Honeycomb Hearts

Joyride

"Well I'm bad... at being bad! You won't find a cooler motorcycle that goes the speed limit." Yang grinned. "That sounded horrible. Wait, did she just call my laugh cute? Should I compliment her back? Uh oh."

"Well, shall we be off?" Blake asked, twirling the helmet between her pointer fingers.

"One question – have you ever ridden on a motorcycle before?" Yang asked. She climbed onto the bike and put on her own helmet, styled with bright yellow and orange accents.

"Never. It's not too hard, right?" Blake asked.

"Well not on a normal road, but it can be scary the first time on a highway. Make sure you grab tight to my waist, okay?" Yang patted the seat behind her. "First time I drove with Ruby, she tried to do the 'Look ma, no hands!' and nearly fell off at forty miles an hour."

Blake put her own helmet on, seeing Yang darken through the thin visor, "Got it. Let me know if I'm too tight, though, I want to make sure you can still breathe."

"Will do. Hop on Belladonna, it's time for the ride of your life."

Blake climbed onto Bumblebee and Yang hit the ignition. The engine roared to life, begging to be given an adventure. Yang kicked the kickflip back and she hit the gas, leaning forward and accelerating out of the bus stop, and out of Apis Mellifera. The sun was still lazily making its way to the high skies, making their side of the road more shadowed than the other.

"Yang, how far is it to Malleus? I never asked." Blake said, putting her head over Yang's shoulder.

"Depends. Twenty-ish minutes depending on traffic, but if you want me to really be bad, I can hit fifteen." Yang said.

"Whatever gets us there in one piece." Blake said.

The trees of the forest gave way to a stony mountainside around them, which soon fell off on their left and erupted into a beautiful river. Blake's eyes widened – she had never taken this route before, she had always only gone one way to and from Apis Mellifera. And that was when she ever even left town, which was rare on its own. The river was easily wider than the town, and glistened a beautiful cyan color as Yang sped by, leaning into every turn beside the mountain. She sped up, and Blake felt her hair whipping behind her.

"I guess this is why you have a ponytail for driving? So it doesn't get all tangled?" Blake yelled.

Yang just gave a thumbs-up and revved the engine – they were approaching a bridge that crossed the lake. As the road shifted from asphalt to concrete, the bike gave a small jump and Yang increased the speed. They were the only ones on the road, and Blake never felt more amazed. The river on either side of her gave her an amazing view as the sun reflected off the water, and she felt as if she was flying over the water. No motorcycle, no road, just her, Yang, and the river. The bridge transitioned back to normal road, and Yang gave Blake a tap on the leg.

"Hang on tighter – we're gonna hit the highway here soon." She said, revving the motor another time.

Blake tightened her grip – her arms wrapped tight around Yang's waist, but she kept her head held high. The forests gave way slowly to more and more buildings, which became taller and had more neon lights. Yang took a turn and sped up yet again, heading straight for the highway. They blazed into the lanes and weaved between cars. To Blake, they were in danger of hitting nearly every car they passed, but to Yang, it was just another Saturday morning drive. Blake looked around, looking for even more scenery – but she only found large, plastered walls on either side of the highway. She saw treetops peeking over the walls, but the highway seemed isolated from the rest of the world. It seemed so natureless, and so industrial. Yang took another turn, exiting the dreary highway, and the trees returned.

"See that up ahead?" Yang asked, "That's Malleus City."

Blake peered over Yang's helmet and saw an enormous city in the distance. The tallest buildings were easily above the cloud level, and most of the buildings were an unvaried shade of dull gray and red bricks. Smoke came out of some of the buildings, bolstering the clouds around the skyscrapers, but the city stood tall – as if to say they were what nature could have been, and what it should have been. Blake had heard tales of Malleus City, but never had a reason to go – neither did her parents, as the representatives from the companies they dealt with always wanted to "come see Apis Mellifera's fresh air."

Within minutes they were entering the city – and Blake felt like her neck would break if she tried to find the top of the buildings. The buildings were uniform, the people on the street were all wearing suits or plain dresses, even the cars were all similar – everything and everyone was just a cheap copy-paste.

"You should be able to see the place just up ahead. Pretty obvious even if you're not looking for it." Yang said.

Between the behemoths of stone, there was a row of smaller, more reasonably-sized buildings that Blake immediately recognized as shops – but most of them were still white and gray, save for the one right on the street corner. Yang slowed and parked right outside the unique building in a spot that had "RESERVED" written in bright red letters. Apparently, they were important enough to park there. The two took off their helmets and Yang clicked a button on the dashboard, causing the bike to make several mechanical sounds, none of which Blake knew the origin of.

"Well, we're here – the best restaurant I've ever been to," Yang said, "Welcome to Little Rose Café."