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Tang fucked up. Tang fucked up super bad.
As he sat on his knees near the unmoving and lifeless body if his husband, his lifetime partner, he knew he fucked up.
His mind flashed to the events leading up to this, and he couldn’t help but blame himself for it all. Their gang was on the usual monster of the week adventure, when they ran into a demon that wasn’t suspected while in a cave. Of course, MK insisted that it was no problem. What's one more thing to fight? It honestly wouldn’t have been an issue if they all hadn’t been separated one way or another. Turns out the one demon was actually many smaller demons that could combine together because of course they could. And to make things far worse, just about everyone was picked off somehow to where he couldn’t tell who was where and with who anymore as they all went down different cave passages. Tang only knew that MK was with Mei, which made him feel a little better. Though as for everyone else, he had no idea.
Tang himself was with Pigsy and Pigsy alone. He recalled that both he and MK were being separated around the same time, and Pigsy, having to choose between helping his husband or his son, chose to help the weaker of the two. MK could handle himself far better in combat than Tang ever could. Tang’s greatest battle achievement as of late was just those stupid fucking bubbles. Tang was a sitting duck, the weakest link. He was nothing like MK. The moment you landed a hit on the scholar, you had basically won the battle.
Oh how Tang wished Pigsy just chose MK instead. At least with his death, the team wouldn’t face too much of a loss.
But no, Pigsy stuck by his companion. Originally, this wasn’t something that bothered Tang, but he was actually immensely relieved that he wasn’t alone. He had no idea that his husband’s selfish action would spiral so far.
The demon was about the size of Tang- only a slight bit taller than him and about half a foot taller than Pigsy. While it wasn’t one of the worst foes that they faced, it still wasn’t one of the easiest. The thing carried a weapon that Tang identified as a guandao, also called a yanyuedao depending on which era you reference. The pole-like blade gave the thing the advantage of distance, as it was longer than Pigsy’s rake, and definitely longer than any projectiles that Tang could send out, if he could even do that. They were screwed from the beginning, but Pigsy was nothing if not determined and frankly, spiteful. He blocked the best of the attacks to the best of his ability while Tang kept putting up various magical defenses that really only pushed and knocked the demon around more than anything.
“Tang! I could use some more help here!” Pigsy shouted. He was in a battle of strength against the demon, both of them pushing their weapons into each other. It wasn’t clear who was going to win. One would get the upper hand only for the other to push them right back.
“I-I’m not sure what to do! I only have a small handle on my powers by now and I don’t-” his voice trembled as he spoke rapidly in a panic.
Pigsy grunted as his feet slid back, though he kept his composure as best he could to not back down. He was losing this unless Tang did something. “DO ANYTHING!”
Out of reflex, Tang threw up another, smaller wall of magic in between the two of them and expanded it. Both the demon and Pigsy were thrown backwards away from each other from the force, Pigsy grunting as he tumbled across the dirt. Neither of them were thrown incredibly far. Pigsy was only thrown just behind Tang, causing the scholar to call for him and turn around to see if he was ok while the foe was a decent ways away. However, the demon seemed to have a better sense of his footing than the pig did. The thing quickly picked itself up off the ground with ease, wasting no time to charge forward as it laughed deeply with manic eyes. Unfortunately, Tang couldn’t see this. His back was turned still while he focused his attention entirely on Pigsy. He called out to him just to check if his love was alright. “Tang you idiot, look!” Pigsy yelled back as he pushed himself off of the ground.
Tang spun around to see the enemy approaching rapidly. And the coward that Tang was, he put up a golden bubble of protection around himself out of reflex to shield himself from the incoming attack. The sudden and unexpected use of his power caused the scholar to stumble a bit, nearly falling over, only saving himself short by bracing on his knees. Tang adjusted his glasses and looked around his immediate self, but didn't see Pigsy in the bubble with him. Ok...so he's not in the bubble? That’s fine. Tang was just about to sound off for his husband, but he paused before any words came out as his gaze finally focused outside of the bright glare of the now dissipating bubble.
Pigsy had gripped his hands fiercely around the arm and wrist of the demon, pushing against the demon like they were wrestling- or like he was trying to keep it from moving more forward. Tang could really only see Pigsy's back, but one of the clearest things he could see contrasting against the golden yellow hues of his magic was the deep red that quickly seeped throughout Pigsy's shirt. The red trailed up to Pigsy's left shoulder, where the demon's guandao- pierced straight through. It went clean through, the tip of the blade threatening to stab Tang too.
