Chapter Text
01: SUA
What came after life? Sua had never considered it. Before she was put in that glass display box, before she held Mizi’s gaze for the first time, she had been too young to form a strong impression of death.
After that? She drowned too quickly and too deeply to think about anything else, swept away by the innocent joy of her friend.
However, now, as the bullet from her executor's gun punctured her neck, Sua felt her body recoil from the shock, and her mind raced with unseen clarity about her future.
Would she be alone? Would she slowly forget everything? Would-
Sua saw black, and she fell. Limp.
When she came to, Sua found herself in Anakt Garden, lying on the soft green blades of grass. Almost instinctively, she reached out beside her, expecting to find warmth there. However, there was only cold wind. Grass tickled her fingers.
Sua dropped her hand.
Sigh.
The girl climbed to her feet, her hair swaying in the breeze. The school was so different, a ghost town. She laughed, the sound marred by sorrow. Standing all alone in a place where so many memories were made felt so painful. So wrong.
The memories weren’t all pretty. They didn’t roll around in the grass, fish in the rivers, and laugh while pointing at the artificial sun all the time. But…
Her thoughts trailed off on their own. It was too much.
Just please… Please… Don’t leave me here alone.
-
02: IVAN
He glanced at the scores, displayed on the large glowing screen behind them. His was dropping fast, tumbling down to a place where it would never recover from. Till's eyes were still squeezed shut, the gray-haired boy refusing to even spare him a glance.
That hurt more than his impending death.
So. Much. More.
Ivan felt his heart break. As he pulled away, his hands still clasped around the other's neck, Ivan was relieved to find that what nestled in his heart wasn't anger.
Till didn't deserve that. No. All Ivan would allow himself to have would be a distant feeling of sadness and some bittersweet thankfulness that at least his companion could continue to live, to rebel, and to shine.
As the scores settled, 89 to 70 in favor of Till, Ivan knew that his fate was sealed. It was finally done. Somewhere behind him, a click was faintly audible as a robot prepared to shoot. There was only a faint boom before the first bullet grazed his side.
Ivan flinched, but his hands still held on steadfast. The second swoosh, wounding his shoulder, was followed up by a third, narrowly missing him by a hair’s length. Yet, Ivan did not let go, searching for a hint of emotion on Till’s face, just a little something to take with him when Death inevitably came to collect him.
The other just closed his eyes, eyelids twitching. Ivan’s hands shook - from pain, from desperation, from exhaustion. Just a little while more.
He could feel the last bullet swishing through the air, the one that would likely claim his life. Thus, with a final breathy sigh, Ivan pressed his knuckles into Till’s chin, tilting his companion’s face up, up, up, so that he would not see-
The bullet sunk into its place, burying itself deep within Ivan’s neck. A mouthful of blood made him gag, gurgling as droplets seeped out along his fang. Till’s eyes were still tightly shut.
Good.
Ivan let go, his mouth curving upwards into a final, resting smile despite the tears and sweat racing down his face.
The last thing Ivan saw was Till’s horrified gaze.
At least he looked at me.
-
Light pounded on his eyelids almost as fiercely as his headache assaulted his headspace. His eyelids twitched, uncomfortable, as he tried to recall something. Anything. He knew, just somehow knew, that he had a life before this.
Why couldn’t he remember?
The more he attempted to kickstart his mind, the more unbearable his migraine became. In the end, all his efforts to conjure up knowledge only yielded one word.
One name, to be exact: Till.
That wasn’t his name - he was aware of that the same way he knew he had a life before this (i need to rephrase this) - but there was a warmth attached to it that made him shiver.
Before he could dig deeper, a shadow was cast over his face.
“Oh, you’re awake,” a quiet, almost ghost-like voice drifted into his ears. It sounded familiar, but his memories felt just out of reach at the moment.
He hissed, frustrated.
Who was that? Where was he? Think, think, think!
He fought his mental block once again, kicking and punching at nothing in particular. The mist didn’t really offer any resistance, but whatever space he carved out for himself was quickly covered up by the milky-white substance within moments.
Yet, he carried on with much fervor, clawing at the vapor surrounding his mind, until a single word finally presented itself.
Sua.
Not Till.
He sighed. Even that action hurt.
-
It took a while before he could open his eyes. The shadow, Sua, stayed near him, but she was quiet for the majority of the time.
With a grunt of effort, he sat up, eyes gradually fluttering open. Sua was sitting next to him, her posture stiff. Her face took on a serene shine, yet her eyes were glazed over, unfocused and staring into nothing in particular.
Grass rustled around them and below him as he shuffled such that he sat next to her. It was only then that Sua retrieved her gaze. She glanced at him, her face turning slightly.
Her back was still as straight as ever.
He stared at Sua, taking in her pale, and dare he say near transparent skin, her unfocused violet eyes and her long, unkempt black hair.
The silence stretched on. Suffocating.
Sua broke it, “Who are you? You look different from the others. Familiar.”
He stayed quiet. It was only then that he realized that he still did not know his own name. Till and Sua, the only names he knew, but neither was his own. What could he say? He squeezed his mind-
A piercing yell erupted from right beside him, and he refocused on Sua with a shocked expression.
“I knew it!” she cried out, her face turning stone cold as she glared at him behind her hazy eyes, “You’re just another one.”
Then, she stood, and ran off towards the cluster of buildings in the distance, jumping over a stream through a neat little path of rocks as she did. Before he knew it, he was alone.
Again.