This is possibly the longest chapter of the story so far! I just noticed that in the past 3 chapters, the asterisk that I used to separate POVs don't show up , so sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Anyway, as always, reviews are much appreciated!

He can't hear me.

That was the first thing to run through Yukiko Hirohara's head as she chased after Takahisa, trying to get him to stop burning down the town in a mad frenzy.

"Takahisa-sempai! "

He stopped, and turned to regard her with deep red eyes full of sorrow.

"I can't stop. It seems as though Saeko's death has brought out the worst in me." Yukiko understood what he was saying. Saeko had been his foster mother for a long time –if it was her who had seen Saeko being killed in such a manner, she would have gone off the rails as well.

"But…that isn't Superbia, you know."

Takahisa hands shook, his self-control getting fragile.

"I need to be stopped."

"I know. You're destroying the city. Just come with me. You can avenge her later."

From up on a burning roof, Ruka snorted in dis-belief. That wasn't what the boy had meant. But it seemed as though he realised this as well. He ran a hand absently through his grey hair and sighed again, more deeply.

"Yukiko. That isn't what I meant. "Ruka heard the sadness, the anger and pain in his voice. She also heard something else, but she could not identify what it 's eyes became even wider

"Takahisa, I..."

"Yukiko if I'm left alive I won't be able to control myself much longer," he walked closer to her.

"I want you to kill me. Stop me before I can never come back. If it was you, then I'd be satisfied. "Yukiko gasped. Her hands shook. But even so, she took off her glasses, put them in her pocket and pulled the blade form her sock.

She held the blade out. She closed her eyes. And then she ran right at Takahisa, who stood there, and did not even cry out as the knife pierced his heart. In fact, he smiled a little, and whispered his thanks. Which is when Ruka realised the other emotion in his voice was love. Pure, honest love. She silently ran back over the rooftops, trying to find Superbia and demand an explanation,.

On the ground, in the middle of the flames, a sobbing Yukiko held Takahisa still form in her arms. The tears mixed with blood and became grief as they slowly travelled down her face and on his body. If she had a choice she would stay here forever, die with her beloved. But, she had a duty, and unanswered questions that needed the answers.. That and the fact she now had to avenge Saeko in the place of her foster son.

Tomo to Asu No Tame Ni

She got up, and mutely walked towards the place where her remaining allies waited.

Kakeru's POV

"Your bonds have been broken."

Superbia, otherwise known as Misao Kusakabe, repeated herself and Misuzu looked at each other, and back at her.

"What do you mean?"Misuzu demanded of her relative. But all Misao did was smile at them. But , before the two of them could ask any question at all , a green-haired girl wearing an eye-mask jumped down next to them. Ignoring them, the new arrival turned to Misao.

"Superbia, do you have any idea what's going on in the city?"Her yellow-green eyes flashed menacingly from behind the mask before continuing her rant "the city we're trying to save is being burnt! Because you tried to kill one of them through sneaky means!"

Kakeru couldn't believe what he heard "One of us, whom you call "fragments"?"

The green haired girl stiffened, and then turned to Kakeru. Her eyes looked him up and down. Then she gasped, took a step back and covered her mouth.

"Karu-chan? YOU'RE a fragment?"The girl's arm started to glow red, bearing a mark that looked like a claw of some sort. The girl winced, but looked at Kakeru in a mix of amazement and horror. Kakeru went cold. There was only one person he know who insisted on mixing up the syllables of his name and creating the weird nick-name of "Karu-chan."But he had never seen her before , and she didn't look exactly the same as who he suspected it could be.

"Haruhi...?"Kakeru was speechless. Misuzu looked at him in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

"This is the new girl you're friends with?"She asked."I've seen her before. This is the one who was watching us that second day in the red night."

Kakeru felt his heart grow colder. "Haruhi...how can you be fighting against us? Aren't we friends?"

Haruhi sighed. "My brother is more important. The world's fate is more important. You're a good friend, Karu-chan, but you have no idea what is at stake here. "

This angered Misuzu "stop with your crypticness and just cut to the chase will you?" But Haruhi didn't react. Instead, she looked down at her glowing arm.

"Kusakabe-san, I'll put it this way. If we kill you, Liselotte cannot get to you and use your powers to destroy the world. If we keep you alive, Liselotte will escape and find you, then kill you and use your powers to destroy the world." she looked as though she would say more, but then her arm started to glow brighter.

"Rua!" Misao looked at Haruhi with concern.

"Lisette , she's using Rua to break free."Without saying more, Haruhi ran off, not looking backwards, disappearing before reaching the corner. Misao regarded the two confused fragments coldly.

"We'll continue our fight later, in the Parallel World. I look forward to fighting with my descendant."

Misao swiftly disappeared, and Misuzu started shaking.

