Heaven on Earth
The sequel to Broken Wings of an Angel by Tragic Lullaby (Old account.)
I do not own Gakuen Alice.
I do own a few OCs though.
Chapter two
The Human's Challenge
He'd watched the academy go up in flame as he died.
Gakuen Alice was burning, burning, burning like the alice inside him burnt, taking the rest of his life and turning it to ashes as he bled to death.
There was a ringing in his ears – he couldn't hear anything else but the ringing. His friends… their mouths were moving but no sound was coming out. It was like the academy was taking their voices down with it – burning them into oblivion.
Why was it so dark?
Waiting. He'd been waiting for someone - he was still waiting for someone. Waiting for someone to come home to him like she'd promised. She said she'd come back. One year, two years, three years.
She hadn't come back.
Something was tickling his hand. It was hard to feel it over the pain. It took so much effort to glance down – like the weight of the world was on his trembling shoulders. It was a feather, a black feather. It was too large to be the feather of a bird.
Find me, please, find me.
Hands gripped his shoulders, forcing him to look up into the face of his best friend. His voice had been stolen too, but his mouth was moving in the most desperate way. "Natsume! Hang on Natsume!"
Why was he calling his name?
What was there to hang on to? There was nothing to grip except the feather in his hand. Something wet was running down his cheek and he lifted his hand and it came away red. Blood red. It was scorching. There was a light brush against his cheek, as if someone was trying to wipe the red away from his face – he caught it in his hand.
It was a pink petal of the cherry blossom tree he loved so much.
Why was it so hard to breathe?
He had to keep waiting – he had to keep waiting.
There was so much blood. Bodies of students – his classmates were sprawled across the grass, colouring it dark with their life force. Burnt beyond recognition.
It was all his fault.
His alice was out of control – consuming his life and taking the life of those around him, his own friends. Burning down the place he might have called home.
His alice hungered for life.
Please find me.
It was the end of the world.
"Ruka," the name tore at his throat as he looked his tormented best friend in the eye, "I'm sorry."
"Natsume!" His name was drowned out by the ringing in his ears - but he knew it well enough. "You can't die, Natsume!"
"I need to find her," his grip tightened on the feather and cherry blossom in his hand, as if clutching to them would save him. Everything was fading, slipping away from him – like she had. His gaze turned to the sky, red orange from the fire and death, everything was fading to black and the heat inside him was unbearable. "Where are you?" He breathed out, the last fragment of light in his vision disappearing "Mikan?"
"Natsume!"
Feather. Sakura. Fire. Dark. Ringing. Burning. End. Please. . Find me. A burning cold. Please find me.
"Natsume!"
Find me.
Please.
Find me.
Mikan.
No one was supposed to be here.
It was possible that my mother could've sent an angel after me, but no angel would hold the barrel of a gun against my head. A demon? No, they only came out at night and it was as bright as a lightbulb out here. An assassin? Possibly.
A human? Impossible.
"What is an angel," the word was spat out like it was disease, "be doing in a place like this? Mourning the deaths of those who died one hundred and fifty years ago? I find that very unlikely. Now," the gun was pressed deeper against my temple, "Would you like to beg for mercy before I shoot you or have you decided on some sort of meaningful phrase as your last words."
"What are you?" I whispered.
He laughed hollowly, "Don't play it dumb, angel – you know what I am. The exact same being as those you carted off to do experiments on in your laboratories."
"What?"
He ignored me, "Can you believe that, once upon a time, humans wished to be an angel once they died? That is was believed that everyone had an angel guarding over them? Now we have to tell people to beware at every moment because either a demon will snatch them underground or an angel will if they stray topside!"
"You're a human?" I breathed, "That's impossible."
He snorted, "What kind of angel are you? One of the civilians that they try to keep all the secrets from?"
"Believe it or not," I replied bitingly, "A lot of things are top secret in Angel Empire, for fear that the demons could use such knowledge against us."
In a swift movement I grabbed his gun hand and vaulted over the human, pulling his arm behind him and quickly pulled the gun from it and kicked it away. I released him and he turned to me, looking at me as if I was, quite possibly, the stupidest thing he'd ever seen.
