Hey! Oh my goodness it's been a while. Okay, so this is my new story. I probably won't be working on my other one since I'm so busy with this. Okay, well, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER FOR ALL MY CHAPTERS: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

Chapter I: Welcome to Dengris! (Caution: Carry A Gun At All Times.)

He looked down at me, with passive eyes that seemed to haunt me all my life. He raised his outstretched arm. Through the darkness of the night, I could make out a slight twinkle below his fist.

A knife.

"This is for your own good."

Close. Please close. But my eyes wouldn't budge. They remained wide open as he brought his weapon further and further down to the ground, straight towards me. My whole body went stiff. The seconds that passed felt like years that belonged to a hundred-year old child.

Who?

The corner of his lips made the slightest movement upwards, and he plunged the knife deep into his heart.

Who are you?

The man slumped to the wooden ground, his name spilling all around him in red. He became still as I slowly inched away when the impact of his fall made me regain some feeling in my legs. I tried to escape his blood, which reached and reached for me despite the distance I managed to make. When I felt a steel post hit my back, I knew it was the farthest I could go.

But it wasn't far enough from him.

When I felt the cold strike of the string of blood creeping beneath my toes, I screamed.

Who?

Who are you?

Why did you kill me?

Load. Cock.

I tilted my head to the right, feeling a whoosh of hot air pass my left ear. I slowly fluttered my eyes open, using my finger to sweep away the eye boogers that tried to glue it shut. "Mm…Hotaru?"

"Wake up, idiot." She stood to the side of my bed, pointing a gun at me. She tucked it between the waistline of her pants as soon as I reluctantly sat up and stretched.

"What time is it?" I asked while yawning.

"Get your lazy ass out of bed. You're late again."

"Oh…really?" I hugged my blanket and nuzzled into my lap. "Then, forty more minutes."

The menacing sound of her cocking her gun again infiltrated my ears. Knowing she's serious, I straightened my neck with an alarmed push.

"Okay, okay! Good morning to you too." I looked at her, then to the gun that was being held between her fingers, and I crossed my arms. "Do you hate me?"

She looked down at me, putting on an isn't it obvious? Oh right, you're Mikan face. "Yes, more than you could imagine."

I brushed her answer off and pretended she said of course not. "Why on earth do you shoot real bullets to wake me up?"

"Would rather it be fake, then?"

"What? No, Hotaru! All I'm saying is that a simple 'wake up, dear Mikan!' would've worked," I said through one, deep sigh.

"Not on you."

I jabbed my finger into her abdomen. "You know, you're going to kill me one of these days."

"Well, you're alive now," she said as she softly slapped my hand away and threw me my everyday outfit; a white tank and jeans that only reached the middle of my kneecap. "Hurry and change."

Hotaru strided out of the room no more than a second later. Her long, violet hued hair swayed gracefully behind her, making me reminisce of the time when it used to be extremely short.

And she said she was never going to let her hair reach beyond her shoulders.

I had to manipulate the blankets before I could get my feet out of the tangled mess. When I planted myself on top of the cold and hard concrete floor, it sent unbelievably piercing chills up my spine.

To others, being in an un-heated place in Antarctica with nothing but a few layers of thin clothing and no shoes to walk around in, would probably mean you've deserved to worst kind of punishment that Mother Earth could give you.

But to me, it meant that I was home.

This is a facility called Dengris, an underground cave. It's smack in the middle of nowhere in one of the world's coldest continent. No one knows where we are-wait, scratch that-no one knows where we're hidden. The thing about Dengris; it's not normal. I'm cutting through all the useless explanation and just come out with it; we are killers-in-progress. You see, the world's balance is very fragile. It can be broken with a pair of evil hands. Dengris was built for the specific reason to hunt any corrupt minds down and stop them from doing anything, well, bad. Referring to 'we', there's 197 more kids ranging from ages three to eighteen other than me. This place raised and trains us ever since our adolescent years. And because of that, we are specialized, experts, and conceivably knowledgeable in the art of saving human society. We can handle weapons and machines better than the best, and we do things that no child should even have to know about. Sometimes, when I see tiny 5 year olds pulling a trigger to a man's head, I'm so thankful that they're on my side.

