Hello everyone!!! ....long time no see...hehe sorry! I got caught up in things and had major writers block which might explain why this isn't the best chapter, but stop complaining because I updated! :) Anyway- on to the chapter!

~Ally~

My eyes fell to the ground and for the first time in months I felt old familiar feelings return. Feelings of emotions I'd locked away, emotions I tried to forget, the things that would hold me back. 'What's wrong with me? I didn't spend the last 7 months of my life becoming stronger to just go weak at the knees at the sight of some guy!! Pull it together.' I mentally screamed at myself as my trembling hands clenched by my sides. My eyes copied them as I fought back tears. They were not of sadness just anger…anger and hatred. The only things I have left….or at least I thought.

My eyes caught the glimpse of Jesse's shoes coming towards me. I felt his arms wrap around my body and I wanted to scream. It wasn't fair. In a normal life I could hug him back; I could cry because I missed him, I could want other things that girls my age are supposed to instead of fearing that you'll be the reason they die. I could be happy…but then again this life isn't normal. If I stay, I'll be the reason they die. I slowly slipped my arms around him…just for one moment I could be happy, because after I did this nothing would ever be again. I could basically feel the smile that spread across his face as I held onto him. I let my lips betray me and reveal a small smile of my own. I then realized that one small tear dropped crystal slid down my face…If I didn't do it now I never would.

"I'm sorry Jess." I whispered as I allowed my dark energy to zap him into unconsciousness. He fell to the ground as I heard the yells from the others.

"What are you doing?!" I heard a teal haired boy yell. He was very tall and had a very serious aura to his body language.

"Leaving." I responded as I shot out a wave of dark energy at those running towards me. They all ducked and it gave me an opportunity to turn and leave. I stopped when I looked up to see my brother's eyes peering into mine. They weren't the light chocolate brown ones that I loved. I expected our once matching eyes to appear different now that mine had changed, but they were still identical. Now we both showed our own glow of hurt, sorrow, and pain.

"No you're not." I was shocked by the amount of seriousness that played in his voice and eyes.

"Yes I am." I growled as I formed more dark energy in my hands. He took a step toward me and I was mortified to hear what came from his lips.

"She's gone. They took Alexis. They got Chazz too. They dueled random kids. You think that by leaving us you helped us? Look around and tell me if it looks like that helped any! You're not leaving because you at least owe us enough to stay and help. You leaving can't make it any better." I froze at this. Not the words or the truth behind them, but at this that was now my brother. Never had I heard him speak so solemnly and mean to hurt someone with what he had to say. 'It seems as though I'm not the only one whose heart has hardened.'

"Fine." I said in a spat as I continued walking away from them all back, towards my old dorm. I expected to see Ami by my side but instead I found Ulrich. Both his arms rested behind his head as he walked with his eyes closed.

"Isn't babysitting bellow your talents?" I asked him which caused his lips to pull into his usual smirk.

"Isn't running away above you're dignity?" He questioned back. I returned his smirk.

"Fair enough." I spoke as I stuck out my foot and tripped him. "Maybe next time you should walk with your eyes open." I teased.

"Later Ulrich." I continued walking until my feet led me to my old dorm. I yawned and realized that I could really use some sleep. The dark room was to say the least dusty. I flipped the switch on the wall and my eyes fell onto my bed, then Alexis's. I walked over to the window and looked down at the academy: buildings were destroyed, people were no where to be found, and everything seemed so wrong. I then walked over to my old dresser. There was a picture of Alexis, my brother, Syrus, the tall teal haired guy, Bastion and Chazz. I gripped it in my hands and felt the glass crack beneath my grip.

"I left to protect everyone and look at what happened." I spoke out loud to myself. I put my back up against the wall and slid down to the floor, clutching the portrait to my heart. I felt an overwhelming amount of failure well up in my chest and then did something I hadn't done in months….cried.

Ami's POV

"So I'm guessing you guys want an explanation right?" I questioned with a smile.

"Actually, they all ready know most of it." We turned to see Ulrich walking back towards us. I ran over and wrapped my arms around him.

