V.I.R.A.L

Chapter 343: Two Sides

"Do you remember our first stream, Zin?" Alton whispered, limping through the snow, still putting on the show of pain. "You had spent hours talking to yourself, we hadn't had a single viewer since starting, but that didn't bother you. You were just happy to be given a chance to save others. Gale and I followed you all around town, ready to throw in the towel. If it was down to us, we would have called the stream off twenty minutes in, deleted the account and gotten pizza to forget the ordeal. But, not you; you kept going saving a cat and making us proud. Proud that we could rely on someone like you."

Zinnia looked to Alton, confused, pulling him along. "It felt like a lifetime ago…. But, why ask about that now?"

Alton smirked, standing up straight, catching Zinnia off guard. "Because that was the day you changed my life, Zinnia. Before, I would have given up time and time again on my goals. But, I never had the willpower to push through to the end. You, on the other hand, saw it differently. You didn't care for results or success. You were happy enough where you were. But, results did come eventually, and that taught me no matter how much I would lose, no matter how bad things looked, if I kept trying, I would succeed. Fine words to live by, wouldn't you agree, Alice?"

Turning, Alton stared down his former ally hands in his pockets, the burns around his face mostly gone. Zinnia looked on frustrated. "Already? I thought we would have more time."

Alton raised his hand, smirking. "Not to worry, my dear, this was to be expected. I take it since you're with the boy, you are here to kill me, Alice."

"You know there's no other way. You made sure of that when you killed Alton and butchered my friends. If Iris' death stands to mean anything, I have to stop you right here and now."

"Is that right?" Alton questioned, leaning forward. "Because the way I see it, doing this will only damn that brat's life to nothing more than a stepping stone for the Garden's agenda. But by all means, if that's what you want, come at me."

"That's enough, Alton. Can't you see all of this is just pure madness? Adam had manipulated you and turned you against your friends. Richard died because of this. Eren died because of this. No one else does, just give up, please!" Lucas yelled, still desperately clinging onto the dying lie that Alton could return.

Alton stared at Lucas with a judgemental look. "I remember you now. You were my friend, were you not? Lucas, that's it. The boy who dreamed big but never had any power to back it up, how is the sky? Do you like it? Does it live up to your expectation?"

"No. You took that away from me."

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"Perhaps I did. The Gardeners, they gave you a Stage, correct? The Stage of Hope how fitting." Alton boasted before his happy go lucky look faded. "I had hoped you would save me. For those first few agonising months, that's what kept me going. I hoped and believed the Garden would save me; they would rush in and free me from the torment. But, after those few months, the hope wasn't all there. By the first year, I lost memories of that hope. The Garden had abandoned me, left me to rot and die. They didn't care. The Gardeners didn't care; the Stages didn't care. You didn't care."

"That's wrong I did! I looked for you; Chloe and Richard looked for you!"

"Well, good job. You found me, so now what? Is this the point where you break me down, and I find the errors of my ways and change for the good? Or are you just here to kill me?"

Holding his hand down by his side Lucas took a deep breath. "That choice is up to you."

Alton snorted at this, turning back around placing his hand on Zinnia's shoulder. "A choice, that's all my life has become, choice after choice. I was happy here. I would have most likely left you all alone, but you had to take that from me and now. Now you wish to take the last thing I have left. I see a world without chaos, a world without the Garden or Fairy-Tale. I can make that reality come true; Alton would offer you to join him. Put down your weapons, and he would pointlessly promise you a place in this new world. Sounds nice, doesn't it? So, I'm only going to offer this to you both once. Put down your weapons and leave."

Alice held her bow tightly, sighing. "You already know our answer."

Nodding to this, Alton agreed. "I do; you know Riley said the same thing. I expected it out of you but her, now that was surprising. You were always a boy scout when it came to saving others, weren't you, Alice?" Then, pointing across the frozen hills, Alton whispered. "Just beyond the horizon is what remains of Rhinefield. That is where I was supposed to meet Adam and end this madness, and although we don't see eye to eye anymore, he's still there. Waiting for me. There's my final destination, not here."

Alice was ready to launch her attack, only to flinch, leaping high into the air as serval icicles ripped from the ground. "He's made the first move…. Lucas!"

