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The artificial flowers of Anakt garden looked particularly alive and red that day. Ivan thought they almost resembled blood. The place he had woken up to after getting shot to his death was identical to Anakt Garden, except for the fact that there was no aliens to monitor them. It was a shell of a land encapsulating all of the dead contestants from this year's Alien Stage. Sua had said that it was the Near Shore, a place of temporary rest for the dead souls from where they would be transported to the afterlife after the final round of Alien Stage. Considering the fact that he was still here and Till, Luka and Mizi were missing, the rounds were not yet finished.
He plucked a red flower from the bushes and crushed it with his palm. A distant memory came to him, a flash of gray hair and green eyes chasing after him as he stuffed the flower into his mouth. "Ivan! Give the flower back dammit, its meant for Mizi's flower crown!" Till's yelling floated past his mind, vaporising into thin air.
Ah, Till. The last thing Ivan saw of Till was his devastated expression as Ivan fell to his death on the icy wet stage, his casket. It really was a pity since Ivan never meant to hurt Till. But it was for the best and he knew Till would persevere. His caring for Ivan didn't go deep enough to traumatise him, Ivan had figured out. However, Till's final expression; the mixture of confusion, horror, pain and regret did concern Ivan a little. Maybe Till did care slightly more than Ivan accounted him to.
"There you are, Mister know-it-all." Sua popped up beside Ivan with a disgusted expression. "You're not trying to be some tragic heroine who sacrifices yourself for her, are you? What a load of bull from your mouth, only to go on a suicide mission yourself." Sua quoted Ivan mockingly, giving his ear a sharp tug.
"Oww, come on, dont be mean. I didnt fully understand you at the time." Ivan said guiltily. "I do get you now though." Sua rolled her eyes and threw herself onto the grass beside Ivan, looking at the flower bush with a sigh. "Hah... Im missing Mizi." She put her head on her arms. "Till too. I wonder how they are doing now. You think Till will win? Against Luka, I mean." Sua asked Ivan, eyeing him curiously.
Ivan snorted. "Of course! You think Till will lose to that blonde brat? If Mizi could beat him up with her bare fists, imagine what Till will do." Sua's eyes widened into saucers. "Mizi beat up Luka? What do you mean?"
Ivan looked at Sua with a knowing grin. "Dear Luka was imitating you throughout their entire round, and lets say it triggered Mizi a tiny bit. She made sure to at least dislocate his nose before being dragged out."
The expression on Sua’s face was entertaining to say the least.
"And since Mizi isnt here yet, that must mean...?" She quickly glanced at Ivan who nodded in confirmation. Mizi was still alive. Sua sighed in relief. Although Sua didn't show it, Ivan knew she was itching to rip off Luka's head with an axe herself.
"Luka isn't easy to fight you know, and Mizi was completely depressed with your death which caused her to crash out." Ivan said smugly, "But for Till, he has a higher chance of winning, I know him."
"Do you though? I don't know if you realised this yet Ivan," Sua said quietly after a slight pause, "you made an error of judgement with Till. He cares more about you than you think."
Sua's words were met with silence.
Once in the cheery gardens of Anakt Garden sat four kids, their innocent laughter resonating through the synthetic air. Now, the four had faded to two as Ivan and Sua sat side by side with invisible halos resting on their hair, reminiscing about the other two like freezing cats yearning for sunshine.
However, they didn't want Mizi and Till to be reunited with them, not just yet. They needed them to be alive. They just needed them to rip apart the entire Alien Stage from bottom to top until all thats left would be an ocean of bleeding alien corpses.
Ivan was mindlessly plucking up weeds. He really had nothing better to do now with the lack of friends and a partially hostile Sua who was still mad at him for that one cold comment he made from when they were still alive. Sua really knows how to keep grudges, huh.
If Till was there, Ivan would have probably been annoying him by now. Ivan shook away the thought. Till was alive, and thats all that mattered.
"IIIIVAAAAAANNNN YOUUUU BITCHHHHHHH-"
It all happened in a split second. Ivan felt a human barge into him with the force of a cannonball, knocking the wind out of him. "Ack-?!"
His vision blanked and he was on his back before he knew it. Someone was sitting on top of him, with a hand pulled out into a fist, ready for a punch. "IVAN YOU STUPID LOSER. WHAT. THE. HELL. WERE. YOU. THINKING!" Ivan felt the impacts of the punches on his face before his brain could comprehend the sudden assault.
