#but really Sua's notes about Ivan and Till were so...her...

[crustyfloor]

So many people were genuinely surprised Ivan was placed so high on Till's relationship chart, just below Mizi. Till never showed he hated Ivan though, annoyance on occasion? yeah. The way he acts sometimes appears like he merely tolerates Ivan, but they are each other's closest friends. (maybe even best friends if I want to stretch it a bit)

Ivan is confusing and reserved and does things without prior explanation, and it throws Till off and annoys the fuck out of him too because it makes him uncomfortable not understanding why this boy who constantly picks on him and is always sticking to him, and doing weird things, what's his problem? the confusion unnerves him.

Closeness does eventually make the heart grow fond in a relationship, back to the point that they are each other's closest friends, Ivan is always there for him even if just a shoulder to cry on, he doesn't say everything is okay when it's not. But he's there for Till in other meaningful ways, and they care about each other. But even with that fact without Ivan’s intentions made clear to Till there was ultimately a distance between them, and it's a testament to Till's self-deprecation that this was almost intentional on his part for Ivan's own good, but still, it’s endearing to know that despite this Ivan was still regarded quite highly in Till’s head even as a "nuisance"

Also want to mention how much of a poet Till is, "Mizi, you are the most gorgeous, beautiful woman in the universe. When you smiled at me for the first time, I felt like my heart was reborn." what a way with words, he should've been at the club.

But that writing really is beautiful, as he was an isolated and miserable child for his life before meeting Mizi, being in her presence and feeling her positivity was so impactful for him, he felt like a completely different (and happier) person when he was around her, even though he couldn't approach her. It's a sad thing, considering Mizi did want to get closer to him, too, as a friend, but he was held back by his own doubt and deprecation, there had been many opportunities for him to get closer to his friends.

[cool-island-songs]

Analysis of ALNST Character Relationship Metrics

My art book won't be here for a minute, but I ran some screenshots I saw on twt through an image translator and have a lot of thoughts:

TILL: Despite claiming to hate everyone in the world, Till ranks Ivan at 70% intimacy even as he identifies perturbing behaviors of Ivan's going back years and refers to him as "a bother". He also ranks Sua at 10% in spite of having little to say about her and finding it uncomfortable to be around her.

Though he postures at being misanthropic and has all the manners you'd expect of a boy who was half off at the human child pound, he's actually quite gentle and sensitive. This is reflected in one of the graduation messages he's left by a classmate as well:

The person he feels closest to is an unattainable crush, and someone who doesn't feel that close with him in return, likely because he's too shy to really approach her or carry on a conversation.

MIZI: That's Mizi, of course, who's rather childlike and naive initially. She likes everyone, but since Till chokes when he tries to speak to her and often keeps his distance, she wonders if he's avoiding her because he dislikes her.

Mizi gravitates towards people who she sees as "perfect", which is how she describes Ivan and Sua in her graduation message to Ivan:

She doesn't see the darker side of Ivan's personality (which has been described on several occasions, even by himself, as "twisted") because he's attractive, successful, and helpful to her.

Though she likes everyone, Sua is her "God", and the only thing that can keep them apart is the tragedy of their situation, which forces Mizi to grow up in a brutally painful way.

SUA: Sua is far less idealistic and naive than Mizi, and has clearly thought about sacrificing herself to save Mizi, since Ivan picks on her for thinking of doing so in an official comic. Accordingly, her feelings about Mizi are far more tinged by the knowledge that they will one day be torn apart by external circumstances. She laments that reciprocating her feelings will one day cause Mizi great pain.

She's always been more somber, and despite her surface similarities to Ivan (which he notes in a follow-up comic wherein he realizes he was wrong about Sua's feelings for Mizi being unrequited), she's quite different on the inside. Sua's more sensitive and thus her colder exterior serves to protect her, whereas Ivan's outward persona creates an illusion of normalcy that doesn't reflect his reality.

Sua views Ivan and Till as a threat and a nuisance, respectively. Like Till, she senses something strange about Ivan, and when it comes to Till, it's just one person too many around for her. This is fascinating to me, because I thought she might pity Till! Her feelings about Ivan were already pretty clear from this panel of the 'piggyback' comic, and she seems deeply hurt in the first comic linked by his prodding.

