Look who's here? I'm finally back! ;)
Sorry for the late late late update—I hope you haven't been waiting long!
Last chap was probably a bit confusing to some, and I really apologize for that.
From the very beginning, I knew this fanfic wasn't going to be simple, but I also hadn't had all the details figure out like I do now.
So if some parts just don't make any sense with each other, go ahead and point it out to me, and I'll make sure to fix it!
And as soon as I finished up with this chap, I just had to post it up, so there might be some errors in this too.
To Yipstar: I agree with you on Camilla being an evil, evil lady. She's very unfair, but there always has to be a mean person on the good side sometimes, too, right? ;)
To Lila8171997: Thank you so much! Your review just made my day! :)
To Fallen Jewels: Sorry for not handing it over to you first, Julie; I wanted to get it up as soon as possible! :P
And thank you to everyone else who reviewed! It makes me happy to have so many dedicated readers!
This chap is for you!
All her classmates
Her lab coat hung past her knees as she moved along the table, moving beakers around and mixing liquid with liquid. Many different chemicals were spread out across the long counter, but somehow the girl had all the names memorized off by heart. Some people would think that she knew so much on chemistry because of her Alice—maybe that was so.
But maybe it was also because she loved what she was doing.
She mumbled different names under her breath as she slipped on her goggles and tied her long, midnight blue hair in a ponytail on her head. The silence that droned around her was something she was grateful for—it was easier for her to work in her private lab that the academy had given her than the one she used for her job in Central Town.
"You-chan, You-chan," she sighed. "He's only so small—I have to make sure that this formula won't hurt him."
Even though it was way past bedtime, the girl refused to stop working. A lot of her time was spent in either classrooms or in other laboratories, so the time she had to work on her own was limited. If missing a few hours of sleep meant finding out the compound to solve someone's problems, why wouldn't she take the chance?
As she was just pouring a slightly explosive substance into another, she heard someone clear its throat behind her. She stopped immediately and snapped an indestructible lid on top of the beaker before turning to where the sound came from.
A man stood tall in the corner, dressed in all black. The girl took in his mask and expressionless face and the first thought that came to her mind wasn't a positive one.
"W-who are you?" she asked tentatively.
He took a step forward, resulting in the girl taking a step back. "You're Nonoko Ogasawara?"
She bit her lip. "And if I am?"
The man took another step forward, but this time, slid his mask down long enough so she could catch a glimpse of his face. Recognizing him, she relaxed slightly, but wondered if she shouldn't have. There were still stories about him hanging around the academy; just because she witnessed him helping out during the final battle didn't mean he was all good.
"What do you want?" Nonoko challenged.
Raising his eyebrows at her surprising fearlessness, he stated, "The academy needs your help."
-xox-
"Are you sure? It's been two days! Two days! How can she not be here?"
"I'm sure she's fine," Anna assured the frantic class representative. "Nothing bad could've happened to her. She's fine, Iinchou."
"How do you know?" Yuu asked skeptically. "Have you seen her?"
The pink-haired girl bit her lip. Actually, she hadn't seen her best friend lately, but Anna just thought she was busy. She always had been since she started her new job. But still…
"Where could Nonoko-chan have gone?" asked Mikan. Until a moment ago, she had been seated in her seat in the back beside her sort-of-boyfriend, but now she was standing beside Anna's desk, watching Yuu pace around the perimeter of the room muttering strangely uncharacteristic words under his breath.
"I don't know," Anna admitted with a sigh. To be honest, it was bothering her, too. The person whom everyone called her twin had been absent from school for two whole days, and no one had seen her otherwise. Usually the blue-haired girl never missed a single class, being one of the Three Geeky Sisters (including her, Anna, and Hotaru) and a person who believed that school was fun (strange? Yes. Uncommon? In the academy? Very.). So her being away for even a short period of time created an entire class debate.
"Well, she's probably fine, so you should stop worrying. Kashi's going to be here soon," a boy grumbled from the back. Everyone glanced to see Natsume's annoyed face glaring at a particular brunette. They could obviously see he was annoyed that she had left his side, but Mikan didn't look at it that way.
"Natsume, we're just worried about Nonoko-chan," she returned with a pointed glance. "It really is strange that she's not here."
