Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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=”You just-... Bonded my soul to that thing without asking me!?”=

=”Don’t say that! It’s not a 'thing' it’s a life!”=

=”Yeah, a 'life' that you forced upon me, upon us!”=

=”...”=

=”You keep doing things like this! You’re so reckless! You never think things through, or talk with me about it first! Making me attend all those stupid parties, going into battles without a plan, pressuring me to stay with you on the journey!”=

=”Shut up…”=

=”And now, this!? That little master's circlet really didn't teach you anything, did it!?”=

=”I said SHUT UP!!”=

=Slash=

----

”Your first strike should be your last strike. You need to hit harder. If you show mercy, then the enemy will be able to get up and attack you when you’re not looking.” Macaque explained. He was training a young girl who he only referred to as his student or pupil. Never anything more, never anything less.

The most intimate thing he had done for her was give her a name. He named her Mei, after his favorite fruit, plums. Mei on the other hand did plenty of intimate things for him without him asking for it. Like when she made that eye-patch for his scarred right eye.

”I’m hitting as hard as I can!” The young teenage Mei spouted. She was around 13 or 14, Macaque wasn’t really keeping count. Mei had been growing more emotional and having more temper tantrums lately. Macaque didn’t understand why. He had never been a child so he wasn’t familiar with how to properly raise a mortal.

”Well hit harder..” Macaque demanded.

”Urraggh!” She yelled as she angrily threw her sword to the ground and stomped away.

”...What is up with her?...” Macaque mumbled as he watched her leave.

...

Mei grumpily sat under the shade of a tree and curled into herself. She stared off at the ocean, listening to the waves. Something about the water felt… familiar to her. Whenever she played in the water as a kid, she would sometimes just stare blankly and almost feel like she heard faint whispers calling for her.

She decided to test out if that still happened years later. She stood up and began walking towards the water, reaching forward.

Just as she was about to touch it, she cringed as she heard her mentor calling for her. She slumped her outreached arm down as she turned around to look at Macaque.

”What are you doing!?” Macaque walked up to her, and ripped her by the arm away from the shore. “How many times do I have to tell you, you’re a delicate mortal. You could drown if you go in there!”

”I’m NOT delicate!” Mei yelled as she pulled her arm out of his grasp. Macaque stared at her in shock.

”What has gotten into you!? You’ve been acting so rebellious, disobedient and emotional for like months now!”

”That’s because you’re a hypocrite who just won’t leave me alone when I want to be alone! You keep saying I’m so delicate, then what is all this training for!? You’ve been training me to fight my own battles but then now you’re worried about me drowning??”

”Look, Mei, you’re still a baby. Human babies ARE delicate!” Macaque spouted information that he was told by other grown mortals. He was told that humans go through four phases: Baby, Teenager, Adult, and Old. It’s only been 14-ish years, so he figured there’s no way she’s a teenager already.

”But you said babies are weak! That’s why you trained me! Do I really still seem weak to you??” Mei said as her voice cracked and tears started to prick at her eyes. She was clutching her chest as she stared, awaiting Macaque’s answer, but maybe not actually wanting to hear it.

Macaque was quiet for a bit. He opened his mouth but then hesitated.

”You’re just… Not ready…” He said as he looked away. The tears started to fall down Mei’s face. She felt betrayed by what she had heard. Macaque always told her that she would be a great warrior one day. It had been years, and he still didn’t think she was ready. She glared and wiped her tears away.

”(Sniffle)... I am ready…” Mei said as she looked down at the sand.

Macaque sighed in annoyance at hearing this, “Moondrop.. Please, you’re n-”

”Don’t try to sugarcoat this by using some cutesy nickname!” Mei yelled. Macaque gasped, as he was reminded of a memory. Mind you, he had called her Moondrop before, at times when he tried being soft. “I want to be alone! I don’t need you protecting me anymore, and I can fend for myself!”

Green lightning started to surround her. Macaque’s eyes widened at the sight. He knew she had power within her, but this was the first time he had seen it.

”Mei, what is-”

”You just sit back here and wait like you always wanna do. Coward.” Mei said with venom on her tongue. She then zoomed off using her new found power. With that, she was gone before he knew it.

Her words stung him. He had been called a coward before, but hearing it from this child hurt his pride a little. He angrily shadow portal’d away. He walked inside their little cave where they lived, brushing past the make-shift curtain they made together. It looked awful but it was special because when they made it was a bonding moment.

”Fine.. If she wants to fend for herself, then who am I to stop her?” Macaque said as he laid down and closed his eyes. “I knew I wasn’t fit for raising a kid…”

=Meanwhile with Mei=

Mei realized that she had left her sword at the training grounds, but now she was too embarrassed to go back for it. She needed space from Macaque and wasn't ready to see him again that quickly. She was determined to run away and come back a strong warrior, rubbing it in his face that he was wrong.

"Pfft, I don't need my sword... I have this new power!" Mei said as she took a grounded stance and tried to hone in her power... Nothing happened. "Hrrrggg!" She tried a bit harder, her face turning red. "Gah hahh.." She took a few inhales from the breath she was holding. She kicked some rocks as she gave up. All she could see ahead was dirt and the sun setting in the distance. "Welp... Guess I'll just have to use my fists then..."

Mei made her way to the mortal village that Macaque would occasionally let her visit. As long as they wore hoods. This was the first time she had gone without any disguise. She felt a bit scared but she pushed down her fear. Her body felt hot with nervousness but she kept a stern expression.

She didn’t realize it but she was walking very stiffly. Some people were giving her some short confused glances.

"Hey little girl." Mei stopped as some tall men stood in front of her. "Where you headed all by your self? Don't you know it's dangerous for young teenage girls to be alone?"

'Teenage...?' Mei pondered.

"Yeah sweet pea, where are your parents?"

Mei stared up at them, then she glared, and brushed passed them. Before she could walk very far, she felt her wrist being grabbed.

"Hey, that's not very polite, little girl. Didn't your mommy teach you any manners?"

Mei could feel her heart beating quicker, but she stayed focused. She stared daggers at the man holding onto her and said, "Listen, buddy, I'm in a really bad mood so I highly recommend letting me go."

"Ooooh so she speaks?"

"Trynna act all tough are we?"

Mei snickered at that, "Act tough? Pfft, I don't need to act tough. I already am!" With that, she pulled a tiny knife out of her pocket and slashed at the man's hand.

"Gah!" The man let go as he stumbled back and stared at his bleeding cut. Before he could fully register what had happened, Mei was already yards away. She didn't realize just how vulnerable she'd be without her sword, so she ran.

"C'mon new mystic powers... Activate already!" Mei whisper-yelled to herself. She then heard gaining footsteps. She quickly glanced and saw all three men chasing after her. Mei had to think fast. She darted her eyes around to look for anything to climb. Then, she caught it. A barrel placed against a shop's wall. She sped up towards it. She then hopped on top of it and from that she jumped onto the rooftop.

"Stop that girl! She's a thief!"

'What? But I didn't steal anything!?' Mei thought.

A few guard-looking people looked up to where the men were pointing. They saw Mei hopping from rooftop to rooftop. They hollered for another guard to grab some rope. Mei looked back to see what exactly they were doing. Now two guards were also chasing her. One of them was holding a lasso.

Mei gasped as she got jolted back. She looked down to find rope tied around her waist.

"You, get ready to catch her." The leader guard said to another.

"Urrggah! Let me go! I didn't steal anything!" Mei yelled as she wriggled around.

"Yeah, suuuure. We get kids like you running around stealing things all the time." The guard pulled her down from the roof and the other one caught her. She squirmed around in his arms.

"Let me go, you creep!" The guard put her down but still held onto her shoulders.

"Alright, we got her. So what exactly did she steal?"

"I told you! I didn't steal anything!"

"Ulg.. Would you shut her up or take her out of here already?" The leader said, pinching his forehead in annoyance. The guard holding onto Mei covered her mouth with his hand as she continued to thrash around. He used his other hand to grab her waist so she wouldn't run. She started elbowing at his stomach and punching his thighs, to no avail.

"Heh heh, actually, this sweet little pea here is my daughter. You see she's in her rebellious teenage phase where she likes to steal things from my shop. And she was a bit more of a handful today, so I needed your help, heh heh," the man lied as he had a sinister laugh. Mei vigorously shook her head in defiance. "She stole my small, bone-carved knife. I'm sure you know how it is, do you have any children?"

"I... Don't actually," said the guard, "If you're her father then I'm sure we can be done here." He then walked towards Mei, and took the tiny knife out of her pocket. She freaked out and wriggled her head around. The grip on her mouth was very tight, but she managed to move enough to let her mouth open and bite the guard's hand.

"Ah!" The guard exclaimed. What came next, he definitely wasn't prepared for. Mei whipped around and punched him in the gut. He groaned and grabbed his stomach. The leader was so shocked that he barely reacted when Mei kicked him in the knee, causing him to drop her knife. She picked it up and ran past the guard that she punched. As she ran she used her knife to cut the rope tied around her.

"Grrah, get her!" The man shouted as him and his lackeys ran after her. Mei was filled with adrenaline from fear. The fact that she was able to be caught at all, scared her. She thought she could handle herself alone, but, maybe she was wrong after all.

"Leave me alone, creeps!"

"C'mon sweet pea! You gotta make up for cutting my hand!"

"Yeah little girl! Pay your respects to your daddy! Hee hee hee!" One of the man's sidekick's taunted. Mei ignored them and tried her best to hinder their chase. Tipping over barrels, pushing through crowds; anything to get away. But they were still somehow catching up to her. She felt hands grab at her arms as her run was halted.

"RAAHH! Let me go!" She twisted her body upward to kick one of the guys in the forehead. He screamed and let her go while the other ones just held her down tighter. The guy she had kicked was the one claiming to be her dad.

"..Take her to the alley before the guards catch up.." He ordered. His two sidekicks dragged her to a hidden area between buildings. They held down her arms with their hands while pressing down her legs with their knees. She had a lot of energy so even with two men holding her down, it was a struggle. "Alright, little girl. You hurt me pretty badly.. So what do you think you should do about that?" He spoke in a fake 'i'm so hurt' tone.

"Nothing! Because you deserved it!" Mei said as she spit in one of the sidekick's face. He scrunched up his face in annoyance but didn't let either of his hands off. He just tried rubbing the spit off with his shoulder.

"Hahaha.... Alright then... Let's teach her a lesson, boys.." The man said as he menacingly licked his lips. Mei furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what he meant. He came closer and she closed her eyes, bracing for a punch. But, nothing came. Instead, she felt her hanfu being fiddled with. She shot her eyes open to see what was happening. The man was opening up her clothes around her chest.

"What- What do you think you're doing!?" Mei yelled angrily, but her voice was slightly shaky with fear. Something Macaque had taught her was to never let anyone take off her clothes unless they have her permission. Which would be a very oddly specific situation. But low and behold, it was happening, so she knew something was wrong. "Stop it!"

"Don't worry sweet pea, it'll be over before you know it," the man said with a bitter sweetness to his voice.

'What will be over?' Mei wondered, but her pride kept her from asking anything because she didn't want to feel anymore inferior than she already did right now. The man then ripped open the first layer of her shirt hanfu. Luckily she had extra covering that she had put on because she recently noticed that her nipples were becoming more sensitive.

"Grrg I said STOP!" The man obviously ignored her as he started pulling on her extra layer. A large mix of anger and fear built up in Mei and tears started to prick at her eyes. Her emotions, however, were not the only thing building in her. She felt a familiar power. It felt the same as when she ran away from her mentor.

The tears fell down as she continued to thrash around. Green electric sparks started flowing around her. The man paused his actions as he stared.

"What the..." One of the sidekicks muttered.

"AaaaAAAAAHHH!" Mei screamed at the top of her lungs.

----

Macaque was laying on his make-shift bed. It was just two blankets stacked on top of eachother. He was using his hands as a pillow. He didn't realize it but his leg was bouncing from anxiousness. His eyes were closed as he was trying to force himself to sleep off his irritation. He had been trying to rest for about 15 minutes to no avail. He just couldn't shake this strange feeling he was getting.

"Uggh.." He groaned as he finally stood up and walked to the curtain entrance to the cave. He stared off in the distance, took a deep breath, and activated his six ears. He had to keep them deactivated most of the time or else he'd probably go deaf. He closed his eyes and listened. Distant voices from the village could be heard, and all their footsteps and commotions.

His ears twitched at the familiar sound of Mei's voice, but it was too drowned out by all the other voices. It almost sounded like she was screaming. Then suddenly, his eyes shot wide as he heard the sound of a power blast. He then noticed in the distance where that sound was coming from. In the village, far away, he could barely see a green light shooting into the sky.

"Wait, that looks like-... Oh no.." Macaque immediately started shadow teleporting his way to the village. Between him running and occasionally teleporting a short distance, this was probably gonna take a bit, but he knew he needed to get to her fast before it's too late. He didn't know what was happening but from what he gathered; hearing Mei scream, and seeing the blast that looks like a certain someone's, probably isn't good.

----

As Mei was beginning to scream, power built up in her throat and she blasted it into the sky. All this bottled up energy and emotions coming out all at once. The man that was the leader of the trio backed away as he stared in shock. The other two men kept their grip on her arms as they apprehensively watched.

"What in the hell...?" One of them muttered.

"AAAAAAAHH RrraAAAHHHH!!" Mei flailed her head around as she breathed this green fire looking magic. The three men ducked their heads. She then finally stopped as she was heavily panting, tears still running down her cheeks and tiny green sparks still appearing here and there.

"...Yo, she must be some kind of lost princess. We could sell her for a fortune," the leader smiled. Mei tiredly looked up and glared at the man. She had used up so much energy that she felt exhausted.

"Alright, little girl, who are your real parents? We could get some good money from them if we use you as a hostage."

'My... real parents?' Mei thought. She refused to reply, Macaque had taught her better. Keep your identity and everything about you a secret. Never let the enemy know your vulnerabilities. She simply looked away with her tearful glare.

"Not gonna talk huh? Well, we have other ways of making you chirp," the man said as he began walking back towards her. Fear bubbled up in Mei again. She guessed that he was gonna go back to taking off her clothes. Her energy was so low, all she could do was close her eyes and pray.

"Hey."

Before the man could turn to see who said that, someone kicked his head in from behind. The two henchmen looked up to see their boss lying on the ground, barely conscious. They didn't see the culprit in sight. They kept their grip on Mei's wrists as they looked around.

"You know, you really should pick on someone your own size." Macaque's voice echoed throughout the alleyway walls. "Or just, you know. Not pick on anyone at all.."

"Who's there!?" One of the guy's shouted. Mei peaked open her eyes, a strong sense of relief rushed over her.

"Come out and show yourself, coward!"

"Oh I'm the coward here? Now who are the ones who needed three full grown men to handle one small girl?"

"(Gasp) behind you!" One man called as he pointed toward his partner. The other whipped around and barely dodged Macaque's punch. Macaque's eyebrows raised in slight surprise. Both of the men stood up and got in a fighting stance.