"Pigsy?" he called in almost a whisper, like all of the breath was sucked out of him as he stared wide eyed.
A purple-pink hue radiated off of his husband as he huffed with anger. Through gritted teeth and scorned eyes, he commanded "DO. NOT. TOUCH HIM"
The demon just laughed. It could feel Pigsy’s grip grow weaker, only to grow tighter again when the demon looked back to Tang. It flicked its pointed tongue with a laugh, “You know what the best way to cook a monk is? I heard that the meat tastes the best when it suffers the most. I think…” it trailed off. Its smile widened before suddenly sinking the blade through even more and staring straight into Pigsy’s eyes, “I’m going to start by peeling the top layer of flesh away like a potato. Then I’m going make him watch as I turn your corpse into a decoration on my wall. Then I’m going to chop off each and every thin little finger of his one by one and eat them like appetizers, all while I sit back and watch him beg for me to just put him out of his misery. Do you think he will cry? He looks like the type. I bet he will weep and scream and sob and beg for his dead husband as I-”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Pigsy shouted. One fist released its hold as he balled it up and prepared to swing at the demon’s face. “SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!”.
“You idiot,” the beast smiled. Taking advantage of the little hold that Pigsy had on him now, it pulled the weapon out of Pigsy. The thing about guandaos is that they typically had a hooked part to the blade. This gave the ability to block weapons with more efficiency. Another use that this hook had was that it could inflict more damage if the weapon were to be pulled out after reaching that point.
With wide, surprised eyes, Piggy’s hands fell weakly to his wound. He stared with something that was a mixture of disbelief and utter terror. The swine stumbled backwards until he effectively ran into Tang. The scholar was quick to brace Pigsy and bring him down to the ground safely.
“Pigsy?! Hey! Hey!” Tang begged. “Look at me, huh? Pigsy please, look at me. It’s going to be alright. Hey!” He shook the other man, but Pigsy seemed relatively unresponsive other than groaning with weak huffs as he stared up to the sky. Tang continued to shake him more and more, getting more aggressive and desperate over time. "Pigsy look at me!" He didn't.
Tang could use his clothes as a towel to press on the wound. It may buy Pigsy some time before he could get proper medical help. He could try to call out for the others if they were nearby somewhere. Wait no. The cave would echo his voice. So if he hadn't heard anyone, they were clearly not close enough to hear him. Maybe he could try to see if his magic could heal? No, he had never done that before. It wouldn't work, especially considering his magic has been on the fritz as it is. But he had to try something before-
"I always knew it was a smart idea to take out the stronger ones first," the demon cooed, breaking Tang out of his thoughts. "It leaves you all to myself. Though it would have been nice to know that Piggy here had some magic in him. Of course, his demon meat wouldn't taste nearly as good as a monks and it surely wouldn't make me immortal by any means, but beggars can't be choosers. A meal is a meal, and I think I'll have him as a first course-". Tang's head hung low, refusing to pass a glance at the demon as it taunted him with a boasting laugh.
The monk felt a hand grab onto his weakly. Pigsy had a dazed expression on him as he tried to muster up the ability to speak. "I love you Tang. Take care of our boy, ok?"
"No! You and I both are going to take care of him. You're getting out of this goddammit!"
The demon took a step forward as it prepared its weapon once more to strike down. Pigsy's breath still hitched and he tried to keep himself alive, but it was all in futile attempt. Once more, he weakly squeezed his lover's hand.
"Fuck him up, Tangy. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better".
The pig demon's body and muscles relaxed all at once as a very slow and final breath escaped him and his head fell down, succumbing to the natural force of gravity.
No…..no…no no no NO!
"Unfortunate that I couldn't put him out of his misery. Maybe I'll show a little mercy and let you die alongside him-"
The demon was stopped by the quick snap of Tang's head jerking up to meet its own. The scholar’s eyes were wide with a wildfire of rage. The demon could have sworn that it saw the lord of death himself in those dark eyes. Even though he was looking at the demon, it was more like he was looking through him- burning a hole in it’s head. With no words, Tang’s arm was outstretched in front of him. Before the demon could even react, dodge, or even realize what was happening, a bubble that was identical to Tang’s usual ones surrounded it.
“What’s this?” the beast laughed, “Are you putting me in prison or something? Huh? You know I'll get out, right? Your power probably couldn't even hold me if it couldn't save your friend. The peaceful little monk just like his predecessor? Peace before violence, right? Even if it costs other’s lives, you can’t kill me, as much as you may want to. And that’s why your piggy died for you. Because you’re a weak...little...monk”. It gave a snarled wild smile as it enjoyed poking under Tang’s skin.