Honestly, Mikan didn't know anything about that certain girl's disappearance either, and that bugged her even more. Sure she went on missions and such, but lately there had been less information thrown on her and the DA class. It was strange; the AAO's assaults had been somewhat… delayed. Not many PR missions were assigned, and a lot of the IG assignments were coming up empty. Now one of her classmates was nowhere to be found, what could she possibly think?
Note to self: ask Rei what's going on.
"Do you think she's okay?" Yuu hoped to no one in particular. The class almost had to smile at his obvious crush on the chemist; they had gotten a lot closer in the time Mikan had been gone, and it was almost safe to say that the feelings were reciprocated. It was sweet.
"I'm sure she's fine," Sumire sniffed. "She probably just did this on purpose to get all of your attention."
"Nonoko wouldn't do that!" Anna and Yuu protested at the exact same time.
The green-haired girl grinned. "Of course she wouldn't. Ogasawara-chan is way too pure for that, right Iinchou?"
A deep scarlet rushed into Yuu's cheeks as he tried to stammer out an answer, resulting in the entire class (minus the still sulking Natsume) to laugh, and Mikan to scold, "Don't be mean to him, Permy!"
She just shrugged and gave out another malicious smile. "I'm not being mean; I'm just pointing out the obvious. Like how, right now, Natsume-sama is trying his best to ignore you, but we can all see that it's just not working."
The boy in subject glared at the girl and growled, "I'm gonna burn your hair," just as Mikan wondered, "Why would Natsume try to ignore me?" and the class burst out into a chortle of laughter.
And Ruka, who had been silent throughout the whole conversation, reminded his best friend, "You aren't supposed to use your Alice, Natsume."
That got all of 3A to be quiet.
Then, "Why so serious?"
Heads swiveled around to look at the dirty-blond-haired goofball who stood there with a crazy grin on his face—which just so happened to be smeared with the rushed marker he held in his other hand. Kitsu just shook his head at his best friend's attempt to break the ice with a Batman (A/N: Love the Joker! The movie… not so much. :P) allusion.
And was even more amazed that it worked.
Suddenly, the entire class burst into discussion on how Batman would totally kick more ass if he were an Alice, which only led to another on questioning which superheroes were Alices, and which were just another crazy guy in tights.
Well, all students except three.
One just sat stroking a white bunny's fur, keeping his blue eyes thoughtfully on the ground, and another pursed her lips and stared at the cat boy who sat silently in the back of the room, staring right back.
They knew what the other was thinking.
Mostly.
-xox-
Mikan wiped her forehead of sweat. Soaring through the thick night air, she thought about the lack of information she had just received on her past two missions. She thought about how, before she left, Persona had evaded her questions on Nonoko, and how he didn't say anything on how Natsume was doing either.
And she thought about how much she hated not knowing what was going on.
Checking her special Alice watch, she saw that it was still pretty early. Only about ten after dark. You-chan should be sleeping (she hoped), and all her classmates were probably in their rooms. Kimi and Kouta were out on a mission, and Yoshiro was consulting with his mother. Sora was still on the other side of the globe, and Mikan had already checked in with Persona telepathically.
Mom.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn't visited Yuka since just after she joined regular classes. Would her mother be sad that she hadn't been coming as often anymore?
I'll go right now, Mikan thought, and whirled around back on the branch, changing direction towards the campus hospital. She jumped swiftly, metal bracelets clinging together as she moved. The Alice-controlling devices always bothered her, but she would rather look like a Christmas tree than hurt somebody she cared about.
Just as she was gliding over from a tree to another, though, her heart suddenly wrenched like it caught on fire. At the sudden pain, Mikan missed the handling on the branch and tumbled down to the ground, landing in a not very soft bush. But it wasn't the pricking of branches that made her gasp for air, and it definitely wasn't the hard ground that sparked the growing fire.
She rolled over onto her knees, trying to blink through tears that had somehow made their way out of her eyes as she coughed repetitively, each time drying her throat even more. The fire started to spread from her chest down her lungs, where the fire burned intensely without even a pause, or a sign of a retreating flicker. Then it slowly faded away as Mikan regained her eyesight, and the shallow breaths cleared of smoke. Her breathing still hitched, and she had to wipe her eyes several times before the tears stopped coming.
