Next chapter!

I got the idea for this story when I was coughing badly on my bed… =D

Doesn't make much sense if you ask me…

Anyway on with it!

Chapter 2

For the sake of her tears

"I understand." Spectra said as the transmission ended. He was assigned on a mission out of Vestal. Prince Hydron had specified it.

He stood up and went to his room to get ready. On his way however, he saw Alice leaning on a wall and breathing heavily. He slowly walked towards her, but then she started coughing. This worried him. He rushed to her and asked "What's wrong?"

Alice almost jumped from his touch on her back. But she couldn't answer. He throat was throbbing and her air ways were narrowing. She coughed a few times more. She slumped onto the ground coughing as she did.

Spectra became genuinely worried. She couldn't be sick could she? He ran to his room and gave her a glass of water. Alice graciously drank it. Soon her breathing returned to normal.

"Thank you…" She sighed

"Are you alright?" Spectra asked

"Yes…" Alice answered.

Of course, Spectra didn't need to be a genius to see that she was most definitely not alright.

"Why don't you take a rest?" Spectra offered

"I cannot…" answered Alice. Spectra knew the answer to his question as well, but he raised it nonetheless. Alice stood up shakily as she said "Mistress Pharaoh will get mad if I don't wake her up in time…"

Spectra's fists clenched. That word again, Mistress. It shows how badly treated Alice was here in Vestal. Yet she would not protest, she would only yield obediently and she would cry herself to sleep like always.

He sighed as he helped her straighten herself up. He knew that something needed to be done, and fast. He turned to her and uttered the words he wanted to say for a long time since she came to Vestal where her life ended…

"I'm sorry Alice…"

Alice's eyes widened. She was getting a little dizzy, were her ears playing dreadful tricks on her?

Spectra saw her surprise and his lips curved into a small smile "Was that too sudden?"

Alice simply nodded "I don't see any reason for you to apologize to me…"

"For starters, I am the one who handed you to Mylene…" Spectra said, the smile was gone and was replaced with his usual stoic expression "And by handing you to Mylene, your life ended. I see how much you suffer all the time, Alice. Guilt has been hitting me like a tidal wave every time I see you."

Alice didn't know what to say. Finally a smile painted her beautiful face "But still you're kind to me… Even if it was out of guilt, I am still grateful…"

Spectra was speechless. He nodded and said "Thank you… I will make sure you are released from this tragedy I have put upon you…"

Alice stared at him questioningly.

"Prince Hydron has assigned me on a mission outside of Vestal," stated Spectra "Once I come back I will make sure you are well taken care of."

"But…" Alice faltered

"I willmake sure of it." Spectra insisted.

With that he left Alice. He felt truly sorry for her. He was responsible for all of her sufferings. The least he could do for her was to end all of it. Hydron wouldn't be able to resist his request once he succeeded his mission. Gus was there to aid him of course. He left Alice in Volt's capable hands.

Alice went inside Mylene's room and gently woke her up.

"Mistress Pharaoh, the sun is rising…" she softly called.

She expected Mylene to groan for fifteen more minutes, but instead she got slapped.

She fell onto the ground.

"You little rat!" Mylene shouted "So you think you could run off with Spectra huh? I don't think so!"

With that another slap came to her face. Mylene pulled her hair and said "Spectra doesn't sympathize with trash, so stop dreaming…"

"I don't know what you're talking about Mistress Pharaoh…" Alice whimpered

"Oh really?" Mylene mocked as she hurled Alice to the ground. She knelt in front of Alice and said "I heard everything clearly. I know that Spectra wants you to get free from the clutches of the Vexos. But I'm not going to let that happen." She smirked slyly.

"But why?" Alice whimpered

"Why?" Mylene mocked "Because I like seeing people suffer. Most especially people like you…"

Alice was pulled from behind by rough hands. She assumed it belonged to Shadow.

"Come on Mylene!" Shadow called "Lync and me want to play!"

Mylene smirked and said "Okay…" She took her Aquos gauntlet and said "I'll be right out."

