It will be okay, you said.
You assured me that even if the demise enveloped this world, you would never be separated from here.
No matter what it takes, you will find "me".
So I smiled back.
To him, I gave one small message.
"I'll be waiting."
◇
Alice arose with a sluggish movement. She was surrounded by light. In a rainbow of splashes, Alice peered up at a man whose face was a mosaic, looking down at her in a black suit.
Obscured by the mosaic, she couldn't make out his face. Although she couldn't see him, he seemed to be extremely grieving. Alice stood up and stepped in front of the man with the mosaic. Then they stared at each other for a while.
"Raffi."
Alice said, and gently embraced the man with the mosaic face. The man called Raffi was confused for some time, but then he stretched out his long arms and gently hugged Alice.
For a while, the two hugged each other like that. When Alice released his embrace, she gazed up at Raffi's face, hidden by the mosaic.
"Goodbye. Laughing Cat. The one 'I' loved the most…"
She felt that the face behind the mosaic smiled slightly. That body transformed into a splash of light from her feet, assimilating into the rainbow of light surrounding Alice.
"Let's go together."
A wisp of pale flame shot up from Alice's right eye.
"We must stop the demise of Apocrypha."
◇
The vanquished Jabberwock was dazed for a few moments. Jack let go of his hand and he dropped to his knees weakly. Then his body trembled.
"This is… fear…? This is the… proof that I am alive…? What… stupid things are you saying…"
He stared up at Jack with a constricted face and shouted.
"How could such a thing be the evidence of my existence!"
"…"
"I… I am alive because of such a thing! I refuse to believe it! How can I believe that!"
"That's why…!" Jack told him, in a small, hushed voice. "That's why we're all… fighting, aren't we…"
"…"
The speechless Jabberwock came to an appalled halt on his knees.
There, Jack saw a shadow behind the Jabberwock and took a few steps back. He then pulled out the Dáinsleif he had stuck in the ground and directed it at the figure… Lewis.
Emerging from the distortion of space, Lewis stepped in front of Jack, completely disregarding the Jabberwock. He then looked around at him with interest.
"Hmm… I didn't mean to enhance you so much…"
"You…!"
Jack brought the broken Dáinsleif to a lower position. When Lewis viewed this, he waved his hands in the air in exasperation.
"Oh, enough of that. I'm really amazed at how buggy you guys are. I can't believe that a program can spit out errors like this. I guess you could call it a data life form. However, I could see the future of self-evolution at a certain value. I'm done with you guys."
"You're not going to get away with this… Lewis Carroll… No, Charlot Marvel! I will have you captured and turned over to the police!"
At those words, Lewis' eyes widened behind his glasses and he gave a vacant look. Then, after a few seconds, he clicked his tongue as if he had come to an understanding.
"… It couldn't be… that the real 'me' is still alive…?"
"…"
"Answer me, White Knight. I created you."
"What does it matter… what I'm made of, what I'm turned into, I'm still me! This heart, this soul, it's mine alone!"
The Jabberwock behind Lewis' back widened his eyes. The elderly man shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in dismay.
"It's all a program, you know. To put it more simply, it's a series of numbers. You can even express it in zeroes and ones if you want to. Emotions, mind, soul, etc., are garbage. They can be created. As much as you want."
"…"
"Your own? What are you talking about… There is no existence of such things. Nothing that I had created has any value."
"…"
"The only thing I want to see is Alice. I'm not interested in data that are obsequious and dirty. Move."
Jack silently gripped his Dáinsleif tighter and readied it. Lewis looked at him unamused and castigated him.
"I've decided to reset this world once and for all. The simulation itself was a success. Once I discover that I can 'create' the perfect Alice, I don't care about this Labyrinth anymore. If my body is still alive, I'll have to accelerate the process even further…"
"… What are you planning to do…?"
"I have already told you. A reset. Everything will be reset."
Above Lewis' head…
The void began to swirl in the floating sky, and a black space of distortion began to blanket the area.
"Then I'll lock down the external interference from the inside and run the simulation again. Next time, I must create Alice with my own hands."
"Wasn't it your intention to disappear with this world…!"
"Ha?" Snickering at this, Lewis cleared his throat quietly. "Why? This is my own personal world, created by me, just as I want it to be. It's my utopia. Why do I have to leave my utopia? That would be the end of the 'tale'."
Lewis extended his right hand towards Jack, looking annoyed.
"It's you bugs that need to disappear."