Reality

Sweat pooled in Mond's palms as they slowly began to expose themselves, weak sparks dying in their cores. The deadly hiss of stretches of track coming alive, section by section, approached rapidly.

Mond shouted , looking around in a panic “Someone? Anyone! Hello?”, but the chamber was silent, only the hum of approaching electricity remained. His heartbeat spiked, breath bubbling up in bursts like a broken machine. “I don’t… want to die guys…please.”

Rose’s fruitless verbal assault finally ceased, a desperate sigh marking its end. “Fine then, you broken old man…” She stood up, turning away from Sonne, and walking towards the others, the refinement in her stride clawing its way back to life. 

“But I'm not letting these kids die, Oyster is… it’s enough”.

Mond saw her take out the gun once more, but this time she looked different. It didn’t seem like a gamble now, it seemed like a sacrifice. “No!” he shouted, the words coming out like a trigger had been pulled to release them. 

Roses smiled gently to the boy, holding the revolver out in front of her in bitter nostalgia.

“Roses the drugs wore off, it wont do anything!” She approached him with an air of comfort that pierced his defences, like a mothers undeniable charm. “I'm so so sorry Mond.. you didn’t need any of this, none of us did” she smiled down at the gun, a pained longing in her eyes. 

“Oyster might be right in some way, maybe death has something to it” She spun the cylinder and held it to her head, “But that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy this world while we have it”.

Clang, clang clang, metal footsteps pounded behind them, rapidly approaching. Above them, a huge dark figure leapt clear over the two, landing down the tunnel an entire nine meters ahead. MF stood in massive stature at the center of the tracks, the impact from the leap wedging his blades cleanly in the metal rails.

The three stared in amazement, a quiet “woah” even escaping Vertigo's sealed lips. Roses, wide eyed and enamoured, tried to speak “MF,- I… you can-”. MF turned his head back, every bit of confidence in his soul drawn into a grin, “Finally got you speechless, didn’t I? ya’ old hag.” His green eyes were full of color.

The hanging floodlights of the tunnel exploded as Mond's hands finally fell open. Glass and sparks blazed against each other in a mural of power lighting up the dark. 

MF’s silhouette stood against the inferno like a mountain, the flow of electricity redirected from the rails up his metal limbs and into his body, feeding it back into the air. His body like a floodgate from the energized death, looping it within himself as it raged.

One more roar of galvanized explosion echoed throughout the underground, before the power died out, and the group were left in smoking silence. Metallic embers fell around them, the only light left illuminating the dark.

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When the smoke cleared, MF’s lifeless body still stood, like a bronze statue ever vigilant. Ash and burning dust settling like snow were the only sounds that remained. Mond, Vertigo, Roses, even Sonne, the people he gave his life for, simply existed in the dark.

Roses was the first to step forward, silently. She approached MF’s standing form, laying down her pistol at his feet. “Like hell am I ever going to die MF… I can't now.”

Mond was shellshocked, not wanting to process what had happened, but the understanding crawled up his throat regardless. His gaze went from MF to his jittery hands, and the first thing he felt was guilt.

“Dont you dare think for a moment this was you’re fault Mond.” Roses turned to glare at him, sharply. She took his hand, nodding to Vertigo, who he still could not read. Whether the poor girl was in shock, confused, mourning, he wasn’t sure, she just seemed empty. Though Mond was at a loss for words himself.

“We need to go now, Mond.” Roses let go of his hand and turned down the tunnel. He looked to Sonne, sat with the scarred body of Oyster in the middle of the junction, a single hanging lamp casting dull light over them. Neither of their faces visible, the man's hair draped over their eyes like a veil.

“Right…” Mond turned to follow Roses out of the underground, but stopped when he got to MF. “Rose’s wait! Shouldn’t we … at least-” She shook her head, every ounce of her strength keeping her voice from wavering, “Who are we to lay down the man, now that he can stand?”

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Moonlight poured through the cracked metal door into the thin path, carving a white slice down its cold concrete floor. Its pale light flowed over Roses as she walked through ahead of Mond, opening the way to the outside world.

Fresh air, oddly cold for the season, hit his face in an instant. The moon and stars shone ahead, as they ever did, unchanged. Starlight dripped into his eyes, and overflowed down his cheeks.

Behind him, Vertigo squeezed her way out of the pathway into the open. Without missing a beat, she immediately began walking down the street and out of sight. Mond wiped his eyes, sniffing away the pain in his heart, “Where the hell is she going?”. Roses sat down on the curb, patting for him to sit with her, “Vertigo can take care of herself, she’s… been through more than anyone her age should.”

When Mond sat down on the cold smooth sidewalk, he noticed his hands were still shaking. Roses took out a piece of chalk, gazing down at it as she had with her revolver, down in the tunnels. “MF never did think he could walk without those pills” she said, snapping it in her fingers.

“ Up until the end there anyway, I think he always believed if he stopped hyping himself up all the time, or went too long without some kinda high, he’d realize just what he really was.” She opened up her hand, letting the chalk dust fly along the summer night breeze. “He was scared to see just how human he really was.” Mond watched the chalk swirl up into the sky, glistening like stardust into the sky

“He talked about being a cyborg, but I think being human was what got him moving.” Mond said softly. Roses giggled a little, smiling with him up at the stars, “He started with that Cyborg crap after playing some game apparently, it was like his personal anchor, an idol to put his confidence in.” She looked at Mond, wearing a real genuine smile, free of bitterness, “But I think you’re right… he really was a man, not a machine. “

Rose's smile was infectious, and soon Mond was grinning too. He hadn’t known MF for more than an evening, but the memories of the gentle giant drew in so much happiness. He could only imagine the flood of emotion Roses must have felt. “That jump was incredible though wasn’t it?”

Roses shot to her feet, her laughter echoing through the empty street, “I know right? That had to have been some kind of record, and that was all real!” Her laughter continued for a little while, and it warmed Mond's heart to see that MF was still making his friends smile even after his passing.

She caught her breath, wiping a tear from her eyes, “ Synchronicity was probably doing its thing for awhile down there, in all reality that train was only going around 5 miles an hour I can imagine,” Roses turned her head to the dark maintenance tunnel, wonder glistening in her usually so mature eyes. “But that jump was pure, flesh and blood reality.”