A word from Alex: Sorry it took so long. I had projects. And… my birthday was on Wednesday. I had a new Pokemon video game to play, a new warrior book to read. :F I slacked off. I said I was considering doing a sequel too "When the snow brought you back," but couldn't think of a way to continue it. I thought up the idea for this story, even before I finished WTSBYB, and I decided that this first chapter will pretty much be a prologue of that, but I'll call it Chapter.1 anyway. I worked really hard on thinking up a creative, different plot for this Amuto story, and I hope you all like it. It's going to be much longer than my last story. There's almost no chance of me getting writers block for this story, because I've already written the outline for each and every chapter, so don't worry about that. c: My laziness, on the other hand, can only be quelled by reviews. I am driven to write by the knowledge that people want to know what will happen next, so keep that in mind the next time to get to the end of a chapter and stare at that green button, deciding whether or not you should review.
A note: You don't need to have read WTSBYB to understand this story, accept for two minor details that will not matter after this first chapter. I won't say what the details are though, since it might be considered a spoiler to my other story.
So now…

ONWARD!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!

Full Summary: Two years after they come together in Seraph Mountain, Amu and Ikuto are on their way home from Yaya's birthday party, and die in a car accident together. They are given the chance to be reborn into an alternate dimension, but at a price – They must swap lives as the key and lock holders, and have their memories from their old lives erased and replaced with the memories of their other selves from the alternate universe. They take the bodies of their other selves and now their lives have gone through a complete swap – Ikuto is the owner of the humpty lock and the mischievous and swooning joker of the Guardians, Amu is the misunderstood and slightly secretive holder of the dumpty key. But what else is now different in their lives? Will the two be able to survive the new and different trials ahead?

The Miracle Swap

Chapter 1: Our passing, our chance.

"I can't believe it!"

"You better believe, or else. Do you have any idea how expensive that was? If you don't start believing it right now, then I'll return it."

"… I believe it now."

"Good."

I wasn't quite sure how I ended up here, but here I was, invited too Yaya's 18th birthday party. I really wasn't all that close to the crazy girl, but she insisted that if Amu was coming, then I should too. Who was I too reject such an offer? Amu would have my head if I didn't come, anyway. So I decided I might as well. Why miss out on a chance to party whilst spending time with her?

It was two years after Amu and I had met again in Seraph Mountain. After the avalanche, the hospital, and her recovery, we had started seriously dating, and the time between those years went by quickly, yet flawlessly. Predictable things happened to those around us, like for example, my sister Utau and Kukai, who was now someone I could consider a reasonably close friend, were dating. Utau was still in show business, and Kukai was in college for soccer. The short blond one, Rima, had ended up with the previous cross dresser, Nagihiko, who was aiming for a career professional basket ball, while Rima wanted to be a professional comedian. Oddly, Tadase and Yaya had ended up together in the end, which was something no one could truthfully say they saw coming. Tadase was aiming for something to do with politics, while Yaya… well, to be honest, I have no clue what she was planning on doing since she had just graduated, but if I had to take a guess it would be an "Official Taste Tester" of sweets or the sort, or perhaps a photographer.

As for Amu and I, things couldn't be better. I had passed the 'approval test' of her fathers with a lot of patience persistence, and Ami seemed to take a liking to me, so Midori dubbed me the 'persuasion man', which is a title that I can honestly say I disdain, even if it is true. Amu herself; was as most would say, 'all grown up,' and although was a bit more serious and had a better grasp on things than what I had remembered before, was still lively and slightly sassy. She was attending a cooking academy to get into the cookery business, while I was doing something similar but at the same time, still working on a violin career.

"Still!!" Yaya insisted, smiling down at the box she'd just unwrapped. Everyone was sitting on the carpet in her living room in front of the T.V, her open presents stacked on the end table we surrounded. It was getting late and the party was coming to an end, and now the only thing to do was eat the cake and go home. She seemed like she was in shock – her mouth agape and her eyes that bubbly shade of chocolate brown they always were. Utau had given her a new camera for her birthday, which seemed like a really good idea at the time because Yaya had always been taking pictures on her phone. But it now seemed like too good an idea, since she was practically drooling all over the cardboard.

