Chapter Text
Mizi slowly opened her eyes.
The ceiling above her was white, not sterile, not cold like the ones she'd woken up to before. This one was soft. Warm.
But that warmth didn't reach her.
Her body ached. Not just the surface, but deep, somewhere behind her ribs, beneath her skin, in the space where names and screams and memories used to live.
She turned her head slowly to the left. A window was open, sunlight bleeding through. Outside, the world looked calm. Too calm.
It was beautiful.
It made her sick.
Because beauty didn't belong to them anymore. Not after everything they'd lost. Not after how many they had to watch fall.
She followed the sunlight, let it drag her gaze to the right, and what she saw shattered her breath.
No.
No, no, no.
Her body jolted, or tried to. Pain shot through her spine like a blade, but she didn't care.
There.. sitting like nothing had happened, asleep in a chair, was her.
Sua.
Same tied-up hair. Same blue blazer. Same quiet softness in her face, even while resting.
Mizi's voice tore itself from her throat.
"Sua?.."
She tried to sit up. Her body screamed in protest. Her lungs burned. But she pushed anyway.
"Sua!.."
Still, no response.
She looked too real. Too whole. Not like how Mizi last saw her, not the blood, the screaming, the sacrifice.
This had to be a joke.
This had to be some cruel lie.
Hah.
Hah... Hahaha...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
She laughed, and it sounded wrong— like something broken pretending to be joy.
Then-
"Oh. Looks like Mizi's awake?~"
She flinched.
That voice!..
She turned left again. Her breath caught in her throat.
Ivan.
Smiling, just like he used to. Calm, just like always. Standing there like he hadn't bled out in Round 6 trying to protect Till.
"You're making Till and Sua worry about you, you know?" he said, like it was normal.
"I-Ivan?.."
She stared at him in horror. He tilted his head, still wearing that same stupid blazer.
"B-But! You're supposed to be dead in Round 6!"
Ivan's smile didn't fall.
But his eyes... his eyes were mourning something she'd never understood.
Something he couldn't say out loud.
"Who's supposed to be dead?" another voice broke in.
Sua.
Mizi turned toward her, and her walls crumbled. The tears came too fast to stop. Her shoulders trembled as Sua rushed to her side, kneeling by the bed and wrapping her arms around her.
"What's wrong?.."
She couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
She just clung to her, sobbing. Not even knowing if she was alive, or dreaming, or already dead.
Ivan stood nearby, watching in silence.
He'd felt it too. That same paralyzing feeling. He and Hyuna, when they woke up here- they thought it too.
This must be a dream. A sick, merciful illusion.
But it wasn't.
It wasn't a reset.
It wasn't forgiveness.
This was the aftershock.
A world rebuilt on the ruins of a game they didn't win.
Because they didn't escape.
Because half of them are gone.
And no matter how soft this new world feels, the blood still stains their hands.
The ghosts still follow.
But for now... for now, they're allowed to breathe.
Even if it hurts to.
Even if the cost of surviving is remembering every name that didn't.
Even if they're only alive because someone else isn't.
Because sometimes, mercy feels a lot like punishment.
And sometimes, waking up feels worse than dying.
But it's not about that now.
'It feels too soft. Too safe. Too kind.' was all the words you could think of.
It has to be a dream.
But it's not.
Not this time.
Because somehow, impossibly, it seems like, from now on...
Their wishes are beginning to come true.