Interwinding Destiny

~Chapter 3~

While the world sleeps

destiny plans it's

next step to take

~Unknown

A week passed in the blink of an eye as all Mikan could think about was the letter. However today she was finally going to do it. Today is the day Mikan plans to sneak into the castle! After dinner and a bit of worrying follow by regret regarding her grandpa she decided to follow along with the plan and go off to the castle. After all she did ask Miyu to tell her grandpa as well as help her look after him.

"Hmm..disguise...check, night vision goggles...check, water gun...check, extra...clothing check, camera...check, note for grandpa...check" she thought out loud as she took a hold of her bag. Mikan was dressed in a black sleeve less shirt with a knot tied on the bottom, black skinny jeans, and black converse along with her silky amber hair tied in a high ponytail. She even added a bit of the things from her disguise make up session with Miyu. Which includes black mascara, eyeliner, and a darker skin tone so she would fit into the dark.

Now that everything's set, the plan is in session. Mikan took a hold of her room's door knob and gently twisted it so that she won't wake her grandpa up. She tip toed to the front door and quietly slipped out of the house while locking the door behind her. A cold sweat fell when she heard a sound behind her only to discover it was a cat and her kittens. She smiled at the adorable animals as she walked out the gates and onto the empty roads of midnight.

"Okay. I have 5 hours to get to the castle and mix in with the maids and not be discovered" she said to herself taking in a deep breath and then letting it out. "Let's do this!" She cheered as she started to walk.

"Okay can you go to the front the guy is in need of a bathroom break." A guard called out to another guard who immediately followed his order.

Taking her chance Mikan through a pebble which landed in the woods surrounding the castle. The guard who immediately caught the noise rushed off in hopes of catching a rebel, leaving the back entrance open for Mikan. Mikan rushed into the entrance not wasting a second while she's at it. Once she was inside she had a quick celebration as she started to walk through the long, dark, empty halls of the castle. Careful not to make a sound Mikan softly tiptoed along the dark halls noting that this part of the castle look like a scene out of a horror movie mixed combined with Disney fairytale castles.

It had been almost 15 minutes since Mikan stepped on to palace grounds. Mikan was hopelessly lost even with the mapped out diagram of the beautiful home of the royal family. Mikan started to think that it was going smoothly based on the facts that, she still haven't been caught and had sometime before morning to find the maids headquarters and blend in. But all those thoughts drained when she heard a rough voice call out "You there! Stop this Instant!"

Mikan stopes in her place, she felt shivers run up her spine as images of her life flashes before her 'I'm to young to die!' She thought.

A man dressed in a blue and white guard's uniform ran up to her giving her a glance before he spoke in a tone quite gentle to mikan's surprise "Pardon my rudeness miss but all contestants in the princess selections are to remain in their guest room until called out..."

"Princesses selections?" She questioned out loud a bit confused but went along with it anyways "R-right umm...I'm sorry I got lost going to the umm...BATHROOM...right bathroom" she then gave the guard a nervous smile.

The guard gave a suspicious glance before answering politely "Okay very well then, I'll escort you back to your room" he then gestured Mikan to follow him.

"Thank you but I umm don't know where my room is..." Mikan answered nervously before politely giving a slight bow and following after him.

"It's quite alright the room are only temporary for all the contestants since it only till tomorrow which is the start of the competition" the guard answered giving a slight smile as he held open a room's door for her.

"Thank you" Mikan smiled as she bed the guard her farewells before walking into the room and closing the door.

'What an odd miss...oh well she seems nice, not to mention pretty...' The guard thought before walking away.

"Well my plan backfired on me...uhh I was so careful..but oh well at least this is another way I can stay in the castle" Mikan sighed as she fell on her bed and drifted off to sleep

~;~

"Next!" A loud voice called out from behind 2 slightly opened beautifully carved doors. The first princess selection contestant had just exited the now closed interview room.

"Hey!" A girl with long flowing pink hair and blue crystal like orbs for eyes friendly greeted Mikan.

"Hi" Mikan greeted back giving a smile of her own.

"I'm Anna Umenomiya, you can call me Anna" the pink haired girl said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Anna I'm Mikan, Mikan Sakura...and of course you can call me Mikan!" Mikan cheerfully said smiling at the fact that this could be her first friend here.

"Nice to meet you Mikan umm I was umm kinda wondering if you would want to come and sit with my best friend, Nonoko and I, you look kinda lonely" she said gesturing to a girl the same age as them with silky blue hair and matching blue eyes.

"I would love to!" Mikan exclaimed as she followed the girl.

"Nonoko meet Mikan, Mikan meet Nonoko" Anna said introducing the two.

"Umm hi" Nonoko greeted with a shy smile.

"Hi!" Mikan cheered giving a heart warming smile.

"So Mikan do you have an Alice?" Anna questioned her eyes filled with excitement "I'm a cooking Alice while Nonoko here has a chemical Alice"

The burnet hesitated for a second before answering "No I don't have an Alice..I wish I did though life seems so interesting with it!" The burnet answered with a sad smile as the question had lead her to think about the letter.

"It's okay I'm sure that being a non-alice life would be much fun because you get to go to normal schools instead of the crazy schools for alice" Anna commented before continuing "well anyways, so what do you see in the prince that you tried out for this computational selection pageant?"

"uhh...umm I was forced by my grandpa...?" Mikan answered with a nervous lauph trying to hide behind the lie.

"Really?" Nonoko asked quite surprised "We were kind of forced into it counting the facts that our fathers are noble men so it being the prince and all we had to come...though I never actually meet the prince, he was said to be drop-dead-gorgeous" Nonoko added dramatically and give a giggle at her only dramatic moment.

Mikan snickered "wow noble men that must be nic-" before Mikan could finish her sentence a loud voice cut her off "Miss Mikan Sakura!" the voice echoed through the grand hall.

Soon after Mikan stood up and turned to face her friends with a smile and said "that's my cue" she waved to Anna and Nonoko before she walked towards the large Oak door. She took a deep breath in before letting it out in front of the doors.

'Okay Mikan this is your chance to stay in the castle now go in there and make the best first impression there can be!'

Mikan paced a smile on her face as she pushed the heavy doors open.

~;~

A/N: Okay another chapter done! I didn't even realize I wrote this much cause I wrote most of the on my phone. Thanks so much for reading and remember to FAVORITE, FOLLOW AND REVIEW! I'm going to be starting high school in 2 more days so I won't be on as often but I be sure to upload and write when I have free time...I love you all and thanks so much for all the great reviews you guys made my day.