Chapter Text
There must’ve been some connection between being Monkey King’s successor and getting into trouble because seriously, why wouldn’t a day pass without at least something. Thus, now that Monkey King was absent the trouble was more frequent, to be honest. MK was always for kicking some demon butt but this was getting ridiculous.
Speaking of ridiculous, this situation right here, was far beyond that. One moment Pigsy is telling him to swipe the floor of the shop and the other all electricity goes haywire, leaving them in night. Tang yelps in surprise but distinctly, does not drop his noodles while mildly annoyed Pigsy complains about paying the electric bill this month. He finishes with the thought that MK brought another trouble to the door. Turns out he is right. A big right. Because a moment later, from the shadows, two glowing purple eyes look at them.
“Macaque!” he says reflexively as he pulls out his staff, ready to battle. As if something snapps back in the place, electronics turn back on but the shadows they cast do not return. Instead the shadows withdraw until all of them are gathered by the feet of said black monkey, almost like they were crawling on him. “Swallowing him?” The black monkey who is most definitely just… standing there, blending into (or slipping into) the wall. There is something very odd about it, not even creepy, just… odd. Macaque always gloated, laughed and got on nerves of everyone in close proximity. He was not still. The odd monkey finally faceswith a glint of teeth, a smirk on his face.
“Miss me, bud?” he asks, chilling the air to about twenty Celsius colder. In meantime, Tang and Pigsy moved by MK’s side. Pigsy had the spoon in his hand, as if that would do anything. Tang on the other hand, wasn’t even trying. He was writing and muttering, hiding behind both of them.
“Definitely not!” he replies, as if firing the cannon.
“Ouch.” Macaque says, a chuckle passing his lips.
“Kid, is this that guy from other day?” Pigsy asks, low. Macaque’s ears twitch and his smile grows, he definitely heard it.
“And what if I am?” comes from behind them. Pigsy turns on instinct but MK refuses to do so, even though chills pass his spine all the way to his hair. The real Macaque is in front of them, that was only one of his numerous shadows.
“Why are you here, Macaque?” MK asks, tightening his hold on his staff. If they fought here, Pigsy’s Noodle Shop would definitely receive some damage and so would his room. “Property damage” was by now their middle name but Tang and Pigsy couldn’t deal with Macaque at all. Although, if Macaque wanted, he could’ve attacked them already. To the contrary, he didn’t move from his spot near the wall. Than again, he was kind of over- theatrical, so this all could be just something (like an intro!) before the main act.
“Dammit MK, you are just confusing yourself!”
“Can’t I check back on my favourite student?” he shrugs.
“No.” he than adds, “Besides, you saw me few days ago. Do you even have any other students?” Macaque lets out something resembling a laugh. It is a bit scratchy, as if grinding on his throat.
“Listen, kid-” abruptly, he stops, eyes widening and mouth freezing mid word. One of his hands, almost clumsily, goes up to his ear and covers it. No, grips it tightly. The other hand is somewhere between the wall and himself, as if mid- escape to the shadows. Again, that makes no sense as he can just slip into the floor and- he falls. Macaque hits the floor as if someone cut the puppet’s strings in a dead faint. For a confusing second, none of them know what to actually do. Shadows disperse from his side, mostly returning to their original places.
Two things become pretty apparent in that moment.
One, that fall was gonna leave a bruise.
Two, the wall of Pigsy’s Noodles wasn’t supposed to be streaked red.
Clock ticks away.
“Macaque isn’t getting up.” is the first though that hits him like a ton of bricks. For a moment, his mind reasons, it must be an illusion. With each ticking second he hopes the other would reveal the trick, gloat and leave. Or fight or just- do something. The ticking echoes, nobody moves. Nobody moves.
“Is he dead?” Pigsy is one to break silence. In response, Tang is the one to poke said monkey with a chopstick. Macaque doesn’t do as much as twitch to that and Tang only shrugs.
“What do we do, MK?” Tang proceeds to ask, looking t o the at Macaque. Feeling the eyes on him, MK straightens up.
“Let’s get him upstairs.” he finally answers, putting away his staff. Than he remembers and he turns towards Pigsy for a moment. “If I can.” Pigsy in turn sighs.
“Look kid, last time we were involved with this guy-” he casts a glance at Macaque. “We were stuffed into a lantern.”
“He is pretty docile now.” he looks at Macaque. “And the lantern is gone.”
“He is also, out of commission now. What when he gets up? Are we going to make him tea and pretend nothing happened?”
“It did work for Red Son.” MK says, “And we won’t, Sandy will.”
“Kid all I want is for you to be a bit more careful is all. I can’t-” Pigsy massages his temples before seemingly giving in.“But if there is a single sign that he wants to harm anyone-”
“He is out, I know.” pulling up dead weight Macaque is kind of hard and not even because he is heavy. He is lightweight, almost as if he is made of shadows themselves. They bled and gathered, as if only by instinct, near Macaque’s feet even if said monkey as completely out of it. Somewhat creepy.
“Definitely creepy.”
Back to the problem at hand, however, the monkey is taller than him so he had no choice but to position him on his back. Like he carried a toddler. A mildly annoying toddler that attended drama class. Even then, it was awkward ride. Even more awkward in case Macaque was dead and he really couldn’t feel or hear his heartbeat and- “I will clean up later!” he shouts as he climbs the steps, Tang moving closely behind him.
