A/N: So chapter 8 is a large act and needs to be divided into a few respective chapters. This is a bit of a comical chapter that makes a nice use of portraying a possible consequence of time traveling, hope you enjoy it. ^^
Chapter 8 (Part 2): Consequences
"You idiots travelled all the way into this time void without knowing how to get back home?!" Hotaru exclaimed.
"I'm sorry Hotaru. We were so worried about rescuing you, that the thought of returning home I guess just didn't enter our minds." Mikan chuckled nervously. Hotaru's face turned dark and she facepalmed.
"You guys are such idiots," Hotaru said as she pointed to Mikan, Ruka, and Natsume.
"That's too bad, we really thought you three had a legitimate method of getting out of this prison. I guess it looks like we'll be stuck here a little longer then," Subaru sadly replied.
"So we're stuck here!? But what will we do about food, water, and...well...you know." Mikan's face began to turn red. Everyone looked at Mikan bewildred by what she meant. "Oh don't make me say it!" Mikan squealed.
"If something's bothering you then just say it, Mikan," Natsume calmly said. However, Hotaru was able to read her like a book.
"Baka, you're digestive system and the aging of your body is completely put on pause here in the time void. So you don't need to worry about food, hydration, or for Mikan's worries, using the restroom in front of three guys," Hotaru explained calmly. Mikan's nervousness subsided.
"Thank goodness," Mikan said while placing her hand over her chest as a sign of relief.
"Don't be too happy about that, idiot! It may not appear that your body isn't aging, but in the realm of the normal world, time is flying by as we speak. Mere seconds here is the equivalent to hours in the normal world as proven by your current appearance. Because your body isn't aging here, that doesn't mean that your bodies won't be facing consequences caused by being in this time void too long after we get out of this place, if we ever get out of this place!" Hotaru stated causing Mikan to look worried. Natsume noticed this.
"Well we'll worry about crossing that road when we arrive at it, right Mikan? Lets focus about one thing at a time," Natsume said as he placed his hand on Mikan's shoulder.
"Y-yeah, you're right Natsume," Mikan said as she turned around and hugged her fiancé.
"You two idiots really do belong together." Hotaru thought to herself and a sweat drop began to form on the back of her head due to her friend's obliviousness. They couldn't even imagine the incredible danger that their bodies may be facing outside of this time void, however, her thinking was soon interrupted by the sound of a huge time ripple in the time void.
*vrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgv rhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrhgvrh!*
A huge vortex erupted in front of Mikan and her friends.
"What the hell is that?!" Ruka shouted in horror.
"This void of time might be trying to get rid of us because we've caused too many disturbances in the time realm due to us being here," Hotaru thought out loud.
"Natsume!" Mikan screamed in fear as she grabbed Natsume's shirt, Natsume then wrapped his left arm around Mikan to protect her.
*VRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGVRHGV RHG*
The vortex grew louder as it came closer to Mikan and her friends. "Everyone join hands!" Hotaru shouted as she ran towards Ruka and grabbed his left arm causing him to blush slightly. Subaru grabbed Ruka's other wrist and quickly extended his left hand to grab Natsume's right arm as our heroes prepared to meet their fate. The vortex sucked up Mikan and her friends as an attempt to remove them from the time void. Again, Mikan and friends felt that they were inside a tornado as they were thrown upward. Mikan and friends tried to hold on as tight as they could to prevent them from being separated from each other. Unfortunately to their horror, Mikan was beginning to slip from Natsume's grip. Her face drained of color and she bit back a scream.
"Natsume, I'm slipping!" Mikan screamed in horror.
"Hold on Mikan!" Natsume yelled back as he tried to tighten his grip on his fiancé but the intensely powerful force of the vortex caused her to slip from his arms completely and fall, separating her from her friends. "MIKAN!" Natsume screamed in horror as he saw his fiancé falling after slipping out of his grip. Natsume tried to shake off Subaru's grip.
"No Natsume, there's no telling where or when this vortex will take you if we get separated!" Subaru shouted, even though he knew that there was nothing he could have done to stop Natsume's actions. After all, Natsume didn't care what danger he'd be dragged into, as long as he knew Mikan was safe. Natsume dove downward into the vortex and used his fire alice to help propel him like a rocket to catch up to Mikan. Natsume wrapped his arms around her and looked back up to his friends who appeared to be stories higher from them. "Damn, their way too high. There's no way we're getting up there, and not to mention that the force of this vortex coming down on us won't let us go up anyway," Natsume called out. Well, atleast I'm with Mikan again, Natsume thought.
"Oh Natsume, thank you!" Mikan said as she hugged Natsume and nuzzled her face in his chest.
