Mikan's Little Twin

Chapter 126- The Process

All eyes turn towards the girl, apprehensiveness filling them as they cautiously look at the purple liquid. Frustration bubbles over Hotaru and the girl shoved it into the doctors hands, "I made it in the lab! It's a solution that should help repair the worn down tissue around Akako's heart quicker, which should allow her to heal faster! If she can regain consciousness or we can speed up the process of her healing, maybe we can do it quicker than the pace that the alice stones are deteriorating her body." Hotaru takes a giant breath, frowning when no one takes syringe from her hands.

"We don't have much time! You need to hurry and inject this into her chest near her heart!" Hotaru waves her hands about, her frantic state shocking her brother. For Hotaru to be like this, she had to be telling the truth and the formula was real. "Don't just stand there, hurry! We need all the help we can get to save this girl." Subaru shouts at the doctor. Tono is startled by the sudden shout as is everyone else. The doctor jumps before scurrying off towards Akako's side. He stands above the girl, staring down at the bruised skin that covered her chest all the way up her neck, slowly spreading further up underneath her chin. His hesitant hand hovers over the left side of Akako's chest, his subconscious causing him to think better of the situation but at this point, the girl was dead. What else could a crazy serum that a child made do?

Ruka has to look away from the scene, the sight of watching a long needle be inserted into his best friend's chest was not a sight that he wanted to witness. Natsume was the one who couldn't take his eyes away. Would this be what saves Akako? Would this serum help her eyes open so he could look into them and hold her forever?

The needle slowly and carefully goes into a safe area in Akako's chest and the doctor's thumb presses down, allowing the solution to enter into Akako's blood stream and into her heart. Everyone stares, Tono and Subaru continuing to heal the girl. obviously the concoction wouldn't magically heal Akako in an instant but it was evident to everyone watching the young girl that her bruises slowly came to a halt. They didn't travel fast to begin with, but it was noticeable that the bruises slowly grew bigger so the sight of them traveling no further was enough to bring hope to everyone's hearts.

"It's working..." Hotaru collapses to the ground in relief, tears filling her eyes. Ruka, Natsume, and Tsubasa all slowly walk forward into the room and come to a stop behind her as they watch Akako slowly be healed by Imai-San. Seeing the bruises around Akako's heart fading away brought tears of relief to Natsume's eyes as the heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders. Ruka covers his mouth to prevent a shout of joy from escaping him while Tsubasa's hands land on his head in shock. None of them could believe that they could possibly pull it off. They knew they weren't in the clear yet but there was a chance.

And that's when they heard it, it was such a miracle to hear that the sound may as well have been the sound of a bell from heaven.

A singular beep sounded throughout the room.

Followed by another.

Eyes travel to the heart monitor as heartbeats slowly come back. It wasn't one after the other but as Akako's heart healed, along with the help of the alices healing her, Akako's heart was going back to the state at which it was previously.

Tsubasa yelps in joy and tears stream down his face as he throws his body over the three children in front of him and hugs them all tightly. An overwhelming joy fills the boy at the thought of Akako being okay.

A smile fills many faces, even Subaru's face brightening. Although this was a positive sign, he couldn't let everyone get to excited. "While this is a big step in the right path, there's still a lot of work to do. We have a heartbeat but once we stop working, the alice will start eating away at her once again. We need to get Sakura to a state where she can be conscious and healthy enough to take the stones out of her body. We're not in the clear quite yet."