Thanks to all those who reviewed and a special shout-out to my unofficial editor Go_4_Gold, who doesn't have an account here but is SUCH a good editor!

Um, a little reply to my guest reviewer lizzy the imouto: Thanks for you comments! But where exactly should I fix my punctuation? And if anyone else knows where my punctuation went wrong, PLEASE tell me.

"... And we're supposed to climb these?!" Yaya cried indignantly to the mountains looming overhead. It had been ten days since we'd begun our journey, and we had finally reached the mountains.

Kukai shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with it, if you ask me."

Yaya pouted. "Yeah, but you're... you're Kukai."

"There's no time to waste. We must get climbing," Kairi intervened. He looked more serious than usual. I could almost see the gears turning in his highly powered brain, calculating distance and time and delays.

Tadase-kun frowned slightly. "Are you sure we won't be attacked by Tiraldae mountain lions or something, though?"

"No counting on it. But our weapons have been gathering dust, and I wouldn't mind a fight," Utau said, tapping the trident strapped to her back.

Rima huffed. "I don't know about you, but I'd much rather fight some Guardians or monsters than climb those things."

"Oh right, we'd forgotten about your extreme lack of athletic ability." Nagihiko teased, a smirk playing on his lips.

It was lively and bright with everyone talking amongst themselves as we begun to scale the first mountain. It was slow going but time passed easily. The trail was steep and winding. Rocks littered the path so frequently that one of us was constantly tripping or falling. Even at the base of the mountain there wasn't much vegetation. Sunlight dappled through the trees that were there and created a gold-white pattern of light on the ground. The air was fresh and cool. The peaceful atmosphere gave me room to forget all my problems and let go.

Yaya was already bored, though. "How many more minutes?" she whined, as if she was on a long road trip.

Kairi glanced at his watch. "Approximately thirty-seven thousand, four-hundred forty. And that's to get over the mountains. Who knows who long it will take to get to the capital?"

Less than three months, hopefully. I thought bitterly. But three months seemed like such a distant deadline when these mountains were blocking our path. We hiked for hours on end living off only stream water and berries. (though that wasn't the world's worst diet.) Trees disappeared as the wooded areas gave way to harsh cliffs and barren landscape. Our good moods slowly faded, too - though not all of us got cranky. The main grump was a certain tired blonde.

"Why are you piggybacking me?!" an indignant Rima cried to Nagihiko. He shrugged. "Looked like you needed some help."

"I was totally fine!"

"Really? You weren't even tall enough to reach the first handhold."

"HEY!"

At this point, even I was biting my lip to stop myself from laughing. Utau and I were ahead of Nagihiko, who scaled the jagged rock face slowly but steadily with a protesting Rima on his back. Tadase-kun was just catching up to us. Kairi and Yaya were only just beginning the climb, but Kukai and Ikuto had already shot ahead.

"Those two…" Utau huffed, squinting for her brother and 'close friend' who were barely dots ahead. "That Ikuto has the agility of a cat, and Kukai's on practically every school sports team in the school."

And so it stayed as we climbed higher and higher and as the sun climbed lower and lower. Ikuto and Kukai never seemed to tire, and at some point we lost track of them.

Utau brushed it off, obviously annoyed that Kukai had beat her at something. "They'll come back for dinner. Those guys can't cook for their lives." she concluded.

Yaya would get random spurts of energy and race up to us, blabbering on and on to Utau, Tadase-kun, and me. Kairi always followed close behind. He stayed quiet, stopping only to make the occasional remark to Yaya, pointing out things like the nonexistence of unicorns. The noise and bustle continued for hours until the sun was setting and we were nearly up the mountain.

"Well," said Nagihiko, who was finally began to get a little irritated with Rima, "Why don't we set up camp for the night? That way, some people whose moods have been… not the best… can rest." He shot a subtle glare at Rima, who stuck out her tongue.

We all settled down in a clearing of flat rock. Nagihiko, Tadase-kun and Kairi proceeded to begin making dinner (funny how none of the girls could cook) over the fire. Kukai and Ikuto had yet to notice the food and fire, because they hadn't returned yet.

