A/N: sorry for the very late update. i just got so busy. thank for those who reviewed and reminded me that i needed to continue this story. mwah

Disclaimer: I dont own Gakuen Alice

She knew that mask.

She knew who owned it.

She knew the fear she felt whenever she saw it.

And she knew the despair and the hurt that came to her friends right after they saw it.

It belonged only to one man.

The one man whom she blamed for everything that happened to her.

"Persona…"

Her sharp intake of breath drew the attention of the beings in the room. Slowly, as the Professor and Aya twisted their bodies to confirm their suspicions on who was eavesdropping on them, another entity was revealed to view. His spiky black hair, pale skin, and black coat was all that Mikan needed to confirm her disbelief.

It was the man himself! Although she couldn't see his face, she was sure. The man sitting on the floor and languidly leaning on the side of the bed was Persona.

Shock turned to realization that not 10 feet away from her was the most dangerous man known to any alice, and he was precariously near the two people she had just considered as family.

"Professor! Aya! Get away from him!" Mikan shouted with urgency.

She expected them to move away from the dark man. To run as far away as they could, but to her utter disbelief, they remained rooted to where they were.

"Its Persona! Professor get away from him!" Dread was now working its way to her heart.

Just as the days were getting more tolerable after her terrifying bouts of homesickness, her living nightmare just popped up out of nowhere to haunt her.

And now, he was a threat to her quiet life with her new family. Hell, he was a threat to their very lives!

She was still shaking out of fear and determination to get the people she cared for, a few good miles away from Death incarnate, when the professor ordered Maria to return her to her room. After much hesitation and struggling on Mikan's part, she was finally under lock and key inside her own room.

She banged her fists on the door. Demanding to be let out, pleading to anyone who could hear her to get as far as they can from the unwelcomed visitor.

After a few minutes of her futile attempts of escape, and a few bruises on her fists, Mikan slid down the length of the door, sobbing. Everything she had worked for was for nothing. He was here, and as what he did before, he was going to take it all away from her again.

"No! He is not going to hurt anyone I care for ever again!" with renewed determination, Mikan stood up and faced her door again. Just as she was about to pound her fists on the piece of hardwood that separated her from the rest of the manor, she heard a soft click and the door slowly opened to reveal a tired looking professor.

"Kara, we have to talk." The professor told her frigidly.

And then she remembered when the last time the professor talked to her in that tone. He was about to reveal something she didn't like one bit…

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Flashback…

Mikan has been living in the manor for almost six months now, she had already started her academic studies, her training, and the testing of her alices.

It was just past noon and she had just handed in all the reports her language teacher has asked of her, earning her a free afternoon.

After visiting Aya at the lab, Maria in the kitchen, and Harry in the gardens, she deduced that everyone was busy with their own chores, so she was left on musing on her own.

She had already explored the vast vicinity of the property, but she wasn't acquainted yet with all the rooms of the manor. So with a skip in her step she visited every room she came across.

She found beautiful paintings hung on gilded walls, wonderfully carved furniture produced from different eras, she even found the empty ballroom a delight as she twirled and pirouetted at its center, while pretending to be in a middle of a fancy party.

The grand ballroom opened up to the vast veranda outside and also to another sitting room inside. The design of the sitting room was very masculine, with heavily lacquered furniture and dark curtains. Mikan giggled a little trying to imagine men coming in for cigar and brandy while the party continued to be enjoyed by their younger counterparts at the next room.

Mikan was surveying the books aligned at one side of the wall, when she discovered another set of doors on the far side of the room.

Naturally curious, Mikan went and tried to open it. After a few fruitless tries of attempting to open it, she let out an exasperated sigh, turned her back and started to walk out of the room.

You see, Mikan was never a child who gave up that easily, so after a wave of persistence washed over her. She pushed at the doors with a little more force, and voila! To her contentment, it opened.

Straining her eyes to see what was inside the dark room, her hand blindly searched for the light switch.

The smile on her face was instantly wiped off when she saw what was stored in that previously dark room.

Along the walls and the numerous shelves that lined the room were masks, bracelets, necklaces, rings, earings, armor, shields, and other trinkets made of gold and other precious metals.

"What are these?" she asked herself, but the moment she started getting near the objects, her vision was getting blurry, and her knees wobbled. She leaned heavily on one of the wooden shelves and tried to shake off the dizziness she was feeling when she caught sight of one particular item.

She walked groggily towards it. And as the object was a foot away from her, she gasped.

She reached for it and clasped her long fingers around its familiar form. All the while muttering "Why? How? No…"

As unconsciousness finally descended upon her, she fell to the floor, rolling off and settling beside her was a black cat mask.

