Tonight, The Stars Shone Brightly

未来

Tonight, the stars shone brightly. Through the transparent glass pane showed the vastness of the dark blue sky, the white stars shone from the very top all the way to the very bottom. Panning down, there was no floor, but the same vast dark blue and the bright stars that never twinkle.

However, Xu Minghao's attention wasn't on the bright stars, nor the vastness of this dark blue vacuum, nor the uncomfortable metal floor he was currently sitting on, nor the soft humming produced by the spaceship he was in. Instead, he was zoned out, thinking about what had happened earlier.

“Boom!” A bomb had went off, setting the shabby, empty school building on fire. Minghao was standing there at the time, his eyes widening and his body frozen in spot, trembling even. He had lost. He was a step too late. If only he hadn't miscalculated, if only he had came up with a better plan, earth wouldn't turn into something worse than a dystopian wasteland. This wasteland... The enemy was planning to destroy it, the whole planet, but even with the best of his abilities in stopping them, he still did not succeed. This... Was the how manyth planet they had destroyed?

“Xu...! Mr. Xu!” A monotone yet loud voice called out to him, and he felt himself being carried on someone's hard back. Feeling how strong the wind is around him due to the speed, he snapped back to reality, holding onto the person who was carrying him tightly, and found himself on none other than his cyborg, Jun's back.

“I apologise, Mr. Xu.” Jun still talked with the same tone, the talking not bothering his movements at all. Jun also must've started talking when he noticed that Minghao came back to his senses, Minghao noted. “We must head back to our spaceship now, or else this planet will blow.” So this is really happening, huh? Minghao asked himself with disappointment.

Fire crackled at every burnable object, buildings which lost their foundations toppled from every corner. Was this... Truly his home? It wasn't supposed to be like this... Jun successfully dodged a large stone that was planning to hit the both of them. It was supposed to be peaceful, and fun, and lively, yet...

“We are here.” Minghao felt himself being placed on the ground as he heard Jun speak. His legs were wobbly, but he still managed to keep his balance. The destruction earlier... Really did not feel real at all. It was a dream, right? Just a really terrible dream that he was trying to wake up from.

When he looked out the window after gaining some of his senses back, after the spaceship took off, the planet that he held dear blew up Death Star style in front of his eyes. This was when he realised that he was definitely, really, absolutely not dreaming at all.

Minghao was fortunate that no one bothered him, especially that cyborg Jun, when he sluggishly made his way to his quarters and shut himself in until when everyone was presumably asleep, walking out at that time to catch a break and sitting down at where he currently was to escape the stuffiness of his room. He was also internally relieved that no one pestered him with questions, especially when he knew that he did not look good at all at the time.

Unfortunately, that feeling of relief did not last long.

“Mr. Xu.” A familiar flat voice called out, and he heard the sound of shuffling next to him. By hearing the voice, Minghao immediately recognised the voice as Jun's. He glanced at him and quickly looked away, realising that Jun was eyeing, or scanning him carefully.

“Something is wrong with Mr. Xu.” After finishing his so called scanning process, he handed a medium sized round bun to Minghao. Minghao, although did not remember the last time he ate, did not feel his appetite return at all. “It is best if Mr. Xu eats something. However, as Mr. Xu has not eaten in a while, it is not a good choice to have him eat something heavy.” Minghao glanced at Jun, an image of a younger boy who looked like Jun flashed in his mind, a wide smile on that Jun's face. It made his heart clench, so he quickly looked away. He quietly mumbled a thanks and opened the packaging. Even with his lack of appetite, he tried his best to eat, taking small bites.