on their faces. "So, what shall we do with this beauty Quin?" Number one said looking at his friend, and then back at Yang, intently. "I say we show her a good time." The boy named Quin said, a giddy edge to his voice.

Both of them held her down, and were chuckling manically. Yang tried to fight back, but it was hopeless, she was drowsy from the first hit, and the men were too strong. And they were getting a little touchy, and a gag now placed over her mouth prevented her from running. Both men were still laughing. "Hey Quin, how about we go straight to the main course." One grinned. There was a loud cough from behind the men. And both of them froze in place. And what little Yang could see of their faces were white.

Both men stood up, and turned to where the noise hade come from. There was a boy no more than sixteen or seventeen, a slight smile on his face. "Well, you two seem to be enjoying yourselves." He said. He wore all black, jeans, bike jacket, t-shirt, and sneakers. His hair was brown, his eyes an icy blue, and the guy himself, devilishly handsome. "Oh shit its him." One said, slowly edging away, but still looking ready to fight. "Look man, we don't want no trouble." Quin said, fear consuming his voice. Who the hell was this guy?

"Oh, and I'm guessing she's here willingly then?" The boy said, taking a step forward. Both men stumbled back. Yang quickly began to udo her gad, and tried to stand on her feet. "Well you see,,," one began. "It was rhetorical, dipshit." The boy sighed, now walking towards them. One decided to run. Bad move. The mysterious boy was on him in seconds, and with a powerful kick, one went head first into a brick wall. Quinn then tried to run from where the boy had come from. But Yang was pissed. Grabbing him from behind, Yang put one arm around his throat, and reinforced it with the other. And held him until he passed out.

She turned around to see the boy tying one to a nearby dumpster, and then look over at her. She had no idea who he was, but he was fast, and definitely had martial arts training. And was quite strong. The point where One's head had hit the wall, was dotted with blood, and his head had caved in slightly. "Who are you?" She said breathlessly. The boy looked a little sheepish, put on an innocent smile, and held out his hand.

"Um, hey, probably not the nicest place to meet, but my names Dante Grey." He said as nicely as he could. Yang lightly shook his hand. "Yang Heart." She said slowly. There was a silent pause, and then Yang did something that surprised even herself. She stepped forward, and gripped Dante tightly in a hug, and broke down. Her anger had left her, and she was left with only grief, and a horrible realization. Those men had,,, No she refused to think about it.

But the tears still came, and Dante, a person who she had just met, held her close, and slowly stroked her hair. "It's ok, they're going to be making a full confession when the police show." he grinned. "You already called the police?" Yang said pulling back. "Yeah, I heard those idiots from down the block, so I called the police, and came to help." He said coolly, as police sirens pierced the night. Dante immediately went in the opposite direction. "Where are you going?" Yang asked going after him. "We don't need to stick around, those two are going to confess right and proper." Dante smiled, looking reassuringly into Yang's eyes.

"And what makes you say that?" She said tapping her foot on the sidewalk. "Because I have a very specific reputation to uphold." Dante chuckled heading down the street. Yang weighed up her options, and then smiling she followed Dante into the night, he intrigued her. "Hey, Yang was it? Do you need an escort home?" Dante said as she caught up with him in the street. She tough for a moment, and then agreed. She was still feeling dizzy, and after tonight, felt really vulnerable.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Yang asked Dante, as they walked the streets towards the University bridge. "I'm studying self defence, Karate, Tiquando, and Ninjitsu, at the new martial arts academy." He replied proudly. Yang's eyes went wide. "What, no way, me too." She said stopping him. "Really? What are you studying?" Dante asked sounding excited. "Tiquando, Judo, and Ninjitsu." She said proudly.

Dante looked a little skeptical. "Then how did those idiots get the drop on you?" He said, elbowing her in the shoulder. "I was deep in thought, that's all." Yang whined. Dante just chuckled. "And what were you thinking so hard about?" He asked leaning close. Yang gently pushed him away smiling cheekily. "I was thinking of my dream, to one day go to the Olympics, and win gold in Tiquando." She said dreamily.

