Can, can, can you imagine a time when the truth ran free
The birth of a song and the death of a dream
Closer to the edge
This never ending story
Paid for with pride and fate
We all fall short of glory
Lost in our fate

Closer to the Edge, 30 Seconds to Mars

Ikuto approached the Hinamori household at high speeds, cradling Amu in his arms. He leapt up onto her balcony and slid open the glass door, gaining entrance to her room and immediately noticed the drastic changes since he last saw her room. After all, how couldn't he?

The once baby pink walls of Amu's room were now a deep red and her wooden floor was covered by a black carpet, removing the bright and childish feel of her room . Her baby blue wardrobe was painted a dark purple with lots of pictures of the Guardians and Amu pinned to the doors. He frowned; it was almost as if her room was caving in to her outer personality.

Ikuto carefully laid Amu onto her queen-sized bed and took off her blazer, to help reduce her fever and immediately noticed her laboured breathing in the silent house. His breath caught. Her house should be anything but silent; her huge up-to-date file of data at Easter proved that her whole family were due home half an hour ago.

'Yoru, watch over Amu. Tell me if she wakes up or if her fever gets worse.' he said over his shoulder, walking out of Amu's room and down the stairs, making his way to the kitchen. He shuffled through her fridge, noticing all that was in there was a huge bowl of chicken soup, a chocolate cake, a fruit salad and various other drinks. Shouldn't there be more in her fridge to feed a family of five?

'Ikuto-nya, her fridge is so empty-nya!' Yoru exclaimed in his squeaky voice as he hovered over Ikuto's shoulder, staring wide-eyed at the fridge.

'Why aren't you watching over Amu?' he said in a monotone, his eyes clearly betraying his voice showing concern and worry. 'Did her fever increase?'

'No-nya, it's the same as when you left, but her breathing got smoother-nya.' Yoru reported, lazily rubbing his eye with his paw. Ikuto let out a barely audible sigh. Hopefully Amu would recover from her fever soon, and he could find out why she was so foolish to walk around with a high fever without her chara's.

Making a mental note to himself about the contents of the refrigerator, he shut the door and left to explore the lounge room when a small flashing light caught his attention. Ikuto turned around to see a cordless telephone sitting on a table and Yoru staring at the red flashing button. Before Ikuto could send his chara back to watch Amu instead of staring at the red light, Yoru's paw shot out and slammed down on the button, causing the flashing to stop. Yoru was about to shout to ask Ikuto if saw him 'catch' the light, when a voice sounded from the phone.

'You have a total of two messages. Message received today, at three fourteen pm.' The robotic voice sounded through the room. Ikuto walked up to the phone curiously, Yoru close behind.

'Hello Amu-chan! It's Mama. Sorry that you're not home: We wanted to tell you what happened today in Tokyo.'

Ikuto's eyes slightly widened. Tokyo? That was a good six days drive away. Why was her family there, leaving Amu home alone? Wasn't that illegal?

'Ami had her first photo shoot and the photographers loved her! We'll be staying at the Sakura Hotel, so call for us there or call my mobile. Papa says no boys, but between you and me, you can have friends over as long as you keep the house clean and ask me for permission if you're having a sleepover so I know where to contact you. Ami misses you so much, she really wants to see you. Stay safe and well and I'll call again tomorrow. Remember to have the house clean for Sunday. Love you Amu.'

'Ikuto-nya, what's happening on Sunday?' Yoru inquired from Ikuto's shoulder, still feeling rather proud that he caught the red light.

'Why should I know?' he replied, 'I thought you would know, since you follow Miki around all the time.' Yoru blushed as the voice recording continued.

'The second message was received today at four twenty-one pm.'

'Good Afternoon Amu-san, Tsukasa here.'

Ikuto immediately felt pissed off. Why was Kiddy Kings Uncle calling Amu after school? Even though Ikuto didn't mind the guy, his link to Tadase clearly made him want to break something. As the principal, he shouldn't even need to call her personally- he could just speak to her at school. Another thing he noted was that he left the message solely for Amu. Did he know that she was currently living on her own?

