Couldn't keep anyone waiting long. This is the chapter you've probably all been waiting for. I've made it as intense as I possibly could. Hope you enjoy it! And I hope I don't have too many grammar mistakes on it...

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It's safe to say that there are millions of things going through my head right now. Worry, fear and grief are only some of the emotions surging through my mind. I guess I'm feeling some relief as well. Even as Ryoko Asakura is angrily striding towards me and Suzumiya-san, I can't help but feel somewhat relieved.

It's crazy for me to be relieved in a situation like this. A human interface capable of killing me without second thought is coming towards me, and she is not happy at all.

Why am I relieved then?

I guess it's because I'm beginning to see Suzumiya-san as she once was again. I managed to prevent universal destruction for the time being. And I think I was this close to kissing her…

It's obvious at this point. My amnesia might have made me forget things, but there is no doubt that I have some sort of feelings for the eccentric girl holding me by the arm. Something about her has just drawn me in like fish that were being mercilessly caught in a large net. While that's not the nicest analogy, it certainly fits the description of how I ended up being attracted to Suzumiya-san.

I knew that I still had many lost memories, but the fact I could remember these feelings for Haruhi was actually making me happier, even though I was being faced with such a dire situation in front of me.

But enough of my thoughts, because they have no bearing on what's going on around me, so they become useless at a time like this.

"You ruined everything!" Ryoko shouted at us as she was now only a few feet away. Her blue hair seemed to always be caught by a breeze as she walked, even if it seemed like there was no breeze to catch it in the first place. How did she enter this closed space? I didn't even think that Nagato-san was capable of such a feat.

"What did you do, Kyon?" Suzumiya-san asked beside me, sounding more curious than scared. I was wondering why she wasn't afraid of the girl that was walking towards us, but then I realized that she had no idea what this girl was actually capable of. I mean, she's not really a girl at all.

"He's knows perfectly well what he did. Stupid humans. You all just get in the way!" Asakura-san commented in response to what Haruhi had asked me. I didn't really get much time to actually give Suzumiya-san an answer to her question, as the blue-haired human interface was standing right in front of us now. The expression her face was one of sadness, but something was telling me she was actually angry. I just assumed that as a human interface, she just didn't know what that expression looked like.

I looked to my side, where Haruhi was, to see that she had an expression that undoubtedly signified she was extremely curious about all this. Her eyes shimmered with the same usual aura that they gave out the impression that things were going her way.

But this wasn't certainly a situation to be happy about. I attempted to say something to Haruhi, but she spoke directly to Asakura-san before I could even utter a single syllable.

"Asakura-san? Is that really you?" Suzumiya-san asked the blue-haired interface, her voice more upbeat and exacerbated than usual. I sighed as usual. Was this really the time for such questions?

"I am not here to answer your questions, Suzumiya! Kyon has prevented what I've been trying to accomplish since my creation!" Asakura-san exclaimed in an annoyed tone, and she obviously wasn't going to be answering anything Haruhi planned on asking her.

You know, out of all the things Haruhi could have asked the girl, it had to involve her mysterious disappearance? I mean, come on! The girl who has dedicated her life to finding all manner of weird things can't come up with anything better? Asakura-san's practically begging for Haruhi to label her as an alien. Especially considering the way she's speaking towards Suzumiya-san.

I held in a sigh. Maybe I could reason with Ryoko somehow, and possibly prevent my own death. I have a feeling she's here to kill just me…

"You wanted to just see everything end so you could observe it in your last moments. I don't see what that will accomplish. There would be nothing left to observe when it's all just gone." I said to Asakura-san, and her expression managed to change faster than Haruhi's ever could. She looked sad one second, and then surprised the next. I hope what I said wasn't some sudden newsflash for her.

On another note, I'm taking a huge gamble saying all of these things with Suzumiya-san right beside me. Let's just hope that she just conveniently forgets it all.

