Chapter Text
“Uh… ummm…”
Wukong could do nothing but stutter. For his entire life he had never even considered the fact there could be others like him. The idea of finding them had never crossed his mind, after all, he was perfectly content with his makeshift family up in the palace of the heavens.
But now, standing face to face with a young monkey that shared all of his unique, controversial features, he couldn’t help feeling ashamed. What if his family hadn’t left him like his father said? What if they were looking for him? What if…
“Not very talkative, huh?”
The bright red markings surrounding his eyes crinkled upwards as he smirked. Swishing his tail, the stranger wandered through the group of little monkeys to get closer to Wukong. They moved out of his way as he approached, though their relaxed postures suggested this was more out of politeness than fear.
Just as he reached him, Wukong finally regained the ability to speak.
“Who are you?”
Instead of responding, the stranger just laughed and reached up to ruffle the fur on his head.
“I think I should be asking the questions here ginger, after all, this is my island you’ve found yourself on.”
A strange rush of protectiveness rose within Wukong as he gripped the rock below him. Gritting his teeth, he responded.
“Your island?”
“More mine than yours I’d say, considering I’ve lived here my whole life, and you just fell out of the sky.”
“I- I didn’t fall, I… alright fair.”
Allowing himself to smile, Wukong finally fully lifted his gaze to make eye contact with this possible new friend. With an awkward grin, he reached out his hand for a handshake.
“Sun Wukong! Nice to meet you!”
“Hah!”
The stranger accepted the handshake, though something about the introduction seemed to really amuse him.
“What? What’s funny?”
“Nothing, nothing, it’s just, you really aren’t an islander with a name like that.”
“What’s that supposed to… what’s your name then!?”
“Macaque.”
“Ah…”
He laughed again, a noise that immediately spurred Wukong to join in with his own quiet giggle.
“You can uh… you can just call me Sunny. Most people do.”
“Well, unfortunately for you, I’m not most people. So, what we thinkin’? Ginger, Copycat, Goldie, Rando-”
“Peaches.”
“What?”
Macaque seemed startled at being cut off, blinking owlishly until Wukong caught up with himself and physically cringed.
“Sorry, that was really random. It’s just, we came here for peaches, and I was wondering if there are actually any left for us to take?”
“We? Are there more of you, I mean… uh… us?”
“Oh! Uh… no they’re not…” he glanced at his tail, “… not, this situation. They’re human.”
“Which way did they go?”
Wukong hesitated for a few seconds before vaguely gesturing with his right arm.
“Somewhere that way.”
Macaque smiled.
“Perfect, there’s a little peach grove they’ll run into eventually. Can’t miss it.”
“That’s great!”
“…”
It’s funny how awkward silence can be. With nothing to talk about, both boys remained in place, glancing around nervously for almost a full minute. Luckily, small monkeys are brilliant ice breakers, it wasn’t long before Little Guy clambered around onto Wukong’s knees and reached out to tug on Macaque’s animal skin toga like a needy child.
“Great idea buddy.”
“What? What idea?”
“Follow me.”
Swishing his tail nervously, Wukong slowly stood up from the rock and cautiously followed after Macaque as he wandered into the forest. Little Guy perked up considerably and moved to sit on Wukong’s shoulder so he could grab little fruits from the branches they passed by.
Wukong’s heart stuttered a little when, at one point in their journey, they broke through the canopy and his eyes landed, for the first time, on a huge mountain that stretched far, far above them.
“Wow.”
“Hm? Oh, the mountain? Pretty cool right?”
“It’s amazing.”
He was so gobsmacked, he didn’t notice Macaque had brought them to a stop at the edge of a little cliff that gave way on the same level as the lower canopy. In order to take in the mountain, he had his back to it. Macaque crept forward, and in one, quick movement, shoved him backwards.
“Wha!”
Wukong barely had time to panic, after just a few moments he instinctively reached out his hands and gripped desperately onto the first thing they met. His hands burned slightly as he slid to a stop on a strangely strong hanging vine.
“Decent enough.”
“Wha?”
Opening his eyes from their squeezed shut position, he was met with the image of Macaque sitting cross legged on a branch just below, hand on his chin like he was considering something.
“You’ve got good instincts. Form is better than expected, but could use some work…”
“What are you talking about? Why would you do that!?”
Macaque simply grinned and moved closer to tug playfully at the silk ribbon that was wrapped tightly around Wukong’s waist.
“No one dressed like this has ever had a proper climb.”
“I’ve climbed! … a little.”
“A little isn’t enough! You’re a monkey; you should barely ever be on the ground.”
