Whew. I mean, like, wow. I can't believe I just wrote all that scientific blab. Sorry. Madoka and I would get along just fine together, wouldn't we.

Well that last chapter is dedicated to the real Zayne, who is a genius, one of the best friends EVER, who doesn't really have a Y in his name, and who loves airplanes. Hi there, Zayne. I don't know how you put up with me.

AND moving along, hope I don't bore you with my science stuff. (I read waaaay too much sci-fi...)

And for a pic of Tsubasa's guitar:

ww w. lunaguitars acousticproduct / ame100 . php

Kyouya watched Sabrina move out of the lab with Riley, wondering if it was really a good idea to let her take his cat, and followed quietly to ensure the safety of what was possibly the last domesticated cat left on earth.

He sat quietly at a small table in a corner of the kitchen, inspecting his fingernails casually while observing Sabrina and Riley out of the corner of his eye. Sabrina was instructing Cythia to dig around in the cellar for cat food. The cellar consisted of a 6-sided concrete-walled room, lined with shelves around the perimeter and stacked in library-precision rows from floor to ceiling, containing everything from canned peaches to smoked salmon. Sabrina chose the smoked salmon for lack of anything else remotely resembling cat food.

Kyouya watched her to make sure she didn't poison it.

He shut his eyes finally and scrubbed his knuckles across his eyes, wishing for coffee. He wondered how much longer he'd be alive to enjoy it.

Kyouya looked up when he heard the thunk of porcelain against the wood table.

"Eat up, kitty boy. Otherwise you might become more useless than usual." Cythia wandered off to insult the rest of humanity.

Oh, no, Kyouya, don't take it personal, Kyouya thought. She just doesn't like you, is all.

He shouldn'tve been watching Sabrina for poison, but Cythia. He'd rather eat cat food. If Cythia was serving everybody breakfast, chances were she'd laced his with arsenic.

When Kyouya smelled coffee brewing in the little kitchen, he grabbed a cup and hurried back to the boys' bedroom with Riley in tow. He didn't want the little cat wiggling his way up to the surface in that particular way that cats always do.

Tsubasa's guitar lay across his cot, shining temptingly in the soft grey light from overhead. The soft rays of grey fell on the hand-crafted Luna model, an eagle spreading its wings over the inlay at the centre. He picked it up, crossing one leg beneath him on the flannel sheets, and settled it under his right arm.

Each strum of the strings produced a single clear note; Kyouya shut his eyes and let his fingers find the chords automatically. He leaned his head against the open window, though only cold earth rested beyond the glass, and let his mind wander towards peace for the first time in months; he'd not picked up his own guitar since Benkei had left, because it reminded him how Benkei used to sing so loud and off-tune at parties when he would play.

But now the music fuelled him and let him think, pushing forward through the thoughts he'd been dodging for so long. His mind opened and his breathing slowed, and his brain worked.

Where could Kakeru be? His little brother? Probably dead somewhere; with one downstroke of the C chord he was on to other thoughts.

Zhou Xing was stuck with them now. Lost without his team; even the strong Wang Hu Zhong could not defend against the horrors of Slugbunnies and the all-bowing force of the earthquakes. Kyouya let it go without a tear.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, lost in meditation. But the only thing that took him out of his trance was the loud voice over the intercom, calling out through all the rooms in the facility.

"Hey everybody, uh, this is Zayne...I'm interrupting you guys right now cuz Sabrina wants us all in room 12 stat. We've gotten communication from Jerry."

Zayne signed off, and Kyouya stood, laying the guitar back down on the bed. He didn't know who Jerry was. But he did know that any communication from the outside could mean something big.

He made his way to the upper level of the facility, able to feel the heat signature rising a little up here closer to the surface. Room 12 was lined with two small rows of upholstered chairs, with a large flat screen monitor on the far wall. Sabrina was fiddling with the control panel on the side; he took the seat next to Tsubasa in the back.

A picture blinked onto the screen. A boy with dark black hair and the beginnings of a moustache appeared on the left of the screen. This, Kyouya presumed, was Jerry.

The guy waved. "Team SOS, subdivision 101, do you read me?"

"Read ya loud and clear, Jerry", Sabrina answered.

"Excellent. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jerry Hummer, leader of team SOS subdivision 107. I'm coming to you live from underground in Kansas City, and as far as I know, we're the only humans left on earth."

Kyouya shuddered.

"Jerry, you need to get active transport to facility 806 as soon as possible", Tai announced, referring to the facility they were currently in. "If we're gonna solve this problem, we're gonna need your help."

Jerry seemed surprised. "No way, sister. I'm getting off this rock." A shimmering wall of transparent holofeed appeared behind him.

"Hold on a second, Jerry!" Zayne leapt up in front of the screen. "How many days did you spend building that?"

"7. It's probably the fastest-built interdimensional travel system in history."

"How many days were spent on stabilization?"

"2."

"Jerry, don't go through there. You'll never make it. A portal with only 2 days' stability work by one person won't be able to handle your BMI and you'll never make it through." Zayne smacked the screen with the palm of his hand.

"Relax. I've got to take this chance."

"You're leaving NOW?"

"Afraid so. Can't afford to be stuck here with these things reproducing at lightning speed...they'll find us all eventually. Plus, I'm getting signals that they're sending in depth moles in 3 days."

"NO way."

"Yes. So wish me luck, seeya on the flipside, all that." Jerry turned. Sabrina screamed at them to cover their eyes.

When Kyouya opened his eyes again, the screen was blank. Sabrina was white as paper.

"Jerry's gone", she said softly. "He didn't make it through. The portal closed halfway through and he got cut clean in half."

Kyouya shook his head sadly. Now they were truly alone.