It was true – he was a human, like an angel but without the wings and the almost pearly glow. A young, male human. "What?" I stammered, "But you're all supposed to be dead. Extinct. Burned to the ground like those students." I pointed towards the gravestone. I looked at him more closely - he had shaggy black hair, and beautiful red eyes and a well-developed body – agile and well-built. Even by angel standards… he was effing gorgeous. "Or… you could be a human-demon hybrid, with eyes like those," I immediately took a defensive stance, wishing I had kept the gun.
"That's disgusting," he replied, coldly. "Why the hell did you release me? You do realise that I can still kill you, and I probably will."
"I took care of your gun," I pointed out, "And I can fly."
He rolled his eyes and flames sprung up around the two of us, "I don't intend you to get away to warn your little angel friends. Humans can't live underground forever and we've got an army slowly building to take back what is ours. I happen to be one of the specialised soldiers, trained to kill angels." His eyes rested on mine, "Angels like you."
I gulped – this was bad. Screw what I had said about wanting to meet a human – I never wanted to meet another one. "So, I suppose," I started carefully, "If the human raced hadn't almost been completely wiped out – you would've gone to this school."
He glared, "What do you know about Gakuen Alice?"
"Only that it was a school to train humans with special abilities," I had to delay him as long as possible. Maybe a scout team would come searching for me. Then he'd be in trouble.
"Alices," he muttered. "Gakuen Alice burnt the day that the human race was destroyed, a guy… his alice went out of control, killing him and the rest of the school." He shot a glance towards the gravestone I was at earlier. "But enough of stories, time for you to die, angel."
"Uhh," I choked back fear. This guy was scary. "What's your name?"
"Does it matter?" he asked coolly.
"Look," I was grasping at straws now, "Let's just come to an agreement. I promise I won't tell anybody about the existence of humans in this area because, quite frankly, I find humans fascinating." I ignored his comment about the angel scientists also finding humans fascinating. "In exchange, you don't kill me."
He raised an eyebrow. "How do I know you aren't lying?"
I sighed, "I don't know? Give me a test or something that doesn't involve me killing anyone… or being killed."
For a few moments he just stared at me contemplatively, and I got more and more nervous with each passing second. Finally he spoke, "There may be something you can do."
Hope lit like a fire within me, "What?"
"Find out what your angel scientist bastards have done with my sister."
So many questions were racing through my mind.
How had the humans survived? Why had my parents never informed me of the secret laboratory used to keep humans hostage for experiments? Why was I so drawn to that ruin of a school?
Why was my name on that person's gravestone? I wasn't even alive one hundred and fifty years ago. I felt my chest clench in what I thought was pity for that guy's fate – to have your own alice kill you and all your friends and burn down your home.
What if… no… nothing would've change if he hadn't died back then, he'd be dead by now anyway – they all would.
A hand grabbed my arm mid-flight and a familiar voice hissed my ear, "What the hell did you think you were doing?" I turned and one of my best friends, Emi, was hovering there with an angry expression on her face. "You agreed not to tell the council about the humans!" Her voice rose into a shriek. "Didn't you hear him, Mikan? He said army! An army of humans!"
I looked around in panic for any other angel scouts, and shoved my hand over Emi's mouth, "Did my mother send you?"
Emi glared, prizing my hand off her mouth, "Actually, Sumire did – she was very worried. Your mum might've sent somebody else though. Just be glad I'm such a good friend of your's. Sumire said you said something freaky about wanting to meet a human this morning. Guess your wish just came true. Was it what you expected?"
I hesitated, "No. I had thought I would meet a stranded few that were desperately in need of my help – like they were starving or something."
"Well he needs your help at least," her glare increased ten-fold, "To get his sister back from the labs and to have you keep the secret that a human army was headed for Angel Empire."
I flinched, "Look, Emi, maybe the angels and humans can come to an agreement and we can all live in harmony – except for the demons."
She snorted, "Yeah right. Humans and angels can't live together – it's against their nature. Humans and demons of a chance of co-existing."
"How would you know?"