Tang’s hand twitched and the bubble around the demon grew noticeably smaller. The bubble continued to grow smaller and smaller. Soon enough, the demon’s head was touching the top of it, making it have to crouch just slightly. The bubble kept going. The demon was sitting down now. It’s grin faded, replaced with sudden and unmistakable fear. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller. Tang shouldn't have been able to do this. He didn't have the power. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller.
“Wait! What are you-”
“I am nothing like Tang Sanzang” he sniped with malice. Tang’s eyes never left the demon. Not as the crunching of bones was heard, nor the screams of anguish. Not when it pleaded and begged for solace. Not when it prayed to whatever god was undeserving of its unworthy words for salvation. Not when its bones ripped through the skin looking for an escape in futile attempt, nor when its lungs gasped for a breath that didn’t exist.
“In fact…” Tang continued.
Smaller. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller. SMALLER. Crack. Snap. Gush. Crack. Pop. CRACK. CRACK!
“I’m better”.
A particularly defining pop, and then………..nothing.
Even after the wretched thing was gone, Tang tightened that bubble until he couldn’t anymore- the pressure of its contents putting more pressure on the thing than it had space. His whole body fell with a crescendo, himself and the unidentifiable remains of the demon falling down to the ground as the golden sphere left.
“I’m…better” Tang mumbled on his knees. The still body of his love lay just next to him. Slowly, feeling returned to him in an outpour of trembling sobs. He clambered over to Pigsy and took his face in his hands as he leaned over. A growing pressure began to form within his head as he cried and hiccupped. He was almost waiting and looking for any sign that Pigsy had miraculously been unscathed, or maybe that he was faking it.
“Pigsy?! Pigsy please!” He finally found his words. “You can’t be gone. You can't leave me alone. I can’t-...you weren’t supposed to-......IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME, YOU BIG DAMN IDIOT! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TAKE THE HIT FOR ME! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LET ME DIE! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE TO CONSOLE AND CARE FOR MK WHEN I WAS GONE!” That's right. MK, Pigsy's boy. How was he supposed to break the news? Would MK blame him? A part of Tang hoped the kid would. He wanted to punch something, but decided against it. He wanted to continue to sob like a child until the problem was fixed for him. Instead, he just grew quiet. His crying slowed to a silent pained weep. With a weakness of defeat, his head rested on the chest of his love. His voice was muddied. “What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to move on from this? What am I supposed to tell them?”
Tang wanted to go home. He wanted to go back to where he felt safe and comfortable. He wanted to go where his heart was and where everything just felt ok for once in this chaotic life he was thrusted into so suddenly without his permission. But he no longer had a home, for his home was dead, taking his heart with him. And it was entirely his fault.
"I need you…please. I can't do this".
The world was silent and unturning while With Tang's head resting down and tears clouding his vision, he didn't see the creeping up of a small fluttering bug- a cicada. The little thing scuttled up to the two of them before crawling its way up Pigsy’s chilling body and residing on his stomach, just near Tang’s head. After residing itself to its placement, the bug seemed to just sit there next to the man’s head. The torch light of the cave died out slowly, and the ambiance was replaced by the growing song of the cicada buzzing. The sound was small, but didn’t go unnoticed. Soon enough, Tang perked himself up to look at the source. He initially appeared confused. A cicada? In a cave? How did it even get down here?
The bug chirped louder and louder, but its song craved more voices. Almost appearing out of thin air, several more cicadas crawled out of the shadows and joined in the music. Some of them flew down from the ceiling as well. Though, they all seemed keen on singing and approaching Pigsy. It was almost like they were a hivemind. Tang kept flicking his glance around every time he heard a new one, trying to find its source. What was going on? As the melody reached a dip, the cicadas all seemed to begin to…glow? The scholar didn’t know what was happening. His breathing sped up and he convinced himself that he was going mad. Yes, they were certainly glowing. As more and more of the things gathered around the body of Pigsy, they glowed brighter and brighter to match the growing symphony of their song.
