"I've been hurt," Aza said, sinking to the floor and pulling her knees up to her chest. "My heart's been stolen from me multiple times, then shattered and dumped back into my lap like a piece of trash. Knives have been stabbed into my back thousands of times, leaving me more broken and heartbroken every time. I ran away because they loved me, Raeden. They loved me."
"But I don't love you. I like you strongly. I'm on the aro spectrum. You don't have to love me. I don't have to love you. We can just like."
"No. No, I can't." Aza shivered, hugging herself more tightly. "I can't."
"Hey. Heyheyhey. It's okay. You don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I swear it on my life. Anyway, don't you have a lab to finish?"
"Stop. Stop." Aza buried her face in her knees and cried softly, not wanting Raeden to notice.
"Okay. I'll be quiet. Let me know if you need to talk, Aza. I'm here for you." Raeden walked back to his corner of the lab. Iodine then hydrogen.
"They're coming," Aza said, looking up at Raeden, tears streaking her face. "The monsters."
"The… monsters? Aza, how can I protect you?! I'm weak, you know that!" Raeden was starting to panic. Monsters?
"Here," Aza whispered, tapping her head and pulling her knees closer to her chest, wishing to disappear.
"Talk to me Aza. How can I tell them to shut their faces and get away from you? I want to help you make them stop. Should I just talk to you so you can ignore them?" Raeden was clueless what to do.
Aza forced herself to calm down, even just slightly. She shifted to sit with her legs crossed and tugged at her hair nervously. "When they come, they take over. So I'll-" Here she snapped her fingers. "I'll go somewhere else. To a different place."
"Why… why do they want you there? Because I need you right here, Aza. Can you try to stay here?" Raeden did his best to stay calm. It sure as hell wasn't working.
"No, no. I tried to stay once." She shook her head vigorously, which made her hair fan out slightly. She hissed in frustration and ran a hand through her hair. "They chase me. Through the forest." Aza made a rolling motion with her hands. "Like this. Over and over. Never stops."
"Hey. Look at me. LOOK AT ME, AZA. I will be right here. If they chase you, I'll run after somehow. I'm here for you." He was bewildered: praying that everything would be fine.
"Never stops," she repeated softly, looking into Raeden's eyes.
"It will stop. Nothing's gonna harm you. Not while I'm around." Raeden quoted Sweeney Todd. It seemed like an appropriate response. He looked deep into Aza's eyes. "I can see a galaxy back there. You have all this room, escape to there. You can leave these voices. They seem real, but they aren't. I promise."
She laughed ruefully, then said in a singsong voice, "That's exactly what a doppelganger would say."
"I don't know who or what a doppelganger is, but I'm just a kid. You'll be alright here, Aza. Nobody ever comes in." Raeden tried to soothe the girl.
Aza blinked.
When she opened her eyes, she stood in a forest. She spun around, bewildered. A person, just a normal person, took out a knife and mocked, "That's exactly what a doppelganger would say!" Aza scooted back, terrified. The girl looked exactly like her. Exactly. She knew in the other world she was passed out, Raeden probably by her side, freaking out. She knew she wasn't really going to die, but in this world…this world was different. The other girl moved closer. "That's exactly what a doppelganger would say," she mimicked again and threw the knife. It lodged in Aza's stomach and she collapsed, knowing that here she had twenty minutes as her stomach acids slowly permeated the rest of her body and she dissolved.
"Aza? Aza??" The girl had passed out in front of him. "AZA PLEASE WAKE UP! YOU'RE OKAY! Please, dear God, let her be okay…" he started crying. "What did I do wrong?"
She shivered in the real world. In her mind, frost crept up her arms and legs, turning her skin blue. Her entire body froze over, slowing the dying process. Why is death so cold? she wondered.
She was shivering. Raeden yanked off his hoodie and draped it over the girl, praying it'd do something; anything. He pleaded with God. "Please let her be alright."
A sharp stabbing pain shot through her body, and she screamed, frozen in time.
She sat up abruptly, still screaming shrilly. Her breath came in jagged gasps>
"AZA! Oh my god are you okay?" Raeden didn't know what to say. "Breathe. You're okay. Shh."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just cold." She wiggled her fingers, still feeling the remnants of frostbite.