"Heh heh... You don't really think you can stop me, right?" Macaque said as he pulled out some shadow clones. He was wearing a hood as his ears were his most identifiable feature. The man he had kicked earlier, was coming to his senses as he looked up at Macaque.

"Ah! You idiots! Do you know who that is!?" He yelled. The other two looked at him, confused. Mei shakily sat herself up on her forearms. "The one who haunts the shadows of the forest!" His buddies still looked like they had no clue what he was on about.

"The One-Eyed Macaque!"

That seemed to finally get the two men's attention as they perked up and their fight stances faltered. They all glanced at each other with worried looks. That was a label that had recently spread around as some people saw Macaque in the forest and were scared of him. Why were they scared? Because they caught him in the middle of putting on a shadow play and thought he was some sort of forest phantom.

Macaque was surprised to hear a new name for him, but he kept his act and didn't let his confident expression change.

"L-Let's get out of here!" One of them shouted. All three of them started running down the alley. Macaque did a low chuckle as he sent some of his clones after them. They turned the corner and Mei and Macaque could only hear them grunting as they got beaten up. Not beaten to death, but enough so that they learn their lesson.

Macaque then walked over to Mei and loomed over her. He had a blank expression on his face, probably angry. Mei looked down in shame, bracing for a lecture. Instead, Macaque knelt down with his hand extended out. His eyebrows were creased up in a worried expression. Mei looked at him with her tear-stained face. She took his hand and he gently pulled her up to her feet. Macaque's eye twitched at the sight of Mei's bruised wrists.

"Let's go." Macaque said as he opened a portal on the building wall. He gestured for her to go in first. She quietly did so. They walked through a few more portals, and once they were a distance away from the village, Macaque stopped and sighed. He turned and just stared at Mei with a disappointed mixed with concerned expression; his hands on his hips.

Mei grabbed her arm nervously and looked to the ground. "I..." She began, "I'm sorry... I thought I could-... But I.. I forgot my sword.. And, I-I didn't make m-my first strike my last.." Mei's voice became shaky as tears started to well up again. "I really thought I could f-fight them, I thought... I'm, I'm sorry-"

"Hey hey sssh, it's okay. You don't need to apologize.." Macaque said as he lightly put his hand on her shoulder. Mei looked up at him with surprise. "I'm your mentor- no... Your caretaker. I shouldn't have let you go alone. Or, at least.. I should've paid more attention and made sure you had your sword with you," Macaque said with a pity smile. "...I'm sorry, Mei," Macaque let go of her shoulder and clutched his chest, "no one should ever have to go through what you just did. Ever."

Mei was in shock. It's not like Macaque hadn't ever said sorry before, but none of them were as meaningful as this one. She lowered her head down to hide as hot tears started to flow down her face again. Macaque walked up and slowly wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He was wanting to make sure he didn't startle her with physical contact, because of what she had just gone through. Mei returned the hug with aggressive tightness. She bawled her eyes out in his chest. Macaque started petting her head to try and soothe her.

"Ssh sh, it's gonna be okay..."

"(Sniff) I w-was so scared! (hiccup) I don't know w-what they were trying (sniffle) to do! W-why did he try to take o-off my clothes instead of just h-hurting me!? I don't (hiccup) I don't get it!" Mei cried.

Macaque had a mortified expression. He never imagined something like this would happen, so he hadn't rehearsed what to say.

"He... He was... (sigh) I'll, tell you another day, Mei, I promise. But, for now, let's go home." Macaque said as he tried to gently pull Mei off of him, but she wouldn't budge. "(Sigh) alright, fine. But you're really getting too big for this." With Mei still clutching onto him, he put his hand under her legs and lifted her up. He cradled her as he jogged through the rest of the portals till he got to their cave. She still had her face buried in his chest as she quietly sobbed.

...

"Oh, by the way, Macaque, he called me a teenager. If another human called me a teenager, then that means you were wrong!"

"...Oh... Yikes..." Macaque felt embarrassed hearing that. He was sitting on a rock as Mei was sat in front of him. He was grooming all the dirt and tiny bugs out of her hair. It was a sort of, force of habit with his species. "I'm.. Sorry, for calling you a baby. I really don't know how to be a parent.."

"A what?"

"Hm?... Uhhh forget I said that," Macaque blushed, realizing what had slipped out.

"....Can you say it again?"

"Say what?"

"Sorry."

"(Sigh)... I'm sorry, Mei."

Mei giggled to herself, "again!"

"What- No," Macaque blinked in confusion.

"C'mooon pleeease?"

"No."

"Fiiine..." Mei said as she finally gave up. She started getting lost in thought as she fiddled with the sleeve of the new hanfu Macaque had got her. When they had arrived back to the cave, Macaque put Mei to bed and she cried herself to sleep. While she was asleep, he went to go get her some new clothes. She had napped for two hours and now they're here. Mei sitting, getting her hair groomed, and getting lost in thought. Then, suddenly, she remembered something.

"Macaque?"

"Hm?"

"Earlier, those men had said that word too. 'Parent.' What does it mean?"

Macaque's grooming halted for a bit, and then he continued but a bit slower.

"Uh... Well, you know how animals have a mommy and a daddy?"

"Mm hm."

"Well, parent is just a word for what they are. If you have a mom and dad, then you have parents. Or two dads, or two moms. Either way."

"What about one?" Mei asked as that made Macaque falter again. "Can one be a parent by them-self?... Are you... my dad?"

"..." Macaque didn't know what to say. He was trying to think up an excuse or dodge the subject, but he was blanking. "No, I'm not. But, I am the one that raised you. So technically speaking, I am your parent, to some degree.."

"Uhh... So you're my parent, but not my dad? That doesn't make any sense, you just said that-"

"I know what-! (sigh) I know.. What I said. But, it's just, more complicated than that, okay?.. You'll understand when you're a tee- Uhh, when you're an adult. But just, don't think too much about it, okay, moondrop?"

Mei grumbled in response as she hugged her knees. She wasn't satisfied but she could tell that Macaque didn't want to explain further. She'll just have to figure it out when she's older.

----

Somewhere on a mountain full of monkeys:

"Woo! Alright, kiddo! I think that's enough training for now. Ya ready to head out?" Sun Wukong asked. He was known as the king of all monkeys. He lived on Flower Fruit Mountain, with his son, Monkie Kid.

Yeah... Wukong was kinda terrible at naming...

"Uhh sure! Where we headed?" Mk asked.

"We're gonna head to the village to get some more veggies! Cuz, I don't know, I feel like we've been eating peaches and bananas for a long time. So I figured we'd get something different," Wukong said.

"Like what?"

"Ionow," Wukong mumbled as he shrugged, "we'll just see when we get there I guess." (ionow just being "i don't know")

"Haha, okay, let's go!"

...

A young 14-year-old Mk and his father, Sun Wukong, who was wearing his old hat, were walking around in a village. They were holding weaved baskets for their groceries. Wukong was grabbing anything he found that 'looked cool.' Things like dragon fruit, watermelon, and pineapple. He had a bad habit of hoarding useless things that were shiny. Fruits aren't useless though... As long as you actually eat them...

Mk looked around for some vegetables. Since Wukong was grabbing all the stuff that looked pretty, he was gonna look for stuff that looked healthy. So basically, anything green. Cucumbers, celery, broccoli etc.

"Hee hee! Alright! I think I got enough, what about you, kiddo?"

"Uhh yeah I think, I mean my basket's pretty much full. Is yours?" Mk asked.

"Yup! Why else do you think I-" Wukong paused as his ear twitched and he dropped his basket. He started listening to a conversation that was happening next to him.

"Hm?... Dad-"

"Ssh, hold on a sec, kid." Wukong said as he put his finger over Mk's mouth.

Mk then started listening to the conversation too.

"Really? But I thought that macaques were extinct? You sure this isn't just some children's folk tale?" A woman whispered. Her friend shook her head.

"Mm mm, no, I heard it from some adults in the village a few miles from here. It sure gave me the heebie jeebies!"

"A mysterious phantom that haunts forests? That sounds ridiculous.."

"But it's true!"

"(Sigh) Okay, then why is he called the 'One-Eyed Macaque'? What, did he lose an eye?"

"Oooh I don't know, I only heard rumors. Maybe he's some cyclops that seduces women and lures them into the forest to pin them down and suck their bloo-"

"Okay! That's enough imagination for you, sweetie. Besides, we both know he wouldn't be able to seduce us if you know what I mean." She said with a gentle smile. The other, more paranoid, woman smiled brightly back.

"Tee hee! You're right, love." With that, they began walking off.

Wukong stood there watching with a blank stare. Mk looked at him, feeling concerned. Wukong then jogged up to the women and put his hand on the paranoid one's shoulder. "Excuse me," he asked, "which village did you hear that rumor from?"

"Eavesdropper..." The other woman mumbled as she folded her arms.

"Oh? Just a village about 40 miles east. You'll probably have to travel there by horse-"

"No need. Thanks." Wukong said as he walked off. Mk abruptly followed, while saying a quick apology to the ladies before continuing.

"Uhh dad?"

Wukong was in his own world; Mk had to quickly go back and pick up the basket that Wukong had dropped earlier. He then jogged and caught up to him. He was holding Wukong's basket with his tail, whilst holding his own basket in his arms.

"Dad?" Mk called again, to no avail. Wukong had just marched out of bounds of the village. He then jumped on his cloud, but just before he could speed off, "DAD!!"

Wukong immediately paused as he whipped around and looked down at Mk. Mk had a confused slash worried expression. Wukong blinked a couple of times. He then floated back down and hopped off his cloud.

He slowly walked up to Mk and embraced him in a hug; Mk awkwardly holding his own basket to the side. "Everything's gonna be alright, Monkie Kid."

"Uhh... Okay?" Mk said as he patted Wukong on the back, "you feelin' okay, dad?"

"C'mon, let's just... Bring home the groceries. It'll all be okay soon." Wukong said as he took his basket back from Mk's tail. He created the cloud again and pulled Mk onto it.

Mk was quiet for most of the ride.

"Alright, seriously, what is up with you? You're being super duper weird, dad," Mk said, bluntly. "You never act all serious. Unless I get hurt or something. Did that story scare you that badly?" Mk chuckled to himself.

"...You'll uhh... You'll understand when you're older... I think?" Wukong said, seeing their mountain up ahead.

"Oh c'moooon, I wanna know nooooww!" Mk said as he pulled on Wukong's sleeve.

"When you're older."

"But daaad!"

"Mk." Wukong said. Mk knew this tone. It was Wukong's serious tone.

"...Whatever..." Mk said as he folded his arms with a 'hmph' sound, wanting to make sure Wukong knew he was upset.

He definitely knew, but he didn't care to deal with Mk's attitude right now.

They arrived back home at the mountain. Some of the monkeys climbed on Mk; his attitude immediately disappeared as he started giggling. For some reason, the monkeys avoided climbing on Wukong. They sensed an uncomfortable energy coming off of him.

Mk grabbed a stick and threw it for the monkeys to fetch. He loved playing with them. Wukong plopped his basket on a rock slab, and then started marching back towards the entrance. He paused and looked at his child, playing with the other monkeys. A sad smile appeared on his face.

"I pray that you'll get to meet him..." He whispered.

He walked up to Mk and tapped him on the shoulder. Mk's laughing halted and he turned around. Wukong cupped Mk's face with one hand. He simply stared at him with adoration. "...Dad...? You're, acting weird again.."

"I'm gonna go out for a while. You stay here and... Uhh.. Look after the monkeys, okay?"

"What!? But we just got home!"

"I know... And I'm sorry, but. There's just something really important that I need to do. I promise I'll be back, my dear son." He pulled Mk in for a tight hug, and then he jumped on a cloud and sped off.

Mk turned around and kicked the stick angrily. He sat down and folded his arms, feeling frustrated. The monkeys misinterpreted his kick as a throw and they went after the stick anyway. Without Mk noticing, Wukong quickly cast a barrier spell surrounding the mountain.

Wukong then flew as fast as he could on his cloud in the direction of the village.

"This time... I will find you..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

=A few Months ago=

----

"Happy 14 years, 5 hours, 8 minutes, and 10 seconds, Monkie Kid!... 13, 14, 15, 16-"

"Pahaha! Okay dad! Stop haha!" Mk said as he took the present wrapped in cloth that Wukong was offering to him. Sun Wukong was very good at keeping track of time. You could say he had a really good internal clock.

Mk unwrapped his gift to find... A peach.

"...Really dad?" Mk looked up at him, unimpressed.

"I know right? Isn't it grea-" Wukong paused as he looked at Mk's expression. "Wait... You look upset. You don't like it, why don't you like it?" He asked genuinely as he knelt down a bit to Mk's level to lock eyes with him.

"Ugg daaaaad, we have peach trees! I could eat one of these literally any other day!"

"...." Wukong blinked in confusion, and then he realized. "Oooohhh! I see where the misunderstanding happened. Heh, that's not just any peach, Mk. It's an Immortality Peach," Wukong said as he dramatically fluttered his fingers in front of his face.

Mk gasped as he looked back down at the peach in his hands. At a closer look, he could see that the stems of the leaves were golden. The gold trickling into the tiny veins of the leaf. A small, yet also big difference from normal peaches.

"Wait, really!?" Mk said, with excitement this time. Wukong nodded his head as he smiled from his son's cute reaction. "What- That's- I can't even believe you got one! How'd you get it?"

Wukong scratched the back of his head, "O-Oh you know, I just politely asked the celestial realm if I could have one heh heh.."

=What actually occurred=

Wukong stormed the heavens. He easily disarmed all of the guards that got in his way. He made his way over to Nuwa, the goddess of many things, but she was mostly known for being the goddess of creation. Wukong was wearing his old hat so that he could cover the scars circling around his head. He didn't like showing his physical vulnerability in front of anyone he wasn't close to.

"Nuwa! Come out! I know you're in theeereee," Wukong called. Golden doors opened as Nuwa came out. It looked as if she was in the middle of a meeting between other higher celestial beings.

"Child, was it necessary to bulldoze your way through the heavenly troupes?"

"Oh I am far from being a child," Wukong said with a cocky smile. "And, yes, because I'm a monkey! That's how I roll!"

"What is it that you desire to know, Sun Wukong?"

"It's not what I want to know, it's what I want to have!"

"(Sigh) And what would that be?" Nuwa asked, her patient smile wavering.

"I want an immortal peach!"

"You do not need that. You are already many times immortal."

"Uggg! It's not for me it's for my- our- your?... (Sigh) it's for Mk!" Wukong said, his face a bit more stern with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh? For the child that I bestowed upon you? How is he?" Nuwa's smile came back, curious to have an update on one of her creations.

"He's doing great! But I need him to be doing greater! You gave me a very fragile monkey, and I need him to be immortal. I don't... I don't want to lose anyone else..." Wukong said as he looked down. "So, give me an immortal peach! It's the least you could do for him!"

"Hmm..." Nuwa pondered what he said for a moment. Then, she spoke, "only if you ask properly."

"Huh?"

"I know Tripitaka taught you better. Say 'please'."

