Wow... am I really done with Distant Memories? Has it really been a year and a half since I started this story, and now, I have finally finished it? Holy crap.

Well, I'm going to finish revising the story (including this chapter) but it's done. It's finally done. Now I can work on my other stories without the need to finish this one. I feel so empty inside!

This chapter is very... strange... I don't even know what to think of it... It's two thirty in the morning so I'm exhausted but it's done.

Anyway, please excuse all the mistakes and what not you may find, I'm tired and this will be revised eventually, but please enjoy, review, and thank you for sticking with me as I wrote this story. Thank you everyone!

~Sunechirei


Mikan

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know..." Mikan trailed off, looking at the ground. There was so much she had learned, so much she wanted to tell him, yet she was hesitant. "If I had known. I wouldn't have been so mean. Such a jerk. Why didn't you tell me?" tears filled her eyes once more, despite her efforts to stop them from coming.

Quick, echoing footsteps filled the room, and before Mikan could react to them, warm arms wrapped around her body, pulling her close to Natsume.

"I don't care. You're safe. That's all that matters," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. Relief flooded through her, and a sob escaped her lips as she buried her face in Natsume's chest.

Mikan couldn't help but cry as Natsume's arms were wrapped around her. She felt safe, at home, and a feeling she hadn't felt for four years.

Love.

It was a feeling that she had been wishing for, like all other girls, but she hadn't been aware that that feeling already existed inside her, tucked away in the back of her mind, waiting for the trigger that would bring back her memories. Pure joy was all Mikan knew at the moment, her heart fluttering, butterflies dancing in her stomach. It was a nice feeling, one that she wished she could have forever, but deep inside, Mikan knew that it couldn't last.

She pushed away from Natsume after a while, her hands trembling from both fear and excitement. Her eyes raised to meet his, and she knew at that point she he wanted to know everything.

"Must you know?" she whispered, looking at her feet. Natsume raised her head and nodded, determination flaring in his eyes. "Why?"

"Because nothing is making any sense. What happened to you four years ago, why your alices and memories disappeared, what happened in that hospital room, why you covered it up with that alice you stole. I want to know, need to know," his voice was low and comforting, and it made Mikan want to melt into his arms again, but she stepped away from him.

"Fine. I guess you should know. You're the one who saved me all those years ago, after all." She began to pace around the room, her eyes traveling from one crevice to another. She could feel Natsume's crimson eyes following her around the room, waiting for her to speak again, but she still wasn't sure that she wanted him to know.

"You know what? I think we should leave this place. Leave the academy. Mei-li told me about a way out that no one else knows about. We can leave this place and never come back, and then no one can bother us again." Mikan turned to face Natsume.

"What about Ruka and Imai?" he asked after a moments silence. Mikan froze.

She closed her eyes, her hands folding together behind her. The joy of seeing Natsume again had caused her to completely forget about her best friend and Ruka, even though she remembered them quite clearly now.

"Mikan, we can't leave."

"Why not? Why can't we just go now? The academy will catch us if we don't go now, and who knows what they'll do to us now. Especially after what I did-" Mikan's voice got caught in her throat as she fell to her knees, the cold floor staining her hospital gown a dark brown.

Natsume was at her side in an instant. "What do you mean? What did you do?" he asked, his voice full of concern. "Does it have something to do with the state of that hospital room?" Nodding, Mikan tried to stand up, but flashes of what happened in that room ran through her head, and she collapsed again. "I can't wait any longer. What the hell happened in that room?"

A smile littered Mikan's face, and she let out a small laugh. "Fine. I'll tell you. I'll start at the beginning."

"The beginning? The beginning of what?"

"How all of this started. When I was attacked four years ago by someone we trusted. You remember the student body president who replaced Sakurano, right?"

She glanced up at Natsume, her eyes cold. "Yes." He managed to get out, obviously shocked by Mikan's sudden change in attitude. Mikan felt strange, her body was cold, yet hot at the same time, and it was almost as though there were something taking over her body, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do at that moment was tell Natsume everything.

