Disclaimer: Whatever I do, Gakuen Alice still belongs to Tachibana Higuchi.

A/N: ...........................Sorry. I hope this could make it up for the laaaaate update. Don't be mad at me, I've been real busy :'(

Anyway, here's some action and yes, more drama, for you. Thanks for all the support, and I hope you're still with me~ Have fun reading :)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Youichi peered over his shoulder. In the darkness of the forest they were currently at, he could nevertheless see the unrest in Mikan's features. Not just see—but sense it too. When she nearly tripped due to a huge branch blocking the trail they were taking, Youichi sighed in exasperation, halted and faced her.

"Mikan," he asked, concern etching his tone. His olive orbs stared straight to her hazel ones—sending the message that he was, this time, serious.

The brunette raised a brow while fumbling with the gun hung on the belt on her hip. "I told you, it's nothing. I'm perfectly fine." When the gray-haired guy stayed silently staring at her, she continued, "I can do this mission, Youichi. Don't treat me like a kid." And you're supposed to be the kid, she added dryly, in her thoughts.

Still not contented, he crossed his arms and gave the impression that he will not continue walking unless she told him what was wrong.

Mikan sighed in impatience and spoke with a hard tone. "We're in the middle of a mission, Youichi."

"I'm not starting any dangerous mission with you when you're like this, Mikan," he replied, having the same heat in his tone.

The glared at each other for a while—the sound of the spring peepers blaring all around them as if the little gray frogs hiding in the puddles around the huge forest area could feel the tension between two of the most talented students of Alice Academy.

"Let's talk about it later, after the mission," Mikan drawled with implicit annoyance. When the gray-haired boy still seemed unconvinced, she raised her right brow. "I told you, I'm fine. Now let's go or I'll ditch you and call the Academy for another partner."

Without wasting any second, the brunette walked past him. Due to the bitter fact that the girl had already done it before—sending an SOS message to the Academy for another partner just because she was pissed at him—left him with no choice but to follow the brunette marching away. When he saw her knock her own head with her fist out of the blue—a personal vice of her indicating she was trying hard to keep something off her mind—he sighed, and decided that he would need to keep a close eye on her for tonight.

Mikan fired two consecutive shots at two men and ran across the hall. She heard Youichi shoot a few more while following her towards the grand staircase. Reaching the foot of the large flight of stairs, she crouched at the side and gathered her concentration—she tried to sense where the History Alice child who is being held captive in this human-trafficking lord's mansion. As soon as the spirit manipulator reached where she was, she had determined where the kid was.

"Two flights up," Mikan whispered to Youichi, the latter nodding. The brunette continued. "I'm going to get the kid, you clear the way."

"Got it. Make it fast, Mikan," replied the gray-haired boy.

She just smiled curtly and got up on her feet. "See you in a bit," she said, gripped her gun and sprinted the first long flight of stairs. Youichi, a bit startled with her sudden leave, quickly got on his feet and ran after her, firing at a number of men who were getting in her way.

Mikan dodged and attacked at the same time, her only intent was to reach the room where she sensed the boy they were ordered to rescue as fast as she can. She had other matters to attend to after this mission.

As quick flashbacks of the conversation between Hotaru and Ruka that she overheard before the mission entered her mind, her focus faltered for a bit and the next thing she saw was a bullet coming right for her. She quickly activated her Barrier Alice and countered the man who aimed at her, along with the other enemies attacking her.

Seeing the hall cleared from upcoming attacks, she wiped the beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. She took a quick turn on the left towards the next flight of stairs, sensing the child with the Alice better. At least, she thought, it would be a quick mission—since there are no other people with Alices siding with the enemy. She really had to get back to the Academy, as soon as possible.

Shadows of men loomed over her as soon as she took the first few steps of the staircase.

"Hey, missy," one of the bigger men spoke, sneering at her legs which her military shorts were gracefully showing. The creepy brute continued, "How about you stop being heroine and just party with us, huh."

Snap.

Mikan had rushed through the barricade of burly men and kicked the knee of the big man who just chattered nonsense to her, breaking his kneecap in an instant. It was followed by consecutive rings of shots and throaty screams of pain. She aimed with accurate precision and in a twinkling of an eye, the last man standing was seen falling down the stairs, his hand over his chest.

"No time to party, idiots," she muttered, while keeping her pace towards the room of their objective.

"Onee-chammpphhh!" a dark brown-haired little boy's voice filled the silent conference room.

