Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.


Mikan woke up at midnight, panting heavily. She had a feeling that something was terribly, awfully wrong. She couldn't help her heart pounding quickly. She trusted her intuition, and it was never wrong. She went next door to check on Hotaru.

"Hotaru?"

"Mikan, get dressed."

Hotaru appeared fully dressed, to Mikan's surprise. She was dressed in full combat attire, in black from head to toe. She was wearing a bulletproof jacket, and one of her contraptions (probably night vision goggles) was strapped to her head. She looked ready to kill.

Mikan immediately ran back into her room. Adrenalin rushed through her veins. She managed to get changed into a black-long sleeved shirt and pants in about less than a minute, and grabbed a pair of dark sunglasses. Hotaru passed her a weapon, and they both ran out of the dorms.

"What's wrong?"

"The Academy's been attacked. It's the AAO."

The Anti-Alice Organization was renowned throughout the Alice world for their remarkable cruelty. They were currently at the large for the kidnapping of various Alice-wielders. They were currently suspected to be held at an unknown location, and tortured for information. It was rumoured that the leader, Z, wanted to gain control of Alice Academy for himself. The students would become no better than slaves, used for the Anti-Alice Organization's sinister purposes.

Outside, she saw a terrifying sight. Many Alice Academy students were battling the AAO, most of them fully grown and with Alices. However, the students were holding their own. Mikan saw Natsume using his Fire Alice to chase people out of the school, where someone with a Barrier Alice locked them out. Hotaru was firing her Baka Gun at everyone in sight, while Sumire was fighting tooth and nail, literally. She was transformed into her cat-dog form, and seemed to be doing quite well. Tsubasa and Misaki were fighting back to back. Tsubasa was controlling the shadows of the AAO officers while Misaki cloned herself and beat them up.

Suddenly, a black glove grabbed her neck and covered her mouth. She tried to scream for help, but the sound was muffled. Everyone else was busy fighting. She was on her own. Panicking, she kicked him free. Her attacker fell with a sickening crunch on the ground.

Mikan stared at her hand. Had she really done that? Resolve hardening, she ran off to find another AAO member to fight with. She reveled in the feeling of power she suddenly had. She was faster than them, and she was very, very strong. With one flick of her hand, they would be on the ground. She was doing great, for a girl that had never been trained nor fought in her life.

As quickly as it started, the battle was over. The AAO members that were still standing teleported away, but not before taking someone with them. The whole school was in uproar. Mikan pushed through the crowd to Hotaru.

"Who's been taken?" she asked, nervously.

Hotaru replied stoically, "Aoi, Hyuuga's sister."

To say that Mikan was shocked would have been an understatement. "What? Why would they want Aoi?"

Hotaru just stared at her like she was stupid. "Because they want Hyuuga."

It finally made sense to Mikan. The AAO had taken Aoi, because they wanted to lure Natsume to their hideout. She immediately caught sight of a flash of black hair and crimson eyes, and went after it.

"Natsume!"

"What?" he growled at her. He was in no mood to talk, his only sister had been abducted, for goodness's sake!

"Let's go rescue Aoi."

He looked at her, shocked. "You don't even know her!"

"On the contrary, I think I do."

"Fine. But other people are coming along. You're inexperienced and not into your full powers yet. You could be a disadvantage."

"Fine," Mikan sighed. Everything he said was true. But then why did it hurt so much?

But he surprised her by pulling on her arm and walking off to find Ruka, Hotaru, Tsubasa and Misaki. If he was going to go on a mission with this idiot, he'd better bring some more qualified people along.

"Does that mean I can come?" she asked, hopefully.

"Yes," he said, rather irritated. "Now stop asking every five seconds!"

Mikan didn't say another word, but inside, she was elated. Her bloodline was calling in a way she didn't understand, and she was ready to fight for her life if need be. Natsume noticed that her eyes were glowing golden, just like his were glowing even more than usual. His eyes were glowing a frightening colour of blood red, and his fists were clenched at his sides. Mikan could tell how angry he was, just by his expression. But what made him furious instead of merely angry, was the heat of the waves radiating from his body. Standing next to him was like being in an oven. She could just about feel herself getting baked.

"Turn down the heat please," she murmured, slightly sarcastic.

Surprisingly, he obliged, looking startled. He wasn't aware that he was emitting heat out into the atmosphere. They reached Ruka, Hotaru and the rest of them in a few seconds.

"We did it!" Koko shouted in triumph.

"It's not over yet," Natsume said, quietly. "Aoi."

Ruka looked at him, and nodded. "Let's go."

"I'll come," said Hotaru. Everyone looked at her in surprise. She glared at them all.

"I don't have to explain my decisions to you," she said, her tone colder than a glacier.