"Amu." I jumped at Utau's stern voice sounding in my ear. "Can't you use advanced Guardian magic or something to contact Kukai and Ikuto?"

I shrugged. "I can try, but they have to notice my call and pick up."

"What is it, some mental cell phone?" Utau sighed, exasperated. "Fine. If they don't pick up, go after them, okay? I would, but…"

"She can't face Kukai after he ended up so far ahead of her," Nagihiko teased.

Utau turned redder than the fire. "Shut up."

I chuckled at their antics and tried to contact the guys through telepathy. "Iliean."

Only a static buzz responded. Tadase-kun shot me a questioning glance and I shook my head. They weren't picking up.

"I'm going after them. Does anyone who's not busy want to come?" The only free ones were Yaya, who muttered something about being scared of the dark, Rima, who was already sound asleep, and Utau, who simply turned away so we couldn't see how embarrassed she was.

I left the clearing and sped off. "Alright then, bye."

I hadn't wanted to use magic before, as all the others would exhaust themselves just getting the hang of it, but now that I was on my own I was free to use my special ability. "Power of the Amulet." I whispered. "Heart." The familiar pink and red swirls of magic danced down my right arm.

Suddenly, the amulet I had gotten from Utau on Christmas burned against my skin. I quickly unhooked the lock from my neck and inspected it. I hadn't really looked at it properly until now. An ornate crystal four-leaf clover adorned the gold lock. The keyhole lay in the middle of the clover jewel. The jewel itself was the same shape as the amulet that appeared above me when I used my magic.

"Nadeshiko, have you seen my amulet?"

"No, why?"

"Ahh! I need it to use my magic! I need to find it!"

"Why don't you just level up so that you don't need the amulet, Amu-chan?"

"Not everyone is gifted like you are."

"I'll help you, don't worry. You'll learn quickly!"

That's right - I used to have an amulet like this one, and when I lost it, Nadeshiko had helped me learn to use my magic without the amulet's help. Why did everything that happened here bring up so many memories? I shook off the nostalgic feelings, remembering that Kukai and Ikuto were probably starving.

Amulet Heart was only one segment of my special ability spell Amulet. It amplified my athletic ability, allowing me to run at inhuman speeds, jump over extremely large obstacles, and in some instances, fly. It was my personal favorite of my four segments.

The magic spread from my arm until my whole body shimmered with a pink glow. An electric feeling shot through me and I suddenly felt alive, ready to take on anything thrown at me. I took off, reveling in the wind rushing past me and the world whirling past me in a blur.

The temperature had decreased rapidly and I was nearly sure there was snow up ahead. They couldn't be much farther away, though. Myabe I could fins them before I got to the snow.

As I leaped over a small rock face I realized that the almost nonexistent trail that covered the bare rock disappeared to nothing. I took a deep breath, preparing to track them. "Light, give me the power to see all." This was a spell that would allow me to see footsteps and heat, as well as several other things, though it slightly numbed all my other senses.

It was easy to pinpoint Kukai and Ikuto's human footprints on the bare rock, and their heat images confirmed where they had gone. They were sharp and detailed in the cold.

In a couple minutes I was treading on snow rather than bare rock. I whizzed over the snow-capped rocks, following the footprints of Kukai and Ikuto. They seemed to continue forever. They had going much farther and faster than any people would of their own will. It was suspicious. A warning bell rung in my head. Kukai and Ikuto could be in trouble.

A blur of movement caught my eye and I stopped, trying to figure out what it was. My eyesight, enhanced by the spell, showed that it was none other than Kukai. Had he said something? He had been running so fast that the heat images were but a blur.

But where was Ikuto? Was he okay? I glanced down the mountain and decided that if there was danger, Kukai could take care of the others. I would have to find Ikuto.

I shot off, concentrating all my power. Faster… faster…

The snow grew deeper at an alarming rate as the mountain became even steeper. I couldn't believe they had gotten so far - there was obviously something wrong. I leaned forward, eyes narrowed against the stinging wind.

"Who's there?" Ikuto's wary voice called through the darkness.

I straightened and squinted for his tall, skinny figure. "Ikuto! It's Amu!"

He cursed. "You idiot, what are you doing up here?" His voice was barely audible through my numbed hearing.

"Food's ready, and Utau wanted to let you know. But I saw Kukai a while back, he dashed by without noticing me. And you guys have gotten so far, too far for it to be normal. Something's wrong. What?" I questioned, getting straight to the point.

Ikuto fought through the snow and came to face me. "We have to get off this mountain."

"Why?"

"Kukai and I sped up a while ago because we heard something - a shift in rock, a rumble. Since then we've been going at top speed, trying to figure out what it was." He paused, eyes narrowing into purple slits. "In a couple hours there'll probably be an avalanche. I stayed behind to investigate, try and stop it maybe, and Kukai's gonna try to get the rest over the mountain before it strikes."

I glanced up the mountain and saw a sight that made my heart stop. "Forget a few hours, it's coming NOW!" A plume of snow was tumbling over a cliff, and I see more pushing behind. The avalanche was still extremely far from us, but it was only a mater of minutes before the snow reached us.

Ikuto stood there shell-shocked for a second. Then he grabbed my wrist and attempted to drag me down the mountain. I fought out of his grip. "I'm using magic that's making me inhumanly fast. I'm the one dragging you!" I hissed.

Snatching the older teen's wrist, I tore down the mountain at max speed. But in my heart I knew that even me with all of my magic could not outrun an avalanche. Before long even my numbed hearing caught the rumble of snow.

"Watch out!" Ikuto tackled me and attempted to pin us down to the ground, but it was too late. There wasn't any ground. We plummeting right over a small cliff.

Time stopped.

"Well," Ikuto muttered as we stared down to the faraway ground. "We were going to die anyway."

"Not if I can help it!" I cried, wrenching myself free from Ikuto.

"ARMAD!" I screamed, thrusting forth a magical golden shield. "Back me up, Ikuto! This isn't enough!"

Ikuto tried to copy me, but it was hard for him to use magic while we were falling downwards at such incredible speeds. "Armad!" He stuck his arms out in front of him, and a smaller shield in blue expanded from his hands.

I twisted myself so I was facing the ground, hoping to create a shield that would take the impact of landing.

"Armad-" The shield had barely appeared when we hit the ground with a deafening thud and everything went white.

I couldn't breathe. Everything was a sea of white. The sky was gone, but we were still falling. I tried to make a shield, but nothing came from my hands. I braced myself, waiting for impact.

Right before I hit the ground a hand reached out and grabbed me - Nadeshiko. There was a fire in her eyes as she cried, "Amu-chan! I'll save you!"

Then there was Utau, grabbing my other hand. "You're pathetic, needing to be saved like this." she said, though she held a ghost of a smile.

Rima and Nagihiko together grabbed the arm Nadeshiko was holding. "We'll haul you up, one sec." Nagihiko comforted me. "You're getting out of there.' Rima said with determination.

Yaya and Kairi snatched my other arm. Yaya cried, "If you can get outta there, I'll give you candy!"

"You have the physical capabilities of surviving. So why don't you?" Kairi gave me an expecting glance.

Tadase-kun and Kukai appeared last, giving each side a swift tug that sent me up towards the top of the cliff. Kukai yelled, "Good going, Hinamori!" "Almost there! Just a little more!" Tadase-kun called, crimson eyes bright with encouragement. And together, the eight of them pulled with all their might.

I went tumbling onto the cliff's surface, laughing with joy as I was reunited with my friends.

It was only then that I realized Ikuto was still falling.

Whew! There they go over a cliff, just like any other normal day. What do you think the last part was about? And sorry for the slow-going chapter, I promise it'll speed up a lot soon. Drama, fights, magic, betrayal! Well, not all of that. But you get the point.

ReachForTheSky is out.