Is that a good thing? Is it bad to kill someone just because of their stupid mistakes? Sometimes I have conflictions within my head about this. But, I remind myself that peace is good, and we strive for peace here. So we're kinda like superheroes. Just in a weird, ironic way.

As for me, I've been in here for as long as I can recall. Well, for as long as the six-year old me can recall. Ten years ago, I was found at Dengris's front door. Frostbitten all over my body, dangerously skinny, and my eyes held a look that a child shouldn't hold, even the ones in Dengris. You can say that if anyone saw my appearance, they would think that I'm a living dead trampling on Earth. Luckily enough, a teacher named Narumi took me in as soon as he found me, and nurtured me back to health. I liked him right away because I can tell that he didn't care out of pity, but merely out of his generosity. Days later when I was stable enough to start speaking, we began interrogation. He asked the most simplest questions.

"Where'd you come from?"

"What happened to you?"

"Do you remember anything?"

"Who are you?"

I couldn't answer a single one of them. The last thing I knew was looking up at the iced, metal door of Dengris before they found me.

When the other adults who help run Dengris saw that I held no bit of information within my limited knowledge whatsoever, they all decided to send me away to the hands of Antarctica once more. But Narumi fought for my sake. He was the only one, too. He told them that I had probably been living outside for a couple of years, referring back to the damage my body had before he took me in.

"Anyone who's been outside for that length of time and still be breathing has more than what the other students have. She can be helpful, amazing, if she gets training."

And, before I could've comprehended, I had stumbled into my home for the upcoming years. And I didn't mind, I loved it here.

I live in the girl's dorm, room number 402178. I share it with fourteen other girls, all mostly fifteen through seventeen. One of them is Hotaru.

She's sixteen, like me, and she's my best friend. On my first day handling guns, she was my partner. I think we were around nine. Our goal was to see who can hit the middle of the target board the closest. Hotaru, not mentioning the fact that she was only nine, amazingly managed to get all three of her bullets through the bull's eye area. When it was my turn, my second shot reflected off a bullet-proof window and grazed her porcelain skinned cheek. It was just a bit, okay? Maybe that's why the first thing I see every morning now is the frightening darkness of a muzzle.

But we did become friends anyways. Later along my other mistakes in other fields of training and her constant blackmailling, we became best friends. Sisters, basically.

The agonizing cold attacked my skin rapidly after I took my night shirt off. Something about my immune system isn't right, because even now the weather still gets to me. I tried to change quickly after I felt the goosebumps trickling along my arm, my chest, and the insides of my stomach. I threw my it on top of my now made-up bed, and grabbed the shirt Hotaru gave me. Examining it first to make sure she didn't screw with it, I slipped my tank top over my self. I did the same with my bottom half.

After folding my used clothes neatly and laying them next to my pillow (that now has a sizzling hole thanks to her), I squatted and reached under my bed for a cardboard box. I pulled it out as carefully as I can, but also as fast because, judging from the other empty beds in the room, I'm running low on time.

Inside the box were probably the two most precious items I could ever have in possession.

A necklace and a gun.

I snatched my Glock G26 and tucked it in the same way Hotaru did. I played with it a little until I could tell that it was in the easiest position for me to take it out quickly, and it felt comfortable where it was.

Then, I seized the necklace by the two laces, and tied it behind my back of my neck, brushing away my hair so it won't get caught in the knot. Other than the sack of rice that was shabbily draped on on my naked body, I have been wearing this ever since my first steps into the gates of Dengris. I have no idea where I got it from, but of one thing I am certain of; I don't feel correct without it. Nor do I feel as complete. This necklace has been with me from the very beginning, and I'm making sure that it'll stay until the end.

Once I was done, I held the emerald crystal that hung ever so normally in the middle of my collar bones close to my mouth cited a silent prayer that always watched over me throughout my days.

Protect me, and I'll protect you.

I let go once I kissed the tip of the jewel and slid the box under again. I made a quick dash to the dorm mirror, which was placed next to the exit door. I tied my hair in the usual ponytail. I used to do pigtails. Now, I don't.

Satisfied with my appearance, I ran out and made my way to where every was. Training.

"Mikan! Mikan! Over here."

