Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice!
There are times in life when you feel lost, or when you get scared, or at times when fear takes over and completely numbs your body. When that happens, you should act with caution and what is appropriate.
If you're a child you can go into your mother's arms and she'll hide you away from the world, she'll lull you to sleep and make your worst nightmares disappear. If you're older and can't go to your mother for help without looking terrible than you can curl up in a blanket and cry until morning comes when things start to look brighter. If you're a parent then you know that it is you who has to be strong for the sake of your child. So you stand like a pillar and protect your family.
But what do you do when you have no one, no one that can protect you or give strength to you? What if you don't have anyone to be strong for, what if no matter how many mornings come and go, reality won't change? What if in this entire universe you can't find the strength to move?
The alarms continue to ring. I hear a yell, or is it a cry?
Someone shouts, "CODE RED!"
I probably should run, or at the very least, hide. But there is no feeling in my legs. All I can think of is the fact that my worst nightmare has come true. I feel someone grab my arms and jolt me, somewhere faraway I hear their voices, panicked and fearful.
Someone slaps me.
Ouch. That really hurt.
I blink and look into deep green eyes. A feeling of nostalgia washes over me and I know that I've looked into the same eyes in another life.
"Mikan run! You can't be in here, if they catch you, you won't be let off without punishment!" Kitsuneme yells in my face all the while shaking me back and forth with his vice like grip on both my shoulders.
I focus my vision on his face. Something about that fearful and panicked look on his face is so eerily familiar.
"Did we meet before? Like on earth, did I know you?" He looks taken aback by my question. He blinks and in that moment Angel Security breaks in.
We both freeze and look up to see the same blue and gold uniforms that chased me when I broke into Matrimony's sanctuary.
"You two! Freeze!" A slightly shorter angel guard says pointing his iron staff at us. The iron staffs were designed to electrocute someone a mile away, you had to go through strict training to ever even touch one. The fact that someone was pointing one at me made me realize that I was in danger zone.
I put my hands above my head and look up at the four intimidating figures standing in front of me. I feel Kitsuneme shuffle beside me and sneak a look at him from the corner of me eye.
"Hey guys, I was just looking for you," He has an uncomfortable smile on his face as he walks towards them leaving me standing by myself in the middle of the room.
"Shouldn't you be looking for who broke in? Why were you looking for us?" A bald angel to the right of me says. Kitsuneme stops in the middle of his walk, standing right in between me and the angels. He does have a good point; come to think of it what was Kitsuneme doing here by my side?
His shoulders tense as he forces a smile at them and mutters, "Well I found her and was going to bring her to you guys but I couldn't find you cause of this blasted ringing." He refers to the room that was still in an uproar with its continuous hum of 'Danger' 'Danger.' They look at each other and then back at Kitsuneme, then nod. Kitsuneme's shoulders relax and he walks forward to join them all.
They look at me from across the room and then as if in unison they gaze at Kitsuneme expectantly. He looks at them with understanding and then with conflict in his eyes he turns to me.
"Mikan Sakura, for breaking into a forbidden area without permission from anyone with eligible authority I hereby arrest you and demand that you be taken to the higher-ups castle," Kitsuneme bellows loudly.
The short guard lowers his weapon and the bald angel puts silver handcuffs on my two hands. I don't make a sound as the two security angels on both sides of me each grab an arm and fly dragging me with them to the sky.
…
"Is she dead?" A woman who looked in her early thirties asked the doctor.
"No, thankfully, something broke her fall. She does, however, have minor injuries in her ribcage and a few broken bones in her arms. Her elbow bone broke and she has bruises on every inch of her body. No damage to the skull and surprisingly none to her legs although she did damage muscles in her back." The young doctor said to the family of the girl that had gathered.
"Thank God." A girl whispered next to the woman who had asked the question earlier. The girl looked to be in her teen years with green eyes and black hair decorated with highlights that matched the color of her eyes. Her eyes were swollen from crying all night and her skin was pale from malnutrition.
"Sit down Sumire, you've been awake all night, she's fine now." The woman beside her told the young girl with swollen eyes.
