Minako always thought she'd die like the old lady from Titanic, warm in her bed on her own terms after a long life filled with adventures. The possibility of a great love missed was also a factor, not one she liked, but one that made her sure that's how she would go. She never thought she'd go like Jack, a watery death before she could really live. Who would remember her? Sure she had people that would miss her, but would the world?

At the start of the earthquake Minako lost her footing and was knocked out cold when her head struck the floor. She woke up sputtering. The ballet studio she had acquired after finishing business school was flooding and all exits had been blocked. She hadn't become a huge star like she dreamed. The water was up to her ankles when she woke up and was now by her shins. She hadn't traveled outside of Japan. She couldn't fit through the vents, the backdoor was jammed shut. She hadn't even fallen in love. How could she when she hadn't even had the guts to meet her soulmate? The front door was being held firmly shut by a fallen lamppost. He had been right there and -

HER SOULMATE! She could reach out to her SOULMATE!

Mina felt all along her chest for the connection as elusive as a piece of hair on your tongue that you can't quite catch. Finally she was able to pinch and grab ahold of it. She began to pull and yank and ask for help. She felt nothing. What a surprise. She yelled louder into it, begging for help. Still nothing. And then the thought struck her. What if he was already dead? He was a cop, even if he survived the quake, he could've died trying to help someone. Her breathing began to shorten. The water was up to her knees now but she felt like she was already drowning.

Flashes of white hair and a tall broad back obstructed all thinking. He was gone and soon she would be too. They never even knew each other. She hadn't lived! She was a speck in existence and now it would all be over. She was shaking, banging on the jammed doors, slamming her body against the large front window, all to no avail. She grabbed the string again , crying and begging for help.

"I'm on my way" came his low voice.

Everything stopped for Mina. He was alive. Not only was he alive, but he answered. He didn't say he hated her, he didn't sound rude, he didn't sound mean at all. He sounded like Superman, on his way to save the day. She looked around, trapped in a slowly flooding studio, she could use a Superman right about now.

There was so much floating all around her. She needed to remain calm.

"You answered."

"Where are you? I could get there faster if I didn't have to follow the string."

"I'm in a ballet studio, downtown. It's called Pole Dancing. It's on 52nd street."

"It's called what?"

Mina had gotten a lot of shit for the name, but it made her giggle every time she looked at the small studio so she didn't care.

"Pole Dancing." she repeated.

"What?"

"It's on 52nd street" she said louder. She began to remember what Usa-chan had told her once a long time ago about her soulmate. They were never able to remember each other's faces or even their names. Could the string be blocking her words?

"Hello? You're breaking up" it sounded like he was shaking the string as if it were a malfunctioning piece of technology. She almost laughed.

"I don't think we can share specifics."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a friend, she's got a soulmate somewhere out there. They talk every night. But they can't ever remember their names or where they live. I don't think the string allows us to tell each other where we are. See if you can you hear this, my name is Mina."

"Your name cut off. I'll just follow the string until I reach you. At least I know you're in the city, otherwise you wouldn't be so scared."

"Yes! The city. I heard that. I'm in the city." He was coming. She sighed a little relieved and then she felt the water reach her thighs. Minako tried to think rationally.

This was her chance. They finally discovered how the string worked and he was openly communicating with her. This was her chance to get to know him, the mysterious boy on the end who was always so sad. But he wasn't a boy anymore, he was a man now, and with a shiver she realized that her time was very limited. She wanted to tell him to hurry, but what if he got into danger trying to reach her? Even if he ran, maybe he'd never reach her and then he'd be stuck and tired with water rising and nowhere to go, he could drown. What if a building collapsed on him? There was so much that could happen! Rationally, Mina. Think rationally.

It was better for him to follow the string at his regular pace and for her not to say a word. If he made it to her on time that would be amazing. But if he didn't…if he didn't then she had to make use of the time she had.

She meant to give him the highlights, family, school, her job, etc., but that quickly turned into talking about everything that popped into her head. She wanted to give him big facts like her beliefs and how she felt about women's rights and what she planned to do with the studio. But she also wanted him to know the little things about her, the little things that only a best friend (…or a lover) would know after years of being together. Things like how the inside of her elbow was ticklish, and how she only likes a little bit of ice in her drinks because the drink should already be chilled, and how she loves skeletons but not skeletons with eyes because those creep her out, and how she felt that if something was color coded it made it instantly better. She told him everything about herself that she could think of.