I peeked through the double doors and searched for inviting voice. Once I spotted him standing in the back of a line not too far from me, I silently let myself in, cautious not to swing the door open hard so I won't interrupt the leader's speech that was being carried out at the moment. I gave a look of pleading to those who caught me sneaking in late.

"Thanks, Ruka," I whispered when I lined up behind him. "And morning."

Ruka Nogi. He's a good friend of mine. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed; a prince in flesh is what you'd call him. About seventeen. I don't know what's going on between him and Hotaru, but lately these days, I sense a different vibe coming off from them. It's nothing serious, but everytime I catch them in a closed room making out, I get the feeling that they're more than friends.

"Good morning," he smiled. "Hotaru tried shooting you awake again?"

"Not tried. Did."

He chuckled. "So you need a new pillow now?"

I scoffed. "When did I ever not need one?"

He was about to say something, but the annoyed hush of the students around us prevented him. We squared our shoulders and faced forward.

"—And that means we're going to have to step it up a notch," Kuonji said into the microphone. He's one of the people who run Dengris. Even though he's like—what, from the ice age?—his body takes the form of an elementary school brat. What I've heard is that he had a little setback while he was battling someone a few years back. No one knows for sure, but that's only because not of us have the courage to ask Kuonji about it. He's a bit creepy. When he examines students while they're drawing each other's blood out with punches or kicks, he gets this weird look in his eye. Not in a sick way, but more along the lines of twisted. It's like he watches so intently it makes me think that he wants the students to kill themselves.

He stood at the very front, on top of a natural pedestal made out of pure granite. The adults near him quietly stood on each of his sides with their hands neatly tucked behind their backs. To his left, five people down, was Narumi. He gave me a shake of his head and eyed me angrily. So, he saw me come in late?

I clasped my palms against each other and held them up to my forehead, mentally apologizing. Narumi sighed, and resumed scanning the crowd of any informalities.

Here, is the central cavern of Dengris, where most of the morning broadcasts takes place. It's enough to fit five times than what it holds now, so yeah, it's pretty damn huge. It's not so much of a four-walled space, but more like half of a dome. It's ceilings and sides are filled with jagged rocks sharp enough to puncture through your ribs. The inside is moist and wet, but it's not nearly as cold as the other areas around. It's the warmest within a thirty kilometer mark.

Everyday, students are to meet up here and, according to age, file up until we're dismissed. Each long row of kids is separated by a deep abyss. The narrow platform I'm standing on is around three feet wide, with no railing to support me if I accidentally fell. Dengris thinks that this will limit the anyone from making any foolish mistakes or actions. If it's anything we evade at all costs here, it's pointless deaths.

The head of this cavern is possibly the most safest; that's where all the teachers are at. It's a stage that stands 37 feet high above us. The only way to get up their is to rock climb. That's dangerous enough because you're not allowed to have any harness assist you. How the teachers do it everyday, even the women, still boggles me, but I've figured that they've been doing it all their teaching career.

"Today, instead of doing the usual, you are to be served breakfast first. You will have one hour until you're all dispatched and sent back to training," Kuonji's voice boomed throughout the cave.

Ruka nudged my stomach with his elbow. "That's weird," he murmured to me. "It's only five. We usually have breakfast later."

"Yeah, like twelve hours later," I answered.

"Children three to seven, ropes. Eight to twelve, weaponry. Thirteen and fourteen spar. Anyone remaining hunt. The range this time is 25 miles within our region. Anything with meat, bring back dead and skinned. You will be working in groups of five together today," said Kuonji. Immediately, everyone broke out is soft voices.

It wasn't normal we'd go hunting in with others. On a regular basis, we hunt by ourselves and hope other students haven't caught all the game yet.

Jinno, the grumpy man next to Narumi, clapped his hands once. The immense impact of it hushed the kids in a clean motion. "Who said you were permitted to talk?" he questioned in a rude manner.

Everyone straightened their spines and let quietness invade the room again.

Kuonji cleared his throat. "Those aforementioned assemble here again to be put in your groups."

And with two steps down the pedestal, we were dismissed.

Well, I know crappy ending, but I cut this chapter in half cause I hated how long it was. The next one is a continuation of this, so chill. Anyways, thanks for reading and tell me what you think!(:

Stay smexy!