Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice

Chapter 1

Many years after Mikan and her friends graduated from Alice Academy, the school entered into a time of peace. The school experienced nothing more than the occasional troublemaker, and it was full of exceptional students. The rules still being relatively the same, everyone was vying for the Honor Student Award, a chance to see their parents.

One of these exceptional students was a young middle school boy. His real name was so strange that people just called him "Ed", for education, because he loved studying.

It was because he loved studying that got him the Honor Award. Along with the award he got to pick two teachers to accompany him in case he decided to slip something outside of his household. They were his chemistry teacher and his math teacher.

Ed smiled as they made their way to the fancy, government-looking car, waiting to bring him to his family, "Thank you so much for this opportunity! I never imagined I'd actually complete my goal in winning this award!"

His chemistry teacher smiled proudly at him, "Well out of all the students, you deserved it the most. I've never seen such a dedicated student!"

His math teacher wasn't much of a casual talker outside of lectures, so he just stared at the back of his seat, quiet.

Ed was singing a little tune of happiness to himself before reaching into his backpack to pull out a book. They were turning around the corner that ended the school gates.

Right as his eyes left the window to his backpack, he got the gist of a younger girl on the street.

His eyes locked on the girl, wide. He elbowed his chemistry teacher, "There's an unconscious girl out there…"

Too busy joking with his math teacher, who barely even acknowledged him, his chemistry teacher didn't feel his elbow. Ed raised his voice, "There's an unconscious girl out there!"

His chemistry teacher immediately stopped his hysterical laughter, "What? What's going on, Ed?"

Ed pointed out the window at the girl, who was getting pretty small at that point, "That girl is unconscious…."

"What girl? All I see is a speck of a person now, Ed."

His math teacher's ears perked in interest. The talk of a person outside that car or outside the academy or Ed's family was something he wanted to avoid, "You aren't thinking of stopping this car, Ed." His voice had a natural, low tone.

Ed gulped, "We can't leave an unconscious girl out there… She looked young…"

His math teacher narrowed his eyes, "It's too risky to stop this car at any time, do you understand? Not even for an unconscious girl we can't even see any more."

That's not right… Every bone in Ed's body wanted to break out of that car and save the girl. He raised his voice again, "We need to save that girl… It's not right to keep going!"

His chemistry teacher put his hand on Ed's shoulder, "This is a bigger ordeal than you think, Ed. We have to take extreme safety measures when any student leaves the campus. I'm sorry."

My parents won't care once they know my reasons… Ed could feel his blood-pleasure rising after he heard his chemistry teacher take anything but chemistry seriously. It was a rare occasion, "We need to stop this car!"

His voice was way to harsh for any adult to take, "Ed, we will turn back if you stop this car, you understand?" his math teacher's voice had an angry undertone. His chemistry teacher nodded with him.

Ed was getting so passionate about this that he felt tears in his eyes, "We're going to stop this car… You can't stop me... You can't stop me from saving someone else's life… I can't take it…"

Knowing that Ed isn't one to relent, his chemistry teacher ordered the driver, "Stop by the corner closest to the school. There's an injured girl there."

His math teacher glared at his chemistry teacher harshly, "What do you think you're…"

His chemistry teacher smiled and said nothing.

The driver turned around without question and after the minute it took for him to reach the curve, Ed pushed the car open faster than one could think possible.

His eyes were wide with pity when he looked down on her face, paler than any face should be, "What happened to you?.."

He had a sick feeling in his stomach when her face also revealed that she was significantly younger than him, no more than ten. He bent down to feel her neck for a pulse.

It took a second but he found a faint pulse. The girl was still alive.

He picked her up bridal style and ran back to the car and set the girl carefully into the car.

The teachers were so shocked at what he was doing that the math teacher was at a loss for words and the chemistry teacher was having trouble, "What do… you think you're… doing Ed?"

Ed's voice was low, tears still lingering in his eyes, "We're taking this girl into the school for treatment. She's still alive, but barely."

The math teacher was furious, "You are not! We don't just accept any child into this school! You understand that Ed?!"

The math teacher was about to take the girl from Ed's hands, but the chemistry teacher put an arm in front of him, "Let's trust Ed's judgment, shouldn't we? It's way more risky than I'd ever imagine of doing, but Ed's a smart kid."

"We shouldn't be trusting a child! He doesn't know the significance of this!"

"Normally I would agree with you, but I know Ed will never relent once his mind gets like this," his chemistry teacher smiled, "he's always made the best decisions in class when he was passionate about something."

