Summary: This story is set after Azumi Yuka was killed. In this story, the conditions that Mikan will be sent to training and will be under the Dangerous Ability were set in exchange for the safety her friends. In the 5 years that Mikan was gone, the Elementary School Principal was killed by the Anti-Alice Organization, Z. The dangerous ability class was dissolved but some still remain for the sake of the families of the students outside the academy.
Notes: I do not own Gakuen Alice. It is owned by Higuchi Tachibana. The quote Mikan said is from Charlie Brown.
Previously:
I sighed as I sunk to the floor. My mouth was trickling out with blood as I lightly laughed at my mission. "What a failure of a mission, even if I finished what I came for." I thought as I teleported out the building at the same time cancelled out my time alice.
The building exploded and only ash remained in its aftermath. There's not even one clue that hundreds of dead bodies were included in the explosion.
Chapter 9, Friendship:
I heard shuffling of feet and people talking near me when I regained my consciousness. I tried to open my eyes but it felt like there are bricks on top of them, I couldn't open them. I felt that my energy was being sapped from me when I tried to open them. I tried again for a few times then I felt so tired that I think I lost my consciousness.
I didn't know how much time had passed when I finally opened a fraction of my eyes. I closed them again as I felt blinded by my surroundings. I heard someone call out my name beside me as I released a groan that sounded like a dying old man.
"Sakura-san? Are you awake?" I heard someone said beside me. I felt like I was having a déjà vu.
I looked at the direction where I heard the voice then opened my eyes a bit. My sight was blurred as I try to focus on my surroundings.
"Sakura-san? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" The person repeated his question.
I opened my mouth as I tried to answer him but I only produced the same groan I released earlier.
"Thank God you're awake." He said then he called someone else outside.
I think the nurses entered and fixed up whatever contraptions I'm in. After a while, I realized I can talk proper as I cleared throat.
"Subaru-niisan…" I croaked out.
He turned around from what he was doing and paid his full attention to me. "Yes, Sakura-san, how are you feeling?"
"I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Everything hurts…" I grumbled out.
"Well, no wonder, you were stuck in bed for four days." He replied.
My eyes shot open and I suddenly sat up when I felt hot, white pain shot through me, "Owwww…"
"Hey, be careful!" Subaru shouted as he helped me lie on the bed.
I composed myself back to bed, letting the pain subside when I asked, "What happened?"
Subaru-niisan looked at me for a few seconds then told the nurses to leave the room. He took a chair then sat beside my bed. He then started to narrate the events that happened after my mission.
"You were supposed to get back three hours after you left the academy. Persona thought something was wrong when he lost your connection through telepathy and called us to the headmaster's office. After some exchanges with the principals, he went back to your meeting place with me just in case something bad happens to you. You suddenly appeared before us 2 hours late from your scheduled arrival with blood all over you. You already passed out when you got back and we teleported you here in the hospital. The flash drive you were carrying is still being analyzed until now."
He held my right hand that is slumped in bed and stared at me, "When we carried you here in the hospital, your heart stopped. We resuscitated you back, but Mikan…" He stopped then brushed some tears that were forming in his eyes.
"We already healed your bullet wound, but we couldn't heal you. I'm going to be honest with you, Mikan; you mustn't use those alices again. You might not live the next time this happens again."
"I'm sorry." He finally said.
I was staring straight at Subaru-niisan the whole time he was narrating the events that transpired in those four days. When he said those final words, I looked outside my window and stared at the surroundings. After a few minutes, I looked and said to him,
"Great truths are even simpler than I thought they were."
I smiled at him and said, "Can you call Hotaru for me?"
Normal POV
Class B of the high school division was full of talking and shouting when the door opened and someone entered.
"Good morning, everyone!" Someone said.
Everybody looked to the door expecting their brown-haired friend to come out of the door, but sadly it's just their homeroom teacher, Narumi-sensei. Suddenly, the mood in the room became depressed and almost everybody have their heads down.
"What's with the long faces everyone?" Narumi-sensei asked the students.
Somebody in the class answered, "Where's Mikan-chan, sensei? It's been four days since she came to class!"
Narumi sweat dropped and laughed nervously as he remembered what Dr. Imai said to answer if anybody asks for Mikan in class. "Mikan-chan is in the hospital, she has measles, and nobody can come visit her because she might infect you guys."
Almost everybody sighed in relief after Narumi answered their question, except three persons in the room. The class inventor mentally thought, "I don't believe him. She would have told us even with a letter if she was sick." The same sentence was thought by the other two persons in the back row.
Class was on going when suddenly someone knocked into the room. A dark-haired person with purple eyes, much like the class inventor, went inside the classroom. "Excuse me, Narumi-sensei. Can I borrow my sister for the rest of the day?"
Narumi stared directly at the person and understood the situation. He looked at the inventor and said, "Imai-san, you are excused for the whole day. Good luck."
Confused, Hotaru Imai stood up and walked to the direction of her brother. After she went outside, the class suddenly burst out with whispers like,
"I wonder where she is going."
"Lucky her, skipping class…"
"Her brother sure is handsome…"
Narumi cleared his throat and said, "Quiet class! Or I'll use my alice on you."