The ground where she had coughed on was now covered in red, and Mikan winced at the sight before freezing it over with her ice Alice, the water draining away the bright colour. Getting up off the dirty path, Mikan dusted herself off once, mentally wondering why, for the third time that month, she started having spasms of heat in her chest. Was she doing too many missions? Maybe so, but she had never thought once to stop.
Brushing the idea out of her mind as quickly as it came, she grabbed onto another branch to leap up into the air.
Seeing her mother's room's balcony, Mikan added an extra push into her jump to fling herself onto the platform. She landed with a soft thud. The glass door was slightly open—for her? Persona?—but before she could go inside, she saw movement come from inside.
She froze.
The shadow moved quickly to the door where she stood and she recognized the presence. Her mind drowned with questions, but all she could do when the door flung wide open was jump away, hoping that the person inside didn't see her.
-x-
The boy was sitting in the hard plastic chair, silent and still. He had just briefly informed the woman on the bed about how her daughter was doing and didn't know whether or not to go on. To Yuka, who sat like a Disney princess in her coma on the hospital bed, he had talked on about Mikan and her barely noticeable scars. About the way her body was inducing a large amount of stress that she so obviously tried to hide.
But he didn't say how much he was worried about her.
He closed his crimson eyes thoughtfully, trying to figure out what to say next. Ever since their very first date—could he call it that?—since she got back, he had always come here in his spare time. Sometimes he would tell her everything he knew. Sometimes he would just sit there in silence, thinking about everything that was happening.
Only few times had he seen other people in here. Mikan didn't come in, and he had to wonder if maybe she didn't know if she was allowed. Narumi had visited often, but whenever he saw Natsume in the room, he always made a point to leave before interrogating began.
Eventually, they stopped running into each other.
Natsume shifted in his seat as he opened his eyes. That was when he noticed movement on the other side of the balcony door, which he had opened slightly to let cool air into the stale hospital room. Swiftly, he got up to see who it was.
He pushed the door open.
He saw a white figure for a split second before it disappeared into the sky. Scanning the ground below again he realized that it was probably already long gone.
It was a person, he knew for sure. It had that particular essence about it that projected humanity. He could almost be positive that it was female from is small stature and long wave of dark hair, almost golden in moonlight. Was it a member of the mixed class? Why were they here? What did they want with Mikan's mother?
Slowly, Natsume backtracked into the room. The hairs on the back of his neck were on end and there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.
He just couldn't identify it.
-xox-
"Three days. She's been gone three days and the academy hasn't sent a search party yet?"
Yuu brought his hands down on Anna's desk as he continued to rant on the blue-haired girl's absence. She flinched. What happened to their always reliable and rational class representative?
"They must have some kind of reason for why she's gone," Anna suggested with an innocent hope. "I mean, Mikan-chan was gone for a week on a business trip that one time. Nonoko always has been impressive at what she does."
Mikan twirled a piece of hair around her finger nervously at the mention of her absent week, but just said, "Yeah."
"Besides," Anna continued, "Hotaru-chan is on a business trip. Maybe Nonoko is on one too?"
"But why would she leave without saying anything?" Yuu prompted, obviously not satisfied.
Sumire shrugged. "Sakura did the same."
"That's probably it," Mikan put in, trying to divert the conversation away from her. "Nonoko-chan had been working at that one store in Central Town, right? Maybe people recognized her there."
"Still—"
"Iinchou, man, quit it," Mochu said. "The girl's probably fine. She's always been able to take care of herself."
"Yeah!" Koko grinned. "Ogasawara could probably round up some kind of formula that burns off somebody's eyebrows."
"Like she did with yours," Sumire snorted. Koko frowned and the rest of the class laughed.
When Kitsuneme joined in, Koko pouted, "Traitor."
Kitsu just shrugged. "You know, she's kinda right."
"I'm not the one who has short eyebrows! Natsume is!"
…
Anybody outside of class 3A could've heard the cry of, "Why is it always me?" and the crash that followed directly after.
Inside, Mochu sighed. "He should've watched where he was going. If Koko crashes into the wall like that every day in his attempt to escape Natsume's wrath, there's no doubt he'll be stupid."