IVAN: For his part, Ivan is fascinated by Till even though he's content to sit back and observe, pestering him to get a reaction or his attention for a brief time. He doesn't expect anything in return but wants more than anything to be on Till's mind (hence behaviors like stealing Till's belongings and returning them to him, pretending he had found them).

He prefers Sua to Mizi despite his awareness that Sua doesn't particularly like him, seeing her as a sister and even telling her she's "twisted" like he is. He likes Mizi well enough, especially her sincerity, but seems to find her optimism a bit much at times.

The fact that Mizi and the others would likely consider Ivan and Mizi quite close while Ivan does not reflects how much he postures even in his closest relationships. He struggles to connect with those he's most compelled by and it's not clear if he really wants to.

Some Ivantill thoughts before I go:

There seems to be a common sentiment that it's tragic Till was unable to see how much Ivan loved him, and I think we'll likely get more of Till's perspective on Ivan and their relationship in round 7. But it may not be the case that Ivan even wanted his true feelings to be seen, or would have known what to do if Till had reciprocated them.

There's something almost voyeuristic and self-negating in his feelings for Till (see: "I can’t reach you, so I imagine alone/You who shines, I stand next to you" from 'Black Sorrow'). He has far more self-awareness and willingness to accept things as they are than Till, who doesn't see that Mizi only has eyes for Sua and who would likely struggle to accept that reality.

Ivan, on the other hand, is well aware that his feelings for Till are "shallow", a bright fantasy to get him through his dark reality, and he seems to sincerely believe that his death won't scar Till because he's never really broken through to him. He's a schemer, and comments he makes in his graduation message to Till and the interview he gives in advance of round 6 suggest that he may have been planning to sacrifice himself for some time.

Part of me wonders if he hoped it would leave a mark on Till. Choking, kissing, and violently sacrificing oneself are all aggressive, forward acts, especially from someone who used to toy with people to get his kicks but was otherwise quite passive and unfeeling.

There are a lot of parallels in the one-sided loves, like Till acting out of his usual character for Mizi, and Ivan doing the same because of Till, putting all hopes of being saved in something just out of reach, staying in chains for that one special person. But Ivan's psychology is quite different from Till's, and in fact closest to Luka's re: low or no empathy. Both Ivan and Till are significantly traumatized by their upbringings but Ivan's difficult early life in the slums and his experience being dangled off that rooftop seem to have damaged his ability to connect to others or feel much of anything.

Till is the first person for whom he feels anything while for Till, Mizi is an early crush he puts on a pedestal in a much more commonplace way. I think the shared trauma of competing on that stage makes it much more difficult for either of them to imagine moving on, but Ivan is not wrong in identifying that he won't find that feeling again.

The thing that intrigues me most about this series is the way the contestants' differences play out, particularly with regard to how they view love and how they respond to their individual and shared challenges. I'd love to get into it further another time but this is quite long already so thanks for sticking with it if any have (haha)

[reomikagekin]

Hi! I hope I'm not too late to make a request but can you please do Alien stage main characters, mostly Mizi, Sua, Ivan, Till, Hyuna & Luka with a female reader who is like a mysterious human girl but she's trying to save the idols from death singing contest.

It's 100% PLATONIC & the female reader personality is mysterious, aloof, stoic, calm, composed but very EMOTIONAL because she failed to save them from their deaths(mostly Sua, Ivan, till & Hyuna deaths), failed to protect Mizi from the cruelty & failed to shelter Luka from evil persona, thanks to the aliens brainwashing Luka. Female reader is like a motherly figure & holds them on her lap like mother & child bond.

Please make it from angst to fluff, from hurt to comfort, despite the tragedy deaths & events. (Sorry about the long request because my grammar is poor).

(Also in Ivan's part it might say that Luka, hyuna and mizi are watching, but I meant it to be that they're watching through the TVS..)

A Song for the Lost

---

Sua’s Death

Mizi doesn’t scream when Sua dies.

She just stands there, frozen, staring at the empty space where Sua once was. The stage is still lit, the cheers of the alien audience still ringing in your ears, but the only thing you hear is the hollow sound of Mizi’s breathing—shallow, uneven, like she’s forgetting how.

You rush to her before she falls.Her body is light as you pull her into your lap, but she doesn’t react. Doesn’t cry, doesn’t speak, just stares blankly ahead, as if her mind still refuses to accept reality.

“Mizi,” you whisper, brushing a hand over her hair.

