Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.


Chapter Eleven

Natsume had always been a suspicious person by nature, which was why it took a lot for him to be able to put aside his inhibitions about Luna and trust her to lead them to Koko.

His mind whirled and his stomach churned uncomfortably as Luna delivered the directions to the warehouse to him in a monotonous voice. His eyes flickered over her petite structure. She looked completely harmless standing before him, but he knew better than to judge people based on their appearances. Could she be trusted, or was this another trap set by his uncle?

It was a huge risk to take, trusting a complete stranger who had just sauntered into the inn, but this was about Koko.

For that friend of his, Natsume was willing to lay down his life.

Not that his life was worth much anyway, he thought bitterly. He was merely an orphan with no kin, and tons of enemies.

"Natsume Hyuuga. I'm going to lead you into a bloody river if you don't start paying attention right now," Luna seethed, planting her hands onto her hips. 'The longer you spend drifting off, the higher the chances are that your stupid friend is dead. Though I wouldn't feel too sorry for that little sucker, getting himself dead drunk in the middle of the day -"

"Watch your words," Natsume snarled.

Luna sniffled and squared her shoulders defiantly. "You shouldn't challenge me. I know more about the human world that you ever have and ever will. I also happen to wield much more power than you think I do. Don't think, even for one little moment, that you have control over me, puny human."

"I have never once thought to hold control over fairies," he replied sombrely, "There's no knowing when they'll turn around and stab you in the back, you see."

Luna flinched, her expression uncomfortable as she sank down onto the chair, an unreadable expression on her face. "Perhaps you've met the unsavoury ones," she bit out carefully, "but that doesn't mean that we're all the same. Even those who might have done you wrong, they might simply have had a moment of clouded judgement. Everyone makes mistakes. Even immortals like us do."

Natsume's brows came together as he regarded the fairy calmly, thoughtfully. "And how are you to know what happened to me?"

She met his eyes fiercely.

"I'm a fairy, Natsume Hyuuga. Each tiny part of your life, they're all in my hands."


With the help of Luna's all-seeing eye, finding the warehouse where Koko was being held captive in was no difficult task. What was difficult was planning their next move. Natsume was no fool, and he knew very well that Rei Serio had immense power. He had been strong in the past, and with all the years that had gone by, surely he had acquired a large amount of wisdom and experience to complement his physical strength.

If they were to rush in like fools, they would certainly be running towards their deaths.

Natsume tapped his foot irritably as he shot a quick glance at the solemn girl standing close to him. He shook his head, disgusted at himself. It definitely wouldn't do for him to be bothered too much by how Naoki had returned together with Mikan, both of them laughing cheerily as they stepped across the threshold.

Natsume clenched his fists and trained his eyes on the warehouse, trying to ignore the scent of cherries and flowers – a very familiar scent by now – wafting into his nostrils as Mikan shuffled her feet and fidgeted beside him.

He had better things to think about at the moment, he told himself. Like how to save Koko.

His expression darkened as his ears picked up a vague shout of pain from inside the building. "That bastard," he hissed vehemently, "I'll kill him."

His focus had just returned to the mission at hand when a small hand on his elbow gave him a sharp jolt of awareness. The hand retreated quickly, as if the perpetrator herself knew how inappropriate it had been for her to touch him.

Natsume turned and inclined his head towards Mikan, while he kept Luna in his peripheral vision. The fairy carried herself regally, commanding Koko's workers as if they were her own. The way she carried herself almost made her seem like royalty.

Natsume scoffed, and turned his full attention onto Mikan. Something burned inside of him as he watched her flushed face, remembering the way she had leaned on his shoulder and slept throughout the night. Then he recalled the way Naoki and her had been linking arms, the way her eyes had crinkled as she smiled up at him, the flush on Naoki's face that only appeared when he was interested... The fire in his stomach quickly fizzled out, replaced by a strong annoyance – perhaps even anger – that he couldn't quite place himself.

"Will you be all right?" Mikan asked, her eyes wide with worry as her hand unconsciously returned to his elbow again.

"Nice of you to worry about my wellbeing when my friend might be breathing his last in that blasted warehouse."

Mikan frowned, and Natsume cursed himself for even feeling the slightest bit chastened by her reaction. "Nothing will go wrong," he muttered gruffly, "We're just going in to get him out. We're not going to fight -"

"You will not succeed," a feminine, abeit strong voice, boomed across the area.

