A New Kingdom to Rule

Sea-Salt Tears

The sand was hoarse and so fine that it brushed against every pore on Kirishima's scales. It moved with the late evenings tide in an endless game of chase. The exhausted dragon led against the sands surface as its unconscious body slept.
They had flown for almost six hundred miles without a break and without slowing down. Both were truly shattered- his body had started to tremble as the pressure to keep up the speed began to cripple him. His powerful wings feeling like lead as he beat them through the clouds until it was too much and he let the cold exhausted slumber take him. Both Mina and Kirishima had landed quite ungracefully in a pile on the shore, a mixture of sleeping dragon and pink rider sprawled together in a misshapen mess.

The tide had tickled Minas toes dragging her from her darkened tunnel and back to the light. Shaking her pink curls she tried to regain her vision, her body hadn't gathered enough energy to move just yet so the most she could muster was gentle and subtle head movements.
She looked up.
Kirishima still unchanged, was passed out besides her with no sign of life.
The tide was creeping closer and ice cold under the approaching moonlight. Tufts of grass dotted the shore sheltering the hidden crickets that chirped.
She turned to lie on her back as the water now reached her thighs and lifted her hands up to horizontally sit on the tides line. She held them in front of her to measure the distance between the sea and the sun. She could fit a whole hands worth of fingers between them which told her that she had only one hour left of daylight to use. Despite the flight she had assumed they must have left in the  late morning, that meant that they'd had been flying all day, it was to no surprise why they were tired.

After a few deep calming breaths, and a full body shiver, she pulled herself to her feet and tapped Kiri's wing. The scales rough and cold under the pads of her fingers, remnants of sand dropping to the floor as she did so.

"Kiri, come on wake up we have to go."

No response

Her voice shook, she didn't have the energy for the emotion that had bubbled in her. Her eyes were barely staying awake and she had to fight her body to stay moving so that it wouldn't just collapse under them.
The entire flight, whilst Kirishima fought to keep them in the air and away from their captures she had used her quirk to relax his muscles. Keeping her hands bubbled in her acid- reducing the acidity until it was enough to keep a warm compress on his sore and used muscles. She'd hoped that doing so would mean she could help reduce the fatigue it caused them.

"Please... kiri...move."

Without proper rest the mind can sink down until insanity is the only appropriate label that can be given to its state. Mina had relentlessly pulled on kiri's wing, neck and leg, anything she could to get him to move from the edge of the water further up the beach. The forever rising tide looming ever closer, a silent and deadly threat luring them in like a siren to the depths. In the final hour of daylight she had managed only a couple of feet but at least he was no longer in the water.
Long into the night Mina continued to relentlessly gatherj wood to create a small fire and had started to create a make shift sheltered structure much resembling a tent for the two to rest under.
Continuing to sit there, leaning against the dragons still body and listening to her tired stomach gurgle as she let salty tears pour down her face until morning.

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The vessel that carried Bakugou and Denki had reached its destination, more than a few hundred miles from where they had started. The harbour was small. Workers flocked around to welcome the new trade but left as quickly as they arrived once their job was done. Bakugou scoffed as he moved between them, Denki close on his trail sheepishly smiling as the dock ladies flashed him a flirtatious and inviting smile.