She flinches.

“I should have been the one to die,” she finally chokes out.

You don’t let her finish that thought. You cradle her against your chest, pressing her close like you can shield her from the world. “Don’t say that.”

She doesn’t fight you. She just buries her face into your shoulder, gripping onto your sleeves as if she’ll fall apart otherwise.

“She’s gone,” she breathes, voice breaking. “She’s really gone.”

And you—who promised to protect them, who swore you wouldn’t let them die—you can do nothing but hold her.

---

Ivan’s Death

You don’t scream when Ivan dies.

You just kneel beside him, cradling his lifeless body in your arms, pressing a hand against his bloodied chest as if you can will his heart to beat again.

It doesn’t.

Mizi is sobbing somewhere in the distance. Luka watches in silence, unmoving. Hyuna stands frozen, her hands clenched at her sides, looking anywhere but at the body before her. Till stood there, horrified as Ivan bled out. He won, Ivan had lost.

But you—you just hold him.

Hold him the way you wish someone had when he was a child, when he was lonely and lost and trying so desperately to be someone worth loving.

“Ivan,” you whisper. “You weren’t alone.”

You don’t know if he ever truly believed that.

But at least, in his final moments, he wasn’t alone.

---

Till’s Death

You run to the stage when his voice cracks.

When he stumbles.

When his last, desperate note fades into silence.

But you’re not fast enough.

Till’s eyes widen when the spotlight dims, when his body gives out beneath him. He reaches for something—someone—but the only thing he meets is empty air.

Luka stands just beyond his grasp, eyes shadowed, expression unreadable. He didn't care.

Till falls.

You catch him.

His weight collapses into your lap, his body trembling as he gasps for breath. His fingers clench weakly against your sleeve, like a child seeking comfort. You press your forehead to his, fighting back the tears threatening to spill.

“You did so well,” you whisper, your voice shaking.

He exhales softly. A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips.

“Was I… good enough?”

You don’t let him hear the sob in your throat. “You were perfect.”

Till sighs. His fingers relax.

And the warmth begins to fade.

---

Hyuna’s Death

She smiles, even as she bleeds.

Even as Luka stands before her, wide-eyed and horrified as she collapses into his arms.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, voice barely a breath. “For leaving you.”

Luka shakes his head, his hands trembling as they press against the wound in her side. “No. No, you don’t get to say that. You don’t get to die.”

But she does.

And Luka, the boy who was once hers, who she would have burned the world down for, can do nothing but watch.

You kneel beside them, reaching out, but Luka clings to her like he can anchor her soul to this world. Like if he just holds her tight enough, she won’t slip away.

“She wouldn’t want you to grieve forever,” you say gently.

Luka stiffens. Then, slowly, he lets go.And Hyuna’s body slumps against you.

You hold her close, resting your cheek against her cooling forehead, stroking her hair like a mother would a sleeping child.

“It’s okay,” you whisper. “Rest now.”

For once, she listens.

---

Luka's condition.

Luka is the only one left. (With Mizi and you.)

You don’t know if he can still be saved.

He’s not the boy he used to be—the one Hyuna loved, the one she would’ve burned the world down for. No, this Luka is a creation of the aliens, a puppet who sings for an audience that feeds on human suffering.

And yet.

When you find him alone, sitting in the shadows, staring at his hands like he doesn’t know what they’re for anymore, you kneel beside him.

He doesn’t react when you pull him into your lap, like you’ve done with all the others. He just lets himself be held, lets you stroke his hair, lets you whisper words that shouldn’t matter anymore but still do.

“You’re still in there,” you murmur.

He doesn’t respond.

But when you cradle him a little closer, you swear you feel him tremble.

And for the first time in a long, long time, you think maybe—just maybe—this one isn’t lost yet.

---

Mizi’s Breakdown

Mizi doesn’t cry when Sua dies.

She doesn’t cry when ivan falls, when Till's voice goes silent, when Hyuna bleeds out in Luka’s arms.

She just keeps moving. Keeps breathing. Keeps existing in the ruins of everything she once loved.

But then—She sees Ivan’s jacket, crumpled on the floor where he left it.

And something inside her snaps.

Her breath comes in short, sharp gasps. Her fingers tremble as she reaches for it, as she grips the fabric so tightly her knuckles turn white.

Then, without warning—

She screams.