Natsume stiffened immediately. Mikan gasped, while Luna turned to stare at the warehouse with her eyes wide open. "He has a prophet on his side," she murmured, her delicate face going a deathly shade of white.

"What the fuck is going on?" Natsume hissed.

"They know that we're here," Luna replied, slowly regaining some of her bearings. "The mission is aborted."

"But Koko is inside there!" Mikan cried in distress. "We can't leave him... Isn't there something else that we could do?"

"I'm not leaving Koko here," Natsume insisted.

"Stop being stubborn," Luna let out ragged breaths that did nothing to conceal her apparent fear. "A prophet will be able to forsee everything. A prophet can kill us all before we even traverse half of the distance towards the warehouse. We don't stand a chance."

"You're a bloody fairy. You can do something about this," Natsume growled, taking a step towards Luna.

"Even fairies know how to step back when the situation is not favourable," She hissed right back, stepping forward so that they were practically nose to nose. Baring her teeth at him, she added, "Obviously you lack our brains."

"Stop! You shouldn't be fighting at this time," Mikan tried to reason as she stepped between the both of them. Natsume glared at her.

"She said she wants me," a panting Naoki cut in as he ran up from where he was among the workers, working out their infiltration strategy.

Natsume felt his mood plummet even further, faster than a speeding rocket. "She said what?" he asked as he turned and levelled a furious look at his cousin.

That stupid prude wanted who?

"Me," Naoki repeated obliviously as Luna snorted behind him.

Whirling around to glare at Mikan, Natsume saw that all the blood had drained from the girl's face, and she was hyperventilating slightly, even. A flash of concern came and went.

"I object," he said, keeping his face stony.

Luna held one palm up, an imperious air about her as she shook her head disbelievingly. "Look, their intents and purposes are unknown for now, but I doubt that they want to inflict any harm if they're asking instead of just taking."

"You can't let them take Naoki!" Mikan gripped Natsume's sleeve as she looked up at him imploringly. "You know that Koko is suffering right now, so how can you let Naoki go with them in exchange for Koko? No life is cheaper than another, no one deserves to be made a sacrifice -"

Naoki? Who said anything about using Naoki to bargain for Koko's freedom? "What the hell are you talking about?" He cast a suspicious, short glance at both Mikan and Naoki. "I'm not sure I understand the situation right now."

"Weren't you listening? Natsume, seriously," Luna furrowed her brows in disbelief, "The prophet made another loud, booming broadcast saying that she'll let Koko go if you hand over your cousin. Which part of it did you not hear? Don't tell me," her lips quirked disdainfully, "Your mind was elsewhere."

He honestly hadn't heard, and Natsume chided himself mentally for losing his mind over a mere chit of a girl. He had to focus, and hell if he was going to give up the only person in the royal family who had been true to him.

"No, he's not going."

Mikan breathed a sigh of relief, muttering "Thank God," while Naoki exhaled sharply and stamped his foot down on the grass.

"I'm going."

"You're not," Natsume snarled, his hands balling into fists at his side. He would never do something as cowardly as taking the easy way out at the expense of someone else. Especially when it came to Naoki. He was like a brother. He was just as important as Natsume as Koko was, and he certainly was not going to cut off his left arm to save his right.

Natsume would knock his cousin out himself if it would save him from being foolhardy.

"I'm with Naoki Hyuuga," Luna reminded him, her lips curling upwards into a sly smile. "They won't hurt him. He should go, if that means that we get your friend back the easy way. You do want him back, don't you? That courtesan lying unconscious back at the inn seems to want him back desperately."

Natsume's jaw clenched as he remembered Sumire, who had fainted from the stress and horror of hearing that Koko had been captured. If their mission failed, there was no doubt that she would be ruined too. More than one life was at stake here, but...

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Luna cursed as she waved a hand impatiently. "Surely you're not insouciant about your friend's fate! Every single second that we spend here shuffling about increases the chances of his death."

"Naoki is a human too," Mikan squared her shoulders. "He shouldn't be used like some commodity!"