Wukong blushed as he folded his arms. He worked up the courage and drooped his head down in embarrassment. "Ugg... P-Please, may I have an immortal peach? For my son.." He said, trying his best to sound as formal as possible.

"Hmhm," Nuwa chuckled, "here." An immortal peach floated into her hand from Buddha knows where. She lowered her giant hand down to Wukong's level. He looked up, smiled excitedly, and took it.

=Back to Mk's birthday=

"Really? From all the stories you've told me I figured you had to force your way through heaven to get this. But, I guess things have changed for you, huh?" Mk asked with his innocent smile.

"Heh heh, yuuup..." Wukong answered, nervously, avoiding eye-contact. "Alright, enough talk. Take a bite already!" He said, shaking his fists in anticipation.

"Okay okay, hee hee," Mk giggled as he held the fruit up to his lips. He opened wide, and took a big bite. It tasted like any other peach, which was unexpected. But the second that he swallowed, he felt something.

"Whoa- ullhh," Mk shook as he felt a tingly feeling go through his body.

"Soooo, how do ya feeeel?" Wukong asked, wagging his tail.

"...Honestly? Not that different. Well, other than that short, strange tingly sensation. But, it only lasted for like a few seconds."

"Heh, yeah... I vaguely remember that happening to me," Wukong's face became serious as he brought Monkie Kid into an embrace. "Now, everything will be just fine. We'll be together forever..."

"Oh I hope so, haha!" Mk said as he hugged Wukong back, not really noticing Wukong's change in energy.

'I can't lose another one. Not again. I won't' Wukong thought. Tears started to prick at his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. He then pulled away from Mk with a forced smile.

"Heh, now c'mon, let's go celebrate your birthday! Me and the monkeys planned a lot of fun games!"

=Present Day=

Wukong was flying as fast as he could in the direction the woman had said. To any human traveling on a horse, this would've taken about an hour. But for Wukong, traveling 40 miles would only take 15 minutes. He of course had put on his hat to once again cover his scars in front of strangers.

A wide grin grew on Wukong's face. "I'm so close... We're so close to being together again.." He mumbled under his breath. "Haha.. I can't believe it. After all this time, I finally have a lead.." Happy and desperate tears welled up in Wukong's eyes. No one was watching, so he let them fall.

He sniffled and laughed sadly as he wiped them away. "Please, I pray that it is you.. I just-... I can't handle another false alarm!"

----

Monkie Kid was laying on the ground staring at the clouds. He let his mind wander. Some of the monkeys had fallen asleep on his chest. "(Sigh) Alright, buddies. I'm gonna go take a bath." Mk said as he carefully lifted the sweet little monkeys off of him. He gently placed them on the grass.

Mk walked over to their hot springs. He had a towel wrapped around his private parts. He slowly dipped himself in, getting used to the hot sensation on his skin. He groaned in annoyance as he dunked himself deeper; his mouth blowing bubbles through the water.

Mk then sat up and spit the water off of his mouth. He leaned against the edges and stared up at the clouds again. The clouds making many interesting shapes. Mk then flinched as he felt tiny hands touching his head. He whipped his head around to see one of the monkeys. "Oh, it's just you, heh, sorry.." Mk relaxed again and let the monkey groom his hair. "(Sigh)... I'm so bored..."

----

Wukong finally arrived at the village the woman had referred to. He started sniffing around. The villagers were giving him creeped-out looks, but he couldn't care less.

There were times that he would crawl around on the dirt looking for any scent that would help. Some people yelped as he crawled passed them.

"Ulg creep!" A lady yelled as she pulled her skirt out of his way.

"Wait a minute, isn't that...?" A guy said as he observed. "No, it couldn't be. Not this perverted fellow.."

Okay, that one irked Wukong a little. What exactly did the public think of him? Did they think he was some prim, proper, and uptight god? He rolled his eyes at the thought.

He finally stood up and scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, that guy's a monkey, do you think he's in kahoots with the other guy?"

Wukong's ears perked up at hearing this. He looked over and saw a trio of men. The one in the middle, most likely the leader, had two big bruises. One on the side of his head, and one on his forehead. The other two had some bruises on their arms, and a few on their cheeks and jaws. They were eyeing Wukong, but the second that he caught their gaze, they became anxious and looked away.

He then marched over to them. "Hey!" He shouted and they all flinched. They became a little less intimidated once Wukong actually walked up to them. His stature becoming a lot more noticeable. Wukong was about a head shorter. He stared up at them with a serious frown; his hands on his hips. "Who's this 'other guy' you speak of?"

"Uh, w-what? You lookin' for your buddy so you two can beat us up some more?"

"Um... No? But if you don't tell me who you're referring to.." Wukong pulled out a magical staff from his ear. That's where he tucks it away. It can change shape and size. "I might just consider it." His eyes were glowing gold, and he perked up the leader's chin with his staff as he got closer and they locked eyes. The man began to sweat.

"Gah alright!" The man said as he backed away, his buddies following suit. "They call him, the One-Eyed Macaque. He's a phantom that haunts the forest with shadow magic-"

"Which forest?" The men flinched at Wukong's demanding voice. That look he had; absolutely menacing. His eyes were wide with a blank expression.

"U-Uh, it's just over there a few miles, why-"

"What did he look like?" Wukong asked, sounding a little more desperate as he got in the man's face. The man leaned his face away in disgust.

"What- I- I don't know? He was wearing a hood, it was hard to tell."

Then one of his buddies chimed in, "I.. I saw a glimpse of his tail, it was black, oh! And he was wearing an eye-patch!"

Wukong then turned his attention to the guy who had just spoke. "Which eye was it?"

"His left?"

"No, you idiot, it was his right.." The third guy whispered. "(Sigh) our left, his right."

Wukong turned his attention to the third guy. He pondered for a bit, and then spoke, "how long ago did he beat you three up?"

"Hey! I'll let you know w-we got a few punches in!"

"Yeah! He just got a few lucky hits on us t-that's all!"

Wukong grabbed the collar of the leader, "that isn't what I asked. Try again."

"..." The man's gaze darted between looking at both of Wukong's eyes.

"It," guy number three spoke up, "It was yesterday..."

'No wonder... They must've taken a bath. They don't have his scent on them.' Wukong thought.

"Did he happen to have some red marking on his face?" Wukong asked, returning his staff to his ear and grabbing his chin.

"Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. I was so focused on the eye-patch at the time." Guy number two said. Wukong grinned widely. The three men got shudders from seeing this

----

Mk’s muscles felt great soaking in the hot spring. He was a little achy from his and Wukong’s training they did before they went shopping. Another monkey had joined in on grooming Mk’s hair on his head. They were probably bored too.

Mk abruptly dunked his head all the way in. He popped back up, immediately regretting it. His body had gotten used to the temperature so the sudden heat on his face was a sensory overload.

”Pttt, ulg, I regret that so much…” Mk spit as his face was steaming. As in, literally steaming, from the heat. He heard the monkeys chirping with complaints; their hard work being ruined. “Oh, heh, sorry. But, It’s okay! You made sure that I didn’t get any bugs or dirt in the water!” That somehow cheered the monkeys right back up. They squeaked as they hopped away to go play with the others.

Mk then grabbed a bar of soap. A very rare thing that was created a few years ago. Wukong got some specially made to smell like peaches. Because of course he did.. Mk rubbed it all over his head and body hair, wanting to smell nice and clean. He even scrubbed his tail a bit.

After washing up, he put some new clothes on and began walking towards the exit. Their home was hidden by a waterfall. He hadn’t learned how to create a cloud like Wukong, so he couldn’t leave through the open hole in the top of the mountain. He was gonna get his new clothes wet but he didn’t mind.

When he tried hopping through, he instead got pushed back.

”What the…” Mk mumbled. He tried hopping through again, but a golden seal appeared in front of him. “WHAT!?”

----

Wukong raced towards the forest on his cloud. A wide grin still plastered on his face. He was filled with excitement. He hopped off his cloud once he was at the entrance of the forest.

He started jogging through, sniffing as much of the air as he could. A sense of smell was really his only lead. Unless he somehow saw something that related to Macaque.

Wukong stopped as he thought of something. He activated his gold vision. He was looking around for a bit as he continued walking. Then, something caught his eye. A small, tiny, black thing, scurrying around. It kept on crawling up trees and when it would go by, apples went missing.

”Oh, you’re a fast little thing…” Wukong mumbled as he followed it with his eyes, “but not fast enough…” He smirked. He zoomed through the forest, following the little mystery.

The little black thing hadn't noticed Wukong until he was right on top of it. It stopped in it's tracks, probably startled. It didn't have eyes but it seemingly looked up at him. Wukong had it caged with his arms and legs. It came back to it's senses and scurried away from Wukong's looming figure.

Wukong chuckled to himself; enjoying the chase. He began pulling his staff back out of his ear. He then knelt down, getting ready, and then leaped forward towards the little black thing.

Wukong then chucked his staff and it zoomed towards the thing and landed right next to it, catching it in a seal. A golden circle with symbols and markings appeared from the staff, surrounding the little thing. The seal then started glowing brighter as it seemed to activate.

He slowly walked up in a taunting way with his hands on his hips, feeling proud. Wukong stopped and stared down at the creature, waiting for his seal to reveal it's true form. The thing kept on trying to break out of the seal's barrier, to no avail. The seal was beginning to work to reveal it. But, once it did, Wukong's arms fell to his sides in shock.

It's form looked almost to a T, like the one and only, Macaque.

It was one of Macaque's shadow clones. It had his silhouette, just in a shadowy way.

Wukong started quietly laughing, his eyes wide with excitement, and his mouth open in a widening smile. The clone looked at itself, seeming confused on why it was in it's master's form. This wasn't the form it's master wanted it to take. As it was distracted, sitting up looking down at it's hands, Wukong jumped at it, pinning it's wrists to it's sides.

The clone was struggling, moving it's body left and right, but then froze once it noticed Wukong leaning closer to it's face.

"Hmmm..." Wukong hummed, he had a serious thinking face, "you almost look the same as him. But, it seems your eye is intact, and you only have two ears... I wonder why that is... However," Wukong's wide grin grew back. The clone turned it's face away as Wukong leaned down to it's neck.

"You smell exactly like him." Wukong said as he took a strong, satisfying whiff of the shadow clone. Wukong was almost getting drunk off the smell alone. He hadn't smelt it in such a long, long time..

----

Mk had banged and punched the barrier, having zero progress on opening it. So he eventually decided to try something stupid. He started climbing the inside mountain walls to see if he could get out through the top. He was about halfway up.

"Okay, almooost... AH!" Mk's grip slipped and he used his tail to latch onto another bump. He was breathing really quickly and clutching the wall. He had his eyes closed and refused to see how high he had gotten. The other monkeys were watching his progress and they had easily climbed higher than him. They were cheering him on, waiting for him to start climbing up again. "Guuhhh I don't think I can do this, it's too scary!..." He said as he buried his face against the dirty, rocky, wall.

The monkeys all began squeaking as they protested him giving up. He slowly lifted his head to see some of them up there jumping and squealing. A smile grew on Mk's face.

"You know what? You're right, I can do thi-aAAAAAHHH!" Mk stupidly lifted up his arms in a cheery way, which ended up making him lose his grip entirely, and he began to fall. "AAHHHH!!"

Just when he was about to hit the floor, a cloud came around and scooped him up. He was covering his eyes, waiting for the impact. But, when he opened his eyes, he was floating about five feet off of the ground.

"(Gasp) I DID IT!" Mk said as he threw his hands in the air, cheering himself on. "Okay, now, let's get to the top!" ....

"Uh... I said, let's GET TO THE TOP!" Nothing happened.... "Ulg, c'mon cloud, please?"

The cloud moved a little bit, and then a little more, and then it zoomed towards the top. Mk was screaming until the cloud abruptly stopped just before the exit hole. Mk took a moment to calm himself down by breathing.

"Alright, cloud, now take me outta here!" Again, the cloud refused to move. "Uhh... please?" It still didn't move. "Ulg, fine, I'll just climb through myself... useless thing..."

Mk stood on his tippy toes and reached up towards the exit. But, instead of waving his hand through the summer breeze, his hand, once again, got stopped by a barrier seal. "Are you KIDDING ME!? I climbed half of this stupid mountain, almost fell to my death and URRGG!" Mk was too angry to form words. He started kicking around on his cloud. He then sat down on the cloud, his legs criss-cross, and his arms folded. He simply frowned as he started grumbling to himself. "So now he suddenly doesn't trust me to go out on my own? Hmph!" Mk then thought for a bit, trying to recall the past. "....Wait... Did he ever?"

Suddenly, the cloud dissipated, and Mk began to fall again. "Wait WAIT NO! HELP! Is this because I called you useless!? I'm sorry! I promise I won't call you useless again-"

With that, he hit the ground, hard.

Mk groaned and started to come to. He could hear the monkeys doing worried chirps around him. His eyes cracked open and he had a bad headache, but, not as bad as he thought he would. He saw the monkeys all surrounding him, with worried looks on their faces. Mk very slowly sat up and blinked a bit in confusion.

"...Am I dead?" He asked in a scratchy voice. The monkeys shook their heads. "...How long was I out?" The monkeys all looked at each-other, and then one just spread their fingers apart. "Not that long, huh?" Mk looked up at the exit to see that the sky wasn't any dimmer than when he last saw it. "So... How am I not dead?" The monkeys jumped up in excitement and one grabbed a peach and started frantically pointing at it.

"....OH that's right! I'm immortal now!"

Mk flinched at the sound of banging. A familiar sound he had heard when he was banging on the barrier seal earlier. He stood up and slowly started walking towards the waterfall entrance. He could hear a young male voice talking behind it.

"Sun Wukong the monkey king! You killed my father! So now I am here to take revenge!" Mk couldn't help but snicker at how rehearsed that sounded. "Wha- Is that you!? Come out and face me you cowardly monkey!"

Mk pondered for a bit, and then he decided, why not? It's not like the barrier could be broken. He hated doing this because it took a lot of strength and energy. He was gonna use his powers to separate the waterfall. This is why he usually just liked to jump through it instead. But since he can't do that, he might as well open the waterfall to see who was paying him a 'visit'.

He put his arms in front of him and closed his eyes, beginning to separate the water. He was already starting to sweat from how much concentration it took to do this. Of course, Wukong could do it easily, but he was hundreds of years old with much more experience.

When he finally got it separated, he opened his eyes to see... A boy?... A boy his age, with bright red hair, and flames burning around his hands. The boy's angry expression faltered as he stared back at Mk. He blinked a couple of times in confusion.

"Wait... Who...?" The boy spoke, "you're not Sun Wukong...?"

"Oh yeah, definitely not. I'm nowhere near as powerful as him, haha..." Mk responded, scratching the back of his head.

"...Who are you? Why are you here!?" The boy asked, sounding more annoyed than angry now.

"Well... I sort of can't leave. I'd give up trying if I were you, no one can get in through that seal!... Or... out heh..."

