V.I.R.A.L

Chapter 329: The Beginning of the End

"Make this easy for me. Give yourself up, and I'll let everyone else here live."

"Don't do it, Zinnia! The Garden isn't somewhere you should ever go! He'll kill you!"

"If I go with you, do you promise to let Alton and the others live? You'd leave them unharmed."

"Promises are for weaklings. Let's sign a contract. Make it official." Bargaining smirked, pulling a piece of paper out of his chest holding it in front of Zinnia. "Sign here, and they will all be saved. Truly that's what the superhero Ingrid wants, right?"

"I'm sorry, Alton, there's no other way…." She whispered, signing it without any hesitation turning around. "Please. Don't come for me."

The moment the contract was signed, Bargaining placed his hand on Zinnia shoulder, the two vanished from sight. Breaking from his Stage, Alton fell to the floor, stumbling forward, scratching at the snow, horrified. "No! No, Zinnia, no! Give her back; you give her back right now! FUCK!"

Alice stared on breaking from her chains, shaking her head. "Zinnia…. No."

Alton lowered his head, accepting his defeat whispering to himself. "What was the point in all of this? I lost again…. I couldn't stop anyone! DAMN IT!"

****

Zinnia raised her head from her cell, coughing slouching over in the corner. She wasn't sure how long she had been here for now or where she was, in fact. It felt like days, but even she wasn't too sure. Coughing again, she looked up, seeing Bargaining walking towards her cell, standing pressing his head against the bars. "Good morning, it's time."

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"Time for what?"

"The Garden has opened." He stated, unlocking and opening the cell. "Time for us to go home."

Zinnia didn't put up much resistance dragging herself through the remains of Sunset Prison. Pushed outside, the sun glared down on her, blinding Zinnia. Before her was a giant Titan with a swirling purple portal in the centre. Depression stood with serval other members of the Garden waiting. Pushing her, more Bargaining turned to Depression nodding. "You know what to do, Depression; no one is to come through these gates. Hold the line no matter what."

"Fine…. How troublesome." Slouching against the tree, Depression yawned before his eyes turned to Zinnia, in which he shook his head tutting. "Another Trost throwing her life away how amusing."

Standing in front of the portal, Zinnia stared at it; the Garden was right in front of her. The same Garden that took her family and destroyed her home alongside millions more. Bargaining leaned forward, whispering in her ear. "Do you still think they can save you?"

"You underestimate Alton; you underestimate Team Rhapsody."

Bargaining smirked, gripping Zinnia by the neck. "I'm counting on it."

****

The infinite darkness of night never left the Garden; there was no sun nor any sort of natural light to bless the residents trapped there. Because of this, much of the plant life was rotting away and dying with no chance of survival. This wouldn't put the people down too much. Many of them were throwing lights over the dying vegetation and putting out more fresh flowers, all of which were the purple bud associated with the Garden. The living space each person received wasn't anything luxurious. The luckier, more vital civilians who fought in the previous Garden war were granted tree houses for their troubles. The weaklings who had no place in the logic of the one weren't so lucky, given the scraps of scraps. The majority of the population would live in burrows dug deep underground, left forgotten. Each one was cramped and filthy, with little room for improvements or room. There was no lights nor windows, just the cold and dark underground.

Lucas was one individual who suffered this fate as he climbed out of his would-be home covered in dirt. Patting himself down, he coughed, covering his mouth with a gruntled sigh. He knew no different from any way of life but was still frustrated beyond belief. Yet, that's how he had to live. He dreamed bigger, much more significant. The boy dreamed of freedom no matter the cost.

"There's the scruffy cadet we've been looking everywhere for you." Lucas turned, seeing two of his close friends in the cadets where he trained Chloe and Richard. Richard placed his arm around Lucas' shoulder, pulling him in. "I bet you're looking forwards to the execution in three days, right? Probably the highlight for most here."

Chloe kept looking around, confused. "These people do know what an execution is, right? Yet, they treat such barbaric means of killing as a festival. The underlings here sure have lost their mind."

"You know…. I'm one of those underlings."

Chloe idly glanced at Lucas, taking a few seconds to process before frowning shrugging her shoulders. "Would you like me to act shocked and apologise, retracting my comments to you claiming you happen to be different to the others here?"

"Umm, yes?"

"I see." She muttered, clearing her throat, putting on an extremely exaggerated tone waving her arms around. "Oh, but Lucas, I didn't mean you, of course! You are, in fact, so much higher than any of these low life parasites who have not a single use for the Garden or us. If it were down to me, I would carry you all the way to the top and take you in like a lost puppy…. Is that any better?"