"…Yaya-chan?" Amu chuckled nervously at the dazed pigtails girl, taping her shoulder a bit, "I know you love you're your new camera, but don't you want some cake?"

That woke her up. "CAKE?!" Her head shot up and her eyes turned from a bubbly brown to a shining ray – quite a scary sight indeed. She hopped up and ran off to her kitchen, then came back in a matter of seconds with forks and knives in hand, "I'm ALWAYS ready for Amu-chi's cake!" She squealed, "What flavor will it be this time, I wonder…" as Amu got up to go get the cake she'd put in the refrigerator.

I already knew the answer to that. Amu had gotten into the habit of baking everyone a cake for their birthday, each different in their own way. She had made Yaya a chocolate ice cream cake with strawberry chunks this year, and yes, it had been my idea. I normally didn't intervene with Amu's choice of flavor, but this particular time I happened to catch her while she was deciding what kind of cake to bake, and I was craving chocolate at that moment so I was very… persuasive in my suggesting. It wasn't something plausible to be the only person who receives chocolate cake on their birthday, because Amu always reserved that flavor for me, and just this one time I wanted to have it more than once.

Amu returned with the cake box in hand, setting it down on the end table and pulling the top off, revealing her latest masterpiece. And there it was – in all its beauty, the chocolaty chocolateness that was Amu's sweet baking… "Happy 18th birthday Yaya!" it read in red cursive letters, with strawberries planted delicately around the round rim of the cake, their green leaves having been cut off and placed around the fruit itself. As she pulled down the other sides of the box, you could see the layers of ice cream and cake separated neatly, and not a single strawberry on the inside was poking out. It was perfect.

"Wow! Amu, you outdid yourself with this one!" Kukai commented in awe as Tadase passed around a stack of plates.

"Aw, it was really nothing…" She said modestly, a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks. That was quite untrue though, as she'd worked quite hard to make the cake come out perfect. She'd made a total of three other cakes before this one, none of which seemed to come out just right.

"No, really Amu-chi!" Yaya insisted, pulling her new camera out of her box, "It's the best looking chocolate cake ever!"

"Indeed it is, desu~" Suu chimed in, landing on Amu's head with a smile; "Amu worked so hard on it, and made the whole thing without my help!"

"S-Suu!"

"But it's true, you can tell! So I'll take a picture of it, and every other cake you bake for anyone else!" Yaya said, snapping a picture of her birthday cake before finally cutting the first piece. After everyone got passed a piece and began eating, watching Yaya eat became kind of unnerving. She had to have vacuumed in her food or something while I wasn't looking in order to finish eating chocolate cake before me and her guardian character Pepe was no different in her eating habits. I'm not even going to comment on Amu's cake, anyone should know how delicious it was.

Once we'd all finished eating, it was finally time to disperse and go home. I had to drop Amu off at her house before I could get to mine, which was something I didn't mind doing in the least. With Amu and I being the last to leave, we said goodbye to Yaya before stepping off the doorstep and over to our parking spot, the door closing behind us.

"What's so funny?" I asked Amu as we approached the car, her giggles escaping from her as she made an attempt to cover her mouth. She leaned against the car and opened the door slightly, allowing our Guardians to float into its warmth while they waited for us before closing it again.

"It's just that… You eat chocolate like it's going out of style! It's so funny to watch you eat it!" She finally said, clutching her stomach as she laughed. I didn't see what was so funny. Did I really eat chocolate oddly?

"How is the way I eat chocolate different from anyone else?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and stopping next to the car.

"Well, let's take the way you eat ice cream for example. You stick your tongue out completely, taking as much into your mouth as you possibly can with it. Most people just stick the top of the ice cream cone into their mouth and eat it that way because it's faster, but you make it look as though there's a special way of eating it!"

I scoffed. "Lot's of people eat their ice cream that way."