"But why isn't she waking up mother? It has been a whole day now but she won't get up. Doctor Subaru, please, I need to know why my sister isn't getting up." The girl pleaded with the young doctor who was now busily checking the many monitors in the room.
"That's the odd part. It has been 24 hours, she should have woken up. She has no damage to her skull and she is not in danger zone so she should be awake right now." Replied the doctor with a crease between his brows as he looked over charts and MRI scans again.
"So why is she still sleeping?" The girl asked in a panicked voice.
The young doctor with dark circles under his eyes from working long shifts replies in a monotone voice to the young girl.
"I don't know. There is no injury that's keeping her in this state. She has fallen into a coma on her own will. There must be something that she doesn't want to experience or something that she's scared of seeing that's keeping her from coming back."
…
We reach the palace only minutes later as the gold and silver walls of the castle come into view. It must be nice to have wings.
The two angels gently descend towards the ground and then wordlessly walk me through the double doors of the golden palace. We walk on a red carpet and move down staircases until we finally reach the large door to the throne room. The two angels beside me move so that they stand behind me and the rest of them walk in front of me blocking my view of everything. Together they form a ring around me and we move like this towards the awaiting higher ups.
The throne room is a lot like the rest of the palace from what I can see. There were golden walls with silver linings. Tapestries were on every corner and large crystal chandeliers hung above us. This was definitely royalty in all its glory.
I walked or more like was dragged in front of the higher ups. There were three of them and they were each extraordinarily beautiful. The one in the middle was a woman with long golden hair, it seemed like her hair were strands woven from the light of the moon and the sun combined.
She had skin like porcelain; her eyes were a deep blue, like the sky right after midnight but just before dawn. Her features were soft and feminine, they were angular and perfect. She was the kind of woman that no man could ever resist. She looked down at me and smiled a kind smile. It was almost motherly. Her presence filled the room with radiance and you couldn't help but relax.
To her right sat a man who was every bit as beautiful as her but every bit as different. His skin was a dark color like that of mahogany, his eyes a glaring silver but when he looked at me I noticed green specks in them. He had shiny black hair that was almost past his shoulders, and when you looked closely at them, you noticed silver highlights in them that matched his eyes. He simply looked at me with his exotic eyes.
To the woman's left sat a boy. He was probably no older than ten. He seemed to be a mixture of the two, as he too, possessed dark hair, porcelain skin and exotic eyes. He looked down at me with childlike curiosity. I smiled at him and he seemed to blink back.
I noticed they were all dressed in similar garments that matched the castle with its gold and silver.
"Announce your business, young maiden," The beautiful woman spoke breaking me out of my reverie.
The bald angel in front of me spoke, "If I may my Queen, this maiden has committed unfathomable crimes unbeknownst to any decent angel in heaven. We have brought her before you to pass judgment and currently have her under arrest." Okay, pretty sure this guy has something against me.
"Is that so? Do tell," The Queen it appears replied.
The bald one again talked in my stead, "This wench before us has committed a foul crime. She has trespassed through prohibited territory, gained forbidden knowledge, broken into an angel's sanctuary, stolen an item and it appears that she is behind in her studies and although she is an angel in training she cannot fly above three inches." Dude, did I kill your children? What is up with this and how on heaven does he know so much about my...flaws.
"Is that so?" The Queen repeated, she didn't seem put off at all by the bald guy's speech. Makes you wonder what kinds of crimes people have been brought in here for. She looked at me with those wise and exotic eyes. The way she stared at me made me feel like she was searching for something in me. She probably found it because she blinked and gave me a fleeting smile.
"If you would, I would like the maiden in question to talk for herself. Come forward dear child and tell me what it is that has got you so scared." The kind Queen gestured with her hands for me to come forward.
I took a step towards her and fell to my knees; I didn't realize how weak they had gotten.
With my head down I spoke to her in hope of a miracle.
"With all due respect my Queen, the only worry that I have right now is of something that I read in the prohibited area that I accidentally entered." I said with a shaky voice.