"He found me, after we got separated. I thought he was going to help me, but instead he drugged me and brought me here. When I woke up, the only thing I could see was darkness, seeing as there was a blindfold over my eyes, but I felt pain. Excruciating pain, and I could feel the cold floor underneath me, and the dirt getting into the cuts that I had obtained, though how is something I don't know. Suddenly, the blindfold was ripped off of my face, and I saw Persona standing there, but he seemed a bit different than before. Behind him was the Elementary headmaster, that bastard laughed when he saw me watching him fearfully and explained to me that his alice seemed to have a hidden ability; the ability to make clones of others."

Mikan could tell that Natsume was completely shocked by what she was telling him, but he said nothing to her in return. Clenching her fists, she lifted one of them up to her chest, feeling a sharp pain run through her body, and all of a sudden her mood changed. She was no longer angry, but sad. Tears ran down her face again as she continued her story.

"He told me, he told me that the real Persona was dead, not that it mattered. In the end he had tried to help us, but his alice had killed him in the end. The man who has been torturing you for the past four years isn't the same man who brought you and Ruka here. He doesn't even know who my father is, or why he needs to do the things he does. He doesn't even have an alice. Just a puppet. That's all he is, and yet we're all so afraid of him." Mikan began to laugh hysterically, though she didn't know why. Her emotions were running wild, one taking over her for a while, then another. It was very confusing.

"Persona is..." Natsume's voice was shaking. "All these years I hated him because of how he treated us, even though in his past he was treated horribly, and yet it isn't really Persona." The laughter stopped suddenly, and Mikan's managed to stand finally. "Mikan, what's going on with you?"

"Pain. That's all I really remember after that. I also remember them cutting my hair. Those people... I screamed at them to stop, my thoughts on that night by the lake when you told me to leave my hair down, but they didn't. Then there was nothing. After that I can only remember waking up in that dark room, then you entered."

"Then how did you lose your memory?"

"That woman you met. Mei-li. She found me before you did, and suppressed my memory. She only meant to make me forget about the past two weeks, but instead I forgot about everything in my life. My alices though, that I don't know, and I have a feeling they were never gone, but my uncle lied and said I didn't have them anymore."

Natsume stood up and walked over to Mikan. "Who is she? Mei-li. She seems to know who my mother was, and why did she take your memory?"

"She didn't explain it to you? Mei-li used to go to this school. She was an underclassmen of our moms. Also, she was an interrogator for the Elementary headmaster. That's what this place is. A series of under ground tunnels and rooms where interrogations could be held in secret. Horrible, isn't it." She paused for an instant, waiting to see if Natsume was going to say something, but he didn't so she continued her story, "Now, what happened after I left the school doesn't really seem to be important, so I'll just skip to what happened after you ran off on the night of the dance.

"My vision started to get very blurry, and I had thoughts running through my head that weren't mine, yet they were mine. I was very confused to say the least. Then, the next thing I knew, I remembered everything, and was being shaken awake by a woman I didn't recognize. Mei-li. She told me it was urgent that I come with her, as the leader of the organization where I got the alice from was planning to do something to me, but I refused to go with her. But that changed when some people suddenly appeared in my room and threatened to kill me. It took a while, and I was surprised that no one in the hospital heard what was going on, but Mei-li managed to push them back. The room was a mess, however, so I used the alice and made the room look nice and neat, and I tried to make myself appear as well, but it didn't work. It seems that this alice is completely useless if you want to show a person or animal. But anyway, we left after that because Mei-li feared that those people would come back for the alice again. She brought me here, explained a few things, then left saying that you would probably be coming soon."


Natsume

Mikan finished her story, letting out a deep sigh. Natsume watched her, trying to wrap his mind around everything she had just told him. Almost everything she'd said was strange, but it made sense, and he was glad it did. His attention was brought back to the real world when Mikan turned suddenly, her hospital gown floating slightly from the movement, her eyes meeting his expectantly.

