B-2/7-7: Alice Liddell
Prerequisite: Complete 7-6 + Purchase The Journey Onwards + Unlock A-6
Requirements: Experience Alice's wonderland (Play The Snow White Princess is + This game + Marigold) + PM the following songs using Alice and Tenniel (Level 20): Felis + Beside You + To: Alice Liddell.
Alternate Requirement:PM Beside You (Extended Version) on all difficulties using Alice and Tenniel (Minuet) (Level 20).
It's been a while since she found out her tragic fate of herself... alone. In this empty world she lives in, not everything is known to her. She wishes to find her 'brother' once more to find out what she was like, what she was before she died. What will she find in the end?
(Background Music: To: Alice Liddell by モリモリあつし)
When Tenniel tried to hide the truth from her, he meant it. All this time, she lived her life as a lie, a lie that he formed to keep her away terrible truth of her doomed fate.
Now that she knows and saw what happened to her, did she regret her decision to seek out the truth? Her 'brother' was gone because of her rash decision to know what happened to her. Was it worth it? Now that she is alone, she seeks in her quest to get him back, to find out what she was like, what was she before died, together with him.
As she wandered around the world, she lied to herself that her brother would be there for her, to watch her, to give her strength to find him. However, all she could ever find amount to nothing. These shards never radiated for her. Was it not hers? She always assumed that they would listen to her wishes.
Another fruitless journey failed her. She slammed her fist onto the ground as she cursed. Was she doomed to stay in the empty world? Was there nothing for her after knowing everything? This world had no life aside from her. She considered leaving this world, the world she woke into after her death.
This was when a figure appeared in front of her. When she saw 'him', she only thought of one person: Tenniel. She found him. She won't be alone ever again. She will tell him how much she missed him. Even if he wasn't her brother, the fact that he stayed for her for so long, she cannot bear to be alone any longer.
She lied to herself once again. This is not him.
She cried. Was this another imagination? Is this a cruel illusion to play with her mind? When the figure hugged her, she was reminded by the words that was taught to her.
"It's real, because every sense of you 'knows' that it's real"
This is always true. She felt his presence from 'him'. But it is not him. What is he?
The figure then spoke, "I am a being of this world, like someone you call him as 'Tenniel'". That was a simple answer. Too simple for him.
"Why are you here for?"
"I am here to help you recover your memories in place of your 'brother,' but in return, you will agree to stay in this world until you meet her"
"Her? Who is she? Is she someone important to you?"
He then holds a light shard, the shard then shined brighter and brighter. As her mind leaves this reality, he spoke: "No, but she is someone important to you."
(Music Ends)
She closed her storybook. She was bored of all these 'good' endings. The princess woke up from a prince's kiss and the evil queen was executed for murder. She thought of how this story would improve. What would be the intended effect if the princess's fate was left ambiguous instead? She asked her brother for his opinion:
"This book wouldn't be good for children if it didn't have a good ending."
In what way would it be bad for them? Do children only want to see the 'good' endings? She didn't like it. She rewrote the story on her own.
The princess was an outcast to the maidens for her innate beauty. They were jealous of her looks. The princess was left in her white 'coffin' after the evil queen was done with her. The seven dwarfs never protected her but instead did whatever they wanted to her instead. She was numb as she was both awake and asleep. Unable to control herself, she blackened out. While the culprits were executed, did the prince finally come to rescue her from her coma?
She was almost done. She was at the final part of her story. She considered how to execute her cliff-hanger until she decided this:
"Please I wish you to wake me up with your kiss, is the voice of my heart reaching to you at all? If you can just climb up the stairs and open the door, you'll be able to find me there."
Finally, she was done. She was happy with her story. She gave her book to her brother and sister. They did not expect how much thought she has put into this story.
She read many books and wrote her own versions of their stories. She showed to her teachers her talent. They were proud of her and wanted to continue to mentor her. However, classmates envied her talent.
"She must have plagiarized their work for her own credit."
Truth to be told, she took inspiration from other's work as she changed some details of the original's work. She has written disclaimers and has created her own story based on the original's work. But no one believed her.
Even as her sister defended her, they still pick up nasty remarks on her. She was greatly hurt by their words.
"Don't listen to them, they are just jealous that you are good at writing." Her sister consoled her.