"... You're trapped here?... (Gasp) are you a hostage!?" The boy fired up his hands again.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, I'll get you out!" The boy then started hurdling fiery punches at the seal. Mk simply watching in awe at this display.

"Uhh no you don't have... to.. okay..." Mk gave up as the boy wasn't listening. Mk stood there waiting for the boy to tire himself out. He eventually did.

The boy was holding himself up on his knees as he was panting heavily. "Good gods (inhale) that's (exhale) a strong seal."

"Yup... I learned that the hard way too, buddy... Sooo, what's your name?"

The boy finished catching his breath as he stood up straight. He then cleared his voice.

"(Ahem) I am Redson, son of the Demon Bull King, and of the Princess Iron Fan. I am the flame prince of this world, and my goal, is to take revenge on that Sun Wukong for killing my father and imprisoning my mother!" Mk giggled again, another line that sounded so rehearsed. "Hey, what's so funny, monkey boy!?"

"Huh? Oh it's nothing. And my name's actually Monkie Kid."

"...Really? 'Monkie Kid'? That's your name? How utterly un-creative..."

"Wha- Says you! 'Red Son'" Mk said with air quotes.

"What- Silence you!"

"(Sigh) anyway, what's this you say about Monkey King killing your father and imprisoning your mom?" Mk asked.

"Well that's all there is to it! He's a horrible un-trained beast that needs his collar back on..." Redson turned away, his hands clenched into fists, "I barely even got to know my father before he died. I was only five! Sun Wukong doesn't deserve to call himself a king, that title should've been for my father!"

"...W-Well, I'm sure, uh, Sun Wukong, had a good reason. Your parents were probably bad people-"

"What do you know!?"

Mk flinched and backed away, even though he wasn't in any danger.

"Big brother Nezha keeps telling me that my parents were in the wrong and that I need to 'cAlM mYsElF' and that I need to 'LeT iT gO'" Redson repeated in a mocking tone. "Pfft, he even admitted that he doesn't agree with Sun Wukong killing my father, but he still agrees that my mother should stay imprisoned... Tch.."

"Nezha?..." Mk mumbled as he sort of recognized that name.

"I don't care how immortal that simian is... I will find a way to kill him and avenge my father..." Redson had tears prick his eyes, but Mk couldn't see them since Redson was turned away.

"N-No, he... My dad would never do that, at least, not without a good reason!" Mk blurted out, he instantly regretted it.

Redson slowly turned around with a shocked look, "Sun Wukong... is your father?"

"I... No uhh he's just... (sigh) yes..." Mk finally gave in as he looked away in shame. He was expecting the fiery fellow to start screaming at him, but, he got something else instead.

"...That man has warped your senses... I've read about cases like this..."

"Wh-What? He hasn't 'warped' anything, what are you-"

"Stockholm syndrome is what it's called," Redson said as he looked off in the distance. "They lock you up, like how you are now, and make you think it's for your own good. They say that it's for your protection. When in reality, they don't ever want you to leave. Even when you have sprouted your own wings and want to leave the nest, they'll still keep you there... Forever... And even if they do eventually let you leave, you won't want to. That's stockholm syndrome... That's what's happening here."

Mk stared in utter shock. He was absolutely baffled by what he was hearing. "Are you out of your mind!?"

"Are you?" Redson retorted.

"No! And my dad is not- whatever you were just saying. He's a good guy! He loves me! He always has and always will!"

"Then why did he lock you in here?"

"He didn't- Thats- Urg! He didn't 'lock' me in here. He just put a barrier around it so people like you couldn't get in!"

"And people like you, couldn't get out?"

Mk paused at hearing this. He was the one that told Redson that. It was true, he himself couldn't get through the barrier either. Why did his dad do this?

Mk turned around, leaned against the seal and dragged down until he was sitting. He hugged his knees to his chest. Redson then did the same on his side. Them practically leaning against each-other.

"He hasn't done this before..." Mk finally said. "This is the first time that he's put a barrier around the mountain to keep me in. He's just scared that I'll get hurt..."

"...Well what about before this?"

"Huh?

"Before today, did he ever truly let you out of his sight?"

"Well yeah plenty of times! There was that time that- wait no, he was watching from the mountain.. Oh! That time that he let me go in the forest-... No, he had a hair clone following me... Oh uh- wait..." Mk thought hard about it, but he could not think of a time where he was truly out of Wukong's sight, and completely by himself, un-protected.

"Mmhm..." Redson simply said. "That's what I thought. He's never gonna let you leave the nest."

"I... Hadn't realized..."

"...Hey," Redson said as he turned around. Mk turned his head a bit to look at him. "I'll get you out of here one day... But, It probably won't be anytime soon."

"Okay, look, I don't need saving. I know it may look like your, 'stockholm syndrome' or whatever. But I promise he's just trying to look out for me! I'm only 14!"

"Pfft, so am I. But my big brother Nezha encourages me to go off on my own. So I can learn to fend for myself. What Wukong is doing is smothering!"

"Well maybe, this Nezha, isn't a very good parent to you!"

"(Sigh) Look, Monkie Son-"

"Monkie Kid."

"Whatever.. Sun Wukong has made it so you're the only one he can listen to. But now that you've met me, you have a chance in life."

Mk knew Redson wasn't gonna listen so he stayed quiet.

"I'll visit you every so often to keep tabs and see if he is what you claim. See if he's truly just being a 'good parent' as you say." Redson stood up and walked away a bit. "I'll see you later, Monkie Son."

"Um.. Okay? See you later, Red Kid."

"It's Redson, urg..." Redson grumbled in annoyance as he turned into flames and flew off to Buddha knows where.

----

"Princess Iron Fan?" Nezha called as he walked up to her cell.

"Where is my son?" PIF asked, coldly.

"Look, I'm sure he's fine. I've taught him very well how to handle himself. I know he was supposed to visit you, but he keeps on spouting nonsense about revenge. And I feel that you've been planting ridiculous ideas in his head-"

"And who are YOU to tell me how to raise MY son!?" PIF yelled as she grabbed the bars. Some of the heavenly guards pointed their weapons at her. Nezha lifted his hand in a motion that immediately calmed the guards down.

"Look, I know that you're his mother. But you can't be raising him to be a vengeful beast. Redson doesn't stand a chance against Wukong in the first place! Now, I won't let him visit today, and starting next month, from now on, I'm going to be monitoring your visits."

"You have no right to do that, lotus prince! You should know your place, I was once above you!"

"No, it is you who needs to know yours..." With that, Nezha left her alone in her cell.

Redson was allowed to visit his mother only once a month. She was a prisoner after all, so they couldn't just give her free reign to raise him to be just another power-hungry criminal like his parents.

Nezha was the god of children, but even he admitted that Redson was a handful. He had anger issues and was really bad at being humble. But, Nezha couldn't help but love him like a brother. He was trying his best to teach and nurture Redson to be a good celestial soldier. He hoped that Redson would one day use his flames to light the dark in a tunnel, instead of using them to burn the life of a forest.

All the other children that Nezha looked after were easy. They didn't have tragic backstories or a thirst for revenge. So Nezha had to pay extra attention and care to Redson. Especially since Nezha was one of the people who helped get the samadhi fire out of Redson when he was only an infant.

Nezha stared up at the sky, patiently waiting for Redson to come home. He didn't know what to do with that boy. Redson had the most difficult teenage phase Nezha had ever seen.

"Pfft, even I wasn't this hard to deal with when I was a teenager..." Nezha mumbled.

"Oh really now?"

Nezha jumped as he heard his father, Li Jing's, voice behind him. "Oh, father, it's just you..." Nezha looked back up at the clouds.

"You still worrying about that boy? The one who uses fire powers?" Li Jing asked.

"I-I'm not worried! I'm just-" Nezha's father gave him a raised eye-brow and a smirk, "(sigh) yes, but, not for the reasons you think. We had an argument and he stormed off saying he's gonna kill Sun Wukong. I'm not worried about that, because I know Wukong knows better than to hurt a child. He has one of his own after all.."

Li Jing sat down next to Nezha.

"I'm just worried about his future. I don't want his whole world to revolve around taking revenge on Wukong. Yes, he was in the wrong for killing the Bull King, but Demon Bull King was still too far gone in his madness.."

"Hahaha..."

"What's so funny?"

"You know, you say you weren't as bad a teenager as Redson, but, as your father, I beg to differ. You may not have wanted to enact revenge, but you were a little too heroic for your age at the time. You would always put yourself in danger even when there were other adults that could handle the situation. In a way, Redson reminds me of you..."

"I... Barely remember that..." Nezha said as he looked down. Li Jing patted Nezha on the back, stood up, and left. "Remember to get some sleep, son." He said as he walked off.

"Yeah..." Nezha said.

"Lord Nezha!" A guard called. Nezha immediately stood up.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Redson he-"

"What!? What happened to him!?" Nezha asked as he abruptly got closer to the guard.

"It's not what happened to him, it's what he did to a forest! He set a forest on fire!"

"...He did what?..."

----

To be Continued

Chapter Text

=14 Years Ago=

----

"For the Samadhi Fire to be split in three, you must harmonize your energies!" A very old Tripitaka said. It had been 81 years since the journey to the west ended. So as you can imagine, all the pilgrims were quite old. Tripitaka was pushing his limit at age 110.

Nezha, Sun Wukong, Demon Bull King, and Tripitaka were all asked to help split the samadhi fire.

The splitting of the fire went perfectly, no mistakes were made. But then, Nezha zoomed his way towards the baby, realizing that no one was there for when he fell. Luckily, he got there in time and caught him. The baby cooed in Nezha’s arms. He gently smiled down at the boy. The baby started cutely sucking his own thumb. That made Nezha chuckle as he caressed the baby’s cheek.

Demon Bull King walked up to Nezha. He then slowly handed the baby over to him, an unfamiliar longing feeling rushing over him. He wanted to hold the baby just a bit longer, but he needed to remember that the boy wasn’t his child.

Nezha was surprised that Wukong was able to stay serious through-out the process.

’I wonder if something happened to him…’ Nezha thought.

”Hey.” Nezha called as he walked up to Wukong. Wukong seemed lost in thought, but he blinked a few times and looked at Nezha with a blank expression. “You seem less… Expressive than usual.”

Wukong stared at him blankly for a few seconds, and then a smile appeared on his face, “Ooooh, what’s this? Does big bro Nezhi~ secretly enjoy when I’m my cheeky lil’ self?”

”W-What? No, obviously not! I was just concerned, that’s all…” Nezha folded his arms and looked away, annoyed. “Good grief, nevermind. I guess you’re back to your annoying self.. I was worrying for nothing I suppose.”

Nezha began to walk away, but halted when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “(Sigh) okay wait, I…”

”...Yes?”

”I… argg.. Alright, so, you know how I was in meditation for 70 years and I finished it like a month ago?” Wukong asked.

”Huh, no wonder it was so quiet…” Nezha retorted.

”Ha. Ha. Hilarious. Anyway, so, the reason I did that was because I was waiting for someone. I thought that they would’ve come back during my meditation to wake me up but… They didn’t…”

”...So, that’s what’s been on your mind?” Nezha asked.

”I… Sort of, yeah… I just.. don’t get it…”

”Don’t get what?”

Wukong grabbed his arm and looked down. Nezha could tell Wukong was feeling uncomfortable. “I don’t get why they haven’t come back. They usually always would.”

”...Alright…? Well, why did they leave?”

”Because-...” Wukong stopped, thought for a second, and then continued, “haha, I have noooo Idea ha ha!” he started scratching the back of his head. “It was soooo spontaneous and out of nowhere! Hahaha!”

Nezha got whiplash from Wukong’s sudden switch in personality. He had gone back to his ‘cheeky self’ while wearing a probably fake smile.

”What… Wukong what did-”

”Anyway! I better be getting home! The new stone still hasn’t hatched and I don’t wanna miss it! Plus, seeing my old friends be literally old just makes me depressed so imma leave now, byyyeee!” Before Nezha could stop him or ask anymore questions, Wukong jumped on his cloud and flew off towards his Flower Fruit Mountain.

”...What are you hiding? Sun Wukong…”

----

=Present Day=

Nezha followed the heavenly guard that had reported to him about Redson setting a forest on fire. He saw the glow in the distance. He zoomed past his guards, using his golden flaming wheels to fly. The sky was very dim and the sun was setting, so the fire was much easier to see. He was floating above the ablaze forest. Nezha could feel the heat coming off of it even from this high up.

”You two don your shields and go down to look for anyone who still might be alive in there!” Nezha commanded, “I’ll look for Redson..”

”Yes sir!” Two of the guards donned their shields and flew down to the forest. Nezha stayed high up so that he could have a better view.

”And you two, go get Tiěshàn Gōngzhǔ’s fan. It can create winds and storms to blow this out..”

(Tiěshàn Gōngzhǔ is just Princess Iron Fan’s Chinese name.)

”Of course, Lord Nezha,” the other two said as they went back towards the celestial realm.

Surprisingly, one of the guards Nezha sent into the fire was already floating back up to him.

”What do you think you’re doing!?”

”My apologies, Lord Nezha, but I found Sun Wukong in there…”

”Wait… What?” Nezha donned a shield and followed the guard into the forest fire. Once they had landed, he ordered the guard to continue looking for any mortals in need of saving.

He squinted his eyes and walked a bit forward. It was true, Sun Wukong was here, for some reason.

He was standing in front of a seal with his hands extended in front of him. There was a shadowy figure, looking scared, sitting inside of the seal. It seemed Wukong was trying to cast some kind of capturing spell on the figure. There was a glowing golden barrier slowly encompassing it.

"This capturing spell is taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but it's okay, I've got all the time in the world!" Wukong said with a plastered smile.

”Wukong! What in the heavens are you doing!?” Nezha asked as he walked up to him.

”Huh? Oh, well if it isn’t Nezha! Haven’t seen you for a bit! How you been?”

”What- That doesn’t matter! Answer my question!”

”Oooh… Nothin’ much, just trying to seal this buddy up.” Wukong answered as he kept his eyes on the creature. Nezha finally got a good look at it, and it looked like…

”Is that… Macaque? Or… One of his shadow clones?”

”You betcha! It’s my first proper lead in 14 years!”

”Lead!? What, Wukong what are you talking about??”

”Ha ha… I’m so close, so close to finding him, I can feel it…”

Nezha was a bit scared to approach him, but he pushed down his fear and put his hand on Wukong’s shoulder. Wukong gasped and looked at him.

”Wukong! Look around you! The forest is on fire! You need to get out of here!”

”But… I don’t care! I’m not done! And also, if you haven’t noticed already, I’m a bunch of times immortal, I’ll be fine.” Wukong frowned stubbornly as he looked back at his encompassing spell he was casting.

”That doesn’t matter! Fire still hurts, Wukong! You need to let it go!” Nezha gestured at the shadow clone and shook Wukong's shoulder a bit.

”No! It’s been 85 years since he left me! And he never came back!” Tears began to form in Wukong’s eyes, “I don’t want to lose him again, I just-”

”Wukong!”

Wukong paused and stared at Nezha. Nezha gave him a sympathetic look, a look that he did not often give to Wukong.

