I get Tenmyouji to agree to put off exploring the rest of this floor until we get Alice to the infirmary, which he thankfully agrees to. Seeing as she's out cold, we end up having to carry her, which is an awkward affair, particularly given the rather narrow hallways. Tenmyouji is quiet as we go, Alice's episode having completely killed his conversational momentum. That's just fine with me, as I'm having a bit of an episode myself right now.
It feels like every time I turn around, there's something new for me to worry about. Perhaps that's to be expected in this sort of situation, but this is different, because it's not me I'm concerned about this time. If I remember correctly, it's either right before or right after this round's AB game that the Radical-6's suicide-inducing effects will cause Alice to stab herself through the heart with a scalpel. That gives me next to no time to figure out how to stop it from happening, and even with my prior knowledge of what this facility contains, my options are… limited. I could take the scalpel ahead of time so Alice can't use it, but that won't stop her if she becomes actively suicidal; she'll find a way to off herself regardless. We could put her in one of the cold sleep pods and place her in stasis, but I don't remember if that room is ever open in the same timeline as the B. Garden. Other than that… damn, wasn't there anything else?!
I desperately wrack my memory for a solution as a lump begins to form in my throat. Is there really nothing I can do? I… surely there's… something...
I bow my head as I fail to come up with anything. This game isn't designed to leave the players any easy outs. Most likely, there's not-
"An Ambidex Gate has been opened." the facility intercom suddenly alerts us. "Forty-five minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes."
Tenmyouji briefly startles at that, before becoming incensed that someone opened a door before everyone's gotten back. With Alice weighing us down however, we can't really move any faster than we already are, forcing him to temper his anger for the moment. The distraction does help me to get my mind off my increasingly despairing thoughts however, allowing me to draw my focus back to simply keeping Alice's lower body well supported. Best not to think about this right now…
Eventually we come to a door that leads us into another warehouse, about as large as the one on the first floor and with three white doors on the back left wall. I don't pay it much mind, and urge Tenmyouji into leaving the room quickly so we can take the door on the right back to the elevator. Once back upstairs, we manage to slowly make our way to the infirmary, where we find Luna… looking over Quark, who's lying on the examination table, also unconscious.
"Oh dear. Alice too…?" Luna asks worriedly as she looks up and notices us walk in.
"Quark!" Tenmyouji yells, quickly helping me lay Alice down on a bed before running over. "What happened to him!?"
"While we were searching our room, he suddenly collapsed." Luna explains. "We brought him here as soon as we got out."
"Collapsed? Oh no…" Tenmyouji mutters, staring down at his adoptive son.
"Where's Phi?" I ask, turning to Luna. "Wasn't she with you?"
"She went to the warehouse to inform the others just before you came in. They'll probably be here in just-"
Before Luna can even finish her sentence, the door on the other side of the room opens, and Phi, Sigma, K, and Dio all run in.
"Clover, Tenmyouji-" Sigma starts, before noticing Alice on one of the beds. "-wait, what happened to Alice?!"
"Pretty much the same thing that apparently happened to Quark." I tell him, my voice betraying my anxiety. "Just after we finished the room, she got really dizzy, said we were speaking too fast, and passed out."
"Both of them… is it the same cause?" Phi asks no one in particular, holding a hand to her chin.
"…ngh! C'mon kid! Get a hold of yourself!" Tenmyouji suddenly shouts, grabbing Quark's shoulders and shaking him back and forth.
"Hey, stop that!" I cut in, running over and pulling his arms away. "I'm just as worried about Alice as you are about Quark, but that's not going to help him and you know it! You'll just give him whiplash on top of whatever he already has!"
"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Tenmyouji cries. "I have to save him!"
"'Save'? That seems a little extreme…" Dio says, shrugging. "Maybe he just has anemia or something."
"No, that's not it." Tenmyouji refutes, shaking his head. "I know him better than any of you. He doesn't have anemia. He's never just… collapsed, before."
