Okay - I think I probably went a little too fast with this chapter, shoving to many things in that should have been expanded. Not to mention how damn long it took me to actually finish the stupid thing and upload it. What's it been? Like, a week? I'm sorry, and i understand completely if you've all lost interest because of the wait .
Anyway, chapter ten. Read and enjoy!
10
Natsume and Hotaru watched with caution as the three practically-siblings embraced. Hikaru and Mikan were sisters by blood, but Akira was just a brotherly figure to Mikan.
Even though she was crying, it was obvious, for the first time since Natsume had seen her – even when she projected her big fake smiles, – she was finally happy. It mixed emotions inside of him, but overall, he found himself glad. He was glad that he'd been able to help, even if it was just a small part.
"Reo's still shriveling up in a corner over there. Odd. Is he like this when you attack the AAO?" Hotaru asked quietly, unwillingly to disturb the happy reunion.
Natsume followed her gaze, frowning at the sight. "No." he shook his head. "Normally they'd bring in hundreds of reinforcements. And that's only if we don't get controlled by his Alice. Usually we end up retreating."
"Then they must just be afraid of Mikan," she concluded, smirking. "Obviously. They're the ones that trained her. They made her the way she is. If anyone knows her strength, it would be them. But that means they know her weaknesses too." She thought, then turned back to the trio. "Do you think she has any weaknesses?"
Natsume thought back to their previous conversation, and found himself nodding. "Her weakness is her strength." He said, smiling a small smile. "People. She hates seeing the people she cares about being hurt. That's probably why they kept her sister away from her. They thought they could use her hatred for the murderers – the academy – to destroy them."
"Hey!" Mikan's voice bounced around in the room as she slid out of the embrace. Lifting Hikaru from her shoulders, she placed the child on the ground. "When we get back, Hotaru, Natsume, I'd like you to keep these two safe. Take them to see Narumi, get them enrolled. I'll deal with the principle and Reo. Plus, we have to leave now, or they'll gather the courage to attack."
Mikan strode across the room, picked up some rope off the ground, and tied it around Reo's ankles and wrists, then gagged him and blindfolded him by tearing parts of his shirt off. When he was bound, she dragged him across the ground and dropped him. "Alright. Everyone hold hands, or you'll be left behind." Mikan grabbed Hikaru's hand and Akira's, Hotaru joined with Hikaru and Natsume, and Natsume completed the circle by reluctantly taking Akira's hand. They all placed a foot on Reo, and then the world swayed and fuzzed out in the blackness.
When the world came to a halt, they found themselves lying in a circle of people, on the grass with the sun shining brightly in their eyes. "Uh… where are we?" Mikan questioned, pulling herself into a sitting position to check that everyone was there. They were.
"The Academy lawn." Said a familiar voice. Narumi… "Mind explaining what's going on here?" he said cautiously, eying the group with undisguised suspicion.
"It has nothing to do with you." Mikan said, standing. "I've found two new students. Please have them enrolled as soon as possible. They'll tell you what you need to know." She nodded, smiling, to her siblings, who nodded back and stood. "Hikaru Sakura, and Akira Tokiwasha."
Narumi's eyes softened as he heard Hikaru's name, and he did not argue. "Come along." He said, gesturing with a hand to Natsume and Hotaru. "You two come as well, you can show them around after they've enrolled."
Mikan watched them go, then examined the group of students staring at Reo and her in wonder. Great, I caused a scene. Again. She smiled, thinking of her sister, then grabbed the collar of Reo's shirt. "We'll be leaving now." She declared, spreading her wings. She took off towards the elementary school block, and landed on the windowsill of the principle office, glad to find it open. She dropped Reo, through the window.
The thud of his body hitting the ground caused the principle to turn around. "There." She said, watching his passive face turn into one of shock. How amusing… she thought, resisting the urge to laugh at him. "Well, now that's done and finished, I'll be leaving." She waited to see if he'd protest, and when he nodded – which surprised her greatly – she dropped off the balcony and flew over to the middle school admin block, where she found Hikaru and Akira in uniforms being escorted down the halls.
"Mikan-Neechan!" Hikaru cried, hauling herself across the distance between them. Mikan caught her, smiling and laughing. "I can't believe I'm actually here. With you. And Akira." She squealed, sounding and acting like a nine year old for the first time since they'd encountered.
