A/N: Sorry for the decade-long update, but here it is! I just got so caught up with real life and I kinda forgot my account details in fan fiction dot net. But now that I remembered it and I've written it in my diary, I will be staying in the site for until God knows when!

Comments are very much welcome. Just press that review button at the bottom once you're done reading Chapter 25!

PFF is now on it's 8th year of being available online!

We started in the wee year of 2007 and we've gone through a few bumps along the road...

I can't thank you enough for the love and support that you gave for PFF! Now, off to the story!

RECAP:

We have ended the previous chapter with Mikan actually deciding to fight not for the people who were invading the academy but for the people whom she loved and she would rather take a bullet than see them hurt. The story continues.

Chapter 25: Fire burn Auburn

oOOoOOo

"This is absolutely wrong, and guess what? It's your cousin's entire fault!" Reo roared furiously at Yuka, she just looked at the red-haired man calmly. She then turned to the man beside her. It was Shiki Masachika.

"Get them ready." Yuka said, not even giving off the slightest air of weakness or defeat. This is a plan of revenge based on what the academy had done to most of its students. How work of hardships were carried out even by the youngest of a powerful Alice. She and the whole organization were one of those children 'abused' through missions that could endanger their lives. This has got to stop. They were going to take the children out of that hellhole and set them free. Free of the tasks, 'responsibilities' and especially—the missions.

Shiki took out his handy phone and barked out the instructions to the person on the other line. Yuka turned to Reo, "I think it's time you put your trump card out." She said Reo nodded in agreement; there was nothing to lose. And they can't even afford to lose this battle of the lifetime. He took his leave and went to his group. Yuka turned to Shiki who was still on the phone, she asked him to call for Luna.

"It's going great, isn't it?" a man asked, his back turned against the woman who was half laid on the bed. They were both blonde, and it was certain that neither of them was anywhere stupid and the fact remains that their victory is near, the woman laughed heartily.

"You wouldn't believe it, but everything's going as planned." She said. The man made his way to the bed, making his way to her in the dark. He smoothly sat beside her and gently stroked her hair. A smirk played its way to his lips.

"Oh I believe you, love. Once this petty battle is over, he'd be able to harness our power and finally be able to control them. Just like little toys…"

The air was stuffy and it was already late in the night, which means that the fog should have at least made it a bit cooler. Especially since she had cracked the window open. The actress-turned-student-turned-spy heaved a heavy sigh and sat up on her bed and kicked away her blanket. There was nothing more frustrating than not getting a good night rest after an exhaustingly long day. Mikan got up from her bed and changed into her walking clothes and decided that her room was hot enough to pass as an oven and she was sure outside, beneath the twinkling stars, was far better than being trapped in there. She messaged her best friend and told her that if ever she was still up she could find her in the forest. Even if Hotaru was just next door.

She grabbed her flute and teleported into the middle of the forest.

Mikan breathed in a lungful of air and grinned. It was cooler by 15 degrees out here than in the Academy buildings. She floated up a tree and sat on a huge branch, careful so she won't fall. She started to play her flute and wondered if the music she made would still be heard in the dead of the night by unknowing ears. A few minutes had passed and her thoughts had wandered into something her brain has never touched these past few weeks. Even months. Her mother.

Yuka was beautiful with her bright and sweet smile which Mikan was proud to say that she had inherited. Her mother's beautiful eyes that always reflected her emotions. Mikan decided that perhaps her mom's eyes were what gave her mother's feelings away. They were always full of profound meaning. The young adult had always admired her mother and her mother's death had always haunted her in her sleep and even in her waking hours. It was just too painful and when she realized that she was finally accepting that her mother was gone, all she felt was a paramount of sorrow filling her chest. She even vomited when she realized that.

The funny thing was, her mother was actually alive and well and she was behind all the trouble that was stirring the pot of chaos in the Academy. And apparently, she pulled the short stick and ended up being an ingredient in that soup of chaos. Her life might as well be a movie.

Mikan's train of thought was immediately derailed by the sound of footsteps coming from north of her. She kept playing her flute despite the alarm bells ringing in her head. Alright Mikan, just calm down. It could be Hotaru looking for you. Or even Natsume!

But at the last thought, another part of her brain piped in,

Right, because you would love to see Natsume tonight, won't you? As if he would know where you are or care to know where you are, for that matter.

She really didn't like it when she was arguing with her inner self. It made her seem crazy. She'd probably sound even crazier if she had her conversation with herself out loud. That would kill any chance she had with Natsume if she even had a chance at all.

When Mikan didn't hear the footsteps any longer, she slowly stopped playing and focused her attention into listening to the sounds of the night.

It was quiet, save for the constant hooting of the owls and chirping of the crickets and the nesting birds.

Dark and quiet. Nothing out of this world moved or made a sound.

But Mikan froze in her position. A scream was also frozen in her throat. In the stillness of the night, something breathed air on her neck and a hand was clamped on her mouth.