”You need.. To let it go…” Nezha repeated, the phrase now having a double-meaning.

Wukong’s face looked desperate, his tears begging to fall. He turned back and sighed, finally giving up. He released his staff from the ground, which also released the seal on the shadow clone.

It’s Macaque-looking form turned back into a shadow blob as it very quickly scurried away once freed. It was practically gone in the blink of an eye.

Wukong had a dark glare on his face as he watched it leave. Nezha gently released his hand from Wukong’s shoulder and he backed up a bit.

”...Look, I’m sorry, Wukong. But being this desperate isn’t healthy if you’re willing to let yourself burn for it..”

Wukong slowly looked at Nezha. His expression was technically blank, but it was a sort of… Scary blank… Nezha’s eyebrows furrowed in slight intimidation.

”(Sigh) Don’t look at me like that, Wukong. C’mon, let’s go.”

Wukong glanced at the ground, and then jumped on his cloud and flew up, Nezha following suit. Wukong's hat flapping in the air, threatening to come off. He immediately pulled it back down to tighten it.

Nezha noticed this, but he didn't want to pry, as he already had a guess on why Wukong was wearing it. It seems that he was covering up his forehead scars. Strange, he hadn't worn that hat back when they were separating the fire. The only other time Nezha remembered Wukong wearing a hat was the day he killed Demon Bull King back when Redson was only 5-years-old.

"Why are you covering up your scars?" Nezha blurted out. Wukong's rising halted and Nezha caught up to him in the air.

"Whaaaat? Covering up my scars? Pfft, that's not what I'm doing, haha! I just like wearing this hat sometimes haha!" Wukong said as he avoided eye-contact with Nezha.

I guess Nezha did want to pry after all.

"What? You afraid you'll seem weak in front of mortals?"

"Wha- No! I'm not covering up my scars-"

"Because you really shouldn't. You having scars doesn't make you look weak, it makes you look strong."

"I-...Wha-..." Wukong stared at him, Nezha had a serious expression on his face. "(Sigh) okay, fine, I was covering my scars..."

"...Well you better get rid of that insecurity. It makes you look uncool."

"Wait, you think I look cool??" Wukong said as he smiled widely and got in Nezha's face. Nezha had a grossed out expression and pushed Wukong's face away.

"Ulg no! That's NOT what I said!"

"You diiid! You totally did! D'aww you don't have to deny it, big bro Nezhi~" Wukong then annoyingly hugged Nezha. Wukong was laughing, and it sounded genuine this time. Nezha immediately started trying to push him off.

"THERE IS NOTHING TO DENY-"

"Lord Nezha!" A heavenly guard called. While Wukong was distracted, Nezha pushed him off and cleared his voice.

"(Ahem) What is it?"

"We brought the fan."

"Excellent." Nezha took the fan from the guard. "Wukong, you know how to use this, right?"

"Aww, does poor lil' Nezha not know how to use it?" Wukong asked in a pouty voice.

"I just- Uggh! I don't, but If I did I would definitely be better at using it than you!" Nezha said as he begrudgingly handed the fan over.

"Tee hee~ suuuurree.." Wukong then did one wave of the fan, causing winds and rains to fall and extinguish the fire. The fire went out perfectly, no mistakes were made. "(Sigh) Alright, it's about night time. Shouldn't you get back to your cub?"

"Tch, shouldn't you?" Nezha retorted. "And he's not my 'cub.' He's just... A student per se..."

"Mm hm..." Wukong said, his eyes half-lidded in a doubtful expression. "My cub is safe and sound at home with a barrier protecting it. Yours however, is running loose. In fact, he was probably the one that started this fire now that I think about it..."

"I- Yeah.. He was..." Nezha said, embarrassed, he gave up on correcting Wukong about the cub thing since he knew he wouldn't stop.

"Well, since I no longer have a lead, because of you, I'm gonna head back. My child is awaiting my return.."

"Wukong, wait.." Nezha said as he reached his hand out.

"Hm?"

"(Sigh) Don't you think it'd be better if you just never had a lead? Even if Macaque is out there somewhere, being this obsessed with someone isn't-"

"I AM NOT OBSESSED, YOU-!" Nezha backed away, he didn't expect Wukong to become so enraged. Wukong blinked a couple of times, and then he backed down. "I just.. miss him, that's all..."

"....Ah yes, denial, the first stage of grief..." Nezha mumbled under his breath as he folded his arms and looked away.

"What??"

"Nothing. Just, get home safe, I guess.. And.. thank... ulg.. Thank you for the help, Sun Wukong." Nezha said the last part through gritted teeth. He practically almost vomited when he thanked Wukong, his pride could barely handle it. Of course, Wukong responded with a cocky smile. He then saluted and zoomed off on his cloud.

----

"Mother, I did it! I killed Sun Wukong!" Redson said as he was sat in front of his mother's cell.

"Wait... Seriously!?" PIF asked. Redson had disguised himself like a general and he sent the angels guarding her cell off to go do something.

"Yes mother! He was doing some sealing ritual in a forest and I set it ablaze! NYAHAHAHAHAA!"

"And what else?"

"HAhaha, I... Huh?" Redson blinked in confusion.

"What else did you do, son? How did you kill him?" PIF repeated.

"Well, t-that's it. I trapped him in the flames, surely they will burn away all of his-"

"His seven immortalities can't just be 'burned away' you fool!" PIF yelled and Redson flinched.

"M-Mother?"

"You really thought it was that easy to kill the Sun Wukong??"

Redson grabbed his arm, feeling insecure as he looked away. "B-But, you always said that I had great power in me, I-I thought..."

"Yes, Redson. HAD great power. The samadhi fire is long gone (sigh)." PIF had a gentle smile, she then reached her arm through the cell bars and caressed Redson's face. "Next time you have a failure," her smile went away, "don't tell me about it.."

"...But... I didn't know that it was..."

PIF sighed as she pulled her hand through and leaned her back against the bars. "Then here's a lesson to you. Make sure to triple check next time." She said, with a hint of annoyance.

"..."

"D'oh my sweet little useless boy..." PIF said as she turned around and started pinching Redson's cheek. He ripped his face away from her grip, feeling frustrated. "You tried your best, but don't ever bring mommy's hopes up like that again. Okay?" She said with false sweetness in her voice.

Redson refused to look at her as he nodded his head in response.

"Good." She stared at him for a bit, "you know I'm like this to you because I love you, right?"

Redson's eyebrows lifted in surprise as he finally made eye contact with her.

"I... Yes mother-"

"REDSON!"

Redson flinched at the familiar voice of his surrogate older brother.

"So this is where you've been hiding! Tch, I should have known..." Nezha marched over to him and pulled him up by the arm.

"Ow! Hey!" Redson yelled. "Urg! Let go of me!"

"Why? So you can listen to more of your mother's lies?"

"They're NOT lies! Let go of me, now!" Redson was dragged out of the room and two guards closed and locked the doors. Nezha finally let go and Redson ripped his arm away from him. Angry tears were wanting to come out.

Redson hated Nezha being so above him, both literally and emotionally. It didn't help that Nezha would make himself taller by standing on golden wheels.

"I am the flame prince of this world, you can't treat me like this! I'm old enough and should be able to do what I want by now-"

"You are nowhere near old enough to be doing what you want! You're still just a teenager, Redson."

"I am old enough and I can prove it to you!"

"Oh ho, really? Please, if you wanted to prove yourself to be mature enough, then you shouldn't have set that forest on fire!"

"I... I only did that to kill Sun Wukong! He deserves it and you know it-"

"But you could've hurt someone else! You're lucky that we didn't find any mortal corpses in the process of putting out that fire!"

"...!" Redson was a bit shocked. He didn't think about that part, and it made him feel a bit guilty. "W-Well, you still didn't deny it when I said Sun Wukong deserves to be killed!" Redson pointed at Nezha with an accusatory finger.

"I-...(sigh) Wukong has made a lot of mistakes in the past... Many mistakes... But that doesn't mean he deserves to die. Neither did your father..." Nezha looked down in sympathy.

"Tch... If you didn't want my father to die, then you should've tried harder to stop it..." Redson mumbled as he angrily looked away. A tear fell down his face, which he quickly wiped away.

"Redson.. I am sorry that he... Ended your father's life," Nezha put his hand on Redson's shoulder, but Redson shoved it away and folded his arms. "And, I'm sorry that I wasn't fast enough to stop him... But, like I have told you before, revenge is not the answer... All it does is blind your eyes and cloud your mind.."

"..." Redson's eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"(Sigh) Redson?" Nezha knelt down in front of Redson to his level, this got his attention. Redson looked at Nezha, surprised. "You need to let it go... If you keep going on like this. You'll only end up hurting yourself, and possibly others in the process. Like how you almost did with that forest."

Redson's eyes widened at being reminded of that. His eyes were bleary from holding in tears. He then started punching at Nezha's chest. Nezha stood up and tried holding Redson back by pushing onto his shoulders.

"Urrgg! I didn't know, okay!? I just want him gone! It wasn't fair! It's not fair! Why can't I be strong enough to kill him, why!?"

"Ugg, Redson, you know that isn't the way!"

"If I can't kill him then I at least want him to suffer! I want him to pay! He needs to.. H-He... He HAS to! I... I just..." Redson's head drooped down and he looked away. He sniffled as he couldn't hold it in anymore. His fists sliding down a bit as they were rested on Nezha's chest.

Nezha did the only thing he knew to do when a child was acting like this. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Redson.

"I know... I know you miss your father. And I know I could never replace him..." Nezha could feel his shirt getting wet from Redson's tears. "But, even if you did try to kill Wukong, you would never win. And that's the hard truth.." Nezha started rubbing circles in Redson's back.

Redson didn't hug him back, he instead just continued to cry as he gripped tightly on Nezha's shirt.

"...I don't think Wukong would ever kill you. He's learned his lesson. But, I fear the day that you try to fight him, and you come back crippled..." Nezha said, and Redson pulled away from him and stared up in shock.

"C-Crippled...?" Redson questioned.

"He is... Sort of a friend of mine, but, even if he knows that you're close to me, I'm not sure he would hold back against you if you fought him. If he was able to end your father's life, and imprison your mother, what do you think he'd be able to do to you? " Nezha frowned as he looked Redson in the eyes with a serious expression.

Redson had a mortified expression at the thought. He looked away as he gulped down his fear. "B-But, you just said you don't think he'd kill me..."

"So you think being crippled, cursed, or maybe even your powers sealed away would be better?"

"I- well-... Urgg I don't know!..." Redson huffed as he turned away and folded his arms.

Nezha stared at him for a bit, and then he laughed.

"Wha- Hey! What's so funny!"

"Hahaha!"

"What- Silence you! I demand you tell me what's so funny!"

"Haha (inhale) aahh... Nothing it's just... You kind of remind me of when I was a teenager..." Nezha answered as he looked at him fondly.

"...Oh... W-Well... Whatever." Redson began walking off.

"And where do you think you're going, young man?"

"Wherever I want. Like always."

'I can't tell him that I found Sun Wukong's child...' Redson thought.

"Hah! Yeah, I don't think so. Don't forget that you burned down a forest. You're getting punished."

"Whaaaat!?" Redson protested.

"That's right. And you know exactly what you need to do."

"Oh no... Not-"

"That's correct."

...

"NOT MEDITATIOOOON!!" Redson whined

"It's for your own good, Redson. You need to get your flaming anger issues under control."

"Oh yeah! Like you're one to talk!" Redson said, referring to the fact that Nezha has had his fair share of anger outbursts in the past.

"I-...(Sigh) Do as I say... Not as I do..."

Redson rolled his eyes as he got into the lotus position. He closed his eyes and put his hands together in a circle. Nezha sat besides him and did the same thing.

"...Redson?"

"Hm?"

"I can hear your seething exhales. Stop it."

Redson looked at Nezha and simply growled at him.

"Redson."

"I'm doing it the exact way I've always done it! Why is it so different this time!?"

"Tch, if you've been doing it like this every time, then no wonder your anger issues haven't gotten any better."

"WHAT!?"

"(Sigh) You can't just be calm and steady on the outside, you have to also be calm on the inside." Redson rolled his eyes once again at hearing this, and he got back into position. "Now, don't think about all the past things that anger you. Keep yourself completely in the present. Listen for the sounds around you. Feel the breeze on your face, and just breathe it in."

They both took one long inhale, and then one long exhale. One more inhale... One more exhale...

"Now, next time you feel the anger boiling in you and you just want to burst and burn everything. Just, instead, think about why you're angry. Ask yourself why, and then ask yourself, 'if I do this? What will be the consequences? Who will be affected by this?' and then, take deep breaths, and calm your inner self..."

They were then quiet for a while. Letting themselves fall into meditation. Except, Nezha wasn't actually. He had to keep himself aware so that Redson didn't try to run off and escape 'punishment'. On a normal day, he was fine with Redson roaming around, doing his own thing. But this time, Redson had crossed the line.

Nezha then said one final thing, "instead of thinking about taking revenge on Wukong, think about someone that you can save. Who can you be the hero for?"

Redson immediately had an answer for that, but he would never tell Nezha who. He took one more deep breath.

...

Redson was now deep in a trance. He had found himself in an empty black abyss. He looked around and then spotted two silhouettes in the distance.

He started jogging towards them, it was two people dancing. They were both taller than him. One was a red silhouette and the other was a gold silhouette. The red one had a long braid, while the gold one had a hairy body and a long tail.

They started dancing together, the red one seeming a bit more shy, while the gold one was encouraging the other.

Redson tried asking them who they were, but his voice wouldn't come out. All he could do was watch.

They're dancing slowed to a stop. The gold one then cupped the red one's face, leaned in, and they...

...

Redson gasped as he woke up. He started lightly hyperventilating. Nezha opened one eye and glanced at him. He then opened both eyes and looked at Redson.

"Redson? Are you okay?"

Once Redson came to his senses, he began to blush. His mouth was sealed shut as he felt embarrassed and refused to make eye-contact.

"...Uh... What was your vision about?" Nezha asked, weirded out by Redson's expression.

"Huh? Uh it-..It was nothing..." Redson turned away.

Nezha analyzed Redson's expression. He didn't want to pry though.

"Why are you blushing so hard?"

Well... I guess he did want to pry...

"I-I'm NOT blushing!!" Redson folded his arms and huffed. Nezha raised his eyebrow in suspicion, but he didn't want to pry... For real this time...

"Heh.. If you say so," Nezha closed his eyes, Redson could tell he was trying to hide a smirk. "Alright, get back to meditating." Redson rolled his eyes at hearing this. Meditation was practically the opposite of his personality, but he got back into the lotus position and complied.

----

=Two Hours Prior=

"You know how that piece of garbage yesterday was pretending to be your dad?" Macaque asked.

"Mm, whabouit?" Mei answered, her face stuffed with tangerine.

They were sitting outside at the edge of their cave. A nice Summer breeze blew by from how high their cave was up this mountain. They both were not the biggest fans of the sun, so it was a good thing it was a bit cloudy that day. Not rain clouds, just normal non-water-filled clouds.