Pigsy can only sight, eyeing the bloody streak that Macaque left on his wall. This was going to be a bother to clean…
Might as well paint whole thing red.
MK stood by as Tang put two fingers to Macaque’s throat. For few tense moment, he just waited for the verdict. Tang nods a few times before he brings his fingers back.
“Well, for better or worse, he is not dead.” MK lets out a gulp of air he didn’t really recall holding. “He seems to be still bleeding, though.” they both look down on the messy black fur only to realize that they cannot see anything. Seriously, the monkey is jet black. Only sight of anything was slight glow of fresher blood. That was about it. Clothes on his upper torso are bloodied but they do not seem thorn or damaged at all, maybe a bit scuffed but- the scarf! Or was it a cloak made to look like it? No, Macaque wore red cloak. That thing was certainly not present.
“If I had a cloak and was injured I woul-”
- The cloak is tightly wrapped around Macaque’s right leg. Somewhere in MK’s mind it registers, the shadows were completely hiding that leg while he was standing. If he wanted the help, why hide the wound? He could persuade them easier if he just showed it. Nevertheless, MK cringes as he unties the said cloak, finally earning a sign of life from Macaque in form of nearly getting hit by the offending limb. It is a feeble movement, more like a knee jerk reaction but hey, at least he responded. Underneath it is a lengthy gash, from Macaque’s knee, nearly all the way to his ankle. It’s jagged and ugly but it doesn’t seem to bleed any more. A chill passes MK as injury is brought to the light. It is not caused by disgust, however. MK had a catalogue of injuries he saw during his adventures (some came with pictures!) but rather, by feeling it gave. Writhing and sloshing, calling in a whisper from depths-
“Ouch, good thing that he is demon.” Tang commented on side, breaking his chain of thoughts. He had to agree with him, demons did heal a lot faster than humans. And while Mei was their resident wound bandager (contrary to what most people would think), MK believed his limited skills would probably be fine for this. Thankfully, to distract himself from the fact that he was patching up a likely mortal wound on any other creature, he had Tang to keep him company. Company of a musing writer that is. “Macaque you said, right? Would he be by chance Liu’er mihou, The Six Eared Macaque? Six Eared Macaque is usually just a stand in for Monkey King conquering his own mind.” he leans over Macaque as if he is inspecting him. “He certainly doesn’t have six ears… And if he was real, all according to The Journey To The West, he should be dead.” Tang’s brows furrow. MK, the fanboy he is, knows what Tang is shooting at. The Six Eared Macaque, killed by Sun Wukong after impersonating him, stealing from and harming his companions.
However, since MK kept the earlier encounter vague from others, he knew that Macaque’s story implied much more to him than just that. A Hero and a Warrior. Money King and Macaque. It never added up. What could happen to them for only mention of Macaque would be his attack and death? And how would Macaque still be alive if Monkey King killed him himself? Would Monkey King even do that? Was this only alias Macaque made?
“He introduced himself as Six Eared Macaque that one time. Where are his six ears?” MK thought as he stood back, looking at his handy work. He still had few scraps and scrapes but those were already healing. Besides being dusty, banged up and a bit pale he looked alright. Although, his brow was furrowed as if he had a nightmare. Which is a bit unsettling? Just the thought of usually smirking Macaque making such a… vulnerable face was really unsettling. “What caused him do be in this state, anyway?”
“Will you tell Monkey King about this since he is on vacation and all?” Tang asks as he finishes scribbling something in his book.
MK’s mind blanks out.
He indeed, forgot.
Sun Wukong breaths a sight of relief for a moment. This “vacation” was taking a toll on him and he seriously needed just half a minute to take a breather. Just a moment. A small-
“Um, Monkey King.” and he is greeted by his successor or rather, his projection. Sun Wukong can’t help but think how the kid has that immaculate timing. Still, he puts on a brightest smile he can manage.
“Hey bud, how’s it going?” he finds himself asking, mentally noting the time as it slips by.
“Well, good. I mean- I am sorry to bother but-”he watches him stumble awkwardly around the words before he stills himself. “Macaque is here.”
“What do you mean bud? Is he attacking or-” his words come faster, with way more panic he intended to show. Macaque is bad news. Majorly bad news.
“No. I mean- he just appeared out of blue injured and now he is now out cold.” MK clarifies. “I treated him.”
“Look bud, I know you like to help demons and people alike but Macaque is really dangerous. You know that.” he tries to reason. He could count on one hand the demons strong enough to injure Macaque and that was including himself. That was worrying by itself. More worrying would be why Macaque came to them. It could very well be a trap or by off chance it wasn’t, what demon follow him to MK? “If there is one person you shouldn’t shelter, it really is Macaque.”
“He is injured.” MK repeats, emphasizing the word. Now the kid is reasoning with him, clever. “I couldn’t just throw him out while he was bleeding.” Wukong’s brow furrows against his will. Could he do such a thing if Macaque came to him for help? Given their history though, he doubted Macaque would come to him, even if Lady Bone Demon came for him herself.
“Look-” he stops, sighting “Fine. But keep him in sight at all times. Remember, he is tricky.” with a nod, the connection cuts. Wukong stares for a few more moments to the spot MK “occupied” a moment ago. This did not bode well in any sense of word.
He needed to find that map as soon as possible.