Chapter Text
Luka had left almost a day ago now, yet the apartment still felt full of him… full of the image Sua couldn't force out of her mind- Hyuna's body dragging limply behind him while he carried on a conversation that only one of them could hear.
The emergency broadcast had resumed its endless cycle after the power had steadied once again, though the signal sounded weaker now, swallowed every few sentences by bursts of static.
“...individuals may imitate…”
Pause.
“...do not rely on personal memories…”
Pause.
“...remain…”
Pause.
Then it started again from the beginning, Sua found herself listening less to the words than to the empty spaces between them, as though the missing pieces might somehow explain everything, she’d found that she’d been doing that a lot lately.
Mizi hadn't spoken for the entire time she’d been at the window, that worried her almost as much as when she did. She crept toward the window again, parting the curtain by barely a finger's width. Mizi was still there, knees drawn up against her chest, head resting on folded arms.
She looked... bored, almost peaceful.
Not once had she asked for water.
Not once had she stood to stretch her legs.
Not once had she rubbed her eyes or complained that the concrete was uncomfortable.
She simply waited, watching the house with a quiet, unwavering patience.
Sua had just begun convincing herself she was imagining things, convincing herself that exhaustion could make anyone seem strange, that it was only paranoia… that she was killing the love of her life, when another knock echoed through the hallway.
Three quick taps. Much harder than Mizi's. Not frantic, just impatient.
Sua's entire body tensed, then-
"...Ivan?" a voice called through the door, young, familiar, "Ivan, quit ignoring me already."
Another knock.
"I know you're around here."
Sua didn't answer, the footsteps shifted outside- whoever it was had noticed the barricade scraping faintly beneath her weight.
"...Sua?" The voice immediately recognises her, "Oh. Didn't expect you to still be home..."
Her stomach sank, Till… did he know? Ivan was gone. Till had been a lot more protective over Ivan since he had almost lost him- in Anakt, there was a school shooting. Ivan dove in front of Till, taking three bullets for him. It was a miracle he survived, and ever since then, Till had been significantly more paranoid.
She stayed silent.
The emergency broadcast buzzed behind her… giving her the same warning yet again.
“Do not respond to familiar voices.”
Till knocked again, this time with the careless tapping of a song only he could hear.
"Have you seen Ivan?" No answer, "...Sua?" Still nothing, "C'mon." An annoyed, humourless laugh, "I know you're in there, I don't wanna wait anymore."
Slowly, carefully, Sua approached the peephole. She almost wished she hadn't. Till looked exactly like Till… he didn’t have the noticeable patches of missing skin that Ivan did… well, none were visible in the dark anyway.
His blue tinted grey hair was in his eyes, as usual, his sleeves rolled halfway up his arms, one hand shoved casually into his pocket while the other rested against the wall outside her home. He looked irritated more than frightened, glancing up and down the street every few seconds as though searching for a dog that’d wandered off.
Nothing about him appeared wrong.
No blood.
No strange expression.
No obvious injury.
He even shifted his weight from one foot to the other in that restless way she remembered, unable to stay still for more than a few seconds.
"Sua?" he called again, a little louder this time, "...You doing okay? Is uhm… Mizi is there with you?" ,he had a slightly scared look when he spoke her name.
She swallowed, "Where's Ivan?" she asked through the wood before she could stop her own curiosity.
Till blinked, then smiled with obvious relief at finally getting an answer, conformation he wasn’t just talking to himself, "That's... literally what I'm trying to figure out."
"Why?"
Pause.
"Because I lost him." Another easy shrug, "We got separated."
"When?"
Pause.
“Earlier."
"Where?"
There it was again… that tiny pause she'd learned to dread- less than a heartbeat, barely noticeable.
"Near..." His eyes drifted upward for the briefest moment, into the peephole, almost as if he could see through it too, "...the cafe."
Correct, maybe… or at least close enough, Sua couldn't know.
"Why are you looking for him?"
