~O~

Sinclair paced around the room, his hands clenched tightly behind his back. He was mumbling to himself, carrying on a one-sided conversation with his inner thoughts. "Will you please stop doing that? Just watching you is wearing me out," Gillfrey said with a sigh. Sinclair stopped and apologized. He then turned and looked at the Count, who was laid up in bed with several IV lines running along his arms. When they had finally gotten back to the enclave they had been able to quickly start treating Gillfrey for the poison in his system. Thankfully, it had not been a fatal dose, but rather only enough to make the Count weak and slow him down; the poison hadn't been intended to kill.

However, that still didn't mean that treatment wasn't called for. If nothing had been done, then they ran the risk of damage being done from prolonged exposure. "What's troubling you now, Sinclair?" Gillfrey asked. The Vampire Lord sighed heavily and said, "I don't like knowing those Hunters are under my roof….I know Shun's intentions were good, but some of those Hunters killed my people out there, and I don't like knowing they're walking in my hallways."

Gillfrey sighed as well. "I don't blame you for being on edge, but they were given strict instruction from Alice not to cause any trouble, and I feel that they will follow those orders very well. Besides, they're not going to be here for very long," the Count said, his voice filled with fatigue. Sinclair leaned against the wall. "I know, I know," he said bitterly. He then looked at Gillfrey and asked, "How did Loran appear to be holding up?"

When they had gotten back, Sinclair had demanded that Loran go and get rest, but the gray-haired Vampire had at least wanted to make sure Gillfrey was treated appropriately for the poisoning. Once that had been done, he had retreated to his room. "The kid has been through hell, that much was clear," Gillfrey replied. Sinclair felt sick at the thought of what Loran had gone through while held hostage. It didn't appear as though Loran had been physically abused, other than being starved for blood, but it was more than clear that he had suffered some kind of mental trauma, and it made Sinclair wonder if he would ever get past it.

"Sinclair, you're overthinking things again," Gillfrey said quietly, "Have you even rested since we got back?" Sinclair closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I haven't had the time. I've been making sure everything is in order," he replied. Gillfrey looked at the Vampire Lord and said sternly, "Sinclair, nothing is in order, and by damn it will be a long time before it's ever in order again. You know that as well as anyone else in here. Loran went through hell, we lost several Vampires out there, Shun is still in shock and don't even get me started on Alice's case. The world we once knew has been turned inside out, and it will take time for things to be turned right again. So, quit worrying yourself and get some rest. You can't lead these Vampires in here if you're too exhausted to stand."

Sinclair closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. "You're right….I need to try and rest. If you need anything Alucard should be patrolling the halls, so you'll be able to flag him down." Gillfrey nodded. Sinclair then turned and left the Count's room to return to his own quarters. When he finally got there and laid down on his bed, he realized just how exhausted he was. His body screamed with aches from the fight, and his brain pounded against his skull; every inch of his being demanded sleep. Sinclair closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep. His sleep was not filled with dreams, nor nightmares, but rather with nothing. Instead, he simply slept in darkness, and he was okay with that.

~O~

Shun had been wandering throughout the enclave since their return, his mind just as restless as his body. At first his little walk had been in effort to try and tire himself, but that had resulted in a failed attempt. Now, he had been walking through the hallways for several hours without so much as a yawn. He wanted to rest and he knew that's what he needed to do, but each time he tried to settle in, his mind instantly went back to the night's earlier events. He kept seeing Alice's face, her reaction to discovering the truth and learning what had truly happened to her, and then her being covered in blood, both hers and that of others. But the worst of all had been when she had pointed the gun at him.

He had felt his blood run cold in that very instant, and for a minute he truly believed she might have shot him. But he had seen something in her eyes, perhaps a faint flicker of the old Alice, and that had been what had held her back. She did not intend to hurt him, but rather scare him, and when Shun realized that, he didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation. That was when he asked her to return to the enclave, and much to his surprise, his bluff had worked. Now, she was back in her room, more than likely sleeping like everyone else in the enclave.

Shun stopped in the hallway and stared down at the ground in front of his feet. "What happened to you?" he asked under his breath. The Alice that had been out there fighting was not the same one he knew minutes before her death. The old Alice, brave and full of good intentions, seemed to be long gone, and in her place was somebody that had seen the depths of Hell and was strengthened by its fires. It was Alice, but it wasn't his Alice. She has to be in there….somewhere, he thought to himself. Shun knew there had to be some way to get her back, even if it was just a small sliver of her. "And I won't stop until I've done just that," he muttered to himself.

