To the End of Our Days
prologue
The smell of incense fills her mind, so familiar, so fond, but strange nevertheless. She had lost track of time, ever since she leapt into the unknown. Time seemed to still in the void she and her brother resided in, but it still seemed to pass ever so slowly. She could feel herself ageing slowly, puberty taking its time in playing with her energy, leaving her dazed and a stranger to her own body.
Without any respite from her physical body, she retreated into her mental one, living in her memories, trying so hard to cling to something. At one point, the idea of clinging on to something other than her inventions was more that absurd. But here she was, scavenging for one last emotional hold she could cling to.
"Mother," she breathed, choking slightly on the thick air. "Father..."
Did they remember her now? Those times she spent reading in her mother's company, those times her father would pick her up and swing her around and she was flying, so free and happy and so innocent. And-
Probably not, she decided. Even her own memories of them had begun to fade. Perhaps this was the consequence of playing with the strings of time and fate.
She had tried, but none seemed to ground her, to turn the darkness she was left in into light. Her parents, her brother, the Gang, but none had worked. Not Nogi Ruka, but her.
Her star, her hope, her anchor. Sakura Mikan, no... Yukihira Mikan. Her hope would live in Mikan, and that was enough. It was a platonic sort of love she felt, but it was love, regardless, and she would rather have Mikan live than her.
The incense, she later realised, was the scent Hii-sama burned in the Himemiya, and the smoke, the explosion at the Door in the High School Division, and the scent, so faintly mixed with blood...
A sense of foreboding washed over her before she blacked out, the void swallowing her consciousness.
A/N: Hello, it's been awhile since I've contributed anything to the GA archives, so here I am, trying my hand at remaking and tying up the loose ends of the series. I think my plans may seem similar to other works in the archive, but I do not know for sure as I've not been lurking around for quite awhile. Regardless, enjoy.