"I missed you so much." He whispered to me making me smile. I slightly pulled away.

"You'll have to inform me later as to how much you told them." I said winked. "…But for right now- I NEED FOOD!" I shouted and started heading off in a random direction.

"Do you even know where you're going?!" Ulrich shouted out as I stopped suddenly.

"Uh…nope!" I walked back over and stood by his side. He simply shook his head with a laugh.

Jaden watched the two of us with a small smile before walking over to Jesse.

"You okay?" He asked as Jesse slowly sat up.

"I've been better." Jay helped him up and they turned to the rest of us.

"I can't believe she shocked me." Jesse said as he stared at the ground. I frowned.

"She wasn't trying to hurt you Jesse; she was trying to do the opposite." I tried to reason with him. "Come on, lets go get a bite and I'll explain a few things."

Everyone sat down to the table and I looked around. I could recognize Jay, Jesse, and Syrus. The other two….I had no idea.

"First off…who are you guys?" I said pointing to the teal haired guy and his brown haired girlfriend.

"This is Sakura and that's my big brother Zane." Sy pointed out and I nodded in thanks. I looked up to see Ulrich walking over with a tray of food for me and a soda. I smiled and thanked him. I took a few bites and sips of my drink before I sighed into the awkward silence.

"Well for starters…when Ally and I left we really had no choice." Jaden looked like he was about to speak up so I held up my hand to stop him. "Do you remember when the two of you were fighting and she zapped you?" He nodded.

"Your medallion had touched her and because our spirit is part of what traps Kesi the medallions send pain through us as a defense mechanism. Yours touched her skin causing her immense pain and she accidentally zapped you. The power we have is strong, but it's reckless and destructive if we can't both control it. If we hadn't left so she could learn you could have ended up with more than a zap." I saw realization in Jaden's eyes as I explained.

"So why where you guys gone so long?" Zane questioned.

'Is he glaring at me!?'

I glared back at him. Everyone looked at me strangely for a minute before Jay spoke up.

"Why are you glaring at Zane?"

"He was glaring at me first!" I argued.

"No, he just looks like that." Ulrich stated.

"Oh, never mind then. We were gone so long, because we were training. It wasn't easy and we hadn't realized how bad it was until a few days ago when we got to the island. We tried to take down a few of Shadow's guys for you, but I guess it didn't do much."

They all seemed to be following. I looked at Jesse and read his thoughts. He wanted to know why Ally was the way she was. It made my smile fade.

"To be honest, Jesse, I'm not too sure about all of it." He looked at me as if I had a purple papaya flying around my head.

"How did you..." He trailed off in a questioning tone. It finally clicked and I understood what he was meaning.

"Ally and I can manipulate shadows and dark energy. Somehow, all human beings have a sort of dark matter in their minds. No one is pure anymore. Because of this we are able to enter ones mind and hear their thoughts." I explained. "To answer you're question about why Ally is all anger now isn't completely easy. She's part of me and I feel what she does, but… she's tried to keep these things to her self." I paused for a second, debating whether or not to continue. I took one look around and knew that I had to.

"I'm assuming you told them about Shadow and Kesi?" I questioned Ulrich. He nodded and linked his hand with mine.

"Ally hates Kesi. If it wasn't for my sister then Ally would have just been a normal person like her brother." I caught the quick looks of disbelief towards the brunette and continued. " Ally wants to kill Kesi and put an end to all of this but there's one thing in the way- herself. Ally hates herself because she has my sister within her. She found that she could use this hatred to become stronger and did, but it came at a high price. She lost herself- she's not lying to you when she says she's not the same person you knew." I concluded.

"You're wrong." I looked over to Jesse. "She's just lost…and it's 'bout time that someone found her." He stood up from the table.

"You're connected to her right?" He asked me. I nodded to him already knowing what he was asking.

"She's in her old dorm room." I smiled as he turned around and headed off in the right direction.

'Maybe he's right…'

Jesse's POV

I walked up the corridor to a very old familiar room. I put my hand to the door knob and was about to enter, but stopped when I heard crying.

