RosesOfTruth: Alice could be talking to her imagination. It's common to talk to yourself, but not as serious as Alice.
MagicxMusicxMelody: I'll talk about the invisible friend later. Sometimes something's wrong when people answer questions with questions.
Cherry-Tree: You got it, but the chapter will explain it better. There are supernatural explanations for everything.
InnocentDiamond: Alice could be lying. I'll explain a little of why she's "bipolar." You mean the one minute thing? Later!
Cup of Violet Tea: winter wonderland sounds nice. Either Shun ruined it, or Alice planned it. She's leaving soon actually.
i WnT 2 NoE: Alice will explain shortly.
SSR: Middle school graduation in five months!
Runo: Then you're a high schooler!
Marucho: Two more months after that, actually. The horrors of being a short person...
SSR: In 6th grade, the 8th graders used to say us short people suck at swimming. I told them this was a stupid argument.
Julie: You go girl!
SSR: Speaking of swimming, spring sports season is back! I don't own Bakugan!
Chapter Thirteen
Multiple Factions
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...
"What if I really was talking to myself?"
That somehow entered Shun's mind as a bad sign. "You were what?"
A car pulled up slowly next to Alice as she suddenly started coughing and blinking with tears in her eyes. Shun helped her over to a sign post for her to hold on. "W-W-W-"
"Oh. Your water." Shun grabbed her bottle of water and opened it for Alice. Julie's right. Even if there's nothing wrong with Alice behavior other than question, her health could use some help. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah. Thanks." She put the water bottle away and pulled out an inhaler, giving herself three puffs of it. "Just when I thought I was getting better and could last through the night without my prescription. I guess that's what prescriptions are for."
"Wait...you're asthmatic?"
Alice nodded. "Ever since I was born. Ironically, no one else in my family was asthma-" Alice coughed violently for the second time and held her neck. "Can't...breathe..."
"Okay, do I have tissue...?" Shun found a napkin and gently wiped Alice's eyes. Suddenly, Alice opened her eyes and stared at Shun, making him feel uneasy. She gave herself a fourth puff with the inhaler covering her left eye at an angle. In the blink of an eye, Shun saw the Eye of Horus silhouette on Alice's right eye again.
Something is terribly, horribly, and definitely wrong with her.
"My ride's here. I need to go" Alice put her inhaler away and reached her hands out toward Shun, who backed up. He was blushing yet scared at the same time. Alice smiled and shook her head. "I'm just trying to get my scarf back, that's all. Don't get too cozy."
"Oh. Your scarf. Go ahead." Why am I letting her take the scarf when I should be taking it off and giving it to her?
Alice took her time in pulling her scarf off Shun's neck and ran over to the passenger car door. "Time flew by fast, didn't it? Thanks for spending the night with me."
"It definitely did. You're welcome."
She got in the car, but before the car drove off, Alice rolled down the window and said, "I'm sorry about your late girlfriend. Hope you feel better, and good luck! Don't give up!"
"Thanks..." As the car drove off into the distance, the snow fell down more heavily. Other people began returning home as well, making the streets emptier and emptier by the minute.
"There you are."
Shun turned around and saw Julie walking over. "You're right. I think there's something wrong with her physical health if not her...well...mental health. She really insists that she's talking to herself."
"Or she could be embarrassed about talking to an imaginary friend. You all aren't kids anyone."
"But she told me her secret about talking to herself!" Had Julie been there to listen to Shun and Alice's conversation, it would've made more sense to her. "Sorry for yelling. I got a little heated earlier as well."
"Heated? What happened?"
"She asked if I ever met a person in my life who changed me, and I told her about my late girlfriend, minus the actual name. My answer got really heated because she wouldn't answer any of my questions and kept responding with answers. Like, 'What if I really was talking to myself?' What do you make of that?"
"That's..." Even Julie was speechless. "...scary. What did you say about physical health?"
"The Alice that I knew didn't have asthma, but this Alice said she had chronic asthma since the day where was born."
"Wait, did you say you think you changed her?" Julie suggested. "I know it can't be you, given the time frame, but what if she actually remembered you all this time since the beach?"
