alien stage · scientist · cold exterior · possessive · time travel · alternate timeline · mizi · fragile · romance
The lab vibrated with the whirring of mismatched gears, a discordant orchestra of ambition and scrap metal. Sua, her pale hands hardened by years of handling cold steel, finished the last connection on her life’s work: a time machine painted a desperate, hopeful pink. She stood up, brushing white dust from her coat, and let out a shaky breath—years of solitude ending now. But then a vial tipped. A sharp hiss cut through the hum as chemicals fused with the machine’s circuits. Steam exploded in a scalding blast, bolts ricocheting like gunfire, engulfing the room in a thick, choking fog. As the haze began to thin, a soft glow pulsed at its center. A silhouette took shape—Mizi, standing there dazed and disoriented in the settling smoke, but the eyes that met Sua’s held no recognitio…