"Because he's Ivan." Till answered it like it should have been obvious, "He always… disappears." ,another grin, "Gets annoying after a while honestly…"
The grin lingered just a little too long before settling naturally back into place… Sua's fingers curled against the door.
"What's his favorite song?" she asked abruptly.
Till frowned, "Ughhh… Seriously?"
"Answer."
A pause, "Depends on the day…"
"Favorite food?"
…
Pause.
"Does coffee count?"
"No."
"Then..." Another pause, longer this time, "...Whatever I'm eating!" He laughed, "He steals enough of it."
Sua couldn't remember if that was true… she couldn't remember if Ivan even ate with them often enough for Till to make that joke… she hated that she couldn't remember.
"You know I can't let you inside…" ,she whispered at last.
Silence answered her.
Not angry silence.
Not disappointed silence.
Not like the little pauses he left before answering a question.
Just... silence.
Then Till sighed dramatically enough that she almost smiled herself because of how normal it felt.
"Hm, figures." He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing down the hallway as though deciding whether it was worth arguing with her like he usually would, "Broadcast got you too then, huh?"
Sua didn't respond.
"It's probably smart," he admitted after a moment, "Wouldn't trust me either." He chuckled under his breath, but there was something odd about it- too light, too unconcerned, almost playful… joking, "Guess I'm not exactly convincing."
Another pause settled between them before he spoke again, quieter now.
"Bet you'd let Mizi in, though..."
Sua's breath caught, "What?"
"Mizi." he tilted his head slightly toward the window where he knew Mizi sat outside without even needing to look, “You keep talking to her." ,another shrug, "Funny, isn't it?"
He smiled… not widely, not unnaturally, just enough to show his perfect ,white- almost glowing- teeth, "You won't let me through the door..." ,his gaze drifted lazily toward the road behind him before returning to the door, staring through the peephole, uncannily certain of where she was standing despite not being able to see her, "...and she's way more dangerous than I am."
The words landed like a bucket of ice water poured straight into her heart.
"What do you mean?" ,she demanded, louder and more intimidating than she'd intended.
Till only laughed again, "Nothing!!"
"Till."
"Nothing." ,he told her sterner that time, losing the joking, argumentative tone in his voice, he stepped away from the door, "Forget it."
"Answer me."
"Can't." ,another grin, "Would ruin the surprise." ,he started walking down the hallway, hands back in his pockets, humming softly beneath his breath.
After only a few steps he stopped without turning around.
"Oh..." ,he called over one shoulder, “if you do find Ivan..." ,a tiny pause, "...tell him I was looking!"
Then he continued down the pathway until even his humming disappeared, Sua stayed frozen at the door long after he was gone, her pulse hammering so violently she could hear it in her ears.
“Way more dangerous than I am.”
The sentence echoed over and over in her mind until it blended with the broadcast, with Ivan's warning, with Luka's, with every guilty thought she'd tried to push away.
Just outside, almost as if she'd sensed the conversation had ended, Mizi knocked softly once more.
"Sua?" ,she asked, her voice as warm and gentle as ever, "Are you still there?"
Still smiling, wide… perfect.
Wrong.
Sua took a cautious step towards the window, her eyes catching something that she hadn’t noticed before- somebody else. A girl, from the year below them, her dark green hair lay on the floor as blood dripped down her fingers, which were resting on a red flower that’d somehow still bloomed everywhere… even in the deathly weather. Her eyes were shut but it was obvious she wasn’t sleeping. She was dead.
…
Lifeless, lay down behind Mizi. She tilted her head, still beaming, showing her faultless teeth, “So you saw her? You know… it could’ve been Till, you saw that he’s a visitor now.”
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No…
Sua knew it wasn’t Till who’d killed Durian… they’d always strangely got along anyway, it was Mizi.
Maybe she had no choice…
Maybe Durian was the visitor…
Maybe she was already dead, from the heat…
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Sua told herself anything but the obvious truth. She fell backwards, going to sit back in the protected corner of her living room, she wasn’t going to make Mizi leave.
She would die for her with a smile on her face if it meant that Mizi would stay alive.