"If she remembered me from the beach, she'd definitely remember me now. Plus," Shun leaned on the sign post he helped Alice over to earlier and pondered. "When I saw her for the first time this setting, Alice was so cheerful and outgoing. After catching her talking to herself, she started acting all mysteriously. It wasn't until her asthma attack came and went that she went back to 'normal', as I would say. During that period of time, it was like she was a different—watch out!"
Shun grabbed Julie, and the two spun over to a nearby building alley as a sharp object flew by and ended on the sign post like a dart. Julie stepped out too take a look and gasped. "A clock's our hand?! As an ambush weapon?! Who in-"
"Julie, step back!"
She stepped back immediately and watched a minute hand fly by and hit the sign post. By then, both hands glowed purple, along with the sign post, which disintegrated into thin air in a second. "I know this. Hey you! The guy who attacked me by the harbor! Don't be a coward and step out!"
"Are you talking about the guy whose reflection I saw on the boat window?" Suddenly, a shiny object on the ground caught Shun's eyes. He brushed aside the snow and picked up an Eye of Horus charm. This must've fell off me during that spin.
"Wonderful guess." Walking in Julie and Shun's direction was definitely the same masked man from a while ago. A glass, double-triangle mask covered all of his face except for his mouth and nose. His blond hair and silver coat swayed in the snowy wind. "It would be a shame for you to not know what that attack was."
Shun wasn't in the man's field of view, so the attacker could only be referring to Julie. "You know who he is? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't. I only know that specific attack." Julie closed her eyes and held her palm up, allowing yellow particles of energy to gather. She then clenched her fist tight and let go again. The sign post that used to be next to her regenerated. "And I also know how to counter that attack, you Guardian of Space."
The attacker clapped very slowly as if to stall time. "Smart girl you are. Marucho definitely taught you well, especially in nullifying that attack. Too bad you can't nullify everything I did over these couple of days, though."
Julie gasped in fear, and Shun remained hidden in the alley. "On the contrary, looks like he knows you and your people very well."
"Whatever. I don't know who you are, but whatever you're doing, you should stop."
"Really? So what am I doing?" His snicker only made Julie angrier, and Shun didn't know what to do. "I thought that the Guardians of Time and Guardians of Space should work together in keeping balance in the time-space continuum, but since you guys are doing something against the continuum, I need to do something in to balance it."
"We're just trying to find out the truth. There's nothing wrong with that."
The blond man suddenly stopped talked and smirked. "Should I tell you my name? Yeah, I should. Nice you meet you two. I'm Masquerade. By the way, Shun," The fact he knew Shun's name surprised the two. "Do you know why Alice always forgets you?"
Of course, now there was no point hiding for Shun. "Because of the time span, that's what."
"Wrong! It's because right after you time-travel to another place, I erase any existence of you being there at all. You may remember meeting with Alice, but she won't. And I'm going to keep doing that until you go back to present day when you're supposed to meet her. With Runo and Dan as your matchmakers."
Now that scared Shun even more. "Masquerade, how could you-"
"Shun, move over," said a foreign voice.
After hearing that order from whomever it was, Shun ran back into the alley. Julie hugged the sign post just in case. A sweep hand flew from Shun and Julie's direction at Masquerade, who tried to dodge it but ended up receiving a deep cut on his right arm. As a Guardian of Space, Masquerade could control the bleeding but not that well on the pain. "Who did this?!"
"Not me. Guardians of Time don't use offensive weapons." Julie replied.
"I definitely didn't do it." Shun gave the Eye of Horus to Julie. "Let's get out of here before he does something else."
"Good idea." Julie took out the charm bracelet, and the two of them held on to it as its bright light took them to a different time and space.
"Come back! I'll get you back either way." he growled. As the cut slowly healed, Masquerade looked up and pointed in the opposite direction. "I know it's you. Show yourself!"
Silence.
Whoever saved Shun and Julie was long gone...
Runo For a moment, Alice looked like she was going to kill Shun.
Dan: Yikes!
SSR: And we all know who the attacker is now. For clarification, Julie/Marucho/Kato are Guardians of Time, and Masquerade is a Guardian of Space. I know, hard to imagine they need to work together.
Runo: Why would a GoS use clock hands as weapons?
Julie: We use time reverse as our method of fighting, okay?! It's physics!
Marucho: I thought this was supernatural.
SSR: It is. So review!