Tai woke up slowly that morning. He rolled to his left in the bed and looked at the sleeping form in the duplicate bed next to his own. She looked so quiet and peaceful, how could anything bad happen to anyone like that?

"Sora, come on. Wake up," Tai said. She rolled over away from him.

"Sleep," she said, partially mumbling. Tai sat up and threw his pillow strait at her. "Ah! Tai!" She stood in bed grabbing the pillow and cleared the distance between the two beds in one jump, and hit Tai hard with it in the head.

"Not a morning person, are we?" Tai asked from the floor beside the bed. Sora twisted around and went to sleep in Tai's bed where she fell, leaving him on the floor with a headache.

* * *

An hour later the two stood on the street looking a map up and down, while trying not to look like tourists. "There they are, and there we are," Tai said. "But I have no idea how to get from here to there."

"So just ask someone," Sora said, disgusted.

"No it's alright, we just follow this street here and in a few blocks the World Trade Centre should be right in front of us."

"Why do we have to go there first?" Sora asked.

"My uncle said if we wanted to see his office and try a few of the games his company is making we should be there early," Tai said.

"What ever," Sora said.

* * *

They entered one of the magnificent twin towers and proceeded to take the elevators to the observation deck at the top. It was beautiful this early in the morning. They sky was clear, the air was fresh, and the sun was shining; a perfect day all around, no reason for anything to happen. Sora was awe-struck at the sight and how far they could see. "See?" Tai asked. "Take a year break between high school and college to see the world. Not many tourists this time of year." Sora smiled at him.

"You're right. This is beautiful up here. I can feel my lungs clearing the air is so fresh," she said.

"Fresh air in New York, that just may be an oxymoron." Sora smiled again and turned to him.

"So let's see some of these games your uncle's company is making. He's in this building isn't he?" She asked.

"Yeah." They started walking back towards the elevator. "What's that?" Tai asked. Sora heard it too. It sounded like a plane's jet engines, but it was too loud and the engines seemed stressed. They both turned and saw a huge jet plane flying over the city too low. "Oh my god!" Tai said. "Is it crashing?"

"I don't know," she said. They ran back to the edge and followed it with their eyes as the plane seemed to speed up as it got closer. Suddenly it banked and smashed into the other tower. Sora's hand went to her mouth and Tai just went pale. A huge billow of black smoke and orange flame curled up to the sky.

"All those people," Tai said.

"We've got to get out of here." Sora said.

"Why?" Tai asked. "It hit the other building."

"I just have a bad feeling," she said. They both backed away slowly and took the elevator. Everyone else was still watching the sight rooted in place. They descended to the right floor and easily found the door Tai was looking for. They went in and found the office empty because not everyone had come to work yet. A tall brown-hared man came around the corner of some cubicles.

"Did you kids see what happened?" He asked.

"Yeah," Tai said. "We were on the roof."

"Are you two alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Sora said. "But I really think we need to get out of here." He looked back and forth between them for a second then replied.

"I think you're right, something doesn't feel right," he said. "I just need to get my briefcase." He walked back around the corner to collect his things as Tai and Sora looked around a bit. Tai could see that this office was on a corner of the huge building. It had a view almost as good as on the roof but not quiet. Tai was starring out it and blinked.

"Sora," Tai sad.

"Yes?" She looked at him and he was white, she followed his gaze out the window and saw another plane coming at them in this building. It all seemed to move in slow motion. Sora felt Tai grab her shoulders and throw her toward the door they came in, his own body soon following. The sound of the plane ripping the building apart was horrible. The blast of flame from the fuel tank blew the office's thick wooden door off its hinges and caused it to hit them. Every bone in her body hurt from the impact, but when they moved the door they saw that the flames at burned everything except them. She tried to stand as it hurt. Tai was already on his feet trying to dodge the flames to get back into the office.

"I've got to get him!" Tai yelled preparing to jump. Sora grabbed his arm.

"He's not there," she said.

"He has to be, he was right behind us!" Tai yelled.

"Tai come on! We have to get out of here!" Sora tugged him twice and he reluctantly came. They limped down the burned hallway to the stairwell. It was already jammed with people trying to escape the disaster. The going was very slow with all the confused people pushing and shoving to get down the stairs. After forty floors Tai grabbed the door for that level as someone else came through it.

"Come on," he said. They found themselves in a deserted floor. Papers and things were everywhere, evidence off a massive evacuation. The building's fire alarm still blared but they stayed anyway. "We have to get that leg of yours fixed up." Sora looked down and noticed for the first time the cut on her leg, probably earned in the original blast.

"I'm fine," she said.

"No you're not. I'm going to find a first-aide kit. Just sit there." He left her in the waiting room of some law firm holding her hand over the cut. He returned a few minutes later with just suck a kit.

"Shouldn't we get out of here Tai?" She asked.

"It's just a fire, we'll be fine this far away," he said trying to reassure her. "There, good as new." She examined the bandage and tested its strength.

"Feels OK. But I still want to get out of here." She said.

"We will, we'll wait for firemen to start searching and we can get out when the stairs are clear. I don't want to be stuck in there." Sora looked doubtful.

"OK. We'll wait." She said. They held there for a while, neither saying much just thinking about what happened. She said a tear on Tai's face for the lost member of his family, but he was avoiding grieving until the crisis was over. Sora made a move to sit closer to him when she heard a horrible crunching sound and felt the building shuddering. "Tai?" She asked her breath shortening. Tai held her.

"I don't know." He said also scared. He held her tight at they saw the room around them disintegrate and the floor fall away.

* * *

Tai tried to move but his head hurt. All his muscles felt stiff and he had no idea where he was or what was happening. He thought he heard voices but the sound was muted. He saw something in front of him move and coloured lights hit his eyes. He couldn't see or hear what was going on as it was all a jumble of sound and light. He felt himself being lifted but it was all so far away. Like he was watching someone else being lifted. He felt the soft cushion of a stretcher even though he didn't know what it was. By now his vision was clearing and his mind was returning as he saw two paramedics leaning over him in an ambulance.

"He'll be fine," one said. "Just a few cuts and a broken arm."

"Sora?" Tai asked slowly. The other person spoke.

"Was that the girl he was with?"

"Yeah it was. She's dead but we can't tell him that until he's in little better shape."

* * *

Tai was sitting in a hospital bed with his left arm in a plaster cast inside a sling. None of his family was able to get to him but it didn't matter. Tai couldn't hear anything anyone said anyway after they told him Sora was killed. A nurse came in carrying a tray of food for him.

"I told her we wound be fine," he said with tears falling. The nurse didn't say anything and just put her hand on his back. Tai couldn't feel it. All he could feel was the loss. Sora was gone and that's all he knew. Tai knew that thousands of other people were lost too. He wanted desperately for someone to tell him why it happened, to tell him that it wasn't his fault, to tell him everything was alright. But he knew that there wasn't a soul in the country that could tell him why, he knew it was his fault and they should have left, and he knew nothing would be alright for a long time.

Tai held a small gold broach the people found around Sora's neck. It was emblazoned with the crest of love. They all thought it was just a fanciful thing. As Tai was looking at it the crest started glowing slowly. With it is his palm he could feel the love of everyone around the world. He could feel every single person grieving for what happened.

Tai held his own crest of courage and saw it glowing. From it he could actually feel the bravery everyone felt. The firemen, police, and the thousands still at the scene helping. He could also feel the courage of everyone in the world who refused to bend to such events.

He held both crests in his hand and thought of her and the thousands like her that would never come home.