"And, in a uniform." Mikan added, smirking mischievously. "Of course we can't forget Akira. He's in a uniform too." Mikan looked up, locking eyes with Akira by accident. Secret messages of the past flashed between them, and Mikan found herself laughing hysterically. "You're alive!" She cried, dropping to her knees and almost dropping Hikaru. "You're alive…" she shook her head. Glancing back up at him with wet eyes. "Tell me how. How are you alive?"
Akira blinked, clearly taken aback. "Once I sent you here, they found me. They healed me, and took me to the base at your hometown, because it was close. I was going to break out, and Hikaru stopped me. It was like seeing you from when you were little. From that first time I saw you. I knew instantly, I knew she had to be related to you." He smiled, looking at her "So I stayed, and watched her. When she noticed me she got annoyed about my constant following her. She demanded answers, so I gave them to her.
"I told her all about you, about AAO and Gakuen Alice. Then we made a plan to break out and come here, to find you. Then the next day you show up with those two. I thought I was hallucinating, I swear."
"I—" Mikan started, but was cut off as an alarm sounded. "What's that?" she asked, wincing as the noise beat at her ears.
"Lockdown alarm. Someone's loose in the school." Natsume said, looking around. "I bet it's Reo." He muttered, turning back in time to see Mikan smashing through a window. "Mikan!" he called, rushing to the window with the others in tow. He turned to Akira, irritated. "Does she do that often? She seems to enjoy smashing through glass into open air."
"Yeah, it's a talent of hers." He muttered, shaking his head. "She could never take to stairs or use doors like normal people." He laughed then, watching her spread her wings. "I'm going to go help her."
Mikan flew through the air towards where she'd left Reo with the principle. She wondered, mildly, if Reo had somehow incapacitated the principle. A savage bubble of hope popped into her head: maybe he was dead. If the principle was dead, then she could kill Reo, say it was an accident, and solve two of her biggest problems in one day.
The odds weren't good, though. The principle was strong. But then again, so was Reo. Reo would have had to at least injure the principle to escape – and he had escaped, obviously, or else the lock down alarm wouldn't be blaring.
She landed on the windowsill and tried to keep her last meal where it belonged. The principle was dead on the floor, and blood was everywhere – the carpet was soaked in it, and the walls and ceiling were painted in it. The principle's body was older, too, like time had finally caught up with him.
Reo, however, was nowhere to be seen. His ropes were on the ground, blood stained and broken like everything else in the room. What the hell happened? She wondered in disgust, dropping from the windowsill to escape the strong smell of death.
She landed and looked around, thinking of escape routes Reo might try to use. The main one and most obvious would be for him to escape through the main gate, but he couldn't get there. Unable to think of any immediate escape routes, she flew to the top of the building so she could watch the exits and wait for him.
She heard a scream and cursed, listening as more screams filled the building in a trail. Kicking open a window on the second floor – where the screams were coming from – she folded up her wings, preparing to fight. It was likely that Reo had taken control of several people with his Alice, which meant he had hostages – and she couldn't kill them. Damn. She thought, scowling.
She walked with haste down the halls, checking each room as she did so. She felt disgusted when she saw that in nearly every room there were more dead people, albeit not as gruesome as the principle's had been. Someone behind her gasped and she spun around just in time to dodge a knife being hurled at her head.
Reo stood, covered in blood, holding a suitcase. "I should thank you, Mikan." He growled before he burst into menacing laughter. "Remember that curse Alice stone you once gave me? Well, with this stone," he held up a hand to show the black stone in the sentre as mist stared seeping off it and surrounding Mikan. She could not move. "I curse you to remain under the schools service forever. We'll see how valuable they are too you then, eh?" she smiled pleasantly, mist from the curse still trying to get past Mikan's nullification to curse her with his words."I got all the revenge I needed, and I got all of his mission files. And there's –"
She didn't stop to listen to him rant; she raised a hand and set him on fire. He screamed out in agony and fell to the ground, rolling to try and extinguish himself. Despite the pleasure she felt at watching him writhe in pain on the floor, the noise he was making was too horrible for her to deal with. The mist surrounding her disappeared.
