Chapter 12: Answers

Emu entered a large white circular room. The left and right walls were made of glass, and a silver lining the shape of plaited hair separated the window from the wall. On the back wall were bookshelves lined with books of all shapes and sizes. In the centre of that wall was a large crimson section with a pattern sewn into it.

There was only one other thing in that room.

A hospital bed.

A heavily bandaged body was lying in the centre, its bandages soaked in blood. Colourful IVs were attached to the body. There were so many of them. The most shocking thing was that it was almost transparent, its form flickering.

He approached the bed slowly and went to its side. He bent down, reaching out to move the blanket.

"Welcome, Emu Hojo."

Emu whipped around.

In front of him stood Amari Misao.

"Amari-san… what are you-"

Then Amari's form flickered as well, and in her place stood a little girl wearing a black Victorian Dress. She looked identical to-

"…Alice?" Emu asked.

The girl shook her head.

"I am Alice. Alice is me."

Emu was confused.

Wait… that phrasing.

"However. I am not Alice."

She walked over to the bedside.

"What do you mean?" Emu asked.

She held the body's bandaged hand.

"I am a fleeting dream. The "Alice" in the mirror. A child's fantasy. You would call me a…"

She turned around to look at Emu.

"…Nursery Rhyme, I guess."

Emu's eyes widened.

This is bad.

He reached inside his doctor's coat to grab his Driver, but he couldn't find it there. Desperately, he searched all his pockets.

The Gashats. The Driver. Where are they?

He could only find the Eyecon that Takeru gave him. He took it out and was about to activate it.

"Calm yourself. I mean no harm."

Emu stopped. He turned to her.

"What do you want? If you're controlling the monster attacking us, then-"

"Are you sure about that?"

Huh?

"If I wanted to kill you, then wouldn't I have done so already?"

But… you…

"Please. Listen to what I have to say."

Emu calmed down and returned to his normal stance.

"The Alice you met in the garden was fake. You never met Alice. You only met an illusion. A memory." Nursery Rhyme began.

Huh?

Emu rifled through his mind. He was sure that they had met. Right?

Then he remembered what Takeru said.

You also see strange visions.

"That… was a memory?"

Nursery Rhyme nodded.

"This place is my Noble Phantasm: the Nameless Forest. It's where ghosts and memories dwell. As well as that, your own memories leech out of your mind. You lose track of things."

Ah, so that's why this place was so confusing.

"Perhaps the memory of the Master that met Alice resonated with you. You started experiencing it in his stead. You walked in his shoes."

Emu looked at the Eyecon.

"My friend… he was the first to notice her…"

Nursery Rhyme looked at the Eyecon. She seemed to recognise it.

"I see. Your friend can see what others can't see. He deemed you the one who most resonated with that memory, did he not?"

Emu recalled what Takeru told him.

You're a paediatrician, so you have experience with children, right?

Emu clutched the Eyecon.

"Anyways, why did you bring me here?"

Nursery Rhyme turned to the body.

"I trust that you know that Alice died, right?"

Emu nodded. He remembered from their first encounter what she said.

"Alice is dead. That's a fact. Normally, a Master is supposed to support his Servant's existence, but I guess in this case, it's the reverse. I manifest as her companion, her lifeline. I allowed her to exist here. Through something you're quite familiar with."

The Bugster Virus.

Something that stored the data of someone, so even after death, they could come back.

"But if she exists as a Bugster, then where's her-"

Then he realised.

"That body-"

"Correct." Nursery Rhyme affirmed. "This is her true self."

Now the transparency of the body made sense.

Every Bugster needs a host to manifest. In this case, Alice's former body must have been the host of the virus, and the Bugster must be an exact copy of hers.

"But if her body's here, then… where is she now?

Nursery Rhyme did not respond. Instead, she went over to the bookshelf and picked out a book. She opened it and turned to face Emu.

"Do you want to hear a story?"

Emu's vision darkened, and he sunk into the darkness.

The Golden Circle formed in the sky.

A young girl, in a blue dress, was looking up.

"Onii-chan…"

She gripped her dress.

Her form flickered.

Then, she heard voices from afar.

"The Upper floors are done for."

She turned.

Behind a sheet, two strangers were talking.

"The fourth floor aside, everything from the fifth up is…"

"Should we descend?"

"It's worth considering."

Alice walked over to the figures.

"Umm…"

She stopped just before the sheet.

"What are you talking about?"

The two figures did not respond.

"What's wrong up there?"

Still no response.

"What happened to the Holy Grail War… What happened to Onii-chan? What's that thing up in the sky?"

She looked around.

"What's going on?"

Alice wandered throughout the Third Floor, looking for others to talk to. She passed through multiple hallways and passages in the castle, searching for signs of life.

She emerged into a large room with a chessboard design on the floor.