Dante smiled lightly "Not bad, better than my dream." Dante said slowly, as if debating on whether he should tell her. "Oh and what's that handsome." She said, brushing her shoulder against his. Dante's eyebrows rose. "Handsome, getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we." Yang blushed. "Shut up, and don't change the subject." she giggled, blushing slightly. "Ok fine." Dante sighed, stopping in the middle of the bridge.

"If you must know, my dream is too,,," He stopped short, and a light from behind Yang lit up his face, and she heard the sound of a motorbike being driven at full pelt. "Oh no, look out." Dante Yelled, pushing her out of the way, towards the road, which was thankfully deserted. Yang hit the floor hard, and heard a loud whump, and then the sound of a motorbike driving away.

Yang slowly got to her feet, and screamed. The motorbike had hit Dante, and he didn't look to be in good shape. "Dante, Dante, can you hear me?" She yelled. But there was no response. There was a large gash on his face and forehead, his chest looked misshapen, and there was blood everywhere. Quickly applying pressure to the gashes, Yang called an ambulance, and waited. "Oh god, no, come on Dante, I've just me you, and you seem like a really nice guy." She yelled, feeling around for a pulse.

When the paramedics arrives Yang refused to leave his side. Twice in one night Dante had managed to save her life, and she was going to be damned if she abandoned him. So riding in the back of the ambulance Yang went with Dante, and the various doctors and nurses, to the hospital, and went all the way until He went into surgery. Then she had to stay outside. But she didn't care, she needed to be there for him, she barely knew the guy, but she owned him so much.

After two hours of waiting Dante was finally out of surgery, and could now receive visitors. But he was heavily sedated, and they wouldn't know anything until he woke up. Yang would stay there the whole night if she had to, she stilled owed Dante her life, and if that meant that the least she could do was stay here, then that was fine by her. But then the doctors were asking her all sorts of question. What was her relationship with him? What's his name? How old is he? And does he have any close family relatives?

But of Course Yang knew absolutely nothing. But then there were police, asking her the same set of questions. And she had exactly the same answers. But they did find a phone, on Dante's person, so they had called all local numbers, and some of his close friends were on their way. Which reassured her slightly, hopefully, they could she'd some light on what happened, because the motorbike went right for him. And it would have mowed her down to had he not intervened, again. She was just hoping he was alright. Twice tonight Dante had saved her life, and now, all she could do was wait.

Literally ten minutes after the police had called his friends in, two people walked into the hospital, demanding to see Dante. "Where the hell is he?" A girl was shouting. "Mam, please,,," One of the nurses said trying to stop her. "No, we need to see our friend." Another called out. Both voices were female, and full of concern. Standing up and walking towards, them.

She was two women having a somewhat heated argument with the head nurse. "Are you two here for Dante?" She asked. Both girls turned around extremely quickly. "Yes." They both cried simultaneously. "Look they won't let me in either, but he should be up in ten, well that's what the doctor told me." Yang said, trying to appeal to the two girls. Both of whom had puzzled looks on their faces. Both of them were just under six feet tall, and both of them were seventeen. One of them was a little skinny, had brown eyes, was definitely of middle eastern decent, had long black hair tied up in a plat, and she had a dark olive skin tone. She introduced herself as Taylor.

The second was definitely of western origin, had some definite body shape, had pale skin, blue eyes, she had short brown hair that hung at her shoulders, and very pale skin. She introduced herself as Rose. The only other thing worth mentioning, was that they were Augs. Mechanically augmented human beings. A couple of years ago there was some revolutionary tech development, in prosthetics. Now when most patients lost a limb, could have it replaced with a titanium prosthetic, better than the one you were born with, and both these girls had augmented arms.

The head nurse threw her a grateful look, because the two girls were more than a little surprised. "Wait, back up, how do you know Dante?" Taylor asked, sounding curious. "Yeah, he normally keeps to himself." Rose added. Yang took a deep breath. "I didn't know him before tonight, some guys were beating on me in an alley, Dante was there to stop them." She said smiling slightly. "Then he offered to take me home, and when we were on the University bridge, a bike swerved right for us, and he pushed me out of the way, he saved my life twice." Yang said feeling guilty, she should have taken the hit not him.