Taking kindness from some deep crater of her heart, she used an Alice she'd only used once before, the Death Alice. She put out the fire and stood, staring down at his burnt body as he twitched for the last time. Curious, she cautiously stepped forward and pulled the briefcase from his blistered fingers, glad to see he made no move to stop her.
Of course he didn't move. He was dead, after all.
She took a few steps back from his body and opened the briefcase. All that was inside was paper. Mission files, as he'd said. The horror movie scene of the principal's office still swirled through her mind, along with it many questions. How was there so much blood? She demanded, shaking her head in disgust.
Sure, maybe Reo had hit an artery – but even then, the blood should have been limited to the immediate area surrounding the principle, not up the walls and on the ceiling. The other bodies she'd seen looked like they'd been beaten to death, which was just as horrible. Although several of them had been almost as gruesome as the principle's demise.
Had he done it all with that knife? If he had – and she did assume he had—then he must have purposely spread blood on the walls, which left a more simple and disturbing question: Why? Did he just want to leave a gruesome trademark of death so no one could forget him? He must have known, then, that Mikan was going to come for him – to kill him.
That meant he had something planned for Mikan, too. But what? She felt relief wash through her when she realized he must have been getting ready to do… well, whatever it was he was going to do. Luckily she'd already tired of his voice and stuck to immediately disabling him.
Some relief that is. My own cruel instincts crushed his. She thought, smirking despite herself. She listened now, staying completely silent, for signs that others might be near and possibly still alive – she could help them, she'd stolen a healing Alice back at AAO.
When she heard nothing, she decided to go back over the rooms and check pulses, which she did not look forward to. It was necessary, and the right thing to do. Using the healing Alice, though, always cost her strength and speed. It was one of those few Alice's that actually drained her, because she'd stolen it, not copied it. When she copied an Alice – usually – the Alice's energy drain would be taken from the original owner of the Alice. When she stole them they became hers, and they took her energy with them upon use.
Entering the first room, she found one man with his head on his desk and another man slumped against the wall with an already-purple swollen eye. There was no blood, though, so chances looked good for them – and her stomach.
The first man proved to be alive and simply unconscious from his blow to the head, while the second man was dead – Reo had smashed his nose in, and the bone had ridden up into his brain. An instant death – he did not suffer.
Doors swung open and she retreated into the hall to see Natsume, Hotaru, Akira and Hikaru leading a medical team. "In here – there's a guy still alive, just knocked out." She called, motioning with her hand. The doctors rushed forward – all of them avoiding Reo's blistered red body – and rushed into the room.
They saw the man who was dead and left him there to be dealt with later, with two others put the unconscious man on a stretcher and rushed out of the building.
A hand grabbed her arm and she spun around, ready for a surprise attack – at Natsume. "Natsume? What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she demanded, glaring at his horror-struck face.
He mildly noted – and took pleasure – that she called him by his first name. "Your arms… and neck… what is that?" he asked, stepping forward.
Immediately she saw what he was talking about – curse marks. "SHIT!" she screamed, clawing at her arm. "He got me! I thought, but… nullification!? How!?" remembering his words, she wondered what would happen if she simply burned the school down. "Curses are suppose to fade when the owner of the Alice dies." She snapped, glaring at her arms and wondering what her neck would look like. Who knows where else they got her?
They were the curse marks she recognized from her own use to many other people. They looked cool, like an exotic tattoo. Lots of flame-like swirls running up and down her arms under the gloves. They were black but out lined and speckled with bits of orange. Pulling off her gloves she wasn't surprised to find them spiking out from her fingers onto her fingernails, where they became orange with no black.
"Reo doesn't have a curse Alice. He must have used a stone." Natsume said, stepping forward to examine her arms.
Mikan stiffened, realizing the intelligence of his plan. "My stone. I stole that Alice a while ago – and gave him a stone. I'm the Alice's owner. It's my curse, and it's been used against me. It will only go when I die." She cursed loudly and spat at his body, wishing she'd tortured him more. "That's how it got around my defense – it was my curse, so it was welcomed. Smart ass bastard."
"We'll think of a way to get rid of it. Don't worry." Natsume reassured her, glancing around. "We should go help for now. Or maybe you should go to the hospital."
Mikan shook her head, protesting. "No, I'll help. I'm fine – just a little curse."
Natsume didn't believe her, but he nodded and they went together to follow the medical teams.
Thanks for reading! Reviews appreciated!