It’s raw, broken, torn from the deepest part of her chest. She clutches the jacket to her heart like a lifeline, shaking, shaking, shaking as the weight of every loss crashes down at once.

“Why—” she chokes, her voice hoarse. “Why did they all have to die?”

No one answers.

Luka watches in stunned silence, his hands still stained with Hyuna’s blood. You kneel beside Mizi, reaching for her, but she flinches away.

“It’s not fair,” she gasps, her breathing ragged, uneven. “They should have been here. They should have—they should have won.”

She slams a fist against the ground. Once. Twice. Again and again, until her skin is raw, until the pain is the only thing anchoring her.

You finally pull her into your arms.

Mizi doesn’t resist.

She just collapses against you, fists clutching your shirt, her body wracked with shuddering sobs.

“I want to go home,” she whispers. “But there’s nothing left, is there?”

You hold her tighter.

“We’re still here,” you murmur. “Even if it hurts. Even if it’s unfair. We’re still here.”

She lets out a shaky breath. Her fingers loosen.

And for the first time since the stage took everything from her—

Mizi cries.

---

Your Breakdown (after Luka and Mizi had their moments, you broke down after.)

You don’t know when you hit the floor.

You don’t know when the sobs finally force their way out of your throat, or when the weight of all the deaths—Sua, Till, Ivan, Hyuna—crushes you.

All you know is that your knees buckle. Your breath hitches. And then—you break.

Mizi reaches for you first, despite her own grief, despite the fact that she hasn’t spoken a word since Till fell. She grabs your wrist, holding it like an anchor, her own tears spilling silently down her cheeks.

Luka watches, frozen. His hands are still covered in Hyuna’s blood.

Your hands are covered in all of theirs.

You try to scrub it away, clawing at your arms, your fingers trembling as you whisper, “I should have saved them. I should have—”

Mizi’s grip tightens.

Luka finally moves.

You don’t realize you’re shaking until Luka kneels beside you, until his arms wrap around your shoulders, pulling you close. Until Mizi presses her forehead against yours, grounding you, her fingers lacing with yours.

“We’re still here,” Luka says, voice barely above a whisper.

You let out a shaky breath.

“We’re still here,” Mizi echoes.

And so, you hold on.

Through the silence. Through the grief. Through the unbearable ache of all the ones you lost.

Because even if you couldn’t save the past—you can still hold onto the future.

------

The dead don’t come back.

No matter how much you grieve, no matter how many times you whisper apologies into the void, they are gone. Sua, Ivan, Till, and Hyuna—each of them left a hole in the world that nothing can fill.

But the ones who remain?

You hold them a little closer.

And When Luka finally, finally buries his face against your shoulder and cries—quiet, broken, but real—you let your own tears fall, too.

Because maybe, in the end, this is all you can do.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s enough.

[k9punkout]

sharing my thoughts on this image cuz it's eating away at me

so this is what (im pretty sure) the text above them says and implies

luka: breathing test- makes sense due to the respirator he has. acing a test on breathing is really funny to me, but as much as i'd like to leave it at that i think luka canonically has asthma. the aliens were probably tweaking with that/torturing him via his respiratory problems. he clearly gave them the response they wanted, considering he earned such a high grade. sobbing.

hyuna: superiority test- im still so interested about this one. while idk exactly what happened, it should be noted that hyuna's guardian, phan, is considered to be one of the highest class/most superior intergalactic lifeforms. maybe they only accept pet humans of the utmost best quality? also, we never see hyun-woo's scores/tests. it might be because he isn't a main character like hyuna is, but what if it implies that he fell short of phan's expectations? maybe that's why they didn't care enough to revive him after he died. that might've been a driving factor for why hyuna hates the segyein so much. hmmmm (im reaching)

ivan: smile test- considering the equipment, it's pretty obvious what went down here. i think this further confirms my theory on ivan being forced into masking his emotions with a smile, rather than just doing it to fit in. help him :((

sua: hearing ability(?)- i don't think we've been told anything about sua having TROUBLE hearing, but the aliens could've tweaked with her ears so she can hear her own music better and therefore perfect it? idk.

mizi: vision- i remember there was this old livestream where vivimeng said that there's technology in the alnst universe to fix mizi's vision problems, so this must be it. judging by the bandages, it seems to be some sort of surgery. it explains why she doesn't need her glasses anymore.