"Well, Natsume shouldn't be so intimidating to him!" Mikan scolded. "He was just defending himself!"
Natsume glared. "Then he doesn't need your sympathy. If he was a real man, he'd stop trying to run away."
"Oh, puh-lease, Natsume!" She rolled her eyes. "Koko was right to—"
"Stop damn defending him, and get his head out of your lap!" Natsume growled.
Mikan rolled her eyes again and twirled a bit of Koko's dirty blond hair in her fingers, just adding fuel to the fire. Natsume glowered at the sight; when the boy had run into the wall because he was trying to watch his back on his way out and passed out, Mikan was the first one to go to help him. So, until he woke up, she offered her lap as a comfortable pillow.
And that, Natsume didn't like at all.
Nope. Not one bit. Little did Mikan know, her kind gesture just got the boy into a whole lot more trouble.
"I feel kind of responsible for this." Sumire didn't apologize. Instead, she held a big grin on her face.
"Don't look so happy, Sumire-chan," Anna giggled.
"What can I say? That idiot got what he deserved for insulting Natsume-sama."
The class rolled their eyes.
"Class! To your seats!" Kashi, their homeroom teacher, walked into the room with a thick stack of papers. The corners of his lips turned up as he announced, "We have a pop quiz."
And to that, the class groaned.
-xox-
Mikan was in her room, mission attire on, clipping on some bracelets when she got the announcement. She had been thinking about Natsume's appearance in her mother' s room but she didn't really have time to ask him during class because, for some odd reason, he had been foul with her the entire day after what happened with Koko.
He's so cranky, she thought to herself.
About to message Persona that she was on her way, the connection flared before she could activate it and a message rang out to a wide range of students:
All DA members report to room D in the Hanahime den. I repeat, all DA members report to room D in the Hanahime den immediately.
She could feel the entire class flurry with questions, but before she could even think about asking their instructor what was wrong, he clipped the connection clean with everyone. The only thing Mikan could do was report to the biggest meeting room in the middle school building and wait like everyone else.
And wonder what the hell was going on.
They hardly had any full class meetings ever since the AAO started full throttle attacks, and they hadn't had a meeting in room D since just after Sora joined the DA class. Mikan could almost bet that everyone would be rushing over there just like she was, conjuring up crazy ideas on what was big enough to get all the academy's agents in one room.
Even though it was cold outside, none of her classmates paused on the way to the MS building.
"Look who finally decided to arrive?"
As soon as Mikan brought herself into the D room she was greeted by Rui Amane's grinning face. She immediately threw her arms around him and exclaimed, "Rui-senpai!"
The blond-haired teen patted her head. "It's been a while, huh, Mikan-chan?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "Where have you been all this time?"
"Oh, well Hajime, Hayate and I were just scouting for information around." He waved that away. Mikan raised her eyebrows at him, knowing there was more he wasn't telling her, but Rui just smiled and put a finger on his lips. From behind him, Hayate was arguing to the insect-controlling senior about some kind of comic book thing.
She nodded. "Did the twins get here yet?" she asked, changing the subject.
Before he could answer, Kimi appeared beside her and grinned wickedly. "Talking about me?"
"Kimi!" Mikan hugged both the girl and her brother. "Kouta! How was your last mission?"
"Boring," the girl answered the same time Kouta said, "Good." They shot each other exasperated looks.
"Let's just say both," Mikan said before they could debate on who was right. They may have been twins, but whenever they had different opinions in anything at all, it always resulted in big arguments. "So nothing happened?"
"Same here," Hayate jumped into the conversation. He ran a hand through his hair and repeated, "Same here. We hardly found anything. The AAO is really closed up at this point."
"Makes me wonder what this meeting is for," Hajime said thoughtfully.
Mikan nodded. "Yeah. I'd ask Rei but he's keeping connection locked. It makes sense since he'd be questioned like crazy by everyone, but it still bothers me."
"Do you think the AAO started something else?" Kimi suggested. "That would suck. I was getting used to the repetitiveness of their assaults."
"No kidding," Hayate agreed. "To think we almost had a perfect plan to overthrow them."