HIs math teacher growled, "Fine, I agree with you. He's shown me that trait as well, but I'll be keeping my eye on this girl."

The chemistry teacher smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way.

…..

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The heart monitor beeped consistently in the school's medical building. The girl was resting on a bed with various wires and a tube connected to her.

One of the school doctors diagnosed her with severe malnutrition, and those wires were connected to her heart monitor as well as monitors that calculated her blood sugar at a regular rate. The tube was a feeding tube that constantly gave her the body nutrients it needed to function.

The doctor remarked to anyone willing to hear that if Ed didn't save that girl then, her malnutrition would of killed her.

Sadly none of the teachers allowed Ed to see her, as it was part of his punishment for bringing a strange child into the school.

The girl was starting to stir on her bed. She sat up slowly, looking around the room, "What kind of place is this?..." she stared at her heart monitor, "I've never seen equipment like this before…"

Her voice was soft and quiet, barely above a whisper.

The girl tried to shrug her wires off, not knowing what they did, and tried to walk around the room. Due to Dangerous Ability type students sometimes being targeted by bad people, the medical building had alarms installed if any medical equipment was messed with without supervision.

The alarm sounded like a fire alarm, loud and booming.

"Wahhh!" she flinched and hid under her bed, curled up into a ball and shivering.

"What's this creepy sound?..." she groaned into her hospital clothes.

The doctor slammed the door open, "What's going on here?!"

The girl was already well beyond crying, and any normal person could hear her whimpering.

But… This doctor was not normal…

Not in the slightest.

Not only was he a little strange in the head, but he was well into his hearing loss.

Honestly, the only thing he could really hear was the alarm.

It's surprising that he got his job in the first place…

He bent down to where some of the removed wires were, "My precious wires…" he screeched like something just died.

Oh yeah… He got the job because he's really passionate about anything medical… Just like Ed's chemistry teacher…

"Who's here?..." the girl whispered quietly to herself.

She started to crawl out from under the table towards the doctor's voice, but she accidentally yanked off the wire that connected her to her heart monitor, causing it to go into a straight line.

The doctor, who was still moping over his precious wires, glanced at his precious heart monitor and noticed its change.

He had a panic attack, "There's no way… There's no way that girl could of died! I did everything right! Didn't I?.."

He did a high-pitch scream and sat in a corner, trembling, "I have failed as a doctor by letting this girl die…" he mumbled to himself, "No… I have failed as a person…"

The girl was almost completely out from under the bed and saw the doctor moping to himself. She shrugged off the rest of her wires leaving only the feeding tube left, which was uncomfortably tugging against her stomach, "Why won't this come off?..." she gowned softly.

The doctor, tears in his eyes, saw the girl walking towards him, he screeched, "S-she's alive! She must have come back from the dead to haunt me!"

The girl reached out to touch him, barely able to get her words out, "H-haunt you?"

The doctor couldn't hear her, "G-get away from me! I'll do whatever you want, just get away from me!"

The girl backed away at the doctor's reaction to her, her eyes wide, "W-what did I do to you?..."

The doctor still couldn't hear her, and the concerned girl wanted to reach out and touch him again, but was afraid to.

In the middle of this little stand off, Misaki, the elementary school biology teacher, who had streaks of white in his hair now, burst through the door, "Narumi!"

Both the doctor's and the girl's hair stood on end while they screeched, "Wahahhhhhhhhh!"

They landed on their backs after their scream, and Misaki looked at them, both weirdly and with concern, "Sorry, Narumi took one of my bean whips again and I've been searching for him all morning. Do you need any help?"

The girl was still stunned and the doctor was still convinced the girl was a ghost, "Get away from her Misaki… She'll haunt you!"

Misaki shook his head, bent down to the girl and sighed, "She isn't a ghost, Ishi," he grabbed the girl's wrist and she flinched at his touch, "her heart monitor wire just came off."

Misaki was speaking louder than normal, so the doctor could mostly hear him, "Really, Misaki?"

Misaki smiled warmly at him, "Of course."

The doctor had tears of joy coming down his face, "Thank goodness! I'm not a horrible doctor after all, huh?"

Misaki's smile grew tight, "Well that's pushing it some, but you're not bad… Just let me know if you have a panic attack like that again…"

The doctor couldn't really hear him, so he did a little joyful dance before removing the girl's feeding tube and forcing them out of his room because he had other people to tend to.

The girl was so shocked that Misaki was scared she would be mentally scared, "W-why did he do that…" the girl's voice was so soft, no normal person could hear it.

Misaki tried looking at her in the eyes, but she looked away immediately, "What?"