Both Taylor and Rose shared a look, but said nothing. "Well, it's good to meet you in any case." Taylor grinned. "Yeah, and thanks for staying with him, most people would have already left." Rose smiled, though it looked slightly forced. Yang couldn't blame her. The discrimination pointed towards Augs was just ridiculous. Most people were afraid of Augs, even though more of them are killed by regular people.

But The Augmented brotherhood doesn't help that fact. It's a small assassin, and terrorist cell. They took out almost anyone who openly showed the dislike for the Augmented. Which seriously didn't help their case. But Yang didn't care, augmented or not, they were still human, and they were still people. But just as yang was about to explain that to them, the nurse came out with a dark look on her face.

"Are you the three girls here for Mr. Grey?" "Yes." they all chimed in. Her face darkened even more. "Well, we have a slight problem." She said slowly, eyeing Taylors, and Roses titanium forearms. "What kind of problem?" Taylor asked, fear shredding itself into her voice. "Well, physically we've mostly patched him up, but there's now something mentally wrong with him." The nurse replied slowly.

"What is it?" Rose replied, slowly, a tear in the corner of her eye. "Dante has retrograde amnesia." The nurse said finally. All three girls gasped. "Wait so, he won't remember anything?" Taylor burst out. The nurse was looking extra frightened now. "No, he can remember how to talk, write, and use his muscle memory's, but names, faces, places, and other bits and pieces he won't." She explained.

"Can we see him?" Rose said eventually. "Yeah, maybe he'll remember one of us." Taylor said, not sounding very enthusiastic. "Hmm, ok, but only a few minutes, and then you have to leave, he's in a very fragile state." The nurse said slowly opening the door. "Dante, your friends are here to see you." "Friends?" A weak voice asked from inside the room. "Yeah Dante, its Taylor, and Rose." Yang said pointing to the two girls.

Dante momentarily was drawn to their arms, and Yang noticed Dante was an Aug too. But his arms were black, not silver. It sure as hell explained how strong he was. "Um sorry, you two don't seem familiar." He said sadly. Both Taylor and Rose looked hurt. "Wait seriously, you don't remember Greece? Italy? Australia? England?" They said, desperately not wanting it to be true.

He then turned his head too Yang. "But you seem slightly familiar, have we met before, because I know I recognize you from somewhere." Dante said, looking as if he was trying very hard to remember something. Yang was stunned. "Wait your sure?" Yang said, a little louder than she meant to. She was just as surprised as Taylor, and Rose. "Yeah, I know I've seen you face somewhere, and the name Yang feels familiar." He said calmly. Yang began to choke up, but controlled herself.

"Dante, I only just met you this evening Dante, how can you remember me, but not your friends?" Yang said, incredulous. "Hey, I don't know, I'm just telling you what I remember." He said sheepishly. The nurse then hurried the outside, and told them to come back in the morning. But there were still so many unanswered questions. But no one said anything, not until they made it to the car park.

"Hey Yang, you need a lift home?" Rose said. Yang wasn't sure, if she should, she'd probably caused the two of them enough grief for one night. But she had no way of getting home, so she accepted. And on their way back, Rose, and Taylor told her all about Dante, everything they knew, and a little bit about themselves. And Yang tried to match it with telling them about herself, but there wasn't much in comparison.

Once she was dropped off, both girls waved goodbye, and said they would see her tomorrow. And when she asked why, the answer was simple. "Yang, you are the only person he remembers, you could be the key to getting our friend back." "And hopefully we can all get along too." Taylor added the last part.

Once Yang was back in her apartment, having to pay her land lord, before going inside, and then taking a deep sigh, made herself a microwave dinner, and then slowly went off to bed. Replaying the event of the day, over and over inside her head. A lot had happened in the last couple of hours, and she couldn't help but feel responsible for what happened. And doing a small sign of the cross over her chest, she vowed, she would do whatever it took to help Dante remember his past.