Just about everyone in the room turned to shoot him a look as Kimi blinked blankly. "We did?"
"Oh, uh, no," the boy under everyone's glare said quickly, putting his hands up.
"Hayate…" the golden girl warned.
He threw his hands down, and admitted, "Well, not that you were a part of."
"Hayate!" Mikan hissed.
Kimi spun on her. "You—"
"We're starting." Persona's voice came from the front of the room, and everyone turned their full attention to him, questioning how he got in without their notice. His raised eyebrow gave them their answers. They had been distracted; everyone made a point that they weren't anymore. Yoshiro stepped quietly through the door behind him and leaned against the back wall.
Mikan almost thanked him for his interruption when she saw the grim look on his face. She scanned the room and counted the many faces of the classmates she had gotten to know over the years and saw that practically everyone was there. Except one.
"Where's Sora?" she asked aloud.
Persona looked to her with a cold look that only she understood. "The ESP has him busy trying to find out what's going on in America. He won't be able to be here, but I'll send him all the information as soon as this meeting is over."
Yoshiro clenched his fist and Mikan bit her lip. It wasn't a surprise that Camilla didn't trust the Angel, but after all the time he put in trying to makes sure everything was okay, she would've thought that the elementary school principal would have learned to trust him already.
She kept her mouth shut as Persona talked on.
"All of you must have wondered what this meeting was called for, but I have to tell you that these instructions are not to be disobeyed. If you go against them, there will be a punishment. Unless you have permission from either myself or the ESP, action beyond our consent is prohibited. Is that clear?"
"Very," Kashino, one of the crazy, adrenaline-craved members of the class said with a nefarious smile. "Now get to the rule already so we can go off on our next mission. The past few have been too boring for my tastes."
Persona shot him a dark look which shut the boy up immediately. "The new rule is that every mission will be done in pairs."
Everyone blinked. They had expected anything but that.
Then, as if someone turned off the mute button in the room, they all burst into questions and complaints.
"Why?"
"Are the AAO planning something?"
"There's no way I'm going with a partner!"
"You have got to be kidding me!"
"Is something wrong?"
"What in freaking hell?"
"Who's my partner?"
"Do we have to comply to this?"
"I already have a partner!"
And so on.
A growl emitted slowly from Persona's throat at his classes heinous behavior which calmed—or scared—the voices down. He snapped his head around the room and his voice was cold and emotionless as he stated, "Common sense."
The whole class knew he was right. Half their objections were childishly unobservant.
"Your partners," Persona continued, "will be different each time. No," he shot a glare to the irritated Kashino before he could ask, "this is non-negotiable. Yes," he pinned his eyes to the telepathic twins, one of which was getting ready to protest, "you two will be paired with another, despite already being a pair. We won't separate you either. And no," his look turned bitterly cold as he looked at Daisuke, the most brutal and cold fighter they had (and scary, considering he always kept that huge battle axe with him), "you are not allowed to harm your partners. We have even larger punishments for that."
"How will you decide who goes with who?" Rui asked for everyone.
"It's random depending on who's free and who's hurt." The man said it so straightforwardly with no emotion like he expected people to get hurt that it made the room shiver. Only few weighed that he was actually trying to prevent it with this method.
"What's going on with the AAO?" another student asked.
Their trainer didn't waver. "Nothing. We're just being over-cautious."
It was a lie, Mikan knew, but she wouldn't point it out in front of the class.
"Are we having any missions today?" one boy demanded.
"Yes," Persona answered blithely. "Right after you finally get this rule and all its consequences through your thick skulls. Otherwise there might be something else driven into your head, more solid than you'd fear."
Mikan exchanged a glance with her blond upperclassman. Rui just nodded and they both knew that questioning Persona after this meeting was a plan. He only ever insulted the class with death remarks when things were extremely wrong, or if they were annoying him past his line. They probably provoked him both ways and that didn't mean anything good.
Once the rest of the DA class emptied their head of questions, they suggested that for the first mission, everyone's names will be in a hat so the two Persona drew out would go together. He thought it was a waste of time, but it happened anyway.