"Because some say," she leaned in close to whisper, "that demons evolved from humans – that they are the humans that transformed into twisted, mad, mutants the day the human race ended."
"You listen to too many rumours Emi," I shook my head.
"Yeah, and you take orders from a human," she snapped back. "You're a freaking princess for God's sake! You don't need to take orders from a soldier… a human soldier."
"I don't think taking humans away for experiments is right," I said, uncomfortably.
"Think about it would you? The scientists are trying to find out how the humans survived against all odds. Maybe they're looking for something important, for us! Come on, Mikan, isn't the future and well being of your own people more important than the silly lives of the humans?" Emi grabbed my arm, "They're better off in the lab than they are out there, preparing for a war against us."
"I have to do this, Emi. It's the only way to get him to trust me."
"You don't need his trust, Mikan, but have it your way. I'm not going to like this," she sighed, flying away.
My mother's arms engulfed me as soon as I stepped into the palace living room.
"I'm not going to let you out without an escort again," she sobbed into my hair. "I was terrified the entire day and then when you returned past curfew I didn't know what I was going to do without you!"
"Mum, you're overreacting!" I exclaimed as I tried to squirm out of her arms. "I'm completely fine!"
"Mikan," my father gripped my shoulder, "Was there any sign of movement in the ruins?"
"No," I lied, "Not even demons. It's just an empty ruin father, so I looked around a bit. From the scorch marks on the walls, it looked as if the place had been burnt down. There were hundreds of graves."
My father's hand lingered for a while before he nodded and went to his studio, I quickly slipped the piece of paper into my pocket form my hand so I could get my mother off me, "Alright mum, I'm going to go sleep. It's been a long day."
"Alright dear, you don't have to get up early tomorrow – no scouting, at all. Just sleep away and recuperate, I'll make sure Sumire doesn't disturb you," she ushered me towards my bedroom. "Goodnight Mikan, sweetie."
"Night mum," I bit my lip as I closed my door behind me. Getting back to the human tomorrow would be harder than I thought it'd be.
"I can't believe what you did today," came a voice from the shadowy corner next to the door. I jumped only to see it was Sumire.
"Oh, Sumire, it's only you – you scared me for a minute there," I breathed out. "I must be too tired."
"Or amazingly nervous because if you get caught, you are in big trouble," my sister's green eyes stared at me. "It took me so much effort to actually get Emi to tell me what you'd done today. Mikan! You should tell the council right away that a human army could be coming towards Angel Empire at any minute!"
"No Sumire," I replied tiredly, "I will gain this human's trust and somehow manage some sort of agreement between the angels and humans. I will have this resort to war."
"Don't you listen Mikan? Humans are vicious and can't stand being inferior to anything, they have to be at the top – they'll do whatever they can to get there too. We can't co-exist peacefully," Sumire growled. "Maybe war is the only way to deal with them. We have to destroy them completely or be destroyed."
"Sumire, you hate violence," I said, "I was hoping that you and Emi would be the ones I could count on."
"You can count on us, Mikan. Just not at the cost of the entire angel race. Don't even think about going back to that human, Mikan," Sumire said as she opened the door, "I will be watching you."
Exhausted, I slumped onto my bed, taking the important piece of paper from my pocket. It was the layout of the laboratories and it showed me exactly where the human's sister and the other humans would be kept. I had another reason for doing this – true, I felt it was morally wrong, but more than that, I felt like I owed this human the world.
I don't know why.
Sneaking out tomorrow would be harder than I thought.
Chapter two finite.
Author's note
Alright, chapter two down and away. I've got so many ideas for this story, I just have to somehow fit them all onto the one story line. So, we've met this human – one guess as to who he is. I know it's going to be a bit confusing, but I like have complex plots, so if I write it correctly, hopefully you'll all be able to keep up with my mind which is going over 9000 km/h. :P
Anyway, please read and review because reviews keep me going. I read them and I'm like, I must keep writing, especially if they are long reviews and there are lots of them ;). Greedy, I know, but it shows that people read and the more reviews there are, the more people come along and read it and so on.
It's a big circle.
xx. MFT