"This is my entire damn fault!" I heard followed by a loud crash. I hurried into the room and found Ally in the bathroom. Her body shook as her bloodied hand supported her small frame. Her other hand covered her face in an attempt to hide her tears. I could see all this through her shattered reflection in the broken mirror. I took a step forward and she let out a sob.

"Don't…I'm not in control." Her voice quivered in an almost plea. I began to take another step forward when I realized my medallion was hanging out where it could touch her. I quickly slid it into my shirt, and then pressed forward. I wrapped my arms around her waist and felt her resistance so I held on tighter.

"Please! I don't want to hurt you…let go!" She screamed through her tears as her body began to slink down towards the floor. I held her up and winced when her body started to produce small jolts of energy.

"No." I picked her up and carried her to the bed. I laid her down and was worried about how hard she was shaking.

"I heard from Ami about how…you changed and why." She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, while she hid her head.

"Just because she's inside you Ally, doesn't mean that you have to hate yourself." I told her not surprised that I got no response. "You're a different person Ally. She can't control you." I placed a hand on her shoulder to see if she was even listening or if she was completely out of it. I gasped as violent red eyes met my own. I had no time to think before I realized that she had my hands and body pinned to the wall. An evil laugh escaped her lips.

"You so sure about that southern belle?" Her voice had changed to a deeper more manipulative one. I yanked at the dark matter chains trapping me to the wall, but to no avail. This caused her to laugh.

"Ally! Cut it out!" I yelled at her earning another wicked cackle.

"Ally's not here at the moment." She said as she stepped forward. She reached out towards my chest.

"What are you-?" I began but was stopped by my own scream. I felt a searing pain spread through my chest. The girl, who clearly wasn't my friend, flew back and grinned.

"So close... maybe next time." Her smiled quickly disappeared as her hands flew to her head.

"Get out of my head you evil witch!! This is my body and you're not going to use it to hurt my friends!!" I heard the familiar voice of Ally break through.

"Oh, but you poor pathetic vessel- that's all you are. I've already used your body to hurt them and soon enough it'll be my own. Then I'll be able to destroy anyone who dares to stand in my way…like that pathetic excuse of a being over there!" Her finger pointed towards me with a malevolent gleam in her eye. A small point of energy ignited from her finger and I closed my eyes waiting for the pain to hit.

"No…you will not harm what you will never have, and you will never have friends and you sure as hell will never have MY body!!!" I opened my eyes and saw red fade to honey brown. My bindings evaporated dropping me to the floor.

"I'm so sorry Jesse..." Ally spoke as she looked away. "This is why I left. This is why none of you can be around me…especially if one of you has a medallion. She can sense the pull of the power from it and uses it to break out of her seal. She can only do it for a moment, but it only takes a moment to end it all."

"Ally I'm fin-" I tried to reason.

"You're fine?!" She scoffed. "I almost killed you!"

"No ya didn't! She almost tried to kill me."

"She almost killed you because I was too weak to stop her!" She had turned towards me and I could basically drown in the guilt pouring out of her eyes. "I'm living a nightmare right now Jesse and there's no waking up from it because it's all real. I wish things could be the way they were…I really do, but they can't. Only in a perfect world could fairytales exist, and only in dreams does perfection even become close. Only in dreams… never in nightmares." She spoke with longing in her voice.

"Everything will get better, just you wait. I promise you." I said with determination. She gave me an odd look before walking forwards and pulling me into a hug. We stood there holding each other for a second that seemed as long as an eternity. She quietly spoke as my ears strained to hear whispered words.

"You shouldn't make promises that you can't keep."

...and cut!

If any of the characters (cough...Ally...cough) seem a little confusing in the way they act- such as how Ally tries to act like she hates everyone and then can't help but be herself around Jesse- please ask and I'll explain.

A few of the characters ARE out of character- they're supposed to be.

Thank you very much for reading this story-it means a lot. Please leave a review and tell me whatcha think!

Later!