"Didn't I always say that I'd protect you no matter what?" Natsume said giving Mikan his billion dollar smile. Mikan was about to reply but something caught her eye.
"Natsume look!" Mikan shouted as she pointed to her friends high above her. Natsume turned his head around and to his horror, he saw their friends getting sucked into a wormhole that appeared in the vortex they were trapped in. Then to Natsume's surprise, a wormhole seemed to appear in front of him and Mikan and began to suck the two up.
"Hold on Mikan!" Natsume shouted as the two grabbed a tight hold of each other and were sucked into the wormhole. Mikan and Natsume felt as if their bodies again were beginning to become torn from each other. It was as if the vortex was trying to do anything it could to separate Mikan and Natsume, but they fought with all their might to stay together by wrapping their arms around each other as tightly as they could.
As they were inside the wormhole, something caught Mikan's eye. A baby with raven hair wrapped in a blanket was travelling alongside them and quickly passed the two of them.
"Natsume, did you see that? I thought I just saw a baby," Mikan stated as they continued to fall through the wormhole.
"Huh? I didn't see anything, Polka," Natsume replied bewildered by what Mikan claimed to see.
"Oh ok, maybe it was just my imagination." Mikan said as the wormhole began to open and drop them off at their destination.
"Brace yourself!" Natsume said as he tightly clenched onto Mikan. As the two fell onto a field of tall grass, Mikan on top, Natsume on the bottom. Natsume gagged in pain.
"Oh no, are you alright Natsume?" Mikan asked feeling guilty about landing on top of her fiancé. She quickly got off of him, sat on her knees, and placed her hand on his forehead.
"M-Mikan." Natsume coughed.
"Huh, what's wrong Natsume?" Mikan asked worriedly and on the verge of crying due to the fear of her fiancé being seriously injured.
"I think you should lose some weight." Natsume chuckled as he began to sit up. Mikan then lightly punched him in the arm, annoyed by his response.
"You jerk! I was really worried about you!" Mikan responded with slight hurt in her voice. Natsume couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm sorry Mikan. I couldn't resist, besides, you're really cute when you're angry." Mikan's face tinted a slight red. Natsume decided to continue. He brought his face toward hers. "That's probably why I liked picking on you so much when we were younger." Natsume wrapped his arms around her frail figure. "I didn't mean to scare you that bad. I'm sorry, okay?" Natsume said.
"Hmph," Mikan responded. She was biting back a smile.
"Huh? What's wrong, I apologized, what more do you want?" Natsume asked.
"Is that really why you'd always pick on me at the academy, Natsume? Because I look cute when I'm angry?" Mikan asked while giggling slightly.
"Well that and because you were a total airhead at times," Natsume responded which caused Mikan to pout. "See it's that kind of response that makes me want to stuff like this," Natsume drawled. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her, a slight smile formed on his cheeks.
"Well congratulation Mr. Hyuuga, you have officially earned the title of: Douchebag," Mikan responded while playfully punching Natsume on his shoulder. "Hmm but I guess that cocky attitude is always what I liked about you." Mikan said while winking. "So where exactly are we?" Mikan wondered, the place sure looked familiar to our heroin.
"It looks like we're back at the academy. Your memory is probably a little fuzzy since it's been four years since you were here and the whole memory wipe thing probably doesn't make things any easier for you remember. But keep in mind, it's not just where we are that we should make a note of, we should also be worried about when we are at Gakuen Alice," Natsume said as his stomach began to rumble causing him to lean over a little.
"Oh I don't feel so good," Natsume said.
"Oh no, I'm not falling for that agai-" Mikan was trying to respond as her stomach started acting up causing her to fall to the ground. "Ow, I have to use the bathroom REALLY BAD!" Mikan squealed as she noticed that Natsume's facial hair began grow a few centimeters before her very eyes. "What's happening to us Natsume?" Mikan asked leaking tears due to the pain in her stomach and the confusion.
"I think time is catching up to us Mikan. We may have been in the time void for a few minutes, but I fear that in our home dimension, that equates to a couple of days! Which means, we've gone a couple of days without, food, water, or using the bathroom. And now, our bodies are paying for it." Natsume responded. Luckily for them, their was a shared unoccupied boy/girl singles bathroom out in the field. To Mikan and Natsume the bathroom looked like a godsend.
"Let me in Mikan," Natsume said as both he and her fiancé were stuck pushing and shoving each other at the entrance due to arriving at the same time.
"Haven't you ever heard the saying, ladies first?!" Mikan replied angrily.
"I have, but you're not much of a lady," Natsume quickly responded back.
"TAKE THAT BA-*grumble*" Mikan said as her stomach began to growl again.