Alton ran his hand down the back of Zinnia's neck. "You know what to do. Protect me with your life, and I promise you we will be together." Vanishing on the spot, Alton appeared next to Alice clenching her neck and throwing her aside. Lucas wanted to help, but his attention was turned to Zinnia, who attacked him.

"You don't have to do this, Zinnia!" Lucas yelled, dodging her attack holding his hands out as two swords were formed from thin air. "He's just using you!"

"And the Garden isn't just using you?" Zinnia hissed, spinning her katana around, sending off blasts of electricity. Lucas pulled back, blocking each blast before turning his sword, countering the attack sending it back, just missing Zinnia. "The Garden has taken enough from us; we won't let you take anything else!"

Alton shook his head, overpowering Alice, who couldn't even get a single arrow off. Ice pierced from the ground everywhere, never giving her a moment of rest. Then, moving his hand forward, Alice was propelled back with a psychic blast. Alice pulled her arrow, backfiring across the snow, sliding across the snow only for the arrow to burn away the moment it got close to him. "Face it, Alice, you aren't a match anymore. You're weak compared to the Stages. So don't fight this pointless battle."

Alice stood up, looking troubled, but her determined look never faded either. Looking to her bow, she squeezed it tight, speaking softly. "If it was me and you were on the other side Alton, would you give up on me? Would you watch a friend fall to their inner demons?"

Alton stared on, giving it some thought. "No, I suppose he wouldn't. But that doesn't change anything after all."

"Agreed," Alice whispered, dropping her bow looking to Alton, a flash of yellow piercing through her eyes. "But nonetheless, I will not stop fighting till my last breath. That's what I owe all of you."

Alton raised his eyebrow, intrigued. "Could this be?"

Crackles of portals began to open up as Alice pushed her hair back, bearing the endless pain as her Garden form began to show. "The Alice cannot give up. Not until she has saved Alton Brantley."

A shockwave was immitted as chains held Alton down. He looked around as portals opened everywhere, keeping him away. "I see. This is the shared power of Alice and Eve."

Struggling to keep her form Alice held her hand up as chains were wrapped around her arms. Without Eve it was much weaker, but she wouldn't give up. "Eve and I made a promise, we would save Alton no matter what. That promise was never given an end date meaning. We will keep running to save you no matter what."

The idea pissed Alton off as he stood up, pulling against the chains. "Eve save me?! Don't make me laugh; the idea is sickening to the touch. All she's done is trick and use me; I won't sit here and listen to such lies!"

Breaking from the chains, Alton strung his arm around to strike only for the area to be doused in countless chains sending him into the air. Wrapping around him once more, he was pulled through constant portals again and again thrown and dragged against the floor. Finally, Alton snapped, breaking from the chains holding his hand out pulling his pocket watch out. "Not so fast!" Alice roared, wrapping her chains around his hand until he was unable to move. Sliding in front of Alton, she held her hand tightly, keeping him from moving as the two looked face-to-face. "Everyone has sacrificed so much to bring you back, Alton. Sam, Iris, Zinnia, me. We can't let those deaths be for nothing. I'm bringing Alton back once and for all."

Stringing Alton up, she turned her hand, tugging at Alton's chest. Looking confused, he squinted. "What are you doing? Wait, what?!"

Alton roared in pain as the chains ripped at his soul. "If I know Alton, he is still fighting. I will fight alongside him and free this parasite from your body."

Alton gritted his teeth, trying to fight back. "That bitch! Those chains are pulling at my core tearing it apart. Do this enough, and I'll lose control of the host! Was this your sick joke, Eve?!"

In the middle of the battle, Zinnia flipped back as her own attacks kept getting countered over and over. Then, swinging her katana around, she deflected her own attacks taken back. "Damn it, just how many attacks can you counter."

Holding both blades behind his shoulders, Lucas pushed his foot through the snow, putting up a stance. "As many as you see fit. My power isn't anything to ride on home about, nor does it hold a candle to Alton's, but. My power is to counter any superpower sent to me, no matter how daunting or powerful. So I call it shut down."

"Dear God, it sounds like something I would come up with…." Zinnia whispered, seeing Alton in pain. "Crap, I need to."