We returned to Vision's home at dusk. The sun had already started to set by the time we got there, even though it was only half-past noon when the explosion occurred. It had taken my friends a long time to recover from the shocking events of the day, and even more so to pull me away from the site where Techno had been.

He had 'died' before, at the Battle of Las Nevadas, and I had grieved greatly then, but that was before we had confessed our love for each other and established a relationship. Now that we had done that, however, every memory of our time together was like a flaming dagger in my heart. When it fully dawned on me that Techno was truly dead, and that he wasn't coming back, I was overwhelmed with despair and sadness. I had loved him, truly loved him, from the moment I saw him, and now I would never see him again.

When we returned to the Maximoff household, I left without a word, barricading myself in my room. For the first few days I wouldn't allow anyone else in the room with me. I wanted to mourn his death in peace. Glitch offered to play Minecraft with me a few times, cause that would usually cheer me up, but I refused.

Episode six of Squid Game felt like a minor inconvenience compared to Techno's death.

I was unsure who to blame for this terrible tragedy, excluding myself. I tried not to blame myself for things like these, even though I was the reason he had stayed behind to deactivate the bomb. It's a rather unhealthy thing to do.

Quackity was one option; he had brought his friends to attack us when we were least expecting it, causing the bomb to be activated. JD was another, having created the bomb and offered to blow it up. I even considered blaming Techno for his recklessness and determination to keep me alive, which had caused him to stay behind, but I most certainly couldn't bring myself to do that. I soon realized that there was no singular person who I could blame, so I gave up.

After about three days, I would allow my friends into my room for brief periods of time, but I refused to speak or cry in front of them. I didn't want to appear weak. My appetite, the one thing I never thought I'd ever lose, had disappeared for a few days after Techno died, but it came back around the time I started interacting with my friends again. I had left the door open one morning, and Vision had brought some food for me, leaving it on the bedside table when I wouldn't speak with him, and I couldn't resist.

I deal with many things by doing absolutely nothing. This is one of them.

This behavior only lasted about a week. One morning I woke up, feeling a peculiar emotion that wasn't grief or sadness. No, it burned stronger than either of those, slowly filling every fiber of my being as it grew within me. It took only a moment for me to recognize the feeling within me.

Rage.