02:34AM

Can't Sleep. Went to the forest with flute.

M.

Hotaru blinked as she pondered on the short and really clear-cut message that her idiotic best friend sent her. Mikan usually sent really long texts detailing nearly everything she did and thought about. So this was really weird. But the day had been weird and even the night was too, especially when the temperature rose to an alarming level that she woke up with sweat covering her skin and her room thermometer said that it was 104 degrees. Hotaru was immediately on her computer, measuring the changes in the building's temperature in the past five hours. Apparently, it only climbed to 94 at around 12 midnight and reached the 100 point at 2AM and it was steadily rising. She was sure that nearly everyone in the building was awake and turning up their air conditioners.

But they would probably realize by now that their dehumidifiers were nonoperational. This is exactly why Hotaru had Amanatsu use her arms to cool her like an electric fan.

There was something amiss in academy's appliances and she was just waiting for that tell-tale known on her door from someone in the school staff.

She haven't figured out the reason for this situation, though, but she had theories that she was willing to test and prove.

Her dark hair was mussed up from her awkward sleeping positions she were in that were caused by the heat in her room. The young girl had even rolled on the floor just to catch the cold tiled floor's temperature and hoped that she was a reptile that could adapt its temperature to its environment. Sadly, she wasn't. It would have helped greatly if her beloved sister didn't suddenly vanish from the Academy, with an assurance from the professors that she was simply carted off to a school in Austria. Oh how she would have loved to be with her sister right now.

She could even bet her own Alice that it wasn't this humid in Austria. Hell, she felt like she was in the middle of the Sahara desert.

She tried to sense her sister.

Sis, if you could picture my room you're very much free to send me snowfall. It's freaking Sahara desert here!

She pushed her thoughts through with much exertion and she felt much more tired than before.

The young alice was beginning to pant heavily and she tried to gulp in a chockfull of air just to breath. But she can't.

Her lungs felt like there was a ton of bricks over it and it just refused to pump more air for her body. Her muscles began to spasm. Moments later, she was beginning to lose control of her own body.

He pushed his window open and slipped out into the night. The darkness engulfed him with its welcoming cool temperature. A soft sigh slipped past his lips, indicating the relief that washed over him. He was free from the head pounding heat and had escaped from the possibility of getting called upon by his esteemed teacher who knew nothing else in this world but pain and hatred.

He didn't want anything to do with death and hurt right now and he would very much prefer solitude over the ringing of gunshots in his ears.

He continued to walk on, finally disappearing in the forest.

At 2:45AM the Academy's bells were ringing.

It rang loud and true and everyone that night stirred from their sleep with sweat trickling down their skin and some actually went unconscious caused by hyperthermia and sometimes resulted to asphyxia.

It was a sad night and death was creeping up on them in a formless hand that manipulated the academy's system.

But despite the alarm bells signalling everyone to evacuate outside of the dormitory, the building suddenly began its lock down operation, trapping nearly everyone inside to endure the continually rising temperature. Some were able to slip out before the lock down but Hotaru Imai was not one of them. Nor were the other students who were familiar or close with our heroine.

"You're sure about this?" Yuka's tone was taunting, that was what Luna realized and she instantly knew that her cousin didn't trust an ounce of her being. But she also knew that even if Yuka didn't trust her, she had no other choice since Luna and her little squad of alices were their last ammunition and if Luna had a plan, she had no choice but to follow.

Yuka knew that being a leader meant she knew how to open the table to with plans that might just work, especially if it was last resort. Luna gave a grave nod and turned to the huge vault. She instructed the rest of the organization's members to go inside for security purposes and so they could tap into various alices at the same time if they needed to. The huge vault was designed to seep alices from people and transfer them to other people by way of a remote that was controlled by Luna's logistics person.

"I want my daughter alive, Luna. Win or lose. I want my baby girl." Yuka stated with severity and narrowed her gaze at the blonde adult who wore a black fitted jumpsuit that outlined her curves. It was like her second skin.

"Of course, I wouldn't even touch a single strand of her hair." She replied and without much words or thought, turned her back from her leader and walked away. Her crew began ushering the other organization members into the vault and she kept one girl inside that was not programmed into the vault's system.

Luna walked out of the room with two boys and one girl following closely behind her. They knew that sooner or later they would have complete control. Or at least, one of them does.

There was no sign of the moon in the sky and only the stars lit up the night. But just enough light to make the black figures move in the shadows, remaining unseen. Her lips curled into a sly grin and she touched the man beside her.

Luna Koizumi was gone.

"That didn't even bother you one bit, did it?" the man asked the only girl left in their trio. The girl shook her head and jutted her chin toward the metallic chamber that they ushered Yuka in. "We should start up Yuki," She even named the abhorrent thing with her sister's name. Luna knew of course, but none of these two idiots knew that. She was smarter than she had led everyone to believe. They thought it was called Yuki because the linings and the wires were in various shades of white. Sometimes they just thought the thing was a representation of the girl's demeanour. Cold as the snow. The two boys booted up the system and the girl watched behind them as she smiled. No one would know. Not even these two dunderheads.

