Alice looked around.
There was nothing. The place she was in was very similar to Shapeshifter's Room... but also different. Very Different.
The girl was still trying to understand what happened to her a couple of seconds ago, after Grimm made her drink this weird liquid, when she suddenly heard a voice:
"Hello there. I didn't expect to see you so soon."
This was a voice Alice knew very well. A voice she first heard when she was attempting to end her own life.
"Where are we ?"
"In your mind. Or something like that. To be completly honest, I'm not sure."
Alice stayed silent for a while.
"Show yourself. I want to know what you looks like."
"You're sure you want to know ?"
"Yeah."
A young girl, with a missing left eye, appeared from nowhere. She was black-haired and green-eyed, and looked like she was around eleven.
She looked exactly like somebody Alice knew. Two people, in fact. Herself and Mirror.
Knowing that Killer looked like that... raised a lot of questions.
"So... are you me from the future ? Or prehaps you're related to Mirror in some way ? No, that's not it... Maybe you're a reflection from the cursed mirror of the Forest of Glass, but you're not Mirror ? Is that it ?"
Killer looked at her. There was a hint of sadness hidden her calm eye.
"Neither of those three things."
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
"Obviously."
Alice knew Killer wouldn't answer even if she was correct, so she didn't ask any other questions. Honestly, knowing that Killer looked just like her was already a great piece of info (of course, she could have powers similar to those Shapeshifter used to looks like Will, but that seemed unlikely to Alice, for some reason.)
"Why did Grimm made me drink that... potion ? Does he perhaps want to..."
Killer didn't let Alice finish her sentence.
"I don't know, but I hope not."
Alice thought about Grimm for a while. The young soul seller gave her food, so he couldn't be an evil person.
Right ?
The Lightbringer looked around, trying to not think about the fact that she was currently sleeping in Grimm's hut, completly defensless.
"So this is my mind... Why is it empty, though ?"
"Because I kept it that way." answered Killer. " I can show you something, if you want."
There was something strange about the way Killer said these three last words... but Alice didn't thought much of it.
"Why not ?"
Killer suddenly pulled a lever that Alice was unable to see, and suddenly, the whole place turned into a very weird kind of movie theater, and Alice and Killer were inside of it.
Alice was a little startled (but not that much after experiencing several things that made absolutly zero sense), and asked:
"What are you going to show me ?"
"The happiest moment in your life."
"The happiest..."
Alice had no idea what Killer was going to show her.
"Come on, take a seat."
Alice did so, still wary of Killer.
In the past, she said that if Alice died, she would die too... This would explain why Killer prevented her from jumping of the edge of the Forest of Glass, and why she killed the Two Mouths. But was that really true ?
Maybe Killer could predict the future, and she wanted Alice alive because she would be useful for her ?
In any case, fully trusting someone whose name was litteraly "Killer" was, in Alice's opinion, not a good idea.
"Look Alice ! It's beggining !"
The Lightbringer looked at the sceen, curious.
What was Killer going to show her ?
The answer quicly appeared.
"You worthless, ungrateful brat."
Alice almost jumped when she heard her mother's voice.
"Killer, stop this. Now."
"Don't want to."
Alice tried to get out of her seat, but she was unable to. Her butt was glued to it. No, it was even worse... it was as if her body was merged with it.
"Killer, what..."
"Shut up and watch."
Alice was about to protests, but her lips were merged, like her body with the seat.
She could do nothing but watch.
Watch "the happiest day of her life".
On the screen, her slightly younger self was getting beat up by her mother, the worst person Alice ever met.
Shapeshifter and Brandon did things far more horrible than her mother, but both had "reasons": Shapeshifter would have died if he did not do what he did, and Brandon was forced to do it by Lotus.
Her mother didn't have reasons.
She was just angry. Angry because she was broke, angry because she had two unwanted child, angry because her best friend died. Angry because no one loved her.
Angry because she was alone.
So, she hit her children.
Well, she nearly never hit Will. Was it because he was a boy ? Alice did not think so. She thought it was more because Will was... Will. Even if he had been somewhat kind to her, Alice knew it since they were little: you don't mess with Will. You just don't.
And this day.... the happiest day of her life... was the day Alice's mother made that mistake.
"Mom ! Stop !"
Alice's mom laughed, and hit her one more time.
"Stop ! Stop ! When you're the one who stole my drugs ! Tell me ! Tell me where it is !"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Alice was pushed on the ground. She begun crying.
"You worthless child. Stop crying."
"What's happening here ?" said a male voice. Someone just entered the house.
"Will ? Weren't you supossed to hang out with your friends ?" asked Alice's mother.
Will grinned. Alice noticed that he was bruised. He fought with someone before coming here.
"My friends, if you want to call them that, got the beating of their life. These guys fought four of them was enough against one of me... how foolish. But that doesn't matter. I'm going to play video games right now, so please stop screaming and all that stuff. I want the house quiet when I'm here."
Will's mother almost said something, but she didn't. Because Will was Will.
But Alice was Alice, too.
"Will, mom discovered you're the one who stole her candies."
Alice's mother threw a glance at Alice, surprised by her lie. But there was something more important than Alice being a liar.
"Will ? You're the one who took it ?"
Will looked calm. Too calm, almost.
"Yeah. Wanted to test. It's way worse than I thought, honestly."
"You're the one who took it !"
Mother was angry, very angry. Her drugs were very important to her. So much she forgot that Will was Will.
She slapped him in the face.
Big mistake.
"Who do you think you are ! You worthless piece of..."
"Alice asked me to kill you."
Silence.
"Huh... What ?"
"I wasn't going to do it... but seriously, I can't stand you. And you just hit me, so it's just self-defence."
"Who do you think you..."
Suddenly, the movie screen begun twisting into something abstract.
Person.
Arm.
Blood.
Knife.
"Will, what did you just..."
"You're going to die. Today."
The woman stumbled. Obviously, she was surprised.
Will struck again. And again.
Alice stayed silent and motionless.
Soon, her mother died.
Humans are fragile. Body and mind alike. It take very little to break them.
The "movie" ended with Alice laughing like crazy.
Killer looked at the young Lightbringer.
"You manipulated your mother and Will to end her life, never helped her when he was murdering her, and laughed afterwards. Tell me, Alice. Don't you feel... guilty ?"
Alice's lips were unsealed.
She only said two words.
"Nice movie."
And then, she woke up, back at Grimm's home.