Review Responses:

Sugar Spice Rush: Thank you for validating Matthew's sentiments! I was so worried that some readers might have been offended at him cussing. >﹏< And yes, Masquerade was disowned when he was 5 years old! Some Masquerade lore will be revealed in this chapter so please stay tuned for that! \^o^/

MagicxMusicxMelody: The family history is complicated in the sense that it is very convoluted! A very small mention of Alice's body being exhumed will be in this chapter! ^^

Innocent-Diamond: I don't blame Matthew - mans was going through it, LOL. I had intended for Grandfather Gehabich to resemble Doctor Michael, actually! But Hal G will be mentioned in the later chapters, so stay tuned for that. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) A few of your questions will be answered in this chapter so please stay tuned for that! (≧∇≦)ノ

cherry-tree-of-life: Your predictions will be revealed in the later chapters so please stay tuned for that! -O-

Chapter 11: Conversations in the Dark

"Hey, are you okay?" Shun asked his friend, breaking the silence. They were in Matt's car, on their way back to the Gehabichs' house. After filing a request to have Alice's body exhumed - which would unfortunately take approximately three months from now - they left the police station.

"I'm fine. Just in shock." The blond mumbled, signaling left when they reached a red light. "I think I need a drink."

"Isn't it too early to drink?" Granted, it was only 2 in the afternoon but after everything that went down at the police station, a drink seemed justified. It was hard to believe that they were only at the police station for 4 hours - it felt more like 4 years based on everything that went down. And that was just what Shun felt. His friend must be feeling way worse than he was. Which was fair - not only did the blond find out that his long lost great-grandaunt died in the same country he was currently studying in, he came from a family that disowned his great-grandfather and had no idea that his grandfather existed. It must be a lot for him to take in. And while Shun knew that Matthew was a strong person, everybody had their breaking point - he didn't want Matt to reach his. "We could stop at a market to get some beer and drink that at home. You shouldn't be drinking and driving anyways."

"Beer? Beer? Who do you think I am, a German?" Matthew sneered exaggeratedly. "No beers allowed here - vodka only. I don't make the rules." The blond huffed, easing his foot off the brake when the light turned green, mumbling a few words in Russian under his breath. If Shun had to guess, his friend was probably cursing him out for suggesting beer as a drink of choice. He had to laugh a bit - Matthew was going to be okay.

xoxo

"Shun? What are you doing here?" Shun turned his head to find the elderly Gehabich man walking towards him. "Where is Matthew?"

"Matthew's asleep - he drank too much." He answered, taking another swig from the bottle of vodka against his better judgement. As soon as the two had gotten home from the market, Matthew had pried open a bottle of vodka and started chugging it. Shun had tried to make his friend get some glasses but the blond had paid him no mind. More than an hour later, Matthew was drunk and Shun had to help his friend up to bed before he came out to the backyard - he was too busy checking up on Matthew that he hadn't had a chance to drink until now. Which explained why it was now nearing 7 in the evening with Shun sitting out in the backyard whilst Matthew was passed out drunk.

Grandfather Gehabich mumbled something under his breath in Russian - if Shun had to guess, he was probably cursing his grandson out - before he settled into the seat next to Shun. "Had he listened to me earlier, he would not have been so shocked to drink himself to sleep."

"I think even if he had paid attention, he still would have been shocked." The raven-haired male attempted to defend his friend. "This is still shocking for me."

"It was shocking for me as well when I found out years ago." Grandfather Gehabich admitted. "My entire life felt like a lie and I felt relieved that my father never had to find out about it."

"He never knew?" Shun raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I know of. He never mentioned anything about it and he never seemed resentful. But I suppose that was because he was too young to remember being disowned."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, what brought you to find out about all of...this?"

"My father never mentioned his biological family, but he did make it a point for the family to spend time with his adopted family. He never let us forget how grateful he was to them and how they alongside us were his real family." The elderly Gehabich male let out a small smile at the memory. "My father was content with not knowing who his biological family was - he had no desire to find his biological family because he didn't want to waste time to find people who gave him up. My father was content, but I wasn't. I wanted to know who our 'real' family was and why they would simply give him up, but I didn't want to upset my father and do such a thing behind his back. I didn't start looking through our family tree until nearly a decade after his and my mother's deaths."

"If your father was adopted, then why is his last name - "

"Why it is still Gehabich? I asked him that when I was a mere child. He said that he wanted his surname to be the only thing he inherited from his biological family. It is ironic, yes? Of how a man who wanted nothing to do with his biological family to keep one last link that connected him to them." Grandfather Gehabich let out a short, rueful laugh. "But I am grateful that he did keep his biological family's surname - it made finding his biological family much easier."

"The process took a year. My son and daughter-in-law had passed away and I was left to take care of Matthew. I needed something to cope with losing my son and daughter-in-law and that was it. I had to go through my father's documents and take a DNA test amongst other trials. And when I got the results back and saw that my father's biological side of the family was all dead, I was...relieved. I felt that they had gotten justice for disowning my father. Then again, I'll never know why he was disowned from the first place. And then...I looked deeper and that was when I found out that my biological aunt had been murdered. Any resentment I felt towards my father's biological family had disappeared. She was so young - nobody deserved to die that young." The elderly man whispered the last part.

"After more research, I found Alice and Michael Gehabich's graves. I can only assume that Alice was too young to have made deep friendships for people to come visit her grave and any friends that Michael may have had would have long since passed away, hence why their graves looked so neglected. I told myself that I would visit their graves often to make up for lost time, even if Matthew would always drag his feet whenever we had to go." The Russian male let out a fond smile at the mention of his grandson.

"I don't think Matt would be as irate as before, especially after hearing about all of...this." Shun gestured around, trying to describe the complexity of the Gehabich family history. "He already knew why you didn't want him to study abroad in Japan."

"Of course. You have seen my family's history, yes? Death comes for us much too early - it has taken my aunt, my son, my daughter-in-law. Matthew is the only family member I have left and I cannot lose him." Grandfather Gehabich swallowed hard.

"You won't lose Matthew. I promise." Shun replied immediately. "I'll be there for him."

There was a moment of silence before the older man spoke up, a small smile on his lips. "I believe you. I wish someone like you was there when Alice was still alive - perhaps she could have lived a longer life."

"She's still alive, in spirit." Shun stated, though he resisted the urge to add in 'literally', seeing that Alice's ghost was still living in his apartment. "And we will find Alice's murderer - the mystery ends here."

End of Chapter 11.

Note: Hello hello! I am back with the third and final update of this work for the year! This work got a lot more action this year than the other years combined, huh? ( ͡• ͜ʖ ͡• )

Anyways, yes! Some questions about Masquerade's disownment was mentioned! As Grandfather Gehabich mentioned, because Alice's family were all dead, they can never know for sure why Masquerade was disowned. Not like Masquerade himself cared - he was happy with his adopted family and didn't want to waste time and energy finding people that gave him away. Plus we also get to see why Grandfather Gehabich found out about his late father's biological family! Huzzah, some Grandfather Gehabich and Masquerade lore! \(〇_o)/

As always, please leave a review and I will see you in the next chapter AND in the new year! Bye~! (* ̄3 ̄)╭