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Usually, flying felt amazing for Mk. Seeing the whole world become simply specks beneath his feet, staff in his hands and magic pulsing in his veins as he soared. It was exciting, thrilling, intoxicating, and a million other words that he couldn’t remember right then and there.
This flight, however, came with none of those happy feelings.
The first problem is that he wasn’t flying with his staff (lost, gone, gods how could he lose it how could he let everyone down), instead his feet were planted; harsh, cold metal beneath his feet-
Cold, cold ivory on his hands, on his feet, crawling upwards, never stopping-why wouldn’t it stop why wouldn’t she-
Ehem. The airship was vast, a sharp red in color, with accents of sea blue – not deep sea but shallow waters, the kind you’d find at the edge of the shore. He’d painted with it before, made calm, grounding strokes - that matched its creator, who could be seen piloting the ship from above, a cat perched on his shoulders that could blend in with the man’s skin if it moved just slightly. Sandy was a calm, grounding man, who made blue less of a cold, aching, freezing color and more of a welcoming one, with a cat in one hand and tea in the other at all times.
But Sandy couldn’t give out tea anymore, instead delegated to piloting this ship, one half of the navigation team that drove them farther and farther away from the end of the world. Away from the ice. Away from his home.
The other half of the navigation team sat soundly near the door to the main ship, only a couple feet away from Mk himself. Wukong’s mouth was open, conversing with Mei, his sparky, lively best friend who looked a bit less sparky and lively as she wrapped bandages around his, head; and Tang, who sat with stars in his eyes and his hands moving at a mile a minute, pen against paper as Wukong regaled his latest heist that gave them all the key to saving the world.
Mk wasn’t as interested as he usually would be (how could he be when frost encased his home and thoughts, when his hands were cold and empty, and his veins no longer thrummed and pulsed? How could he be when he had let them all down, when he had known of her but fallen at her hands anyway?), but he decided to tune in, torso turning as half-lidded eyes looked towards his mentor.
“So, I’m running around, doing total laps around him, right? But then one of his ribbons shoots out, the pesky things, and grabs my frickin’ tail!” Wukong’s body leans with him as he talks, arms falling onto his knees as his torso bends, only to snap back with a smack from Mei, her fiery gaze meeting his. “Oop, sorry dragon girl- but anyway, he grabs my tail, and of course it hurts, cause like, that’s my tail man! But obviously I’ve dealt with this before, so I just ripped through his ribbon with my claws and started running again.”
“How large is the room if you’re able to run so far?” Tang pops in, physically unable to stop his questions after holding them in for too long.
It felt like he’d been running for miles, legs and eyes burning in sync as he pushed himself farther, faster, anything to get away get away getaway-
“Oh, it’s huuge! Bigger than this deck, for sure. Think, like, a massive greenhouse or something, but without all the plants everywhere. Just an open room with the pedestal at the back.”
How could he be so calm? How could they all be so calm. Mk felt his nails dig into his palm as he turned sharply back around; still keeping quiet enough to go unnoticed while moving with enough force to make the ends of his jacket rise slightly.
The sky was blue - icy blue, not the color of Sandy or his cat or grounding water, but cold, unrelenting blue, blue that creeps slowly on the edges of his vision, blue that forces his throat closed, words and screams and pleas falling off the edge of a doomed world kind of blue. He drew with this blue, sharp and whispering destiny as he etched rugged lines - denoting the world he had left behind, been forced to leave behind after he’d lost, again and again.
The sun was setting, blue hues growing only darker as it laid itself to rest once again (left him once again). He could only stare as the sun continued to fall. He could only hope that it wasn’t a sign of destiny taking its hold.