Bound to Darkness

Flight

I shot awake with a gasp, clutching my chest as the dream faded away. My heart was pounding in my ears, leg muscles tense. I had been running... running...

"Dammit!" I groaned, throwing my blanket aside. No matter how hard I tried, anything I dreamt was gone the moment I opened my eyes.

Well... I'm not sleeping anymore tonight. I grabbed my elytra and a stack of rockets and took off into the air. The moon was high in the pitch-black sky, reflecting off the ocean I flew over beautifully. I turned upwards, gaining speed as I flew higher and higher.

I tipped forward, enough to slowly drift down towards the water. The shopping district was a center of lights in the distance, my own base standing as tall as it can go. Mumbo's ball was lit up as well, the mustached man probably AFK even now.

Everything looked so small from this height. The air was crisp, cool against my skin. It burrowed beneath the red sweater I wore, needles digging into my arms, my back, my sides. It was refreshing, making me more aware of the present than I have been since waking up.

"Can't sleep?" If I had been on the ground, I would have jumped. I glanced down below me, where the voice had come from, to see Tango flying up to my level.

"Is it that obvious?" I did a small loop, levelling out with the red-eyed blonde. He laughed a bit, gesturing to the lids at the bottoms of his eyes.

Right. I had some killer dark circles.

"How've you been settling in?"

I replied with a small shrug, looking down at the waves below us.

"Ah."

In sync, we launched another rocket, propelling ourselves up higher. There was barely a breeze over the ocean tonight, allowing us to speak without shouting.

That is, if I could actually speak to Tango. My tongue was heavy in my mouth, the faint memories from before I woke up dragging me down.

"X wanted me to check in on you. Make sure you were handling this okay."

Was I handling this okay? I glanced down at the water, taking a sharp dive. The wind grew, tearing at my sweater and pulling my hair back. At the last second I pulled up, soaring back into the sky.

I levelled out near Tango, avoiding his red eyes. "I'm gonna guess that's a big fat no?"

I shrugged a bit, doing a small roll. "I mean... it's okay, but you guys are all like... really close. And I'm an outsider."

"An outsider who's already won the affection of Mumbo, Impulse respects your pranks, and you even managed to intrigue Evil X."

Another shrug his way. I heard the sigh leave his lips as I tilted forward enough to head to the water. He followed, using another rocket to keep up his speed as I skimmed the waves of the ocean.

"Grian. You may not realize it, but you've garnered some respect." Tango had some issues levelling out as I had over the water, but he managed to do so eventually. I stared down at the surface, seeing the night sky reflected.

We flew in peace for a while, the silence thick between us. We drew a circle around the main island, avoiding some storm clouds coming from the distance.

"I think Doc sees me as a threat," I finally got my voice to work again, around the third loop of the island. The moon was approaching the horizon, the threat of daylight rapidly coming closer.

Tango laughed tiredly, pulling up a bit with another rocket. "He sees any newcomer as a threat. Trust me, he acts tough, but that's all words. He's a real big softie under the cybernetics stuff."