V.I.R.A.L

Flicking her pencil around, Sam found herself dozing off, waiting for class to begin. Turning her head, she starts watching Destiny and Marco messing around, playing with their phones. Taking another yawn, Sam almost fell, shooting wide awake as her teacher walked in. "Good morning class, we have a special announcement today. I'd like to introduce you to a transfer student from Rhinefield. She will be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

A well kept and elegant girl walked in wearing the blue and black uniform to perfection with her own added flair. Stepping in front of the class, she bowed, speaking softly. "It's an honour to meet you all at last. My name is Riley Dawn; I wish we can all get along and become the best of friends."

"Very good, you can sit at the empty desk next to Sam; speaking of, Sam please share your history book with Riley for today's lesson while we work on getting our own textbooks."

Yawning again, Sam nodded, scratching the sleep from her eyes. "Yes, sir…."

Setting up the books, Riley sat down, waiting a short moment to clear her breath. "Are you still you, Belling?"

Sam turned her head confused. "Huh?"

Riley stared idly at Sam, judging her before turning back writing in her book. "Don't talk, just read."

Sam looked down, skim reading Riley's warning. "This world isn't real?"

"Read it in your head." Riley snapped, looking around, turning the page, writing again. "I've been looking for you for quite some time, Belling. You need to know the truth."

Sam kept reading, her heart skipping a beat as she read the last phrase. "Don't trust Alton."

Riley closed her book, staring forward at the whiteboard.  "We have a hideout just on the outskirts of the world. If you want to discover the truth, head to where it all began. You'll know where."

The door opened without Riley's knowledge as the teacher turned, looking troubled. Giving a slight nod, he quickly darted out of the room, soon catching Riley's attention. As her head turned, she froze, flinching to find Alton sitting on her desk, leaning forward, resting his head in between his hands. He let out a long-winded sigh shaking his head. "What are you doing, Riley?"

"Alt…. Alt…. Alton." She stuttered, taken back. As she tried escaping, Alton pushed her back down, shaking his head. "How…."

"Don't bother, or did you forget who is in charge here?" Turning to the rest of the class, he spoke slowly, making sure everyone understood. "Class is over. Go home."

Everyone didn't think twice about packing their stuff as Marco jumped for joy. "Hell yeah, no school. My dreams have come true!"

As Sam stood up just following the lead, Alton began clicking his fingers, still watching Riley. "Wait for a second, Sam, a word please." Shifting his gaze to her, Alton shook his head, annoyed. "Did she tell you anything? Anything at all?"

Sam paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Nothing."

"That's a relief. You can go now. Enjoy the rest of your day Sam."

Sam quickly left, meeting up with her friends, paused taken back. "How did he know who I was?"

Tapping the desk serval times, Alton began clicking his tongue, watching the birds fly by. "What I'm trying my very best to work out is why you're trying to sabotage this world I made just for you."

"Alton I…."

Jumping from the desk, Alton began running his hand across each one, making it to one just in front of Sam's. "This would have been my desk. Back in the day, it does bring back some memories, that's for sure. I'm only going to ask this once, Riley, so pay close attention. Why?"

Snapping a chair in front of her, Alton pushed the desk aside, making sure Riley had his full attention. "I. I."

"Look around you Riley, you have everything you could possibly want here. No Garden, no Syndicate family. None of that complicated shit. Just front and centre peace. I've given you peace of mind to do what you want, choose what school you go to, what job you chase. Who you become friends with? Yet you took this found freedom and threw it in my face. This upsets me dearly." Pausing for a breather, Alton raised his eyebrows, holding his hands with a judgemental stare. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"None of this is real. You expect me to sit by and just accept a blatant lie and live like nothing happened. No amount of packaging and catering can change that. If I lived like that, everyone who died would have died in vain."

"Oh, Riley, Riley, Riley, Riley…." Alton groaned, standing up, walking towards the whiteboard, leaning his back against it. "Why can't you just be happy with what is given to you. I've saved the world, given everyone what they rightfully deserved. I don't understand what's wrong with that, no more deaths nor fighting. Doesn't that sound perfect? I'm sure Scarlett would have agreed with me."

"Don't you dare use her name for your own twisted desires! If this is what you meant by my life is my own, I would have preferred you killed me all those years ago."

Alton shrugged her off, turning around scribbling on the board two words. Help me. "Fair enough." Turning back, Alton opened his hand, letting out a massive flurry of ice bursting through the whole school, drowning it in ice before Riley could even react.

