Taken || Lego Monkei Kid

Puzzle Piece

Yet, just a few hours before, as he ran from his truck into the backdrop of the city, MK hadn't given any of that a second thought. Some part of him was willing to never come back if it meant he got to the person that always lingered in the back of his thoughts.

It was like he had been possessed, his brain on autopilot as it navigated him away from everything he knew.

It was reminiscent of the first time he tried Nezha's special tea. He had never known what it meant to feel normal until that moment, as he had always been plagued by chest pain, blurry vision and aching bones. He believed it was a normal part of life everyone suffered from, and he was just overly sensitive to it.

This was like that moment, but stronger.

He hadn't realized how monotonous everything was until this moment. It was like a puzzle with some pieces missing - you could still appreciate the overall picture, but it would never be truly finished without all the pieces.

He had found those missing pieces.

"You don't have many stars here," the boy beside him said, hands folded over his chest as he peered up at the sky.

MK tilted his head, as he had never known any sky other than the one above his head, "Really?"

The boy hummed, "Where I'm from, there isn't a single light to obstruct the view of the heavens. You could count all night and never get them all."

MK imagined that sight, and felt a pang of longing. He'd never experienced the serenity and freedom of being under a full sky of stars, but it seemed like something he wanted to see at least once in his life. "That sounds beautiful."

"It is." The boy turned his head to look at him, "Can make you feel small sometimes."

MK let out a small laugh, "I don't think I've ever felt that way from the sky before."

The boy's gaze traveled back upward, a soft but content exhale leaving him, "You never know how big the universe truly is until you lay beneath its canopy and watch it breathe."

MK was taken aback by the clarity of those words, "That..." it was a beautiful but daunting thought.

"My Baba told me that once," the boy mused. "He was really poetic like that. He once told me that sometimes, when we think we've got everything figured out, the universe has a way of reminding us just how little we know." For a moment, the sound of nature was all that drowned their silence. The frogs' chirping, the leaves rustling in the wind, and the occasional hoot of an owl filled the night.

Had MK never noticed the deafening sound of cicadas in this area before?

The boy next to him bumps into his feet. "Nice red shoes, by the way," he remarks, with a serious and sober tone. It was evident that the tears had left him drained and fatigued.

MK took a moment to look down at his shoes; the same red ones he always wore. They were tattered and marked from countless days of wear. He whispered a soft "thank you," then playfully tapped the boy's shoes with his own. "We're matching," he said with a smile.

The boy's ears twitched, drawing attention to their large size as they stuck out from the side of his head, much larger than MK's. "Heh... I only wore them cause you did." tufts of pale yellow hair curled out from the boy's hood, cupping auburn eyes and a strange red mark on his skin.

MK's hair was dark and straight, a stark contrast to this teens own brighter mess of curls. MK stared, amazed, "You still remember that night?" It had been years ago when this boy had looked through his eyes and occupied his mind, and all for the briefest moment.