A/N: To all my Nothing Alice fans, (however few), I'm sorry I haven't updated, so please accept this one-shot as my apology to make up for the delays.
This was inspired by.. well, Regina Spektor and volumes 16-21 of Gakuen Alice, and because I had tears streaming down my face the whole time through Yuka and Yukihara's stories.
WARNING: MASSIVE spoilers for manga.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own that one line from The Call or Gakuen Alice.
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"I'll come back, when you call me.
No need to say goodbye."
-The Call, Regina Spektor
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She watches the scene unfold.
Mikan saw her mother, young, beautiful, innocent, in her mind's eye. She saw her father, strong, handsome, kind, beside her mother. They are in love. He's in bed with her when the phone rings. She is sound asleep, but he picks up the phone in alarm. They are calling him.
"Sensei?" Mikan hears her mother's sweet voice call from the bed.
"Yuka.." He looks back.
"What's wrong?" She sits up. She's wearing his shirt.
"Something came up and I have to go." He's getting dressed. He appears to be disturbed, and she looks upset.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back. I'll come back and be with you." He smiles as he comforts her. She stares hesitantly, but can't help but nod.
"I'll wait for you." She says.
Mikan watches as he crosses the room and they kiss, before he finally has to go. Her mother runs to the window after a moment, to watch him go.
"I'll wait for you.. You'll come back." She whispers to herself, like in denial of a horrible premonition. Mikan feels something akin to heartbreak. It was like watching Romeo and Juliet, and even if you knwo how the story is going to end, you can never help but always have this small hope that it'll be different this time. And no matter how much you hope, it always ends the same.
Mikan wants to turn away now but can't and won't. Instead, she watches again as her father is murdered. The scene replays in her mind like a record skipping. Like waiting for the lyrics to change.
He doesn't come back.
Her mother hears the news. Collapses in tears.
Mikan will turn away now. When once again, she feels she has too much and not nearly enough. She wants to cry, but has cried enough.
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Mikan is 13. It is 3 nights after Natsume's birthday and her mind is heavy. They celebrated at the hospital. She is sitting in the snow outside the forest at night, because she feels like it. She wants to cry, but doesn't.
"Mikan.." Natsume's voice calls, she could hear the footsteps crunching on snow that he could have concealed if he'd wanted to. He didn't.
She wiped her nose. The cold and her sadness had made it stuffy. He sits next to her. She's hugging her knees, for comfort and warmth, but doesn't have to anymore. He's here. She shuffles closer.
"Natsume, what happened to my parents.. to your parents.. is that going to happen to us?" Her eyes water as she stares fixedly into the darkness extending into the forest. What was beyond?
He was quiet. He didn't know. He couldn't promise it wouldn't. Only time could tell. Mikan knew all this. But she still wants to hear him say it.
"No." Is his reply, despite them both knowing the truth. And it does help. She grabs his hand but he is not satisfied with this, and instead pulls her closer until she has her head buried between his throat and shoulder. He's warm, and it's cold, but they don't go back inside until late that night when Hotaru and Ruka come looking for them.
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These two memories are prominent in her mind as she wakes up one morning in his bed, 3 years later. She's staring at his ceiling, ignoring the sense of foreboding. She looks over to him, and the red of his eyes meets hers. The million thoughts running circles in her head fade for that moment, and she is grateful that he can make her forget. She leans in closer to show her appreciation and so does he, but the phone rings.
The look to the cellphone on the floor, and back to each other. She's begging him to ignore it. But he can't. He kisses her and gets up to answer their call.
She watches his expression turn grim. "Yeah. Alright." She hears him say before he hangs up and drops the phone on the floor, getting dressed. The image of her father crosses her mind fleetingly, and panic rises in her and she bolts up in the bed, making her way to the edge.
"Natsume.." She calls.
"Mikan.. " He looks to her. "I have to go, something's happening with the dangerous ability class.." He gives a halfhearted explanation. She shakes her head.
"Mikan, I'll come back." He sounds so sure. So calming. She relaxes, and nods.
"You'll come back..." She repeats in monotone. He comes closer.
"Wait for me."
"I will."
He kisses her and she holds on as long as she can. It doesn't last long enough before he goes out the door.
She's lying to herself. This thought crosses her mind and brings with it all the other memories and thoughts haunting her. She turns her head to look out the window and sees him going.
Another image of her father bubbles up and she realizes that she is her mother. She realizes that she shouldn't forget. Can't forget. This was the key, learning from history so it wouldn't repeat itself. Her mother fell in love with her sensei. His father fell in love with his mother. She fell in love with him. And here was history, repeating itself. She shakes her head and clutches her chest like her heart ached, and her eyes watered. She wants to cry. But does not.
She remembers the promise he made. They'd been lying to themselves. Like their parents. She cannot ignore this feeling like her mother did, she could not let this pattern continue, like it did with her dad, like it did with his mom- they could not become their parents!
Go!
A voice in her head goes off like an alarm and she's up, getting dressed in record time and speeding like a bullet. A bullet though water. She couldn't move fast enough at this moment.
She reaches what appears to be the battlefield. There are students fighting all over the forest, and she doesn't understand who the enemy is- Organization Z or the Elementary principle's people or even something new- but it doesn't matter. She saves a few classmates with nullification along the way. She recognizes a couple of faces, on both sides. It hurts to watch.
She finds him at last. He's panting, leaning up against a tree, sweating and bleeding from the shoulder. His mask was broken in half on his face. He's facing a masked blond man that couldn't have been too much older than they were. The masked man is looking at her and Natsume follows his gaze.
"Mikan?" He doesn't look and sound very please to see her. Not there. Not now.
"Go back!" He demands. She shakes her head.
"No." Her voice is firm, sure, decided.
"Mikan-" He stumbles and the blond man attacks, and she throws herself at Natsume to nullify the attack. She feels this tugging in her gut and can tell this is a powerful Alice. A rebellious dangerous ability. They were not safe.
"You need me here, we aren't going to become our parents!" She screams and he stares at her. He understands.
"I already told you that wouldn't happen to us." He says, sounding so reassuring that she almost believes him. She smiles. She wants to cry. She almost does.
They both turn to the enemy.
They wouldn't be their parents.
Because when one of them calls, the other will always come back.
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Thank you for reading, please review!
I woke up with this idea in my head and this song stuck in there too, and it was making me sad so I whipped this us in a couple minutes, and am quite glad about it. At first I was going to kill one or both of them.. but I'll let you come to your own conclusions of how this ends.
C'mon guys, don't do what you're doing to me in Nothing Alice, R&R... please and thank you.
~Yasu