"Well then call an ambulance and stop freaking out about it." Dio sarcastically suggests.
"You son of a bitch!" Tenmyouji yells, raising a fist. "This is serious!"
As much as I'd like to see Dio get punched, we have bigger concerns at the moment.
"Luna, the ADAM can diagnose what's wrong with them, right?" I ask.
Luna looks rather surprised at my suddenly addressing her, but nods. "Um, yes... at least, it should be able to figure out the most likely cause of their symptoms."
Tenmyouji whirls around.
"You have to take a look at him then!" he cries. "Please! Quark needs your help!"
"Alice too." I tack on.
I may already know what they're infected with, but maybe there's something I've forgotten, or even something they missed in the game. Maybe…
Luna's expression firms. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."
She sets about scanning Quark with the ADAM first. The others wait tensely for the results, while I start searching the medicine cabinet, trying to see if there's anything potentially useful here. Maybe a mood stabilizer or something could help ward off the worst of the Radical-6's effects…
I notice Phi giving me an odd glance out of the corner of my eye, but ignore it, as I'm not really concerned about her right now. What I am concerned about is the fact that besides the Soporil and Tubocurarine that Tenmyouji mentioned earlier, none of the jars in here have any labels, leaving me clueless as to what the vast majority of them do. Who's responsible for this?! Why in the hell would you not mark what a chemical is and what it's for on the bottle?!
Luna's face grows dark as she finishes scanning Quark, but she doesn't say anything just yet. After requesting Tenmyouji and K's assistance in moving Quark to a bed and Alice to the examination area, she begins scanning Alice as well. When she finishes…
"Well, I… I know what's wrong with them. Both of them." Luna says quietly, biting her lip. "I feel so terrible saying this, but... they... Quark and Alice have an infection. A viral infection."
Phi and Sigma are the first to catch on.
"Oh no..."
"Dont tell me..."
"Yes... they've been infected with a virus called Radical-6."
Everyone balks at the declaration.
"The disease we assumed was a hoax?" K asks, looking as sympathetic as a man in full body armor really can.
"It can't be... that isn't possible..." Tenmyouji desperately tries to rationalize.
"Have you heard of this virus?" Sigma asks Dio, seeing that he reacted as well. "You weren't there when we talked about it, after all."
"Yeah, but I was there when Quark found the article." the other man replies, holding the brim of his hat. "I didn't really believe it. I mean, how could-"
"It doesn't matter!" I interrupt, unwilling to waste time on Dio pretending to be ignorant about his cult's own virus. "Luna, is there a way to cure it?"
"W-well, ADAM says there's an anti-viral serum called 'Axelavir'. It's the only way to counteract Radical-6. If we can inject them with some, they should... they should be okay."
I nearly smack my forehead in disbelief. Axelavir! The chemical this base made specifically to cure Radical-6! There's a jar of it that's used to cure Quark and Alice in some of the timelines; how did I forget that? We just need to find it, and… damn it, can we find it? I know it isn't in the infirmary, it wasn't that readily available, but where was it...?
"Where is it?!" Tenmyouji asks, echoing my thoughts. "Shouldn't it be in the infirmary somewhere?!"
"We looked around, but we didn't see anything." Dio says.
"I don't trust a damn thing you say!" Tenmyouji yells. "I'm asking Luna!"
"I-I'm sorry, but... Dio's telling the truth. We didn't find anything." Luna replies. "Clover was just looking through the cabinets, maybe she..."
I shake my head preemptively as Tenmyouji turns to me. "You looked through them earlier, so you should already know. Barely any of the jars in there are labeled, and there isn't any Axelavir among the few that are."
Tenmyouji looks down at the ground, gritting his teeth.
"I don't suppose anyone found any while they were searching the rooms downstairs?" I ask.
"The archives didn't have anything like that." Sigma replies, shaking his head. "Not that we found, at least."
