One Last Time

If anyone should have seen this coming, it should have been Robbie Shapiro. After all, he was the one who did studies on this sort of stuff for fun. If he had predicted it earlier, or maybe seen it coming he could have helped. So many citizens' lives were gone now, and he knew it wouldn't stop there. The curly haired teenager glanced at his friend who sat beside him as she starred outside window of his car in amazement and terror.

He didn't want to worry her by telling her what was about to happen. Cat Valentine had so much promise for the world. She had so much hope, so much wonder for the future; the redhead was convinced that everything could be fixed. Every bad guy could turn good, every tragic situation bringing something new just around the corner. That was one of the things Robbie loved about Cat, her positivity. But he knew no matter which way she tried to spin things, in the end she would be anything but content.

To be honest, Robbie completely forgot why they were both in the car together at that exact moment in time. They had been driving for so long, hours throughout the night with barley any words leaving their mouths. In a way, Robbie knew that Cat already understood what was going on. He's never heard his friend so quiet in all the years that he's known her. He wanted to reach over and hold her hand, but then she'd say something and he wasn't ready to hear her voice.

The last thing he remembers before the car ride is hearing the news while he was cooped up by himself in his room. He figured his parents hadn't heard the news yet seeing as how easily they let him leave the house (except he left them with a tight hug and a chorus of I-love-you's as his mother asked him if something was bothering him). Then with a video camera in hand, he drove over to Cat's house and she just got in the car. He asked her if she wanted to go for a ride and she just gave him a weak smile and nodded.

A strangely familiar cracking sound from the radio chimed in finally bringing Cat's attention away from the window. He starred at her for a while, but Cat's eyes were glued to the radio, ears strained to hear every last word of the reporter.

The feedback was poor as it kept switching between stations, but Cat didn't even waver. She and Robbie both listened closely as if anything they said would prevent the apocalypse.

"Earth is on a collision course with the comets tail–universal collision course–ten thousand mile wide electrical storm–electrical disturbances will be catastrophic–"

In an instant the radio switched off unexpectedly. It was probably not only because of the electrical storm but because of Robbie's crappy car. Although, he was glad it turned off as he noticed the look on Cat's face. To his surprise, it wasn't fear but curiosity and that was always worse in Cat's case.

Maybe he could take her mind off things. The video camera Robbie brought was to capture the petrifying occurrences outside, but is anything could distract Cat it was shiny objects. His sleek, shiny, silver camera was a gift from Christmas and he had been meaning to show it to her. Although her amusement wasn't his main concern at the moment he didn't want her to break down in sobs once she realized they were all going to die.

Robbie turned it on and aimed the camera at her maybe to get her to giggle, but she didn't even pay attention to it. She looked outside, almost fascinated and intrigued by what was going on. Robbie quickly understood what she wanted to do but it would be a dog's day in hell if he let her step one foot out of the car.

"I can't see anything," she spoke and there wasn't an ounce of fear in her voice. It was more like confusion, like maybe it wasn't as bad as everyone was saying it was. Robbie noticed the hint of hope in her voice.

"Do not get out of the car," Robbie said warningly, but she wasn't even looking at him.

"So what you're just going to stay there?" her voice was softer that time which lead him to believe she was tuning him out and absentmindedly speaking about one of the many people in front of them. They were stuck in traffic, God knows where and people were flailing about carelessly.

Finally when she looked away, she noticed the camera and seemed to get annoyed. "Put the camera down," she ordered smacking down the camera with her hand. But for whatever reason Robbie continued to film which made Cat do it again. "Ugh, Robbie!"

Once again she continued to look from outside of the car to at Robbie. Now he was beginning to hear her panicked tone and she asked him over and over again to stop recording. "Robbie, stop it!"

"Don't get out of the car." Robbie repeated. He made it sound like a deal that if she didn't get out of the car, he would put the camera away. But Cat just looked at him doubtfully, almost tauntingly. And he knew she was going to do it. "Cat, don't get out of the car!"

He reached for her as she opened the passenger seat but just missed her. "Cat, don't! Cat, wait! Cat!"

Seeing as he had no choice, Robbie got out of the car and followed Cat outside. She was standing just in front of the car gazing up at the sky. His camera followed as he glanced at the abnormal purple and grey sky with a bold pink line straight across. The clouds were swirling that it almost looked like a tornado was about to form but before he could study it some more he noticed Cat taking off.

Robbie followed as she passed through multiple vehicles and screaming police officers ordering people to stay calm. They reached a crowd of people who seemed to be in a heated argument over something pushing and yelling. Cat mixed herself with the crowd trying to pull through and Robbie hastily tried to catch up to her.

