The blows rained down on her like bony hailstones, each punch seeming to penetrate deeper and deeper into her fragile bones. The heavy weight of night was all around, suffocating her with its thick blanket of darkness and the disorienting shadows that danced in front of her eyes, refusing to come into focus. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the sounds of a whimpering animal, its voice sounding weak and broken amidst the thick smacks of fist against bone that echoed off of the high brick wall behind her.

She was lost. Lost, and horribly confused. One minute she was walking alone, feeling happier than she had been in a long time and perfectly at ease and the next… well. The next she was lying on the dirty asphalt with a warm trickle of blood dripping down her face as she got the crap kicked out of her by an invisible, angry body.

"Please," she called out to the darkness, astonished as the crying animal in the distance melded into her own pathetic voice. "Oh God, please… please stop!"

She grunted in pain as a foot connected with her rib cage, instinctively curling into a ball and squeezing her eyes shut at the muffled thud. "Shut up bitch!" A voice responded, the words hot and dripping with obvious disdain floated through her dazed state. Another blow, another hateful kick aimed at her legs, her arms, the soft skin of her stomach. No part of her was safe from the torrent of his violence. In the far corners of her mind, a small voice encouraged her to get up and fight back. It told her to scream, to run, to kick and bite her way to a clear path out of this godforsaken alleyway. She was vaguely aware of her attacker's breathing, heavy and thick, the smell of alcohol pungent on the clouds that washed over her, and she knew he was getting tired.

Feeling the effort behind the kicks begin to diminish, she tried to get up, forcing her body into a crawl. Tiny pebbles dug themselves into her exposed palms and knees, piercing her skin with their sharp, rough edges. The pricks of pain did not stop her, however, and she pushed on, willing herself to find those inner reserves of strength she hadn't had to pull out since her father died and run away. Before she had crawled five feet, she felt those menacing hands grab her shirt, digging their cruel fingers into the soft material and yanking her backwards sending her sprawling on her back.

The breath left her lungs, making a yelp impossible as the impact of her back on the pavement occurred. Maybe it was the after effects of the rough fall, or the combined power of shock and fear, but for a moment all she could see was his face. His beautiful, passionate, sarcastic-smiling face filled her thoughts, and the urge to have him in front of her was overwhelming. What if she never saw him again? What if… what if this image of him in her mind was all she was allowed from now until forever?

"No, no, no," she began to moan, the pain of loss taking precedence over the numerous aches in her body. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the images to disappear. She could hear her attacker's heavy footsteps circle her limp body, scuffing and scraping. A cold, chilling laugh left his mouth then, clearly enjoying the fact that her sudden misery was because of his taunting aggression and she shivered, and the spasm sent shocks of sharp pain up and down her bruised back.

He continued to laugh, his drunkenness causing this completely unfunny situation to seem positively hilarious. As he laughed, the paralyzing fear that had taken up residence inside of her melted away and was replaced by a simmering anger. Maybe she couldn't run away, but she could still scream. She would escape this hell and she would see him again. She would hold him and love him and kiss him again… this wasn't the end.

With this new found determination, she began to scream again, with more energy and power behind her pleas for help than before now that the shock and surprise had worn off. For a moment the chilly guffaws halted and she opened her eyes praying to see the menacing shadow had disappeared, retreating in surrender. Suddenly, she felt fingers grasp her jacket however, and she gasped as her body, which felt so much heavier than normal, was lifted off the ground and pushed roughly up against the building behind her.

Breathing hard in both fear and surprise, she couldn't help the fresh tears that poured out of her already puffy eyes. "Please," she whimpered again. "Just let me go." This close, she could discern certain features from the man's face… a nose, the outline of his lips, an ear. These human features seemed so wrong, like they shouldn't exist on something so obviously un-human. But when he opened his mouth to speak, the voice that reached her own ears was indeed real.

"I should kill you," the slurred voice spat. "I should kill you and let you rot here like the worthless piece of garbage you are."

At that moment, she would have gladly welcomed death if it had meant this terrible, horrifying experience would just end. Whoever this person was clearly wasn't ready to let her go, and there was no point in arguing or screaming for more help. She had been doing just that for the past ten minutes… no one could hear her. She opened her mouth, pleas for him to just end it already poised on her tongue when the sounds of feet pounding on pavement came from the far off darkness.

"Courtney!" A familiar voice screamed.

She was distantly aware of being thrown to the ground, vaguely cognizant of the fact that no new blows or kicks connected with her body. With her cheek pressed against the cement, she closed her eyes in relief and listened as one set of footsteps retreated and another approached her quickly. It's over, she thought. He's gone… I'm safe.

She flinched in spite of herself as a familiar body collapsed beside her and warm, gentle hands placed themselves on her upper arms turning her over. Courtney opened her bleary eyes and struggled to focus on the face of her savior. She focused on one characteristic at a time, too overwhelmed to break through the darkness and put a face together all at once. But the dark hair, the long bangs, the strong arms that had wrapped themselves around her shaking frame… it could only be…

"Nikko?" Courtney whispered. Her voice felt raw from screaming, her throat one more part of her body that felt like it had been beaten to the pulp.

"I'm here, Court," Nikko's warm voice answered hurriedly. His voice, so clear and gentle in comparison to the slurred stink of the shadowy attacker's was a welcome change, and at the sound of his reassuring words Courtney felt a new wave of tears spill over her cheeks. As she began to cry, she instinctively tried to push herself closer to Nikko, turning her face into his chest and clutching blindly at his jacket.

"Shhh," he said as he lifted a hand to stroke her hair. "It's alright baby… I'm here. Help's coming." She felt the relief of those two words soak into her chest, knowing that this nightmare was over and that people were truly coming to help her. The relief she felt was undeniably overwhelming, and she continued to cry as Nikko rocked her gently back and forth softly speaking words of reassurance into her ear. It was strange, but despite everything that had just happened, and although the shock had not even begun to wear off, lying there on the dirty pavement wrapped in Nikko's warm arms, her fear evaporated into the dark abyss above her. She was safe. She was going to be fine…