Tsubasa and Misaki were fighting about who should go on the mission to find Aoi.

"I should go! You went on the last one!" Misaki screamed, angrily.

"No, you went on the last one!" Tsubasa replied.

"Both of you, shut up! Tsubasa's coming, and that's that."

Tsubasa shot one last smug smirk at Misaki before joining the team. Misaki just glowered at him angrily. When he got back, there'd be hell to pay. Tsubasa looked at the team members, unsurprised. Ruka, Hotaru, Natsume, himself, and Mikan? What was she doing in the team? The girl hadn't even been on a mission before.

"I can help," Mikan argued. She knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Show me what you can do then," Tsubasa said. He wasn't trying to give Mikan a hard time, but this particular mission was dangerous. Anyone who thought infiltrating the AAO headquarters would be easy was just stupid. He focused his full shadow powers on Mikan, trying to control her shadow.

She looked back at him with blazing golden eyes, completely unaffected. "What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"What? Why don't my powers work?" Tsubasa sputtered.

"Nullification Alice."

He nodded in comprehension. So this was the famous Nullification Alice. It was extremely rare. "Welcome to the team."

"Thank you, Tsubasa-senpai!" She surprised him by enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug. He returned the hug.

"Instead of wasting time here, can we get on with the mission?" Natsume said, grumpily.

Ruka shot him a look. He could have said that anytime, why did he wait until Mikan was hugging Tsubasa? His best friend was jealous. He resisted the urge to laugh inwardly. Natsume glared at him. Ruka knew him too well, it was annoying.

"I know where Aoi is."

Everyone was dead silent. "Where?"

"She's in Tokyo, in the abandoned warehouse a few miles south of the Academy."

No one questioned him. Demons often had a sense of the location of other demons. This was especially strong if you were family, or had a strong sense of attachment to that particular person.

"Let's go," Hotaru said, impassive as usual. Just like that, everyone kick started into action. They immediately began to run in the direction of the warehouse. In about a minute, they were already there.

The AAO headquarters could not be this imposing, abandoned building. It looked as though no one had set foot there for about fifty years. It had been ravaged by a fire, and all that was left was an empty shell of a building.

"Natsume, are you sure it's here?"

"It's a portal," he replied, nonchalantly. "But we don't know the password."

Everyone just groaned in frustration. They all knew it was impossible to use a portal without the password, except Mikan of course. Mikan was stumped by the portal. How could something like this even exist?

"What are you even talking about? This is just an abandoned building..." she said, unsurely.

"Open your eyes," Hotaru said. "See things for how they really are."

Mikan looked again, and suddenly, things looked different. The abandoned warehouse was actually a pulsing ball of blue light, which seemed to be expanding and shrinking rapidly.

Then she heard a voice in her mind, saying "Zero."

"The password is zero," she said, absolutely sure. "I know it is."

When she said the password, the portal blared with frightening intensity. It sucked all five of them in. When they reopened their eyes, they saw the true headquarters of the AAO. And they were surrounded.

A whole group of people was staring at them menacingly. None of them were holding any weapons, but obviously they had deadly Alices. The leader, Z, who Mikan only recognized because she had seen a wanted poster with his name on in, came up to them and laughed at their faces.

"So this is what Kazumi sent to foil my plans. How stupid, a bunch of high schoolers!" he said, still laughing maniacally. He flicked a finger, and they were all handcuffed and thrown into separate jail cells. Everyone gasped at the conditions. Rats were running across the floor, which was stained with mildew and moss. It was a huge contrast to the slick and modern surroundings outside of them. The cells were created to be uncomfortable, to slowly drive a person mad. The slow drip of water was extremely annoying. The smell was worse. It smelled like a corpse had died there. Mikan put her head into her hands. What was she going to do, while separated from everyone else?

She suddenly got an idea. She closed her eyes, and concentrated very hard. She tried to sense the presence of other minds.

"Hotaru?" she called out mentally. She was not expecting a reply.

However, a faint reply came. "Mikan?"

"I'm here, in a jail cell."

"So am I. However, I think I am in one quite far away. I think Hyuuga would be closer though, you should try to contact him."

"Natsume?" she called out into the blackness.

"Mikan," the reply came. His mental voice seemed surprised. "I didn't think you would master the art of telepathy so quickly."

"Neither did I." But now was not the time for pleasantries. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know," Mikan replied. A loud noise alerted me to someone's presence, breaking her concentration. She lost contact with Hotaru and Natsume. It was her jailer. She stood up to look at her, furious.

"How dare you put my friends in jail cells!" Mikan fumed. "Get them out, now!"

