When I saw this theme, I thought it would be perfect to use the concept of how time moves differently on Vestroia compared to Earth.
...I'm still upset that the writers made Shun and Alice go a whole season without seeing each other...
time; n. a nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future
When Shun disappeared, Alice thought it would only be a temporary thing; he would come back, and then everything would go back to normal, like as if he had never left. So Alice waited for him, never losing hope that he would return soon. Days passed with no sign of him, yet Alice still waited. But the days became weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Eventually, Alice had forgotten that she was waiting for him. Without even realising it, she had let go of the thin thread that connected her to him.
But while time flowed on endlessly for Alice, Shun was stuck; frozen in time. He knew that time moved more slowly in New Vestroia than it did on Earth. Although it felt like he had only been gone for a short while, he began to wonder how long he had really been gone for. Having been caught up in saving the Bakugan, he eventually lost track of time. Yet not once did he ever stop thinking about how things were on Earth; he often wondered what Alice was doing, and if she was managing okay without him.
When he returned to Earth, he expected things to have changed, but he could never have foreseen the changes that would take place in his prolonged absence. He was finally able to see Alice again, but she was not the same Alice whom he had left behind. The sweet, innocent girl he once knew was now harder, colder and more distant. And while time had changed Alice, Shun remained unchanged; he was still stuck; frozen in time.
I'm not sure if time would actually change Alice that drastically... oh well.
U is for Us; only six chapters left to go!