till: it just says "be obedient"-bandages are covering his ENTIRE face. whatever skin that's showing seems to be covered in bruises. it's very vague about what happened to him but i just know it's terrible. someone get him OUT OF THERE

im also wondering whether or not this is like. directly after these tests

it would make sense with luka, hyuna, and ivan, but sua doesn't seem to have anything attached to her ears, mizi's not only completely blindfolded here, but she's also being made to dance while her grade in the previous image is labeled "vision", and till looks much more docile than usual here (plus he's widely regarded as a musical genius so i doubt he'd get a low grade on instrument practice)

then again sua's hearing operation could've been performed after this (maybe a test on how hearing affects a human's voice?)

and mizi's dance test could've been right after her eye operation while the image of her grade could've been taken after one of her eyes healed.

as for till, he could've gotten that C simply because he played an entirely different song than what was assigned to him (which is in character, but i dont think it warrants that extreme of a beating or whatever it was they did to his face).

alternatively, he seems to have a tendency to act more tame before pulling a wild stunt (he was uncharacteristically obedient before killing freddie in r2, and his aggression at the karaoke scene was after a long period with little to no resistance), so he might've tried something violent halfway through the test.

moral of the story, no one's happy

[minteaspoon]

IVANTILL SHORT STORY

a/n - this was for eng class, and I’m keeping their names in cause ivantill. This was also just me yapping lmao btw this was not beta read (obviously) so expect A LOT of mistakes and errors😭

writing for Till and Ivan WAS SO FREAKING HARD DUDE I literally gave up near the middle😭

IMPORTANT EDIT - a lot of these moments were referenced from other Ivantill fanfics on ao3 especially the part where they run, and the “cheer up” scene was from a tiktok

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

If you could go back in time, what would you do with it?

Till was never the type to ponder on philosophical questions like that. He wasn’t the type to, anyways. He had better things to do than think about a past he’d prefer not to think about. It’s a useless way to use his brainpower anyways.

But as he stared down at the red puddle and splatters on the stage, the false rain still pouring down from above by the aliens in charge of handling the aesthetics of the performance, washing the red away little by little, Till thinks back to that stupid question.

If he could turn back time, what would he do with it?

His mind was scattered. He doesn’t know what he’d do if he traveled back in time. Hell, when in time would he even choose to travel back to? When humans still lived peacefully on a distant planet? When humans still had bodily autonomy? When humans were free from their status as pets? When humans were able to live and survive, knowing they wouldn’t be killed off on public television for the entertainment of aliens?

No. If Till had the ability to go back in time, he would go back to his time in Anakt Garden. To the time where he had some freedom, some autonomy. Before he was forced to be a pet. Before he was forced to enter a life-or-death competition by his segyein. Before all he knew was taken away from him. Before, when he had Mizi, and Sua, and…

Till stops thinking. The blaring lights from above hurt his eyes as he looks up from the bullet-riddled body in front of him, all dressed in white, yet stained in a crimson he’s all too familiar with. He thinks he’s crying, but with the false water coming down from above the stage, he doesn’t know if he really is. But his eyes hurt and ache, so surely he is, right?

From all around him, he’s faintly aware of the commotion happening, of the robot guards coming on stage to wrangle him from him. But he didn’t struggle, he knew better than to struggle in this situation. He feels the rough-handling of the cold metal limbs on his body, feeling him being dragged away as his eyes are trained on the blinding light above before the lights went out.

All he hears is white noise, and as he turns his eyes from the inactive lights, Till’s eyes catches the white fabric splattered in red petals on his outfit, and this time, he knows he’s crying as the false rain is replaced with a solid roof and bright lights from behind the stage.

Till’s alien secretary stomps towards him, distaste clear in her inhumane face, but he notes it’s not directed at him, but at him. “Urak is not happy, he’s requesting you immediately in his private quarters. Get yourself prim and proper, you wouldn’t want to disappoint him further with your uncouth appearance.”

He ignores her words, however, keeping his eyes on the ground as his limp body is once again dragged off to get rid of the little red splatters that came from him. He doesn’t know where he is anymore, he doesn’t know where the failures of Alien Stage are put when they lose. All he knows is that the robot guards are programmed to shoot.