She merely raised an eyebrow. Her large brown eyes had on reaction at all. Inside, she was in turmoil. Was this truly Mikan? Her own child who she had given to an old man to protect her? She didn't even know his name. Her own child, who thought she was on the side of the AAO. She was actually a double agent, working for the Academy, but it hurt that her only child hated her and blamed her for her friends's suffering. Kaoru's child was here as well. Her mind was made up. She would protect Kaoru's child and Mikan the only way she knew how, by keeping her cover and not blowing it. She had come this far, and she was so close to gaining all the secrets of the AAO. If she blew it now, she would be as good as dead.

"Don't you hear me? Get them out!"

"What do you think a little girl like you can do to me? Shut up before I slap you!"

"No!"

Yuka slapped Mikan hard on the face. While she was doing so, she slipped something into Mikan's pocket. Mikan's eyes widened when she felt the weight of it. Yuka immediately stalked away, probably to patrol the other cells. Mikan took it out of her pocket and gasped.

It was a key to the jail cell. She smiled inwardly. The identity of the mysterious woman could wait. Right now, all that mattered was escaping this place, and finding the rest of the team members. She walked down the corridor, taking care to be stealthy and silent.

Yuka was doing all the work. She walked to Natsume's cell, and immediately punched him in the gut. While doing so, she dropped a key onto the floor. She threw a few insults and taunts at him, just so Z wouldn't suspect anything of her. She was too valuable to lose, anyway. It hurt her to do something like this to her best friend's son, but it was necessary.

Natsume stared at the key, and immediately unlocked the door. He used his finding abilities to immediately locate Mikan.

"I'm here," he sent, telepathically.

"Thank god you're here!" Mikan sent back, extremely relieved. "Do you know where your sister is? I've talked to Hotaru, and she's working on releasing everyone."

"She's in the basement. Be prepared, there can't be anything pretty waiting for us down there."

Natsume immediately grabbed Mikan and teleported down to the basement.

"Well, well, look who we have here?" a snide voice, said. It mocked them and laughed at them. "A fire caster and a nullifier, what an odd combination. Looking for this?"

The person stepped out of the shadows. It was a dark haired man, with cruel eyes. He was standing above the body of an unconscious girl. Aoi! Mikan thought. What have they done to you?

She made a move to take her away, but the man stopped her.

"You didn't think it would be so easy, would you? Guards! Take them away!" Three huge men appeared, and tried to drag Mikan off. She held her ground. Natsume was only getting more furious, and this was the last straw. He transformed, while Mikan gasped in awe. His hair, which was usually above his neck, now reached about down to his back, and was floating in a menacing halo. His eyes were gleaming with killer instinct, and the most startling thing was that he had huge black wings coming out of his back.

Ruka appeared in the doorway. "Need any help?" he smirked. Ruka himself had transformed. His hair remained the same, however his eyes shone like a lighthouse. He was much taller, and like Natsume, he had wings. His were white, the colour of an angel's.

The dark haired man made a move to attack Natsume, but he just flicked him away. Smiling to himself, the man transformed into his form as well. He was now about seven feet tall, a huge slithering snake filled with poison. He tried to strangle Ruka within his coils, but Ruka just cut away part of his tail.

Natsume was enraged. It was time to end this, before his sister and Aoi got hurt. He set the whole room on fire.

Aoi and Mikan, however, were unhurt. She had nullified the area around herself and Aoi. He grabbed them and ran out. "Hurry, we don't have much time!"

When she left, she noticed that the fire had been put out, and the dark haired man was smirking back at her. "A little bit of fire won't kill me," he taunted. "After all, I am the serpent."

They met Hotaru and the rest on the way out, and ran the way back to Alice Academy. Mikan was panting with exhaustion. Natsume carried Aoi in his arms. She was safe, but what worried him was the fact that she wasn't stirring. She was completely unconscious. It seemed forced in a way, it seemed as though she had been drugged. Another jolt of anger rushed through him. How dare they drug his sister!

Mikan rummaged through her pockets. She knew that the strange woman had put something else in there. "Ah, I've found it!"

Hotaru looked at it critically. "I think it's the antidote," she said.

"Well, we've got nothing to lose, right?" Mikan said, optimistically. If Hotaru said it was the antidote, it was the antidote all right. She had faith in her best friend. She opened the stopper and poured a drop of it into Aoi's mouth.

Immediately, some colour returned to Aoi's cheeks. She started to blink, and her eyes opened. "Natsume-nii!"

He said nothing, but hugged her tight. He wouldn't let her out of his sight again. He had transformed back into his ordinary form, where he looked almost human, except for the crimson eyes.

Mikan smiled. Everything was worth it, just to see Natsume smile when reunited with his sister.


My longest chapter so far :) hope you liked it! Review if you did.