"As you can see, we're the only ones left."

Alice heard more voices. This time, they were female.

She walked onto the middle of the board.

At the sides, many large chess pieces were strewn all over the place. The only remaining pieces on the board was a white Knight piece and a black Knight piece. On the white Knight piece stood a pink-haired girl in a brown uniform.

"The rest of the surviving Masters are fleeing to the lower floors." She continued.

On the black Knight piece sat another girl with twintails and a red sweater.

"What's your plan?" she asked.

"I can't give up, not now." The pink haired girl continued.

Alice looked at both of them, trying to get their attention.

"I don't care about winning," she started in a timid voice. "So please, tell me… where is Onii-chan?"

The two girls continued their conversation, ignoring her.

"Please, just fight me. You don't want to stay down here either, do you? You're scared you'll lose to me!?" The pink haired girl shouted.

Alice realised it was futile. Slowly, she turned and walked out of the room.

She sat underneath the clock outside the Castle. As she sobbed in her hands, she noticed that she was turning transparent.

"Huh?"

Her form flickered again.

"I look… kind of pale…

Am I going to… disappear?"

She looked up.

"Is it because of that ring?"

She started crying.

"Onii-chan… I want to see you!"

As she continued her wandering, she felt herself growing more and more transparent. Her vision became blurred, and her breathing became ragged.

"I don't want to disappear."

She looked behind her and saw that she left a trail of orange mist in the air. Terrified, she hurried forward.

"I have to… replenish my resources."

She came across a campsite. Frantically, she put her hands on various items. They all turned to orange dust on her touch. The orange mist wafted into Alice's body, reducing her transparency slightly.

"I… want to stay here."

She encountered the pink-haired girl again, sleeping on a log. In her hand was a bottle of wine, half-drunk. Alice touched it, and it turned to orange mist. It was absorbed by Alice, as did the orange mist from other items she had converted in the room.

"I… have to wait here."

Her form continued to glitch out.

"It's not enough…"

Alice limped through the forest clutching her heart. Her form glitched out even more. Every step was painful, but she knew she had to keep going. The flow of orange mist out of her increased.

"I'm going… to disappear…"

Suddenly, she felt herself falling forward. She gave out a gasp.

She held out her arm against a tree to steady herself.

As she put her back against the tree, she started panting.

"Sugar… and spice.. and everything nice…" she started reciting in a strained voice. "That's what… little girls are… made of…"

The tree behind her glowed, then burst in a cloud of orange mist.

As Alice continued through the forest, she kept turning trees into mist.

Finally, she stopped in a clearing and looked at her hand. It looked solid again.

Alice stopped panting and looked at it in confusion.

Suddenly, her forearm transformed into a tree branch.

Alice recoiled in horror. Clutching the arm, she hugged it tightly.

"No!" She yelled. She fell to her knees.

"I don't… want this…"

Her form flickered again. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Onii-chan!"

As the tear fell from her eye, it vanished into orange mist.

"It hurts."

Alice kept walking.

"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts."

She kept going.

"Am I… going to disappear?

But… I promised him…"

Light shone at the end of the tunnel.

"Onii-chan!"

Standing outside the castle were four Masters. Included in their ranks was Amari.

They heard a noise. They turned around.

Their faces turned to horror.

Can you… see me?

Standing in front of them was an orange monster. It had a long neck with a twin-tailed head hanging down. From her left arm protruded a tree branch, on which grew spherical heads with gnashing teeth.

The head started to sing.

Ring a ring a rosey

A pocket full of posies

Atishoo, atishoo

We all fall down.

"Get it!" One of the Masters yelled.

He took out a ring and scanned it on his belt.

CHANGE! NOW!

An Orange wizard circle appeared to the right of his head. It passed through his body, encasing it in an orange armour.

He ran forward, brandishing his claw.

The others did the same, and, taking out strange gun-sword weapons, started firing at the monster.

Stop it… stop it…

STOP IT!

Her left arm grew outwards, and branches shot out of it.

Before the advancing one could react, he had been skewered in the chest by a tree branch. The armour vanished around him, exposing his body.

Then, a head flew towards him and devoured his upper body, leaving behind his legs.

As the others tried to run, the heads started to sing again.

Picking up the daisies

Picking up the daisies

Atishoo, atishoo

We all jump up.

More heads flew out of the branches, attacking the remaining three. The pink-haired one managed to escape, but the other two weren't so lucky.

Once was impaled by multiple branches. As his blood began to flow, the heads slurped it up delightfully.

The heads tore the other one apart.

The entire area was soaked with blood.

Alice stood in the middle of the carnage.

"I promised…"

Then she tilted her head.

"What did I promise, again?"

