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“Is it supposed to take this long?”
It was familiar. That voice was familiar.
“I told you, it’s not that weird. You took far too long to get out of your stupid daze anyway.”
It was a different voice, but this was familiar too. It didn’t feel the same as the first one did.
“How could I focus on anything but him?”
Back to the first voice. It’s not like it was-
No.
It couldn’t be him.
“And look how that turned out.”
The second voice scoffed.
If that was him, then this had to be her.
…
Fuck.
He opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. He muttered to himself, "A bunch of bright lights and then some more.”
“Till!” Ivan shouted. “Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Are-”
Sua huffed, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but give him a minute. He did just get here.”
Till squinted his eyes open. “Both of you are here? But neither of you won your… rounds…” He sat upright and put a hand on his neck. “That fucking bastard-”
“You got to the final round though.” Ivan leaned on his shoulder.
“So what? It’s not like it really mattered that much. Sua got out first, I got out last, and I’m still stuck with her.”
Sua sat across from the two of them with her arms crossed. “I could care less about your pity party guitar boy. I just…”
She looked down, a solemn tone in her voice as she said “Ivan told me Mizi was missing. I haven’t seen her here. Do you know anything more about what happened to her?” She looked back up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before setting her hands in her lap. “It’s the least you could do to be useful.”
“You haven’t changed at all.” Till flopped back down on the floor.
Ivan slid and fell on top of him with a smirk. He looked over at Till. “Hey~”
Till shoved him off. “You haven’t changed either. Except for… that.”
“That?” Sua tilted her head.
“Did he not tell you about his whole stunt in our round?”
Sua sighed, “He did. In detail. Too much detail. I don’t know why I’m still interacting with him.”
“Oh come on Sua~” Ivan pouted, “You don’t think we’ve bonded a little bit more together here?”
“No.”
“You’re so mean to me.” Ivan put his head on Till’s leg. “She’s so mean to me Till.”
Till rolled his eyes, “I can guess why. You’re a freak.”
Ivan simply smiled. “Aren’t we all? None of us exactly had a normal round. Sua tried to tie, you killed Freddie the poor guy, and I did what I knew I would never have the courage to do otherwise. I certainly don’t regret it.”
Till looked up in a spiteful sort of reminiscing. “I don’t regret destroying that motherfucker. None of those aliens deserve any respect.”
“Hm…” Sua pondered for a moment. “I don’t regret my round either. Of course, I’m worried for Mizi, but I’m glad she got a little more time down there. After all, we’re here forever now.” She coughed, “Speaking of Mizi, I’d like to get back to my original question. Do you know how she is?”
“Right right.” Till sighed, “This one is too much of a distraction.”
“Who?” Ivan pointed at himself. “Me?”
“There’s no one else here, yes you!”
Ivan smiled, “I’m completely innocent.”
“Whatever.” Till turned his attention towards Sua. “She’s okay. I saw Mizi at the end. I… I thought I was gonna end up losing because I couldn’t keep up with that son of a bitch. He was just having the time of his damn life on that stage and all I could think about was–” He looked over at Ivan, a gaze that lingered just a little too long.
“You… you thought about me?” Ivan asked.
Till spoke softly. “How could I not? You were my friend for years, of course I cared.”
Sua hummed. “It looks like you are a hypocrite Ivan.”
Till sputtered, “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Oh don’t worry about that.” Ivan waved him off.
Sua hummed, “You damn hypocrite.”
Ivan turned his head towards her. “You’re one to talk. Who was the one who was so desperate to know anything about Mizi that she asked every single person who lost their round when they got here?”
Sua turned red. “I-it wasn’t every single person. Just… many.”
Till scrunched up his face in confusion. “There were three other people in the competition– how many of them did you ask?”
“Just–”
“All of them.” Ivan interrupted her. “The one that lost to you, the one that lost to me, and the one who lost to Luka. All three of them. Each and every–”
“You’ve made your point so shut up.” Sua glared at him.
Ivan lifted his head up, moved slightly forward, and rested right back on Till. “I don’t know, is it clear enough to you Till?”
“Very.” Till rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just being obnoxious.”
“I only wanted to make sure you understood~”
Sua sighed, “Honestly? I don’t know how you’ve handled him for years you brat.”
Till scowled, “You talking about me?”
“Yes, brat.” Sua crossed her arms. “You’re both annoying, but at least you’re not as clingy to me as that… thing is. You cared more about Mizi. Only cared about her if I’m being honest.”
“We all cared about Mizi.” Ivan chimed in. “How could you not? She was the most innocent of us all.”
Till smiled dreamily. “She was just the perfect kind of person like that. She looked so scared when I last saw her. I hope there’s just something better for her out there.”
“She’ll be fine,” Sua stated as a matter of fact. “She will be fine. That’s the Mizi I know.”
Ivan said confidently, “If she’s made it this far, I’m sure she’ll do something great soon.”
“Yeah… that’s Mizi.” It just wasn’t the Mizi that Till had seen at the end of the round. She looked terrified. It was worse than her face after losing Sua. It was worse than watching her get angry at Luka. It was the only time he’d seen her cry so desperately.
“Well then,” Sua stood up and dusted her dress off. “I got what I wanted. Goodbye.”
Till scoffed as she walked off before turning his head towards Ivan. “You gonna get off now?”
“Hm~” Ivan stared at him. “No. I don’t think I will~”
Till huffed, “Do you have to always be like this?”
Ivan beamed. “Only when I’m around you. Welcome to the Great Anakt Till.”