She slumped against the old oak tree, her thoughts slowly settling down, calming, from the whirlwind of plans that she still had to carry out.
She let her mind drift around, flitting from one thought to the next, contemplating what was next, what they had yet to do.
The dark night sky covered her, enveloping her like a blanket, softly soothing her in its black velvet caress.
As she took a deep breath, her now short hair flying in the black wind, she dimly recalled another tree, a sakura tree, back in the academy.
She had spent many peaceful hours there...with Luna, with Naru, with Kaoru...and...with Sensei.
Her breath drew in a sharp gasp as quickly tried to banish the thought of him from her mind.
She didn't need to think of him.
Of him or their daughter.
He was gone.
He was gone and he was never coming back.
There was nothing that she could do, no way to bring him back to life.
Because there was no Alice that could raise the dead.
He had given his life for the children of the school...but what had he given her?
Painful, tormenting memories of happier days, of a time in which the both of them were the closest to bliss that they would ever reach.
Those memories...she had once called them her treasures.
The things that would keep her going throughout her life, the happy moments that she would steal a look back into when times were hard.
But now?
A choked sob escaped her closed throat, one arm reaching up to cover her eyes.
Now those memories taunted her, reminded her...of what could never be.
"I'll come back."
He had told her.
"Wait for me?"
He had asked.
And she trusted him.
She would have waited for him.
She would have waited forever, if forever was what it would have took.
But he was gone, gone, gone, into a void that was impossible to come out of.
She loved him.
She loved the idiot, with his idiot smile and his idiot hair and his idiot heart.
Damn him, she loved him, even after twelve years.
And that was what she had to remember.
That was what she had to live on, for the rest of her life.
That love of hers, and that love of his.
He might have been gone.
But she was still here, wasn't she?
And their daughter, their beautiful, citrus daughter, she was still here too, wasn't she?
With his happy smile and his carefree laugh, she was still here.
She had to be strong for them, for the both of them.
Because although he was gone, he still lived on in her.
So she straightened her shoulders, the arm dropping back to her side.
She stood up and looked to the east, where the sun was filling the world with a pink and orange glow...
And she moved on, walking past the old oak tree, towards the sun, towards the academy.
Because he was gone...
But she still had a job to do.
For him, for her, and for herself.
To fulfill that mission, that dream of a family.
For him.
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Aaaaah, my first Gakuen Alice/Alice Academy fic...hmm. I'm rather proud of it, I think. It does, of course, run like many of my other works, in that weirdo slightly poem-like way, but hey, freedom of writing, right? :D
So guys, please review, pleeeeeeease pleeeeease do. :) It's my birthday weeeeek...if that makes anyone want to review, hahaha.
Thanks so much!
Fanta-Faerie