"You're wrong! You're the only person I've seen eat their ice cream in such a way. And the way you eat your cake is rather different too. Instead of just slicing a piece of the cake on your plate with your fork and digging into it, you gawk at it a few seconds like you're admiring art before devouring it at a scary pace!"

"You sure do pay a lot of attention to my ways of eating. Do you take notes too? Or perhaps you take pictures?" I questioned her, turning the tables on this conversation and knowing very well that this would set her off into one of those cute fits of hers.

"T-take notes!? What, are you kidding!? You just eat like such a pig; it's hard not to notice!" She flushed that shade of pink I found so adorable, but she ignored it and put her hands on her hips, trying her best to put on an intimidating frown.

"I think you like it."

"N-no! It's just something I noticed!"

"You like it."

"Pft…" She huffed and averted her eyes, crossing her arms, her frown wavering a little but still slightly intact. That was a 'yes', in my book. Amu was so cute and easy to mess with. She was someone whose personality was something hard not to fall in love with. I smirked, realizing I could spare a few more minutes to mess with her before I had to take her home. As Amu stood there muttering too herself incoherently, I leaned forward a bit and placed my hands on either side of her, leaning them against the car and trapping her. She continued to sputter nonsense, no longer directed too herself but at me, her face lighting up with a blush that matched her bubblegum pink hair as her golden honey colored orbs focused into my intent amethyst ones. I hushed her with a kiss before pulling her in tightly, and she did the odd little stiffening spell thing she always did for a split second before relaxing a bit. Amu always did this stiffening thing when we kissed, and the only time she hadn't done so was when she had woken up in the hospital that one day, probably too dazed to realize what was going on at the time. But with every time we did so, her slight rigidness would stop sooner than the last. I'd like to think I'd break her habit eventually.

*HONK*

We broke our short kiss abruptly as Amu leaped into the air squealing in fright, startled at the sudden noise coming from the car. We gave an incredulous look into the window of the car to see Ran and Yoru at the wheel, smiling devilish one. Yoru was laughing uncontrollably, and Miki had a small grin on her face. Suu had the same calm, smiley expression she normally did, and Dia didn't seem to find it all very funny, because she was frowning.

"What was that for!?" Amu erupted, infuriated by the sudden startle.

"You're dad called just now!" Miki said, holding up Amu's phone with both hands. Amu's expression changed from a volcanic irritated face, to a slightly panicked one.

"Yeah, I answered for you and said you were too busy making out with your boyfriend to answer, and that he should try calling back later when you where finished!" Ran informed us cheerfully, shaking her pompoms around.

"Y-y-y-you did what!?"

"He said he wanted you home immediately!" Miki finished, setting the phone back down on the dashboard with the help of Suu. Amu gave a small gasp before hopping into the car, yelling me to hurry up and drive. I bit my lip as I rounded to the driver's seat, trying to resist the urge to laugh. It was so obvious they were lying, but it was so funny to see Amu get so panicky over the imaginary situation.

"What are you smiling about!? This is mostly your fault, ya pervert! Take me home before I get a longer speech than I'd planned from Papa!" Her anger was clouding her commonsense. How delectable of her. And how was I a pervert? She hadn't even protested once!

It was getting too difficult to suppress my laughter much longer, so I just nodded, fearing that if I opened my mouth, I'd be unable to help myself. I pushed the keys in and started the car, ready to start the ten minute drive back. Ran, Miki, and Yoru were giggling in the back seat of the car, their hands muffling their amusement.

"This isn't funny! I'll be grounded for life! I'm too old for this!"

"Amu, you're only twenty." Dia pointed out.

"Exacly! I'm too old to be grounded! But I'm sure my father will find some way too do so…" She continued blathering on for about three minutes about how much trouble she'd be in until Ran finally broke the news her.

"Amu, we were just kidding! It's not like your father can hear us over the phone anyway! No one can hear us if they can't see charas, remembeeeer? We were just getting tired of waiting, so we… Amu-chan?"

