Chapter 579: The Things You Do For Love
"That’s...That’s the fruit?" She asked, trying to hide her disappointment.
"Titan Berries are enormous." Mika explained. "I can’t carry a whole one back. So I scrape the flesh from the bottom and bring that instead."
"It doesn’t look appetizing, but it’s edible."
Before Anya could respond, the adults were there. Of course they were. They had heard Mika’s return, and they came swarming like flies to carrion.
"You got it! You actually got it!"
"Give it here! I need food!"
"I’m starving—move aside, let me through!"
They snatched the bucket from Mika’s hands before either child could react.
They didn’t thank him. They didn’t ask if he was okay.
They just grabbed the food and started eating, shoving handfuls of blue sludge into their mouths like animals at a trough.
"This tastes terrible!" One of the nurses complained, her face twisted with disgust. "It’s bitter! And salty! And the texture is all wrong!"
"It’s the worst thing I’ve ever eaten." Another agreed, even as she continued to shovel it into her mouth.
"If there are other fruits, maybe we should try those instead—"
"There aren’t." Mika said flatly. "Titan Berries are all there is. Eat it or don’t. It’s your choice."
The adults grumbled, but they kept eating. Even bad food was better than no food at all.
Mika took Anya’s hand and led her away from the feeding frenzy.
Once they were safely in their own corner of the cavern, Anya turned to him with a frown.
"Why didn’t you take any for us? We need to eat too!"
"We have our own food." Mika reminded her. "The hidden stash. We’ve been rationing it carefully—it should last us a while longer."
"But what about the fruit? It looks gross, but if it’s edible..."
"I don’t want you eating that fruit, Anya." Mika’s voice was serious. "The Titan Berry isn’t meant for regular consumption. It might have side effects. I don’t want to risk testing it on you."
"But the adults are eating it!"
"Exactly. They’re eating it. Let them." He glanced toward the adults, who were still fighting over the last scraps of blue sludge. "If the fruit has any negative effects, better that they discover it than us."
Anya nodded slowly. That made sense. It was clever, actually—using the adults as unwitting test subjects while keeping themselves safe.
"Here." Mika pressed something into her hands. A packet of food from their hidden cache. "Eat this. I’m not hungry."
"But Mika, you haven’t eaten in—"
"I said I’m not hungry." His voice was gentle but firm. "My body is different from yours. I don’t need food the same way you do. You need it more."
Reluctantly, Anya accepted the food
She didn’t like that Mika was sacrificing his share for her, but she knew better than to argue with him when he got that look in his eyes.
—
And so the days continued.
Every day, Mika ventured into the fissure.
Every day, he returned with a bucket of blue sludge.
Every day, the adults snatched it from his hands and devoured it greedily.
And every day, Mika grew a little paler, a little weaker, a little more tired.
But something strange was happening to the adults.
"Have you noticed?" Anya whispered to Mika on the twenty-seventh day. "They look...different."
She was right. The adults who had been eating the Titan Berry sludge had undergone a remarkable transformation.
The hollows in their cheeks had filled out. The pallor of their skin had been replaced by a healthy glow.
Some of the older staff members looked years younger. Their wrinkles smoothing, their postures straightening, their movements becoming more energetic.
"This fruit is miraculous!" The older doctor exclaimed, flexing his arm with wonder. "I haven’t felt this strong in decades! I used to have arthritis in my hands—gone! Completely gone!"
"My eyesight is improving." One of the nurses added. "I’ve worn glasses for twenty years, but now I can see almost perfectly without them!"
"We should sell this fruit when we get out." Another said greedily. "Think of the profits! A youth serum that actually works?"
"We’d be rich beyond our wildest dreams!"
They laughed and celebrated, their earlier despair completely forgotten.
They talked about their plans for the future—the mansions they would buy, the fame they would achieve, the fortunes they would amass.
They even started eyeing the fissure with speculative expressions, though none of them were brave enough to enter it themselves.
"It’s almost funny." Anya said quietly. "They were so miserable before, and now they’re acting like this is a vacation."
Mika didn’t respond. He was watching the adults with that dark, unreadable expression that Anya had come to dread.
"Mika? What’s wrong?"
"Nothing." He turned away. "I’m going back in. The bucket’s empty."
"Already? You just got back!"
"They eat faster than I can gather."
And he was gone again, disappearing into the fissure before Anya could protest.
—
By the thirty-fifth day, Anya’s hidden food supply had run out.
She had been careful. She had rationed. She had followed Mika’s instructions to the letter.
But the food they had scavenged from the ruins had only been meant to last so long, and now there was nothing left.
Anya’s stomach growled painfully. She hadn’t eaten in three days, and it was starting to affect her.
Her head felt fuzzy. Her limbs were heavy. Even walking had become an effort.
"Mika." She said. "I need to eat the fruit."
"No."
"But there’s nothing else! The hidden food is gone! If I don’t eat something, I’m going to—"
"I said no." Mika’s voice was sharp, almost desperate. "The fruit isn’t safe for you, Anya. I don’t know what it might do to your body."
"They staff have been eating it for so long! Look at them—they’re healthier than ever! They’re stronger! They look younger!"
"If the fruit was dangerous, wouldn’t it have hurt them by now?"