Till’s eyesight is blurred with tears, making his eyes heat up uncomfortably as he’s cooed over by his alien stylists, who fret over his appearance and the “unfortunate” end of his round - the sixth round of Alien Stage’s 50th season. But as he’s put carefully into a new outfit - all white, all blank, all pure like him - he’s brought to stand and directed to where his segyein was waiting.

Once he was there, he was left alone with the alien - with Urak. But as his segyein talks, yells, throws things, hits him, all Till does is take it. He knows better than to fight back, but even then, he knows he wouldn’t be able to. Not with what happened just a few minutes ago on stage with him.

A sharp pain spreads in his head. Urak lost composure for a second it seems, grabbing the back of his head and roughly slamming it against a table. Till could feel warmth, an ache that made his head spin as he gained some consciousness, but his half-lidded eyes were full of unshed tears, making everything blurry.

He could still hear Urak’s yelling mixed with white noise as he slumps onto the floor. The doors open as the guards outside rush inside.

Oh, he thinks, as he sees the unfocused silhouettes of his segyein, the guards, and a few other aliens surround him. Oh, he thinks, I’m dying.

Till doesn’t know what to think. He’s not sure he even can. He’s on the verge of death, what’s there to think about?

.

.

.

If you could go back in time, what would you do with it?

GASP

Till lets out a sharp gasp, rushing to sit up as his left hand goes to grab at his chest. His eyes frantically flutter about, his chest going up and down as his breaths were uneven. Till was heaving, as he calms down.

“…,” He slowly stands up, leaning against the tree behind him as he takes in the scenery. It was all familiar, and as he gains his bearings, he realizes why.

Anakt Garden.

Till’s eyes widen. What the hell? He thought to himself, how was he back here? His eyes go to his hands. They were small, bruised and scraped with small injuries. His clothes were the ones he wore when he was still in the garden. The collar he wore was still locked around his neck. “…I’m back?” He mutters to himself.

No, no that’s not…, his eyes flutter rapidly to keep the tears building up at bay. This isn’t real, I’m dead, I died. Urak killed me. It was an accident, but I was content. I wanted to…!

His thoughts stop there when he feels a presence behind him, turning to confront whoever snuck up on him before he stopped, his body flinching as his eyes widen. Till’s breath hitched as he looks at the boy in front of him, his snaggletooth out even with his lips shut tightly in a line.

The boy’s short black hair, cut into a stupid bowl cut, was flying a bit with the wind in the garden. He blinks, his cold and black eyes disappearing for one then appearing the next, the red dots glowing as the boy continues to look at Till.

Till, on the other hand, was silent. So very unlike him, the boy thought as he tilts his head. “Till?” He says aloud, and the aforementioned boy flinches violently. “Are you alright? Did something happen to Mizi?” The grey-haired boy stops breathing at the mention of the pink haired girl’s name.

Mizi? Why’s he talking about…, Till’s brain stops working. “…I-Ivan?” He stutters, and he curses at himself for how weak he sounded, but right now, he can’t find it in himself to act the brash and volatile Till everyone was more familiar with. The boy - Ivan - blinks as he straightens his head. “Yes, Till?”

Till’s breath hitches, his feet involuntarily bringing him forward as his hands - his trembling hands and twitching fingers - slip forward slowly and wrap around the black haired boy’s abdomen, with Till placing his chin on Ivan’s shoulder. “…you’re real, right?” His voice was a whisper, vulnerable and quiet.

Ivan was still, unknowing of what he should do. Till, his God, his universe, initiating physical contact with him? One that wasn’t full of violence? Of malice? Oh, Ivan thought, as he wraps his own arms around the boy with shaggy grey hair. He’s trembling.

“Till?” Ivan could feel the boy shake, could hear his uneven breathing as he adjusts his head to hide into Ivan’s neck. “Till? Do you want to go somewhere private?” He says, loud enough for only them to hear as the background noise of children laughing and playing gets closer.

“…mhm,” he hears the quiet confirmation from Till, hesitantly unraveling their embrace as Ivan backs away. But as his fingertips are on the verge of letting go of Till, he feels the boy’s hands grab onto his left, and he looks up, seeing Till’s eyes glistening, his irises flitting as he looks at his hands tightly gripping Ivan’s. “Don’t!…don’t let go…,” he mutters in a scared voice, almost as if he couldn’t believe what’s happening, couldn’t believe why Ivan would let go of him.