There was silence. Then some yelling, followed by the strangling of three very unlucky guardians, and a burst of my own laughter amongst the sound of their suffocation. And then more silence, perhaps some twitching.

"You're quite gullible." I commented after she had finished her little fit, silently cursing at the car behind us that was riding our tail.

"Papa is not a force to be reckoned with." She replied curtly, looking out the window.

"As we know," I agreed, remembering the first time Amu had introduced me too him as her 'boyfriend'. It was the week after she was released from the hospital two years ago, and she'd been waiting for me near the front door on a crutch when I came to visit her. I found it strange that she'd be waiting near the front door instead of the balcony, but went along with it until I saw a look of guilt on her face. Upon asking her what was wrong, she interrupted me and just said she was sorry before pushing open the door, motioning for me to follow. She led me to the kitchen where her parents were taking pictures of her little sister Ami, and the first thing I got upon entering was a suspicious glare from her father. Her mother was quite unfazed, as I assumed she already knew about 'us'.

"Guys…" She had begun, before spilling out our current status to her family. There was a short silence as Midori just smiled, taking a few quiet steps toward her husband before he had his emotional breakdown. I'm not even going too describe the moment after, because I made a silent oath to myself that what happened that day with her father. Let's just say he needed a lot of tissue refills after he 'ran away from home'… in his bathroom.

Her mother was cool about it though, and simply gave us the 'Use protection, don't drink and drive ext' speech before Ami suddenly remembered I was the owner of the 'great kitty guardian' for so many years ago, and well, after that, the rest was history.

After the comfortable silence between us went on for more than a minute, Amu said, "That party was really fun."

"My favorite part was the cake, personally." I commented nonchalantly, turning right on the road we were on towards an intersection.

"Ooooh, I couldn't tell," she replied sarcastically, a smile slowly making its way across her lips as she continued starring out the window, probably day dreaming. I smiled, but said nothing as I focused on the road. The traffic light turned red and we came to a stop, a large load of cars making their way across the junction. It was always like this when I came through this particular intersection, because one of the lights always stayed red too long and caused a large amount of cars to build up. It also had a history of turning from green on one side and red on the other rather quickly. 'Someone really needs too fix the timing on those things,' would be my last thought before our light turned green, before I heard Amu shriek for me to look out, and before a car that probably thought it could make the yellow light sped up before it turned red and realized that had terribly miscalculated that probability.

I couldn't react quickly enough and it hit my side of the car with so much force that our car was pushed in the opposite direction far enough to hit a thick, sturdy nearby pole that was downhill of a fairly steep slope. Apparently something was wrong with the guy's breaks, because his car continued to push us forward into the pole, our car slowly bending inward, trapping us on the inside. We were now facing the wall of a building, so I tried to get the car to go in reverse, but something trapped the tires from moving in that direction. I unbuckled my seat belt, and turned to Amu – and it was then I noticed that she had been knocked unconscious from the collision. I attempted to get her out, but realized it was a too late to escape – our car couldn't withstand the weight of the other, and so, the opposing party's car went crashing forward. There was a sickening crunching noise and the guardians screamed in horror as the sound of something in me snapping echoed through my mind – but I would never know what happened after that. It was already too late. For both of us.

~ `Nya. ~

"Ikuto, please wake up… can't you hear me?"

It was dark, but not damp. It was almost cold, and yet it wasn't, but at the same time, it wasn't warm or hot either. So then what was it? Or better yet, what was I? I had been Ikuto what seemed like a few minutes ago, but now I felt empty. A lot of things where missing. For one, the need to breathe had vanished, and that in itself was something worth worrying about. Was this what happened when you died? You're put in a dark place, alone, without the ability to see or breathe?

"Ikuto… this isn't funny."

Perhaps I'd turned into a ghost or something, because this certainly wasn't heaven, since there was nothing here. It couldn't be hell either, wasn't that place supposed to be boiling over with lava? I paused in my erratic thoughts for a moment, realizing a critical detail.

I had just died.

In a car accident…

With Amu.

"Ikuto! You can't just leave me here alone! IKUTO!!"

