Mikan the Alice
Chapter 3: The Peace Jokers
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.
Mikan's P.O.V.
I grunted and winced as I tumbled down the Rabbit Hole' wall. Suddenly, I gave to a hard stop as I fell head first onto the hard, muddy dirt. I groaned and looked at myself, checking for bruises. There were many. I tried not to scream every time I touched a sore spot. When I knew where almost every bruise was, I looked up. I could see the clear blue sky, calling me. I reached up and grabbed a piece of the dirt wall. I tried to stand up, but my legs failed me and I fell back down. I tried this many times, but it's always the same result. Me, landing on my butt.
And then, another figure landed, but more swiftly, right beside me. He chuckled at my bad attempt of trying to stand up. "Knocked your head so hard on that landing that you even forgot how to stand up?" he asked with a cocky smile. I scowled at him and tried to stand up one more time, but I still fell back down. He laughed again. This time, I got really mad.
"Stop laughing at me and help me up here! My legs have lost feeling and I got bruises everywhere! At least help! Geez, you're no-hyaaaaah!" I screamed as he picked me up bridal style. "Wha-What the heck?! Why a-are you c-carrying m-m-me?!" I shouted while thumping my fists on his chest.
"Well, you said to at least help you so here I am helping you." He flashed me another one of his irritating grins. My entire face heated up.
"I didn't mean to carry me like I'm your bride or something!" I got flustered and pushed myself away from him, thus, causing me to kiss the ground. "Ow." Rabbit just snorted and walked ahead of me.
"Follow me if you want to live." said his disappearing figure. I clumsily crawled my way to him, but I was still too slow. He was still at least two meters away from me. "That's actually a good distance away from a jerk like him." I pouted and continued crawling.
Finally, he stopped, but I didn't notice and banged into the back of his tall and slender legs. "Watch it." he said. I scowled even harder now. I made sure he couldn't see the tears swelling up in my eyes. He walked into a little cave and I had to follow. But when I made it in, I realized it was no ordinary hole. It was well lit of beautiful rainbow lights and filled with many furnitures. And other people too. They all turned to look at us once we walked in. Rabbit motioned his finger at me and said, "That's her." One of the people that were sitting on the table walked up to me. Suddenly, she gave me a kind smile. A real one. Not a one that tricks you into fake hospitality, (bet you can't guess where I got that idea from).
"Hello there! I'm Anna! And who are you?" she asked me. I blinked a few times before a broke into a big grin.
"Hello Anna! It's so nice to meet you! I'm Mikan!" I happily said. She smiled back at me and we shook hands.
"Wow Anna. It's so amazing how you can become friends with someone like that." Rabbit teased. My face was grim and angry.
"Be nice to her Ruka. This is her first time in this world so she's probably shocked or scared." said a boy with brown eyes, a dark shade of blonde hair, and glasses. He was quietly sipping tea until he heard Rabbit's insult. Then he turned to me and said, "Hi, I'm Yuu. Hope we can get along." Then he gave me a wide smile.
"Eh? Ruka? His name is Ruka? I thought it would be Usagi or something." I looked up at Ruka and he stuck his tongue out at me. I stuck mine's out right back at him.
A girl with dark blue haired put down her cup with a clink on her saucer and looked at me with wide eyes. "You think his name was Usagi? Well, I do agree with you that he looks like a rabbit, but his name is Ruka. Just Ruka. Oh and by the way, I am Nonoko." she finished, picked up her cup again and started drinking. I blinked at everyone that was in the little cave. Then I looked back at Ruka. That's when all my questions became one.
"Okay, what is happening?"
Ruka snickered at my question, but Anna shushed him. Then she looked back at me and said, "I know you are confused but don't be. We will protect you here in Wonderland." I cocked my head side ways.
"Wonderland? What's that?" I asked.
"This is Wonderland. Where it's supposed to be a place where all of the children's wildest dreams are alive here. But because of "that", it's been more like Warland." Yuu said and sipped his tea.
