Sleeping Beauty's little Sister.

Chapter 2

Hello! So, two chapters today is my birthday present to y'all even though today's my birthday, haha. Apparently, about 17 people have read this, and I would LOVE for y'all to comment and tell me what you think. I mean, I'm not just spending hours typing each chapter to hear NOTHING AT ALL FROM THE PEOPLE WHO READ IT.

Oh well, rant over...

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gakuen Alice characters, they belong to the amazing Higuchi Tachibana-sama. Story inspiration from E.D.B.'s story.

Mikan nodded to the messenger and hurried up the stairs to the queen's chamber. Ordinarily she would have been surprised and delighted to be summoned to her mother's rooms, but this time she knew why her mother wanted her, and it wasn't to thank Mikan for finding a witch.

Mikan almost never entered her mother's rooms. It wasn't by choice, however. In accepting the fairy Hime's gift, the king and queen had unwittingly accepted a second "gift" on Mikan's behalf. The same spell that prevented magic from touching her worked as a damper on other people's magic. Should anyone be close to Mikan for any length of time, whatever magic gifts they had been given began to fade, whether it was beauty, charm, or something as simple as the ability to unravel even the most difficult knots. Hotaru hadn't been the only member of the family to be given magical gifts at  a christening. Both the king and queen and as many magical attributes as their elder daughter. On the rare occasion that Mikan entered the chamber of one of her family members, she was expected to sit in the back as far from them as she could without climbing out the window. The same was true of the Great Hall when everyone assembled for meals; Mikan had to sit in the opposite end of the room with the daughters of lesser nobles, none of whom had any magic.

More than anything, Mikan wanted to feel as if she belonged. But instead she felt as if she were a remote and not-too-fondly regarded cousin who was allowed to live in the castle. Although she'd tried very hard to please her parents, nothing their ordinary daughter could do had ever been enough to earn her the same affection that they showered on Hotaru.

Mikan sighed, and knocked on the door. When one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting let her in, Mikan found her mother waiting for her in a chair by the fireplace. Although she was over forty years old, the queen looked as young as her daughters. The only time she showed her age was when Mikan came near, which the queen was careful to avoid.

"I want you to go straight to your sister's chamber," said Queen Yuka. "I've heard that you spent the morning looking for spinning wheels, when the guards are quite capable of doing it without you. Today is Hotaru's birthday. The least you can do is sit with her while she opens the rest of her presents."

"But I'll have to sit in the back of the room and I won't see a thing when everyone stands up."

"I'll be there and I'll make sure they stay seated. Your sister wants you there today and so do I. We don't do enough as a family."

"Will Father be there, too?" asked Mikan. She saw her father even less than she saw her mother and sister, and looked forward to talking to him.

Queen Yuka appeared puzzled. "Why would he be? He hates this kind of thing. We'll see him during the jousting and races this afternoon. You'll sit on the other side of the field, of course, but we'll all be there. Now go attend your sister. You know I do everything I can to make you feel included. It isn't as though I ask very much of you."

"Of course not Mother," said Mikan. She would have liked to have kissed her mother's cheek as she'd seen Hotaru do, but she knew it wasn't allowed. Even the mention of it would make her mother angry, not at Mikan, but at the situation, as the queen told anyone who would listen. Mikan was the one she would take it out on, however, lecturing her on being considerate of others and how awful it would be for the kingdom if she, the queen, were to lose her beauty.