"And you," Luna huffed as her hand moved, creating a slightly blue-ish, swirling vortex of magical power. Natsume shot a warning look at her, but she looked away. "Stop being so naive," she continued sharply. "The world isn't as simple as you think. Sometimes people die," she paused when Mikan blanched, "Sometimes they're betrayed. Sometimes they're sacrificed. There's never really any right or wrong. You draw your own lines. You make your own judgements."

The light slowly became brighter and brighter, and with a whoosh of wind, it enveloped Naoki. He was gone from his position in merely a blink of an eye.

Natsume started, his eyes widening when he realized what had just transpired before him. "You bitch -"

Mikan stood gaping as Luna turned back to her, her blue eyes hard as steel.

"You make the best decisions for yourself," She continued steadily, stopping a furious Natsume in his tracks with her magic. "Whether your friends acquiesce or not. You do what is best for them and yourself."

Mikan felt her eyes burning, tears pressing at the back of them. She wanted so badly to disagree with Luna's cold, unfeeling words, but as she looked at the older girl, no words came out of her mouth.

For what she saw behind the pair of strong blue eyes were feelings that she never expected the sassy and proud fairy to harbour beneath the surface – startling sorrow and emptiness.


The stench of dried and flesh blood besieged Naoki's senses the moment he arrived in the warehouse, transported by Luna's magic. An unknown fear gripped him, a fear that couldn't be explained, a fear caused by the lingering menace about the place.

He had to blink profusely before his eyes adjusted to the bleak darkness inside, and then when he found Kokoro Yome, he had to force the bile that rose up his throat back down.

The person that he saw strapped to the small wooden chair in the middle of the room could hardly be recognized anymore. The smell of rotting flesh permeated the air around Koko, and when he lifted his headly weakly to catch a glimpse of Naoki, the latter gasped and took a step backwards in shock.

Was this person before him really the fun and flippant Koko that Natsume and he had known for most of their lives? He certainly didn't look like the handsome young tavern owner, for this person's face had tons of slash marks over it, and most of those wounds were still open and bleeding profusely.

"Nao?" Koko croaked from his position, and Naoki felt his knees give way, a broken sob rising up his throat.

He sank to his knees and shuffled forward awkwardly, not daring to look Koko straight in the eye for fear that he might just break down.

He was a man. He was a member of the royal family. He was born to a fate that required him to be strong, for he had a father who never once cared about him.

Yet, the sight before him pained him so much.

"Koko," he breathed as he laid a hand onto his friend's battered arm gently.

"Huh," Koko grinned, then winced as the skin around his mouth tore even further. "So you decided to join in the mix, huh?"

Naoki smiled weakly, then reached behind Koko's back to try to free him of his bonds.

"It won't work, that thing's held together by magic. My magic," a soft voice said.

Naoki let out a shout of surprise before turning around quickly.

The figure hovering near the doorway was small. In fact, the girl's doe eyes and petite stature made her seem completely harmless. For her to have done something like this to a grown man like Koko...

He swallowed before opening his mouth, one hand still frozen on the knot that held Koko to the rickety chair. "Did you..."

"Rei did it," she replied serenely. "But I had a hand in his capture, so it doesn't really matter that much, does it?"

"You asked for me," Naoki croaked, his voice hoarse. Beside him, Koko moaned in agony, twisting against his bonds. Another one of his wounds had opened, Naoki noted with panic. He needed immediate medical attention, or there was no telling whether he would make it even if Naoki got him out.

"You asked for me," he swallowed.

"Yes," The small woman took a step forward. "It was the only thing Rei would agree to. The only reason he would allow you friend here to go alive."

Naoki was trembling. He picked himself up, balancing with much difficulty on his wobbly legs. "Why? Why do you want me?"

"We've been looking for you since your birth. You are... crucial to our plan. To our survival. To our revenge."

He stayed silent, his mouth open.

"You are," the woman continued, "the crux of everything that has happened since fifteen years ago."


Natsume was ready to wring that stupid little fairy's neck, if not for the restraining hand that Mikan kept fixed tightly onto his arm.

No matter, he thought to himself darkly, he would get Luna sooner or later. How dare she? How dare she send his only true kin into the lion's den all by himself?

All sorts of worried and murderous thoughts were flitting through his mind at an amazing speed. Natsume remained lost to the world until Mikan squeezed his arm painfully, murmuring disbelievingly, "They're out."