Suddenly something erupted above them, a comet Robbie assumed. For a split second he took his attention off of Cat and looked at the sky in amazement as the comet soared by. If it wasn't going to kill them, Robbie just might have been a little more interested. As it multiplied into four smaller comets he focused his attention back on Cat who had successfully made it to the other side of the crowd.

It was no use trying to get through the crowd so Robbie was forced to take another route around an ambulance car. Not so much around as going inside which he instantly regretted seeing another man's cold lifeless body laying out on a stretcher. He squeaked in fear before quickening his pace. He was almost stopped by a paramedic. But remembering Cat, he pushed through him mumbling out a sorry as he ran through.

He prayed she hadn't gone too far and that she hadn't gotten hurt. He didn't know what he'd do if something happened to her and he wasn't able to be there to protect her.

Robbie saw Cat in the distance and ran up to meet with her passing by two policemen inside a building wrestling a man with a shotgun to the ground. He almost stopped to look but then someone pulled the trigger with the bullet shattering the window and Robbie left immediately.

Cat was on the other side of a gate already. Seeing Robbie she pushed the gate open so he could walk through before running through heavy smoke. The smoke snaked its way into Robbie's lungs making him start coughing but he couldn't risk losing Cat like he almost did seconds before.

The smoke cleared after a couple seconds just as Cat began running up some stairs. He didn't know where they lead to, but Cat seemed to have an idea where she was going. Not even midway up the steps she stopped and looked helplessly at a firefighter trying to save a blonde woman's life who was laying lifelessly on the ground.

Robbie wished Cat hadn't seen that. It was bad enough he had seen the dead man in the ambulance but he knew it would affect Cat more than it would affect him. She hated the idea of death and of dying, but Robbie knew she had the common sense to know that the apocalypse meant there would be very few survivors. Only the lucky ones would be able to survive.

That's when Robbie understood. Cat did try to stay positive through everything. She probably thought they were going to be the lucky ones.

She continued to rush up the stairs, Robbie quickly running up after her; no time for a second thought. Then the frantic teenage girl stopped at the top of the stairs and pointed to the sky. Robbie aimed his camera upwards and then took a look for himself. There was another eruption of a comet once more forming four new, smaller comets.

Cat was already on the run again when he looked back at her. She walked into what seemed like a staff room of sorts with a fridge and toaster for people to eat. There was also a long couch pushed up against the wall where a terrified looking family sat. Robbie's heart broke at the sight at the four of them.

A father, a mother and two tiny children sat huddled together. He met eyes with the father who looked vaguely familiar, but Robbie didn't have time to place who he was. He mouthed, "Stay safe." to him before beginning to leave with Cat.

Just as Cat made her way towards the end of the room to exit, Robbie noticed the silent burst through the window of the door and grabbed her shoulder to yank her back. The two fell to the floor, but caught themselves so that there were no significant injuries. The pair got up and straightened out their clothing trying to compose themselves. He didn't have the heart to look back at the family and went into the next room with Cat.

Inside was a mixture of colours and flames. Small sparks from every corner, Robbie and Cat just looked at it in awe. It did look pretty but it was clearly extremely dangerous. The flames began to grow getting Robbie panicked. He rushed his friend out to the nearest exit careful not to step on anything that could set something off.

Cat seemed to find her way into a computer lab with big screens at every corner. Robbie was the only one who noticed the big scary man in the corner typing away at the computer. "Cat, let's go!" he ordered trying his best to whisper so the man didn't see them. "We need to find shelter!"

No surprise that Cat didn't even bother to listen to him. Her eyes were glued to the screen which had a perfect view of their planet Earth. On one side of the earth was space, normal and in contact. The other side was bright purple and while it looked much less dull than the other side even Cat knew what was wrong with the picture.

"Cat," Robbie whispered, "let's go."

This time she listened. Slowly, she backed up away from the monitors. As she did so the man noticed her and launched himself at her beginning to attack. Robbie was about to jump in, but Cat looked like she had it handled. For such a little girl he was surprised that she was easily able to push him off of her with a shove and kick.

Even after being beaten by Cat, that didn't stop the old man from trying to attack Robbie. With his own free hand that wasn't holding the camera Robbie tried his best to push the man off. His long beard and dead grey hair showed that the angry man was pretty old and he wasn't that difficult to fight off. For such a scrawny kid like Robbie, that was saying a lot.