"You still don't understand my true purpose, human. It's really sad, actually. If I had killed you, I was almost contemplating bringing your data back as a fellow interface. We need companionship like humans do from time to time."

I guess I would be lying if I wasn't kind of shocked by what Asakura-san just told me. It not only was alluding to many abnormal things, but it sounded like she was into me or something. It's almost amusing how I wouldn't have been so freaked out by this if she hadn't tried to kill me in the first place.

"You like Kyon?" Haruhi interjected, blinking her amber eyes in even more curiosity. I could feel her tightening her grip on my arm. It was almost beginning to hurt, as if she was cutting off circulation. I had the notion to ask Suzumiya-san to just let go of me, but I didn't end up saying anything. I had a feeling it wasn't a good idea right now to tell her something like that.

"No. He's a human that could have served a purpose."

Well, that's really nice of you to say about me! If I didn't know any better, it sounded like Asakura-san would have just used me for physical urges that she might have. It sounds kind of creepy, actually. It would be best not to think about it.

"If you want to think about in the human way, then I would have been the better choice, Kyon. It's not like Suzumiya-san has much more. She's not fit to be by your side, if I had an opinion about it. Humans are imperfect either way." Asakura-san added, with an almost prideful and vain tone in her voice.

This was the point where I think Ryoko should have just kept her mouth shut. She wasn't actually paying attention to the fact that Haruhi had let go of my arm at that exclamation, and that her fists were clenched tight.

Suzumiya-san did not give the slightest bit of hesitation as I watched her drive her fist right towards the unaware Ryoko's face. Haruhi obviously had no idea what Asakura-san actually was. She had no idea she was about to try and punch out an alien being that had control over the surrounding reality. It wasn't a good idea.

It's safe to say that I did not expect to see Haruhi's fist actually make contact with Ryoko's face. I heard what sounded like a brick hitting against rubber, and I saw Asakura-san get forced a few feet back from the impact. Suzumiya-san had her teeth gritted, and both her fists were clenched as if she was ready for battle.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" I asked Suzumiya-san in panic, running up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Haruhi looked back at me with a glare, making me feel as if I was wrong for condemning her action.

But I certainly wasn't condemning it. I was worried about our well-being right now! I don't want to die yet!

"You physically damaged this temporary form, Suzumiya." Asakura-san said in a shocked tone, as she held her hands to cover her probably broken nose. I had seen what Suzumiya-san could physically do before, when she had punched Taniguchi, and I assumed this blow to Ryoko Asakura was no exception. But it was actually surprising to see that Suzumiya-san had actually done some damage to Ryoko. I had thrown a desk at her, and that didn't work at all! Either Suzumiya-san is really lucky, or this human interface is losing her touch.

"I'd watch your mouth, Asakura-san. Kyon is taken already, and that's what you'll keep getting if you try to steal him away from me!" Suzumiya-san exclaimed back to the surprised blue-haired alien. I watched Ryoko take her hands away from her nose, and I could see that she was bleeding a little from one nostril. I didn't know they gave human interfaces blood. But Nagato had bled when she let herself get impaled to protect me, so I shouldn't actually be surprised at this.

It's great how Haruhi seems to be claiming as some sort of trophy. I haven't really agreed to anything yet and already Suzumiya-san is making sure that she's got me all tied down to her. This is quite typical coming from her. But what's with the déjà vu again!?! It's really starting to piss me off!

"Steal him away…" Asakura-san said to herself in a low voice, her blue eyes blinking once as if she was processing new data in front of her. It took a few seconds for her to blink a second time, and she looked towards us both. A creepy smile was appearing on her face.

"That is the solution. I should have enacted it sooner. You must be eliminated, Kyon."

Those were certainly the exact words that I did not want to hear. I'm not trying to complain, but isn't always me that ends up suffering whenever something is so centered on Suzumiya-san?

What's the point of even asking? These things will happen whether they like it or not.

"I suggest we go now!" I whispered in Haruhi's ear, but it wasn't as discrete as I would have liked it to be.

