Disclaimer: Do not own, as usual.

Enjoy!

Chapter 19 Boxed In

Her head hurt. That was the first thing that she noticed when consciousness began to return. She couldn't remember why or where she was. 'I'm at camp in bed. That's where I am.' She thought, but that was quickly dismissed when she realized that she was lying on something hard.

"Quiet. I think she is waking up." A voice suddenly was heard next to her. She was hoping it was Shun, but she knew it wasn't. The voice definitely belonged to a female.

"Are the guards coming?" The girl asked.

"No, all clear for now." A male's voice answered this time. He sounded like he was across the room from her. Unfortunately, none of these voices were familiar to Alice.

"Hey, if you can hear me, take it easy and real slow. Looks like you hit your head pretty hard so be careful sitting up. You're among friends so you are safe." The girls voice floated to her ears again.

Alice felt panic begin to creep into her stomach. 'Where's Shun? Why isn't he here? What happened?' She wanted to ask desperately, but all she got out was a small groan.

Footsteps moved closer then stopped. "We have to hide her. It won't be much longer until the guards come back around." A different male voice was heard. "I know that, but what do you expect me to do, Ace?"

'Ace? That name is familiar but why?' Alice thought. She dug through her groggy brain, trying to find out the reason she recognized that name. All the while, the argument above her continued, completely oblivious to her. The name was bugging her. She knew she heard it somewhere, she just couldn't seem to remember where. Then it suddenly hit her. That name belonged to one of Shun's friends that he told her about.

The sudden remembrance shot energy through her body and she sat up, eyes open wide. She looked at the young man standing before her. He had mint green hair and grey eyes. Just like Shun described him as. "You are one of Shun's friends, right?"

Silence fell. Everyone was shocked at this girl's sudden outburst. Ace stood there for a long moment. "Y-yes, how did you know that?" Alice smiled, relieved to know that she could trust these people even though she didn't know them. "Shun told me about you. He told me that he had a whole group of friends until they suddenly disappeared. "

"So, he did notice something was out of place." The girl with black hair commented. She smiled after a moment. "The name is Fabia. I'm glad you are a friend. Where is Shun?" The conversation suddenly became tense.

Alice shook her head. "I don't know. We got separated, but we came here to find all of you."

Fabia shook her head and sighed. "That bonehead shouldn't have come here." She looked at Alice; a flash of anger briefly appeared on her face before it returned to neutral. "He should have left things alone and continued his life."

"But, we had to come. Shun told me that he had been wondering what happened to all of you….Besides, we heard from Jackson that he was going to bring the others here."

"So it wouldn't have mattered then." A voice behind Alice spoke. She turned and saw a man with blonde hair and pale skin. He spoke as if he was very educated. He smiled at her and offered her his hand. "The name is Spectra. If you are able, let me help you stand."

"Thank you." Alice grabbed his offered hand and slowly stood up. As soon as she was standing, the room began to feel dizzy and nauseous. 'Guess I hit my head really hard." She thought as she clung to Spectra.

Once her head settled back down, she looked at her surroundings for the first time. It was a small room, no more than 16 Square feet. It was pretty dark with a tiny light bulb hanging high up on the ceiling as the only source of light. There were no windows and the one wall had a single barred door. Whoever designed the place made sure that it would not be easy to escape.

Alice glanced at the others and felt sick to her stomach. She could tell that they all looked amazing at one point in time. However, being locked up had taken its' toll. All of Shun's friends were pale, malnourished and dirty. She was surprised that they were able to stand let alone move.

"So," Fabia tossed her long hair behind her. "Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

Alice was dumbfounded. "Can't we just blast through the door?"

Ace sighed and shook his head. "No, it is rigged to the alarm system and we have already thought about digging out. There is metal underneath the floor as well as behind the wall. They certainly wanted to keep us here."

"Oh." Alice thought for a moment. "Well, won't someone come looking for us?" Spectre gave a laugh at her comment. "Who do you think is going to come find us? We are all orphans and I imagine so are you." She was shocked that he had figured that out.

The look on her face must have shown her thoughts because Spectre added, "That's how they operate. Picking orphans so that when they suddenly disappear no one is going to think twice about it."

The Russian sighed. 'He's right. No one will even know we are here.'

Silence followed the conversation. No one really knew what to say, so everyone stayed silent, lost in their thoughts.

Suddenly, the sound of foots could be heard outside the door. They all held their breath, hoping it wasn't anyone coming with sinister intentions. Slowly, the footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped just out of sight.

A tense silence hung so heavily in the air that Alice felt like she couldn't breathe. The sound of sliding across the ground made everyone jump. A boy with Silver/White hair and tan skin looked down outside of the door. A key was sitting within reach. "H-Hello?" He asked, wincing at how loud he sounded (his voice reminded Alice of the one who spoke earlier). The only answer he got in return was the sound of retreating footsteps.

No one moved for a long while, until the Silver haired boy knelt down and slowly grabbed the key. Once retrieved, he froze, waiting to see if anything was about to happen.

Nothing happened.

"Well now what?" A girl with hair similar to Alice's but much shorter asked.

"Well I say it's our ticket out of here." Fabia replied.

"Or it's a trap and they want us to use it so that they have an excuse to torment us." Ace snapped.

"Everyone relax." Spectre interjected before a huge argument occurred. "We are dead staying here and we might be dead out there. I'd say we use the key and try to escape. It's better than sitting here like we have been doing these last few years."

A long pause as his words sank in. Then the short orange haired girl stood up from her place on the floor. "I'm with you, big brother." Spectre half smiled. "Thank you, Mira."

"Well, I suppose it's better than sitting here for the rest of my life. I'm in." Fabia answered.

"I'm going. I'm worried about Shun." Alice felt her worry grown in the pit of her stomach.

Fabia laughed. "Don't worry about him. He can take care of himself. Something about being trained as ninja or something like that."

Spectre looked at the remaining two. "Ren, Ace? Are you in or not?" The two boys looked at each other before Ace sighed. "I'll go. Better go down dying I suppose." The silvered haired boy, Ren, thought a few moments longer before replying. "Fine. I don't want to be in here alone anyways."

"Great! Then use that key and let's get moving." Spectre declared.

The key was placed into the lock, the door pushed open and everyone ran down the hallway, not knowing what lay beyond each corner.

~S~

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Sorry I was gone for so long. I am trying to finish this story by the end of this year if not sooner. Thank you all for your patience. Please leave a comment, review, or questions below. See ya'll next time! *SaphirePearl*