Before we begin the third chapter of this pretty mediocre story, I would like to apologize for not updating as much as I should! So, I made a poll, asking which story I should update next, and I was surprised at the results. 25% requested "Anywhere But Here", 22% wanted "Beautiful Eyes", and the other three options were from my other fandoms. And, because I'm still brainstorming ideas for "Anywhere But Here", with help from Neospice12 - thank you so much!- I'm writing for this story first. I apologize for those who wanted me to update "Anywhere But Here" first. And, sorry for this long introduction, but let's begin!

Chapter 3

"Fabia. You should go eat something."

The Neathian princess looked at the ninja skeptically as the corners of his lips curved a bit. After a minute of reassuring her that he was all right, Fabia finally, but reluctantly, agreed to leave. And as soon as she was out the door and out of sight, Shun hissed in pain as he sunk onto his bed. It had been nearly a week since his battle and his admission in the hospital, but his whole body was still aching. Even though all of his wounds closed, it was still taking a lot of time to heal, since the cuts had been extremely deep.

"Hey, Shun."

Raising a hand as a greeting and the other limply by his side, Dan walked into the hospital room. Wardington's best Bakugan player was wearing his usual attire, a red jacket with white padding on the shoulders, a pair of dark red jeans, black fingerless gloves, and his trademark goggles on top of his head. The eighteen year old looked exhausted, as if he was running all day and the lack of enthusiasm in his signature grin on his face caused Shun to raise an eyebrow. The ninja was sure that there weren't any battles that Dan had to battle today, so, why was he so tired?

"Something wrong?" Shun asked calmly, though it looked like Dan might not have heard him. His dark brown, almost dark red, eyes where dazed and he was staring at the white hospital room intensely, as if the wall was trying to tell him something. "Dan?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Didja say something?" Dan snapped out of his trance, turning to face his best friend.

"Never mind." The ninja replied as he watched Wardington's best Bakugan player fall back into his own thoughts. Something was definitely bothering Dan.

"How's your eye doing, by the way?" Dan asked after what seemed to be a long time.

"I can already see with it, actually." Shun answered as he extended an arm to grab a hand mirror on his bedside. For days of living in complete darkness, Masquerade finally removed the bandages from his eye since the surgery. The ninja surprised everyone of how well he could see with his new eye. He wasn't sure of who the donor was, but he was eternally grateful for that person to give him back his sight. Shun had asked Masquerade who the donor was, so he could at least pay the donor's grave a visit, but Masquerade shook his head and replied that the donor wanted to remain anonymous. The young Kazami could have easily asked Marucho for help to find out who his donor was, but he wanted to respect the donor's wishes. Plus, Marucho was on a short vacation with his family in a small island.

Shun raised the mirror to his right eye and stared at it. There was something familiar with that beautiful, dark brown eye, but he wasn't sure what.

"Oh, where's Alice?" Shun tore his gaze from the hand mirror and at Dan. He found it strange that she hadn't visited him once since he had woken up. He had asked the others about her whereabouts but none of them gave him a clear or direct answer. It wasn't that Shun was forcing her to visit him, but rather, in his injured times, the orange haired girl had always visited him, that he felt a bit empty without her kind and warm presence.

"U-Um...uh..." The chestnut haired boy quickly broke eye contact with his friend and back at the wall. "Ah, um..."

"Did something happen to Alice?" Shun's eye widened. His voice sounded so worried and so restless that Dan just had to answer him.

"I'm sorry, Shun. But we..." Dan sighed sadly, "we think she's gone missing."

"What? What do you mean she's missing?" Shun snapped as he pushed himself straight up from the bed and made no sounds of pain though his body ached all over.

"Well, she told Runo that she was going out of town to visit a friend for a couple of days," Dan began with a hesitant voice. "But we were all worried about you that we didn't think that something was wrong with her. Until today. The girls and I have been trying to find her, but...she's gone."

The ninja gripped his sheets. "What do you mean?"

"Runo told me that all of her stuff was gone and that Runo's parents said that she left on the day she supposedly visited her friends. Dr. Gehabich doesn't even know where she is. Nor her other friends."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Shun snapped as he threw the sheets off and jumped off the bed. His legs were numb after a long time of resting, so when his feet reached the floor, he collapsed in a fit of agony. Dan rushed to his side but the Kazami brushed him off. He was angry with himself for not knowing of her disappearance. He remembered all if the times she believed in him when he himself didn't believe in himself and how she would worry over him, almost making her worried to death. She wouldn't have visited him unless she didn't know about it, which is never. He felt angry at himself for being so contented with Fabia's presence that he forgot about Alice.

"Shun! Get back in bed!"

"How can I?" He hissed as he grabbed on the railings the hospital room offered. He hadn't used his legs until today, so his every step felt heavy and tiring. Dan grabbed his shoulders, trying to gently steer him back to bed, but Shun refused to go without a fight. The two made it to the halls after a lot of struggle and the ninja leaned on the railings for support.

"Shun! The girls are still looking-" Dan shouted.

"She could be in trouble!" The Kazami groaned as he dragged himself.

"In your condition, you can't do anyth-"

"What are you doing out of bed?" Masquerade's voice popped up. The two looked up and saw the blonde from the other end of the hall and soon loomed over Shun's weak body.

"I need to find Alice."

Masquerade's shoulders tensed. "You shouldn't try to walk today. Go back."

"But Alice-"

"She's fine." The blonde replied strongly.

"How can you be so-"

"I just know. Alice is a strong girl. Much stronger than what you think."

End of Chapter 3.

So...Didja like it? Didja like it? Didja, didja? Wow. This is a pretty long chapter. Please review what you think of this chapter and what do think happened to Alice? Oh, and here are some answers to your reviews:

InnocentDiamond: Whoa! That's a pretty gory drama! Hmm, Shun's donor gave him a right eye, so...I'll let you decide which eye Alice gave up.

Guest: Thank you for reading my story! I'm happy you like it so far!

Cup of Violet Tea: haha, I have no idea what episode the cover came from, but I just Googled it. And oh, poor girl! I hope that poor girl is all right! And don't worry, I have no intentions of making Shun suffer more. Oh! And if you want to write a corneas transplant story, go for it! I'll be more than happy to read it!

: Thank you for reading my story and I'm glad you like it so far!