My eyes shot open at the sound of her voice, but when I awoke, I discovered that everything would have been the same even if I hadn't awakened. Amu was not here. Had I only imagined her voice? But it had sounded so real…

I glanced around, and still, everything was the same. I was still in a dark space with no temperature, and my need to breathe was still gone. I felt my heart sink.

So this was what death was like? Being stuck in a black void of… nothingness? I personally always hoped that there was some form of heaven to go to once we died, so this was coming as quite a shock to me. I wondered: Would I remain here for eternity? Eternity was hard to imagine… no, it was impossible to imagine. I was only human after all, not immortal. I couldn't comprehend the long, endless road ahead of me stuck in an eternal darkness. It was, dare I say it, even scary to imagine.

Where was Amu right now, I wondered? Did she wind up in a similar place as I? And if so, was she thinking the same things I was? Or perhaps she'd made it to a happier place than this. The second option was more favorable, if I had too spend forever in some dark and drab place, I wouldn't wish it on Amu either. Still, the thought of being alone for so long was unsettling. How would I survive without someone's company? I'd even enjoy having Yoru around…

That's when I realized something – Yoru wasn't here either. Had he died in the car crash as well? Was it even possible for a Shugo Chara to die? Or perhaps they vanished once their owners did. Either way, it was stressing me out, and if I was getting stressed out this early into my eternal darkness, then I didn't want to imagine how I would be later.

At the thought of vanishing company, I realized that my own company had vanished from the world of the living. I was gone now, and I had left Utau alone, without an older brother… whatever emotion of sadness she must have been feeling at the time was impossible for me to even imagine, because it would be worse on her end. She was still living, and would have to live her life without me, or Amu for that matter.

Amu as probably having the same thoughts as I, but for Ami. I knew how much Ami meant to her, and to leave her alone without an older sister was probably devastating for her. Now, more than ever, I wanted to be there to comfort her. But I had no idea where she could be…

I sighed, and glanced around again. Not only was being stuck here rather unsettling, it was boring too. There wasn't anything to do. I stood up and took a few steps forward, the sound of my shoes clanking against the floor, echoing, somehow.

"HEY! What the – get your butt back over here Ikuto!" I practically toppled over my own feet at the sudden outburst of sound. I turned around and saw something… almost unpleasant. I say unpleasant because it reminded me of a combination of Tadase and Kiseki in one.

The person approaching me was a small child, his hair a golden brown and his eyes where the same shade as Amu's. He had a very large crown on his head, one that resembled the crown atop Tadase's platinum royal scepter, and he was dressed in some sort of medieval royal outfit, similar to Kiseki's but more... ornamental. He was glaring at me with an irritated expression as he stomped over to me, his oversized cape dragging behind him.

"Stop moving, darn it! You adults are so hard to keep up with, with your freakishly long legs…" I smirked a little. Okay, the kid was kind of cute. He kind of reminded me of Tadase when he was a little kid. Tadase hadn't been the one to like being left behind or sped passed either.

"AHEM!" He said suddenly, causing me to give him some sort of skeptical look. I wasn't going to complain about his oddness though; it was nice simply not being alone, although he was a stranger.

"Let's get this over with," he began, looking up at me with a critical expression, "You're Ikuto Tsukiyomi." It wasn't a question. I frowned as he stated the obvious.

"And just how do you know that?" I asked.

"Because I know everything about you and Amu-chan!" He had my full on attention now.

"Amu? You know her? Where is she?"

"SHUT AP!" He demanded, stomping his foot on the ground. "I'll get to that in a second! Sheesh…" He snapped his fingers once, and a royal chair suddenly appeared. It illogically floated as the little boy climbed up on it, making it float at my eye level.

"That's much better!" He smiled as he got comfortable in his new seat.

"How… how is that even possible?" I couldn't help but ask, it wasn't every day that someone could poof up a chair, let alone make it float.

"YOU MORTALS!" I almost flinched at his second screech of the day. "Stop asking such stupid questions, just listen!"

