Chapter Text
Mizi sat on the floor of the stage, cradling Till in her lap. She murmured faint pleas to Till through her tears. Her entire body shook. She was filled with despair. She had just lost her only remaining friend. She buried her head in his neck.
-THUMP-
Mizi's eyes widened. It couldn't be. She put her ears to where his pulse should be. 'Please. If there's a God out there. Please listen to my prayer. Listen to my plea. Please let Till live. Please. I'm begging you. I just want at least one of my friends back.'
-THUMP-
He was alive. Till was alive. Till was alive. If Till had survived this gun shot, does it mean that Sua and Ivan could've survived? Could they be together again? The four of them?
"-izi! Mizi!" Mizi snapped up to see Hyuna running to her. "We have to go!" She screeched out, wincing, clutching at her bleeding stomach.
Damn it. Mizi had almost forgotten that she was still inside Alien Stage. Hyuna was injured and if she didn't get treatment in time... But how could Mizi just leave Till? The last remaining of her friends. She had to fight for him. "Hyuna-unnie, please. Till's alive! He has a pulse!" Hyuna froze. She crouched down and put her ear to his chest. Her eyes widened.
"Oh my God. Oh my God." Mizi was overjoyed. She wanted to cry. If there was a God, she wanted to thank them. Till had somehow survived a gunshot to the neck.
"Okay, we should take him with us." Hyuna quickly bandaged his neck, and picked up Till, like a potato sack.
Mizi was slightly confused. "Won't we get Sua and Ivan...?"
Hyuna turned to her and sighed. "Mizi, those two are... Well, it's been so long. I doubt they're alive. Just because Till survived a shot to the neck doesn't mean the others did. So, we should go." Hyuna said in a soft tone.
"Unnie, please! We have to! Sua, she's everything to me! And Ivan, he's my best friend! Please, Hyuna!" Mizi begged her.
Hyuna's expression faltered for a second before freezing again. "Mizi, your friends are dead. But, we're still alive. We have to go. Now." Mizi flinched at her words. She knew that Hyuna was right. She needed to think rationally. But She couldn't. She didn't want to be alone. It was rare that Mizi saw Hyuna being serious, or having a stern expression. When she did, it was a sign to shut up and move on. But Mizi wasn't going to give up that quick.
'I promise you guys. I'll come back. And I'll find a way to save all of you. Sua. Ivan. You can count on me.'
---
Hyuna went into a narrow hallway, and Mizi followed. They ran and ran. Only briefly stopping to use Mizi's jacket as a bandage for Hyuna's wound. She didn't know that this many rebellion members had come on this mission, but she was just happy that she'd at least managed to get Till out. At some point, Mizi lost track of time. They could've been running for two hours or twelve. She felt as though she was gonna pass out. Suddenly the large group had stopped. Hyuna laid Till down and changed his bandages. "He's gonna need a lot of medication when we get back to the base."
Dewey walked up to them and put Till on his back. "Alright. We're gonna split into groups of four. That good with everyone?" Everyone nodded, besides Mizi.
"Wait. Can I go with you?" Mizi directed to Dewey, He turned to Hyuna. Hyuna sighed yet again. "Mizi, you go with Issac. Having all the Alien Stage participants together won't be safe."
"B...But! Till... I need to be there. Can't you go with him then? It's not like you participated in this Alien Stage." Mizi yelled as loudly as she could without drawing attention.
Hyuna shook her head, "I have to go with Luka, he won't go with anyone else." Mizi froze. She was sure the stress and exhaustion had made her start to hallucinate. Did Hyuna just say 'Luka'? She couldn't have. It seemed that Mizi's lucky streak had ended. Behind Hyuna, stood a tall disgusting blonde-haired man. Luka. She wanted to yell at Hyuna. How could she...? This waste of space was the reason Till had ended up like this. And that sadistic monster had imitated her god, her universe, her Sua. How could Hyuna betray her like this?
"Unnie, how could you bring this...this monster along?" She accused.
"Mizi, please. He's also been suffering from this. I-...we couldn't just leave him." She murmured, having lost the energy to argue. That stupid smug face. He was happy to see Mizi suffer. She ran at him. She faintly heard Hyuna and Issac yelling at her, but the ringing in her ears was louder.
She pushed Luka to the ground. She wrapped her hands around his throat. For once, his damn eyes were filled with fear. She wanted to laugh. He thought he was safe, just because he was behind Hyuna. What an idiot. She could feel Hyuna and Issac trying to pull her off. Why. Why does he get to be happy. Why does he get to stay alive without having lost anything. He choked out a plea. Mizi couldn't hear a thing. The ringing was loud.
"Mizi!" Hyuna grabbed her off of Luka. He sat up and coughed for a while. Issac sat crouched next to him. "Mizi, what the hell was that? You can't just attack him." She was getting on Mizi's nerves. She was fully aware Hyuna just wanted the best for everyone, but did Luka really count as a human being? He was more alien than human in her opinion. She got the sense that Luka was somewhat important to Hyuna. How. How did such a horrible and cruel creature become important to the one obsessed with justice? It wasn't fair. Hyuna wasn't being fair. Luka was never fair.
---
They had spilt into groups, much to Mizi's dismay. Mizi was with Issac, and two other rebellion members. She wanted to be with Hyuna and Till. She was so worried about Till. She abruptly ran into Issac.
"Oh, sorry, Issac." She mumbled. Issac wasn't that bad. Then again, she didn't know him that well. "Uh, I had a question. How far till the base?" Mizi asked him.
Issac leaned on the wall, "An hour maybe. You should rest. You look tired." Mizi wanted to laugh at herself. He probably thought she was insane or something. She should've privately attacked Luka. That way at least people wouldn't judge her. She could almost feel all the condescending gazes on her.
"Hey, Issac?" She tugged at his sleeve.
"What's wrong, Mizi?"
"Do...do you think I messed up?"
"What do you mean?" He tilted his head.
"I mean, well, with everything. If I had intervened when I saw Sua was rehearsing her death, would it have turned out differently? If I had talked to Ivan about his feelings for Till, or if I had helped Till move on from me and find someone else to love, someone who would love him back the way he wants, would it have been different? Would they still be here? Would we be able to live normally?"
Issac listened attentively, "Well, those are a lot of hypotheticals, but honestly, I don't know. I don't have the slightest clue. I mean, you guys were all raised by aliens, so most of you don't really understand the concept of 'normal'. Trust me, your 'normal' and my 'normal' is very different. But no matter how much you worry about the past, it won't change. So, listen to me on this. There's no point in worrying about what could've been. You should worry more about the present and the future. Think, 'How will I help Till adjust to the life that the rebellion lives?' or, 'Should I grow out my hair again or keep it short?' You know, things you can control."
"Pfft, those two are very different in terms of priority." Mizi giggled. She wondered just how long it'd been since she had laughed like that.
"Of course. Hair is way more important than Till." Issac corrected himself.
Mizi started laughing, "Yep! That's for sure."
"Well, come on and let's go. You're Till's only family that he knows now. Everyone else is gone. So you have to be there for him. Okay?"
"Well, duh. And I still believe that Sua and Ivan are alive. I have to trust that they're alive. I just...have to." Mizi's smile dropped.
Issac patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We'll help you search for them. Trust in me, and trust in Hyuna. And how about you try to get to know Luka? Maybe you'll see that he's not that bad."
"I don't buy it. I still think he's a horrible person. But I can tell Hyuna-unnie cares about him. So I guess I'll try to get to know him. I can't promise that I won't beat him up though." She grumbled out.