She was telling him about the time she and Usa skipped school to go to the beach and ended up competing in and winning a swimsuit contest when the water reached past her shoulders. When had it gotten that high? She swam over to the window and tried kicking the glass again. Her movements weren't as hard with the water slowing her speed, but maybe with the added pressure?

It was no use. She was running out of time. Had she already told him about how she felt the last season of the bachelor should have ended?

"Miss?"

His voice was like chocolate mousse. Deliciously soft, claiming her attention and before she knew it she was spilling everything out to him. Begging him not to forget her. She didn't want to be forgotten.

Her voice was too urgent and somehow she could tell that he was running.

She knew Usagi would mourn her and her parents would be devastated, but who else? It's not like the thousand guys she dated would be sad she was gone. She had broken enough hearts to recognize that. And in her desperation for him to consider her important in his life she slipped and told him that she had followed the string once.

Andrew was the only one outside of her soulmate to make Mina cry. She dated him for 2 months and thought that maybe not every relationship had to be a fling. Then she caught him in a passionate embrace with his classmate, a beautiful brunette she had noticed he had been spending an awful lot of time with. She had felt so broken, so insecure. The last time she felt that way had been when… when her soulmate had rejected her.

It had been years since she thought about him, about the string. She bet he was happy with his little crush. They probably had 15 babies by now with a giant house by the lake and a picket fence and 3 dogs and he calls her honey and she calls him darling and they just get along oh so fan-fucking-tastically. Her own soulmate hadn't wanted her, why would Andrew?

A day passed and she couldn't get her soulmate out of her head. Her heartbreak should have been Andrew, but all she could think about was that sad little boy on the other end of a thread that didn't want her to cheer him up. Was he still sad? Maybe he was happy now…

Mina forgot how to grab ahold of the string and spent twenty minutes swiping at the air trying to find it. It was so weird to feel it again, it felt the way it always had. Empty. As if it were a regular string and not a magical bond between souls.

She walked for 3 hours and had almost given up when she saw that it led into a building. A police precinct. He's a criminal. It would make sense, he had the attitude for it. Well, good! If he was a criminal then she was going to walk in there, introduce herself and tell him that she hoped he'd rot in jail!

Opening the doors she could see the holding cell on the far wall. She walked towards them but her string curved to the right. 'Maybe he's still handcuffed next to a desk like they do in the movies.' A nice policewoman offered her help but was not bothered nor interested when she said she'd be fine. There was a large room filled with desks, mountains of papers, and hushed chatter as police officers moved about.

Mina carefully followed the string until she came up right behind a tall man dressed in a white collared shirt and khaki pants. He had his gun holstered around his back and under his arm, Mina thought it looked incredibly hot. His hair long and white, which she found so incredibly beautiful, was pulled back in a loose ponytail and he was serving himself coffee.

He wasn't a criminal. He was an officer. Probably a detective since he wasn't wearing blues, at least that's what the movies told you. She had no actual experience with the law to know the difference.

He was a servant of the law. An upright citizen. He wasn't a lowlife that belonged behind bars. He was making the world a safer place. And just like that Mina couldn't speak. "Hi" is all it would take and she couldn't do it. He wasn't a nutjob, he knew what he was doing when he rejected her. He just didn't want a soulmate.

Mina had only wanted a chance to introduce herself but for the life of her she couldn't find her voice. He was finishing putting the sugar in his coffee and she left in a hurry, content to know at least one thing about him. He likes sugar In is coffee. Who didn't, but that wasn't the point.

He was so quiet after she told him. He had made it so clear that he didn't to meet her. She asked if he was mad and he denied it.

She closed her eyes and pictured his tall form, hair so strikingly white. He was imposing. She wondered how scary he must be in real life. Criminals must cower at the sight of him, so tall and big and serious and constantly annoyed if ever felt anything. Mina imagined he frowned most of his life, but then what did she know? He cut her off so long ago. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to just tell him about her, she needed to know about him.

She was swimming now, the water was past her head and she was holding on to the chandelier.

She asked to know about him and it all made so much sense. It made so much damn sense. His guilt had weighed him down all his life. This is why he had nightmares. This was why he shut her out, she wouldn't be surprised if he had shut everyone out. This is why he didn't let himself feel anything. He had shut her and the world out and driven out his emotions to cope. Her heart bled for him. He sounded so angry at himself, and then she felt the familiar pulse of rage through the string. He was slowly killing himself with the self-hatred. She wondered if this was why he became a cop. As penance?