"I think there's something you could learn from- Uh, no, something I could teach you from that.." It didn't matter much, but Macaque felt it appropriate to change the way he worded it; even if it technically meant the same thing.

"....Uh.. Okay? What is it?" Mei asked, noticing the seemingly unnecessary word change.

"What that guy was doing was acting. I've told you about that, right?"

"Mm... I ffink sho.."

"(Sigh) Mei, don't talk with your mouth full, I can barely understand what you're saying."

Mei blew raspberries at Macaque in defiance. Macaque lifted his hand up to block the spit shooting at him. "You know, for a guy with six ears, you should have no problem understanding me.."

"Wha-..Pfft," Macaque pinched Mei's cheek and she groaned in annoyance, smacking his hand away, "just swallow your food before talking, haha. So, you have a relative idea of what acting is?"

Mei chewed the rest of her bite and swallowed it down before speaking, "yeah sorta. I remember a while ago when I was a lot smaller, you would put on 'shadow plays' and say that it was called 'acting'. But I thought acting was supposed to be something you memorized, not some random lie out in the streets..."

"Well, some would call that improvised acting."

"Whazzat?"

"Improvising is when you come up with lines on the spot instead of memorizing a script. You usually do that if you've forgotten your lines... I think that's what I want to teach you."

"Huh? Really? You're gonna teach me how to act? But, I don't think I have any shadow magic.." Mei looked down.

"Well, no, not that. I'm gonna teach you how to improvise and do what that douche-bag, piece of trash, un-deserving of life, sorry excuse of a man was doing." Mei started giggling at Macaque's relentless insults of the guy that had put his hands on, basically Macaque's daughter.

"So I'm not acting then?"

"Well- ugh yes, you're still acting, just not how I act."

Mei loudly groaned as she laid on her back, her legs still dangling over the edge of the cave's cliff. "This is too confusiiiing!" she complained as she closed her eyes.

Macaque couldn't help but chuckle, "haha, Mei, don't worry, you'll understand soon enough-" he paused. A certain crispy smell hit his nostrils. Macaque turned his head and was shocked to see the forest on fire. In the distance, he saw a boy in red shooting balls of flames at different parts of the forest.

"What the hell..?" Macaque whispered. Mei opened her eyes and looked up at her mentor.

"What?" Mei asked as she sat up. She then looked past him and noticed the fire as well. "WHAT THE HELL!?" She then abruptly stood up and grabbed her sword, getting in her fighting stance. She was about to charge in but Macaque brought his hand up and stopped her.

"Wait! Don't! Remember, you can't just jump into action without a plan. Let me investigate it first." With that, Macaque hovered his hands over his six ears as he activated them. He closed his eyes to better focus on the sound. He heard a bunch of scared birds, the crackling of the fire, and a young boy cackling. He assumed that was the little fire boy he had seen.

He heard the boy say something: "Finally! Now I must tell mother of the good news! Nyahahaha!"

'Good news...?' Macaque wondered.

Macaque's eyes then shot open as he heard an unfortunately familiar voice.

"You're just a clone, but you at least smell like him. It's a good thing I found you before I forgot his scent. Which, hehe, I doubt would ever happen, but ya never know."

Macaque could hardly believe his ears right now. In fact, he didn't want to believe them.

"Alright well, it's been fun seeing you squirm, but now, you're coming with me. I can't afford to lose my first lead in 14 years... This stupid fire probably erased any trace of his scent.."

Macaque began to tremble. His left hand was balled into a fist while his right hand hovered over his eye-patch. Some not-so-pretty memories were coming back to him. So many conflicting emotions were swirling through.

"Sun Wukong.." Macaque whispered in disbelief. He deactivated his ears.

"Huh?" Mei questioned. Macaque has the best hearing in the world, yet somehow, Mei's voice was completely drowning out. His thoughts were too loud. "Uhh, teach?"

'I need to see him.. No! Don't you dare! You know what he did... But, what if things could change? What if he's changed?.. No... He was supposed to change, and he didn't. There's no way he's changed his ways, he wasn't changed the 10 or so years I stayed with him after the journey... But, maybe he did-'

"Macaque!" He snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to look at Mei. She had a concerned look on her face. She then gently placed her hand on his chest. "Take deep breaths, okay?" She said. This made Macaque aware of the fact that he was hyperventilating.

He started doing his best, taking in long shaky breaths as he followed along with Mei counting the seconds with her fingers. They did that a few more times until he had calmed down.

"Th-thank you, Mei..." Macaque said as he looked away, feeling embarrassed he had such a vulnerable reaction in front of her.

"...What's wrong? You were kinda freakin' out on me there for a sec..."

"I... I'll tell you later. But right now, we need to pack our things and leave."

"Wait what!? Why?? It's not like the fire can reach here. We can just wait it out-" Mei protested as she followed her mentor through the curtain into the cave.

"Look, I promise I'll explain later, but can you please just trust me on this?" Macaque said as he made eye-contact with her. Mei hesitated for a bit, thinking it over, and she eventually nodded in response. "Thank you.. Now come on. Put all of your stuff in here." Macaque gestured toward a bag that was made out of sheep-skin.

Mei could tell he was in a paranoid rush since he had brought out some shadow clones to help gather their stuff. They didn't have that much, but it was still enough where you needed a bit of help packing if you were in a hurry. It was mostly just clothes, food, and a few small weapons.

...

Once they were finished, they stepped out of the cave and were horrified to see most of the forest up in flames. It was a sight that was difficult to take your eyes off of. Macaque however blinked his eyes and ushered Mei to follow him away from the cave. The sun was starting to go down.

They got off the mountain at the outside of the forest, the heat warming their backsides. Macaque and Mei both had giant sheep-skin bags on their backs. They held on tight to the straps and started bolting away. Macaque would make them go a bit further by periodically opening a shadow portal.

"Hey! Can we stop for a second!?" Mei shouted. Macaque glanced at her and slowed his running. "Where are we gonna get food? Since you know, that clone you sent probably became fried shadow."

"...Well... About that... I don't think my clone dissipated. Usually I can feel when a clone of mine gets destroyed, but it hasn't.."

"...Dooees it have something to do with that 'Sun Wugong' thing you said?"

"It's, Sun WuKong.. And, yeah, it does..."

Mei folded her arms and smirked, being proud of herself for getting it right. "So, you gonna explain why you freaked out?"

Macaque cautiously glanced at the forest fire, which was now just a tiny glowing orange dot in the distance. "(Sigh) Fine, but only if we stay on the move."

"Aye aye, sir," Mei said sarcastically as she lazily saluted. Macaque rolled his eye with a small smile as they both started walking.

"Sun Wukong isn't a thing, he's... a person I used to know..."

"...Soooo is he the enemy?"

"Well- No, uhh yes! Wait... Argg I don't know for sure..."

"Pfft, well what the heck does that mean??" Mei asked, feeling frustrated at Macaque's wishy washyness.

"He... We were friends. Really close friends, but..."

"But...?"

Macaque furrowed his eyebrows and his lips tensed. He uncomfortably recalled some memories.

"...He's the one that did this to my eye..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

=Four Years Later=

----

Mei was around 18 or 19, neither her nor Macaque really knew. She had begged and pleaded and Macaque finally gave in to her request. Mei wanted to go off on an adventure on her own to prove herself. She had been training to be a warrior for most of her life, this was her chance to show that she was ready.

Of course, you can't blame Macaque for being paranoid; considering what happened to her last time.

"But this time, you can make sure I'm prepared!" She had said. The biggest lesson Macaque always taught her was to be prepared and have a plan.

...

"It's so strange. It doesn't feel like you're an adult at all! It feels like you've only been alive for a blink of an eye.." Macaque said as he folded his arms, nervously.

"Hee hee, blink of an eye, huh? I see what ya did there," Mei said, winking her right eye. Macaque blinked a bit before realizing what she meant and then rolled his eye.

"Pssh shut up.." Macaque tried to hide his smile but he couldn't resist when Mei started laughing.

"HAhaha! Ahh, well of course it doesn't feel like I've been alive that long to you. You've been alive for like, a LOAD of centuries!"

"Yeah I guess," Macaque scratched the back of his head. "Gah, are you sure you don't want me to send a shadow clone with you? Because I definitely could-"

"(Sigh) Pops, we've talked about this.."

"I-I know, I just- I really don't want a repeat of last time! I don't think I could live with myself if I let that happen to you again..." Macaque grabbed onto his arm, looking down.

"..." Mei walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, "look, nothing even happened to me. I came out unscathed because you were there to save me! I was just an idiot back then who forgot her sword.."

'I definitely wouldn't say 'nothing' happened to you...' Macaque thought.

"Besides, you've already done enough to make sure I'm extra prepared this time. I've got food, water, my sword, my knife, extra clothes, and yada yada, all that stuff. I'm an adult now, you don't need to worry about me anymore, kay?"

"...I think that'd be impossible for me to not worry about you..."

"Pfft oh my gosh..." Mei rolled her eyes with a smirk as she shook her head in disbelief. "Stop being such a drama king, I'll be fine." She then strapped on her bag and began walking away, "welp, see ya in a month, old man!"

"(Gasp) Mei wait!"

"Hm?" She stopped and half turned to look at him.

"......Are you sure you don't want a clone with you-"

"Ugh YES! I'm sure!"

"C'mon Mei, please? At least for the beginning?"

'Hmm... I mean, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some company for the start...' Mei thought.

"Guuhhh okay fine! But only for the first three days! Then, it better disappear! Or else imma be real pissed..."

"Really? Can't it stay for like, a week?"

"Oh? I'm sorry, would you rather it only stay for two days??" Mei asked, sarcastically.

"...Fine. Three days it is.."

"Thank you..." Mei said sarcastically as she began walking off; but Macaque called after her once more. "Ugh, what is it now?"

Macaque walked up to her, he was looking down and seemed nervous. Mei raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"O-One last hug?" Macaque requested with a nervous smile as he opened his arms out. Mei was shocked for a bit, but then she smiled and hugged him tightly. "W-Whoa heh.." Macaque then slipped one arm under Mei's bag to hug around her back. His other hand started petting her head around her ponytail. "And remember, Mei. Your first strike...?"

"(Sigh) Should be your last strike, I knoooww.." Mei said, unable to hold back her smile.

"And if you're in a situation where you can't do a single strike, then use your dragon powers to esca-"

"I knoooowww!"

"...Heh... Yeah... I know you know..."

They finally broke off the hug and said their goodbyes. Macaque's proud smile turned into a somber expression as he watched Mei (accompanied by a shadow clone) get further and further away. He was once again, alone. It wasn't gonna be for very long, but it ironically would feel like an eternity. The reason it's ironic, is because, him being an ageless being, something like this shouldn't feel that long.

He then walked off into their cave. Instead of this one being up high in a mountain, it was at the bottom of one; miles and miles away from their old cave.

----

Mei had her sword resting on her shoulder with a cocky expression. Now that she was more experienced and prepared, she was confident this time. She glanced back at the emotionless shadow clone following behind her. Mei then rolled her eyes in annoyance as she turned back.

'I feel like I can't even think in private...' Mei thought. 'But, oh well. It'll only be around for the first three days. I can tolerate it.'

Nighttime came around. Mei and the shadow clone set up camp in a random forest they had walked to. They pitched the one-person tent and the clone stood guard outside of it. Mei was trying to come up with how she would do this in a few days when she didn't have a body guard.

=The Next Day, Late Afternoon=

"Hey you, scout on ahead and search for any danger I can defeat." Mei commanded the shadow clone. It squinted it's eyes and looked at her with suspicion. "Oh please, even if I tried to run away from you, you'd find me instantly."

It stayed paused for a moment, but then gave in. It turned into it's little shadow form and scurried off up ahead. Mei continued walking forward in the direction it went.

She then flinched as the little black thing came back.

"T-That was quick..."

The shadow clone rapidly pointed forward, indicating there's danger ahead. Mei smiled deviously. Green electricity started forming around her as she charged up. She then zoomed forward and in just a few seconds, she made it to a village.

There were a few screams and wails from the scared villagers in the distance. Just as Mei was about to rush in, the shadow clone stopped her. It then pulled Mei's hoodie over her head and gave her a thumbs up.

"Oh... Right heh.. Thanks!"

'Dammit... I can't be making mistakes like that after the next two days are up...'

Mei then rushed forward and saw two twin demons floating in the air. One was orange and one was blue. They were both holding magic wands that were making people float upside down in the air. Some unfortunate people had to hold their dresses down as to not show their private parts.

"Jin here will be taking all your money!" Said the blue demon.

"And Yin here will be taking all your food!" Said the orange demon.

"Now stop resisting and pack it up!" They said in unison.

Mei raised her eyebrow, feeling unimpressed. "This was the danger you warned me about?" She whispered as she looked toward the shadow clone, but, she didn't see anyone. She was confused as she looked around for it. Mei then felt a tug on her ear, and then she saw that the shadow clone had shrunk and hid inside her hood. "Geez, don't scare me like that..."

She then begrudgingly walked forward and pointed her sword towards the twins.

"Hey! Let those innocent civilians down!"

The twins stopped their spiel and looked at Mei. They then both used their wands and shot their magic at her, which she swiftly dodged. Any that she didn't dodge, she flawlessly deflected with her sword. This fight was so easy, it had Mei yawning in boredom.

"Oi! Sit still you little rat!" Yin yelled.

"Yeah mate! Quit scurryin' around!" Jin yelled.

Mei wanted to just get it over with, so she charged up her power and jumped in the air. Her speed made it seem like she had teleported behind them. She then turned her sword around, and knocked both of the twins out with the blunt side of her weapon. The orange and blue demon fell to the ground with grunts, both sound asleep.

The wands they were holding were slowly deactivating. Mei's eyes widened as she realized what that meant. The few civilians that were floating in the air lost that glowing aura that was surrounding them. Mei quickly charged up again and went in zigzags to catch them all. She had four people stacked on her shoulders and she tried her best to put them down gently; but it ended up being a clumsy landing. At least it was better than falling and breaking a few bones.

"Ah... Yikes, sorry about that. It was kinda hard holding all four of you.." Mei scratched the back of her hooded head nervously. She then flinched at the sound of people clapping and cheering. She looked around and saw other civilians gathering around. They were smiling as they were sending compliments and 'bravos' her way. It made her feel a bit confused, but also, nice at the same time.

'It's like an applause after a performance... Sooo should I..?' Mei wondered. She then did the only response that felt appropriate. She bowed as if she was an actor for a play.

"Thank you, really, it was nothing. Just.. Here to help, heh heh.." Mei said as she lifted back up. She was waving her hands dismissively as the crowd continued throwing praises at her.

"Nonsense, young lady! You saved us, the least we could do is throw you a feast!" An old man offered. That made Mei perk up. Her and Macaque rarely had nice meals since they always lived in secret.

"Oho no, I don't deserve that much hospitality," Mei said with fake humility. She put on a bashful expression, as to hide how much she actually wanted the feast. "I wouldn't want y'all to waste your food on lil' ol' me.."