****

  "That's impossible!" Zinnia gasped, finding herself face to face with Alton. His body frozen in the same prison as everyone else, all be it much larger and with dozens of vines wrapped around him, keeping him in place. Zinnia wandered forward, placing her hand onto the icy prison whispering. "Alton…. It's me; I'm back."

"He can't hear you, nor can he see any of this." Bargaining informed staring down the new Stage of Grief. "We pulled him from out of the ruins of V.I.R.A.L alongside his partner Sam Belling."

Zinnia looked at the two as Sam was clearly fighting for her life during the Long Whisper. "How did this happen?"

"Well, it's quite clear to me. Alton took the Stage of Grief and used it to start the Long Whisper. A power available to Acceptance to put anyone in a certain radius into his dream world to either use as a pawn or in Alton's sake keep safe."

"Can't we pull him out? Use Iris' ability?"

"I'm afraid not. Alton isn't trapped like the others. He put himself in here. The only way to break him out is to either kill him or have him end his dream world. His friend Miss Belling is another story. She suffers from major injuries. If we were to release her, she could very well die."

"Why haven't you killed him yet? That's something you would have done."

Bargaining shook his head. "I do not wish to kill Alton."

"What? You're lying; you've tried to kill Alton on every account possible. You had Monty try as well as myself. You cannot sit here and trick me with such obvious lies."

"I can ensure you I am not lying." Bargaining exclaimed, staring Alton down with a firm smirk. "Monty was a test; I wanted to see if Alton was the one I was looking for. Once his Garden form emerged, I held Monty back from the attack. And then there's you. The one closest to Alton, getting to you was the best course of action. Manipulated and tortured by the Garden, it was the perfect cover. He wouldn't, of course, kill you, so the only option he had was to make a deal with me to counter the bargain. Handing him the next step of my plan on a silver platter. He was to take one of the Stages of Grief; given the circumstances, he would never do it normally. Put if pushed to his limit and promised his closest friend's freedom, he'd do just about anything. Alton has always been a part of the plan from the very beginning, and it's finally shaping perfectly."

"You son of a bitch…. You've been playing us all this whole time! Since the beginning, we've all been your puppets. Puppets of the Garden."

"Don't take this the wrong way, girl, but I am in no way associated with that abomination known as the Garden. From the start, I was tasked to infiltrate and destroy the Garden from the inside. My allegiance has been to Fairy-Tale but most importantly to myself and my sister this whole time. I intend on taking all the Stages and freeing her from Salvation's grasp. Alton was that first step."

Zinnia wanted to kill Bargaining, for that he did. He didn't deserve any second chances being far too dangerous; however, to Zinnia, she knew she needed him to save Alton. "You have a plan to break Alton from the Long Whisper, yes?"

"You catch on fast. I've been gathering enough forces to aid me in this. The plan is to infiltrate Alton's world take him down and tear his illusions apart, breaking him from the prison. But we better move fast; it's only a matter of time before the Stages of Grief will come hunting him down." Bargaining informed. "I cannot break through into his mind; however, you have brought me the key to all my plans."

"Jehovah? What does she have to play in this?"

"Jehovah is special, even beyond her own Stage. She was the sole creator of the trials you saw in your world. The trials you better knew as the Montague Trials. They are almost a carbon copy of Acceptance's pocket world, just slightly weaker. With this knowledge and the last of her Stage energy, you will have Jehovah break through the barriers, enter Alton's world and free him."

"Why not yourself? Why would you not just go in there and do it yourself?"

"While it's true I can match those powers myself, the problem is the Stages. It's only a matter of time before Denial, Anger, or Depression come knocking. If I'm in the pocket world, I will be unable to protect myself or Alton from certain death. Because of this, I need others to break him out."

Zinnia folded her arms, looking at Alton conflicted. "How do I know you're telling the truth? All of this could be a trick to gain my trust."

"You can't be certain. But given the circumstances, I am the only one who knows how to free him. You can choose to ignore me, but when the Stages arrive and slaughter you all everything Alton sacrificed would be for nothing."

"I understand." Zinnia nodded, understanding the situation. "I don't think I can ever trust you, Adam, but…. I abandoned Alton once before, I refuse to do it again. I should be the one to wake him from this bad dream."

"That's good to hear. I'll be looking forwards to working with you, Zinnia Trost."