***Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!***

Rin sighed and reached over to silence her ever annoying alarm clock. Time for work already? Rin thought as she lazily sat up in bed. She glanced over at the clock to check that the time was right. Yep, 4 a.m. She had barely gotten any sleep last night. Lately she had been having the nightmares again. Ever since the war, every year around the same time, she had the same nightmare. But they had gotten worse lately. It was getting closer and closer for the next war…

Rin got out of bed and walked over to her dresser, grabbing her towel and hair brush. She walked in to the bathroom sleepily, trying to push any thoughts of the upcoming war out of her mind. She turned the water to as hot as she could stand it, and as she washed, she remembered his voice, his last words to her…

"Come find me when you're older…"

Rin shook her head to banish those words from her mind. She quickly turned the water to a stark cold, shocking her enough to make her think of nothing but the water. After a moment or so of willing herself to stay in the shower, she decided time was up. She turned off the shower and wrapped her towel around her as she got out of the shower. She quickly blow dried her hair and got in to her work uniform. She walked over to her full body mirror and did a double take. She looked closer at her face and saw that she had two dark rings under her eyes.

Geez, she thought. I thought I got a bit more sleep than that… She quickly walked back in to her bathroom and put on her foundation, then decided to apply some simple eye makeup. She put eyeliner on her bottom lid and applied enough mascara to make her eyelashes look a lot longer than they were. She walked back to her full body mirror and took in her appearance. She had to admit, she had grown in to a very beautiful woman. Her chest had grow at least 2 cup sizes, her legs had elongated, her face had become more detailed, and the way she carried herself showed her elegance along with a slight edge to her dangerousness. She always had at least one guy hitting on her from time to time, but her attitude towards others was basically the same. She wasn't mean per say, but she always seemed to brush people off. Not always on purpose, but she just wasn't very worried about many other people. She had stuck to her motto of doing things for herself and not counting or relying on others. She did have one work friend, but they rarely ever hung out or talked outside of work.

Her hair had also been changed. It had grown darker and thicker. It was really a pain to have to deal with it, but she loved it, and couldn't see herself with any other hair. It came down to her lower back and everyone always complimented her on how silky smooth it was. She had kept up with her work out, taking fighting classes and weapons training, but didn't seem to have much of a use for her toned body anymore.

She stood now in her black panty hose, black mid-thigh skirt and white button up shirt. She slipped on her black heels, grabbed her purse and keys, and walked towards the door.

Halfway down the hall, the realized she had forgotten her coat.

Shoot, she sighed. She set her purse and keys down on the table next to the phone, and turned back and skipped up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She got to her room and started looking around for her coat.

Where did that thing go to? She thought to herself. She knew that if she didn't hurry and find her coat and get to work that she would be late. She heard a thud sound behind her. She whipped around to see what had caused the sound and came face to face with a memory she had pushed out of her head for the past 10 years.

"You…..How….", she frantically searched her brain for something-anything to do, but she came up blank. Her blood ran cold, and before she realized what she was doing, she ran back down the stairs, grabbing her keys and purse on the way out. She hopped in her car and took off towards her job, glancing in the rearview mirror every 5 minutes to make sure he hadn't followed. She was in such a rush, she didn't realize that her whole body was shaking. She told herself it was from the cold, and not from what she had just seen. It was early October and the wind had been picking up its chill. She pulled in to the parking lot, turned off the car, and sat, gathering her thoughts.

It was just a hallucination. She told herself. Just my nerves working over time. My brain can't handle it. The war is coming up….my brain is just messing with me….

She repeated these things in her head, trying to convince herself that it wasn't real.

She took a few deep breaths and after a few minutes of calming herself down, she decided she was okay enough to go in to work. She grabbed her things and got out of the car and shut the door. She turned towards her work….and automatically froze. Her heart beat frantically in her chest, and words had once again abandoned her. She didn't know how any of this was possible. Why was this happening to her? She stared up in to his dark eyes. Nothing had changed about him. He had stayed the same. She remembered every detail of him from when she first saw him. She dropped her things as she felt a wave of dizziness come over her. Her knees buckled and she could feel herself falling. She reached out her hand to grab on to him, but it was no use. Before she hit the ground, she uttered one, breathless word…

"….Lancer…"