"No please! We insist! I would be forever guilty if I didn't return the favor for your troubles.." the old man pleaded. Mei pretended to think it over, and then she smiled.

"Well I mean, if you insist, then there's just no WAY I can refuse..."

...

Mei was sitting on her knees on a cushion. She was sat in front of a floor table waiting for the food to be prepared.

'I need to make sure the food isn't poisoned before I eat it...'

The tiny black shadow was still hiding in her hoodie. It started nudging at her cheek.

"Ugh, stop.. I know." Mei whispered to it.

"Huh? You know what?" An old woman said as she was standing at the entrance, holding a tray with a variety of fruit slices on it.

Mei was startled by the old woman's sudden appearance. "Oh uhh I know that this feast is going to be just delightful!"

The old lady blinked in confusion, and then smiled and laughed quietly. She then placed the tray on the table. It didn't really interest Mei. She had eaten mostly fruit her whole life. The old lady then sat down across from her.

"So, my husband tells me that you're some kind of powerful hero, with green sparks that fly with you.." The old lady said as she started putting fruits on their plates.

"Oh no, I'm nobody, really. Just a mortal who's learned a few tricks.." Mei did a wave of her hand, dismissing what the woman said.

'Never let them know anything about you...'

"Hmm, well from what my husband described, it seemed to be much more than just a simple trick.." The old lady smirked with a raised eyebrow. Mei just laughed it off as she shook her head. She then reached down to grab a piece of a orange slice. "Huh? Aren't you going to wait for the rest?"

"O-Oh sorry, heh. I guess I'm just very uhh, famished, yeah that's the word." For the most part, Mei wasn't all too familiar with etiquette. Macaque had tried his best to teach her all he could.

Just then, a young girl walked in, holding another tray. It had buttered dumplings, noodles and rice balls with seaweed wrapped around them. While the old lady and girl weren't looking, Mei quickly grabbed the orange slice. She handed it to the shadow and let it taste test it for poison. This was something Mei had practiced before she went on her journey. When the shadow finished eating, it tapped her on the face twice to signal that the food was fine.

The girl had knelt down next to Mei on her own cushion. She bowed to Mei as a greeting. Mei was confused for a bit but then she bowed too. She had almost forgotten that you had to bow to properly greet someone. Mei then noticed that the girl was wearing a very fancy outfit. It was shiny and silky, and she had a cute flower in her hair.

"Wow, you look so pretty," Mei said.

"(Gasp) you really think so?" The girl giggled as she showed off her wavy sleeves. Mei nodded as they both smiled at each-other. "You're pretty too!"

"O-Oh, thank you," Mei said as she shyly brushed some hair behind her ear, making sure not to push off her hood. She didn't really get compliments on her appearance that often.

"Ah, this is my daughter, Bai He." The old lady said. Mei's eyes widened as her they darted between the old lady and the girl. The age difference was too much to not notice. "Haha, you're probably wondering if I'm lying, since the age doesn't match up, correct?"

"Uh- No uhh, it's just... Well... (Sigh) okay yeah, you're right, I was wondering that..." Mei looked off to the side, feeling embarrassed.

"That's because I'm adopted!" Bai He blurted out.

"...Adopted...?" Mei questioned. "Sorry, I, don't know what that means.."

"Wha- You don't know what adopted means??"

"Hey! Hush, don't be rude to our guest!"

"(Sigh) Sorry mother..." Bai He slouched in shame.

"Adopted means that I'm not her biological mother. My body was never able to have children of it's own... So, me and my husband had given up for a while. But then, years ago, there was a sickly dying woman that begged us to take care of young baby Bai He. It was so tragic, but, almost a blessing in disguise I'd say..."

"So, you didn't birth her, but, she's still your daughter?"

"It sounds a bit silly at first, I know."

"No no, it... It's not silly at all. I think that's very noble of you." Mei said with a genuine smile.

"Oh well it was hardly anything noble. After all we wanted a child, and destiny gave us one!" The old lady chirped happily. She reached out for Bai He's hand, and Bai He gladly accepted it. "And I am so thankful for your existence, my sweet angel..." She said as she massaged her daughter's hand soothingly.

"Heh... I'm glad you two found each-other.."

Bai He giggled as she got her hand back and started dishing everyone's plates with the food she brought in. Mei was practically drooling at the sight.

"Hee hee, I made this myself you know." Bai He said proudly.

"Wait, really?" Mei asked with surprise. Bai He seemed to only be around 10 or maybe 12. She nodded her head vigorously as if she's been wanting to tell someone that forever. "Oh wow, that's very cool for someone your age."

"Go on go on! Try it!"

The food looked so fresh and tasty but Mei was hesitant. She wasn't able to just grab her own food. Both the old lady and Bai He had dished her plate. So she decided to turn her suspicion into a game.

"Hmm well how do I know you didn't poison it, huh?" Mei asked in a playful tone. Bai He put her hand on her forehead and threw herself back dramatically.

"Oh my! How could you accusith me of such thing?" Bai He said, jokingly. They both started laughing.

"Haha, alright, I'll make a deal. I'll eat your food, if we switch plates."

"Deal!"

With that, Mei swapped their plates and happily dug in. It tasted just as great as it looked. She hadn't had dumplings in years.

"I would've preferred we ate after the drinks arrived..." The old lady whispered in annoyance.

"Oh.. Uh, sorry mother.. But I was just so excited to show our guest my food! You two are the only ones that ever get to eat my food so I really wanted a stranger to try it for a change!"

"(Sigh) It's fine, Bai He, I'll let it pass this time. And also, lower your voice at the table, young lady.."

The husband then walked in carrying a tray of drinks. They all seemed to just be water. He sat down next to his wife. Just as he was about to hand out the drinks, Mei quickly reached forward and grabbed the drink farthest from her. She wanted to make sure she didn't get a poisoned one. He looked confused but then brushed it off.

"Sooo, your wife tells me that you two adopned Bai He."

"It's 'adopTed'." Bai He whispered.

"Yeah, 'adopted' I mean.."

The old man perked up. "Oh yes... It was quite the divine intervention. We had pretty much given up hope, until that poor withering woman showed up on our door step. We always tell people that it was a blessing in disguise."

"Indeed, that woman's sacrifice gave us a child that I could never bare..."

"So, you didn't know who that woman was? She wasn't like, a relative or anything?" Mei asked.

"Hah, if she was, then we certainly were not aware of it. But as far as we know, she wasn't.."

"Yeeeah I don't think so, I don't look anything like you oldies," Bai He said as she giggled. They both gave her a stern look and she looked off to the side, pretending she didn't say anything. "Oh! You should try the noodles too!"

"Heh, okay." Mei started eating the noodles. They tasted pretty good too. She couldn't really take in the taste though as she was a bit lost in thought.

'Does this mean Macaque 'adopted' me? I would re-ask him so many times, but he would just say the same thing. Anytime I asked him where I came from, he would always say that he would tell me later.. It always seemed to make him uncomfortable when I asked. Did he find me? Did someone give me to him? Did he... steal me...?'

"Hm..? What has you so troubled, dear?" The old lady asked. Mei snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up.

"Oh uhh, nothing haha, just really taking in this flavor!" Mei nervously laughed as she reached for her water and began to take a sip. A smile brimmed on the old lady.

"Do you have any children of your own, miss?"

SPIT-COUGH

"(Cough) Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! (Cough)" Mei was so shocked at the question that she comically spit her water. It's as if the lady asked such a strange question while Mei was drinking, on purpose. Luckily the water didn't get too far. A few droplets got on the lady's face, and a few on a dumpling.

The old lady did well to hide her frustration that she probably felt. She simply took a napkin and wiped her face. She then grabbed the saturated dumpling and put it on Mei's plate.

"That's (ahem) quite alright. Accidents happen after all. You don't mind eating this dumpling, since it now has your spit on it, right?"

"Uhh yeah.. Sorry.." Mei smiled awkwardly as she looked away.

"As I said, it's alright, miss. Now, about my question?"

"Do I have children?? No! Of course not!" The lady seemed very offended at this response. This was the first time Mei had let her anger slip in this conversation. The little shadow in her hoodie pulled at her neck hair. "Ow.." Mei rubbed the back of her neck.

"Huh? What is it?" Bai He asked.

"N-Nothing, just a crank in my neck, heh heh.." Mei answered, quickly. She then started squeezing the back of her hoodie, in hopes of hurting back the tiny shadow. "A real pain haha.." Mei said passive-aggressively through gritted teeth.

The old man noticed his wife's small scowl and so he spoke up, "Ahh, that's right. You must get a lot of aches and pains from your hero work. And I assume that stuff can make you really busy, making it hard to settle down and have children, yes?"

'A hero...? I mean, saving people is aiight, but I'm more in it for the thrill and power of the fight.. That's what it means to be a skilled warrior..'

The old lady's expression softened a bit as she glanced at her husband. "Mm, that makes sense.." She said. "Well, luckily our Bai He isn't burdened with having to be some hero. She'll be ready for a suitor in a few years.."

"A-A few years..?" Mei turned to Bai He, "uh, how old are you, again?"

"I turned 11 a few days ago!"

"11? W-Wow, you uh, sure got a long life ahead of you." Mei said with feigned happiness. In truth, she felt bad for the girl.

"How old are you?"

Mei put a finger over her lips and said, "it's a secret~"

"Well, you may not have children now, but I'm sure once you do, they'll be beautiful..." The old man said with a genuine smile.

"Uh... Y-Yeah..." Mei ate a few more bites of her food, feeling uncomfortable with how much lying she had to do in this one conversation alone.

"Tsk, aww, I know you're upset, but don't worry. You'll find the right man soon enough..." The old lady claimed.

Mei's eye slightly twitched at this. 'That's not the reason I'm upset, you old hag...'

Mei finished eating her last dumpling and she stood up. "Thank you all for the food and hospitality."

"Huh? Where are you going this late at night?"

'The hell does she mean 'late at night'? The sun is just barely setting..'

"Mother, it's not that late right now.."

"Bai He, quiet."

"(Sigh) Yes mother..."

"A young lady like yourself should not be out at this time. It's dangerous." The old lady said.

"She's right, you could get hurt!" The old man said.

Mei took in a deep breath, trying to keep her anger in check. She turned towards the trio with a fake smile. "I appreciate your concern, but, I'm a trained warrior. I can handle myself.." She then continued walking to the exit, but she stopped as she felt a tug on her hanfu.

"Please don't go!" Bai He had gotten up and was staring at Mei with puppy eyes. Mei couldn't resist, so she did what Macaque used to do. She faced Bai He, and knelt down to her level. She then started to gently pet Bai He's hair, soothing her.

"Maybe I'll be able to visit you another time, Bai He.. But, I really need to go. I've got a mission.."

"B-But, you never even told me your name.."

"...Uhh heh... You can just call me... Dragon Girl."

----

Macaque was feeling restless. It was officially nighttime, which means that tomorrow was the last day that his shadow was gonna supervise Mei. Is this what it's like being a parent? Are all parents constantly losing sleep over worrying about their child? Of course, Mei wasn't really his child, but, he still raised her.

"Gah... Calm down, she'll do fine. She has her sword this time..." Macaque told himself. The anxiety was still getting to him though. So he decided to sit up and activate his ears.

The crickets all around him became much louder. The gentle breeze moving the trees around now sounding as if they were being shaken violently. He could vaguely hear whispered voices in the distance. He stayed like that for five minutes, not hearing Mei's voice anywhere. Macaque finally deactivated his ears.

"(Sigh) She always goes to sleep super late.. So I doubt she's asleep. My guess is... She really is gone..."

When Macaque says 'gone' he doesn't mean he thinks she died. He meant that she actually went so far away that even his six ears couldn't pick up her sound. Mei being that much of a distance away, scared him.

"Ulg... Geez that sounded super corny..."

'Aaand I'm also talking to myself... Great... Now I'm starting to act like him'

Being reminded of Wukong, it scared Macaque a little. So he released some shadow clones. They swarmed a boulder and scooted it to block the entrance to the cave; sitting comfortably in front of the curtain. That gave him a bit of peace of mind. He was still a bit worried for Mei though.

SMACK

Macaque slapped his cheeks to try and snap himself out of his slump. He needed to calm down if he was ever gonna get any sleep.

----

It was the final day that the shadow clone was gonna be with Mei. She had woken up early afternoon. Her and the clone were walking in silence, looking for the next threat. The sky was nice and cloudy, blocking the hot Summer sun.

"...You know, I was thinking..." Mei broke the silence. The shadow clone turned it's head to look at her with his almost constantly blank expression. "Last night, it was kinda buggin' me for a while but... I really wonder if-.. If in another universe, would I have ended up like Bai He?"

The shadow clone simply cocked it's head to the side. It finally made an expression by raising it's eyebrow. Truly, the most attentive being; one that is completely silent and exists to listen.

"Cuz like, she was... 'adopted' too. So what if there's a universe where I was raised by people like that? Ones that only considered me as a potential wife for someone. Or I guess, ones that thought the only useful thing about me was that I can have kids. Gahh, I feel so bad for her.. And they said 'suitors'. Pfft, what are they, royalty?" Mei put her hands behind her head as she continued. "Sure glad I'm not in some high expectation family like that..."

The shadow clone opened it's mouth as if to say something, but then it stopped. It faced back forward and continued following by Mei's side.

They spent the day looking for any danger or threat, but ended with zilch. So they just ended the day with a campfire and Mei making up random camp songs.

=The Next Day=

The shadow clone waited for Mei to wake up. Once she did, the clone did a proper goodbye. It did a bow as if it had just finished a stage performance. It then turned into a little black blob, and it zoomed off in the direction of her home.

As promised, the clone left after three days. Mei didn't realize she'd have such an empty feeling after it left. She didn't really have anyone to talk to anymore, other than herself. She clutched the straps of her bag as she continued her journey.

She walked out of the forest that she had camped in. Looking up, she saw the partly cloudy sky. She was a bit bored so she decided to sit down and try and find shapes out of the clouds. Mei used to do this with Macaque during their down time.

Some clouds looked like a dragon. Others looked like a monkey head. Another looked like a zooming ball of flame... Wait..

That's not a cloud...

Clear up in the sky was a reddish-orange ball of fire shooting off into the distance. Mei's eyes widened as she watched it go by. She immediately stood up, wanting to follow it. She saw that it was heading for a mountain in the distance.

"Hee hee, finally, a new potential threat..."

----

Monkie Kid was waiting. Waiting for his dad to leave. A few years ago, they had made a deal. That Wukong would leave once a week to 'look for someone'. On those days, he'd be gone pretty much the whole day. It would've been super boring, if he hadn't found a way to make it not.

It had become a routine for Redson to visit. In the beginning, it was kind of annoying and really difficult to plan. Redson would have to just have lucky guesses for when Wukong left. It was annoying for Mk, because Redson kept on treating him like a victim who needed saving. After all the failed attempts at breaking the barrier though, it became something different.

