Here we go! Final chapter. More To This. More Than This. Close enough, right? Also, I couldn't stop myself from throwing in a tiny little bit of Natsume x Mikan. I've had it planned out in my head this whole time so...

DICLAIMER: I've said it about seventeen times already in the making of this fic, but I'll say it again: Gakuen Alice isn't mine.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

MORE THAN THIS by Vanessa Carlton

Time, it fades away

As precious as a song

'Cause someday we'll be gone.

She knew that she was sitting in the Danger Zone. She had never been this close to the edge of the roof, not even when he was with her. Misaki swallowed. The last time she'd come to the abandoned building Tsubasa had taken her to had been three days after That Day. It had been almost too much to handle.

She listened idly to the sounds of the party going on below her. She wondered if anyone knew she was up here. Probably not.

Misaki was seated on the edge, legs dangling precariously over the side. She could die if she slid only a couple inches forward. She didn't really think about life or death the same way anymore. They meant something different now. Everything was different.

The wind picked up, slicing across her cheeks. It didn't hurt, not too badly. Nothing hurt. Not since That Day. Misaki had become almost immune to pain. She'd been informed that the numbness to unhappy things should've faded by now. But it hadn't. Misaki smiled. It never would.

"Hey."

She turned her head to the side.

"Hey," she replied.

"You really shouldn't be so close," Tsubasa said, although Misaki noticed that he actually looked faintly amused. "You could fall."

"I already did," Misaki reminded him, not talking about the building at all anymore. He walked towards her and stretched out his hand. Misaki took it and he helped her up. He spun her into his arms, still smiling.

Misaki looked up at the sky. The stars winked back at her.

"It's almost midnight," she said.

"Happy birthday to me," Tsubasa said cheerfully.

"Not for another...sixteen minutes," Misaki said. She enjoyed correcting him. She was still riding the bliss of having him, alive and well.

"What do you think Nurse Helga is going to get me for my birthday?" Tsubasa asked.

"A pile of poop," Misaki told him honestly. It wouldn't surprise her. Tsubasa laughed. It was a loud sound that shook his whole body. Misaki was so close that she could hear the vibrations in his chest. She leaned into him, letting her mind wander back to the moment all those months ago when he opened his eyes. He liked to tell Misaki that she had an idiotic, stunned look on her face when she stared back at him.

Of course, he only ever told her this when he was still healing so Misaki couldn't hit him or anything. Now she could. She didn't.

"Where's Kaname?" she asked. Tsubasa smirked. "Don't answer that," Misaki said hastily.

"You'd think that he would actually come to see us," Tsubasa said. "I mean really, he sees his nurse girlfriend all the time, but he's with her right now."

"What's her name again?"

"I don't remember. I don't think Kaname ever actually told us."

"He was too busy sucking face with her to give us her name."

There was silence before they both started laughing. Out of the corner, Misaki saw something glint in the moonlight. She pulled away from Tsubasa and walked over toward it. Tsubasa followed Misaki, watching as she picked up whatever it was she'd seen and inspected it closer.

It was a snow globe.

"I guess we missed one," Misaki said, surprised.

"It's a sign," Tsubasa said wisely. Misaki snorted.

"You and your signs," she scoffed.

"So, do we leave it or toss it?" Tsubasa asked, ignoring the jab.

"We can decide tomorrow," Misaki said.

"You mean in about ten minutes?"

Misaki shot Tsubasa a dark look. He grinned, making her scowl soften considerably. Then he kissed her and her scowl vanished entirely.

Natsume was dying. For starters, he didn't know what he was doing at this ridiculous party in the first place. Oh wait, yeah he did. Mikan was here. And as much as Natsume hated Tsubasa, Mikan could never be trusted to be alone. She was an idiot. A sweet, adorable, wonderful, gorgeous idiot. Natsume pinched himself.

