First, I must admit my mistake. I meant to say four chapters, not two. Yes, that means the next chapter is not the last! I also wanted to respond to one of my reviewer's reviews. To Lyndranette: Well, if you think about it logically, I personally thought that it was the best decision. First, Karen and Ben are comfortable in their home in Russia and might not want to move, despite their love for Alice. Second, the Misakis have experience with raising a teenage girl, especially with Alice. (If I'm not mistaken, she lived with them for some time in the series, or at least visited them for a while.) So that was my reasoning. But the Misakis aren't that bad in the Japanese version, it's more exaggerated in the English dub. But other than that, thank you so much for reviewing! Enjoy this chapter!

A small knocking on my door roused me from my sleep. I yawned and stretched. Looking at the alarm clock, I saw the time read ten-thirty a.m. I pushed my covers off and stood up. I walked over to the door and opened. Runo smiled brightly. She was fully dressed and ready for the day.

"Mom said that breakfast is ready." She spoke cheerily. I nodded and closed the door. I grabbed my necessities and bound towards the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, getting dressed, combing my hair, and brushing my teeth, I was finally ready. I took the steps two at a time until I reached the first floor. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, the smell of bacon hit my nose. It made my stomach growl. I took a seat at the table.

"Good morning, Mrs. Misaki." I greeted. She turned from her station at the stove towards me.

"Oh, good morning, Alice. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'm okay. Where's Mr. Misaki?" I asked. She smiled.

"He already left for work. Also, didn't I tell you to call me Ume, and Mr. Misaki, Hideki?" She asked with a smile, wagging the spatula at me. I giggled shyly. Ume was always going on about how I was too formal. She said we were family now, so I shouldn't be calling them by such proper titles.

She set down a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me. The minute the plate touched the tabletop, I was eating. I looked at the kitchen clock. I had a little time before I had to meet up with Karen and Ben. They were in town for the week, visiting me.

It had been at least three months since the incident with Julius. April had come with a blast of warm temperature. The spring weather had washed away the pain from winter. Right now, school was on break, until next week. It would be nice because it meant I would be able to go back to school. When dealing with all the paperwork involved with the incident, I had missed a lot of work. But the school nearby made an exception and invited me to start as a first year high school student, along with the other brawlers. Even better, Shun would be joining us for our second year as a senior! I was so excited. My life was finally starting to get back on track.

My new parents had taken care of me well, providing me with anything I needed and helping me get my feet back on the ground. Karen and Ben kept in touch with me to see how I was doing. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many people supporting me.

After finishing breakfast, I gave my goodbyes to Runo and Ume and headed out the door. Today was a bit chilly, so I put on a pink scarf, a white long sleeve shirt, some jeans, a pair of boots and a belt with a large heart buckle, courtesy of Julie as a 'welcome back' present. I walked into the small restaurant where we agreed to meet. As soon as I spotted them, I walked over to the table.

"Hi, Alice!" Karen greeted sweetly when she saw me. She stood up and hugged me. Ben looked up from his menu and smiled.

"Hey, Alice."

"Hi, Uncle Ben. Is something the matter?" I asked, seeing his face scrunch up in a confused.

"I'm just trying to figure out what to eat. There's so much to choose from!" I laughed and took my seat. After ordering, Karen spoke up.

"Alice, dear, it turns out we'll have to postpone our trip to the museum. Ben and I have to get back tonight due to Ben's job. It seems the hospital is short on staff." I shrugged.

"It's okay. We'll save it for the next time you come. It's not like you won't see me again during summer break." Our food came and we ate, talking about random things. After we finished, they left. Only about an hour passed and I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased. Flipping my cell phone open, I called Shun. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, Alice. What's up?" He asked with a grunt.

"Hey, Shun. Did I catch you at a bad time?" I asked. The wind picked up on his end for a second before silence.

"Nope. I just left my house. Aren't you supposed to be with your uncle and aunt?" He asked.

"Change of plans. If you aren't doing anything, do you want to hang out?" I asked.

"Sure, where do you want to meet?" I looked around to see that I was close to the park.

"How about the park? We can meet at the swing set near the south entrance."

"Alright, I'll be there soon." Even though I was closer to the park, Shun beat me there. He leaned against the metal rod that held the swings up. I went over and wrapped my arms around him. He bent down and kissed my cheek. This was our usual greeting. I sat down on one of the swings, suddenly noticing that no kids were at the park. Well, it might've been a little too cold.

Shun grabbed on to the chain of the swing and pulled back. He let me go and I swooshed forward. He slowly pushed me back and forth. I suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, Shun?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I…it's nothing. Never mind." I said, losing my nerve. I figured he would think what I had to say would be weird.

"No, tell me." He said eagerly. I sighed.

"Well, it's just something that happened to me back when we encountered Julius. I guess I have a couple of theories I wanted to share, but they're dumb."

"Nothing you say is dumb. And besides, I want to hear about these theories." He said. I smiled. Shun always knew exactly what to say.

"Well, first, I wanted to say that I have a theory on why I was so determined to find Julius. I think…part of me was too scared to realize what had happened, so I busied myself by looking for him. If I didn't, everything that happened regarding my adoption and the actions involving Grandfather might have been too overwhelming." I took another breath. "But that might just be a theory." I said, feeling a little silly, but somehow lighter.

"I believe that." He said. I smiled and looked up at the sky. When I was little, grandfather had used to push me on the swings and he always told me to look up. I t always felt like I was flying.

