I stared at the person that looked back at me in the mirror. She looked back at me just as I did at her. I wasn't upset with myself at this point, no... But I was angry at other things. Such as how I was still dealing with them even after I changed. A voice spoke in the back of my head, and I tried to ignore it. It was always there, just waiting to talk to me. Granted, it wasn't always annoying, but I was in the middle of thinking so-

'You do realize that you have school in an hour, right?' It asked, snapping me out of my funk.

"An... Hour?" I asked aloud, only then looking at the time. Sure enough, I had an hour to get to school before I was tardy. In a few seconds, I was rushing to get dressed. "You could have told me before!"

'And miss you acting like this? HA! No way in the world, kid!' It responded, laughing over the growls that left my lips. So annoying to deal with when it decided to make fun of my situations like this.

And I hadn't even started my day yet! How could this day get any worse!?

-0-0-0-0-

I growled as I stepped off the bus, liquid rolling down my face still. I wasn't sure if it was orange juice or if it was some other kind of drink that they had grabbed. The voice was still silent as I walked up to my house and slammed the door behind me. Dad wasn't going to be home for a long time, so I didn't need to worry about him asking me why I got home early.

I went for the bathroom again and began to wash myself off. It was only then that the Voice spoke up finally, just as I was washing myself down.

'So... What did we learn today, kiddo?' It asked, causing me to grimace.

"Depends on what you think I should have learned." The Voice scoffed a little as I continued to clean my hair.

'Well... You should have done a lot of things.' I could almost imagine it counting off the things that I should have done on fingers. 'You should have stood up to them. You should have told the teacher as useless as those idiots are. You should have done something about the bitch who took your homework away from you. Hmm... So much you could have done so much shit that counting it out is silly to try.'

Soon, all I was doing was standing in the rushing stream of warm water as I thought it out. Of course the Voice would say these things with it in the position it was in. It was only inside of my head, it wasn't in my shoes that dealt with this abuse from the three... No, it was the whole school now. My glare wasn't ignored by the voice as it noted it, but I spoke before it could get too far in talking. I wasn't dealing with it talking too much right now.

"Oh right. Like I am you. I'm not a warrior, Alice. If I was, then I would have gotten in trouble for 'hurting the innocent girls'." My gaze soon was aimed at the door. "And even if they would help me, it's not like anything would come from it all!" My fist hit the wall, and a crack echoed through the room. Looking back at the fist, I saw the wall was a little cracked at where I hit.

The voice, or rather Alice was silent as I stepped from the shower and began to dry myself off. "And one more thing... You said you were toning down the amount of energy that you were giving me."

'I did. If you were at the power you had when they took that flute that wall would have a hole in it!' Alice was rather proud of her achievement, even if it didn't make anything better in the end. 'And I promise, I'll tone it down if you need me to.' I sighed as I walked into my bedroom, making sure my backpack was sitting nicely on the desk as I grabbed my notebook. Another day to add to the book on what happened to me by their hands. Unconsciously, I soon found myself looking at the other book that held my other notes.

"..." I finished up the notes on what the Trio did to me as I opened the other book. These notes weren't on what I was dealing with in terms of the Trio, but it did deal with the Voice.

Notes on what it apparently allowed me to do, notes on what the Voice had done in its 'life' before I met it a long time ago, and notes on... What the Voice was planning. It so far was nearly halfway full, seeing as Alice had so many plans on what to do with the world. Plans that included the annihilation of Empire Eighty Eight and their ideals, the Endbringers, Slaughterhouse Nine, and more. Not to mention that it was always in terms of using myself to enact said goals.

Even against my wishes. I was lucky it couldn't take over my body at this point, but judging by what it was talking about when it thought I wasn't listening, it was coming so close to enacting a plan for control. That or this plan was dealing with controlling something else, but so far I was thinking it was going to control me.

The Voice was silent as I put down what it was planning and the other things it was giving me. It was a few minutes later when I finished up and walked to my bed, laying down on it. I drifted off, ignoring everything around me, wondering how I was going to deal with things later on.

-0-0-0-0-

I smiled at Dad when he finally came home from work. Working at the Docks was something the Voice always was annoyed with. Too dangerous, it said. Too stupid to always go there, it said. But he still worked there and the Voice was always annoyed with that. It was silent even now as he walked into the house, smiling at me.

"Hey kid. How was your day?" My smile almost faltered at his words. I'd been lying to him so long it was almost funny how much. But I didn't have the ability to tall him the truth. Everything would only get worse for me.

"My day was fine, Dad." I responded as I walked for the couch.

'Liar~' Alice spoke up and my eyes narrowed and my lips moved up into a near snarl. Maybe I was becoming too much like her if I was acting like this. Nearly three months since it got into my life and already the calm and scared girl had made way for an annoyed and easy to anger girl. Then again, it never shut up, so perhaps this was normal.

"That's good to hear. Anyway, I'll be heading out to work early tomorrow. A new project just landed in our laps and I'm going to go help them out." He rubbed the back of his neck as he moved to the fridge. I nodded slightly and sighed. This was happening a lot lately, seeing how the Voice was noticing something always happening around Brockton Bay. Things both small and big, small in who was walking in the background of the news and big in what bad things were happening in terms of the gangs.

I ignored the news as the Voice spoke up again. 'Hmm... Seems like more of a stalemate today. E88 is not seeming to push from what they're saying, though from what Miss Lawson is saying it may mean the ABB is looking to push into Merchant turf. What with drug houses getting attacked by ABB members.' It continued on with whatever ramblings it decided to talk about. Though, then again Alice was talking a bit more since a few days ago.

'Taylor.' I nearly jumped from my spot when Alice spoke up, this time to me. 'It is going to be tonight... Right?'

"I can't. Dad'll-"

'He'll be out by the time we get out of the house and into the house. You said we'd try it. And if we continue to wait...' I didn't look at the TV, seeing as my reflection would be one black screen away from looking right back at me.

"... Fine. But if we get into a load of hell, I will not be dealing with this ever again."

I could hear the smirk in its tone as I relaxed as much as I could into the couch. 'Oh Tay-Tay~ Thank you for agreeing! The Dog of Fate rides tonight!'

"... Yay..." I muttered in fake cheer as I realized that as much as I wanted to get away from the voice, the stupid being that was in my head and its insane plots, I was effectively stuck with it. And it was only going to get worse.

Well, at least tonight couldn't be too bad, right?