Alice

Much to our surprise, Dan walked into the dining hall from the lobby of the mansion; all of us thought that he was still asleep. But seeing that this wasn't the case, we couldn't help but wonder when he had left Murucho's. He took his usual seat, leaning back in his chair to where the front legs left the floor.

Runo narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Take off those shades, Dan. You're inside." I hadn't even noticed the new accessory that doned his face. How I had missed them, I wasn't sure. "Migrane," was all he said to her. Even though I had missed the glasses, I did notice something else; it had gotten extremely chilly in the room once Dan walked in.

Thinking that it may have just been me, I looked around to see if anyone else appeared to be chilled. Murucho was rubbing the sides of his arms in order to warm himself up, and Julie also seemed to be at an uncomfortable temperature in the room.

So it wasn't just me that felt the sudden drop in the thermostat. It was probably just a coinscidence that the air temp dropped when Dan walked in. Perhaps a maid turned down the air, or the over-sized cooling unit kicked into overdrive. But something about Dan's demeanor felt…off.

I leaned back in my chair and glanced around the table. It was then that I saw Shun's eyes narrowed at Dan. Were those two still mad at each other? Shun then adverted his gaze to somewhere else in the room, as if his attention had been caught by something more interesting.

He then stood up from his seat and said, "Excuse me." He left the table and disappeared in a nearby room. I sighed. Things felt like they were dragging on and on at this point.

Shun was still nothing short of closed off from the rest of us, and now Dan was acting out of character. Unable to sit by in the dark any longer, I stood up, causing my seat to slide back. "I'll be right back," I told the others and slipped away in the direction that Shun had gone off in.

Shun

There was something off about Dan; the way he spoke, walked, and so forth. From those few things, it was like he had turned into a totally different person. He had mentioned something about having a migraine, but even I didn't act this strangely when I got one.

I had my eyes fixed on him without realizing it, but a flash of black tore my gaze from my abnormal friend. Standing in the doorway of another room, I saw Death. He motioned for me to follow him before going into the room. Not wanting to keep him waiting, I stood up and excused myself from the table without giving anyone a reason.

I slipped into the room, which was nothing more than another sitting area. Death pointed to the door behind me and said, "Close it." Nodding, I pushed the door to, but not all the way to where the latch caught; in the long run, I probably should have shut it anyway.

"Yes?" I asked now that I had done what Death had instructed me to. The emotions that he was giving off, told me that he was in some kind of distress and anxiety; he seemed to be that way more and more every day. Death crossed his arms over his chest and told me, "I think we need to spend more time on training you. Sadly, I don't have as much time as I'd like to go over everything, so we may have to rush through some lessons." I stared at him for a moment.

Why in the world was Death on such a deadline now? A feeling returned to me, one that had been there since he mentioned this one Reaper; Rogue. There was something that he wasn't telling me. I felt somewhat betrayed now. If the very being that had turned me into a Reaper and was supposed to be mentoring me through this, couldn't even tell me what was really going on, then how did I know if I could trust him or not?

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I asked, trying to keep my aggravation out of my voice. Death's mouth was set in a fine-line, never once wavering in a grin or even a smirk like usual. "No. Not yet, at least. Right now, there are more important things than talking."

I saw that he had a hold on the end of his cloak, and was about to grab onto my wrist and teleport us somewhere else; most likely for one of these lessons. But before he had the chance to do so, I flinched back and said coldly, "I'm not going anywhere until you let me know what you're keeping from me."

Death seemed to be surprised by my defiance, but I wasn't about to follow blindly any longer. I turned and was about to walk out of the room, when Death's voice stopped me. "Fine. It's concerning Rogue. I fear that he's made another move and…might be coming after you eventually.

I just want to make sure you're able to hold your own against him." The pause in his sentence told me that a portion of his statement was a lie, but not all of it. The part about Rogue, sounded to me like the truth. But when Death said that Rogue might be coming after me, I could tell that that was a bold-faced lie.

Although, I wasn't about to let him know that I knew that. I had considered myself lucky that Death had told me anything, and I wasn't about to press my luck. "Now, can we please get a move on? I've already fallen behind on my plans," Death said with an extended hand.

I nodded, still feeling apprehensive about him now that I knew he was lying to me. His cloak consumed us, making the ground vanish from underneath my feet. When the black curtain fell, we were in the middle of a forest. I looked around, and saw the city far away through the trees.

Water separated us from the mass of buildings, and it was then, that it occurred to me that we were on one of the small islands in the bay. Death formed his red-handled scythe in his hands and said, "I'm going to at least teach you some combat and defensive techniques in case you run into Rogue. He may already know who you are and that you are being taught by me, or he might not. Either way, I want you to be ready for anything."

I nodded and formed in my hands the scythe that Death had given to me when he got his new one. Death swung the blade of his scythe at me, and I blocked it with the handle of mine.

It was kind of like the training I went through with my grandfather; so I had at least some fighting experience to go by. I blocked a few more attacks, but Death swept the back of his scythe along the ground, catching my ankles and ripping my legs out from under me. With no balance, I fell on the ground.

