My eyes snapped open. I had felt the shake.

Yoru flew over to me, crying out.

"It's alright, Yoru," I said calmly to my Chara. He looked at me, his big blue cat eyes staring up at me. He was terrified.

I was about to start napping again when a second earthquake hit, lasting longer than the first and more violent. I heard a tumble from downstairs and was about to get up when the roof door swung up. There stood my mother, trying to keep her balance. The second earthquake was still shaking the earth.

Her eyes were wide with fright and as she tried to walk towards me, she instantly fell. I ran to her as best as I could, kneeling beside her, almost falling myself. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile.

"Thank goodness you're all right," she said. Her smile faded and she looked at me frantically. "We have to get downstairs, to the safe room!"

She tugged at my hand and we carefully went down the stairs, Yoru following us, towards a small room on the ground floor.

The safe room was a darkened room in the back of the house. It was the strongest room in the house and had no windows, but there was still a small ventilation system, allowing us to breath easily. Earthquakes were not uncommon in Japan, and whenever an earthquake would hit, we would all head to this room.

We sat down, leaning against the south wall as the earthquake finally ceased. I looked at her. "Where's Utau?"

"She's with Kukai," she said calmly, squeezing my hand.

"Kukai?" I thought instantly about the orange-haired boy who had been dating Utau for some time now. He was nice enough, but he was a little too energetic.

"Yes. I was talking with her when the first earthquake hit—" Suddenly a third earthquake shook the ground, my mother's eyes shut tight and she held onto me tightly. This one was even more violent.

Something dawned on me. "I need to call her."

"Utau?"

"No."

"Who do you—oh." My mother giggled, making me blush. "Go ahead."

I took out my phone that had been placed in my pocket before the whole chaos started. Another earthquake.

Pick up, pick up, be safe, be safe, I thought as the feeling of my mother's nails sank into my other arm. I knew that my mother was frightened.

Voicemail. Just great. I scowled at my phone.

"She didn't answer?" my mother asked. I didn't answer. I needed to know she was okay. I needed to call one of her friends…

"Hello?"

"Rima? It's Ikuto, is Amu there?"

"Tsukiyomi Ikuto? Why-? No, Amu's not here." I closed my eyes.

"Do you know where she is?" There was a pause on the other line. "Rima?"

"I don't… know where she is… Did you try calling her?"

"Yes. She didn't answer."

"I'm going to call her and tell her to call you…" I knew what she was thinking before she hung up. 'I'm going to call her and tell her to call you, if she answers.'

I dialed another number, and another. No sign of Amu.

I called her home phone. No answer.

"She's probably just at her house, Honey," my mom said with a small forced smile. "She could've dropped her phone or something, don't worry about it, okay?"

I didn't look at her. Tears were on the edge of falling out of my eyes. Yoru looked at me sadly.

"Ikuto…," he said softly.

There was one last number I hadn't called.

"Hello?"

"Tadase. Where's Amu?"

"Ikuto nii-san? Isn't Amu with you?"

"No! I mean… so you don't know where she is?" I knew he was starting to feel very worried, just like her other friends.

"N-no." I shut my phone, ending the call. Suddenly I heard shrieks from outside. They were faint, but with the help of Yoru's character change, I used my cat ears to help me hear better.

"FIRE!"

"HELP! HELP! FIRE'S FALLING FROM THE SKY!"

"SOMEONE SAVE ME!"

"THE SKY IS FALLING!"

There were more shrieks about fire and the sky. What…?

I stood up suddenly. My mother looked at me, surprised.

"Ikuto…?" I strained myself to look into her eyes. I knew I shouldn't leave her like this… but I had to make sure Amu was okay.

"I… I need to…" I found myself struggling with the words. She seemed to understand and pulled me gently down some so she could kiss my forehead.

"Go. I'll be all right." I wasn't sure about that, but my mind was set.

I looked at Yoru and he nodded. I then ran out of the safe room, Yoru at my side, and I jumped up to the roof. The sight was not pretty.

So many things were destroyed and then I suddenly figured out why people were shouting 'fire' and 'sky.'