"Misuzu-sempai, we should go home." Kakeru walked off swiftly in the direction of Misuzu's place, with her following behind him, still shaking, still devastated.

Kukuri Tachibana, Misuzu's mute friend who looked suspiciously like Kakeru's dead sister and Yuka were waiting for them when they burst through the door.

"Kakeru-kun! What happened?"Yuka sprung up from where she sat and ran to him.

"Haruhi...Haruhi is part of this too."

Yuka's mouth opened in an O of surprise.

"Haruhi-Chan?No way!"

Misuzu nodded brokenly "Seems as though she's connected to the Crimson Dragon side of all this madness. "

"No way, Yuka whispered. Kukuri scribbled something in her notebook which she used to communicate, and then held it out to them

"What about Yukiko-Chan and Tajima-san? Where are they?" the notebook read.

Kakeru looked down , gritting his teeth . Even after a week, he still could not meet the eyes of the girl who looked so like his Onee-chan. But Misuzu turned to her and was about to answer when the door swung open loudly.

Yukiko shut the door behind her .blood stained her pretty skirt and top, it was even all over her hair.

"Yukiko!" Kakeru, Misuzu and Yuka all turned towards her in amazement. "What happened?"

Tears flowed out of Yukiko's eyes. "I…I….Killed…I killed ..."

"Who? Who did you kill?" Misuzu asked

"I killed Takahisa-sempai...i killed him…"

At that point Yukiko fainted. Shocked by what they had heard, Kakeru and Misuzu turned away. Kukuri, however, went to Yukiko, and carefully picked her up, taking her upstairs to clean her up.

"That Kukuri-san…I'll make some tea then, it'll calm us all down, nee, Kakeru-kun?

Ruka's POV

Exhausted after the events of the day, Ruka leant against the crystal which once again sealed Liselotte. She instantly jumped away when she realised that it was no longer crystal, but more like jelly. It was evidently weakened after the last escape attempt.

What do I do now?

This attempt had been a lot different to all the rest. This time, Liselotte, or Lisette as she called herself while trapped with her memory stripped, had tried to use the soul of her brother to escape. The crimson dragon mark flared again. If that happened again, Rua would definitely not come out of this alive.

In that case, I'll be relying on you from now on, Onii-chan!

That wasn't true anymore? From day one of this scary, messed up adventure, Ruka realised that this was not entirely true. Not even the strongest, most brave hero could have prevented their soul from being stolen alone. As if that wasn't enough, she had found out that her new friends were being dragged in too. The enemy side, no less. Wasn't there a way to solve this without the need for their death?

Our Bonds connect us all the time, wherever we are.

She knew what she had to do. Putting her other hand over the mark, she closed her eyes and wished really hard for the help that she needed.

Yusei, Jack, Crow, Aki-san...Can you help me?

Misuzu's POV

There was a razor blade in her tea.

It had only become obvious as she had held the cup to her lips and looked into it. Yuka had clear hatred towards her. But why?

Putting the cup down, she shuddered and stood up.

"I'm going to rest. I'm tired and need to focus." She told Kakeru, deliberately avoiding Yuka's nodded.

"Ok then, Misuzu-sempai." Kakeru sipped his tea calmly as Misuzu backed away.

"Not Misuzu-sempai." Yuka said suddenly.

Kakeru and Misuzu turned and looked at Yuka in amazement. What the hell was she on about?

Yuka smiled her child-like smile at Kakeru, unsettling Misuzu to no end,

"It's Kakeru"Yuka giggled, and picked up Misuzu's tea.

Misuzu shuddered again. Yuka's sky-blue eyes were...well, a bit off. Cloudy like. Outwardly, she seemed like the same, smiley, innocent girl that she had first met, but now she seemed..Edgy, suspicious, whatever you called it.

Maybe she thinks that I'm going to fall in love with Satsuki-san or something. Inwardly, she laughed. What a dumb Idea!

Shaking her head slightly, she walked out of the room, when she heard a voice.

"So, most of you are here."

She spun back and ran into the living room. Kakeru had stood up, mouth open in astonishment

"Shiori-san?"

The tiny white haired girl, known as Shiori Monomo, who was wearing the same school uniform as Misuzu, Kukuri, Yukiko and Yuka stood there, clutching green leather bound book, regarding them with an impassive face and intense red eyes.

Misuzu took control.

"Shiori-san, is it? Would you care to tell us exactly what you are doing here and how you know about us?"

Shiori walked into the centre of the living room.

"My real name is Ursula of the Bookshelf. I'm from the Holy Office of the Index."It's time that you fragments learnt the truth of the matter."

"Truth of the matter? The red night? The crimson dragon? All of it?" Misuzu demanded, her violet eyes flaring as she asked.

Shiori didn't waver. She looked Misuzu up and down.

"Yes. I don't actually know much about the crimson dragon. But, however, I can explain the rest. Shall I begin?"