"I think you just made it sound even worse," Richard whispered, mumbling to himself.

"You can't impress everyone, I suppose."

"Don't be so harsh on the boy. He's got a big heart and dreams even bigger. It could be the death of us all." A man chuckled, patting Lucas on the back pushing back his glasses.

"Eren! I didn't know you were going to be here." Lucas exclaimed in shock. "They haven't got you on the front lines?"

Eren shook his head, not giving it too much thought. "Don't worry about that. They've actually called back everyone for the execution. So only Depression and a handful of elite warriors are out protecting the gate."

"Wait, that means they called back Eve's brother too?"

"Of course, he was the one who brought back our prisoner. I heard it was quite a shitshow up there."

"You're telling me," Richard grumbled. "We lost Acceptance, Anger and Denial. We haven't lost a Stage in over 400 years. We're at the tipping point here...."

Lucas looked concerned, questioning Eren. "If Humanity could take down three of our Stages, are they stronger than we first thought?"

"Don't worry yourself, Lucas; we still managed to butcher most of their forces. Only a few special cases manage to hold their own."

"You mean like Alton," Chloe whispered. "That's what we were all thinking, right?"

Everyone fell silent as Lucas smiled, shaking his head. "Alton wouldn't be fighting against us without a good reason. I'm sure the moment he sees us, he'll come right back and fight with us like the old days."

"If you say so," Chloe said without much confidence. "How have you been handling things, Eren? Is the Stage causing you any issues?"

Eren held his arm out as a tawny owl landed on his arm. "It's taking some time to adjust even if I'm just a Sub-Stage."

"Still, to think the enemy was able to create their own Stages of Grief. How many were there?" Lucas questioned.

"Three if the report claims true. Pain, Anxiety and Hope. But only Pain was ever utilised for battle. He was defeated thanks to our prisoner and Alton himself. It's funny…. The boy I share the memories with knew Alton…. You know what? Perhaps I already said too much."

"No, no. Please! If you know Alton, you have to tell us!" Lucas yelled, catching Eren off guard. "Please."

"I'll tell you what I'm allowed; I don't want the Gardeners on my back. The boy was called Percy; he was in the same team as Alton. They called themselves Team Rhapsody. From what I can tell, they ran around playing superhero saving lives and stopping our attempts at freeing our people."

Lucas looked dazed, shaking his head. "You're wrong; that isn't Alton. He would never do anything like that."

"You were best friends, right? I'm sorry, but that's what I see. My memories of Percy only go back to when he was given Pain, but that's the truth. However, there's another thing that concerns me with Alton." Eren muttered before stopping himself. "You know what? Forget I said anything."

"Easy there, Eren, you don't want to frighten the kids." Bargaining chuckled, walking up. "Lucas, Chloe, Richard. Good to see you all."

"Adam! You're back." Lucas exclaimed. "Does Eve know?"

"She does; I was just back from seeing her. But might I say all of this is quite remarkable? They put a lot of effort into this execution. It reminds me of my own."

"You were to be executed?" Richard questioned, surprised.

"400 odd years ago, yes. But of course, that never went ahead circumstances changed."

"It was because you're a member of Fairy-Tale," Chloe stated.

Lucas turned to her, shocked, nudging her. "Chloe! You can't go saying things like that."

Bargaining laughed, shaking his head. "Please, don't make a big thing about it. It's public knowledge; after all, I may be of Fairy-Tale, but I turned my back on that barbaric race 400 years ago. So I believe we are even. Going off on the conversation about the infamous Alton Brantley, don't get your hopes up too much, Lucas. He, like Eren was trying to say, is a very different person."

"Did you see him on the surface?"

"I did, not only that, but I fought him too." Bargaining admitted. "He only has hatred and violence in his heart for us. Humanity has completely brainwashed him."

"You fought Alton Brantley?!" Richard yelled. "Whoa…. Alton went up against a Stage of Grief."

"Now, now. Of course, he was no challenge for the like of me, but all of that has changed…. Can you all keep a secret?" Each of the teenagers nodded as Bargaining sighed. "Good, I trust you all because you are all friends with my sister. But the three Stages we lost to the enemy. Alton took one, more specifically Acceptance."

Everyone was in shock, unable to process this properly. "Alton stole Acceptance? That's impossible…."

Bargaining nodded. "I'm afraid it isn't. To make matters worse, he intends on taking all of them to gain Salvation's Calling. So I won't say the rest anymore will be presented during the execution by the Gardeners."

"The Gardeners are going to be there?" Chloe asked.

"You don't know who this prisoner is, do you?" Eren questioned, eyebrow up at the three.

"Zinnia Trost, that's what Eve told me. Who is she?"