The reunion was moved inside the castle, everyone bustling around and people cheering. In a private room, the seven rulers of the kingdom gathered, joined by the people who weren't afraid of Natsume's death glares. Which is practically anyone in the gang, come to think of it. On the King's right hand seat, was Hotaru, who claimed it before anybody else. Although she would have really liked to seat on the head (mostly just to annoy Natsume), Ruka had managed to distract her a millisecond and that cost her the seat. Damn. It was cushiony too.
She aimed a glare at Ruka's head who chuckled sheepishly at her side. Although, she could see a hint of smugness in his eyes, which caused her to narrow her own even more. Just because she liked his kisses (and damn it she was allowed to have a weakness now and then, look at Mikan!), it didn't mean she liked having it exploited in front of that damn Hyuuga! Ruka sighed, causing Narumi to chuckle at his misfortune. He resisted the urge to elbow his former teacher in the stomach, and settled for a roll of the eyes instead.
Sitting in front of Ruka was Nobara, who was crying so hard when she and Mikan met once more, that her tight control on her Alice slipped a little and her tears turned to crystallized ice that she has kept in a pouch by her side. (Her tears were considered a high commodity in any kingdom, except for Mikan's of course, since Nobara liked to release all her problems when by the Nullificator's side.)
Beside Nobara was her husband Rei, or Persona as they knew him. He was rubbing her shoulders gently, as he kept smiling softly alternately between his wife and Mikan. He was very fond of Mikan, the only one who really tried to look for the good in him that Nobara claimed to have seen. It paid off in the long run, and they now regarded their previous tormentor in friendship.
Misaki and Tsubasa were by his side, both bickering at each other, much to the amusement of the people around them. The past decades were hard on them all, and they rarely saw the joking atmosphere between the loving couple, it was almost depressing. On the other side of Narumi was Koko and Kitsuneme, the twin pranksters decided to not be intimidated by Natsume's sharp glare earlier (as if you can choose whether or not to be scared), and stuck close to their old sensei.
Mikan was in a . . . comfortable enough seat. Natsume refused to let her go, and ended up giving his lap as her seat. Blushing furiously, she complied, but only because he was giving her that smirk that really makes shivers go down her spine in a really good way. His arms wrapped around her slim waist, trapping her legs as well with his own. His chin rested on the top of her head and he was. . . dare she say it? Purring. That's right. The Great and Fearsome Natsume Hyuuga was purring. She inwardly sighed, wondering if the last time Nonoko made that animal potion hadn't really managed to be extracted of the Black Cat.
Jinno-sensei (she can't seem to get rid of thinking of them as her former teachers), cleared his throat, and she smiled softly, before nudging Natsume behind her. The Black Cat merely tightened his grip on Mikan, looking up from Mikan's hair to glare at Jinno. Jinno, although he understood that he just wanted some alone time with his wife, also knew that they needed to talk about the upcoming war immediately.
Ignoring the glare sent to him by his King, he cleared his throat before announcing, "The War Council shall now begin." With his words, everybody quieted and the atmosphere dampened. Mikan, feeling Natsume's heat increase, decided to butt in.
"During the last battle with Kuonji 500 years ago, I made a contract with Alicia-sama." Everyone stilled at this, remembering now the pain of not knowing who was missing from their lives, and the bloody battle before that. Mikan took a deep breath, remembering the pain of the darkness surrounding her back then, with no warmth to indicate her Natsume beside her.
"Well, apparently, she is my ancestor, which allowed me to be compatible with the Alice stones and allow me some measure of control over them."
"That does explain why you have those Stealing and Copying Alice that you have." Tsubasa murmured thoughtfully, remembering the initial confusion and panic upon realizing that Mikan had an Alice that was so rare they had yet to hear about it. Mikan nodded in response, blushing slightly.
She continued, "Before the battle itself, Natsume and I talked about it. " She glanced back at Natsume in askance, and Natsume rolled his eyes before continuing in her place. "The idiot thought that it would be the best thing for everybody if the no one would be able to use an Alice anymore."
Everyone was startled at the announcement. No Alices? At all?
"Obviously that didn't happen." Hotaru said in a bored manner.
"Well, not that I'm complaining or anything, but why didn't it?" Asked Misaki.
Natsume growled lowly in his throat and his grip on Mikan tightened even more. Mikan sighed, if Natsume had reacted very badly on her request, her friends would probably lock her up in a tower somewhere.
"For it to happen, a nullification of great power would be needed to release on all seven continents."
Everyone continued to look confused. Koko helpfully asked what was in everybody's (except for Hotaru) minds.
"So?"
"So that meant that Mikan's life force would be needed to sacrifice itself to handle the release of power of that magnitude."
And as expected, nearly everyone was once again on their feet, leaning towards in Mikan, as if making sure that she really was still there.
"Anyway," Mikan continued, a bit alarmed at everyone's reactions, "it didn't convince Natsume one bit—" She ignored Narumi's sudden yell of "It better not have!" and continued.
"So we decided to talk to Hotaru." At this, everyone sighed in relief, knowing that the genius inventor would be able to stop Mikan from doing anything stupid, which was most of the time.
Hotaru took the reins of the conversation then, standing and immediately garnering everyone's complete attention.
"In essence, what Mikan had done was talk with the Goddess Alicia. And she had allowed us to have time in order to defeat Kuonji and his cronies. As we were back then, we would not have survived and would have fallen under Kuonji's rule."
Everyone was aghast now, thankful that the dreadful future did not happen.
"The riddle that she gave us, the Keys, are the most essential part of the battle now." She nodded in the direction of the rulers that took out their Keys. "The reason why we don't remember how we got them, is that we needed to enter Alicia-sama's domain to get them. Separately as well, since we needed to prove ourselves worthy."
And so, they all started to reveal their Keys, which Mikan had designed for each of them.
The King of the Alice of Pheromones: Ruka Nogi bearer of the Sun.
The King of The Alice of Fire: Natsume Hyuuga bearer of the Crown.
The Queen of the Alice of Ice: Nobara Ibaragi bearer of the Star.
The King of the Alice of Electricity: Jinno Genjuu bearer of the Hand.
The King of the Alice of Death: Rei Serio bearer of the Eye.
The Queen of the Alice of Transformation: Hotaru Imai bearer of the Moon.
And everyone held their breath as Mikan smiled, reached up to her head, and plucked a strand, most notably golden than any other. The strand curled around, encircling the Keys then separating into even pieces. And then each strand seemed to Shape around each Key, forming a circlet for each ruler, with their Key in the middle.
Before anyone could break from the amazement of seeing the circlets, Hotaru brought forth the glossy ball that served as their portal through time. Mikan took it, placing it in the middle of the surrounding circlets before murmuring, "Come forth, Time."
A flash of light, power rising from each circlet and from each ruler, before there was suddenly a child before them.
Mikan smiled at the child from her seat, before announcing to her friends, "Meet my friend Time."
A/N: Hey guys, I'm still alive! Yeah, and I'm really sorry for not being able to update any sooner. And you guys would probably still want to kill me. Anyway, the battle is very nearly there, and I might post the prequel of this story soon.
Probably.
Anyway, enjoy and review. I'll be updating The Wolf that fell in Love With Red Riding Hood soon.
That, I know is right because I'm writing it right now.
See ya!