"But I… didn't do much with this story…"
"That's silly of you to think it that way. You used your effort with imagination to write this story. You did not plagiarize any work. You said it yourself that it was from an animation. Let me be the judge of it by reading the story." Her sister took the book as she started to read it.
A pair of siblings have won a game of chess against a 'god' who was bored in his world. Elated, he invited them to his world to present them an opportunity to challenge him again by defeating all 16 races in this world. However, they got arrogant and were defeated by one of the rulers of a race. The consequences of this loss meant surrendering everything they had, every country they won to rule, and their lives. The god was displeased with this development and left the siblings to their fate.
"This is an interesting story and it's far from plagiarism. The show didn't continue after it's first season. If anything, you continued its story" She praised Alice. She wasn't biased to her sister. She was merely speaking a fact.
The last memory Alice saw in the shard is the same memory she saw back then. She thought it was the exact same memory she has seen as Tenniel gave his 'life' to know this truth. But it wasn't the full story.
She coughed non-stop in her hospital bed. She wasn't feeling well. But she will get well in the end, right? The doctors will help her recover her sickness. Like in story books she read, it's all happy endings. This shouldn't be any different. Her siblings told her so. She should be fine.
Until it is not.
When the siblings talked to the doctors outside her room, she heard the conversation from the inside. The news that she heard, she has suffered a mysterious and terminal illness. She opened her eyes.
I must be dreaming
This is a lie right
There is no way I had that right?
Even if I do have it, I will be well in the end, right?
The mood of this conversation did not improve until the end of the conversation. Like her stories, she will not have a happy ending. In a few months' time…
I will die
I will be alone
I will die alone
She cried. Was this her punishment for writing such a tragic fate to every character she wrote in her stories? She only wanted to improve these stories in her own way. It doesn't help when the siblings decided to hide this truth from her.
"Brother… should we tell her?"
"No… she may not rest peacefully if we tell her?"
"She has the right to know but...is that right to hide it?"
"Sophia… it's never right to hide. I don't know if we should. For now, we should not tell her. Soon, we will decide if we should."
"…It's all true, this is how reality works. Life is not a bed of roses. Life does not always have happy endings. But we must always strive to have one. Treasure everything, we have while we are still alive so that we will have no regrets when our time comes." She thought to herself. She wasn't exempt to that. So, if that is true for her… then, while she is still alive…
(Background Music: Marigold by M2U & NICODE)
"This last story of mine will be special to me. It will be the best story that I have written it down."
Alice struggled writing this story. As days goes by, she had more difficulty in writing in her book. Her condition worsened. But she persisted. She put her thoughts, wishes and dreams into this book. Betting everything, she had in this book. She must finish writing this book before her time is up.
She made it… She finally finished her story. She can't wait to read her story to Cedric and Sophia.
On her final night, she promised that she read her story. When her siblings visited her, she opened the book as she read:
A girl dreamed to be a story writer. She had a family who loved and supported her. Whenever she felt sad, her family will always be there for her, especially her older brother and sister. Her brother's art gives her inspiration to write her storybooks. Her sister will give her strength and courage to continue her dreams to write her story. With every story she writes, she grows to be a better writer, improving her grammar and vocabulary. But her greatest obstacle to her dreams came by as she fell ill. It was said that she will not live long. When she heard of it, she wrote her book, a book that will forever change her life as her readers grew to love it. Her will and determination to live to write a book created a miracle. She woke up right at that moment they thought that she died. She eventually recovered from her illness as she continued to write her fantastic books. She in the end, got married and made a name for herself and her entire family. The end.
After she closed the book, they siblings cried. She never wrote a book that was based on herself. She never wrote a happy ending for her characters. But in this story, she finally did.
"You…knew it didn't you Alice? When did you know?" Cedric asked.
"I just wish you didn't hide it from me… But I understand… It's ironic, I write stories that never ends well for every character. But when my time comes close, I only write a happy end for her… the protagonist of this story but not for myself."
"The girl you wrote was yourself. You dreamed to be that girl to become a successful story writer. That wish is already fulfilled Alice. You are a successful writer." Sophia cried.