He didn't know what to say still, so he didn't say anything, and instead, reached out slowly, grabbing Mikan's arm, and pulled her in closer, kissing her. She tensed slightly, but relaxed after a moment. This kiss was longer than the one at the dance, and it was definitely more romantic, yet it was still sad. Finally, Natsume pulled away, but not too much as he pulled Mikan into a tight hug.

"Natsume? Why have-"

"I'm the one who should apologize, for dragging you into the madness of this school. If I hadn't tried to run away that day, you probably wouldn't have been brought into this school, and if you hadn't associated with me, they wouldn't have been so cruel to you."

Mikan laughed, her hands moving to Natsume's back. "Naru knew I was an alice before you showed up, idiot. I would have attended here anyway."

"So, I guess I should blame Hotaru then? You followed here, after all."

"Maybe, but even if I had the change to go back in time and change anything, I wouldn't. I'm happy I came here, met you, met Ruka, and all of my other friends, even if it led to me being tortured."

Natsume squeezed Mikan tighter. "I'm glad."

The two stayed holding each other for a while, but a loud crash outside the room broke them apart.

Mei-li was standing in the doorway of the room, her shoulders moving up and down as she panted heavily, leaning against the door. "You two, stay here. Got it! You aren't allowed to come out, or you will be killed."

"Wait! What's going on?" Mikan asked before Mei-li could walk away.

"They came back, but the school is here as well. Bad things are happening."

"I'll help you then!" Natsume's heart sunk when he heard Mikan say these words, and he tried to tell her not to be an idiot, but the heavy metal door closed before he could say anything. "Hey! Mei-li?" Mikan ran over to the door, and tried to open it, but she failed.

Natsume watched her struggles, not sure if he should try and help her or not. In the end, he did nothing, and she eventually gave up, coming back to his side.

"Why is it that I can never do anything?" She muttered, slumping down against the wall. Natsume sat next to her.

"What do you mean by that? You've done a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"You saved me, didn't you?"

Mikan leaned her head against the wall, her eyes closed tightly, a smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, I guess."


"Earth to Hyuuga. Hello? Wake up!"

Natsume jolted awake, his hand jumping to his ear as Hotaru's blaring voice blasted in his ear.

"What's going on?" he asked groggily, feeling Mikan stir next to him.

"You missed all the fun out here. Huge battle. Lots of people got hurt. But Nogi and I are both fine. What about you and Mikan. You did find Mikan, right? If you didn't you do realize I'm going to have to castrate you."

"Imai? What are talking about?"

"Mikan! Where is Mikan?"

"She's right here, next to me. She remembers everything and-"

The door to the room slowly opened, revealing two figures, Hotaru and Ruka. Beside him, Mikan slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. She looked from Natsume to the door, and jumped to her feet.

"Hotaru!" She exclaimed, running at her best friend, hugging her. Hotaru's eyes got wide, surprised at the familiarity of what was happening.

"Mikan..."

"I remember everything now! I don't know how, or why, but I do. I'm so happy to see you're alright. You too, Ruka." There were tears in her eyes, but this time, they were tears of joy. "I'm sorry about the way I acted. I couldn't even imagine doing that now."

Natsume stood slowly, rubbing the back of his head which was sore from leaning against a wall all night. Ruka walked over to him, a smile on his face.

"She's back." He whispered and Natsume smiled.

"Yeah, she is."

After five years, four of which they had no contact, Mikan was finally back to her normal self, and Natsume could feel that the academy would start to change again. What she started five years ago, Mikan could finish, and this time, Natsume wouldn't make the mistake of hating her for a while.

Mikan was back, and everything would turn out alright.


Cheesy ending, I know... anyway, thanks again for reading my story, even though it's not that good, and I'm sorry if this ending seems kinda abrupt... it'll be better if I ever get around to revising it... Thanks again (again) and I hoped you enjoyed Distant Memories!