Chapter 169: The Garden of Salvation (2/2)
”No, sorry. You already know who I am. We've been quite close.”
Alice gasped, jumping up. ”Salvation…”
Iris bowed, holding a finger over her mouth. ”Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast.”
”What happened?”
”You don't remember? What a shame. It was quite amusing. But alas we are not here to look back on the past. We need each other to resurrect the Garden.”
Alice pulled out her bow aiming it at Iris. ”Iris would never go along with this!”
”Iris, Iris, Iris… Always about your sister. It's funny and quite ironic. You care so much for her, yet her growing jealousy is almost flooding out. This made it so easy to take her over. She desperately so wanted to overtake you. But it was never out of hate but determination.”
”Why would she be jealous of the Alice? She was the one who always helped me, I looked up to her as my hero!”
”What a shame she couldn't see that either. But it's far too late. You know what I'm talking about Alice. I've been in your head all your life.”
”Revenge.”
”Revenge against the Garden. Against my brother before I stop caring. Together we can make our dream come true.”
Alice held her head, shaking squirming. ”No… This is wrong. I cannot. I won't let you control me any longer!”
Iris stared blankly at Alice, holding her bow towards her. ”Oh, Ho? Are you going to seriously go to harm me? Kill me? The only family you call your own? Can you do it?”
Iris leaned forward, stabbing herself with the arrow. Alice pulled back eye twitching. ”Stop it. The Alice demands you stop.”
”The Alice this. The Alice that. She, her. Never you. Never I. So weak you cling onto pathetic coping methods to hide the pain and isolation of having no one. There's no point in lying to me. I am thou, thou art I.”
”Enough!” Alice screamed. ”The Alice is nothing like you! The Alice wants to be a hero, not a streamer. She doesn't want this for any of us! The Alice wants to be a member of Team Rhapsody. We both do. The Garden is not our path!”
”How rich coming from you who would do whatever your pitiful father told you. He brainwashed you without a second thought, and you thanked him for it. Pushed your sister away for his pathetic dream. You live on a throne of lies forced to live the life of a dead girl. You aren't even real.”
Alice fell to her knee, almost succumbing to the brainwash. That was until she snapped smacking the ground even making Iris jump. ”No! The Alice is not that. Eve, you are wrong about the Alice and Iris! The Alice does not care for her fake past. I will create my own future to then call it my past. Even if all these memories are a lie, even if I never lived them first hand, I will keep them close! I live no lie! For those memories of my father, my sister, Alton and Hero's Might. It's all real to me, and nothing will change that! A hero fights for what's right not selfish endeavours! Iris would not want this, and I intend on saving her right here and now!”
Iris smirked, dropping her guard as cubes rippled around her. ”Look at you acting all proud and mighty. But how long will that last? If you do not join willingly, I will pry the remains of my soul from your corpse!”