Chapter Text
The crowd roars with cheering, a rally of clapping and whatnot. All of it originating from the parade of purple lights just below the stage.
Mizi keeps her focus on Till though, her gaze unbroken.
She holds the man’s head on her lap as a way of comfort, swiping his hair away to look at his tired face.
The tears on her face falling down on his; Mizi feels despair in her heart.
Please, I don’t– I can’t lose anyone else.
Till’s mouth has blood flowing out, as the wound on his neck continues trickling crimson. It’s all wet and sticky, uncomfortable and disturbing, but Mizi doesn’t care, she keeps her hold on Till.
Everything else is drowned out, all the outside noise and visual a blur; Mizi’s hand moves to hold Till’s neck, hoping that maybe if she applies the proper pressure to the wound and tries to stop the bleeding... maybe… Her fingers can sense a pulse, Till’s heartbeat, which sounds so much louder compared to everything else at the moment.
Her other hand continues to rest on Till’s cheek, to which the injured man delicately holds onto.
“I-It’s going t-to be…” Mizi tries to speak, but her voice comes out all weak through her sobs.
Till only wheezes lightly, not capable of forming words.
It’s crazy how in a blink: Till looked so ecstatic moments earlier, excited, but here he is bleeding out in Mizi’s arm.
Till’s hand falls to his side the moment he closes his eyes.
Mizi only cries more, not caring about holding back her tears– she continues to cradle the other, not ready to let go.
Her hand still pressing onto the wound, her fingers still lying where a pulse should be, hoping that by some chance, some miracle…
There’s a hiccup in her voice, a soft gasp releasing from her vocal chords– Till’s pulse remains unchanged; faint and slow, sure, but dead? No.
There’s a bit more optimism in her voice, tears still pricked at her eyes– “I-It’s going to be okay,” She exhales, “Please, just stay…”
Hyuna huffed, wincing in pain as she walked upon the stage, her arm still over her bleeding injury.
But she comes to a stop, as she couldn’t care less about her injury now, not with Luka standing right in front of her.
She’s frozen, just staring at the other with shocked eyes– her expression must not be too far off from what Luka’s expressing either.
Luka stares at Hyuna blankly, not mustering up any words despite the thousands of thoughts swirling in his head.
Hyuna couldn’t find her voice amidst the chaos in the head.
It was quite the stalemate…
Hyuna had… lots of words to say to Luka, so to speak, but all she did was stare at the other.
She knew she couldn’t stay– the chatter amongst the aliens is just a constant buzzing reminder of that.
“Uh.. H–” Luka tried to speak, but his words faltered and fail him.
Hyuna shifts her gaze away, not sure she can stomach looking at him any longer– she looks over at Mizi who meets her gaze. There’s a strange determined look on her face as she holds Till close.
Hyuna connects two and two together… Is he still.?
It sounded so impossible… Earlier, she was so against saving Till beforehand. Sure, they managed to get Ivan (though, Hyuna isn’t confident about his survivability) but rescuing Till alongside that was too risky.
She needed everyone on deck, especially considering there were two less people along with them.
It sounded so impossible that Till could be saved… yet they actually have that chance here.
It still irritated her– their cover was blown, Mizi and Hyuna out in the open for the aliens to see.
But Hyuna can’t find herself to be too mad– she can’t blame Mizi for trying. If it was her brother…
She can’t linger on all of this now.
Hyuna gestures her hand at Mizi, “Come on,” as she already backs away on the stage.
“Hyuna…” Luka says softly. Hyuna doesn’t say anything, only giving an angry (conflicted) glare.
It takes some effort, but Mizi is able to carry Till in her arms(the training seems to be paying off), her hand still on his neck– it’s not ideal, a gurney would certainly be better but they never supplied themselves with one. It’ll just have to make do for now– besides, a gurney would take too long.
The talk amongst the aliens became louder and apparent upon realizing the gravity of the situation– two humans have infiltrated the Alien Stage and are trying to escape with one of the contestants' body.
There’s a sudden influx of guards now– Hyuna quickly throws a smoke grenade without hesitation, adrenaline pumping her veins like normal. She’s already wasted enough time, already paying the cost from freezing earlier.
It’s a tough situation– even if they were at peak form, with Hyuna and Till not being injured, it would still be an arduous mission.
