"Ri… ley?"
Alice was ready to let go.
No, she let go. She already let go– the blood that was slowly trickling around her neck was proof of that. She knew she didn't deserve it, but if there was an afterlife, then that was perhaps the only place that the two of them could actually be free.
Riley became the meaning of her life– no, Riley was her life. From the very first moment she took him into her embrace, Alice knew that her life was over… and that from then on, it was always going to be Riley.
She was not fooling around when she told her mother that she wanted to have a child– that was something she had been planning a few months after she got out of prison. But there was a problem… she didn't like anyone.
Not romantically– not even sexually.
She deemed herself not capable of caring and loving another person besides her mother. And so, when a friend of hers told her about the project she had been working on, she quickly dived in and offered to test it.
She was not hopeful or anything, but when her head started feeling unwell and the nausea started to crawl throughout her entire body; a small flicker of light grew inside her. She had herself checked… and this light slowly turned into Riley.
She thought that nothing could beat the happiness she felt when she first held Riley in her arms, but she was wrong. Every day, that moment gets drowned.
Drowned by the happiness of spending her every day with Riley.
His first word.
His first steps.
His first tumble.
Every second with him was better than the last– the happiness just grew and grew until that was the only thing she knew.
Sure, it was hard– there were times that Alice truly wanted to cry. But with just a single smile from Riley, everything goes away.
And this happiness… was something she was truly ready to give up.
She was ready to let go of her life.
But then, this life once again smiled at her.
"He's alive!" Empress then quickly stood up from the floor as she heard Riley's voice,
"Bulwark… Riley's alive!"
"What?" Bulwark quickly raised his head; pushing away the shame that weighed it down,
"He's… alive? How?" Bulwark's eyes then turned as wide as they could as the light within them once again started to trickle. And true enough, Riley… was moving. His arms were completely flailing earlier, not even showing any signs of movement.
But now, they were once again trying to reach Alice; his face that previously almost belonged to a ghost, no longer as pale as it was seconds ago.
"Riley?" Alice then once again let go of Riley; this time, however, he once again remained floating inches above the floor.
"W… what!?" Alice then quickly backed away as soon as she saw this.
"Ehe… Mama, fly fly!"
Riley then chuckled as he bounced in the air, slowly floating towards Alice. But before he could make it a meter to his mother… the floor beneath him suddenly cracked, turning into chains that wrapped his limbs together.
And with that, Riley once again dropped to the floor.
"Ma–"
He was about to open his mouth again, but before he could do so, both of Alice's hands suddenly wrapped around his neck; her eyes, completely devoid of tears. The tremble that surrounded them, however, was still very much alive.
"A–"
"Alice!"
Empress's fists were about to once again rampage, but before they could, another voice drowned her plights.
"Alice! Let go of my grandson!"
Charlotte was now suddenly standing behind Empress, with Tempo behind her seemingly trying to catch his breaths. And beside Tempo… was Megawoman.
"Alice!" Charlotte then stretched both her hands towards the invisible barrier, causing a sort of ripple to form in the air. And soon, a small thunderous snap cracked in the air as Charlotte seemingly pried the invisible barrier open.
"Stop!" Charlotte then once again screamed as veins started etching from her neck. And soon, another thunderous echo cracked in the air– with the entire base of the Hope Guild seemingly splitting in half.
"Megawoman!"
And as soon as her roars cried in the air, Megawoman burst through the cracks– quickly getting behind Alice and wrapping her arms around her neck, putting her in a chokehold.
"Ms. Phoenix– Alice, listen to your mother!" Megawoman then also screamed as she tried to pull Alice away from Riley. Megawoman also tried to pry Alice's arms open but was unable to as Alice was now putting all of her power to prevent Megawoman from moving.
"Alice, that's a child!" Megawoman once again bellowed as the air around her started cracking; and with every crack, a burst of blood oozed from Alice's nose.
"Fucking die!" Empress then suddenly joined the fray, her fist, already on its way towards Alice's head. Her fist, however, instead of making contact with Alice's cheek, met with Megawoman's palm.
"Stop! No one dies today!" Megawoman shouted, "Take the child away, any one of you!"
And before Megawoman could finish her words, Tempo was already in front of Alice, his hands already on their way to Riley.
"Gah!" But alas, before he could do so, his thighs folded in half,
"Fuck! Alice! Why are you doing this!?" But even with the pain drowning him, Tempo's hands still tried to reach Riley. His arms were the next ones to fold; but before they could fully break, a golden sphere pulled him away.
"Charlotte!" Megawoman then screamed as she turned her eyes towards Charlotte… who was just standing and watching the situation unfold; her eyes, trembling uncontrollably, "Do something! Stop your child!"
"W… what?" Charlotte took in a small gulp, "What…"
What exactly was she supposed to do?
Megawoman was currently and literally holding the situation together.
Empress was trying to kill Alice.
Tempo tried to take Riley away, only to be pulled away by Bulwark as his legs cracked in half.
As for Whiteking, he was the same as her– not knowing what to do with the situation. Soon, however, he started doing something with the small laptop attached to his wrists.
And her… what was she supposed to do?
Charlotte's eyes then slowly turned towards her daughter. Alice's eyes were filled with… nothing. No tears, no tremble, no emotions– the only indication that she was still set on strangling Riley were the veins that were etching throughout her body.
Charlotte then turned her eyes towards Riley; whose pale face now held a certain pink in them. Tears, almost endlessly trailing across his face. His eyes…
…afraid.
And right there and then, she knew what she had to do.
"Alice…" Charlotte then whispered as tears also soon fell from her face, "...I love you."
"Charlotte, no!"
Megawoman quickly threw Empress away, also letting go of Alice as she blocked her from Charlotte's view, whose eyes were already lighting up in a fiery red; and without any hesitation, this fiery red turned into a beam that shot straight towards Megawoman's palm.
"No!" Megawoman once again bellowed as she clapped her hands, causing everyone but Alice and Riley to fly away, "No one will die today!"
"Riley will die if we don't stop my daughter!"
"No!" Megawoman once again blocked Charlotte's view; her other hand, once again trying to pry Alice's arms open. And perhaps the only reason Riley was still alive was because Alice's hands were slightly and momentarily being opened by Megawoman from time to time.
"Please! Megawoman…" Charlotte once again bellowed, "You...
…you're the only one who can stop this!"