Mikan skidded to a full stop, her eyes focused on the old man with his hand clamped over the boy's mouth. The man, despite his age, looked menacingly both at her and the boy. She couldn't understand it, but there was some kind of a mismatched overconfidence that flowed from the man's aura. She concentrated hard to sense if the old man holding the boy captive was an Alice, but she couldn't recognize any.

"Cat got your tongue, li'l girl?" the bald gramps spoke, an eerie smile plastered on his face.

Mikan mustered all her confidence to ward a threatening aura. She didn't like being rough on old men, so she would try to talk him out of it.

"Hand over the boy," she spoke clearly, the quiet of the room complementing the ring of her voice. It came out just as she wanted.

A throaty laughter came out as a reply from the old man. "Do you think," he started, in between small laughs, "—that I'll give you my treasure?" He laughed hard once more. "I'm going to sell this kiddo and I'm gonna be a million times richer than I am right now, you hear that!"

She couldn't help but raise a brow. "I'm telling you gramps, now that I'm here, there's no way you can do that." Mikan took a few steps forward and continued. "I could get that boy in an instant, and end up killing you."

She saw the man coil for a bit, pulling the boy with him as he stepped farther back. Mikan knew she was getting it.

She placed on hand on her hip and pulled one gun from her buckle. She glanced on her pistol then gave a lingering glare at the old man. "I don't want to use violence, gramps. So listen to me, and just hand the boy over."

The man's face suddenly reddened in anger. "And then what! You're going to kill me anyway! Or you're going to send me to jail, to whatever hell you want me to!" He turned to the boy beside him and slapped him in the face, which made Mikan clench her fists.

"You idiot, use your powers, goddamit! Get that girl!" the old man ordered the little kid while giving him small punches in the head.

The boy, who started crying, spoke in between sobs. "I…I c-cant…"

"What do you mean you can't!! Trap her some painful memory from her past!"

Mikan was taken aback for an instant there, suddenly remembering a raven-haired lad with crimson eyes.

"I...I can't… I don't know but… I r-really can't," the boy whispered, still sobbing.

"Of course, he wouldn't be able to," Mikan answered for the boy. The man sent a glare towards her, but she ignored it, and allowed herself to explain. "I cancel out his powers. He couldn't use it as long as I'm here."

The boy looked astonished, while the man was angered all the more. "You bi----"

His foul word wasn't able to finish when Mikan teleported in an instant behind them to grab the boy from the man's hold, followed by a hard elbow in the old man's jaw, causing him to shut up. She hid held the boy with her right hand, stomped on the torso of the old man, and aimed her pistol at him.

"I've wasted enough of my time. Goodnight, old man," Mikan said as she pulled the trigger.

What she didn't notice right away was the eerie smirk that crept through the man's wrinkled face.

Youichi froze when he heard the loud explosion. No doubt, it came from the floor where Mikan was heading. He shot the last of the mansion guards and sprinted the two flights of the grand staircase where the brunette said she would be heading. Cold sweat trickled from Youichi's forehead and extremities as unwanted images flashed through his head.

No. Mikan couldn't be…

Ashes and splinters of wood and glass were scattered on the remaining part of the floor. When he had a full view of the whole burning room, he stared appalled at it for a moment. Cold dread started to run through his veins.

Mikan, no…

He took long strides and entered the fire-devoured room, looking for signs of the brunette. His heart raced with fear as his eyes couldn't catch anything in the sea of fire all around him. In desperation, he took the risk of being detected by the enemy, and screamed for Mikan's name.

"Mikan!" he shouted, finding his voice in unusual panic. "Mikan, answer me!"

The chandelier above him rained shreds of glass as it exploded due to the heat in the room. Youichi doubled his Barrier around him and quickly advanced through the burning area.

"Mikan, are you there?! It's Youichi, answer me!" he called once more, ending up coughing from the smoke. Tears started to form in his eyes, making him curse.

"Mikan!!!" he shouted again, desperation hinting his voice. Youichi tried hard to ward the negative thoughts in his head, just as much as he was doing his best to ward off the smoke and fire away from him.

She couldn't die. She couldn't…

Sobs.

Youichi stopped in his tracks the moment he heard those. He looked around him to see signs of Mikan or from whom the sobs came from, until he saw a faint glint from afar. The same glint that his barrier was giving off. Relief flooded his whole system.