Isaac is still back at the security room– Hyuna and Mizi will probably have to double back there before leaving. This operation has become such a mess, Hyuna just hopes the files were properly downloaded.
At least she can come out of here saying she saved two people– hopefully. Till’s state is compromised, and she can’t speak confidently of Ivan…
Her hand is still over her wounded side, pushing through the pain as she rushes through the halls– Mizi is behind her still holding tightly onto Till, saying that “It’ll be okay!” “We’ll get you out of here!” “Stay with me, just hold on!”
Hyuna huffs, wincing from the pain as she had to keep fixing her limp and hand constantly as they moved– they were running low on smoke grenades and other tools as well– it wasn’t supposed to go like this, otherwise they would’ve been more prepared!
Thankfully, security isn't a big of a problem– sure, they’ve already been found out by guards on duty, but at least they can’t track them by the cameras and whatnot because of Isaac, but that’s only if he’s holding his guard up well too.
Mizi’s arms felt heavy, her heavy breaths an indicator of how exhausted she is– but she pushes on.
Till ’s body is in her arms, jostling around as she keeps running. She feels bad, she would rather be much more gentle with him, but now is not the time since the situation calls for haste.
The blood pouring out freely makes Mizi cringe, her hand evidently not enough to secure the injury. She wishes she had some kind of cloth, that’d probably be more effective– if she had just put more thought and been less impulsive… even if she simply ripped her cloak or some other article of clothing beforehand..
There’s a slight trail of blood behind them, deriving from both Till and Hyuna.
Isaac shouldn’t be too far; Mizi hopes that they still have something to assist Till, that they’ll have even the slightest time to medicate his injury slightly… it’s only wishful thinking, they used a lot of it on Hyuna and the rest went with Dewey and Nori.
The three come to a turn and finally make it to the security room.
“Isaac!” Hyuna calls from ahead, opening the door aggressively, “We need to get out of here!”
“I’m aware!” Isaac says, typing a few more keys on the computers before running to the door.
He glances at Mizi, his eyes widening at the sight, “Oh shit, what!? Is he still alive?”
“Not for long if we stay here!” Hyuna huffs, her voice cutting through her winces of pain.
Mizi doesn’t say anything, her anxious expression already telling it all– she simply passes Till over to Isaac. Her body noticeably feels more relieved, but her head still has roaming thoughts of anxiety– she couldn’t help but feel scared about letting Till go even if it meant handing him over to someone more capable.
She needs Till and Ivan to live.
Isaac rips a piece of cloth off his shirt to apply on Till’s neck, holding his body close.
They’re back on the move again, evading any guards and drones along the way. The cameras and trackers still weren’t an issue, but it isn’t clear how long that’ll last now that the security room is free.
Hyuna is starting to lag behind, the blood seeping through her bandages becoming more intense.
“Hyu–” Mizi speaks, but the older one cuts her off. “Don’t worry about it!”
“Almost there!” Isaac says, rushing ahead of the other two. Hyuna’s breathing is heavy, the pain unbearable but not yet debilitating, as she keeps following behind hastily. Mizi puts more energy behind her step, pushing past her body’s limits and heavy breathing, accelerating her run.
Almost there, almost there, almost there!
The sound of cascading of rushed footsteps is drowned out the moment Mizi hears the blowing wind and feels the breezes of the barren outside.
It really hits how underprepared they are– they didn’t expect it to be so overcomplicated.
The idea was that they would break in, free Ivan or Till during Round 6– and while they somewhat achieved that, Hyuna wasn’t supposed to get hurt… Ivan wasn’t supposed to get hurt.
And then Round 7 happened only hours later. They had two less people, Hyuna was still in bad shape, and Till got shot.
Mizi will pray to any god if it means they’ll get some kind of miracle.
Isaac, Dewey, and Nori had arrived a bit later compared to Mizi and Hyuna, bringing a truck along with them.
..That truck isn’t here now, only the motorbike that Mizi and Hyuna arrived on.
Hyuna walks over the bike, only to lean on it while still clutching at her side.
“We aren’t in the clear yet,” She huffed, her body trembling even more so.
Her hand grips at her wound harshly, a hiss in her voice, “Damn it!”
“Fuck!” She groans, not directing her anger at anything, just spouting curses in the void. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this!”
“Damn, if I just knew–” Hyuna speaks through her gritted teeth in frustration, “Anything could happen, I should’ve just prepared for it all anyway!”