His therapist had told him to do so whenever he thought of burning something, but Natsume had taken the idea and used it for Mikan instead. For the record, it didn't stop him from thinking about her all the time which simply proves that therapists aren't a smart as they think they are.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Luna had somehow managed to find her way and crashed the party. No one had the heart to kick her out and she was stalking Natsume. He had no clue what to do.
"Help me," he hissed to Ruka.

"Ask Mikan for help," Ruka said cheerfully. Natsume shot his best friend a scathing look.

"I'm not gonna ask that idiot for anything," he said firmly.

"Not even a date?"

For the first time in his life, Natsume choked on his own spit. It was a traumatizing experience that he would forever avoid thinking about.

"Stop talking stupid," he said after a minute.

"Go on," Ruka urged him with a gentle smile on his face. Then he winked. "I've refocused my attention on an even more impossible person." Natsume followed Ruka's gaze.

"Imai?" he asked incredulously. "Hotaru Imai? She's been blackmailing you since we were in elementary school!"

"Natsume, Natsume," Ruka said, shaking his head. "Don't you know that when a girl blackmails you, it means she likes you?"

Natsume didn't have a response to that. He just watched Ruka disbelievingly as he wandered over to Hotaru. Ruka tossed Natsume one last look, one that seemed to say, Go get her, dude!

Natsume shook his head slowly, wondering when the world had become so screwed up.

Then he heard a loud, almost psychotic sounding laugh and, like a marionette having its strings pulled, he immediately whipped around to see Mikan. She was talking to his little sister. What kind of guy gets a crush on his little sister's friend? No. No, he liked Mikan before Aoi even knew her name. Natsume frowned. He was appallingly confused now. Then only thing he knew was that he didn't just have a stupid little crush on Mikan anymore. He loved her. But he couldn't have her because—

And then he realized that he had nothing stopping him from finally doing something about Mikan. The problem was he had spent so long repressing the emotions down that he didn't know what to do about them.

Maybe he should just act on impulse...

Kissing her seemed like a good idea. So he did. The world around him kept moving, he knew that much. But it didn't feel like it, not when she kissed him back.

"If I told you that I love you, would you scream at an obnoxiously high volume?" Natsume asked her quietly. Mikan nodded wildly, beaming like an idiot. Natsume made sure to plug his ears before proceeding to sloppily explain his—ugh—feelings.

Even muffling the sound didn't stop him from wincing at the high pitched squeal she made that may have been, "I love you, too." It made Natsume smile, just a tiny bit.

Misaki jumped.

"What was that godawful sound?" she asked, alarmed.

"Probably Mikan," Tsubasa said mildly. "I have this feeling Natsume's gonna make a move tonight."

"Ah," Misaki said. A comfortable silence fell between them and she began to fall asleep, mooching Tsubasa's body heat.

Then there was another sound, this one even louder than Mikan's squeal.

"What what that?" Misaki yelped. "And don't you dare say it was Mikan."

"I think Kaname and Natsume are busting out the fireworks." Misaki sat up a little straighter.

"Really?" she asked. Tsubasa nodded.

He said, "Somebody has a friend who has another friend who knows somebody else who can cut us some slack, meaning we can set off some big ones."

"I think we'll get a good view," Misaki said thoughtfully. Tsubasa didn't reply and Misaki wondered if he had fallen asleep. So she turned to him and found he was studying her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"Tell me," Misaki pressed. Tsubasa smiled, amused at her persistence.

"I was just thinking," he said, "that I'll never need more than this." He kissed her again just as Kaname's normally soft voice rang out louder than usual.

"Hit it, Natsume!" he shouted.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsume drawled. There was a flick of a lighter, a loud explosion, and what looked like a star falling up. Suddenly, the sky was burning.

And now I'm done. Damn. Wow. Okay. Well. I always get really freaked out when I finish a story. I'll probably stick with one-shots for a while, unless something comes up. If anybody has any requests about anything, PM me and I'll see what I can do.