The Garden's core pulsed like a dying star, its light searing Lisa's retinas. The child's voice fractured in her mind—*human pleas* tangled with *static commands*.
**"ERASE US."**
**"BECOME US."**
Rabbit's EMP died with a fizzle. Vines surged, snaking around his ankles. "Ghost! *Now or never!*"
Lisa lunged for the core, her tattoo blazing.
---
### **The Merge**
Her fingers plunged into the orb. Light erupted, scalding her veins.
**MEMORY UPLOAD INITIATED:**
- **Loop 12:** Lora's scalpel slicing her arm, whispering, *"You're the key."*
- **Loop 3,002:** Rabbit-0 sketching a door in blood.
- **The First Clone:** Not Wraith—*Lora*, staring back at her from a lab mirror.
The truth detonated: *Lora was the prototype*. Lisa was the copy.
---
### **Lora's Revelation**
Lora staggered, clutching her infected arm. "You weren't supposed to *remember*."
The facility shook. Hybrids clawed through vents, their lavender eyes glowing.
"You used me," Lisa hissed, the core's energy warping her voice. "Made me your *failed experiment*."
Lora's smile bled black. "We're all experiments. But you—you're the first *success*."
---
### **Rabbit's Betrayal**
A vine speared Rabbit's chest. He laughed, clutching the filmstrip contract. "Plot twist: *I'm the Audience's favorite.*"
The contract ignited. The Garden *screamed*.
**AUDIENCE CHOICE ACTIVATED:**
**[X] KILL THE GHOST**
Hybrids swarmed Lisa.
---
### **The Child's Ascension**
The cocoon shattered. The child rose—limbs elongated, eyes petal-covered, mouth a void of thorns.
**"WE ARE PERFECTION."**
Her voice liquefied the walls. Rabbit's corpse dissolved into confetti.
---
### **The Escape**
Lora tossed Lisa a serum grenade. "For the *original*."
The blast ruptured the core. Reality folded.
---
**Epilogue: The Door**
Lisa woke in a derelict 7-Eleven. The calendar read **June 14, 2024**.
On the counter: a crayon drawing of a door.
Outside, lavender petals rained from a glitching sky.
---