"Neither did the pantry." Phi confirms.
Shit... I think it was in one of the safes, so if they didn't find it…
"Yeah... the B. Garden didn't have any either." I say for the benefit of the others, looking away.
"Oh god, then... then he's going to... both of them are..." Tenmyouji mutters.
"Maybe we can just pick a medicine and hope for the best?" Sigma suggests.
"That's way too dangerous Sigma." Phi replies. "You can't just administer an unknown substance to people without knowing what it is; you could end up killing them."
"Alright, well, maybe there's some in one of the rooms we didn't search?" Sigma tries again.
"It doesn't matter if there is, Sigma." I say, despair setting in. "The other rooms are locked off. The only places we can go are the places we've already been, so unless we just missed something-!"
"Q-Quark?" Luna suddenly says.
Everyone turns around to see Quark standing beside the divider. His eyes are both open, but seem dull and glassy.
"Quark! Oh, thank god! You're awake!" Tenmyouji cries, moving forward to embrace his adopted son.
"Get away from me!" Quark shouts, startling Tenmyouji into backing off.
"What...?"
With no further words, Quark lunges for the scalpel lying on the nearby cart. Thankfully, due to him having been moved to one of the normal hospital beds to make room for Alice on the one attached to the ADAM, he's not in immediate grabbing range of it.
I, however, am.
My arm already in motion, I quickly snatch up the small bladed tool and dodge around Quark to shove it down the open drain of the nearby sink, the pipe beneath it too deep and narrow for there to be any hope of getting it back out. Quark rams me aside and goes for it anyways, all but throwing himself at the basin and frantically scrabbling at the opening in the bottom. When he proves unable to reach far enough down, however-
"QUARK!" Tenmyouji yells fearfully as his adopted son begins smashing his head into the dirty mirror above the sink, presumably trying to either break off a sharp piece of glass or induce some sort of brain hemorrhage. Thankfully, Sigma rushes forward and grabs hold of Quark's arms before he can do it more than once, dragging him away before he can further injure himself.
"Let go of me! I have to escape! I HAVE to!"
"Hnngh! How is this kid this strong?!" Sigma grunts. "Guys, I could use a little help here!"
At that, the rest of the room finally springs into action. Each of them grabbing and restraining one thrashing limb, K, Dio, Phi, and Sigma manage to wrestle Quark back on to the hospital bed he just got out of.
"STOP IT! LET GO OF ME YOU JERKS!"
Tenmyouji stands there with his head down, unable to even bring himself to look at the scene unfolding in front of him, until Sigma's yelling finally penetrates his depressive reverie and he moves over to help. I just watch, knowing there's not much I can do to assist anymore. Even if I could help hold Quark down, which is in question given how easily he just shoved me aside, there's no room to do so with the five other people crowded around him right now.
"DAMN IT! BASTARDS!" Quark screams. "WHY WON'T YOU LET ME GO?! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS BODY!"
I wince as Quark starts ranting and crying about how he needs to die so his soul can escape, getting progressively louder and more unhinged sounding as he continues. Seeing and hearing this in person is... very different to experiencing it through the lens of a video game.
"Luna! Are there any tranquilizers in here?" Phi asks loudly, trying to be heard over the horrid racket Quark is making.
"N-No... W-Well, I mean..."
"What?!"
"There's Soporil Beta..."
"Soporil?" Dio questions.
"It's the same anesthetic as the one in our bracelets..." Luna says, barely audible over the din.
"Good! Perfect!" Phi declares. "Hit him with some of that!"
Tenmyouji protests, but Phi assures him that Quark will be fine. With another bit of prompting, Luna rushes to the desk at the left of the room and pulls a pistol-like object out of the right drawer — the injection gun, if I recall. Meanwhile, I run to the cabinet and grab a jar of Soporil, trying to make myself useful in at least some fashion. Luna accepts the container from me and loads it into the gun before hurrying back to Quark, the others squeezing aside to make room for her.