His head snapped up, and the first things that he saw were Luna's knowing and mocking eyes. Then, he saw two small figures slowly magnifying, slowly getting clearer. Koko was leaning on Naoki a they both limped forward, Naoki limping because of the weight while Koko limped because of his numerous injuries.

The fury in him reared its ugly head again when he finished assessing his best friend's battered state, but paused for a moment when he felt Mikan's hand grip his arm in a painfully tight way again. He turned his head to say a snarky "What?" but his mouth went dry when he looked at her, smiling with a pool of tears that had welled up in her eyes. Tears that she refused to let out.

Natsume opened and closed his mouth a few times before getting mad at himself for being so awkward. He turned away resolutely, putting his full attention on watching out for his cousin and his friend, whom were still limping slowly but surely towards them.

"It's so nice that they're both back safely," Mikan breathed.

He scoffed at how naive she was, but the corners of his lips turned up ever so little.

In the background, the workers cheered.


They were bombarded by Sumire the moment they stepped back into the inn. The courtesan seemed to have forgotten her history with Koko for the moment, choosing to fuss over him like he was a small child. This incident would change the dynamics of their rocky relationship drastically, Natsume knew. Death, or the threat of it, could do many things to people.

She dressed his wounds personally, clucking around him like a mother hen. Even after Koko was all bandaged up and sleeping soundly in bed, Natsume caught Sumire hovering near the door, her expression still tight. Natsume couldn't blame her, for his own nerves were still frayed as well.

He had overlooked many details in the chaos of the situation, but now that everything had settled, he was left with only disturbing thoughts.

Why had Rei let Koko go so easily? Why had they both been able to leave the warehouse unscathed? Just what had he wanted with Naoki?

Natsume paused at the foot of the wooden stairs, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. If Rei Serio's target was Naoki, it made no sense that the boy would be let off so easily after he had been sent right into Rei's clutches.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Naoki, though. They hadn't really gotten round to talking about what had happened in the afternoon, but Naoki was his usual self, friendly and cheerful.

There was nothing wrong. Everything was over.

So why did he feel like he was overlooking something very important?

Natsume sank down onto the floor, wracking his brains for a plausible answer to all this confusion, but couldn't find anything. Hearing footsteps, he looked up to find Luna looking down at him.

He felt oddly disappointed that it wasn't a certain brown-eyed girl, but it wasn't like he was looking forward to seeing her. She wouldn't be able to provide him with answers anyway, she was too stupid for something like that -

"I'm leaving now," Luna announced flatly.

"Leave, then."

"No thank you?" She smiled dryly at him.

"No," His eyes were intense as he got up to his full height and looked down at her. "Not until I find out what you are, and what you want by helping us."

She didn't show the slightest bit of fluster as she took one more step towards the door. "I told you, I was sent by Mrs Rafey. I'm a fairy. All we wish to do is help."

"Bullshit," Natsume spat out, and found satisfaction in the way Luna flinched away from him. He looked down at her pale neck. "You don't have a pendant," he added, and he knew he'd got her, for her face paled far too much for her to not be guilty of lying.

"So what?" Luna's eyes darted from him towards the open door, her gaze flickering.

"You're not a fairy. You don't have a fairy pendant. And it's fine if you're not willing to tell me the truth," He stepped closer and hissed into her ear, feeling her body temperature cool even further. "I'll find out anyway. And when I do, if I find out that you're up to something bad..."

His eyes glinted as his lips stretched into a feral, predatory grin. "I won't let you off then."

Luna raised her chin indignantly. "You may be more like your father than the old woman thought you were," she said.

Natsume grabbed her arm, furious, but the girl merely smiled sadly at him before dissolving into nothing right before his eyes.

Cursing, Natsume punched his fist into the nearest wall, breathing heavily as he glared balefully at the only proof that Luna had ever graced the room -

- a pile of her clothes, lying still on the dark floor, still sizzling with the remnants of old, ancient magic power.


A/N: I am really sorry that I haven't updated in forever, but school has been really really busy. I used my rare off-day to write this, haha. Updates won't be as frequent until my holidays in August, so I hope you guys understand!

My oneshot, Happily Ever After, was plagiarized recently, and although it's been taken down now, I'm still a little shaken and upset. I hope that nothing like this ever happens again, because it has never happened before, and I really don't want my confidence in my readers to be shaken like this.

This is un-betaed for the moment.