'Just reminding you that I'm dropping by in two days time to see how you're doing, living on your own with your chara's without your family. Midori-san has told me that I'm to tell her if the house is in proper condition and how you are dealing with things. Keep in touch Amu, I'll see you on Sunday.'

'Amu is living alone-nya, is that allowed?' Yoru mumbled with his hands over his cheeks in an attempt to hide his heated face.

'No.' Ikuto immediately answered. He didn't know much about law, but he knew that Amu definitely shouldn't be living alone. After all she was only...only...

Ikuto immediately felt flustered, but kept his blank expression. How old was Amu? That part of her file was covered in barbeque sauce that Nikaidou spilt when he was working for Easter. He couldn't estimate how old she was from the school she goes to; Seiyo was a kindergarten, elementary school, and high school in one. Tsukasa had long ago decided that it would be a waste of space for it to just be one, with the building being the size of a castle and all.

He saved the voicemail for Amu to listen to later, feeling slightly awkward that he had accidentally snooped into her business without her permission. He walked into the kitchen to find some Aspirin, which Yoru sniffed out for him while Ikuto poured Amu a glass of cold water. Together they walked up the stairs in a comfortable silence, back to Amu's room when they heard a low groan.

Ikuto rushed up the remaining stairs and burst into Amu's room to find her tangled in her bed sheets groaning and panting.

'I thought you told me she stopped panting.' Ikuto growled as he quickly put down the glass of water on her desk and placed his hand on her forehead, just to quickly pull away from the heat. 'Her fever is worse too.'

'She was fine when I left her-nya!' Yoru shouted angrily, upset that he allowed Amu's fever to get worse. He had tried his best, wanting to help his owner take care of someone he cares about, whether he knew it or not.

Ikuto sighed and brushed some stray locks of Amu's fuchsia hair behind her ear, while she groaned and mumbled nonsense while twisting around on the bed sheets. 'It doesn't matter Yoru, I'm getting the feeling that for this fever to end, Amu is going to need to ride it out.'


Amu stood in a darkened room, dressed in a silky strapless dress that hugged her curves perfectly, observing her newfound surroundings. The last time she had arrived in the dimly lit black room, there has been a blood red bass guitar leaning against a huge amp, but now a pitch black piano was in its place. She heard muttered voices hidden in the dark, but it didn't bother her as much as the last time she had paid a visit.

'It's been a while Amu.' a soft voice said, making Amu look to her right to see her fourth chara, Dia hovering next to her with a small yet radiant smile on her tiny face. Amu couldn't help but return the smile. She walked towards the sleek piano and fondly ran her fingers over the ivory keys, pressing down on a C# hearing it echo through the room. She softly giggled as the muttered voices sped up their chatter excitedly. She sat down on the cushioned black piano stool and released the note and looked at her golden chara with a tiny lopsided smile, which the chara returned.

'I haven't played the piano before, let alone a grand piano.' Amu said while stretching her arms and hearing a satisfying crack. Dia floated down and sat on the sheet music ledge, keeping an eye on her owner as Amu tested out various keys and chords, experimenting through sound and remembering past music theory lessons from class.

'It doesn't matter if you've never played Amu. You never played the bass before or even a guitar last time, but you still showed your true radiance while putting on a performance to remember. Put your mind out there and play your heart: Your audience is waiting.' Dia murmured as she looked Amu in the eyes, as a careful reminder of who she was going to play for. Amu nodded and returned her full attention to the ivory keys. She held her breath, placed her fingers on the keys, and played.