A mad laughter caused me to look up, and I saw Grim hanging upside down on a tree limb. "You lasted longer than I thought you would, little Reaper!" he squealed. I jumped back up to my feet and readied myself for the next barrage of attacks.

Alice

The moment Shun started walking towards the door, I bolted. I had been peering in through the crack left open in the door, and was shocked by what I had discovered. Shun had been in that room and talking to himself. At that moment, I kind of wished that I hadn't followed him now that I knew that he was losing his mind. I ran back into the dining room, and all eyes turned on me.

Runo asked, "What's going on? Where did you run off to, Alice?" I bit my thumbnail, unsure about whether or not I should tell the others what I had found out about Shun. After thinking it over some, I decided it would be best to let them know; Shun was still there friend; after all.

"I….I don't think Shun is well at all….." Their eyes were even more fixed on me now. Julie played with her empty glass while she asked me, "What do you mean, Alice? Shun seemed perfectly fine to me." She may have said that, but her voice told me that she was unsure about that.

Worried that Shun would pop up behind me at any moment, I hurried up and told them what I had discovered. "You see, I just followed Shun when he left the table, and I overheard him talking to himself. I mean, he was carrying on a whole conversation as if somebody was there in the room with him."

The way these words felt on my tongue was strange. They didn't seem like they held any truth behind them, but I had seen and heard him with my own eyes and ears. I know what happened, I thought to myself.

Murucho straightened a crooked fork in front of him and asked me, "Are you sure there wasn't anyone in the room with him?" I nodded. I had even looked around the room to my best extent to make sure that I wasn't blowing this out of proportion. Everyone's expressions mimicked how I felt on the inside right then; surprised, confused, and worried.

Had this been going on since Shun's wreck? And if it had, how come none of us had seen any signs of him slipping from us? I turned to see how Dan was handling this news; he seemed to act as if he didn't care. Dan? Not care about his best friend losing his mind?

What was going on here? Was Shun really the one going insane, or was it me? Dan tilted his shades down and looked at me with his eyes. They widened for a moment, and he quickly pushed the glasses back up and turned away. What was that all about? Murucho jumped out of his seat and asked, "Is Shun still in that room?"

I nodded and watched as the short blonde ran off to the place that I had last seen Shun in. We all sat there for a moment as we waited for Murucho to return back to us. It didn't take long for him to run back into the dining hall. "I thought you said that he was still in there, Alice."

I blinked my eyes a couple of times, wondering if I would wake up from this chaotic dream. Then, I ran down the hall and back to the room that Shun had been in. Sure enough, he was no longer in there.

Shun

I fell down for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. Death was a bit faster that I had expected, and more than a match for what fighting skills I had. Grim was still hanging around in his tree. "Go easy on him, Death!" Grim cackled. Cuts and scrapes littered my body from the training session, and fatigue was starting to set in on me.

Death lowered his scythe and told me, "That's enough for today. I see we have a bit of a way to go before you can even last an hour with Rogue."

Death also mumbled something after that, but I was unable to catch it. Grim groaned from up in the tree and said, "Really? Is that all the fun for the day, Death?" I remained seated on the ground as I caught my breath, while Death replied to the unstable Reaper, "Yes. That's it for the day."

Grim jumped down from the tree limb, landing on his hands and feet like a cat. He then straightened up and joined Death's side. "I guess the little Reaper does need some rest now and then," he hissed. My breath finally slowed down and returned to a normal pattern, and I started to stand up.

Right as I got up to my feet, jolts of pain shot through my head, causing me to fall back down. Although it was muffled, I heard Grim ask, "What's going on with the little Reaper?" I brought my hands up to the sides of my head and buried my face into my knees to keep from shouting out.

"I think he's seeing another death," I heard Death say in an emotionless tone. The forest vanished from around me, and I was back at Murucho's. In the dining hall, to be more exact. Runo, Julie, and Murucho were gathered around in a tight circle.

Through them, I saw Kato was kneeling down beside somebody. They then backed away some, and I was able to see what all the fuss was about. Lying on the floor, was Alice. A thin line of blood streaked down from the corner of her mouth, and her limbs twitched every now and then.

I stared at the scene in horror. The sobs and yells of my friends didn't even register to me; all that I was focused on, was Alice. Wh-what happened here? Before I could see anything else, the dining hall vanished, and was replaced by the forest. I was laying on the ground, my body shaking as if I were freezing.

Grim was kneeling beside me and poking my arm. "Little Reaper? Are you back yet?" he asked. Death was standing nearby, his hidden gaze looking down on me while he asked, "What did you see this time?" The images replayed throughout my memory. All of the horror, and the shock still fresh. "Alice," I said. And that was all I could say.

i just realized what shall hit the world of fan fiction in less than a week...-dramatic drum roll- MY ZOMBIE SEQUEL! XD it's hard to believe that it's been a year since i started on this first one (and also hard to believe how much my writing abilities have changed since then as well o.o) im so excited to finally start this one! and when i do, i think all my other stories will be on hold until that one is finished (i might find time to get to the others, but it will most likely be on weekends). so, hurry up and vote for the poll will be shut down after Sunday, September 30! read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~