I finally got around to finishing this chapter! YAY! I've been busy with other stories I'm writing for fictionpress so add that on top of the fact that I'm practically living in a hotel room until I can find an apartment equals slow updating :(

Hope you enjoy 3

Recap;

Who ever is at that door... Shana inwardly trailed off, imagining what kind of pain she could inflict on the person who interrupted them. She opened the door and she could hear her jaw go limb and make a resounding 'smack'' on the floor in absolute shock.

"Konnichiwa Shana-chan~!"

**********************************Shakugan no Shana**************************

To say shocked would probably be an understatement of the expression displayed on the young flame haze's face as she froze to the spot, her hand still on the door knob, all because of the person who stood beyond the door frame.

Shana opened her mouth, hope of coherent words being formed were crushed as all that came out was a strangled sound.

Standing before her, in the flesh, was Alice.

Her dirty blonde hair flowing as freely as ever around the fox girl's waist, her Ruby red eyes studying the flame haze that stood speechless, staring right back at her.

"Hello?" Alice waved a hand in front of Shana's face with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Looks like no one's home" She concluded with a dramatic sigh.

The girl pushed past Shana, the flame haze not as much as blinking, and Alice lazily sauntered into the living room.

She took a look around then her eyes locked onto a pair of gray orbs located on the couch. She raised her eyebrows.

Before she could say anything, Yuji quickly stood up and walked over to her. He bowed slightly as it was part of a traditional greeting. "Konnichiwa. I'm Sakai Yuji, and you are?"

The fox girl couldn't get a word out of her mouth when, the once statued flame haze, reappeared as she came around the corner from the front door and with a completely blank face, Shana grabbed a tight grip on Alice's wrist and nearly dragged the girl back to the one bedroom. Leaving a confused Yuji to stand alone.

Shana slammed the door shut and whirled around to Alice, who had already made herself comfortable on the bed.

"What, in the name of all things good, are you doing here?" The flame haze asked in a way that made it sound like she was about to laugh. She tried to keep her voice down and not shout since she didn't want to alert the boy in the next room but she was so confused it angered her.

"I just had a hunch that you might be at your apartment" Alice sarcastically replied with a roll of her ruby red eyes.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Shana practically screamed at the girl. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ANYWHERE!"

Alice feigned a hurt expression but the flame haze saw right through it. "You know what I mean" She spat.

Alice shook her head in almost a disapproving way before getting up off of the very comfy bed, she noted, and walked over to the raging flame haze.

Her face bore a calm and relaxed expression as she placed a hand on each of Shana's shoulders. "Calm down" you're overreacting The fox girl bit back, knowing it might just do the opposite of what she wanted.

Shana took a deep breath and let it out slowly, effectively soothing her shaken nerves. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked the other girl right in the eye. "Explain" It wasn't a suggestion, a question or a request. It was a demand.

Alice sighed. She knew that her sudden appearance probably gave the raven haired girl a near heart attack and knew that no matter what, she couldn't get out of explaining why she was back from the dead, but it had only been a matter of time.

"You might wanna sit down for this" She warned and pointed to the bed. Shana gave her a look that read; 'This better be good', the girl looked back at the flame haze with a replied look of; 'You have no idea'

Once comfortable, said girl motioned for the dirty blonde to start speaking.

Alice took a deep breath in before opening her mouth. "Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning.." She began. "Around 500 hundred years ago, I was sent out to complete a mission that had been assigned to me. I took off and spent most of the next day traveling, but I stopped when I realized that someone had been following me. Along with my wits and beyond expert maneuvering/evasive skills, I still wasn't able to lose them and it started to piss me off. So I turned around and faced them. It was then that I realized even the cleverest people can do extremely stupid things at crucial times. The people I faced were beyond anything I was expecting. The sheer amount I underestimated them was enough to violently unnerve even myself, and come to a disturbing insult to my enemy"

