Chapter Text
Sacrifice is an ugly word. It's draped in laurels and reverental treatment, when at its core is death. And death could never be beautified, justified at times, but never worthy of loving acceptance.
That's what made it so cruel in the end, being created as a sacrifice. He was a lamb led to the slaughter, dolled up in a false sense of control. Mk didn’t know what to say. He was made to die.
Nuwa had applauded his sacrifice, but Mk denied her way. He refused to let the cycle start again, to let it wipe away his family. He took back the stones and in all of the chaos something he never could have expected occurred…
Mk shot up with a yelp of pain, and as quick as it happened, it was over. He was sitting… on his bed??? He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yup, this was his bedroom. Three seconds after he came to the conclusion, his door flung open to Pigsy wielding a broom.
“What’s wrong, kid?” Pigsy asked. Mk couldn’t speak, his tongue felt like lead in his mouth. He could feel tears burning in his eyes and Pigsy's expression fell. “Kid?” Mk threw himself from the bed and crashed into Pigsy, wrapping his arms around him tightly and knocking them both to the ground.
He couldn’t help the stuttering sob that rattled his chest. Mk buried his face in Pigsy’s apron. It smelt like soy sauce and spices; he never wanted to pull away. The guilt of his actions clogged up his throat and all he managed was a choked I’m sorry.
Pigsy’s arms tightened around him, and Mk felt small in his grasp. Like he was a child with a scraped knee again, wailing for his father. “You’re okay kid, you’re okay.” He murmured, pressing his chin against Mk's head. He cried harder.
Pigsy and Mk sat on that floor for who knows how long. Mk crying out his heartache, and Pigsy consoling him all the while. After a while, Mk fell silent and Pigsy quietly asked: “What happened?”
Mk pulled back and looked at his Dadsy. He seemed… younger, no... less stressed. He was missing the scar that had cut a small chunk from his ear when they fought LBD. He didn’t understand.
“The pillar of heaven? The world falling apart? Me trying to–” He cut himself off. Pigsy’s brows furrowed and he pressed his hand to Mk’s forehead.
“I don’t know what you're talking about kid,” he said. He gently pushed Mk’s loose hair out of his eyes, and Mk just stared at him.
“The staff? The colored stones? Saving the world multiple times? Almost dying MULTIPLE TIMES???” Pigsy shook his head with worry and confusion.
“Jeez kid, what kind of dream did you have?” Mk sat back in complete disbelief. All of the memories(?) flooded through his head, they felt so real, including his last memory(?) of Monkey king, screaming in pain, begging for Mk to stop . Mk wiped the tear that fell at that. If Pigsy didn’t remember… he looked at the back of his hand, hunting for the scar he got running from Redson when he got the staff. The starburst across his front two knuckles was missing.
He stood up and Pigsy stood up after him. Mk grabbed his phone off the side table and opened the camera. He– wow– he was missing the slit in his brow he got from Azure, the freckles he had accumulated from hanging out at Flower Fruit Mountain so much, and his eyes were missing the latent gold glimmer they had after he had acquired the staff. Despite that, he could still feel the pulse of magic under his skin that was present in his dream(?)
Mk laughed at the absurdity, not sure what to think. He looked at Pigsy and said. “A really bad dream .”
<+>
After that Pigsy had ushered him down into the shop and made fresh Mantou for breakfast. Mk devoured them almost insatiably. They were just so good, and in his dream(?), he hadn’t eaten for at least 48 hours before he tried to…
After a bit, a restless buzz was settling into his chest. Mk thought it was all real, it was too vivid not to be, but he needed to prove it. Just in case. “Hey Dadsy, I’m going for a walk.” He called out, pulling on his shoes and grabbing his coat off the hook.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, kid?” He shouted from the back of the kitchen.
“I’ll be fine, be back in a bit,” Mk told him. He then slipped out the door and began to walk to the construction site. It didn’t take him long to arrive and slip under the caution tape. He let his feet carry him to where he knew the staff would be.
It sat in all its glory under the little sunlight that streamed into the cavern. Mk felt the pull and carefully climbed up the small mound. He rested his hand on the staff, and he felt it buzz in approval. Mk wondered if the staff remembered(?) or if all that horrible stuff was some sort of future-privy dream.
Part of him wanted to rip it from the ground and place it back in his pocketspace where it felt like it belonged, but if the vision was true he knew DBK was trapped on the underside. That gave him two options. Wait for Redson to do it, or do it now and deal with it however it goes. The Nine-headed demon flashed before his eyes . If… if the dream was true and he could deal with him before he released Azure… he could stop the cycle from starting over or the world from ending.
If he was going to do that, he needed the staff. Mk took a breath, placed both hands on the shaft, and pulled. The staff came away without resistance, buzzing more excitedly than before. The magic already under his skin buzzed in return, welcoming the staff's presence. It felt comfortable, right? It was almost like the staff had missed him too.
He jumped from the mound when the ground began to rumble below him. Mk watched as DBK burst from the ground. Yeesh, he forgot how scary DBK looked, but it was hard to be scared of him when he had seen him run a food stall and cook barbecue with his Dadsy.
He rose like a zombie, eyes aglow with fury and power. He huffed, and the air from his nose made dust particles scatter. DBK zeroed in on him like he was prey, but Mk didn’t even flinch. He had seen so, so, much worse. Even if it was in a dream(?).
“Was it you who freed me, mortal?” He boomed. Mk nodded, keeping his grip on the staff tight. DBK noticed that fact and looked at him in surprise and rage. “How do you wield that staff?”
Mk shrugged. “It’s a secret,” DBK’s face flared with anger and he lunged at him. Mk flung himself forward instinctively, cracking the staff into DBK’s chest. The lack of effort it took to generate the energy to slam him into the cavern's wall was shocking when Mk registered the way the ground shook.
Silence fell as the dust settled, and Mk met DBK’s glare. It looked like hate, and… respect. Acknowledgment? He shook the thought away. “Look man, I'm gonna be real with you. I will win if we fight. You’ve been trapped away for a long, long time. Your wife and son miss you and have been working tirelessly to free you. It’s unfair of you to throw away your chance at freedom over your pride. So go home.” DBK’s expression widened with surprise and melted with softness. Mk knew he was thinking of his family. He knew it was a rocky affair, but he did love them dearly.
DBK pushed himself from the ground and eyed Mk wearily. “You’re no mortal, are you?” Mk put the staff away and shrugged, feeling his more… feral form push closer to the surface. He tipped his head back to the demon and winked.
“It’s a secret.” He joked. He started to walk away but stopped when another thought occurred to him. “And by the way, don’t mess with Megapolis, It’s not yours to have.” Mk didn’t quite register the undercurrent of "because it’s mine.”