Mikan's alive. She's---

He felt his heart stop beating that very moment. Frozen in place, he couldn't get his eyes off the sight of the brunette sprawled and bleeding on the floor. Sobs. It wasn't until he heard those sniffles when he noticed the small boy slouched beside—

"Mikan!!" Youichi called out, panic, fear, confusion and hurt clouding his reason. He ignored the kid right there, quickly gathering the brunette in his arms. There was so much blood oozing from the back of her head, and there were raw burns from her left shoulder to her arm. He couldn't help but feel rage at the moment to whoever caused her this pain.

"Mikan! Mikan, wake up! It's me Youichi!" he muttered in alarm, shaking her softly as he called her name. When he didn't get anything, his head spun towards the crying boy.

"You, are you the boy with the History Alice? Tell me, what happened!"

The kid with dark-brown hair cowered in fear and cried louder due to the obvious hint of rage in the pale silver-haired guy in front of him. Youichi cursed loud and was about to yell at the boy again, when he felt a soft pinch in his side.

His head quickly spun back, to see Mikan's eyebrows scrunched and her eyelids half-open. She breathed in and out slowly, clearly trying hard to speak.

"S…tu…pid," she murmured after a few seconds. "Do you want…to get us three…killed…here?" she continued in between sharp intakes of breath.

Youichi didn't know what to say. He was more than relieved to see Mikan alive. He couldn't explain the rush of emotions that was overwhelming him right now.

Especially when he saw Mikan smile faintly, closing her eyes. That smile who always brightened anyone's day.

"I'm really not going with you…to another mission, you…idiot," the brunette spoke, the little smile still on her lips. She weakly rummaged through her pockets and eventually took out a small stone, the color nearly unrecognizable. She held it over Youichi's chest, apparently, inserting the stone into him. The spirit-manipulator kept silent, feeling the faint heat enter his body.

With the stone gone from her hand, Mikan limply held Youichi's hand with her good one.

"Get the boy. Teleport…to………"

Not being able to withstand her injuries and Alice overuse, she completely passed out.

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan, wake up!"

Natsume woke into a startle, beads of sweat from his forehead trickling down, his heart thumping hard that he could hear it. He stared at the ceiling as he tried to calm down and gather his senses. Closing his eyes and opening it once more, he finally managed to compose his disarrayed thoughts. But not the unexplained panic he still felt since he woke up.

"Nii-chan, thank god you're awake now!" Natsume heard Aoi utter words of relief beside him. He squinted at the high pitch his sister had, making him push himself to sit up from the bed. He covered his face with one hand, still trying to recover from the after-effects of the nightmare he just had.

"Are you alright? You were having a nightmare," his sister continued, making him think, yeah, obviously.

Natsume tried to recall what was that he dreamt about. After he returned from the Academy where he woke up, it was the first time that he had a nightmare. There were the headaches, but there were no nightmares, nor dreams. He thought that it was natural because…he doesn't remember anything, and dreams or nightmares were connected with a person's memories and thoughts.

An image of a brunette, crying, flashed through his head.

Her. Again.

He was expecting another wave of throbbing headache, yet there was none. Strange. It was the first time that happened too.

When he kept silent, Aoi shrugged his shoulder. "Nii-chan, are you al—"

"I am," he growled, annoyed by the interruption. He pushed her hand away. "Now don't bother me anymore."

He heard Aoi groan and felt her stand up from the bed. He closed his eyes once more, in an attempt to remember what he dreamed about.

Yet a barrage of images flooded through his mind, as if a video was being played rewind.

Explosion. Fire.

Panic started to fill his system once again.

A scream of pain.

Pangs of throbbing pain crashed through him. It was way more intense than his previous headaches, making him feel waves of nausea. He clutched onto the bed as he felt like he was on a rollercoaster in the speed of light.

Another scream.

"Nii-chan! Nii-chan, what's wrong with you?" he faintly heard Aoi yell in terror.

More throbs of headache.

The brunette. Her. Again.

Lying on the floor. Blood. Burns.

Mi--…!

"Mi…", Natsume whispered involuntarily, already dizzy from the continuous pangs of pain in his head.

"Father! Nii-chan is… Nii-chan is sick again! Help!" shouted Aoi, but he barely figured out the words anymore.

"Natsume…" a faint voice inside his head echoed. "Natsume don't…"

He found himself hearing that voice clear enough, yet he couldn't respond or do anything. His vision was turning white from the nausea when—

"Natsume don't…leave me alone."

The moment he found himself staring into a pair of hazel orbs, he had muttered the next word.

"Mi….kan."

And then he passed out.

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