Chapter Text
There's fire. Silenced gunshots. M.K.'s (not Veera, anymore) face is everywhere, dead in many ways. Niki. Niki is different but still as dead. All that blood. It's too much.
"Mika? Mika! "
Voice that sounds like hers, but also doesn't, is calling her name.
MK opens her eyes to see a familiar face. It's like hers, like Niki's. Like so many girls she knews. She forgets, for a moment who she is, where she is, who her visitor is.
"It's alright, Mika. It's me, Beth."
MK can hear her own erratic breathing, but now she remembers what is going on, who Beth is and her voice is steady and calming. MK's mind starts to leave the memories and dreams behind.
"You're at your place. I crashed here for the night. I guess you did fall asleep, after all. Got done with your thinking?"
Beth tries to give her a smile, but it looks slightly forced even to MK. Luckily, Beth is close but not touching her. MK couldn't handle that, not now. Her scars ache and she needs to... she needs to do something, without Beth here.
"I was dreaming," she tells Beth, the rolling [r] and lack of proper intonation the clear differences between their speech. She has to speak a language that is not her own, when she speaks at all, and sometimes her voice rebels against it.
"It is morning. You should leave. It is not safe for you to stay. For either of us."
Beth nods and gets up from the sofa.
"Thanks for letting me crash, Mika," Beth looks down at the still sitting MK and extends her hand towards her. But seeing MK's recoil at the almost touch, leaning even further into the couch, Beth turns her touch into a wave, and then she's gone.
MK gets up a little later. She sees the iced tea on the table by the sofa, made perfectly by herself last night. 35 milliliters crystals to 275 milliliters water. Beth fell asleep before she could drink it. MK takes it and takes a sip. It is too warm now for iced tea but it is still good. She takes it with her to her computers. She has a long day ahead of her. It's time to begin.