The monster dragged itself up the stairs on its many feet. Its head swung about floppily as it moved. The sheet that wrapped around its body fluttered in the air. Its wings drooped on its back, and its tail twitched behind it, the bobbles dancing.

You probably won't be able to tell, now that I look like this…

But I've been waiting for you.

So please.

Don't leave me.

Don't leave me alone.

Emu opened his eyes. He was back in the hospital room where Alice lay. Nursery Rhyme was staring at him, a book open in her hands.

What… was that?

Then it clicked.

"No…

No, no, no…."

He buried his head in his hands.

"Then… all this time… she was…"

Nursery Rhyme nodded her head.

Emu ran up to her and grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Why didn't you do anything?!" He shouted. "Why did you let her become like this?"

"It was her wish." She replied, unperturbed. "It was what she wanted."

He let go.

"I couldn't save her. All I could do was maintain her fantasy."

Emu stared at her.

"When Chakravartin struck, the entire Moon Cell descended into chaos. I tried to help her maintain her form by supplying her with more data. I didn't know…"

She turned away, hanging her head.

"I didn't know… it would turn out this way…"

Emu was still unconvinced.

"Then… why did she have your power… to turn back time?"

"She wanted it."

She turned back to Emu.

"She didn't want to die! But after so many came after her, she..."

She went silent for a while.

"She wanted to remain here until her Onii-chan came back. My second Noble Phantasm, the Queen's Glass Game… I tried to use it to save her. To give her hope. If I didn't…"

She'd be dead already.

He understood immediately.

"However, I used it too much. Eventually… she absorbed it. I can't control it anymore. She took it for herself."

Emu stood still for a moment.

"Is there any other way?"

"For you to ascend? No."

Nursery Rhyme looked forlorn as she said this.

"Her Onii-chan managed to ascend by convincing her to forfeit the match. It was what she wanted. He made that promise to return to her, as you saw. Now… she doesn't recognise anyone. All she does is keep on walking. Killing. Rewinding. She's in constant misery and pain, waiting forever for her Onii-chan. There's only one way to end her suffering."

Emu realised what she was saying. His voice caught in his throat. He could not say it.

"I… can't… I vowed to…"

Tears welled up in Emu's eyes.

"But… after what she's gone through… the injustice wrought onto her by the doctors... those bastards… the endless days of pain…"

He grasped his head with his hands.

"Then… even after death… she can't do anything but wander… an eternal hell for her after her suffering…"

Then Emu raised his head and shouted

"Why can't I do anything!? Why does she need to die!?"

He looked at Nursery Rhyme.

"I need to correct this wrong! I need to give her the peace she deserves! As a doctor, I can't just…"

He stopped, looking for the right word.

Nursery Rhyme watched.

Finally, he finished his sentence.

"...kill her."

Then he broke down. He buried his face in the bed next to the body of Alice and cried.

Yes. There's no other way.

They came back.

You must kill her. For the sake of the greater good.

No…

You've killed before. What's another one to you?

No… One was a traitor. Another shot my friend. I needed to kill them. But her…?

You're too soft. Naïve. Amari was right. You need to survive here. Those who don't kill won't survive.

She's nothing but a wraith. A ghost.

Shut up... Shut up…

Nursery Rhyme sighed.

"I understand."

She walked over to him and patted him on his back. Emu snapped out of his thoughts.

"You know, there was someone like you there back when Alice was alive."

Emu looked up, his eyes tearful.

"There was a young doctor. Unlike the older ones, who only saw her as an experiment, that doctor genuinely cared. Like you, he would often play with her, despite her condition. He was the one who taught all those games to her."

Emu turned to meet her gaze.

"He would often complain about the pain she felt during procedures. However, those complaints fell into deaf ears. And when she died, he spent hours crying next to her. He regretted not being able to do more to help her. However, he eventually managed to cheer himself up. Do you know how?"

Emu shook his head.

"Alice suffered in life. But in death, she could finally rest peacefully in paradise. That's what he thought. And even though she's suffering here, he knew that one day, she would find peace."

She went back to the bookshelves.

"Even here, her Onii-chan gave her joy when others ignored her. He saw her more than just the enemy Master, but someone to play with. However, even he had to go. He knew that he had a journey to complete. He hoped that he could reunite with her, and give her all the happiness she deserved."

She took down another book. It was orange and cyan.

"You know, fairy tales aren't stories of hope. They are the last lights softening the despair of living… I used to think that was who I was. But right now, that's who you need to be."

She gave him the book.

"I am Alice, and Alice is me."

The book glowed in Emu's hand, and turned into a cyan and orange Gashat.

Surprised, Emu raised it.

"This is-"

"You can't save her." Nursery Rhyme repeated.

"However, if you can let your feelings reach her…"

She smiled.

"Then, at this moment, you can become her Onii-chan for her once more."