Anna continued, "What Yuu said was right ever since the new Red Queen and the new Black King was crowned, we've been in war ever since. It's horrible." Anna looked down at the ground and sighed sadly.
"But why? Why the fighting?" I asked. "Why is the king and the queen fighting?"
"I happen to know their childhood back story." said Nonoko. "It's said that ever since they have met, they hated, no, loathed each other. But they were in line for the crown and rule of their own kingdoms so the adults started to worry. 'Will they fight?' one asked. 'Will they bring war?' another questioned. But no one knew. They just had to hop that could get along before then, or they had enough sense to never have a war because of some foolish childhood hatred. But, as you can see, their hopes and prayers were all useless." Nonoko closed her eyes and sipped some more tea, meaning she was done.
Anna nodded. "So they're having a war over possession over everything. Including all the people. The Hearts, Spades, Clovers-" but she stopped when I put my hand in a stop sign.
"Why are you talking about cards all of a sudden?" I asked, thinking it was quite silly.
Ruka groaned and banged his head against the wall. Then he explained to me what Anna was talking about. "In Wonderland, there are titles for every single person. A King is well, a king. Same as for the Queens. But a Jack is for princes. Aces are for the princesses. The Heart, Spade, Clover, and Diamond are the citizens that are ruled by a King or Queen. Everyone has titles. If you aren't any of the above, you are known as a Joker. Like us." He motioned his hand at everyone in the room. "Jokers are recluses. They aren't ruled by anyone, therefore, taking care of themselves. And there are other titles too. Like for instance, Alice. That is a title name." I scratched my head.
"A...lice?" I confusedly asked. He just sighed again just pointed at Yuu. Yuu nodded.
"Now, we shall talk about who we are. We are the Peace Jokers. We want to stop the war against the black King and Red Queen. So, we referred to our world's prophecy. It said that to accomplish our task, we must find a mortal titled Alice, for she/he will bring great happiness to all of us. And we wish for everyone's happiness. In the prophecy, it also said that to determine if a mortal is Alice, they must go through the Seven Deadly Sins."
"The seven deadly sins? Isn't that just seven bad things?" I asked while Anna led me to her seat and poured me some tea. Yuu nodded.
"Yes, but the one I'm talking about is a trial. You must go through different trials that include the seven sins and no one has ever been able to get through it. Not even the Kings and Queens. But the prophecy said only the Alice can. And that is mostly what we can tell you now." Yuu finished and took a bite of a biscuit. I drank some more tea.
"So how does this relate to me exactly?" I questioned. Suddenly, everyone stood up as two figures walked into the room. They all stood and bowed down. I wasn't what to do, but so I won't get scolded by Ruka, I bowed down too. I looked up a bit and saw a beautiful girl with curly ice blue hair. With matching eyes and a matching dress. But her voice was the most beautiful part of her.
"Arise my friends." Everyone stopped bowing nad stood up straight. I tried to too, but my poor posture wasn't helping. I mentally slapped myself for not listening to mom when she said I was going to get a hunched back. I tried as best as I could and then ut my feet together. The girl looked at everyone, but her gaze froze on my own. She walked closer and I felt more scared every second. Then she asked me, "Who are you?"
I managed to stammer out, "I-I'm M-Mikan." I looked at the ground, ashamed of my shyness. She lifted my chin and my brown eyes met with her icy blue ones. She gave me a smile that made me feel so warm, even if her eyes did look like ice. She spoke again, but this time, to Ruka.
"So Ruka, you have finally brought her here. Do you really think she's the Alice?" she asked. Ruka nodded firmly.
"Yes your majesty. I think she has the ability to pass the Seven Deadly Sins." I gasped in my mind. "Me? The legendary and prophesied Alice? No, again, I'm just a poorly pastured village girl! I couldn't be a great person! And the Seven Deadly sins do not sound so delightful." I was about to shout this all out but the ice haired girl turned back to me.
