Chapter Text
MK enjoys spending time in Flower Fruit Mountain— The small monkeys, always playful and full of innocent mischief, the long afternoons of demanding but rewarding training under his mentor as well as the precious moments where Sun Wukong was less a mentor and more a close friend with who MK could talk and confide.
If only he could keep this for the rest of his life.
But as per his luck, the world had demanded he fumbled up and messed up in the worst way possible. Shattering the peace he longed for into painful shards of misery and regret.
Mk really should’ve known better than to touch the stuff laying around in the armory by now. After all, how many times had Sun Wukong reminded him that he hoarded dangerous items as well as shiny trinkets? How many times had he caused mayhem because he had touched or done something without thinking?
Why could he never remember to think before he acted?
He saw with growing horror as the little monkeys were covered by the black and foul-smelling liquid, his hand closing around the air as he tried to hold on to them. The fearful chirps were cut out sharply as they disappeared into the pool of ink.
“Kid!” Sun Wukong’s voice rang across the suddenly silent mountain, thundering with a heavy dose of alarm.
MK looked up, still reeling from the sudden death of the poor beings he had learned to care for since he took the staff in his hands; since Sun Wukong had claimed him as his successor and the monkeys had started to treat him as one of their own.
The ink had taken shape: A giant with wings and a beak, holding a spear. The tip rushed down and MK only had time to curl around himself, trying to protect his head and chest from what would be a critical hit to his vulnerable human flesh.
The hit never came.
Instead, MK heard a grunt of effort. He uncurled, peaking a little. His traitorous heart whispered in his ears, throwing insults and accusations even before his eyes landed on his mentor.
It was not the first time Sun Wukong covered him with his own body, nor the first time his mentor took a blow meant for him. But it always shook him to his core. It was wrong.
Only student of the Great Sage or not, he wasn’t that special.
(He didn’t want to see his mentor hurt because of him; he never wanted to see Monkey King as injured and tired as he had during the entire ordeal with the Lady Bone Demon.)
“Sometimes the mistakes you wish to forget the most are the ones people will always bring up.” There was a pained grimace on the Great Sage’s face and MK’s stomach dropped. “I’m sorry, kid… It seems this is one of those times. Someone must want me to repay an old debt.”
No. Not again. Please, anything but this!
“MK, you must seal the scroll. We cannot allow this to—”
“Wukong!” A familiar voice screeches, cutting whatever Sun Wukong was about to say.
MK cannot say who is more surprised to hear Macaque, him or his mentor. Either way, the only thing that they can do is stare as the other monkey lands right between MK and the Great Sage.
It all happens so fast MK will have trouble remembering how he noticed all these details afterward, but the image is clear in his mind. Not unlike a picture in high definition: Macaque’s fur shines like moonlight, pure white when it had always been the moonless night sky. At each side of his head are three pairs of ears, all with different colors, vibrant and impossible to miss. They are pressed back to show his distress.
The tail that brushes against MK’s nose is soft and has a cut near the end, almost as if someone had grabbed it and pulled it until the bones cracked and the fur never actually grow back as it should’ve.
“Liu’er?” Sun Wukong gasps, hands immediately returning the bone-crushing embrace of his rival.
“What the fuck is this shit? I cannot pull you out!” Macaque sneers, tugging the stone monkey as hard as possible, wrestling with the ink that seems to rush forward to meet his flesh. “Shit, shit, shit .”
“You need to let go of me, Liu’er!” Sun Wukong snaps, teeth bared, as Macaque’s foot sinks into the pool and both stumble dangerously. “Take MK and get out of here before it’s too late!”
MK is too horrified to feel hurt by his mentor’s words. “No way!”
“Shut the fuck up, Wukong! I’m not leaving without you.” Macaque says, echoing MK’s sentiment. “Not ever again.”
Sun Wukong makes a strangled noise and MK’s heart almost jumps out of his chest as blue chains seem to emerge from Macaque’s body and tangle up around the pillars in the room.
The room is covered in frost in less than a blink.
Fear that was already battling inside him grows and turns into a full-blown panic attack in seconds— This aura! MK knows this aura as well as he knows his mentor’s or even Mei’s. This is Lady Bone Demon’s power.
He doesn’t notice another shadow materializing, flinching violently when a hand touches his shoulder.
There’s a furry face looking down at him with worry (and what looks like wonder?) and its owner seems to be talking to him. MK cannot hear anything of what the stranger is saying. The stranger’s hands are warm and it does help a little to anchor him to reality.
The stranger touches MK’s chest with one hand, putting the other in his own chest. His lips move. It takes MK a long second to notice the marked way the stranger is breathing.
Unconsciously, MK starts matching the speed.
Sun Wukong had done the same once a few days after the battle when everything came crashing and the relief of all his friends being alive and well washed out into the blood-curdling realization of how lucky they all were and how easily things could have ended so much differently.
The black spots in his vision fade a little the moment oxygen rushes back to his lungs. The stranger offers him a sad little smile before shifting his hold so they’re shoulder to shoulder, his arm around MK’s waist to help him up.
“Mom!” The stranger calls.
MK startles again when Macaque’s ears flicker as if acknowledging the sound, and he answers with a sharp, “Go to your Aunt’s lair, Xiaotian.”
“I’m not leaving you!” The stranger (Xiaotian? Do they share a name?!) refuses the order; his voice cracks and MK is sure there are tears pooling around his eyes because he sounds like that when he’s about to start crying. “You promised, Mom! You promised that we would not be separated again.”
Macaque jaw’s clenches.
“Mom?” Sun Wukong echoes, eyes wide and round. “Are you saying that… Nevermind! All three of you need to go. Now. ”
The monster of ink is partially frozen, it features the ones of an unknown woman. All the words that are leaving its mouth are foul without a doubt, but all of it sounds like nonsense to MK.
“I’m not leaving you!”
“You’re not getting sealed along with me!”
“You cannot order me around, Peaches.” Macaque spat the nickname as if it were poison, voice shaking with rage. “I am not one of your subjects anymore! You lost the right of telling me what to do when you abandoned me to go gallivanting with that monk!”
“I may no longer be your king, Plums, but I am still your mate.” Sun Wukong yells back, suddenly looking like a feral animal instead of a composed immortal. “And I’m telling you to take the children and get the fuck out of here!”
And, alright, this wasn’t how MK wished to have that confirmation of the dynamic between his mentor and his kinda-but-not-really mentor. But the revelation didn’t distract him from how tense Xiaotian was or how deep in the ink Wukong and Macaque were.
“Mom, please.” Xiaotian tries again and this time, Macaque’s resolve crumbles.
Watching the grief and devastation taint the white monkey’s expression as he closes his eyes is painful. To see that same grief echo on Sun Wukong’s face is even worse, But seeing the moment their foreheads touch, and how both of them are shaking and keening, all but saying goodbye breaks MK's heart.
He's not sure if he should be thankful that he doesn't get to see more as is just that moment when his feet suddenly leave the floor and MK yelps as the familiar feeling of a shadow portal covers him from head to toe; there is a flash of light and the beginnings of the most horrible scream he's ever head in his life rings in his ears before everything is covered in darkness.