"Okay! I've got it!"
"Good!" Phi yells. "Wait until he's… Now! Do it now!"
Timing it against Quark's thrashing, Luna swiftly darts in and depresses the injector's trigger against his leg. Quark gives one last anguished howl before his movements start to slow, and his eyes droop down into sleep. After several seconds of silence, everyone steps away from the bed.
"We need to… check and make sure he's okay…" Tenmyouji insists, panting heavily alongside the others.
After we exchange Alice and Quark's positions again, Luna runs another quick scan on the latter with the ADAM and confirms that everything is normal aside from a growing bruise on his forehead, mollifying most of Tenmyouji's concerns. Phi asks how long the anesthetic should last, and Luna tells her it should keep for at least a few hours.
As Dio starts talking about how abnormally strong Quark seemed and Luna begins explaining how that's probably the virus' fault, I walk back over to Alice, staring down at her sleeping form. Is she going to wake up and try the same thing Quark just did? I actually don't remember the Radical-6 ever rendering her unconscious in the game… not before she ran off with the scalpel, at least. So I don't know what's going to happen. Can we preemptively anaesthetize her just in case? Should I ask?
I turn around to suggest the idea to Luna, only for it to suddenly occur to me upon seeing the others in such close proximity to each other that once again, everyone in the game is in the same small room. I... should really be trying to SHIFT or something right now, shouldn't I? Can't lose sight of that…
I move slightly closer to the group and give it a try, but my attempt ends up being halfhearted at best. I just can't seem to muster the will or concentration to make a full-fledged effort, my brain continually flickering back to the woman lying asleep just a few feet away from me instead of focusing on the task at hand. Oh, come on, me! Forget about Alice! Forget about this timeline entirely! I can't afford to focus on things that won't even matter soon…!
"We're lucky Quark didn't get his hands on that scalpel." Sigma says in response to something Luna said, his gaze turning to me. "Good job with that Clover."
I jolt at being addressed, my thought process temporarily drawn back to the present. "O-oh? Um, thanks… it was nothing."
"I second Sigma's opinion." K follows up. "With how Quark was acting, I've no doubt he would have attempted to stab himself had he managed to obtain something sharp enough to do so, and the rest of us failed to react quickly enough to stop him. It is likely only thanks to you that this did not end far more poorly, Clover."
"I didn't even realize he was going for the scalpel to be honest." Sigma continues, rubbing the back of his head. "How'd you figure that out so fast?"
Er...
"What's going on…?"
An unexpected voice suddenly speaks up from behind me. I whirl around to see Alice slowly sitting up from the bed.
"Alice!" I exclaim.
"Clover…? Hang on, I'm a little dizzy." Alice says, gingerly holding her forehead.
For a moment that scares me, but it seems to wear off pretty quickly, leading me to breathe a low sigh of relief. She's lucid... which is a little odd actually, since that's again not in keeping with how I remember things, but I'd much rather just be thankful than fret about it.
"Oh, you're awake!" Luna says happily as she and the others join us on the other side of the divider. "Welcome back!"
"She's not gonna go crazy on us too, right?" Dio asks, clearly skeptical.
"Crazy?" Alice repeats, taking a moment to push herself off the bed and into a standing position. "What's that supposed to mean? Why would I go crazy?"
"Well, you've got the same disease Quark does-"
"Dio, wait-!"
"-and seeing as how we just had to wrestle the kid into submission and stick him with Soporil," Dio continues, completely ignoring me, "I'd say it's a valid concern."
For god's sake, could he have been any blunter?!
"The same... what?" Alice stares at Dio uncomprehendingly, then turns to the rest of us. "Alright, I'm lost. Anyone care to tell me what's going on? Or, for that matter, how I got here? This is the infirmary, isn't it?"
I sigh. I don't want to do this...
"Alice, what's the last thing you remember?" I ask.