Was this what happens when you die? What kind of cicadas would they be if they could glow? He had never heard of something like that. Were these bugs coming to eat away at Pigsy’s corpse? No, cicadas ate tree sap. Then just what was this all? Tang had never seen anything like this. Was this the lord of the underworld coming to take Pigsy from him? Tang’s breathing quickened even further. The glowing insects continued to do their best to cover Pigsy in his entirety. If they did, would that be what takes him? No, Tang couldn’t allow it. The magic user suddenly threw his upper body on top of his late husband like he was trying to shield any more of the wretched things from approaching. He shooed away the bugs to the best of his ability, frantically swinging his arms around him and pushing many of the insects off. His efforts seemed to be in vain though as the bugs continued to spawn in from the darkness around him. Their singing got louder and louder in a crescendo while their collective light grew to be enough to illuminate the cave section in its entirety. There was no other thing that this could be other than some mystic business. These things were sent to collect the body and soul of his love. But Pigsy’s body and soul belonged to Tang and Tang alone.
“No!” he shouted, “No I won’t let you take him! You can’t have him!”. Tang adjusted himself to pick up Pigsy’s torso and cradle his body in his arms, wrapping himself around his one and only love. He grasped and squeezed his husband like he would disappear if he dared to falter for even a moment. His cries grew louder, rivaling the noise of the cicadas’ song. His voice sounded shattered. “PLEASE! I CAN’T LOSE HIM! I’LL DO ANYTHING, PLEASE DON’T TAKE HIM FROM ME! HE’S ALL I HAVE! PLEASE I CAN’T…I…I’M NOTHING WITHOUT HIM! I CAN’T CONTINUE ON WITHOUT HIM, PLEASE!!!”. His cries seemed to fall on deaf ears as he was drowned out by the song of the swarm. He felt hopeless and weak. Who was he if he couldn’t save the love of his life? He already failed him once, he couldn’t fail him again. But here he was. He was utterly useless.
Tang curled himself around his love and sobbed, utter despair in every choke as he prayed to anyone to make it all stop. To have some divine intervention take Tang with Pigsy. There were too many cicadas to even cover the pig demon anymore. The ones that couldn’t settle somewhere just fluttered and buzzed about nearby. This continued until it was almost a ball of golden glowing cicadas swarming around the two of them. Their song was almost deafening, their glow nearly blinding. Tang closed his eyes and rested his forehead on Pigsy’s.
“Please…please don’t make me leave him”.
...............
A golden light instantaneously and without warning swam out from Tang’s chest where his heart resided. He didn’t even notice this while he was preoccupied with holding his love for as long as this cruel world would allow him. The gold formed almost what appeared to be a string of light and dust. It was tangible, yet not, almost like it would disappear if Tang dared to move. It swam around his arm and traveled up until it met his hand and wrapped around Tang's wedding ring, causing it to glow with a bright hue. The light continued, traveling down his body, around Pigsy's own form and up to his matching ring. Once settling there, it did the same thing as it had done before with Tang’s ring, adding to the nearly blinding illumination that was already occurring. The string continued to move and dance around the two of them until it had almost looked like the two of them were loosely tied together. After moving about the surface of the two men’s bodies, the light finally found its home in Pigsy’s chest, where his own heart was. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the light had disappeared. Along with the luminescence, the cicadas’ glow died out and they all disappeared rapidly one by one, almost vanishing in the air.
Tang suddenly felt a tug at his heart. It was almost like someone had tied a lasso around it and pulled on it so suddenly. The feeling forced him to open his eyes and look up, finally alerting him to the unexpected darkness surrounding him. “Wha-” A sharp inhale next to Tang made him jump in surprise. No…it couldn't be. Could it?
...
...
...
There were a few deep and rugged coughs that escaped from Pigsy’s lungs as his body forced him to take in air so suddenly. He felt like he had hit a brick wall- like every minor movement took all his energy and force to accomplish. He was eventually able to open his eyes to a squint. The sight before him made his heart break. Tang gaped down at him with wide, surprised eyes. His mouth hung open just slightly as his lip quivered. His glasses were smudged with debris and tears. Despite not making any sounds or movements, tears streamed down the scholar’s face. Though even with how terrible Tang might have looked with his puffy eyes and red streaked cheeks, his face was still the most beautiful thing that Pigsy had ever seen.
“Tang…?” he finally said, attempting to sit up. “Are you o-” The swine was interrupted as his face was harshly grabbed and a rough kiss was planted to his lips. It was desperate and vigorous, nearly making the two of them end up entirely on the ground as Tang was just about in Pigsy’s lap, but at the same time it was simply relieved. It was a kiss that said all to how Tang was feeling at that moment. Tang kissed him for a long few seconds before pulling away only a small bit and rested their foreheads together. Pigsy could feel the shuddered breath on his own lips from his lover. It was only then that Pigsy noticed just how much Tang was shaking. “Tang, hey. Are you alright?”