“…I won’t,” Ivan replies in a hushed but comforting tone, as best a comforting tone as he can do at least. “Come,” he shifts Till’s hands to allow him to wrap his own around the smaller boy’s, tugging him further away from the other kids.

They stumble a bit, as Till’s legs were shaking harshly, but tone down as they arrive on a field of red flowers. The two look out on the small field, full of flowers Till remembers that he would often pick to gift to Mizi, making her flower crowns or simply giving her a bouquet of red flowers.

Ivan looks down, seeing a wilting one at their feet. He nudged the silent and still boy next to him, whose real eyes were blank yet still beautiful. “Till? Look,” he points at the flower, waiting until Till finds it in himself to look where the boy was pointing. “Do you think it’s dying?” He asks, as Till takes a glance at Ivan before putting his attention back on the flower.

“…,” Till silently lowered himself down, hand still gripping Ivan’s tightly, resulting both sitting in front of the flower as Till brings a hand out to gently touch it. “…cheer up,” he mumbles, to which Ivan smiles. “Cheer up,” he follows, keeping his gaze on the downcast Till, who continues mumbling the same phrase to the flower.

To Ivan, Till was saying it to the flower. To Till, he was saying it to himself.

“Cheer up…cheer up…cheer up,” Till continues as he ignores everything around him. Ivan stops, looking at Till with his eyes, looking directly at Till with an amused smile. “…I wanna leave.” Ivan snaps out of his stupor, as he processes Till’s words. “You want to leave? Do you want to go back?” He questions, tilting his head.

“No,” Till shakes his head, still looking at the wilting flower with dead and tired eyes. “I wanna leave this place, the garden.”

Ivan was silent. This was the first he’s heard Till wish for escape. “…you want to leave?” Till nods weakly. “…okay,” Ivan keeps his eyes locked on his God, his universe.

.

.

.

Meteors shoot down from the night sky - the real sky - as two boys run across an open hilltop, panting heavily as they feel the sharp rocks on the ground and the rough dirt scrape their bare feet.

They could see the tree line, and if they just continue running, they could reach it, they could leave, they could escape, they could…!

Till lets go of Ivan’s hand, who stands still as he looks at the forest. “…Till?” Ivan’s voice was weak, his hands balled into fists at his sides. …Mizi, he thinks, hands balling into fists at his sides. He’s probably worried about Mizi. He laughs inwardly at his unfortunate luck in life. He should’ve known Till, his God, his universe, wouldn’t wish to leave without the pink-haired girl, his light and comfort in an existence where they can’t be granted such a thing.

“…will we go back?” Till asks in a frail voice, tremors obvious as he keeps talking, his throat constricting as he does. “If we leave, if we don’t look back…can we still come back, and save Mizi? Sua?” Ivan’s eyes widen. ‘We’? Ivan thought, as he slowly turns around to face the fragile-looking boy, whose eyes were down on the ground as he gripped the hem of his white shirt tightly. “We can save them, right? We still have a while until they’re forced into Alien Stage, right? We have time to, to get things ready - a-a safe base for us! We can still save them, right?”

Till rambles anxiously as he waits for Ivan to speak. “…I don’t know,” he whispers as he feels his throat closing in on itself, taking in Till’s expression. “I don’t know Till,” he repeats, stumbling closer to the boy as he puts his hands on his shaking shoulders. “But if we don’t leave now, we won’t have this chance ever again, we won’t be able to leave, and we won’t be able to come up with a plan to save them.”

Till knows that. Knows that if he doesn’t leave now - if he does what he did in the past, if he abandoned Ivan and ran back for Mizi a second time - he won’t know how to stop what happens in the future, if he even can with his status as a human pet. “So please, Till, be selfish! Leave! Don’t look back!…please,” Ivan begged and pleaded. He was on the verge of giving up on reasoning with Till. He knows Till values Mizi above all else-

“Okay.”

Ivan flinches. “…what?”

“Okay,” he hears again, as he sees Till look into his eyes, a quiet determination clear in them. “We’ll come back for them. For Mizi, for Sua.” He keeps his eyes on Ivan with a silent question; will you help me?

“…yeah, we will,” Ivan nods slowly, feeling out of it as he drops his hands from Till’s shoulders, but when Till wraps a hand around one of his, leading the way out of the open and into the woods, he blinks once, then twice, then three times. He tastes a bit of saltwater in his mouth.