The queen smiled down at me, "That is forbidden knowledge but do tell what it is that has you so worried."
"I have read the names of those who will die within the next hundred days. In that list there is a name that I wish to not see die yet." I continue as my voice starts to find leverage and I gain confidence.
"Hyuga Natsume is a beloved of mine and it is my greatest wish and desire that his name be removed from that list." I finish in a steady voice and look up at the queen.
"I trust that this is the man in your life young maiden. Fear not, although it may seem hard to accept at first, realize that there is a reason why this list wasn't found in hell and was in heaven. The names of the individuals on this list will enter heaven after their death." The queen smiled.
I swallowed this information. This would mean that Natsume is going to be with me. We'll be together again and this time not even death will break us apart. Never again will we separate, we can spend the rest of eternity on heaven and all I have to do is wait a hundred more days.
The Queen laughed and said to me, "Love truly is amazing. Dear child be glad, and celebrate for you will be reunited with your beloved.
I almost relax and let the feeling of joy and longing fill me when suddenly a flashback comes to me.
Natsume and Mikan 7 years ago, at the age of 10.
"Ouch!" A young boy falls from a ten feet high branch. The little girl standing beside the tree runs over to him and gasps.
"Natsume? What were you doing up there?" She asks the boy still lying on the ground too embarrassed to get up and face her with leaves in his hair.
"Go away ugly, I'm busy," was the smart reply of the ten year old.
"Busy climbing trees?" Replies the young girl.
"Hn," was the boy's witty remark.
"Come on Natsume! I'm bored and we haven't played together in a long time! I know, can I climb trees with you?"
"No."
"Why not!? You don't think I can do it? Well watch m-" The boy grabs the girl's foot from where he lies on the ground and pulls it so that she falls face first onto the ground.
"OUCH! What was that for!?"
"For being annoying."
"NATSUME!"
"Calm down, I'm not climbing trees just for fun you know, its hard work and it's very dangerous."
"If it's not for fun, then why are you doing it?"
"I'm working; I need to be able to run on them smoothly without making a sound. It's… for my dream."
"Which would be what? Join the circus? Or become a monkey?"
"Funny."
She laughs, "Okay, okay."
She looks up at him with curiosity and asks "What's your dream Natsume?"
The boy looked at her shinning eyes and blushes while whispering, "A Secret Agent."
She looked at him in surprise. "Wow."
He looks up at her from between the hair that fell into his eyes and smiles, pleased that she didn't mock him.
"I've wanted to for a while now, ever since my dad started telling me stories about how he saves lives and sneaks around fighting bad guys. It's kind of like being a superhero you know."
"But what does that have to do with climbing and running on trees?" Mikan asked.
"I thought it would be good training. I want to hurry up and get strong, so that I can protect everyone." The second part of his reply was whispered but Mikan heard it loud and clear and smiled proudly at him.
Unknown to him and even to her until some time later, Natsume's dream became her own that day. She would go to any extreme and jump over any obstacle to make his dream come true, because to her the only wish that she had was to make Natsume happy.
Tears streamed down my face as the flashback ended. It seemed like the memory was lifetimes away, so much time had passed since then.
Right. I remember now.
That was selfish of me, getting happy just because he would be coming to me and ignoring what it was that he would be losing on his way here. No, I can't allow this.
I see the Queen look at me in astonishment. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" She asks in a concerned voice.
"Your majesty, please don't let him die." I start pleading. I could tell that the woman in front of me was at a loss of words. The whole room had fallen into a dead silence. Still, I continued.
"He can only come when he has lived for a hundred years; I refuse to let him die a day early. He has to live. He should get to do everything that I didn't get to. See places I've never been to, eat foods I've only dreamed of, and fulfill every dream in his heart."
"He has to live a long life, your highness. He should fall in love, marry a girl as beautiful as him, have children, and become a grandfather and then one day die of old age in a warm bed surrounded by those that love him." I finished and right after started choking on the amount of tears that were threatening to break me apart.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It's going to be alright, I told myself. No matter what happens Natsume Hyuga will not die in the next 100 days.