"Why? There's nothing to be afraid of." Suzumiya-san replied to me, and she sounded extremely confident in her judgment.

I would have agreed with her if I had not seen what was happening in front of my eyes. Where Asakura-san had previously been, there was something very large instead. It was extremely large, actually, and it towered over the both of us. I pointed towards it, and whispered in Suzumiya-san's ear again.

"You need to really listen to me for once!"

There was a reason I said that to Suzumiya-san. And that reason was the huge creature that was now standing in front of us. It was a white crane of monstrous proportions, and if you ask me, it looked as if someone had taken a regular crane and gave it too much radiation.

This thing was truly massive, because its height equaled a few stories of some of the nearby buildings. It looked like it weighed a few tons, and the wings on its body looked more suitable for a dragon. The crane's beak looked viciously sharp, and it was already looking down towards us like we were the next little frogs it planned to munch on. I could only assume that this was Asakura-san, and she had drastically shifted her data to assume a form like this.

"Is that some sort of relative of the Kongamato?" Haruhi asked in what sounded like an exciting voice, while every fiber of my body was threatening to collapse from the fear I was currently experiencing.

I didn't think this time around. I just acted.

"Let's go!" I commanded to Suzumiya-san, while taking no time to just grab her by the hand and begin to drag her away from the beast in front of us. As we began to run down the street, I heard a rumbling sound behind us. It was loud enough that it sounded like a train was barreling towards us at full speed.

Upon turning, I could see that the crane was galloping towards us on its thick legs, its sharp beak open wide, and its eyes glaring directly at me. I guessed that if it tried to fly, it wouldn't be able to support its own weight, or it wouldn't be able to navigate through the surrounding buildings that would be in its way.

Truth be told, I knew that it was simply after just me, but I didn't have the will to just leave Haruhi behind. I was too afraid that it would hurt her if I did.

We ran as fast we could, or at least I did. Suzumiya-san was content with looking back and watching this enormous bird stomp through the gray city streets while chasing us. She looked as if this entire situation was some big sci-fi movie to be all excited about, and at the sight of this, yet another memory sparked in my mind. It was of the dream I had some months ago. The one where I had first kissed Suzumiya-san, even though it was supposedly a dream. The same expression from that dream when she had watched a blue giant proceed to destroy North High was on her face this very moment…

But I didn't think about that much longer. I kept running, turning a corner as I held onto Suzumiya-san's hand. If we could outrun this thing, then we might be able to find a way out of this closed space. If we could just…

No! I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. After turning that corner, I was faced with a literal wall of concrete that seemed to tower up into the sky. There was no street to be seen, and I was already feeling nostalgia that Suzumiya-san and I would be trapped just as I had been when Asakura-san first attempted to murder me.

"This can't be happening…" I said to myself in panic, and Haruhi was standing there as if waiting for the gigantic bird to reach us. I looked from side to side, searching desperately for a way out of this. There was nothing but buildings that blocked any attempt to a street that we could escape on. The only way would have ended up with us running right into the giant bird. The concrete wall in front of us looked down emotionlessly like some cold monolith of doom.

"Wait here! I have an idea!" Suzumiya-san suddenly exclaimed to me, before I watched he run off in the same direction that I had assumed we should just avoid. She turned on the street corner, and I watched her approaching a construction vehicle that had a mechanical crane on it.

"What are you doing!?!" I shouted at her, obviously exasperated and worried for dear life. Suzumiya-san always has to do the craziest things at the worst times. She climbed like a spider monkey on the outside of the yellow construction vehicle, and I simply sighed in defeat when something large began to block my sight of her.

It was the titanic form of Asakura-san. She made no sounds in her monstrous shape as she approached me, save for the rumbling with each of her footsteps. I found myself backing up into the concrete wall sooner than I expected.

This creature was surely a frightening sight. It reminded me of one of those terror birds that they described in old science books. They were flightless carnivorous birds that stood taller than a man. But they were extinct.

