Project Alice-02 (2)
Alice.
Her precise designation was Project Alice-02.
The frail experimental subject had been born inside a pitch-black test tube.
<Oh... this is quite an interesting harvest.>
<To think two experimental subjects were judged suitable.>
Beyond the transparent glass stood a man in a white coat.
His features were grotesque beyond words, with no eyes, nose, or mouth.
The man introduced himself as OZ.[1]
<These experimental subjects are in good condition.>
<This time, we may actually be able to make them bear [The Queen].>
<All the other subjects we have attempted so far, a total of 3,761 experimental subjects, will be disposed of.>
The faceless man muttered to himself.
Calling himself their father, he stroked the glass window of the test tube.
<Perhaps you may become the greatest masterpieces of my life.>
Inside the bubbling test tube, a faint sense of self had formed.
For Alice-02, that was the first memory that remained.
Soon, the girl left the test tube and was moved to a corner of a cold room.
A dark room where not a single ray of light entered, one that would remain an unforgettable Nightmare for the rest of her life.
<Now then... hurry and satisfy my expectations.>
<Show me the possibility you hold deep inside you.>
Project Alice.
From what she had vaguely heard from the man, it seemed to be a project meant to call something that existed only as a concept into reality.
<You are a window. A window that connects concept and reality.>
<There is a world I wish to see through such a window.>
The project the man spoke of was meant to bring down [something] through an experimental subject.
So even if Alice-02 was complete, that was not the end of it.
If anything, it was only the beginning.
They had only opened a window. They had not yet called in the concept beyond it.
<Ah... it will surely be beautiful. A world painted over with Nightmares, where screams and shrieks ring out like sunlight.>
<I sincerely hope you fulfill my dream.>
<Please endure for a long, long time without breaking.>
That was the request the man made of the girl.
After that, Alice-02 was locked in the dark room and experimented on every single day.
The frail experimental subject was robbed of agency and will, then forced to live through suffering that repeated day after day.
"No... it hurts, it hurts..."
<Yes, exactly! Suffer a little more! Break down even further!>
"It's like... another world, monsters, they, they keep following me..."
<Ah! You must not lose hold of that sensation!>
"Father... my foot..."
The experiment itself was nothing special.
She was injected with a black drug, then fell into a deep sleep.
That alone was enough to make Alice-02 writhe in distant agony and fear.
Whenever she closed her eyes, Nightmares chased after the girl and tormented her in the most horrible ways.
<It is a drug specially prepared for this project, you see?>
<I made sure it would make the experimental subjects suffer as much as possible.>
Whenever Alice-02 screamed, the man smiled as if that was exactly the reaction he had wanted.
The girl had no way to resist.
The laboratory was a domain that belonged entirely to the man.
Over a long period of time, he carefully chipped away at the experimental subject's mind.
<It really is quite a complicated task.>
<We must inflict pain for now, but the troublesome part is that any physical contact must be completely forbidden.>
<If there is a flaw in the experimental subject, we cannot know what kind of error might occur when we call in the [concept].>
<That is why we are proceeding by collapsing the mind, but even that carries the risk of the window breaking if we rush it...>
A delicate process was needed.
It was a project that had to take at least ten years.
Whenever the torture was underway, the man hummed along with all sorts of idle chatter.
"......"
The girl felt as if she would break.
Endless mental torture.
Nightmares she could never get used to, and the helplessness and despair injected into her head.
What allowed her to endure that terrible reality was the companion who stayed by her side each day.
"Liss!"
"......Big Sis Ally."[2]
Alice-01.
An experimental subject like the girl, and the one who was her older sister on paper.
She was the only support Liss could rely on in the dark laboratory.
The two girls looked completely identical, to the point that it was impossible to tell them apart by sight alone.
They were like identical twins.
Even the researchers distinguished the two girls by the marks on their arms.
"Today's experiment felt harder than usual, didn't it?"
"Mhm..."
"Still, my pretty little sister! You held up so well today too."
"B-Big Sis... I can't breathe if you hug me like that."
"Because my little sister is the best!"
Her big sister was a kind person.
Someone who could stay bright and sparkling even in that gutter.
Though the two of them looked alike on the outside, their personalities and temperaments were complete opposites.
"Liss."
"Yes... Big Sis Ally."
Ally. Liss.
They were nicknames the sisters had chosen for each other.
From the name Alice, they took the front half for the older sister and called her Ally, then gave the back half to the younger sister and called her Liss.
Since both of them had the same name in the form of Alice-01 and Alice-02, it had been the older sister's idea to split the name fairly between them.
-Our name is split in half, so we can only become whole when we're together.
-No matter what happens, we can't be separated! Got it?
Ally took good care of Liss.
Whenever Liss cried into her pillowcase, affectionate hands always wrapped around her.
"You had another scary dream, didn't you? You can't even fall asleep. You just keep crying."
"N-no, I didn't... sniff, I'm fine..."