Mika didn’t have an answer for that. But still, he shook his head.
"Please." Anya begged. "I’m so hungry, Mika. Please let me eat the fruit."
"I...I need to think."
He walked away from her, retreating to a corner of their area where he stood with his back turned, his shoulders tense.
Anya watched him, confused and hurt. Why was he being so stubborn about this?
The fruit was obviously safe. The adults were proof of that.
If anything, it was beneficial, a miracle food that healed wounds and restored youth.
So why wouldn’t Mika let her eat it?
When he finally came back, his expression was grim. He looked like a person who had made a decision he desperately didn’t want to make.
"Fine." He said quietly. "You can eat the fruit."
Anya’s face lit up. "Really?"
"But only a little at first. To see how your body reacts."
"Okay! Okay, I promise!"
Mika handed her a small portion of the blue sludge, a portion he had apparently set aside before the adults could take it all.
Anya didn’t hesitate. She was too hungry to care about the bitter taste or the strange texture. She ate it all, and when she was done, she smiled.
"It’s not that bad." She said. "Kind of like...like cabbage? But sweeter?"
Mika didn’t smile back. He was watching her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.
"What?" She asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No." He said, but his voice was strange. "Nothing’s wrong."
He pulled her into a sudden hug, holding her so tightly that she could barely breathe.
"Mika? What are you—"
"Just...let me hold you for a minute."
Anya didn’t understand, but she hugged him back. She could feel his heart pounding against her chest, fast and uneven. She could feel the slight tremor in his arms.
Whatever was bothering him, she hoped it would pass soon. She hoped everything would be okay.
She didn’t know yet how wrong she was.
—
After that day, Anya joined the adults in eating the Titan Berry fruit.
And just like the adults, she began to change.
It started with small things. Her vision, which had always been slightly blurry, sharpened until she could see the tiniest details on the cavern walls.
Her energy levels, which had been flagging from hunger, surged until she felt like she could run for hours without stopping.
The scrapes and bruises she’d accumulated over the past month healed faster than they ever had before.
"I feel amazing." She told Mika. "The fruit really is miraculous! Why didn’t you want me to eat it before?"
Mika just shook his head. He looked worse than ever—pale and drawn, with dark circles under his eyes that seemed to deepen by the day.
Every time he came back from the fissure, he looked like he’d aged a year.
—
By the forty-third day, he could barely walk.
Anya had to support him when he emerged from the fissure, her arm around his waist, guiding him to their corner of the cavern.
He was shaking so badly that his teeth chattered. His skin was cold to the touch.
"That’s it." She said, her voice cracking. "That’s it, Mika. You’re not going back in there! I don’t care what happens—you need to rest."
"C-Can’t." He mumbled. "They need food. You need food."
"I don’t care about the food! I care about you!"
He tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.
"I’ll be fine. Just...just give me a minute."
He didn’t look fine. He looked like he was dying.
And that night, for the first time, Anya made a decision.
She was going to help him. Whether he wanted her to or not.
—
The next day, when Mika dragged himself toward the fissure for his daily expedition, Anya waited until he had disappeared inside.
Then, after counting to thirty, she followed him.
The passage was narrow, much narrower than she had expected. She had to twist her body sideways, squeezing through gaps that scraped against her shoulders and hips.
The darkness was absolute, broken only by the faint glow of the crystal Mika had taken with him.
But she kept going. She had to. Mika needed her.
Finally, the tunnel opened into a smaller cavern.
The air here was stale and thin, making it hard to breathe. The crystals were fewer, their glow dimmer.
It was a miserable place, even worse than the main cavern.
Anya looked around, searching for the massive vine Mika had described.
The Titan Berries.
The giant bat.
But...there was nothing.
No vine. No fruit. No bat.
Just Mika.
He was sitting on a flat rock near the center of the cavern, his back to her. He hadn’t noticed her yet.
He was breathing heavily, his shoulders rising and falling with each labored breath, as if he was preparing himself for something difficult.
’Maybe the bat is somewhere else.’ Anya thought. ’Poor Mika. Maybe he’s just resting before he goes to face it.’
But then Mika reached down and picked up something from beside the rock.
It was an axe. A makeshift axe, cobbled together from scrap metal and wood, its blade sharpened to a sharp edge.
’He’s going to fight the bat.’ She thought. ’This is where the battle happens.’
She readied herself to jump in and help. Two against one, surely they could handle whatever creature lurked in this cave.
But Mika didn’t stand up to fight. He didn’t move toward any hidden enemy.
Instead, he did something that made Anya’s blood run cold.
He removed his shorts, exposing his bare legs. He positioned himself on the stone platform, adjusting his posture until he was sitting in a specific way.
He then lifted the axe above his head.
And then, with a single, horrible motion, he brought it down on his own thigh.
SHLICK!
The blade sliced through flesh and bone with a sound that Anya would hear in her nightmares for the rest of her life.
SPLURT!
Blood erupted from the wound. Dark, arterial blood that sprayed across the stone platform and pooled on the ground.
Thump!
And Mika’s leg, severed just below his pelvis, fell away from his body with a wet, meaty thump.
For one eternal second, Anya couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
She had just watched Mika, the boy she loved more than anyone in the world cut off his own leg and she simply couldn’t comprehend it.