Kouta and Kimi were with some guy with the hyperactive voice Alice, a grouping Kouta couldn't help but grumble about. Rui was with a strength Alice; Hayate and Hajime were luckily paired together. Yoshiro went with Kashino (in which they both glared); and when Mikan's partner's name was drawn out, Persona's eyes narrowed.
It was Daisuke.
Honestly, not many people liked the guy. He always kept this giant battle axe at his side, wore a long scarf that covered half his face, and even though his posture always spelled out bored, his black eyes made everyone shiver and think death. Mikan didn't mind him; they never spoke. But by the way Persona gritted out his name, it was clear to Mikan that he didn't like her going on this mission with Daisuke, and if it wasn't by his own rule, he would've made the trade.
After everyone else was paired (only few, lucky people getting grouped with people they actually liked) and assigned a mission, Mikan and the gang stayed back and waited for everyone to file out. When the room was clear, she spun on Persona. "Rei, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," was his automatic answer.
Kimi crossed her arms. "Something's up, otherwise my brother over there wouldn't be grumbling about having to work with that loud highschooler." Kouta muttered something about horrible luck and earplugs.
"Yeah, the AAO must be planning something if it made you want to pair us up," Rui agreed.
Persona's eyes were narrowed as he looked over the group of seven teenagers in front of him. His mouth opened slightly to let a bubble of words flow out almost silently, "The reason for this is because we don't know what the AAO is planning. They are no longer kidnapping parents, but each of their bases have been set up with thousands of soldiers. The ESP and I find it necessary to group our students together for backup."
They all pondered it when Hajime cut in.
"Yeah, that's another thing that's been bothering me. The AAO seems to have an unlimited number of soldiers, not Alices, but human." He put a hand on his chin. "I don't think that many regular people would join just to target our school. It doesn't seem right."
While Hajime was talking, Persona and Yoshiro locked eyes. Yoshiro just shrugged and said, "I think it'd be better if they knew what they were up against."
"And your m—"
"You know I love her, but sometimes she's wrong. I think you agree with me on that." Yoshi gave him a smirking look.
Persona ignored it and turned back to the others, who waited impatiently. Kimi didn't look too happy. He said, "The head of the AAO has the Alice of human puppetry."
…
"What?" everyone screamed.
Five clearly confused teenagers started shooting out questions accusingly, but Mikan just furrowed her eyebrows and looked to her trainer. "You never said she had that Alice."
He said nothing. Mikan pursed her lips, looking at him with confused brown eyes, but she didn't ask any questions like everyone else was. She couldn't find the words to say anything at all, that much he could see. That was probably why he ordered, "Leave. You each have a mission," to all of them. They grumbled, but complied, most likely thinking about cornering Persona right after. When everyone else was out of the room, Rui sparing her a sympathetic glance, Mikan turned to leave. "Mikan."
She stopped but didn't turn around. "I'll talk to you after the mission?"
He nodded, and even though she couldn't see it, she knew he agreed. "Tell your partner to keep quiet, as well."
This time Mikan turned to look at him. "What?"
Persona just pointed to the door before teleporting out.
Mikan strolled swiftly out of the room, closing the door behind her when she heard a low voice. "Ready to go?"
She wasn't startled to see Daisuke leaning against the wall on the outside of the room, and she knew Persona had implied he had heard their conversation. By the look on his face, she was positive he had. When he pulled his long weapon from the strap on his back, and twirled it easily between his fingers, Mikan didn't flinch, even though the blade passed only a centimeter away from her face. Instead, she tugged on the edge of her mask and offered a small smile to the black-haired boy. "Let's head out."
The DA class has way too many OCs, I agree, but I couldn't just pull out Mikan's original classmates and make them start doing missions!
Can you imagine it? Yuu or Anna, Koko or Permy, outside the academy doing what Mikan has to do?
I can't do that to them!
To make it easy though, you really don't have to remember most of them, just the important ones.
Like Kimi and Kouta, Yoshiro and Sora, and if you're into bad boys, Daisuke will probably perk your interest. ;)
Oh, and Takeharu and Hiroto from the AAO are pretty important too, like their parents, Sato, Shina, and Camilla.
Rui, Hayate, and Hajime are all a part of the original DA class, in case you got confused. :)
Is it too much to ask for you to review? :)
-Starlight Curse