"Then start talking!"

"Maybe I will!" He spat his tongue out before finally beginning his explanation. "Okay, so you're Ikuto Tsukiyomi, the owner of the dumpty key. Amu hinamori is the owner of the humpty lock, which makes you two connected."

'Tell me something I don't know.'

"The reason you're here is because I'm giving you and Amu a second chance at life." I would have asked him how he planned on doing that, since both of our bodies had been crushed by the car, but I stopped myself because I knew that he would just complain about asking questions. "As the dumpty key and humpty lock holders, you two have something most other people do not have. In most cases, when a person dies, they immediately go to their designated places that they deserve – heaven or hell. After that, a lot of things can happen, if the person goes to heaven they can remain there, or they can be reborn and start another life as a different person. But a few select people get the chance to be reborn as their old selves. Well, not really 'old selves' per say, but a version of themselves that has been preserved in an alternate dimension specifically for them when they die."

"You've lost me." I said blatantly, not understanding where the whole dimension thing came from.

He sighed before continuing. "There are two different dimensions. The one you where living in before the car crash, and a different one where there is another version of you that is still alive. I'm giving you and Amu the chance to live as that other version of you, because the only reason the other version of you even exists is for the sole purpose of you to one day be reborn into that dimension." I nodded, and he continued. "In this other dimension, your other self is currently living as how we at the Shugo Chara council predict you might, and -"

"Wait, wait, wait," I had to stop him there; he wasn't making any sense again. "A 'Shugo Chara council'?"

"Yes, Ikuto, a Shugo Chara council! I am the king of this council, and I make the decisions regarding anyone owning a guardian character! Now let me continue!" I couldn't understand how such an annoying brat could be the king of such a council, but I didn't ask anymore questions, I just nodded and let him continue.

"We at the Shugo Chara council give your alternate self the exact same personality, likes, and dislikes as you. This is so that when you incarnate into that body, no one will think your behavior is strange. Another thing to mention, is that everyone from your dimension has an alternate self, with the same personality, likes and dislikes, just with different circumstances. Which brings us too our next subject." He paused and took a break from talking for a moment.

"Although the person you will become will technically be exactly the same as you, your life's circumstances will not. You family might be different, you may or may not be working with Easter, and you may or may not have awakened your would-be self yet. I'm not allowed to give you certain details, but what I can tell you is that your life isn't as screwed up as it was before. Not as much, at least.

I paused to digest all of this information – it seemed like it was worth it to me. Another chance to live? Who would pass that up?

"So, Amu was given the same options I have?"

"Yes, and she's already agreed to go through with it if you agree too. Although, before you say anything, I need to explain the rules to you."

"Rules…?"

"Yes, rules. You know, like regulations?" he didn't wait for my reply and went on to explain these 'rules'. "The first regulation will be this – You and Amu will switch places as the lock and key holders. Meaning, you will be the new owner of the lock, and she will be the owner of the key." I nodded. That seemed rather unnecessary, but at the same time, I didn't really care. It seemed like a trivial change.

"The second regulation will be that your guardian characters will remain intact. Meaning, you will still get Yoru, and Amu will still get Ran, Miki, Dia And Su. Although both of you are still susceptible to more Charas depending on the circumstances of your new goals in life. The third regulation is that everyone will be reverted back to teenagers, and the ages of you or your friends will be modified."

"Wait, so we'll still have the same friends, and know the same people?"

"More or less," came his reply, "Your bond with certain people might vary, but you will still know the important people in your previous life. For example, Utau is still your sister, and Kukai is still your friend." I frowned. Would she have that brother complex again? I had only just begun to enjoy my time without it.

"The fourth rule is that this will be permanent a permanent exchange, and you can't change your mind after you've made the choice to do this. Also, if you die again, you will not get another chance. There are only two dimensions, so we can't offer you any more than one rebirth. And the last rule is the most important rule of all, although I'm sure you won't like it…" I felt my stomach twist a bit. I had a bad feeling it was seriously going to be something I hated.