Asakura-san was certainly not extinct, and I found my heart pumping faster than ever as I watched the huge crane's head come down and watch me at a human eye level. Each of the large orbs that were its eyes had the same blue that could be found in Ryoko's eyes.

Look, I truly think I had wet my pants at this point. There was something comparable to a tyrannosaurus rex staring me in the face, and it had all the intent to kill me. And I knew that there was no escape now.

I sighed as I closed my eyes. I could already feel the crane's hot breath as its mouth began to open in front of me. It would take one chomp to end my life. I hoped that Ryoko had enough decency to end my life quickly. But judging from the fact that Haruhi had punched her in the face, I really doubted it.

"Your Brigade Chief is here to rescue you, Kyon!"

I knew that only Suzumiya-san could say something like that, and I could not help but open my eyes upon hearing this. The mega crane in front of me was surprisingly slow in eating me, as it still was in the process of opening its mouth up fully. I ignored this discrepancy in its action, peering over to see where Haruhi's cry had come from.

Now I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Some feet away, a massive bronze-colored steel girder was literally being piloted by none other than Haruhi. It was hanging on a wire from the mechanical crane she had been climbing on just before, and she held on it for dear life as it swung in the air. It was barreling straight towards the titanic bird that was taking its time in eating me.

If I had the time to laugh at Suzumiya-san's exclamation, and point out how ridiculous she was acting, I would have. But when I saw the girder about to make contact with the body of the monster bird in front of me, I realized just what Haruhi had been intending to do.

I ducked as the girder slammed right into the body of the shape-changed Asakura-san. The sound was loud as the creature was sent tumbling backwards from the impact. My mind was focused on not getting crushed, because the bird would have easily weighed a few tons. I was partially surprised that the monster crane had made no sound that signified it was probably in a lot of pain.

If there was time to point it out, I would have been astounded by the fact that Suzumiya-san was now standing next to me, brushing off her sailor uniform. How the hell did she manage to jump off the girder so easily? How athletic is this girl?

All questions aside, I was relived to see that the crane smash into a nearby building, causing the outer structure to collapse as the birds' huge body barreled into it with tremendous force. My arms instinctively went around Suzumiya-san in protection, mostly because I was afraid of her being hurt by any falling debris. There was none, and it was really a useless thing to do. Nevertheless, Haruhi didn't seem to mind so much.

After a few seconds, the dust had begun to settle. I let go of Suzumiya-san, who walked towards the collapsed building with genuine interest. I could not help but let out a massive sigh of relief.

"Where did it go?" Haruhi asked me, pointing towards the debris. When I looked, I could see that there was no huge body to be seen among the rubble. This sparked only worry in my mind, a worry that was made worse by the fact that I heard someone begin to speak behind me.

"Your attempts at stopping me are useless. But they've made me realize that there is a simpler solution than just killing your human companion." Asakura-san boldly stated from behind us, causing myself and Haruhi to almost turn in unison.

She looked like she had been through a vacuum cleaner. Dust and dirt was all over her uniform, and there was rips and tears in it as well. Taniguchi would have gotten a kick out of the way she looked right now. I was more worried about other things.

"What are you? Some sort of shape-shifter?" Suzumiya-san asked the human interface, stepping ahead of me before I could do anything to stop her. Crazy girl! She's going to just get herself killed!

"No. You are too ignorant, Suzumiya. You are not fit to be an instigator of data creation. I will do what is required. I will end you now." Ryoko replied, this time with the same smile she had shown to me after she complimented me for actually getting Suzumiya-san to talk to someone for once. My mind was racing at the sound of those words.

I watched as Asakura-san began to manipulate the steel girder that lay some feet away from her. As if she was an esper, she ripped a large sliver of it out without a single ounce of physical force. I watched her bring up before her. It was a floating deadly spear of junk metal.

My body acted before my mind could protest. I knew it was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done, but I did it anyway.

Suzumiya-san was behind me when Asakura-san launched the spear forward. It had been aimed at Haruhi, but something had come between it.