Wukong gripped the vine a little tighter.
“I’m not all monkey… It might not look like it, but I’d say the monkey to human ratio is quite heavy on the human si- Ah!”
Macaque shoved him again. This time he was sent swinging forwards on his vine and had no choice but to reach forward and grab onto another one, lest he be sent tumbling to the ground. Before he knew it, he was swinging arm over arm through the canopy, Little Guy gripping on to his back for dear life. Macaque seemed unfazed, bounding along beside them on all fours with a splitting grin on his face.
“Looking good there!”
“I’m gonna die!”
“No, you’re not. Just relax, you’ll be fine.”
Taking a deep breath, he slowly forced his muscles to relax. Surprisingly, this didn’t send him plummeting to his doom. Instead, his swings became more fluid, transitions between vines were smoother, he even started to enjoy himself. Just as he was starting to get comfortable in his rhythm, Macaque lunged closer, plucked Little Guy from his back, and darted deeper into the forest.
“Let’s test your cross country.”
“Where are you going!?”
“Try and keep up Peaches!”
He couldn’t really keep up.
In fact, it was literal hours before Macaque started to flag enough for Wukong to catch him. They slid to a stop on a rocky cliff side overlooking the ocean. Panting breathlessly, Macaque plonked himself on the ground and finally allowed Little Guy to clamber away and crawl onto Wukong’s lap.
“So… I’ll be honest… endurance is… better than expected…”
“…thanks…”
They sat in silence for a few minutes as they caught their breath, though this time the quiet was comfortable.
Eventually, Wukong lifted his head, and nearly choked on his own breath. The sky above the ocean was splitting in an array of colours. Purples and pinks spread from the horizon in a way he never thought to be possible.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…”
Macaque seemed to be ignoring the colours that were sprawled across the sky, instead his gaze was locked on the fading yellow glow that was slowly disappearing.
“It reminds me of the beam…”
“The beam?”
Macaque smiled, readjusting his position to be more comfortable.
“One morning, when I was really little, there was this amazing golden beam in the sky. It was so beautiful, the others said it was an acknowledgment from heaven.”
“The others?”
“Just some fox and dragon spirits, they’re pretty old, not much fun. Unlike you.”
Wukong’s heart warmed slightly at the shy grin Macaque sent his way, he responded with a gentle smile and raised his hand to scratch at Little Guy’s ear.
“It’s nowhere near the same thing, but sunsets kind of trigger the memory, you know?”
“I suppose… hang on, did you say sunset?”
His previously calm and comfortably tired heart filled with ice. He had never considered that sunsets would look different from below the clouds, he’d assumed the light would just, go dark. Not this incredible show.
“Uh, yeah? What’s wrong? Never seen a sunset before?”
His grin melted when Wukong didn’t respond.
“Peaches?”
“I’m so sorry, I- I’ve got to go.”
He stood suddenly, unceremoniously tipping Little Guy back onto the floor as he took off into the foliage. He ran on instinct, somehow aware of which turns to take as he bounded from branch to branch with the practised ease of a boy who just spent far too much time learning the hard way.
The moment he broke out of the forest and landed in the sand; he began looking around desperately for the familiar shape of a horse and chariot. Luckily, he found them quite quickly. Just as he ran into earshot, he caught the tail end of a conversation between Jake and Simon who were stood just outside the chariot.
“How am I supposed to know where he would go?”
“You think alike enough don’t you, where would you go?”
“I uh, I…”
“I’m here! I’m here!”
“Wukong!”
All three boys exclaimed at once, their voices full of relief at locating the missing prince.
“Where have you been man? We’ve been waiting forever!”
“I’m so sorry, I lost track of time I…”
He trailed of as his eyes landed on the absolute mountain of peaches that was piled in the cockpit of the chariot. The crate had overflowed by far, and the boys had resorted to stacking them in small piles beside it, an action Cubby was currently in the process of completing.
“That… that is a lot of peaches.”
“Yeah, believe it or not, dedicating an entire day to picking peaches is a little excessive.”
“I see that.”
They spent a few minutes reorganising the piles so they wouldn’t fall as soon as the chariot took flight. Then it came time to climb in and head off. Before he clambered in, Wukong wandered a few feet closer to the forest and yelled into the trees.
“I’ll be back! I promise!”
Swallowing his emotions, he turned and marched into the cockpit before he could lose his resolve. As the chariot bumped up into the air, he couldn’t help but glance back and scan the mountain for a dark figure on a cliff side. Coming up empty, he sighed sadly and returned his attention to holding onto the peaches that threatened to fall to the ocean below.