Giving him one more successful shove, the old man fell back and stumbled over a box. It looked like he was getting up, ready to chase after him. Robbie noticed the screens changing channels. In big, bold, red letters, it read: "Emergency Alert System: 01 13"

It was counting down. Counting down to what? Had this man been secretly tracking down the comet that was going to hit Earth? Frightened Robbie and Cat escaped the man's secret lair before he could catch up to them. They ran through dark hallways before finding a faint source of light behind one open door.

The two terrified teenagers unhurriedly walked through other halls now being able to see where they were going. Robbie saw the strings on Cat's grey sweater light up in a purple colour and sighed. It couldn't have been a more inappropriate time for her to do so, but he remembered that apocalypse or not this was still Cat. The lights on her sweater made her feel safe and for that he smiled. This was still his Cat not one that had been taken when she realized the world was ending.

Snapped out of his thoughts, the lights began to flicker and another scared man hurriedly rushed past him. He saw a firefighter directing him where to go in a rushed tone. Behind the firefighter was three other coworkers of his trying hold up an older man who looked like he was about to pass out at any given second.

Robbie's heart ached. That poor man was so scared and hopeless. He wasn't with any family or maybe he had lost them in all the chaos. Not to mention the firefighters who were risking their life for strangers of their community away from all their family as well who they could very well never see again.

Not spending another moment thinking of the tragedy, Robbie followed Cat who now seemed to break her silence. Her voice was uneven and she was out of breath. Every word she said her voice cracked and he could see she was trying her best not to break down.

"Robbie, we have to go!" Cat cried. "Come on, follow me, follow me–"

She was about to go up the stairs, when Robbie felt two rough hands yank at his shoulders. He once again came face to face with the long bearded man who tried to attack them earlier. Robbie was already panicked enough and now this guy just seemed angrier than he was before. He shook him back and forth before Robbie was able to focus enough to forcefully push him backwards.

The man staggered back and slammed into a bookcase. The bookcase collapsed on top of him books and all but suddenly remembering the countdown on his screen, Robbie didn't have any time to waste. Cat was at the top of the steps watching as he followed her up. His surroundings seemed familiar to him but before he could ask Cat where they were she went through a door at the top of the staircase.

They were on a rooftop. Cat slowly crept towards the edge her hand over her mouth. Robbie frowned not taking his eyes off of her. This was it.

When she turned around and noticed the camera still being held tightly in his hand she looked up at him and pouted. He could see the tears in her eyes. She looked broken. He looked at her sympathetically but she just shook her head. "No, Robbie, no." She covered the camera lens with her sleeve before taking it from Robbie and setting it on the ground.

"Come see this," she told him, yanking him towards the edge of the rooftop with her. He tried to protest seeing as being on top of a roof wasn't the safest place to stay safe, but the pleading look in Cat's eyes made him stop. He let her drag him along.

Finally he did see it. It was the sky, more dangerous looking than before. There was mixture of purple, pink and grey with lightning bolts going off in all directions. Small comets soared through the air and just got progressively worse as time flew by. The world was ending. No matter where they hid or where they went, they wouldn't survive. And Cat understood that before he did.

"Oh, Cat," Robbie sighed.

He didn't even realize she had been holding his hand until she had touched his face. Now all he could feel was her touch, her safe, warm touch. She brought his face to hers and looked at him sincerely before she wrapped her arms around his neck. Following suit, he wrapped his own around her waist and starred off into the sky.

"We're on the rooftop of Hollywood Arts," Robbie spoke. That's how he recognized the father in the staff room; he was one of the teachers there. Cat knew this place better than anyone which was why it was so easy for her to walk through and know where she was going. While the school was unrecognizable at this point he was marvelled at how well Cat knew where to go. She went to rooms Robbie didn't even know existed.

Cat let out a dreamily sigh not taking her eyes off the sky. "I know."

She brought his face to hers and leaned her forehead against Robbie's. For a while they just stayed in each other's embrace before Cat spoke softly. "I love you."

Robbie's heart fluttered hearing Cat speak those words to him. Throughout their relationship the two of them had both been scared to admit their feelings for one another but now was as good enough a time as any. After all it was probably their last time together ever. "I love you, too."

And as that big comet soared through the sky neither of them looked away from each other for a moment. It was just milliseconds before the comet ended Earth that Robbie realized that he and Cat were the lucky ones.

Author's Note: Okay, I really hoped you guys like this because I personally love it. The 'One Last Time' music video that premiered last night was absolute perfection especially the fact that Matt Bennett played Ariana's love interest. The music video was amazing, they were amazing, and I just had to make a fanfiction. Now, CabbieBade also made a fanfiction with the same title based on the music video but hers is much different than mine. It's also fantastic, so definitely check that story out too! Thanks for reading(: