I know, I'm late. I have a long list of excuses, though - piano competition, tests, homework, etc. Thanks to my reviewers and let's get started!

"Hey, hey, Amu!" Nadeshiko's lilting, youthful voice brought a smile to my face.

"Yeah?" I prompted her, hopping off the windowsill.

"They're letting me bake the cakes for the violin concert!"

"Really?" I asked, trying to sound interested. It was one of the rare times when I was calmer than the excited violet-haired girl in front of me. "Who's playing?"

"Someone called Aruto Tsukiyomi," Nadeshiko said, setting her bag down on her lavishly decorated desk. "Apparently his son's coming along."

I frowned, feeling I'd heard the name before. "Aruto Tsukiyomi, huh? Doesn't he live around here?"

Nadeshiko pulled out her homework with her usual grace. "Yes, but I don't know if his son goes to my school."

"Sucks for him if he does," I snorted. "Imagine going around as 'that violinist's son'."

"Don't say that, Amu. I'm sure he has his own individual personality," Nadeshiko chided gently.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure he's some dork obsessed with music or something," I shot back, half sarcastic.

"Amu!"

"Fine, he's some tall lonely guy who doesn't have any friends because he's misunderstood." I could barely keep from laughing.

Nadeshiko chuckled, displaying rows of white, even teeth. "We don't live in an anime."

"Who knows? This could all be some anime called Guardians and Characters, or something, and you and me are the main characters!"

Nadeshiko shook her head, smiling softly. "Very funny, Amu. I'm sure this Aruto Tsukiyomi's son would be very pleased to meet you."

I rolled my eyes. "After all, I'm just so polite, aren't I?"

Nadeshiko giggled, but her laugh was deepening, and turning into several smaller chuckles. . .

"Who's so polite, Amu? You? 'Cause I doubt that's true."

I yawned and stretched, wincing at the still-healing burns, and looked up to see who it was that had woken me up. It was none other than Ikuto, who was sitting on the ground a few feet away, still looking half-asleep himself.

"I was being sarcastic," I began to explain. "Wait, what? How did you know?"

"I'm psychic," Ikuto deadpanned. "Fine, no, I'm not. You were mumbling in your sleep."

I shot up, all sleepiness disappearing. "Oh, shoot. Did I say anything else?"

"What, dreaming about your tragic past or something? We don't live in an anime." I froze, suddenly remembering my dream and everything I'd dreamed about.

Ikuto cast me an unreadable glance. "Why is it that everything I say triggers something from your past?"

I shrugged. "Not really. But it's funny you should say that - about the anime, I mean."

"Why so?"

"Well, in the dream I had, someone said the exact same thing," I said carefully.

"Really?" Ikuto chuckled. "You never know."

"It's odd, though. . .almost like a coincidence," I mused. I'd forgotten all about that concert - all I'd really remembered was the taste of those brownies. But who would have thought, that all these years later. .?

"Hey, Ikuto, where did you live?"

Ikuto scooted away from me. "Stalker alert."

"No, seriously, around, uh, seven years ago."

"Tokyo, I think, back then. We moved about a couple years later, though. . ." Ikuto's face scrunched up in concentration.

"So did I. And at my friend's school, four years ago, my friend was baking brownies for the concert of some guy called Aruto. . .Tsukiyomi," I searched Ikuto's face for any sign of recognition.

He frowned, trying to recall the event. "Oh, yeah. I had to tag along."

"I know, we were talking about you," I blurted.

Ikuto scooted even farther away. "Double stalker alert. Exactly why were you and your baking friend discussing the subject of me?"

"We were talking about you, wondering if you lived in your dad's shadow or were your own person. I created some. . .odd . . .personalities for you," I recalled with a smirk.

Ikuto arched an eyebrow. "My curiosity is piqued."

I laughed nervously. "I'm not sure you'd enjoy them. I remember clearly, we were actually joking about how much you'd hate me for making those personalities up."

Ikuto propped himself forward on his hands. "Now I really need to know."

"Well, first I called you a dork obsessed with music, then some tall lonely guy who's misunderstood and has no friends," I giggled.

Ikuto turned around so that his back was to me. "I'm shunning you," he announced.

"How was I supposed to know I'd actually meet you?!" I fumed.

Ikuto stood up and stretched. "Beats me. Maybe your baking friend is psychic or something."

"Oh, shut up." I attempted to punch Ikuto's arm, but he simply sidestepped me and set off in some other direction.

"Utau and Kairi wanna talk to you about plans and stuff, you know. They're coming back within the hour," Ikuto called over his shoulder.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Somewhere," he said vaguely. "Wherever the wind blows."

I spotted Utau and Kairi approaching and turned to join them, yelling back to Ikuto, "Come back soon, okay, Ikuto?"

He simply raised a hand in acknowledgement and padded away. Typical.

"Come on, you guys are cramming my head with information," I complained to the two tall people in front of me.

"You're usually not this. . .lazy. Perk up," Kairi said with a severe glare.

Utau tapped my head sharply. "Don't you want to go home?"

I sighed, "Fine, I know. But we've just traveled for over a month, and I just happened to get severe burns along the way."

"Yeah, you also slept for a week while we were busy trying to figure out how to get into the capital." Utau shoved me a piece of crumpled notebook paper covered in writing. "Look."

It was an intricate map of the central district with little dotted lines winding into the center, where an X was marked.

"This looks good," I said doubtfully, "but why did you want me to look at it?"

"Is it safe?" Utau inquired. "Is there a better path to take?"

I squinted at the tiny markings. "I've never actually been to these parts, but as far as I can tell it looks fine."

"Excellent. We're done here." Kairi took the paper back from me and slipped it inside his jacket pocket. "There doesn't seem to be any food in the vicinity, so we're leaving for a nearby town as soon as possible."

"Got it. What about the Durakn?"

Utau pointed at the clouds above us. "They left. I suppose we owe them."

"Yeah. . ." I trailed off. I fidgeted uncomfortably, trying to find a wway to worm out of this awkward conversation.

Utau chuckled at me. "You can leave if my company's that boring." Had she read my mind? Maybe she and Ikuto were both psychic.

"N-no!" I stammered. "It's not like that!"

"Whatever." Utau grabbed my wrist and began dragging me. "Before you run away from my uninteresting presence, I want to show you something."

"What?"

"Something we found while you were still recovering." Utau led me along a wooded path and, after a few minutes of silent walking, turned a sharp corner. The sight ahead of us literally took my breath away.

It was like something you'd find in a picture book, a visual interpretation of 'perfection'. Tall, lush grasses and wildflowers slowly gave way to a pristine blue lake whose opposite side I could barely see. Sunlight reflected off the still water in a thousand golden patterns. Animals stepped softly through the green landscape, stopping occasionally to poke at something-or-other. It was like nothing I'd ever seen in Tiraldae.

"Are there even places on Earth like this?" Utau asked, breaking my stunned silence.

"I don't know," I whispered, "But I didn't know there were places like this in Tiraldae, either."

"See, Amu, we all hated Tiraldae, didn't we? But it's. . .beautiful. . ." I turned to look at the older blonde. I was startled by the expression of bliss on her face. The violet eyes normally narrowed in suspicion or anger were upturned to the sky. Her face was open, and she was smiling peacefully.

"Utau. . .on Earth, you were an idol, weren't you?"

"Yes," she said distractedly.

I frowned. "Then, don't you want to go home?"

Utau took her eyes off the scene in front of her. "I think I need to enjoy living."

"Enjoy it?"

A shadow crossed her face. "When I go home, I will be Utau Hoshina, pop star, famous. I will be doing interviews and taking tours. I won't see Kukai or Ikuto or anyone else for weeks at a time. Being questioned, mobbed for disappearing for so long. But right now, I can be Utau Tsukiyomi, and I can live with my brother and friends. I can enjoy life, as a normal person."

"But they want to kill us here, Utau!" I protested.

"You know what gives me my strength, Amu?" Before I could open my mouth, she continued, "My own confidence that I have the power. The power to move an audience of fifty thousand with a tune and words. The power to fight, and win. The power to live."

"So? How is power going to save you from death?" I pressed on. I needed to see how far Utau's conviction went.

"The will to live can be more powerful than you'd think," she said grimly.

"What about your friends? Their lives are being dangled from a string!"

What happened next went by so fast, I didn't realize what had occurred until it was over. Utau's eyes widening, hardening. A murderous glare. An explosion of light, Utau standing over me, magic simmering in one hand.

"How dare you."

And I couldn't do anything. Me, the girl with a death sentence in one world and no identity in another, was helpless. Me, the girl who questioned everyone else's ideals but never stopped to realize that I had none of my own. Me, the weak girl who could never accept the strong.

Utau gritted her teeth. "Life," she hissed, "is too precious to talk about so flippantly."

"Okay!" I whimpered. "Okay, just let me go!"

Utau complied, stepping off me. She dissipated the magic as naturally as I would have and crossed her arms. "You got it? We will live."

"Y-yes, of course," I squeaked.

"I was being harsh, I know," Utau mumbled. "I do that sometimes."

I laughed shakily. "You just reduced me to a blubbering mess within seconds."

Utau began walking, and I hurried to catch up to her. "You seemed much more intimidated than I thought you'd be, actually," she said.

I studied a bug on a flower below me. "Nah, I just realized. . .that I question your morals, but I have no right to. I have no solid beliefs like you. I waver."

Utau ruffled my hair like an older sister might. "I'm rock-hard, you waver. But we both share some things. You lost your home, I lost my parents."

"Didn't you just say not to talk about life so flippantly?"

"But they're alive. My father is still alive. He'll come home. My mother may not visit us anymore, but I know for sure, she will come back. One day."

I admired Utau's optimism. But it couldn't be true, because by that logic, Ami would one day forgive me.

That afternoon, Utau gathered us all together, and we set off for the capital with new resolve. The central district seemed like a little obstacle compared to the capital looming ahead of us, the skyline we could glimpse even from here.

"Let's go!"

It was smooth at first, slipping from town to town without a single soul seeing us. I felt vitalized. Maybe it was the argument (if you could call it that) with Utau, or simply the fact that they actually had a chance at survival. It seemed like I was always like this, fluctuating between despondent and joyful. Always wavering.

I'm not going to relate the more boring days of our journey. All that could be said was that we were now slipping comfortably into the lifestyle of skulking around, stealing.

"This is. . .odd." Rima took a delicate bite into a sandwich one chilly afternoon, shivering as the cold alley wind blew past her.

"What? Having real food?" Kukai asked jokingly.

Nagihiko, wearing his usual placid expression, said, "Rima's just upset that she's stealing this food."

"No way, crossdresser!" Rima hissed.

Nagihiko patted Rima's head, which wasn't much of a feat, considering their height difference. "It's okay to be guilty, Rima."

"How come I can never get a real response out of you?" Rima fumed.

Nagihiko smirked. "I'm responding, right?"

Rima opened her mouth, most likely to insult Nagihiko further, when Tadase cut in, "Enough, guys. People'll hear us."

Our moments of happiness had slowly been dwindling to stolen seconds of laughter, like this one. But as the days in the central district ticked onwards - three, four - the mood slowly became more tense. Every moment was another speck of tension, little insignificant bits of stress piling up into a mountain of unease. It was like we were waiting for our death sentence.

Rough hands on my shoulders. A voice whispering in my ear, laced with desperation. "Wake up, Amu. They've found us."

At this I jolted upright, my hands finding my sword. "Where? How many? How hard do I need to fight?"

"Too many. We're running."

A spike of panic shot through me. Steadying myself, I nodded. "Right." The hand grabbed my wrist, and we were off.

Darkness. Stumbles. The harsh breathing of my friends joining me. Thundering footsteps of our pursuers behind us. A desperate part of me wanted to use magic, to flee and leave my comrades to die. My common sense was a little more powerful, though, and I stuck with my fiends. We were close, so close. I could see the outskirts of the town we were fleeing from. If we could just hold out a little longer -

"Agh!" A high-pitched shriek caused me to turn around. It was Rima, struggling from where she had fallen and limping heavily. Whatever had happened to her, she couldn't move.

"Leave me!" Her voice sounded in my ear, higher than normal. "Run!"

I spun around, snatching out for Rima's hand. "Run?! We'll all get out of here!"

Utau, grim with determination, appeared beside me. "Remember, we have the power."

I barely nodded before grabbing Rima and hoisting her over my shoulder. "Amulet Heart!"

That's right, Utau. I can do this. I have the power. The will to live.

A whizzing sound. Ropes. The ground. Couldn't move.

"We got her!"

It's over.

Slicing, figures falling, a single silhouette with glowing, remorseless eyes.

Okay, I need your opinion. Who do you think the person was that woke Amu up towards the end of the chapter? (That question is kind of random. . .) And what do you think happened at the end? Review, please!