Fire was raining from the sky. Real balls of flame, hurtling itself towards Earth, burning anything in it's path. My eyes were wide. Then I shook my head and with the help of Yoru, glided across rooftop to rooftop at my top speed until I reached the balcony of Amu's room. The glass was broken, along with many things in her room. I frantically looked in every room of her house, until reaching a room that was somewhat like my safe room. There, huddled in a corner was her mom, dad, and little sister. They looked up at me, surprised and I ran to them.

"Where's Amu?" I asked.

"A… boy is asking for Amu?" the dad said, wide eyed. I had the urge to slap him.

"Amu's n-not here," the mom said. At least she was decent with timing. "S-she's at her friend, Rima-chan's." I looked at her. Rima had called me soon after I had talked to her, saying she couldn't reach Amu. Was she at her house now?

"When was this?" I asked.

"He's cosplaying as a cat? Isn't that a little…?" the dad said stupidly.

"Amu called us, saying she was at Rima-chan's house a half hour ago," the mom said.

Rima had told me she couldn't reach Amu less than a half hour ago.

I ran out of the room, closing the door behind me. Where was she? God, she needed to be all right. She had to be all right.

I jumped back onto the roof and looked out over the chaos. Amu wasn't at Rima's house. She wasn't at her own house. She had to be out here somewhere.

That's when he saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around at the sight and started to run in the direction he thought he saw it.

That's when he saw, in the distance, a flying girl, shooting towards the ground to save a boy enclosed in a circle of flame. I started running in her direction, getting to her as she handed the kid to his sobbing mother. I breathed slowly and wrapped my arms around her from behind, holding her close. She was obviously surprised.

I turned her around and looked at her. Her face was sprinkled with dirt and ash. She was in her character transformation with Ran at the time, Amulet Heart. I soon saw Miki, Su, and Dia flying towards us.

"Ikuto?" her voice was dry and tears were in her eyes.

I pulled her into a strong hug. "What were you thinking? Trying to save the world? Why weren't you with your family?"

"I… I needed to help…" I heard her start to cry and I looked deep into her eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay, Princess." I kissed her gently on her lips, but broke away as a fireball shot towards us. We moved just in time. "Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"I need to get you somewhere safe…," I said. Suddenly, I heard coughing and saw her Chara and my Chara coughing histerically. The smoke was too much for their little lungs. My character change with Yoru suddenly ended and all of the Chara fell to the floor.

"Amu-chan…" I heard Dia whispered through coughs. "I can't… breathe…"

"Amu, we need to take them to a safe room. Let's go to your house it's much—" That's when I saw a fireball, a very large fireball land close to us. Too close.

Amu was tightening her grip on me and she whispered between sobs, "Ikuto… I need to be with you…"

I looked at her sadly. That's when another earthquake hit and we fell to the ground, beside our Chara. The Chara… they weren't breathing. I saw them slowly disappear and I felt Amu sob harder.

I put my arm securely around Amu. I needed to take her far from the city. That was the only way I could think of for making her safe. But… what about our family? Friends? My mother… she was all alone. Was she still… alive? No, she had to be alive.

More giant fireballs, the size of four buses merged together, were falling, along with the slightly smaller ones.

That's when I realized. The city was being engulfed in flames. I took Amu's hand and started to run with her. I needed her to be safe. At least her. While we ran, balls of flame hurtled towards the Earth. I felt her hand tremble. She was scared. I was scared.

We kept running. That's when a few more giant fire balls crashed into the Earth, and suddenly, we were encircled in flames.

"Amu!" I yelled. I held her close to me. She looked up at me, her big golden eyes full of tears. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't save her. I couldn't save her… I couldn't…

I felt a hand on my cheek and I opened my eyes to see Amu giving me a small smile.

"Don't worry, Ikuto. I love you, and that's all that matters now."

I looked down at her, tears streaming from my face. "B-but—"

"Ikuto? Are you stuttering?" she teased.

"Amu, we're going to die." How could she tease at a time like this?

She looked up at me, with hope strangely shining in her eyes. "Yes, but I love you."

"I love you too, Amu!" I leaned down quickly and we shared our final kiss. We kissed and held onto each other. I felt the heat and I know she did too, but we didn't stop kissing. We both knew that this was the end. But we loved each other. And that's all that counted.

I suddenly felt a different warmth, and I knew it was coming from her. It was the warmth of love.

That's when my life, and the rest of the world's, came to an end