The girl blushed shyly and looked away, refusing to ask her question again.

I've never been around this many people before… Her thoughts made her squirm uncomfortably as they walked.

Misaki sighed and wondered; that middle school kid is going to be the next Narumi, isn't he… He looked away from the girl to try and ease her discomfort, "How about I take you to the office building? We need to decide what we're going to do with you."

The girl still looked away.

Sighing again and waiting for a few minutes, he asked her what her name was, "What's your name?"

The girl squirmed again, but answered softly, "Ami…"

Feeling accomplished enough at getting her to tell him her name; Misaki didn't ask any more questions, leaving them to walk in silence until they got to the office building.

…..

Misaki dropped Ami off in a waiting room before going off on his search to find Narumi again, leaving her to herself.

Finding her old clothes set on a nearby table, Ami innocently started to change out in the open, not knowing that it was improper, something that was normally kept private.

A boy around her age, Koga Ekitai, walked into the room; he was told to go there because he made one to many disruptions during his Alice history class.

Ami was in the middle of putting on her shirt when he walked in. She stopped but looked at him innocently, not embarrassed in the slightest.

Koga froze and his face turned beat red, "Why are you changing out here?! There's a bathroom just down the hall!"

Ami rarely came across bathrooms she could actually use, and changing where she wanted was something she thought everyone did. She curled into a ball to cover herself, not because she was embarrassed, but because she was scared of Koga's yelling.

Ami was already starting to cry. She didn't know how to handle this.

Koga's blush eventually started to fade and he sighed, "You really think it's okay to change out here?... You're weird…"

Ami looked up at his face for a second before realizing it was not the smartest idea for her, "Weird… What's 'weird'?…"

Koga couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You don't know what weird means?" he raised an eyebrow, "you need help…"

Ami didn't know why he was getting on to her, but she felt bad anyway, "Sorry if… If I offended you…"

Like always, she spoke so softly that no normal person can hear her, "What did you say?" Koga's voice came out sharper than he intended.

Ami flinched at his loud voice, and started crying again.

"What did I do?!" he spoke, panicked with her crying, "Go ahead and change if you need to, just stop crying!"

His loud voice only made her cry more.

He put his hands in his hair in frustration, "Uggghhhh! How am I supposed to handle this?!"

Ami was breathing heavily from her crying and was leaning against the wall in a ball again. Koga, trying to calm himself down, tossed her the rest of her clothes, "Go and change. I'll turn away."

Realizing his voice was slightly softer; Ami nodded and finished changing into her clothes, not realizing why he needed to turn away.

They sat in silence until a teacher came in a few minutes later, "Are you the girl Ed Manabi brought here?" she directed her question at Ami.

Ami was uncomfortable with having to meet even more people, she didn't do anything but look away. She didn't know who Ed was.

Koga stared at her strangely; Ed Manabi is a student here… How can a student bring a girl here?...

"Are you the girl that Ed Manabi brought here?" the teacher asked again, harsher that time.

Ami whispered in reply, "I don't know who Ed is…"

The teacher didn't hear her; she asked her question one more time, "Are you the girl Ed Manabi brought here?!"

Ami clearly flinched and tried to get away, but Koga wouldn't let her, "Do you want to get in trouble?" he whispered harshly.

"Get in trouble?..." she whispered back.

The teacher narrowed her eyes, "I'm assuming by your clothes the you're the girl. We set them here assuming any teacher who found you would take you here."

Ami was looking to the floor.

"I need to ask you a question before we tell you what we've decided for you, " the teacher started, "Why were you unconscious outside our school?"

Ami still looked to the floor.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?!"

Ami did a little scream and put her face to the couch. Koga sighed, "She doesn't react well to loud noises or aggression. She'll probably answer if you ask with a softer tone."

The teacher did a small glare at Koga before softening her voice, "Do you know why you were unconscious?"

Ami still kept her voice soft, but the teacher could barely hear her answer, "No food… I guess…"

"So your doctor was accurate with his diagnosis?"

Her eyes never left the floor, "Yes… But I don't know what 'diagnosis' means…"

The teacher growled under her breath, "Never mind, I assume he was."

She moved on, "We've decided to allow you to take an entrance exam. It decides if we allow you to stay here, or force you back onto the streets."

Ami flinched when she said "force you back onto the streets."

"But… I can't read or write…" her voice was barely above a whisper.

The teacher, close enough to Ami that she could hear a whisper, replied letting her harsh tone return, "Trust me, you don't need to know how to read and write to pass this test. It's all about luck."

I hope his decision wasn't a mistake.