"So Mikan, do you know who I am? And him?" She motioned to the boy standing beside her. I shook my head. She gave me another smile. "Don't worry. I'll introduce myself. I'm Nobara, the White Queen. I used to be like the Red Queen and Black King, high and mighty. But one day, the war broke out. The Red Queen and Black King wanted me to take sides, but I refused. They were so furious of my answer that they sent troops out to get me. But because of my loyal servant, Youchi here, I was able to escape down here. And meet the group of recluses, the Peace Jokers." She smiled at all the Peace Jokers. She continued.
"When they told me what their goal was, I was sure this was the type of people I should lead. So I decided to be the leader of the Peace Jokers with Youchi. And we both became Jokers. We try to recruit others, but they were all so engaged in the war. So we had only one more option, look for Alice. And so, we searched for children. All sorts of them. And led them in the hole. We put them in trial, but they always died in the first sin. It hurts me to see dying children, especially if they were innocent and still young. But we believe that you could be the Alice. Ruka has observed you for the past few years and will had came up with a conclusion that you were the perfect Alice." She concentrated hard on my eyes. I flinched a bit, but not enough movement to be seen. Then she continued.
"After finally seeking the chance, Ruka went to your world and dragged you in here. Sorry for that, but we need you. We need your help. Please, would you be willing to give up your life, to at least try to see if you are the Alice? The one who'll bring change? We promise that right after that is all fixed up, we will send you back home, bury the hole, and then seal it so no one could break it again." She stuck her hand out, meaning a deal, or not. I considered my options. Then I looked at her face. It showed all the signs of pleading. I sighed and asked her some last questions..
"This is to help stop the war so your world returns to normal right? And I can return home? And you'll seal the hole?" She nodded solemnly. I inhaled and then shook her ice cold hand. She smiled and looked at me right in my eyes.
"Thank you so much."
Red Queen's P.O.V.
"This is bad my Queen!" Sumire shouted. She ran to her Queens throne and showed her the mirror again. The mirror showed Mikan, a.k.a. Alice, shaking the White Queen's hand. The Queen's blood boiled. She ripped the throne's arms and then watched intently in the mirror. Afterwards, the image finally faded and only her own reflection glared back at her.
She breathed in and out, trying to calm herself, but no use. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "WHAT THE HELL?!" she started breaking objects in the room, but no one dared to calm her, for interfering will just cause them to die. When the Queen finally finished crashing the last vase, she panted and plopped down into her thrown.
Suddenly, her mad face became a smirking devil. "Sumire, come." Sumire timidly walked up to her Queen.
"Yes your highness?" she asked in a squeaky voice. Her Queen just smiled.
"You are one of the trials in the Seven Deadly Sins right?" Sumire nodded. The Red Queen just smiled more happily. "Listen closely, when, or if that girl gets to your trial, I want you to make it extra deadly. And the rest of you participants too." She smiled and excused her nodding servant. She picked her wine glass again and drank happily, dozing herself in the drowsy taste of the wine.
Black King's P.O.V.
"My king, do you understand?" Kitsuneme asked me. I nodded.
"So that girl may be the Alice?" Kitsuneme nodded. I rested my chin atop of my folded hands. I thought deeply, and then, he explained his plan to his servants that surrounded him.
"So, a few of you are in the Seven Deadly Sins trial yes?" Some servants nodded. "Good. Then just make your challenges harder and much more dangerous. Kill the girl. Don't let her be in the hands of those who call themselves the Peace Jokers." Everyone nodded and set to work, thinking about their plans and tactics. Meanwhile, the King was thinking of a few lines in his head.
Foolish child. You came to our world of horror, pain and tragedy. What did you expect? Happiness? Wonder? Well, that is not what you'll get. For you have angered the Red Queen and Black King, and now will die painfully.
A.N. Mikan is going to die? Or is she? Find out more in the next chapter! Reviews are appreciated!