“Hyuna, none of us expected this! No one is blaming you!” Mizi says, detesting Hyuna's remarks.
The sound of metal clatter is heard behind them, as Isaac is shutting the door. Mizi looks over and finds Till propped by the wall, the fabric still wrapped over his wound.
There’s still a pulse, thankfully, and Till is breathing, perhaps not at a perfect rhythm though.
Mizi is relieved, but she really wants to get back to the base as soon as possible.
Hyuna’s legs give out, sitting down and leaning onto the propped up bike with her entire body.
Isaac seems to be making a call on his walkie.
“Okay,” Isaac sighs, “I got us a truck that will be arriving here shortly, but it’s going to take a while…”
“Hyuna and Till don’t have a while!” Mizi says.
“I’ll live!” Hyuna retorts, but a painful groan eliciting from her says otherwise…
“Isaac, you can take the bike and get Till out of here though– it’s the least we can do for him.”
Mizi looks at Hyuna, then Till, then Isaac. It’s the best they have to make sure Till will live. Mizi doesn’t want to lose Hyuna though…
“What about–”
“Shut up! I’ve gotten this far!” Hyuna yells, “After all of this? There’s no way in hell I’m dying now!”
Mizi can’t bring herself to say another word after that.
Isaac walks over to her and is already taking Till back into his arms again.
“I’ll do everything I can,” Isaac says, patting Mizi on the shoulder.
It’s kind words, but it doesn’t promise anything. Must’ve been deliberate on how Isaac worded it.
She simply nods in response, and watches as Isaac carries Till and positions him on the bike securely.
“Don’t die,” Isaac says lightly, Hyuna snickers at that.
“You’re gonna be on a bike, I’m more worried about you,” She sighs, “Really, don’t fucking crash.”
It’s light-hearted but her voice certainly sounded a bit more aggressive at the end.
Isaac chuckles, and with that Till and he leaves, the whirring sound of the bike fading.
Hyuna and Mizi move to find somewhere more safe and secluded, the entrance they found clearly couldn’t be safe for any longer, it’s not like the guards and segyein will suddenly give up on looking for them.
The geography of the place is rather bare, only a few plants, rocks, and some stray buildings around. The two just needed somewhere secure yet somewhere the aliens wouldn’t search.
In the end, they found a large rock to hide behind, not the most ideal– it’s still out in the open afterall.
Mizi’s head wanders, her gaze unfixed for a moment before locking onto Hyuna.
It’s a dumb question, but yet she still asks: “How are you doing?”
Hyuna snickers, “Shitty.”
Mizi finds herself letting out a breathless sigh at that, but not having enough energy to chuckle or anything more.
She doesn’t say anything more, just looking at the sky above. It’s already gotten pretty late, and it wasn’t long until the sun set and the night began. It had gotten cold throughout the night, and Mizi let Hyuna borrow her coat. Though, the older woman wasn’t using it as much of a coat and more of just extra bandage.
There weren't many words shared between them; Mizi didn’t want to bother Hyuna, and Hyuna needed to conserve her energy.
Mizi lets her mind wander, thinking of anything that came up in her head, particularly Sua, Till, and Ivan, to pass the time.
She finds herself in an estranged mix of melancholy and bitterness, sad about everything that’s happened and an untapped anger of the reason as to why it all happened. All of it happened because of the segyein, and it pains her.
It pains her because no matter how much she wants to do to them, no matter how much she could do to them… She never has that opportunity and it would barely make a dent, it wouldn’t be effective in the slightest..
It makes her confused as to why she would do anything– is that what went through Sua’s mind?
Her train of thought shifts at the mere hint of Sua in her mind. Mizi can come up with all kinds of possibilities as to why she would throw away the match, but it ends up going nowhere in her head. She simply can’t seem to accept it no matter what kind of answer she comes up with, she simply can’t let go.
Sua… if you were here right now… She thinks. Sua would comfort her, cuddle her, say all the right things…
Mizi’s breathing hiccups for a moment, and now she has to put in the effort of holding her tears.
She blinks her tears away, but then she has to hold her eyes closed by the sudden bright light shining on them.
Hyuna props herself off from the ground in a daze, wincing from the sudden movement and holding her arms at her side.
The light dims down, and when Mizi can open her eyes and finally face the origin of the light– she feels immensely relieved.
Quite the rescue mission.