End Normal POV
Hotaru's POV
Outside the room, I only heard my brother said one line, "Follow me and don't ask any questions."
I nodded then followed him. I don't know where we'll be going but I can feel my brother's anxiety and apprehensiveness. I noticed his tired eyes even with his composed face. We went outside the high school building and walked through the Eastern woods. My eyes widened when I saw the Alice Academy Hospital, but I composed myself and followed my brother. We went through the lobby, then the corridors. When we went to a deserted hallway deep inside the hospital, I became uneasy and nervous. I was thinking, "What are we doing here?"
We stopped in front of a room at the far end of the hallway. My brother looked at me and said, "I'm going inside first. I'll just inform the person inside of your arrival. After I come back out, go inside." After that, my brother knocked then went inside the room. I heard him to talk to someone but I couldn't hear them because of the walls. After a few moments, my brother came back outside the room. My eyes widen when he embraced me and said, "I hope you'll understand." I didn't understand what he was implying, when he released me and told me to go inside.
The door creaked when I opened it. I went inside the room and I saw someone sitting on a bed with her head turned outside to the window. It seems the person heard the door and she turned around. My eyes widened and my mouth slackened like I saw a ghost.
End Hotaru's POV
I was readying myself for Hotaru's arrival at my room. I promised myself that when the time comes, I will tell my secret to one and only person, my best friend.
After about an hour after my request to Subaru-niisan, I heard someone knocked and entered the room. I smiled at the person who entered.
"Hey, is she here?" I asked.
"Yes. She still doesn't know that you are the person inside this room." He replied.
He looked at me and added, "Thank you for deciding to tell her the truth."
I laughed and said, "I promised her that I will always tell her the truth, and that's the one promise that I don't want to break."
"Well then, I'll tell her to come inside after I leave. I'll come back later to check up on you." He said then went outside the room.
I turned to look at my window again. I always liked nature. When I heard the door opened, I put up my best smile and turned around to meet my best friend.
"Hey, Hotaru." I greeted her.
My best friend was like a statue when she saw me on the hospital bed. I called her out again, and she seems to snap out of her shock.
"Mikan?! Wha.. What happened to you? Narumi-sensei told us you have measles or something like that." She stuttered out.
I laughed at her and told her to sit next to me. "Measles? What the hell? That's their excuse?"
After I finished laughing out, I looked to Hotaru and saw her eyes full of questions. I cleared my throat and composed myself, then asked her, "Where do you want to start?"
She's just stared at me, not answering my question. I sighed and said, "Why don't we start after my mother's funeral." Hotaru nodded a little and I started again, "You see, there was a condition that follows the truce between Shiki-san and the Elementary School Principal. I would be doing whatever the ESP wants in exchange for all your freedom. I went under the same things my mother did when she was under the ESP. You saw from the time travel what my mother did, right? It was despicable. I killed people. I stole their alices. Everything, I did it for that bastard. But my motivation for doing all of those was you guys. You guys helped me in my dark times. "
I stopped for a bit, I was getting a bit emotional. I looked down at my hands and continued, "I didn't know how much time had passed since then, my uncle and Shiki-san suddenly barged through my room in the headquarters of the ESP. They were talking too fast; I couldn't understand what they are saying. I just got the hint that there was a rebellion and the Elementary School Principal was killed. I was sent to America with Rei, or what you know him of as Persona. In my isolation with the ESP, I found out that Rei was spying for my uncle, he was one of the reasons the rebellion took place."
"I was sent to America to hide myself from the still lingering influences and supporters of the Elementary School Principal. In America, Rei and I took my mother's mission to kill all the remaining clones of the ESP. We went at it for many years, and in different countries. And about two years ago, I found out something. Using my SEC alice, I stole and copied different kinds of alices. There were three alices that made me sick like the fourth alice type, but these progress faster than the usual fourth alice type. I hid it from Rei, until he found me unconscious one day, six months ago." I continued.
I was cut short on my narration when I heard Hotaru say something with fear, "What do you mean? You're sick?"
I smiled at her then continued my story, "We continued our mission until we were contacted that the final two clones of the ESP were in Japan. I was transferred back here one week ago, and I already undertook two missions."
"Already, two missions?!" She said.
"Yeah, the last one was last Monday night, and I just woke up earlier this day. I know that I promised you to tell you everything, and I did. This is the last thing that I will burden you with, Hotaru, I hope you will forgive me."
I took her hand and stared directly at her eyes and said, "I'm dying."
Tears started to fall down my best friends' porcelain cheeks. She stammered out, "Yo-you're d-dying?"
My own tears fell out after I saw Hotaru's unbelieving, distraught eyes. I smiled my best smile to her and hugged her tightly. We didn't say anything else and just continued crying our eyes out.
I didn't know how many minutes, or hours passed by when our eyes finally dried out of tears. I released my hug to Hotaru and held her at arm's length. I asked her, "Can you do me this one last favor?"
She looked back at me, and with determined eyes, she replied,
"Anything."
Author's Note: Hello guys! I'm sorry for not updating last week. I'm in a vacation last week and my first day on a job started last Monday. Anyway, thank you for reading my story, The Sacrifice! I hope you like this chapter! I hope to hear your thoughts by reviewing!
See you again!