That something was my body. I felt an intense, burning pain in my lower stomach, and it didn't take long before I looked down to see that the metal spear had gone right through my lower abdomen, having nearly impaled me. Blood began to pool up where the wound was situated, and every part of my body was feeling weaker with each passing second.

I feebly looked back at Suzumiya-san, who was clearly in shock and fear at the sight o me. I tried to smile to her, but the pain had become too much, and I fell back.

While my mind spun faster than an electronic top, Haruhi caught me before I could land on the asphalt and possibly just further my already serious wound. I looked up at her face, which was already beginning to brim with tears. Her exuberant mood clearly had been severely ruined by this action.

"Kyon…" she whispered to me in a scared voice, her arms still holding onto me to prevent me from falling any further. I could feel her shaking in fear, and I looked to my side to see that Asakura-san was already raising another sliver of metal from the girder on the ground. She looked ready to finish the job.

Haruhi's attention changed quickly, and her eyes were flaring up in anger at the sight of Asakura-san. The human interface continued to smile as she let another spear of metal come in front of her, with all intent at launching it at Suzumiya-san this time around. Haruhi spoke quietly, her voice shaking with either fear, or absolute anger.

"You....you hurt Kyon!" she screamed at Asakura-san, and it seemed so loud that it caused the alien to lose her hold on the metal spear that was floating in front of her. It clattered onto the ground, apparently useless.

The look that I could see on Suzumiya-san's eyes was one of complete fiery hatred. Her face had twisted into such an angered and discontented expression that I thought it might just crack from the pressure. Haruhi's amber eyes were focused completely on Asakura-san, who seemed to be having trouble moving, as if gravity had increased on her.

My mind was going from the wound in my stomach, but I still stayed in consciousness, watching what was happening. Tiny sparks began to appear around Ryoko's form, and they glowed bright. Asakura-san looked scared, watching these sparks dance around her like a gathering fire.

There was a deafening noise that sounded like a thousand gongs being rung at once. Ryoko might have been screaming, but the sound probably prevented me or Haruhi from hearing it. Coruscating energy began to swirl around the blue-haired human interface like deadly snakes of light, and she struggled to break free of their slithery grips. After a few more seconds, I watched the brightly glowing energy completely envelop her, and then as if it had been sucked into a miniature black hole, it just disappeared in a brilliant flash.

Even with this wound on my stomach, I was still in disbelief. The human interface who had tried to murder us wasn't there anymore. There was absolutely no trace of Ryoko Asakura left at all. I sighed to myself, this time in relief. I have a feeling she was really gone this time around. Maybe I don't have to worry so much…

But the pain came back, and it was then I realized I was still severely injured. I looked up at Suzumiya-san, who had finally turned her attention back to me, her face showing more worry than I have ever seen her express. I really never believed she cared about me this much.

"Stay with me...."

Her voice was becoming distant. I could already see blackness coming over my eyes. The pain was becoming unbearable, even as I felt the spear in my body collapse on itself. Surprisingly, the metal spear felt like it sucked itself out of my body, but the wound had remained.

I closed my eyes, realizing that the end for me was near this time. Was I ready for something as drastic as death? I didn't know. But it was coming anyway.

"Kyon? Kyon!" Haruhi screamed at me in anguish, with enough loudness in her voice to burst my ear drums. But I could barely hear her at this point. Everything was speeding away from me fast.

Before I fell into the blackness, I had but one thought on my mind.

Whether or not the amnesia was actually suppressing it, I knew something now. I knew that I loved Haruhi Suzumiya. It wasn't a lie, and it certainly wasn't an illusion. It was true, and that fact was what warmed my heart just before I could feel it slowly beginning to stop beating.

I wish I had more time in this life. Is that so much to ask…

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is certainly not a good place to end. I wonder......nah. I would never end a story at a place like here. Next chapter will be in an estimated one or two days. This story is coming close to an end, and it was a blast to write. Already considering possiblities for another one...:)