Oh, he thinks. Oh, I’m crying, Ivan lets out a shaky gasp. I’m crying…! Because Till finally looked at me, he feels a wide smile slowly spread across his lips. He finally…! He finally looked at me!

Ivan’s thoughts were plagued happily with ones of his God, his universe, as the two reach the line and pass it, running and hiding deeper into the foliage as they pant and pant and pant their way to freedom, to a future changed, to a world where they have another chance.

From the sky - the real sky - meteors shoot down, illuminating the night sky, as if to encourage the two boys running into the darkness, into the unknown. As if to light the way - to illuminate their path - to a new future paved by a boy who wanted to save his wilting flower.

.

.

.

.

.

.

If you could go back in time, what would you do with it?

[ivanttakethis]

I SEE IT!! I SEE THE VISION!!!

The side by side is so crazy it’s literally the same picture 😭😭

(Only difference is Peeta could never match Ivan’s freak lmao)

An Everlark style slow burn would be PEAK IvanTill imo.

Ivan being a constant in Till’s life, even if it was just in his periphery, like Peeta was with Katniss.

Ivan (Peeta) does everything he can to keep Till (Katniss) alive, both before and during the games. Ivan and Peeta’s shared charisma and self-sacrificial tendencies!!

Till and Katniss realizing too late/almost too late what the formers’ plans were. Kind of wet rags at first, but then slowly coming to realize over time that they care about their partners and eventually falling in love with them… I’M SO NOT NORMAL ABOUT THIS!!!!

Till with a big ass sledgehammer sounds metal as hell, I’m in!! You’re so right about his general attitude being very blunt and forceful and a sledgehammer matches that perfectly.

Ivan is canonically an unsettling character, so I wanted to lean into that. His District 2 militant background makes him similar to Sua (sharp, exacting, lethal), but in a more brutal/tactile way (physical touch is kind of his thing). He doesn’t really *need* a weapon when he *is* a weapon. But he purposefully becomes a shield for Till.

And him stealing things Till has stolen is so on brand for him lol.

I’m drafting a post right for potential outfit ideas (let me know if you have any more thoughts/ideas, the solar idea for Hyuna and Hyunwoo is GENIUS), but for now, please accept more of my ramblings about this AU:

Unsha and Urak still have their rivalry and want Ivan and Till to destroy each other.

Ivan tells Unsha that he plans to help Till get to the end and then kill him, to make the biggest impact.

He’s lying. Like a liar.

Mizi lays Sua to rest in a field of clematis flowers and sings to her.

She hunkers down nearby to watch over Sua, to make sure no one disturbs her resting in peace. One tribute tries to loot Sua’s body for anything valuable and Mizi beats them to death with her gifted brass knuckles (Mizi/Till parallels go brrr).

A little later on is when Ivan and Till happen upon her. Ivan even pays his respects to Sua, and tells Mizi he regrets that he didn’t get to know her better before she died.

When the rebels infiltrate the arena, Hyuna uses her vocal mimicry talent to lure Mizi away from a sleeping Ivan and Till by making her voice sound like Sua singing.

Isaac and Dewey create a technological distraction for the cameras and overseers and Mizi is quietly pulled out of the dome.

The canon never sounds to announce her death.

Till wakes up first and is distraught to find that Mizi is gone. He wants to search for her, but he receives a mysterious gift from an anonymous sponsor containing and note only he can read. The contents of it seem to set him at ease. Who is it from? 🧐

At the final two, Ivan tries to sacrifice himself so Till will win. But Till just… Won’t? Let him??

Ivan ate some nightshade berries — the same ones Acorn tried to poison Till with — and is coughing up blood (canon reference, yippee!). Till is furious and starts yelling at him, “You’re not leaving me again, you bastard!”

His anger catches Ivan completely off guard, giving Till the opportunity to tackle him and force the antidote down his throat.

Urak gave Till the antidote as a sponsorship gift earlier in the game after Acorn’s failed poisoning attempt. Using the antidote on Ivan of all people is a major act of rebellion for Till.

The Capitol audience is extremely moved by Till’s words, and they don’t want either of the star crossed lovers to die, so the game gets called after that.

Capitol shippers would lose their minds when Ivan and Till do the Victory Tour.

found my old hunger games au.... will I post about it? maybe one day....