"Fine, my foot. Come here, into Big Sis's arms."
"......Okay."
Liss liked Ally's embrace.
Because, strangely enough, on nights when she fell asleep in her big sister's arms, she did not have Nightmares.
When she learned that this was because Ally had actually been taking on her little sister's Nightmares herself, she cried as if the whole world had collapsed...
"Liss... I told you not to cry. Big Sis is really fine."
"But, Big Sis... because of me, Big Sis..."
"Big Sis is sorry. Let's stop crying. Stop now."
"Hic, uuu..."
That was how special her big sister was to the girl.
Ally always shone, and she encouraged her powerless little sister.
The only reason Liss could endure those hellish days was because of her big sister.
"It's okay."
Whenever Liss cried, her big sister often told her silly stories.
"Someday, when we get out of here, let's build a quiet house and live there together."
"Sniff... outside? But how...?"
"We can run away! Or do you want to stay in the laboratory forever?"
"Run away from the laboratory? C-can we do that? Is that okay...?"
"Of course! But it's a secret just between us. Father can never find out!"
Stories about the outside.
The two of them had been born in the laboratory, but they had a rough idea of the ordinary lives and happiness of people outside.
When their egos were established as experimental subjects, information about the outside had been input into them as a basic matter.
Because of that, Ally often brought up stories about the outside world.
"If we ever succeed in escaping, I want to go to so many places. The sea that's endlessly filled with saltwater, mountains where all kinds of plants gather, snowy fields piled with white ice crystals... Ah, I want to visit a place called an academy too, where kids our age gather!"
"I want to be with you too, Big Sis..."
"What are you saying? That's obvious~!"
"Uah, Big Sis... d-don't pat me so hard..."
Sometimes, it felt strange.
Why had they gone out of their way to plant information about the outside world in experimental subjects who were supposed to stay locked up forever?
'Maybe it was because doing so was even crueler...'
The man wanted them to suffer as much as possible.
Even so, those stories gave them hope.
When they lay beside each other and shared tales of adventures they had never experienced, they could forget the Nightmares for a short while.
"Someday, we'll definitely run away. I'll definitely get you out."
"Okay, Big Sis..."
Even in that miserable environment, there had been small, happy memories.
Liss depended on Ally more and more.
Because when she was with her big sister, she did not have to let go of hope.
Even when she tried to let go of hope, her big sister reached out and held it for her.
"It's okay. We'll definitely be able to be happy."
We'll be able to be happy.
That was the phrase the girl's big sis always had on her lips.
It may have been a flimsy sentence, but those words truly kept Liss alive for several more years.
"Okay, I'll believe..."
How many years had passed like that?
One day, by chance, OZ left the laboratory.
Since the man held a high position even within the Cultists, he went on business trips several times a year.
"......Liss. Do you hear that?"
"Huh? What sound?"
"It sounds like something is cracking and breaking..."
That day, though, something was different.
Only a few hours after OZ left, a commotion broke out in the research facility.
Beyond the thick walls that trapped them, the researchers' screams and various bursting sounds could be heard faintly.
Soon after, part of the research facility crumbled down.
Rumble-!
"H-huh...?!"
"Liss! Be careful!"
The place was half-destroyed in an instant.
Only later did they learn that the Church, after obtaining information, had sent an extermination squad.
People in white robes poured into the corridors, cutting down the fleeing Cultist members.
"Big Sis! Wh-what do we do..."
"......This is a chance!"
"A-a chance?"
"The chance we've always dreamed of! We can escape now!"
Luckily, because the building had been half-destroyed, the wall of the Isolation Cell that imprisoned the two of them was warped.
The other researchers were also busy carrying out the protocol to incinerate the entire research facility.
If they were left there, they were destined to be disposed of along with the facility.
Ally held out her hand and pulled Liss out of the laboratory.
"We always said we'd run away! Today is that day."
"B-Big Sis...!"
"We have to meet the people upstairs. They seem like people from the Church, so they'll definitely help us!"
"I think they already noticed we're gone! Before we get caught again, w-we have to hurry...!"
The two of them slipped out through the warped gap.
Right after that, they ran with all their strength down the dark corridor.
The two broke through the guards and began their escape.
The world outside the laboratory, which they stepped into for the first time, smelled of acrid smoke.
A foul stench, the smell of chemicals, and a faint scent of blood welcomed them.
"Huff, huff... how much farther?"
"I think we're right under the upper floor now...!"
"We're almost there!"
They got lost several times, but fortunately, the children were getting closer and closer to the exit.
If they crossed just one more corridor, they could get outside.
And so, just when success seemed to be right in front of them.
Suddenly, Ally's body, running ahead, collapsed.
Slice-.
"......Huh?"
[1] OZ likely points to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, adding another children's-literature reference beside Alice while also making the faceless researcher a false, godlike figure behind the curtain.
[2] Liss calls Ally unni in Korean, an affectionate term a girl uses for an older sister or close older girl; localized here as "Big Sis."
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