"Suddenly getting dizzy while arguing with him about a truly ridiculous topic down in the garden." Alice replies, gesturing at Tenmyouji. "Mind filling me in now?"
Hesitant but resigned, I begin explaining. It takes a bit, but with some help from Tenmyouji, a display of the unconscious Quark, and the occasional comment from the others, we manage to jointly recap to Alice what's gone on since she passed out. Since Dio's already pretty much let the cat out of the bag, it's not really possible to break Alice's infected status to her in a particularly gentle way... but surprisingly, she remains almost unnaturally calm when the topic is broached, doing nothing more than raise an eyebrow in response to her diagnosis. Strange, Alice isn't usually this stoic...
"...and then you woke up." I finish. "That's about it."
"Right. So, let me get this straight." Alice says almost immediately. "You're saying I'm infected with a disease. A disease that's supposedly the cause of a widespread plague, but which we established no one here has ever heard of. That we only know about because of a possibly forged newspaper article, which was left right out in the open for us to find. And that you were able to diagnose solely through the use of a strangely convenient piece of medical equipment, presumably provided to us by the very same person who trapped us here to begin with."
...oh, so that's why she took it so well. She doesn't believe us.
"You understand why I'd have trouble accepting that conclusion at face value, right?" Alice asks, crossing her arms under her chest.
"I do see what you mean," Luna replies, "but the ADAM-"
"-can't possibly be trusted." Alice points out. "That thing could have been tampered with in any number of ways."
"True," Phi acknowledges, "but I doubt Quark just up and decided to try and kill himself for no reason. Unless you have an explanation for that, we don't really have much choice but to accept the disease as real."
"Are we sure it isn't just that the pressure of the situation got to him?" Alice asks. "I mean-"
"How dare you..." Tenmyouji suddenly interrupts. "Quark would never do something like that if there wasn't something wrong with him!"
"You can't know that-"
"Yes I can!" Tenmyouji snarls, steamrolling right over whatever Alice was about to say. "I know just about everything about him!"
"Alice, I know you weren't awake for it," I interject, hoping to stop a fight from breaking out, "but there was definitely something wrong with Quark. Even for a suicidal person, that wasn't normal behavior. Please, just trust me on this..."
Alice stares at me for a long moment, before looking away and audibly exhaling.
"...fine. I suppose that even if I can't trust the evidence, I can't technically rule out the possibility either."
Tenmyouji mutters something doubtless less-than-flattering about Alice under his breath, but I can't bring myself to really care. I'm just relieved that she's at least willing to entertain the idea that Radical-6 is real now, even if she's clearly not truly convinced yet.
"So, assuming I do have this supposed virus, what exactly are we planning on doing about it?" Alice asks. "Is there anything that can be done?"
"There's supposedly a cure for Radical-6 called Axelavir, but we don't know if there's any in this facility." Phi explains. "To be safe, we'll probably need to use Soporil to put you under until-"
"NO!"
Alice's response is sudden, loud, and extraordinarily vehement, enough so that our entire group takes a collective step back from her. After a few seconds, the wild look fades from her eyes, but not from my mind. What the hell was that about...?
"...sorry. I didn't mean to shout." Alice apologizes, her expression having reverted to one of perfect composure. "There's just no need for anything like that, is what I meant to say."
I'm kind of nervous to refute her after that bizarre outburst, but I do it anyways. "I'm... pretty sure there is, Alice. Even if it isn't Radical-6, you still passed out, so something is definitely wrong..."
"I feel fine now though." Alice replies, apparently unconcerned. "If that was because of the disease, perhaps I have a partial immunity to it."
"That seems… unlikely…" Luna says.
"I'm with Luna." I say, knowing that the fact that the opinion came from her probably makes it a pretty definitive answer. "Alice, is there a reason you're so against the idea…?"
