Chapter Text
Running, Mizi finds herself in one of the corner storages of the rebellion bunker. If someone were to open the door in the crowded room, no one would see her, hidden as the door creaks inside.
Far away enough from anybody else so that no one hears her ragged breath.
Her uncontrollable sobs.
They rock her body, trembling at the force of them.
She almost hurt a kid.
She almost hurt a kid .
One that looks like the two most precious people to her.
She looked like Till. Till, who wasn’t so close to her in their time at the garden. Till, who is the last person she has left.
She looked like Sua . Sua, who loved Mizi with everything she had. Sua, who Mizi learned what love was, a way to crush someone without killing them. Sua, who gave up her life for Mizi.
Sua, who is forever 23, stuck on that stage .
Mizi gags at the mere thought of Sua, and thinking of how that kid looked so much like her forced bile up her throat.
She throws up into a random box, uncaring for what’s in it.
Let that be someone else’s problem.
Mizi doesn’t know how long she’s in that room for,
it almost feels like a bubble,
but eventually her cries calm down, she can suppress her emotions deep within her, no need to ever deal with them again.
Unless she sees those kids again.
Isolation has made Mizi rational, enough so that she can at least analyse her own feelings and the situation before her.
There are kids.
Kids with the DNA of her, Ivan, Hyuna, Till, Sua, everyone she has loved, and Luka.
And that…
That’s disgusting .
Only Segyien would be able to think of this. With their fixation on breeding, of making the most perfect human. Their perfect pet.
But why did it have to be with them ? Why must she be reminded of her failures at every turn?
Why not just continue with Luka? He’s already a clone, at least from what she’s heard. Why did they have to drag the dead alongside him ?
Mizi wishes they never existed.
She does not want to see somebody with the features of the ones she loves grow older than they did.
It isn’t fair.
When Ivan was alive-
When Till was younger, he had practically worshipped Mizi.
She was like the artificial sun in Anakt Garden. Beautiful, perfect, bright. Something that brought warmth.
It wasn’t until Till had been taken in by the rebellion and had gone months and then years before seeing Mizi again did he realize how true that portrayal really was.
Beautiful, perfect, bright. Warm.
Fake .
It was never Mizi’s fault that Till saw her as something she was not. It was all on him, for he needed something to cling onto,
when his shame drove him away from Ivan.
But that growing period without her made him realize that it was unfair for both of them to continue thinking of her as an idol.
She’s just a survivor. A victim to those twisted games the Segyien would play.
He still doesn’t know her as well as he knows Sua and Ivan did, but he feels confidence in their bond that had been built over the years to lead him to her.
After his- the kids fell asleep, of course.
It’s the only time he willingly separates himself from them, not even most of the time, as they beg him to stay with them throughout the night to keep them safe.
It’s as endearing as it is sad.
Yet still, he owed it to Sua, to Ivan, to Mizi, to check up on her when he can. He had left a note for the kids stating where he had gone and where the nearest adult was, in case they woke up before he returned, so he doesn’t feel too bad about it.
And Till remembers, back in Anakt Garden, when Mizi and he would hide away from Segyien, always in storage closets and control rooms, with his heart beating from the adrenaline and the proximity and Mizi stifling giggles at the thrill of it.
So he isn’t too surprised to find Mizi in the storage room that felt farthest away from the real garden yet still close enough for someone to go to when in a panic.
Till knows. He knows what it feels like.
She’s curled up into a ball, eyes dull and staring into nothing, as they often do since his last round on that stage
Till sits next to her, waiting for her to acknowledge him.
Letting her speak about it on her own terms.
Only after a few moments does Mizi speak. “I’m sorry.”
His confusion must show, because Mizi looks at him, staring at him with those same dull yellow eyes, before adding, “For hitting you.”
And ah .
Till had honestly forgotten about it. He is so used to pain as a companion, after all these years, he does not blink at the hit Mizi delivered. It was harsh, yes, and she didn’t hold back;
But Till rarely felt touch without harshness before his freedom.
And Till wants to say It’s okay, It isn’t your fault, nothing changes between them , but none of it feels right. It isn’t okay, because what if the girl that looked like him got hurt? In a sense, it is her fault for lashing out against innocent children, no matter the reason.
And things have changed.
Since the day of the rocket, they had looked out for each other, being each other’s priorities.
But now, with the kids, that has shifted.
Till can’t put Mizi first, because he has a responsibility to the kids.
All words are stuck in his throat, since that day. Today is no different.
Till offers his hand to Mizi to hold, as it is the only thing he can offer. She clings to it.
They sit together in the darkness of the storage room, the last survivors of Alien Stage.