"What in the-?" Ivan quickly grabbed at the stranger's arm and pinned them down to protect himself from further harm. Words died on his lips as he finally caught sight of the perpetrator's face. Even if the world ended, Ivan would still recognise the spiky shack of grey hair and the green eyes which reminded him of shooting stars anywhere. His heart sank.
"Till...? What are you doing here...?"
For his entire life, Ivan was used to hiding all of his emotions behind an iron mask, but for once he felt his mask crumble just like how his world was crumbling beneath his feet. The only possible reason for Till to be there with him was that Till was dead. He lost against Luka.
Till looked rabid, his body shaking and his eyes glossed over with anger and frustration as he glared at Ivan. Taking advantage of Ivan's shocked state, he slipped his hands free from Ivan's grasp and punched him again. "Obviously i died! Did you seriously expect me to survive after everything you put me through?! Goddammit dumb Ivan!" Till yelled hysterically. Ivan couldn't even move, couldn't even think. No no no this was not right, Till couldn't be dead. He was gonna win against Luka right? Another round of punches slipped through, making Ivan's voice return. "Oww stop hitting me first!" Ivan brought himself to a sitting position and massaged his injured cheeks, trying to make sense of the situation. He found himself shaking with disbelief, Sua's words resonating in his ears like some sort of mantra.
"He cares more than you think."
"Everything I sent you through? W-what do you mean? you were not supposed to care about me...so why...?"
Till practically screamed in his ear. "NOT SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT YOU? YOU WERE THE ONLY FRIEND WHO STUCK TO ME SINCE WE WERE KIDS!" Till's voice cracked as tears started pooling in his eyes. "You were my friend...and i never realised it cause i was so obsessed with Mizi but I...I loved you too I guess! You stupid asshole!" Tears had started to free-fall down Till's indignant face and he punched Ivan once more for good measure.
"Hey hey, don't cry now..." Ivan attempted pacifying Till with a smile he prayed was reassuring enough, but it seemed to only make Till even more mad.
"Who in their right minds kisses someone, announcing their love to them a second before dying?! How do you even expect me to cope with it? By going oops thats too bad sucks to be you i guess and moving on with my life like nothing happened?! You f*£#*(£6**&{|*****}$℅^!!" Till wailed frustratedly, tears and snot falling down his face like some sort of miniature waterfall. Hiccups ripped out of his throat violently as he shouted at Ivan but that didn't stop Till. He needed to give Ivan a piece of his mind. After throwing a barrage of shaky but sincere curses and swears at Ivan in between sniffles, Till finally stopped and took a breather once content with the verbal assault.
Ivan didn't understand. He never understood humans much to begin with as he always considered himself a monster, but this time he knew he really messed up. He had prided himself for having immaculately planned Till winning Alien Stage from beginning to end, only for the subject to end up dead and sobbing his lungs out in front of him. Ivan gently cupped Till's wet cheek like Till would disappear in a strong wind. "Im sorry, Till."
If this was back before Alien Stage, back when everything was alright, Till would have swatted off Ivan's hand like a fly. But now he grasped on to them tight enough to dislocate, like they were his only source of oxygen. Till looked so wrecked with grief that Ivan knew he himself would have broken down if Till wasn't watching. It hurt so much, knowing how much pain he brought Till, especially since his sincere intention was to only keep him alive.
"I couldn't face Luka, after he tried imitating you... Every time I closed my eyes, every time I blinked for goodness sake, the only thing I could see was your dead body, your eyes, and the blood...so much blood mixing with the rain water...." Till hung his head and pulled Ivan closer, gasping onto his shirt, hands gripping Ivan's back painfully hard. Ivan wrapped his own arms around Till's shaking cold body to provide some sort of warmth and security. Ivan really didn't know what to say. If he could he would have pushed himself off a cliff for a second death as punishment for making Till feel this way.
Suddenly a distant memory resurfaced, a memory of Till repeatedly whispering to a crushed flower. The stubborn flower did not magically respawn, but Till was determined to bring it back from its death with vocal motivation. He would not stop the chant until they would be called for dinner or some other work. Coming back to the present, Ivan gently caressed Till's sweaty hair.
"Cheer up..."