"Pardon me," a voice asked quietly from behind. Startled, Shun turned around and found himself accompanied by one of the Hunters that had taken up residence in the enclave. Shun felt himself on edge, even though he knew that there was truce between the Hunters and the Vampires; this was still somebody who tried to kill them. Can't really talk, seeing as we tried to do the same thing, Shun thought to himself. "Yeah, what do you need?" he asked. She reached back and tightened the ponytail that held back her thick, red hair. "I was just wondering if there were any extra blankets. It's somewhat cold in the rooms here," she said.

Shun was struck by the normalcy of this small conversation; it was as if they hadn't been at each other's throat hours before. "Yeah, there's a supply closet. I'll show you," he told her. The Hunter thanked him and followed alongside him to the closet. She didn't talk much, which Shun didn't expect her to. When they reached their destination, Shun said, "They're in there. Take as many as you'd like." He started to walk away but stopped when the Hunter said, "You…You're the one that Alice was close to before….aren't you?" Shun turned back to face her and said, "Yeah, what's it to you?"

The raven-haired teen did not like the fact that this Hunter was bringing Alice up. The Hunter took several blankets from the closet and held them close to her chest. "She cared a great deal about you, even during all of the hardships she went through….And I am genuinely sorry that I did not tell her the truth, but with Levi around I couldn't….I just wanted you to know that." She then adverted her eyes from his and began to walk away, but when she was about to brush past Shun, he reached out and grabbed the Hunter by the arm. Her eyes grew wide in surprise, and it was clear that she did not know what he was going to do. But Shun didn't look at her. Instead, he said, "Please, be honest with me, cause I have a feeling she won't tell me…..What all did she go through? What broke the Alice I knew from before?"

Shun let go of the Hunter's arm and looked her dead in the eyes. "I just want to know…..I want to make sure I have a good reason to be angry and hurt, and I want to know if there is a chance for her to come back from what she has gone through." The red-headed Hunter looked at him with pain and sympathy in her eyes and said, "I don't know all of what Levi put her through, but I can tell you that it was much worse than anything he put the rest of us through. With the others it was more of a scare tactic, but with Alice he took a….personal interest in. I know of several times he beat her, forced her to give him her blood….along with other things, too, I'm sure….He put her through Hell, that's all I'm certain of….And yet, through it all, she persevered for the sake of getting payback for what she believed had happened to you."

Shun felt sick to his stomach. He thought he would have been able to handle hearing some of things that happened to Alice, but once those words hit his ears, his stomach began to churn. And now that he knew that she put up with all of that pain because she had been tricked into thinking that Sinclair and Gillfrey turned against him only made things worse. Shun covered his mouth with a trembling hand and leaned against the wall to hold himself up. "I wanted to help her, I really did. I tried several times to, but the few times I did she didn't want to accept my help….She was probably afraid of what Levi would do to her," the Hunter told him. Shun clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it against the wall. "She didn't deserve any of that!" he shouted, "She didn't deserve to be tortured and violated!"

Shun's voice began to tremble as he felt the lump in the back of his throat beginning to form. "And the worst part is….she went through all of that because she thought I was dead, when I was right here all along….If…If I had known I could have helped to stop it sooner!" he sobbed. Shun slid down against the wall to the floor and buried his face into his hands as he cried. He then felt as a blanket was draped around his shoulders and his sobs ceased for a moment. Shun glanced up at the Hunter that was kneeling beside him. "You never gave me a chance to answer the other part of your question, the one about whether or not she could come back from it," she said, "I believe she can. She might not be entirely her old self, but I can still see bits of the Alice I first met after we brought her back. I can still see that life in her, but its buried deep and trapped beneath many scars, so it will be a slow, long process to try and reach that part of her and bring it back to the surface. But, it's there, and if anyone can reach it, it'll be you."

The Hunter then stood up and began to walk away. Shun quickly stood up, the blanket falling from his shoulders, and he called to her from down the hallway, "Wait, what's your name?" The Hunter stopped and, without turning around, said, "Emelia." She then continued to walk away before Shun could say anything else. The raven-haired teen stood there in the hallway for a bit longer to allow the conversation he had just had to sink in. Somebody had been there trying to watch over Alice and help her, but Levi's web of terror had been woven too tight in order for it to make any difference. But now Levi was gone and that web had disintegrated along with him, and Shun felt a small sliver of help in knowing this. Emelia was right; if anyone could reach Alice, it would be him. He knew Alice better than anyone else, and no amount of torture or trauma could change that; she was still Alice.

Chapter title based off the song Survivor Guilt by Rise Against. Not sure when I will have enough creative juices to update again so I think I'm going to leave it here until then. Have another work week starting tomorrow so time will be scarce again. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~