Alice looks at me as though the answer should be blatantly obvious. "Clover, think about the situation we're in right now. Our lives are hanging in the balance. I'm not letting myself be put in a medically induced coma for an indefinite period of time when by doing so I might not ever wake up again."
"But if you start acting like Quark-"
"Do I seem like I'm acting like him right now?"
"No, but the Soporil can-"
"Clover," Alice cuts me off, clearly irritated, "I am perfectly rational right now, and I plan on staying that way. I promise you, I don't need it."
I bite the inside of my cheek and turn to the others, several of whom look somewhat uncomfortable watching Alice and I argue. "Someone, please, help me convince her?"
"Well... I don't know Clover." Sigma says, rubbing the back of his head. "She does seem a lot more stable than Quark…"
"I must admit, while I too am concerned, Alice does have multiple valid points." K notes. "Whether we like it or not, our lives currently depend on continuing and finishing this game, which she will obviously be unable to do if she is forced to remain unconscious while it proceeds. Additionally, unlike Quark, she does appear to be clear of mind. Perhaps she truly is partially immune to the effects of the virus?"
"Heh, maybe." Dio adds, smirking. "Honestly, I'm starting to think she might just be right. We don't know if any of this Radical-6 bullshit is real. Maybe it really is something Zero made up just to make us all paranoid. I say let her do whatever the hell she wants."
"I'm on your side here Clover," Phi says, her hands in her pockets, "but somehow, I get the feeling my opinion doesn't really matter here. Sorry, can't help you."
"If she's really that against it, I suppose we can't force it on her…" Luna softly concedes.
Temyouji remains silent, and my heart sinks. Here I am trying to save Alice, and not only is she completely refusing to listen to me, but I apparently have no support whatsoever. Why is she being so stubborn to begin with?! I mean, I get why she's concerned, but-
"Ten minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes." the intercom suddenly rings out. "All players, please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties will automatically ally."
"Sounds like we all should be heading to the AB rooms." Alice remarks as the announcement ends.
"Not every player has to participate." I remind her. "I trust Tenmyouji to vote ally again."
"Well, I don't." Alice bluntly replies. "I'm not willing to leave this round up to chance in the event that he suddenly decides allying with you is no longer in his best interests."
"You don't need to worry." Tenmyouji says before I can respond, his expression dour. "I'm not participating this round. I'm staying here to watch over Quark."
"Oh. That's... perfect!" I exclaim, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. I guess he just decided that, because this is the first any of us have heard of it, but that works out for me.
"See Alice?" I say, turning back to her. "You don't need to be concerned. As long as you and Tenmyouji both stay here, your vote will default to ally, which means there's no way he could pick betray… in fact, maybe I'll just stay here too, that should ensure that all of us-"
"I'm afraid that won't work." K interrupts. "Our group found some supplemental rules in the archives. They state that at least one person from every group must vote each round, or else the entire team is penalized."
...oh, right. I'd actually forgotten about that rule.
"That reminds me." Tenmyouji says irritably. "Who was the person who opened an AB room before everyone else got back?"
Good question. I didn't really care earlier, but I'm less than pleased about it now, since it means I only have so long to argue Alice around to my point of view when there was really no reason I had to be on a time limit. Although, I'm fairly certain I can guess the answer anyways, since it was almost certainly…
"Dio." Phi says, not looking terribly thrilled about it herself.
…yep, gold star, me. Although… wait a minute...
I turn towards Dio. "Weren't you with K and Sigma?"
"Yeah." Dio replies nonchalantly. "So?"
"Your team was the one that found those rules, and you STILL opened a room before everyone got back?" I ask, glaring at him.
"We tried to stop him, but…" Sigma starts, then trails off.
"Hey, come on." Dio says defensively. "It's not like I knew any of this was gonna happen, and I figured there was no way it was gonna take 45 extra minutes for your groups to finish on top of how long it took us. The faster we get this game over with, the faster we can get out of here. Sue me for trying to speed things up a little."