Alice was literally dragged out of the Vexos headquarters. Shadow dragged her to the river where she often swam to look for Aluze. He dropped her with a soft thud.

Mylene came to the scene. She had a wicked grin on her face.

"So what shall we play?" Mylene asked

"You already brought your gauntlet so don't play dumb Mylene…" Lync said

"So you want to brawl?" Mylene smirked "Fine, but under a few conditions."

"Conditions?" Lync echoed

"Whoever wins gets to torture this little girl for the entire day." Mylene said as she pointed to Alice.

Neither Lync nor Shadow raised a protest. They nodded. Alice watched in horror as Shadow roughly tied her to the tree beside the lake.

And so the battle between Lync and Shadow ensued. Of course, Lync lost easily to Shadow. Alice guessed that Mylene was the one who would torture her for that day.

And it seemed that her guess was right.

"Aw man!" Shadow whined "No fair Mylene!"

"I won fair and square." Mylene argued "What's wrong with that?"

"You always get to torture Alice…" Lync whined

"Yeah, we want to torture her too you know!" Shadow nodded.

Mylene considered their complains for a while. A smirk crept across her face as she stared at Alice.

"Fine…" Mylene said "I'll have both of you help me break her down."

Shadow pumped his fist in the air triumphantly "Yeah!"

"We have to make her cry before the sun sets." Mylene said "We'll have to mistreat her like there's no tomorrow."

Alice just pretended like she didn't hear anything. Mylene grabbed her hair harshly again. She winced I pain "Why won't you cry? Are you broke or something? Even Prince Hydron is complaining about that. Why don't you just cry like the little weak girl you really are?"

Alice remembered Hydranoid and the other statues. The mere thought of them brought tears into her eyes, but she didn't dare show it to them.

Mylene smirked slyly "Maybe it's time we reminded you about pain… And then you can show us your pathetic tears…"

She hit Alice with her left hand. Alice simply let the hit turn her head to the direction of the slap. Mylene hit her a few more times out of mere frustration. Why did she want Alice to cry so badly anyway? Was she a sadistic person like Prince Hydron?

After a few more hits, Mylene gave up. She was panting. She had hit Alice for more than five minutes, but she gained nothing, not even a tear.

"You're pretty persistent…" she muttered under her breath. She placed a card into her gauntlet and a blue blade appeared from her gauntlet. Alice watched in horror as Mylene walked forward towards her.

"Let's see how you like your skin to be burned…" Mylene wickedly said.

She placed the blade on Alice's bare skin, on her neck. A searing pain took over Alice as she let out a blood curdling shriek. Mylene didn't like the shriek. She wanted to see tear cascading down her cheeks. She turned to Shadow and commanded "Cover her loud mouth."

Shadow took a lush green bush with red berries. He shoved it into Alice's mouth. Alice was still shrieking, but the bush muffled her desperate cries.

Lync chuckled "Improvise…"

Alice felt helplessly cornered. Mylene soon withdrew her hand and left a faint red scar on Alice's neck.

Even through all of that, there wasn't even a tear…

Mylene's frustration has reached its peak by this time. She had hit Alice with all her strength multiple times and she even burned her delicate skin. She took out the bushed shoved in Alice's mouth, but she was oblivious of what to do next.

"She's persistent…" Mylene muttered.

Alice panted and coughed a few times. Shadow stood beside Mylene and asked "So what do we do?"

"Get her out of that tree." Mylene commanded

Alice's bonds were released and she fell onto the soft grass.

"What do you say we electrocute her?" Mylene suggested

"Good idea!" Shadow nodded

"I think she's getting close to a tear…" Lync pointed out.

Alice was exhausted. The burn on her neck felt worse when the cold wind made contact with it. It felt like her neck was burning inside. She tried to soothe it by gently massaging it with her hand, but to no avail.

Mylene pulled her hair up so that her face would be visible. Alice winced, but other than that, her eyes remained dry.

Mylene slapped her in frustration. Alice fell down to the ground once again.

"Hurry up and get her into the water…" Mylene ordered.