"The fifth and final rule is, your memories from your past life will be erased, and then they will be replaced with the memories of your new self. This is too make sure you don't have an advantage over any of the other lives in that dimension, and not to cause havoc."

Yeah, I didn't like that idea too much.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"

The king continued to hold his bored expression as he answered me, staring at his nails and acting as though the situation was a normal one. "Well, this is the way it must be. I can't have you remembering everything from before; it's not fair to the other humans in that dimension. Besides, Amu has already made her choice. She wants to be reborn into her other self of the other dimension because she knows that it will give her the chance to see everyone again. That, and you as well, but only if you agree."

"It won't be the same," I protested, "Tadase, Utau, Kukai... they wouldn't be the same ones we knew before. Wouldn't they not?"

"No." He sounded rather annoyed at this reply. "They are almost exactly the same as the ones you know. The only differences are the circumstances of their life, their ages, and their memories. Their personality, likes, and dislikes would all be the same."

"That in itself makes it very different."

"Will it even matter? Your memories are going to be erased and replaced anyway, it's not like you'd know the difference. You won't remember you past life, you won't remember dying, and you won't remember meeting me. So even if you think that things won't be the same now, you will certainly change your mind once you become your other self. You'll have no choice but too, because you won't know any better." He paused, scratching his golden hair before continuing.

"Besides, would you really want Amu-Chan to wind up with your other self of which you have no control over? The only reason she's agreed to this is because she thought she could spend time with you, specifically, and everyone else. Since you are both the destined holders of the lock and key, you will always be together. If you don't transfer to the new body I've prepared for you, then it will live on, with or without your help, and eventually follow the path that you were meant to follow as the humpty lock holder, thereby becoming the one who was destined to be with Amu. It will become a whole different person in itself. Meaning, someone else will wind up with Amu. And when that happens, you will no longer be the one for Amu. Your little clone will."

That particular tidbit of information irked me. Okay, so it didn't just irk me, it practically changed my mind in a second. There was no way some clone could have Amu!

"So, Ikuto," he went on, "Will you take the body of your alternate self and take this chance that I'm giving you to live again, or will you remain here until then next time Amu dies, only to reunite with her when she's taken?"

I ran my fingers through my hair as I sighed. Why was I even trusting this guy? He was just some random guy that came up out of no where and gave me an offer that sounded nice, but could possibly be some sort of lie.

"Fine, I'll agree. But on one condition." The little boy looked at me quizzically. I was sure he was thinking, 'What could he possibly want?'

"Prove to me that you're not lying, and that you're really who you say you are, and I'll go through with it."

"Hauh?" His expression turned to a rather flabbergasted one. "Are you serious?"

I nodded. The offer sounded great, despite the memory part, and it would give me the chance to be with everyone again. But I wouldn't take it if it was some sort of trick.

"Okay then," he snapped his fingers again, and there was a sudden mist of smoke, and the darkness around us turned into… something of a street. No, not just a street. I was in the neighborhood that I used to live in before I died. But it was different somehow. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but…

"Funny thing is, Amu told me to prove it as well. I suppose you two think alike in that way." He said as he hopped off his chair. It disappeared in a poof of smoke and he beckoned me with a hand to follow him towards a house. As I followed him, I came to realize that it was my own house. But something was different somehow. I couldn't quite place my finger on it, and yet…

"Funny thing is, Amu told me to prove it as well. I suppose you two think alike in that way." He said as he hopped off his chair. It disappeared in a poof of smoke and he beckoned me with a hand to follow him towards a house. As I followed him, I came to realized that it was my own house. But something was way off with it.

"What's with the –"

"Don't ask questions. Just follow me." He took a great leap up to a balcony – a balcony? My house never had one of those. I followed him, surprised by my sudden boost in my agile abilities without Yoru's help, and stopped once I finally hit the balcony. The Shugo Chara King simply walked through the glass door of the balcony, and I couldn't understand why I was so surprised. Stranger things had happened lately. I did the same and walked through the glass, to discover one of the oddest things I'd seen in quite awhile.