"Needless to say, they were able to capture me. It took them awhiiiiile to just bring me down or land a single blow but they proved to be overpowering with numbers and slightly in strength. When the people rendered me immobile and unable to fight, that's when I knew it had all been set up. It was all a waiting ambush...and I walked straight into it" Alice said the last with a deep scowl and glared at the floor, clenching her fist until their white before releasing and repeating the process again. Not that she would admit it out loud but the glare that the fox girl possessed was enough to make Shana's skin crawl in an unpleasant way. And she knew the glare probably wasn't even in full throttle, maybe even just a mere sand grain sized piece out of a huge pizza sized circle.

Alice continued, with each word she glared harder and the temperature in the room fell a degree. "The men took me to a place, far, far away from where they captured me. I know because they loaded me up into some kind of truck that had special cells on the inside. Each were layered and layered with various Unrestricted Spells and a few Houges were placed around the truck, connecting to every single cell, making sure no prisoners escaped. It wasn't the most comfortable ride and it was practically humiliating when you have to go to the bathroom with two men intently watching you. 'In case she tries to escape'" Alice mimicked one of the voices of her capturerers. "I couldn't have been happier to get off that retched vehicle. The people walked me..well not really walked since I was digging my heels in the ground and squirming so eventually it had just been a matter of time before one of the guys did the mistake in trying carry me! Aw man did it feel good to send a kick straight to his probably ugly face. Did I mention they blindfolded me? Well yea they did that,the whole trip!"

"By the smell that was in the air, I could tell we were in a desert area. Not to mention the sun that was beating down on my back causing me to start sweating as I was led into a building. From what I guessed it was stone and probably hundreds of feet under the desert plain because we were going downhill for a long time. The building wasn't really much of a building, more like a cave with lots of rooms. I was kept there for nearly 300 years. One day a guard by my cell made a simple, yet deadly(for them) mistake which led to my break out. I've been travelling for nearly a hundred years searching for my weapons and fighting numerous battles against the same people who had captured me and during that time I realized the people were all part of a huge group and/or organization, but then I came across new and better weapons so for the past last hundred years I've been searching for you" Alice finished and glanced over at Shana to gauge at her reaction.

"But Whilhelmenia said you died"

"Nope, If I died then I think I would know"

The flame haze sat still, completely speechless for the second time that day. She tried desperately to comprehend everything the other girl said and try to make sense of it all. There was one thing bugging her that involved the fox girl however.

"What about the dream?" Shana inquired, looking up at the dirty blonde.

Alice, despite the serious situation, laughed. "What about it?"

"If you were stuck in a cell for over 300 years then how were you able to appear in my dream when I was, appparently, in a coma for a year?"

"The first time I appeared, it was an SOS. I had hoped you would realize you were in just a dream and you would trace it all back to my location, but sometimes people just don't get it through their head" Alice said with a smirk, knowing what had been said would get an amusing reaction from the flame haze.

"What about all the other times?" Shana asked somewhat calmly, surprising the fox girl but she was well able to not let it show.

"After I figured out you weren't getting the message, I was deeply discouraged and stopped sending them"

The raven haired girl thought back at her 'Free Days'. That would explain the sudden stop of lemons

"Then I escaped" Alice continued, "That's when I freed you from the coma. After I completed that, I went out on my search to retrieve my lost gear, and had sadly run into a couple of familiar people. Eventually I happened upon a shop that sold some very nice weapons and bought some with what little I could earn and ditched the place. After awhile I realized this group of enemies were going to pose as a serious threat down the road and came in search of the legendary Defenders" The fox girl said the last part with a small smirk.

"Defenders?"

She nodded. "Back wherever I was, rumor was going around about a legendary fighting couple whose skills overpowered even the toughest of opponents, and fought so well because of their passion for keeping their city safe from harm. So soon enough everyone started calling them the Defenders for the way they heroically protect their city" Then Alice frowned a bit. "Though the rumoring led me to you, the same can go for the enemy"

"Who is this enemy exactly?" Shana asked after a moment of silence.