Shadow dragged Alice to the river. When he got to the bank, he threw her down. Alice felt herself sink into the crystal clear waters. Soon, she would float, and the torrent would bring her to who-knows-where.

Soon she felt her entire body vibrating violently. Her entire body hurt with all the vibrations. No matter where she turned, it was the same. She wanted to scream out loud, even though she knew that no one would hear her or come to her aid, A she opened her mouth to scream, she remembered that she was underwater and she was drowning.

All this for a tear?

Why was she being so stubborn? Why won't she cry? If tears would be sufficient to end all of her misery then she would gladly let them out. She did cry a lot before when she was still on Earth, so why can't she do it now?

She didn't know the answer to her question, but she wished she knew the answer. Her vision became blurry, her eyes were now heavy and she could take no more.

The violent vibration stopped. She drifted to and fro on the river. She felt a rough hand pull her by the collar of her ragged clothes.

She winced at the grip. It was too strong. She was dripping wet and panting. Shadow had a maniacal smirk on his face. He licked her cheeks, mainly because that was what he did best.

Mylene noticed that the Alice still hasn't managed a tear. She became furious as she landed another heavy hit on Alice's face.

"I have had enough with this girl!" Mylene exasperated.

Lync tried the burning trick with his own gauntlet. He pressed his green blade onto Alice's wet arm. Like Mylene, he earned nothing but a shriek.

"I say we make her feel the power of Ventus!" Lync announced

Mylene nodded approvingly. She ordered Shadow to bind Alice onto the tree again.

Alice was weak and weary. She didn't know how much longer she could take.

Lync set up a Gate Card. He threw his Bakugan, Aluze. With a sadistic grin, he ordered Aluze to flap its wings against Alice and aim the gusts specifically at her.

Alice felt overpowered. The wind was strong and sharp. She had cuts all over her arms. The cuts were shallow, but they were painful nonetheless.

A small tear came out of her tired eyes.

Mylene looked triumphant. But that look on her face didn't linger long because Alice didn't cry.

She slapped Alice once more. Alice just whined.

"Shadow, bring her to that room." Mylene commanded "And don't stop until she's lost her voice. I don't care what happens to her, just make her cry!"

"Roger that!" Shadow nodded as he untied Alice from the tree and dragged her to a dark room.

Alice was clueless. Why did Mylene ask Shadow to bring her here? It was dark, but Alice was used to the dark. Were they trying to scare her?

"See you later!" Shadow waved as he closed the door.

Alice stared at the endless silence. What exactly was she supposed to be doing in there?

Soon she understood. Soon she found out, but wished that she never did.

Images of her battling the Brawlers and sending them to the Doom Dimension flashed before her very eyes. She closed them shut, but the images still flashed before her, like she never even closed her eyes. She felt so helpless. She screamed like she never has before.

Shadow watched from a glass pane outside. Mylene came behind him and asked "Any progress?"

Shadow jerked his thumb towards Alice with an irritated look on his face. Mylene looked out as well. She frowned. Alice was mentally suffering, but no tears came out.

"She's tough…" Mylene commented angrily. She looked at Shadow meaningfully. And Shadow, despite his childish acts and obvious stupidity, got her message. He snapped his fingers.

Alice screamed harder as the disturbing images were accompanied by the aching of her head. She shook her head wildly, not wanting to see anymore. She saw them all. She saw them suffer and freeze into statues. She heard their cries and howls of pain, agony and grief.

She couldn't take it anymore. She was physically exhausted and her sanity was inching away from her by the minute.

All this for a tear?

Her body stiffened and she fell on the cold floor.

Mylene angrily walked away. Shadow followed shouting "Hey, where are you going? I thought we were going to torture her?"

Mylene ignored him as she walked back to her room.

Alice clutched her chest. She was insane; she knew it, but why was she still thinking straight?

A tear fell from her eyes. A few more followed, until she was weeping in the darkness.

Insanity would be a better choice…

That's the end of this chapter!

Whew! It's long… =D

Just to make it clear, Mylene does not like Spectra. She just wants Alice to suffer, badly.

Please REVIEW as it is much appreciated if you read this story…

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