a/n: Thank you to those who reviewed!

Prompt: Zero

"Great." I mutter, staring at the contraption before me. "This is a fine situation you've gotten yourself into, genius." Oh, what had gone wrong? It was only to be a simple surprise. Now look what it's turned into.

Thinking back, it had all been my fault. I was the one who had suggested a trip to the mall. Usually, it was vice-versa. She'd whine and complain and tug me towards the direction of the building, and I'd pretend I wouldn't let her go and slowly relent. It was a funny charade, it was.

But today, I was the one who wanted to bring her to the mall. She was surprised, then suspicious. I pretended like it was normal, that all I wanted was to bring her there as a treat. I could tell that she was still doubtful, but she wouldn't pass up the golden opportunity.

Going to the mall I felt that something was wrong. It was those kind of creepy premonitions Kazuha was always talking about. I had half a mind to turn tail and run, but I shrugged it off. I'd delayed this too long already. Shinichi and Heiji had been telling me to get it over and done with for over a month. "I can do this," I thought to myself, "I can do this."

She was, as always, oblivious to my nervousness. She was quite busy checking out the dresses in the most expensive sections of the stores. Sonoko, my dear, sweet Sonoko. The light of my life. Throughout the entire time I ended up nodding and mumbling 'yeah' to whatever she was asking me because I was too busy looking at her, watching her smile, watching her laugh…

And that was the point I made up my mind. I was going to do it. Right here. Right now. In the middle of the store. Yep. I gathered my courage, approached her, dug into my pocket…

And of course, with my luck, that was when the bomb exploded.

BOOOOOOM!

It was honestly all a sort of haze. I remember lots of screaming. It was so dark, and I could barely see anything. There were huge chunks of rocks falling from all sides. I remember narrowly dodging one that fell over my head. I wasn't sure what happened, but what I do remember clearly was gripping Sonoko's hands with all my might, and never letting go. She was my lifeline.

It all stopped after what, 5 minutes? And then there was the two of us, in the middle of pitch-black darkness. The two of us, together, holding hands in the center of tons of rubble and wishing for something, anything to happen.

And something happened.

*Ding* Countdown to explosion beginning. 60. 59. 58.

"What...What was that?" Sonoko whispered in fear. Our eyes were directed to a red light at the corner of the rubble, underneath what used to be a clothes rack. Slowly, we inched towards the light.

55. 54. 53.

"Oh my gosh." I whispered. "It's a bomb. A second bomb. Its going off in 53 – no, 52 seconds!"

And now, here I was, staring at the bomb settled before me, ticking away…

"Makoto, what do we do?" My girlfriend's voice was laced with fear. I didn't know much, but I knew that under every bomb was a string of wires. And just like every little boy who watched action movies, I knew that if you cut the right one, it would stop ticking. That was how every hero saved the day, right?

Except this wasn't an action movie, and there were no heroes. The only ones who could save the day were right here, in the middle of piles of rubble, and certainly not qualified to disarm a bomb.

"Makoto, what do we do?" Sonoko repeated. I didn't want to do anything. But there was no one else here. Just us. And no one knew there was another bomb waiting to explode.

"We have to try and disarm it." I muttered determinedly. "We have to try. If we get it wrong, then it doesn't matter, because it's going off anyway. We have to try."

"Are you sure?" She asked, doubt in her voice.

"I'm sure."

"Then we have to get the cover off. Then we can see the wires, right? I mean, that's what Ran's uncle said at one time…I think…here, we can use this to unscrew the top…"

Once she finished taking the top of the bomb off, I glanced at the ticking red numbers. 30 seconds left. 30 seconds to disarm a bomb, oh, no pressure! I stared at the maze of wires. Red, blue, yellow, green. What color to pick, what color to pick…

29. 28. 27.

"Makoto, pick one, hurry!" She said, panic in her voice. "Makoto!"

What color to pick…what color to pick…

26. 25.

"MAKOTO!"

What color…what color! It all depended on the color! Red, blue, yellow, green, red, blue, yellow, green, red blue yellow green redblueyellowgreen…

She looked at me. "We'll do it together." She moved my hand over the blue wire the blade was hovering over…and…

Snap.

…...Attempted disarming. Countdown locked.

Our eyes widened as the numbers on the bomb began to flash.

20. 19. 18.

I slumped in defeat. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'm sorry."

She rested her head against my chest. "It's okay." She whispered.

17. 16. 15

Hey. A voice at the back of my head whispered. You never did get to do what we came to do in the first place. Better now then never.

She looked up at me. "Makoto, what's wrong?"

14. 13.

"Sonoko…" I dug into my pocket and reached for the small velvet box. She gasped and brought her hands to her mouth as I brought out the box and opened it.

12. 11.

"Sonoko…will you marry me?"

10. 9.

She looked at me with adoring eyes. "Yes." She whispered. "Forever and ever."

8. 7.

I took the ring and slipped it over her finger. A little pride bloomed in my chest as I saw her look at it dearly. "It's beautiful." She whispered.

6. 5.

"I love you." I whispered.

4. 3.

"I love you too." She murmured.

2. 1.

And we shared a kiss, our first kiss as fiancées and the last one we would ever have. A tear slipped from my cheek as I realized that we would never get to kiss as husband and wife.

0.

BOOOOOOOM!

a/n: Were you expecting them to get the wire right? Oops! Trying to update faster to make up for my break!