Then she realized how horribly selfish she was being by making him come to her. Not only was she putting him in danger, but the chances of him reaching her in time were dwindling. Hearing what she just had, she knew that this would just be another thing for him to torture himself with, and Mina wanted only to be a good memory. She yelled at him to stop running but he didn't want to listen. Not until she made him face the harsh truth. He had no idea where she was. The city was enormous and she could easily be 10 miles away. Looking around she knew he would never make it and she didn't want to spend her last moments trying to avoid the inevitable. She wanted to be at peace, to not have regrets, to make an impact on this world...on him. She didn't want to be another reason for him to be sad.

And then he was apologizing, and while she was extremely satisfied that his little crush hadn't lasted past that night, she could tell she was turning into this horrible moment in his life and she didn't want that. Not when he was the reason she was such a happy person. He had already thrown half his life away suffocating himself under an ocean of guilt. He needed to let go. To forgive himself and she'd be damned if he was going to blame himself for her.

She was running out of space. The water was up to her chin and there was nowhere else to swim.

Jack had known he was saving Rose by letting her sit on the door, maybe this was her destiny. Maybe they were connected so that she could help him move on. She thought about singing My Heart Will Go On but realized that was probably hysteria and she didn't want to go out sounding like a crazy person. With her last breath she ask him not to let go.

She held on tight to the string and swam to the window, throwing her body into it. She could still hear him clearly, he sounded flustered and upset. She punched the glass, but it wasn't breaking. He called her an angel. Her lungs were burning and she couldn't think so straight anymore. She banged on the window with less force, she kicked but her movements weren't coordinated anymore. "…watch over me…" she heard him say. She really tried to hang on but her mouth opened without her say so and she let go.

She was retching. Her chest was burning and she was coughing and her nose stung and there was a sharp pain in her head. Someone was holding on to her while she spit up what felt like gallons of water. She was gasping, giant gulps of air. She felt like screaming but couldn't find the strength to do so.

"Easy, easy. You're okay, you're okay. Just breath. That's it, breathe."

She wasn't dead. She wasn't Jack, she was still Rose. She was alive and on top of a car.

"Almost lost ya there." The voice.

She turned her face to look at her savior. The sun was shining behind him but even with the brightness in her eyes she could make out one distinguishable feature.

White hair.

"It's you."

"Yeah, gorgeous. I got you."

"How..?"

"Spotted you flailing around in there" he pointed behind him at her ballet studio with the shattered window. "Grabbed a crowbar and smashed you out. Just in time it seems like too."

Mina looked at him like she had never seen the sky before. She reached up to his face and caressed his pale cheek. And, while it was probably the whole she-almost-died-and-he-saved-her-thing, she couldn't help herself.

"I love you."

His eyebrows rose and he smirked charmingly. "How about you give us a name, gorgeous."

"Mina. Minako. Aino, Minako."

"Well, Mina, Minako, Aino Minako. Hows about we get out of here?"

"Okay" she said dazedly.

"Can you stand?"

He grabbed her hand and helped her sit up. She felt so woozy and still a little nauseous.

"Give me a sec."

"Sure thing, babe."

She smiled and peered at him. He had the most gorgeous smile. He was capable of smiling, who knew?

"You're smiling."

"I just met you, how could I not be smiling?"

"It's really pretty."

"Nothing compared to yours."

Oh, he was a charmer. Where has this guy been hiding all this time?

"Ready?" he asked her.

She nodded and gave him her hand. He helped her down from the top of the car into the cold ocean water.

"Okay, safety's that way, but thankfully the water seems to have stopped coming in so much. I doubt we'll make it before the sun goes down, but we'll be close."

He held on to her hand and led the way out of the city.

"Wait!"

He stopped and turned to her with a questioning look.

"You never gave me your name." This was it, she was finally going to know who her soulmate was.

He smiled so charmingly, Mina thought she was going to lose all the air in her lungs all over again.

"It's Danburite, but most people call me Ace."

You guys have no idea how I have giggled at your pain knowing this was coming.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease leave me reviews. Leave me flames. Whatever! I just want to hear from you guys.

I love plot twists and this was the biggest one I could think of.

(oh & the 'never seen the sky before' line was from moulin rouge, i just honestly couldn't think of anything else to write there but didn't want to take the credit for it)

Til next time. Stay blessed. Xoxo