“I am now”.
A simple answer, but it was one that spoke a thousand words. Tang slowly moved away and pulled one of his hands off of Pigsy’s face to trail it down to the man’s chest. The blood on Pigsy’s shirt was gone, as was the tear on it from his wound. He pulled down his shirt just enough to look at where the wound was before. Where the gash was originally was sealed and replaced with a gold color on his skin. Pigsy remembered Sandy telling him something about how people fixed pottery with gold to show how imperfections make people unique and beautiful. Kintsugi, he remembers. It was almost like none of the earlier events had even happened. Tang’s palm rested on the spot where Pigsy’s heart remained. He could feel the thumping of the bu-dum…bu-dum…bu-dum. He then trailed his other hand to his own chest and did the same to himself. It was almost like Tang was checking for certain that they were both still alive. Pigsy didn’t even blame him. Instead, he just ran a hand through his husband’s hair and let them both process everything in the comforting silence of each other’s presence.
It didn’t take long for Tang to begin crying again. Pigsy panicked briefly, “Tang, what's wrong? I’m right here, sweetheart. It’s all ok. You’re alright”. He attempted to pull Tang into a hug, but the other man just pushed him back with a weak laugh.
“No, Pigsy, I’m alright. Sorry it’s just-” he paused, trying to find the words, “Our heartbeats are matching. Every beat of yours is the same as mine exactly”. The two of them could only look at each other with disbelief. Pigsy replaced Tang’s hands with his own and examined it for himself. Sure enough, Tang was right. Each of their heartbeats were the exact same. Even when Pigsy clearly tried calming himself down more, nope. They were still the same exactly.
Pigsy smiled. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” he held Tang’s face by his chin, causing the scholar to blush slightly, just before giving him a soft kiss. “I love you so much”
“Speak for yourself,” Tang laughed, “Pigsy, your eyes are golden!”
“Well you did always think that I had pretty eyes-”
“No,” Tang interrupted, “The color of your eyes! They are golden now!”
Pigsy stopped and just stared blankly for a moment, almost like he was trying to read Tang’s expression to see if it was a joke or not. He pulled out his phone from his back pocket, which was thankfully not too busted, and opened the camera. Sure enough, Pigsy’s eyes were no longer a deep, dark brown, but were instead a bright, golden yellow- the same exact color as Tang’s magic. “We are going to have to explain a lot when we see everyone again”
...
...
...
“I still don’t understand why you did that,” The smaller and more youthful spirit said. It stood side by side nearby another spirit, looking down into the moral world.
The older and larger of the two forms just shrugged, “I didn’t really do anything, to be honest with you. Sure, I may have provided a little bit of my power and a conduit for the spell-”
“The cicadas?”
“Yes, the cicadas. I only gave him a small boost because I was curious, but the rest of…whatever that was, was entirely him. It’s quite impressive actually”. The larger spirit smiled as if it was proud.
The smaller spirit clicked its tongue, “Yes, but what did he do?”
The larger one thought briefly as he looked down at the two men holding each other. Even in death, he could feel the love circulating through and enhancing their collective power. “Well it seems that they loved each other so much, that our power allowed him to share his life force. Fascinating isn’t it? Can you feel it?”
There was a moment of quiet. “Well yes, I suppose I do. So this is what pure love feels like? I can’t say that I am used to it”.
“Oh stop with your ‘holier-than-thou’ ploy”.
The smaller one scoffed, “I don’t jest with you. I didn't retain earthy connections, therefore I did not retain love such as this”.
“You can not lie to me. He is me just as much as you are. And you are just as much him as I am. I know you cared for those who joined you on your journey. I felt it. I see you watching over that monkey friend of yours from time to time”.
There was no response to that statement from the smaller spirit, knowing that it was stumped. It just sighed and changed the subject. “Do you think they will be ok?”
The two mortal men held each other with a warm embrace that made the spirits’ feel warm themselves. They could see the rest of the mortals’ family emerge from the cave section entrance. A young man immediately ran to the two older men, and the three of them embraced very closely. Sure enough, a girl, a large blue man with a cat, and a boy with flaming red hair joined in the comfort. The two men with the twin hearts kept their hands interlocked with each other’s as everyone recounted the tales of the various fights they had.
The larger spirit crossed its two pairs of arms with satisfaction, “I think as long as they have each other, they will be”.