A haunting melody echoed through the room as Amu's fingers clashed against the ivory keys, dancing along them and creating a wicked tune. She flinched at the sound of it and found it hard to believe that she was creating the sound. It reminded her of the sorrowful melody that was played during funerals. The sound itself just wrapped around her and filled her with hopelessness and self-hate that made her eyes dim and feel like she was losing hersel-

'Amu. Snap out of it.' Dias soft voice cut through her negative thoughts like a blade. Amu blinked and quickly withdrew her fingers from the keys. 'Your under negative influence. Play your song, your hearts melody. Play the feelings that make you yourself, and yourself only.'

Once again Amu placed her fingers on the ivory keys, but this time before playing she cleared her mind of any negative influence and sat in silence when her eyes shot open. She felt power stream through her fingers and up her arms, and her mouth popped open in a small 'o'.

A character transformation? No, the familiar pure white light was nowhere to be seen. Her golden eyes trailed down to Dia's as her both of their smiles widened, acknowledging the improvement. Dia nodded her head as she watched her owner press down on the keys: She was in the right state of mind, her radiance at its strongest.

The melody was pure and untainted, strong yet gentle as Amu's fingers danced along the ivory keys. She could feel Dias gentle yet powerful aura with her, her presence securing her state of mind as she protected her radiance from the dark. She could feel the air become lighter as the darkness began to withdraw and dissolve, leaving gentle pinks, brazen oranges and royal blue mist in its place. Amu couldn't help but be reminded of a watercolour sunset. With a smile she ended the melody with a G, feeling the sound of the note echo through the room leaving silence that was soon broken as she heard her chara applaud her performance.

'See Amu, you are able to release your inner radiance without a Character Change.' Dia praised as the floated onto Amu's bare shoulder, comfortably sitting down. Amu stretched her arms and gave her chara a small grin.

'That was amazing, is that how you feel when you listen to music?' Amu asked curiously, tracing the shape of the piano keys with her index finger.

'Think about it Amu, I am one of your Shugo Chara's. My passion in music and to be an idol is your passion also.' Dia's tinkly laugh echoed through the room.

'A-An idol?' Amu spluttered, feeling heat rush up to her cheeks while Dia continued to giggle on her shoulder while happily swinging her legs forward and back.

'Utau's music inspired you, you can't lie to me.' Amu bit her lip to stop her futile attempt to lie to her chara, when a thought popped into her mind.

'Dia, why won't you hatch yet?' she mumbled softly, her fuchsia hair hanging over her eyes. Dia stopped swinging her legs mid-swing and comfortably crossed her dainty legs.

'The time will come soon, Amu. Be patient...though the cake Suu is attempting to lure me out with is incredibly tempting. I always loved cherries.' Dia smiled softly, running her fingers through her long orange hair while licking her tiny lips. Amu laughed at her predicament. Dia flew off Amu's shoulder and hovered in front of her owner, her hands behind her back.

'Close your eyes Amu, it's time for you to wake up to reality.' Dia commanded, as Amu nodded and shut her eyes. 'Also, your fever is still raging its own war on your body, as a consequence of overworking but don't worry. You're in safe hands and will recover soon.'

Before Amu could question Dia what she was talking about, she felt her knees buckle and her eyes snap open to reveal the light purple ceiling of her room. She immediately sat up, but regretted it as her vision went dizzy, forcing her to lie back down onto her bed.

'Living alone away from your family and getting so sick that you pass out in parks without your chara's, what have you been up to?' a husky male voice sounded through the room that was incredibly familiar. Amu drowsily turned her head to meet the sapphire eyes of the one and only Ikuto Tsukiyomi, nonchalantly standing in the middle of her room.


A/N: Instead of finishing off my maths project, I decided to write this chapter :9

I was putting off writing the rest of the chapter, because I wanted to know what the ledge on the piano that you keep your sheet music on was called, so instead of calling it the 'music stand thingamajig' which sounds ultra dodgy, I called it the music sheet ledge. Does anyone know what it's actually called?

How did the whole scene with Dia and Amu go? Did it confuse you about what was happening? It was supposed to, so tell me what you thought was happening x3

-Ezra