The room was a fair size, with a blue scheme. There was a computer on one side of a queen sized bed, and a cat scratching post on the other. In front of the bed was a large chest, filled with who knows what, and next to that was a dresser. I also noticed that on the ceiling, there was a square opening that probably led to the attic.

But the weird thing was the person sleeping in the bed. He looked young, around a teens age, and a few strands of is cobalt blue hair covered his face. His skin was a very light tan…

Yep, it was me.

"This is the alternate you, Ikuto!" The king proclaimed almost proudly. "See? No difference. You look exactly the same!"

I just stood there quietly, still a bit surprised that he'd gotten it down so well. He must've taken my silence as defiance, because he then offered -

"If this isn't enough proof, I could show you Utau and a few other people too!"

I snapped out of my state of surprise – "No, I suppose this is more than enough…"

"Oh, goody!" A large smile made its way across his face and he clasped his hands together, "Amu-chan is going to be so happy! So this means that you'll start your life anew?"

I nodded a numbly, not quite sure how I should feel. Excited? Perhaps. But then, I was also going to forget all my previous memories…

"Also, about your memories," mind reader much, "We'll only be extracting them from you for the time being. When you die again, we'll give them back to you." I frowned. How negative. 'When you die again...' couldn't he make it sound happier!? Then again, I was already dead, so did it really matter?

"Alright then, I'm going to begin the process for both of you simultaneously. Amu's already at her new body, so she's just waiting for me to begin. Ready?" I nodded, and he began the 'process'.

He disappeared, and I was left in the room alone with my new self. After a few minutes of silence, he somehow tuned into my head.

"Okay, to start the process, you first need to step into your new bodies."

"And just how am I supposed to do that?" Came my thought reply.

"It's like in the movies!" After hesaid that, this was starting to feel really lame. "You're pretty much in a spirit form right now, so you can pass through anything. But if you try and pass through your new body, then you'll get sucked into it instead. After that happens, I'll immediately replace your memories, and then you're new life begins!"

"Alright then…" I muttered aloud, stepping towards what would soon become me. I slowly moved my finger towards its head, and the moment I did so, I felt myself getting sucked into the body. I shrunk a little to fit its proportions, and my spirit soon replaced the empty shell that used to be just an empty body. The moment it was over, I then had full control of the body and sat up in the bed, then stepped out and stretched. It was rather nice to be alive again… although I was having trouble remembering to breathe, since I didn't need to before.

"Okay Ikuto, I'm replacing your memories now!"

The instant he said that, my minds eye became warped and swirly as my memories and thoughts felt as though they were being dragged into a vortex that had opened in an unexplainable place in my head. As my previous thoughts and memories left my mind, the new ones flowed in simultaneously, and once the whole process was over, I collapsed on the carpet of my new room.

Alex's notes: Hoo, shorter than my usual chapters.

I personally didn't like the way this chapter was written, nor did I like writing it. I just wanted to get it over with, because it's only purpose was to explain why Amu and Ikuto are being transferred to a different "dimension". It will have nothing to do with the later chapters, and I'll tell you all right now, the king will not make a second appearance. xD I can promise you this though: The story will be much more interesting once we get to chapter three! The next chapter won't be nearly as boring as this one though. Trust me, the story gets interesting. Or at least I think so! :O

I felt as though Ikuto was a bit OOC in this chapter, but I suppose it won't matter. Also, you'll see what Ikuto meant by his house looking 'different' in the next chapter. I didn't want to give too much away.

Anyway, yeah so, I've already planned all of the chappies. So, I have much less chance of writers block now. This story will be told in Ikuto's POV throughout almost the entire story, so I hope you all enjoy that. We all like peering into his perverted little mind. :3

I'll start writing the chapter as soon as I feel like that, and who knows when that'll be? :P

Please review, because with each review comes another reason for me to write, and with each reason to write, the desire to write is increased as well!

Tata guys~ Great, now I have to go code the deviant art version of this... wooptie doo. :[ I don't feel like it, lol.