"Speaking of which, we can't really afford to stand around discussing this any longer." Phi says. "We've wasted too much time talking already, and if we're too late getting back to the AB rooms, we're all going to end up getting 'penalized'. I doubt any of us are fond of that idea."
Everyone seems to agree on that point, at least. Phi turns towards me. "You three figure out the rest of this yourselves. Just make sure at least one of you shows up before time runs out."
With that, she begins ushering everyone else out of the room. Sigma and Luna throw a couple of brief backwards glances at us, but ultimately leave as well, and a few seconds later the room's occupancy has dropped by over half. Only myself Alice, Tenmyouji, and a sleeping Quark remain.
"So… what do you think?" I ask Alice, the atmosphere having turned somewhat awkward with everyone else's abrupt departure.
Alice gives me an exasperated look and sighs. "Fine, Clover. I'm willing to stay here for this round."
I smile-
"…but I'm still not letting you inject me with Soporil."
-only for it to immediately drop away.
"Alice, that defeats the entire purpose of you staying here!"
"I'm not changing my mind on this Clover." Alice insists, one hand on her hip. "Give it up and head to the warehouse."
For the love of- what the hell does it take to convince her?! I've got nothing left! I have no idea how I'm supposed to prove to Alice that Radical-6 is real and she really is infected with it without telling her that-
...I'm an idiot.
"Alice," I start once more, "I-"
"Clover, seriously! Just drop it already!" Alice all but shouts, her temper clearly beginning to fray.
"No, Alice, I-!" I plead. "Just- listen!"
I move in close, putting my mouth right near her ear so that Tenmyouji won't overhear us.
"Alice, I know that Radical-6 is real." I whisper to her.
"No you don't!" she hisses back. "We have nothing to go off of besides-"
"No, I know." I repeat, emphasizing the word. "Remember that talk we had earlier about me seeing the future?"
It takes a second for her to get it. Her neck snaps around, her eyes widening as she looks directly at me.
"O-oh. I see." she says, now at a normal volume. "Then you… you're sure?"
I nod.
"And... I have it?"
I nod again. "So do you believe me now?"
"Y… yes." Alice stutters, clearly shaken by the information.
"It was that simple the entire time?" Tenmyouji mutters from off to the side. "Just what did you say to her?"
"That's private." I deflect. "Now that we're finally on the same page though Alice, please, you need to let us sedate you. It's only temporary, and you'll be in danger otherwise..."
"..."
"Er… Alice?"
"…I can't." Alice says weakly.
"What?"
"I can't." Alice reiterates, voice so tiny it's barely audible. "Please don't."
What the…? What is this reaction?
"Uh... you okay there, Alice?" Tenmyouji asks.
"Please..."
Alice steps back and slumps against the wall, not crying, but looking more frightened and vulnerable than I've ever seen her. I... honestly have no idea why she's acting like this; she never does anything even close to this in the game so far as I recall. Even when she broke down and confessed everything to Sigma in the B. Garden, she didn't seem nearly this... cornered...
"Alice...?" I try.
She says nothing in response, and it quickly becomes evident that neither I nor Tenmyouji are going to get anything more out of her. She's practically shut down. Argh, there's no time for this!
Grabbing the injection gun off the desk where Luna left it and loading it with a fresh jar of Soporil, I thrust it into Tenmyouji's hands.
"Clover, what-?"
"Here. I don't know what's going on with her either, but if Alice starts freaking out or acting erratic — like, more than she is right now I mean — use it. If not, just leave her be. That's the best compromise I can come up with at the moment."
Tenmyouji gives it a brief moment of thought before answering.
"Alright, I can do that."
"Thank you." I tell him honestly, before turning to Alice one last time.
"I'll... be back soon, okay?"
Alice squeezes her eyes tightly shut and slowly, jerkily nods, which is more of a response than I was expecting. Slightly encouraged, I finally leave the room, the door shutting behind me with barely a sound.