"And the second thing you wanted to say?" He asked, making me stir from my trance. I nodded despite the fact that I was a little nervous and I didn't know why.

"Well, the second thing was, and this is going to sound really weird, but when I had the knife against Julius's throat…I heard someone's voice." My speed on the swing slowed down considerably. Talking about the incident had made my stomach clench, but I really wanted to tell him.

"I heard Masquerade's voice." I blurted out. Shun had stopped pushing me and we both stood in silence. A chilly breeze passed us and I shivered.

"You heard his voice?" He asked. I turned around. He had a confused look on his face.

"Y-Yeah, I mean…he is part of my subconscious. I didn't think of it until now, but ever since the Bakugan left, I have this feeling that Masquerade has now started to help me. Even though I thought he disappeared forever, he suddenly called out to me. Even though he was telling me to kill Julius, it didn't seem to me that he wanted me to do it because he enjoys pain…but more that he thought it was the best way to protect me. Understand?" He shook his head and backed away.

"You heard his voice? You think he's protecting you? Are you crazy?" He roared. I flinched. I stood up, stupefied. What was he so mad about? Just as I was about to voice my question, he interrupted.

"First of all, never listen to that scumbag. Ever. Okay? It's probably some sort of trick! He could take over you again! Second, is this the first time something like this has happened?" He didn't seem close to calming down. Suddenly, I was angry. Masquerade was naturally evil, but he was good now. He was helping me. I voiced those last two thoughts.

"Helping you? He's hurt all of us, Alice. Dan, Runo, Marucho, Julie, all the Bakugan that happened to pass him, all of us have been hurt by him. He hurt you and me, too! And you're defending him? You're…you're…you're crazy!" We both froze. His words hurt, badly. He had never said something like that to me. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open slightly. I didn't understand why he couldn't see it from my point of view. It was obvious he had pulled out the You-Were-Masquerade-And Hurt-Your-Friends card. I didn't mean to make it sound like everything Masquerade did was justified, but I wanted him to understand that he might be trying to help me now. I felt tears prick my eyes. I frowned deeply.

"Well…if I'm so crazy," I spat the word. "Then I must be crazy for being with you." I didn't mean to say it. It just came out. I turned around to walk off. I didn't want to see his face. The tears fell rapidly, but I didn't look back. A big part of me wanted, and expected, him to grab my wrist and turn me around so that we could apologize and make up. I didn't like fighting with Shun. I walked away, unsure of what to do now.

I ended up going to the café. Even though it was my day off, I decided to work. I kept checking my phone. Every time I saw nothing had changed, I sighed. After about two hours, Runo came in. I explained to Runo what happened.

"Well, he's upset, Alice. He was really upset to find out the truth, we all were, but him more so. I mean, I get what you're trying to say, but he was probably mad right from the start, when you told him this involved Masquerade." She had said.

"So what do I do?" I had asked.

"Just wait 'till he cools down. Then talk to him. Explain it exactly like you did to me. Be sure to put extra emphasis on the whole 'I'm not justifying what he did' thing and you should be fine in no time." Now, all I could think about was Shun. Suddenly, she came up behind me and untied me apron.

"It's your day off, so whether you like it or not, you can't work today. Go somewhere, do something. Just don't comeand do something here." She said with a wink. I nodded and walked out. The sun shined behind some clouds. I decided to go for a walk. I passed trees and benches, little shops and boutiques. I passed the city limits and start to climb up the small grassy hill. After about a half hour of walking silently up hill, I made it to where I was headed. It was our spot. It was beautiful, an area of grassy green land, flowers dotting the rocky cliff side, a broken fence that was supposed to warn passersby that this area was potentially dangerous. It was a large secluded area. Once, while hiking, Shun and I found this place. It looked over the city. It was high enough to be a deadly fall, but Shun and I had always been careful.

I half expected to see him standing there, the wind swirling around him. But he wasn't there. I sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. Suddenly, I felt a drop. I looked up to see dark clouds looming overhead. Great, just as I get here, it starts to rain! Unexpectedly, my phone started to vibrate. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the caller id.

"Shun?" I answered. I expected to hear his voice calm and collected, maybe even apologetic. Instead, it was frantic and worried.

"Alice! Where are you?" He practically yelled over the phone. I winced.

"I'm at our secret spot. Why? What's the matter?" I asked, starting to get nervous. It was a rarity that Shun behaved like this.

"I'm coming to get you. Start walking down, now!" The wind on the other side picked up. He was running. I stood up.

"Tell me what's going on." I didn't expect him to say the next line.

"It's Julius! He escaped! The police are looking for him. We all think he's coming for you!" My heart froze and my knees threatened to buckle. I spun around to run, but stopped dead in my tracks.

There he was, standing with a small smile on his face. He pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against and sauntered over to me. I couldn't breath.

"Alice?" I could faintly hear Shun calling. Julius reached out and stroked my cheek. He grabbed the phone from my hand and hung up. Then, without a moments notice, he hurled it over my head. I didn't turn around. I didn't hear it fall. He must've thrown it over the ledge.

"Julius." I whispered. I took a deep breath. The rain started to fall down harder, more drops staining my clothes. He reached over and took off my scarf. He let it flutter to the ground. I had no energy to stop him. I was frozen with fear.

"Now," He spoke slowly and cynically. "Let's begin, shall we?"

Wow! My longest chapter so far! Let me know what'cha think! Drop a review!

~S.S.