"Please, if you don't do as I say, we'll all die"
"Li..Like I care!"
"But..."
"Just let go!"
"I love you, and I always will..."
"MIKAN!"
Natsume jumped up his bed as the lighting flashed heavily. He was breaking in cold sweat, he turned his head towards the alarm clock, he wiped his sweat with one hand as he stared at the clock that read 2:00 a.m. He sighed, that incident from five years ago still haunted him.
Yes, five years had already passed since the previous incident of the tower. Everyone was able to escape alive and well, even though with a couple of bruises and a heavy case of fatigue, but they were fortunate enough to come out alive...well...all except Mikan Sakura, who sacrificed her life and freedom for those that she loved. She was not like everyone else in the academy, no, not a bit. She was strong, a bit violent, but wholly mysterious. She was often in a constant battle with herself, her dark side and her light side. And even though she was nowhere to be found, her friends still believed that she was out there, alive, and trying to find a way back home.
Monday
5:00 a.m.
Alice Monster Academy Asylum
BOOM!
"Hotaru!"
"Hotaru, wake up!"
Ruka and Koko tried to shake the 15-year-old witch into consciousness, she was just hit by a blast from one of the asylum's mage guards, apparently after exerting her power to shield her friends.
"This is bad" Ruka muttered as he carried raven-haired girl and dashed off with the others
"She's the only one who knows the entire asylum" Sumire clenched her teeth at the bitter fact
"How does she know that anyway?" Koko asked, also running in full speed
"Duh, she's tried to escape like, countless times. She's practically been to every part of this 16-story building!" Sumire explained while dodging another blast
"Quit talking!" Misaki snapped from in front of them, "We need to hurry up if we're going to save Mikan!"
The sound of clattering heels put the entire group to a stop when they saw the nurses of the asylum charging toward them with huge syringes in hand. A huge energy ball hurled towards them at the same time. The group could only gasp as they were knocked out unconscious.
Natsume stood up and walked towards the window, with a slight push, the window flung open and let the cool night breeze into the room. He gazed unto the sights around the asylum, the nearby garden, the guards below, and the night sky that was illuminated by the stars. He looked heavenward and sighed, glowing around the entire asylum was a huge, blue barrier that emitted a very powerful force, and worse, it kept them in. The wind's pace picked up faster, Natsume smirked.
"What brings you here?" He asked, particularly to the unseen person who was there
"Pfft...as if you don't know" A female chuckle was heard from inside his room
"Seriously, don't you knock?" He turned, and set his gaze upon his bed. On the edge of the white mattress was Hotaru, her raven hair had already reached on her shoulders, slightly cascading down to her back. She was wearing her usual asylum uniform, a white blouse that didn't reach her abdomen, and white shorts that stopped five inches from the knee.
"If I knock, they'll chase me down" Hotaru flatly answered his question
"Fine, fine" He replied, "But what's your next big idea?"
Hotaru eyed him in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Imai, you don't come barging into another person's room for nothing" Natsume turned deadly serious as he glared at the witch
Hotaru stood up and walked towards the sixteen-year-old vampire, "You got me"
"You wanna bust out again?" Natsume asked as she took her place beside him by the window
"I have a feeling that you take me for being a failure" Hotaru glared at him
"You always fail at busting out" Natsume pointed out
"Hah, I don't do failures except when I fake them" Hotaru smirked wickedly, causing Natsume to get wide-eyed in shock
After silencing him, she grinned and turned her attention towards the view in front of them. She then pointed at the barrier's source, which was the blue, glowing magic circle that surrounded the whole asylum, and true enough, it was the object that held up the barrier
"See that magic circle?" She pointed at the shining circle that had glowing signs on it
"Yeah" Natsume nodded
"Tomorrow's the weekly check-up test. And as usual, the patients gather to the test quarters..." She cut herself off and pulled her arm back in, "Once the test commences, we break free from the chambers and escape"
"But the mage guards will be on our tails again" Natsume raised a brow at her plan
"Cat Girl has that covered, and the Fork fairy has the nurses out for the count" Hotaru licked her lips
"The soldiers?" Natsume stated
"Ruka" Hotaru named the assigned monster
"Okay, Ghost Dogs?"
"Crab Kid"
"Traps?"
"Andou"
"The guards outside?"
"You"
"What?" Natsume literally shrieked, to which Hotaru immediately raised her hands on top of his mouth
"Ssh! Keep it down!" Hotaru snarled at him, he calmed down and she put her hands down
"But how come is it that we take on every single obstacle, and you sit around and do nothing?" Natsume hissed at a low voice, but enough for the two of them to hear each other
"I am not just going to sit around and do nothing, Hyuuga" Hotaru replied
"Then what do you do?" Natsume crossed his arms, eyeing the young witch
"Remember that when we take the check-ups, the head nurse puts spells on us?" Hotaru began and Natsume nodded
"We cannot break free from those spells unless..." Hotaru smirked "...We dispel them"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You tried to dispel your restriction seal when you were suspended on a suspension chamber, and it took you a week to recover from the need of strong magical energy" Natsume pointed out once again
"That restriction seal was as strong as the barrier's magic circle, what do you think of me; a full-time dispeller?" Hotaru spat
"Then how strong is the restriction power of the spells during the check-ups?" Natsume asked
"As strong as a toothpick" Hotaru chuckled to herself "With a hint of iron on it of course"
"Har dee har har" Natsume faked his laugh "Just because I failed to break free from those once, doesn't mean I'm that weak"
"No matter, after we break free from it, we move outside, alright? " Hotaru instructed and the red-eyed vampire nodded
"When we reach outside, I'll dispel the magic circle" Hotaru explained and turned to Natsume, "And if I faint, kindly bring me along with you monsters, kay?"
Natsume rolled his eyes and laughed, "Fine"
Hotaru smiled, her plan was now spread to her comrades. She climbed on the window sill and motioned to jump off, just then, she turned to Natsume:
"Oh, and don't be late tomorrow, and make sure you get the guards"
"Just get out of here already!"
Hello guys, it's us again! We're back and probably even better than before. First of all, we would like to thank you guys for reading EZ 2: Living in Darkness. It's really a pleasure writing for you guys, we wuve you. _
And secondly, MOONLIGHT STUDIOS has a new member, from Deviantart: Vocaend. She's helping us in EnD ZoNe 2. And we've got our website on too, you can track our upcoming projects from there. Oh, and sympathize for D.N by the way, he's exhausted from our work, I mean, we do vacation and work at the same time. It's kind of tiring. Anyway, the story will be updated weekly, unless I eat something weird and find the urge to update twice a week. Stay tuned folks! - Lunata, D.N and Vocaend