"They call themselves the Masked-i, pretty stupid name by the way. It's a new group so I don't know much about them but I do know one thing" Alice looked at the flame haze with such a solemn face it was slightly unnerving. "They're coming"

Shana went into deep thought. Masked-i It sounded familiar in a way. She pondered the name hard but couldn't come to a clear result.

The room went silent for some time while both girls got lost in thought before Alice spoke up.

"So...What's Yuji doing here?" She asked, completely lifting the serious atmosphere that once lingered around.

"He-" Shana started but was cut off by the bedroom door opening and revealing the young man in question.

Yuji looked to the two girls a bit uncertainly. "Um...Everything ok? I heard shouting then silence, neither of you guys have come out for awhile"

"Yeah fine" Alice answered before the flame haze could. She walked over to the Mystes and put on the best smile she could muster then and there. "We haven't been formally introduced yet. My name's Alice. It's nice to finally meet you in person"

"Ah Konnichiwa" Yuji then glanced back at Shana. "So are you Shana's friend?"

Alice shrugged. "More or less"

The fox girl then smelled a very appealing aroma coming from out the room. She quickly shoved past the boy, causing him to nearly topple over but the flame haze caught him with fast speed, and the half human girl found herself in the kitchen to see pots and pans full of cooking food. Drool was practically oozing out of her mouth at the sight.

"What was that for?" Shana angrily asked the dirty blonde as she came into the kitchen with a slightly stunned Yuji.

Alice looked back over her shoulder at the two people and smiled sheepishly, "Gomen"

Yuji noticed she was staring at the food. "It's almost done"

While the fox girl squealed, Shana came up beside him and looked at the stove, before she could say anything Yuji cut her off.

"It's getting late and I thought you guys might have gotten hungry. I'm not much of a cook but it's, for the most part, edible" He unintetionally mocked the flame haze's cooking skills, which didn't go unnoticed.

She punched him in the arm and with an almost silent 'hmph' she left out to the living room. Soon after Alice followed.

The two girls sat down on the couch and waited patiently for the food to be done. Alice glanced over at Shana. "So..You didn't exactly answer my question"

The other girl, though a bit reluctant, relayed everything the Mystes had said upon his sudden arrival and Alice burst out laughing at the end.

"It's not funny!" Shana tried to defend Yuji but even she joined in the laughter at the end. The sound attracted the boy.

Yuji walked into the living room. "You two seem to get along well" He commented with a grin.

Shana shook her head, laughter still dying down. "Only sometimes"

"How did you two become friends?" The Mystes curiously asked, sitting on the coffee table.

The girls looked at each other uncertainly and bought some time when a timer went off in the kitchen.

The three people sat at the 4 chair dining room table to eat the dinner. Deciding Yuji needed to know the whole story, Shana explained everything that had happened during her coma. Alice told what happened during the past 500 years people thought she was dead.

"Wow.." Was all Yuji could manage as he heard the shocking news. He looked in deep thought. Alice was stuffing her face with the food while Shana waited for what else the Mystes might say.

"How strong are they?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Anything beyond what I have already told you, I would like to discuss with Whilhelmenia and Pheles" Alice stated not sparing the boy a glance.

"Pheles? What makes you think she's here?"

Alice looked at them both, slightly confused. "She's not?"

"No" They both replied.

"Oh.." Alice went silent as she looked back down at her food. "I figured since there were two flame haze's in the city then Pheles might have been here"

"Three actually" Shana corrected the fox girl.

"Eh? Who?"

"The Claws and Fangs of Violation flame haze"

Alice grinned. "Oh? I never knew The Chanter of Elegies was one to stick around for awhile"

The fox girl stood up suddenly, making her two companions jump. Alice glanced at the two and her grin went ear-to-ear. "I think it's about time we visited some people"

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