She spent her last moments together with her siblings. As she leaves this world, she knew that she had no more regrets aside from not being able to live longer. As she sleeps, she smiled, telling herself that she loves her siblings, Cedric and Sophia forever even after she is gone. This was the last time she was awake. In the next morning, she faded away from this world.
(Music ends)
The shard disappeared. Alice held her head. She was tired after a long seeing through this memory of hers. She never expected to have another sibling. Cedric and Sophia… How long was it ever since she was gone?
"Are you okay?" The figure offered.
"I am fine. I didn't realise… I didn't realise what was important to me. Cedric and Sophia… I'm sorry for leaving you…"
The figure gave her some time to recover herself. Afterwards, 'he' asked.
"So, do you know who you should find?"
"Yes, I know now, I must find her, my sister, Sophia… She is here somehow…".
"Yes, you are right, however I must inform you this: In this world, she does not go by the name of Sophia. She finally found her peace and is now waiting for you with her best friend."
Sophia changed her name? How very odd. She thought that she would keep her name. And she made a new friend while she was gone? She wants to meet her as well. Perhaps she wasn't alone in this world.
The figure then opened a portal.
"Go into this portal, it will certainly get you closer to her."
Alice advanced towards the portal. But before she entered the portal, she turns back as she tells the figure.
"Thank you, for helping me to fully understand who I am."
"Don't thank me, I was doing this for everyone here. My time is nearly up yet again…"
"What was that"
"Ignore that, if you see her, give her my regards."
And that, the figure vanished into thin air. Alice wondered how long it would take to see her again. With this, at least she has hope that she will see her again. Hope that she does not need to bear with being in this lonely world for a long while.
"Finally, her fate is no longer been alternated… I can finally now rest in peace."
A/N: You can say this is Alternated Fate's version of 7-7 that took place after canon's 7-6. Since A-11 confirmed that all Arcaea characters were in this world, I decided to make it interesting to continue from 7-6. I wanted to have Alice write her own fanfictions about fairy tales such as Snow White and the seven dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland (Because literally EP screams that). In the end, I decided to forgo the fairy tale theme by ditching Alice in Wonderland and instead make it more in-line with this fic by making her write several stories because I don't know what other fairy tale stories I can make her write.
Alice wrote the story of Snow White based on Vocaloid's The Snow White Princess is [Japanese: 白い雪のプリンセスは(Shiroi Yuki no Princess wa)]. In the original, only the evil queen was jealous of her and the seven dwarfs helped her to recover but could do nothing to wake her up since she needed a true love's kiss to wake up. Vocaloid's version had Snow White being hated by everyone because of her beauty ("…as other's thorny stares are closing in on me"). While the evil queen did the same thing to snow white, this time the seven dwarfs made it worse ("Seven Dwarfs are here, but they turned a blind eye to my asking for his help and instead laid his hands around my neck and smirked"). This is in line with A-7 because of Hikari's past before she met Alexandar by being hated and others did what they want with Hikari before meeting Alexandar, A-9 (minorly) and soon to be B-3 (Cedric Liddell/Tenniel) for a good reason. I'll just say that Sophia really didn't have any 'real' friends before she met Hikari and Alexandar.
As for the second story, Alice wrote a story based on No game No life. In this fic, they lost to a game to one of the exceeds which cost them everything due to their arrogance. They never had the chance to even challenge Tet. This is in line with A-9 because Hikari and Sophia dreamed to be better musicians to challenge Alexandar one day. However, due to Sophia's jealously and delusion (which is caused by Hikari's past problem), this dream was dashed with Hikari's death.
Now for the final story she wrote, it was not a reference to anything. It leans towards what Alice wanted with her life that she never got in the end. To her, if she won't get her happy ending, at least she would make herself better by writing a story. Perhaps this would have happened if she did recover from her illness. I chose Marigold instead of Myosotis as a background music because it was Alice accepting her own death in the end not the siblings. In Deemo (at least for my interpretation), Marigold is Alice's acceptance to move on from her brother's death while Myosotis is Alice's grief from her brother's death. Magnolia is Alice's ignorance of her brother's death.
B-4 (Alexandar) will have more focus with Hikari than Sophia/Tairitsu because she has appeared a lot in B-2 and soon B-3 while Hikari barely appeared. Which means… B-4 is going to be long.