"Hm, judging by the the growling of your stomach and intense demand to use the bathroom," Natsume stated as Mikan suddenly had a blank expression on her face, he knew then he had her beat.
"You know what? Fine, go first! Go ahead," Mikan replied trying her best to keep a straight face as she placed her hand on her growling stomach in an attempt to soothe it and crossed her legs. "Just hurry up Natsume," Mikan croaked.
"No problem," Natsume said while winking and shutting the door. "I win," Natsume said as he looked in the mirror and gave himself peace sign. Mikan spent the next few minutes simply walking back and forth waiting for Natsume and trying not to think about using the restroom. She noticed that there was a drinking fountain near the restroom but she dared not drink from it right now. But she was very thirsty, after all, her body hasn't taken in any water technically for the past couple days. She mentally cursed herself for not taking a drink to avoid embarrassment. After a few minutes passed Natsume finally come out.
"The restroom is all yours, Mikan."
"It's about time! Now go away for the moment," Mikan replied while shutting the door.
"Go where?" Natsume replied.
"I don't know! Just anywhere where you can't hear me! Perverted fox!" Mikan screamed through the closed door. Natsume then rolled his eyes.
"Alrighty Mikan, I hope everything comes out fine." Natsume said sarcastically.
"You're terrible!" Mikan whined in embarrassment.
After a few minutes, Mikan came out the restroom but quickly became outraged and embarrassed to see that her fiance was sitting on the ground a few feet in front of her. Her face turned blood red. Her expression changed, and she looked like she was going to kill him.
"What? What are you so angry about?" Natsume said as he noticed that Mikan started crying. She couldn't have possibly been on her period.
"You jerk, I told you to go away while I was using the restroom. Why do you always want to embarrass me?" Mikan said while crocodile tears rolled down her eyes.
"Mikan, calm down. I went to go get a drink of water before I passed over dead from dehydration. Something that you should have been doing. And then afterwards I sat on the ground and listened to some music with my MP3 player. You were so shocked and embarrassed by my appearance for whatever reason that you didn't notice the pair of headphones in my ear. I'm light headed, hungry, and out of energy. So damn it woman, do you honestly think embarrassing you is my number one priority?" Natsume asked. Mikan was speechless. He stood up and sighed.
"I just don't understand what you're so embarrassed about. When we get married and live in the same house together, are you really going to tremble in fear whenever nature calls and run out of the house or simply ask me to leave? Really Mikan?" Natsume asked with an are-you-serious expression on his face.
"Well...I mean...It's just so embarrassing," Mikan replied while wiping off her tears.
"It's embarrassing because you let it embarrass you. If you'd just ignore it and not see it as a big deal then people won't try to use it to attack you," Natsume as he put his arm over her shoulder and helped wipe her tears off. "Listen, don't ever let anyone in this world make you feel embarrassed and most of all, don't ever let me make you feel embarrassed," Natsume said as he smiled to her. Mikan smiled back. "Now why don't you go get something to drink. Then we should focus on refueling our stomachs as they've gone without food for a couple of days."
"Yeah you're right Natsume, thanks," Mikan said as she kissed his cheek.
"By the way, you look really cute when you're embarrassed," Natsume responded. Mikan's face turned slightly pink, she laughed and lightly punched his shoulder. Mikan then took Natsume's advice and rehydrated herself.
"Ok, now let's get some food I'm starving!" Mikan said energetically.
"Yeah," Natsume said while looking down slightly.
"Huh, what's wrong Natsume?" Mikan asked worriedly.
"Nothing, lets go," If this is what their bodies were going through as a consequence for being in the time void for just a few minutes, then what about the Imais. Natsume didn't let his worry show, and luckily he didn't have to try when they were interrupted by a huge explosion.
"Wh-what was that!?" Mikan exclaimed.
"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the front gates." Natsume replied as he grabbed Mikan's hand and the couple quickly ran towards the entrance gates. To their surprise, they quickly found a young masked Natsume Hyuuga at the top of the gate and a naive young Mikan on the the side of the gate along with Narumi-sensei.
"Mikan, do you know what this means?" Natsume asked.
"I think I do Natsume," Mikan responded in shock.
"We've arrived at the day, the day we first met," Natsume said in fear.
A/N: Well, well, well, if this isn't a surprise I don't know what is. While Mikan and friends finally reunited with Hotaru, it seems that Mikan and Natsume got separated from their friends, have travelled back in time, and are on the verge of meeting their ten year old selves. What other consequences may arrive after meeting their ten year old counterparts? Leave a comment below on what you think will happen next. ^_^
This chapter was written by Sonic-Keyblade 007 and edited by edwardelric108 and Neverlookback756.