"Natsume…"

An hour later…

"How is she?" the professor asked a worried looking Aya.

"She's fine but still unconscious. She keeps on mumbling something in her sleep. A name… Natsume."

"Hn. So she found out about it?"

"Do you know something about this Natsume person Professor?"

"Yes, he was a child prodigy with a very powerful alice, the Academy found in the outskirts of Japan. Reports were that he burned a whole village down but details were kept secret even from me."

"You should talk to her about it. I don't understand why what she discovered in that room gave her such a shock."

"I think I understand why…"

After a few minutes, Mikan was tossing in her sleep and after a few moments she opened her eyes.

She was still blinking away the remnants of her disturbing dream when Mikan noticed that someone was watching her. She turned to her side and found the professor solemnly sitting beside her bed.

"Kara, we need to talk"

Mikan was slightly taken aback from the professor's uncharacteristically cold voice. But, her discovery moments ago at that secluded room filled her heart with rage."

"Damn right we need to talk!"

"Kara, I should have trusted you and told you my real connections with the academy."

"What?"

"I have the controlling and limiting alice Kara, I have supplied the academy all of the limiters and controllers it used on all its students and faculty, the items you saw in that room were all infused with my alice, and the sheer number and the strength embedded in them caused you to lose your consciousness."

"How? How could you?" Her heart was breaking, this man that had shown her kindness and welcomed her as family has been the source of pain for someone dear to her.

"It was needed, and as a person endowed with my alice then it was my duty and responsibility."

"How could you?! Did you know how they controlled students with those things?! Did you know how it pained me to see how Natsume cringed on every bolt of electricity shot through his body when they forced him to submission while wearing that mask?! How they used that mask to force him to go on his missions that could anytime get him killed?!" Hot angry tears fell in steady streams across Mikan's cheeks. An image of Natsume coming in to class wearing the black cat mask played in her image. How the proud and respected Natsume Hyuuga almost lost consciousness at the force of the electric shocks from the mask.

"I'm sorry Kara." Was the professor's only reply.

-

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Back to the present…

"Kara we need to talk."

The Professor was actually waiting for an outburst from her but Mikan stayed quiet and waiting for what he has to stay.

"You need to help him Kara."

"Help who? Persona?" Mikan shrieked.

"Yes. His limiters cannot control his alice any longer and it could kill him. My alice is not as strong as it was before, therefore I cannot be any much help. But you… you can use your alice to save him. Please Kara… he is… my son."

Mikan gasped. Persona was the Professor's son? She wanted to ask more questions but deemed it was better after this ordeal was over.

"Very well Professor, but stay here. Your alice might interfere with m nullification." With that said, Mikan stood and exited her room.

She couldn't believe what she found out tonight, but at least now, she was able to do something. Now he help was sought. This will be the start of her payback, for those who helped her and those who hurt her.

And ironically, she was going to help the last person she was expecting to be needing it.

She reached the room that was right beside her own.

Aya was using her healing alice. It was the only thing keeping Persona alive, but not for long. Mikan saw the strain in Aya's face to force her alice into battling with Persona's destructive one.

"Aya, step back. Let me handle this."

"Kara? I can't… Y-you can't… it would kill you… both of you…"

"It's okay Aya. Trust me. Please…"

"Let the Kitty do it. I want to see her try." Persona grinned.

Aya nodded and backed away. The moment Aya's alice released Pesona, Mikan enclosed him in her own alice.

She was closer to him now than she ever got to him. He was merel inches away. And she saw how he trembled, and how the sweat rolled out from his temples. She couldn't believe how this man could even afford to grin at her.

She was stating to power up her alice to push back Persona's alice back to its core. It was truly a struggle, and it hurt. Every time he nullification brushed against Persona's alice she felt like her body was being whipped.

She started gritting her teeth. If she didn't finish this soon she would run out of energy and that would leave Persona's alice to go wild. For sure she would die and Persona would die, and that would make her utterly useless to everyone that tied to help her.

She could not falter. Not here. Not now. She was just berating herself about her weakness when she heard Persona speak.

"Can't handle it huh little kitty? Guess you're useless afterall."

"I'll show you who is useless JERK!"

With a roar and a finally push of her energy. Mikan was able to nullify Pesona's alice.

"I did it." Mikan sighed.

"I guess you did." Persona smirked.

And as Mikan felt her head spin and fell forward into Persona's arms, she saw his eyes for the very first time.

His eyes... were in the beautiful shade of wine.

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AN: dont forget to review, you know how i love them