She pressed something on her wrist and she heard the sound of the wind in her ears.

"Luna, it's ready. Should we alert lover-boy?" She asked.

Yes. Tell him I found the target 23 meters from the wall, east of the forest. He is free to commence Plan E5. Came the static reply from the other line.

"Roger that."

Oh and Mayumi, make sure to start humidifying the sauna.

He looked the part but he wasn't sure he was doing the part well. E5 was supposed to take down the biggest hurdle in their road to success and he was the perfect person to dispose of the problem.

"Don't scream. It's just me." He whispered and let go of his hold on Mikan's mouth. The brunette's eyes were wide in panic as she studied the boy in front of her. Raven hair. Crimson eyes. Her heart quickened its pace as she stared into the piercing red eyes of the man that made a home in her mind. "Natsume, you stupid idiot! What are you doing?" Her outburst was expected, of course and the man caught the fist that was about to land on his cheek.

"Shh, don't make so much noise, polka-dots! You know it's late and people are sleeping! And it was hot in my room so I went out!" Was his response as he glared at Mikan. Mikan glared back and stuck out her tongue at him. Once she was satisfied, she jumped off the tree and landed perfectly on the ground without so much as a gash on her skin or disarrayed hair. Natsume shook his head and followed her.

"Stop following me and find a different spot in the forest, you baka!" She exclaimed, frustrated when she noticed that he was following her wherever she went.

"I am, except I want to be with you." Natsume said as he looked around the dark forest. He knew his team was somewhere near and he couldn't let Mikan see them or else he would fail. All he needed to do was distract her for the next... Natsume looked down on his wristwatch and computed the remaining time he had to keep this up... One and a half hour. He had 90 minutes to keep Mikan Sakura occupied.

But his thoughts were running fifty miles a second that he didn't notice Mikan had stopped walking and he ended up bumping into her.

"You want to be with me?" She asked with her wide-doe-eyed expression. Happiness and sweet innocence written all over her face. Natsume rolled his eyes and nodded, wondering how he had even fallen in love with someone as naive as this girl. She was possibly the easiest human being to manipulate. She was like clear water that went with the current and the tides. Which was stupid, to be honest.

Mikan stifled a squeal and launched herself into Natsume, pushing them both into the ground, with her on top of him.

"Aw why didn't you tell me from the start instead of scaring the crap out of me, you stupid asshole?" She asked him with her trademark saccharine smile that could give anyone diabetes.

"Damn it!" Hotaru cursed when she realized that the windows were bolted and she could only go out through her door. When she finally accepted the fact that she can't do anything about it, considering that the academy dorms were damage-proof, she went out of her room with her inventions in tow. She was surprised when Ruka Nogi came running towards her with his pet bunny in his arms. Although any hint of emotion was barely recognizable from the girl's face. She calmly lifted a brow at Ruka.

"Trapped. Everyone. People. Passing out." He said in between harried pants. Amanatsu handed the animal-pheromone alice a flask and Ruka could only give a small smile in response as he took the drink and chugged it down.

"Well Nogi, thanks for emptying my supply." Hotaru said and gave him a roll of her eyes. She was in no mood for Ruka's nerves and he was obviously panicking. "Sorry!" Ruka heaved and tried to breath. The heat was too much and he knew that sooner or later, he would also dive into unconsciousness.

"Were are the twins and the other idiots?" despite being a robot who had no sentience, Amanatsu was still patterned from Mikan and she knew that Hotaru was worried of her friends. No matter how many times she denied it or gave off the aura that she didn't care.

"Everyone's down the foyer of the dorm, the teachers are trying to calm them down. We should hurry! Nonoko's baking ice cream from the heat! She's baking ice cream, Imai-san!" Ruka cried out in abject horror. But Hotaru seemed unmoved and simply gave him a nod and walked on, "Alright. I've assessed the situation and I'm sure I could dehumidify a certain part of the building so the rest could rest well." She said in her infamous monotonous tone.

"But we're still trapped! The building could even survive an atomic bomb!" He said, but in the back of his mind, he knew that Hotaru was hatching a plan that was sure to put them out of their misery. In a good way, of course.

Ruka looked around the hall and turned to the Ice-Queen, "Hey wait, where's Mikan?" He asked.

"I could ask the same for your best friend."

oOOoOOo

A/N: Ha! you thought it was the last chapter, didn't you? Well it's not. I can't rush the story into completion even if it took me years to update. Don't worry, a new chapter is in your near future! Just keep reading and reviewing and a chapter 26 will be posted! (probably within a week! but with my track record, who knows?)

love, BT012

or now known as maevebeatrixkinsella

REMEMBER TO REVIEW!

I URGE YOU TO REVIEW

WITH LOVE, MBK