They had started just... Talking, and getting to know each-other. And now, in present time, it became a routine for Redson to visit Mk on the day that Sun Wukong left. Redson felt... good, when he was around Mk. Monkie Kid felt... new, when he was around Redson. It was a nice experience getting to talk to someone other than his dad or the monkeys.

Redson had showed Mk just how strange his situation actually was. He was an adult now, but Wukong still didn't let him roam around. Yet Redson was allowed to roam around just fine, as long as he didn't cause any trouble.

The boys were now sitting across from each-other at the barrier. Splitting the waterfall was now a piece of cake to Mk.

"Oh wow, that braid looks so pretty!" Mk said. Redson would usually have a low ponytail or just his hair down. Or even sometimes style his hair like Nezha's. Today however, he had a braid with golden ribbons tied into the mix.

Redson blushed at his compliment. "Th-Thanks... The only reason it looks so fancy like this is because I was invited to some kind of royal party. Everyone is always so proper and fake at those.."

"Huh?.. But, you're proper too, aren't you?"

"Wha- I-.. Ugh, well yes, but I'm only okay being modest and elegant around others like you who are... Well, sloppy. Because it makes me feel superior, as I know I am." Redson said with a cocky smile.

"Gee thanks.." Mk said sarcastically, but he laughed it off. It wasn't really offensive to him, he knew he was sloppy. It's the monkey way. Redson smiled and had a small blush on his face from hearing Mk's laughter. "Haha, ahh.. Sooo what happens at those parties anyway?"

"Ulg, you would hate it. You have to dress in uncomfortably tight clothing. You and everyone else have to always be standing with your back straight. It's exhausting, really. The only good thing about it is the food. But you're not even allowed to indulge much in that, because if you did, then you would be seen as a gluttonous slob.."

"And I'm guessing they would think it's crazy if you ate with your hands? And not a fork or spoon?"

"Oh definitely. You practically never eat anything that requires utensils, so I doubt you'd survive long at one of those parties."

"Way to have zero faith in me, dude.."

"What? You think you would be able to not make a fool of yourself?"

"I mean.. Maybe? I'm sure if you taught me how their manners work, I could probably learn it good enough." Mk scratched the back of his head.

"...Hmm... I guess. But I wouldn't want to take the sloppiness out of you, it's-... It's part of your charm.." Redson said, blushing whilst looking away.

Mk blushed too, and they were in some silent blushing session.

Just then, they both snapped out of it as they heard a girl's voice. Redson turned around and they both looked to see someone standing with a glowing green sword. Redson immediately stood up and balled his fists with flames.

The girl had black hair with green highlights on her side bangs that seemed to be slightly glowing along with her sword.

"I challenge you to fight me, flame boy!"

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Mei was caught off guard when Redson made the first move. Redson charged himself forward; the speed of it making the water push to the sides. His fists were balled with flames.

Mei didn't have time to dodge so she used her sword to block it.

'That was way too close..' Mei thought. 'I need to get my head back in the game. Those demon twins were so easy, so I forgot that there are actually strong ones like him.'

Redson has the upper hand, as in literally. He used his flames as jets on his feet to keep himself elevated. He threw relentless fire punches at the girl's sword.

He then felt something press against his abdomen, and in a second, he was kicked away. Redson found himself drenched in water as he came to his senses.

Mei smirked as the flame boy finally looked up at her with a shocked expression. She was getting hyped, now that she could finally show her true potential. The boy became angry as he stood up and got back in a fighting stance.

"Aww what's the matter? Water sizzled out all the fire that's left in you?" Mei taunted, since she noticed that he was no longer using his flames.

"Grrr, don't mock me, you peasant!" Redson yelled. He finally stood up, his feet soaking in the water. He got back in a fighting stance with just normal, non-flaming fists.

'This isn't good..' Redson thought. 'I came here straight from a party. I wasn't exactly prepared for a fight today..'

They stared each-other down; waiting to see who will make the first move. Redson tensed as he saw her begin to move. Mei put her sword behind her back into it's sheeth.

"I guess I can make this a fair fight," Mei said as she got in her own fighting stance, her hands in a karate style. Originally, Mei was going to kill him, since he seemed like such a dangerous enemy. But, something about the boy didn't seem too threatening to her. She then caught the boy off-guard again by using her inner power to charge a few inches away from him. She ducked as he threw a punch at her. Mei then was about to jab her pointed hand into his stomach, but surprisingly, the boy caught her hand with his other.

Redson was gripping the girl's right hand with his left. He then used his right hand to grab the girl's neck and then pin her down in the shallow water. The girl grunted as she tried pulling at Redson's hand with her free hand.

Mei lifted her leg and kicked the boy in the back of the head.

"Gah! OW!" Redson yelled as he held his head in pain.

Mei quickly jumped away from him. She coughed a bit and rubbed her neck, which would probably bruise later.

"(Cough) Oh boo hoo, you were just barely trying to kill me!"

"Urgg, well obviously! If someone just comes up here, not minding their own business, and says 'fight me' then I have to be prepared to kill them!"

Mk had a concerned expression as he then whispered, "Wait, you weren't actually gonna kill her, were you?" It was too quiet for the girl to hear.

"Ooh whatever! Besides, you're clearly holding that poor monkey man hostage, so I feel like this fight is justified.." Mei smirked as she got back in her fighting stance.

"Wait whoa whoa hold up!" Mk yelled which got the girl's attention. "Redson isn't holding me hostage! In fact it's the opposite!"

Mei raised her eyebrow as her smile went away, "huh? You're holding him hostage?"

"What? No, not that. I mean, a few years ago, for months, Redson had been trying to break this barrier. But, we were never able to find a way sooo..." Mk poked his fingers together nervously.

Mei got back in a more relaxed stance. "Hm... So he's really not holding you hostage?"

"Tch, I have way better things to do than hold someone hostage. That's below me." Redson said as he folded his arms.

'In fact, usually it's me who villains try to hold hostage. Since I'm a prince..' Redson thought.

"Sooo can we please stop this dumb fighting and actually talk things out?" Mk asked.

"Um.. but aren't we already talking things out right now?" Mei asked.

"Well- I mean yeah, but, c'mon, you know what I mean! Let's just, all get along and be friends!" Even if this girl just attacked his friend, he was still desperate to have more people to talk to. Mk was extroverted at heart.

"Pfft, friends? Yeah right. I'm supposed to be a solo warrior, not some peace maker," Mei put her hands on her hips, "besides... All friends do is betray you in the end.."

'At least... That's what Macaque always told me..'

"...Well, whoever betrayed you in the end, they weren't real friends. They most likely had ulterior motives from the start.." Redson said.

"Huh?... Oh i've-" Mei was about to say that she's never actually had any friends, but she remembered that she's not supposed to reveal much about herself to strangers. "Uhh.. Yeah you're probably right, heh. Um.. Sorry, for uh, attacking you.."

"..." Redson frowned, then he caught Mk staring at him with puppy-dog eyes. "Ulg... All is forgiven..." He said through gritted teeth.

"Great!" Mk said as he clapped his hands together. "So now, time for introductions. Hi, my name is Monkie Kid, pretty on the nose, I know.. And this is-"

"Aht! I'll give my own introduction, thank you very much.. (Ahem) I am Redson! Son of the Demon Bull King, and of the Princess Iron Fan! I am the flame prince of this world!"

"Haha! Never gets old.." Mk said with a nostalgic smile. "So what's your name?"

"Uhh..."

'Remember to not reveal your name. Just say something dumb.' Mei thought.

"I uh forgot.."

'Not THAT dumb!'

"Really? You forgot your own name? Damn.. I'm so sorry.." Mk had a sympathetic look on his face.

"Hm yes.. Names are a special thing given by one's parents. It's tragic to forget it.." Redson said.

'Aaand I've dug myself a hole... Great...'

Mei put her acting training to use, "(sigh) yeah, I try to remember it every day.."

Mk perked up, "Hey, maybe we could help you remember it!"

"Huh? Oh no no, you don't have to. I really should get going-"

"Nonsense," Redson said, "you can't live life without a proper name. It's something you need to hold dear and be proud of."

'...Be, proud of?...'

"Yeah and, even if we aren't able to figure it out, I'll be satisfied knowing we at least tried!" Mk said. Him and Redson shared a look as they both smiled. They were both thinking about the same thing. All those months and months of failed attempts at breaking the barrier. But at least they tried, right?

"I... Um..." Mei looked behind her in the distance. In this moment, she wished she had some little shadow gremlin bothering her, but, her impulsive thoughts took over. "You know what? Sure." Mei then started walking back to where she came from.

"Uhhh where ya goin? I thought you just said 'sure' as in you wanna hang out with us?" Mk questioned.

"Yeah I am. I just gotta grab my stuff. I hid it away before cuz I couldn't have it weighing me down during the fight." Mei grabbed her big sheep-skin bag full of her stuff from behind the mountain walls.

"...Wait a minute... Did you follow me up here?" Redson asked.

"Uh yeah, I saw you blazing through the sky and you seemed like a worthy opponent."

"Tch, some hero. You didn't care to 'save' Mk, you were just looking for a fight!"

"I never said I was a hero. I said, I'm a warrior."

Mk then thought, 'A warrior... Why does that seem so familiar?...'

=Flashback when Mk was 5 years old=

Little Monkie Kid had gotten a lot better at talking. He was exploring his home and found a drawing of two people on a boulder. He had seen it before, but he was too young to form his question about it back then.

"Daaaad!" Mk called. Wukong was sitting down, lost in thought. His eyebrows were furrowed as he hugged his knees. He was staring at the exit. Mk was used to his dad doing this. "Dad?" Sometimes Wukong would play with Mk, but most of the time, he'd be sitting in that same spot. As if waiting for something to come through... Or maybe, someone?

Mk walked up behind Wukong and tapped him on the shoulder. Wukong slightly flinched and turned to look at Mk with a blank expression.

"U-Um what's that picture over there?" Mk innocently asked.

Wukong blinked a bit, then he smiled and stood up. "Sorry uh, what picture?" Mk grabbed his hand and led Wukong to the rock. He then pointed at the picture. It was a very realistic drawing of Wukong, next to a not-so realistic drawing of someone else.

"That one's you, but who's that?" Mk pointed at the 'someone else' of the drawing.

Wukong tensed up and became quiet as he looked at the picture. A sad smile appeared on his face as he reached and gently touched the picture.

"That person... Was... Uhh my warrior..."

"Whassat?"

"It's um.. Someone who is really good at fighting.. I guess.."

"Oh... Where are they?"

"(Sigh) I don't know, kid.. But I really miss them..." Wukong ruffled Mk's hair. Mk groaned and pushed his hand away. He also used his tiny tail to smack Wukong's leg. Wukong lightly chuckled at this. He then lifted Mk up. "C'mon, let's go have a fun ride on my cloud."

=End of Flashback=

'Wait... Could she be the person who was in that drawing? I almost forgot about it because ever since then, dad hid that rock away somewhere. All I remember is that the other person had black hair... And dad doesn't age, so maybe she never aged either...' Mk thought.

Mei and Redson sat in front of the barrier.

"Alright so, do you remember what your name might start with?" Redson asked.

"Nope, no clue.." Mei said with a knowing smirk.

Redson's eye twitched, "Um... Alright, what about how many syllables?"

"Hmm I think three.." Mei wanted to mess with him.

They went on like this for a bit. Mk then stood up and turned around. Redson asked where he was off to and Mk said that he was getting food for the girl.

"What? How're ya gonna get me food if there's this massive glowing wall in the way?" Mei asked.

Redson began to explain, "Well, over time, we figured out a few things about the barrier. It appears that any non-living object can pass through from Mk's side." Mk continued to leave as he let Redson tell her about it. "And it also seems like the barrier can most likely be broken by a powerful enough God. But... As you can probably guess, we don't stand a chance asking a God to help us break it.."

'What is up with these two?' Mei wondered. 'Why is he telling a complete stranger about all this? We were literally just fighting and now suddenly we're buddies??'

"Mm, you seem pretty cool tho. Why would a God not listen to you?" Mei asked.

Redson seemed caught off guard by this. He then cleared his throat, "(Ahem) W-Well, being 'cool' doesn't help your rank in the celestial realm.."

Mk was lost in thought. Obviously her being a warrior and having black hair doesn't prove anything, but he still couldn't shake the feeling. Another factor was that she came to Flower Fruit Mountain. He thought maybe she was feigning ignorance about where she was.

He came back with a weaved basket of peaches and tangerines. Mk then poured them out and rolled them over, and sure enough, they passed through the barrier.

'I don't think I need to do a poison test. Something tells me these two are way too knuckle-headed to poison me..' Mei thought as she grabbed a tangerine, practically drooling over it. It was her favorite fruit after all.

"You're being awfully quiet, for this being your idea.." Redson pointed out. Mk blinked and looked at them. It took him a second to realize Redson was referring to the 'finding out her name' thing.

"Well I didn't see you objecting to it," Mk retorted. "But um.. Yeah I was just wondering um.." He then looked at the girl, "do you know who Sun Wukong is?"

Mei tensed a bit at hearing this name, her mouth full of tangerine. She was a bit caught off guard but was trying to keep her composure. She gulped down her food. And she still had a smile on her face, but it was hard to make eye-contact with MK.

"I uh... Yeah I've... Heard of him.." Mei answered as she nervously squeezed her pants.

"Tch, do you even know where we are right now?" Redson asked. The girl looked at him with a confused expression, indicating she didn't. "We're on Flower Fruit Mountain. Sun Wukong's home.."

Mei's eyes widened and her smile dropped. She couldn't keep up the act anymore. She didn't even fully register the fact that Mk is a monkey. Obviously she knew he was a monkey, but she didn't connect the dots that he could possibly be connected to Macaque or this 'Sun Wukong' fellow. It's not like all simians knew each-other... Right?

Now that she was up close to Mk, his face marking did look a bit similar to Macaque's but the shape was different. His hair was also dark like Macaque's, but it was hard to properly see Mk's details through this golden seal.

Sun Wukong was the one person that Mei was strictly told to avoid. She was told that no matter how much training she had, she would still have a zero percent chance of winning.

=Flashback to the end of Chapter 3=

=Four Years Ago=

"...He's the one that did this to my eye..." Macaque said. The young 14-ish Mei blinked in surprise.

"And you waited all these years to tell me??"

"(Sigh) I'm telling you now aren't I? Do you want to hear the story or not?"

Mei rolled her eyes and then nodded. They continued walking further and further away from their old cave.

"So about 95-ish years ago, Sun Wukong and I finished a journey that we were on. 10 or so years after, we had gotten into a heated argument. So I guess that argument was 84 or maybe 85 years ago..."

"Does the timeline really matter?" Mei complained as she kicked a pebble.

"I mean.. I guess not but it just helps me remember things. Anyway, so... The point of the journey was to help us better ourselves. I.. Sort of became better. I at least became more assertive of my feelings, and that argument proved it. For context, I pretty much never stood my ground when it came to Wukong. I was always a follower.. Always hiding in his shadow.. But this time, I actually told him how I felt."

"...Soooo what was the argument about?"

"It-... Um.. I-I'll tell you when you're older..."

Mei abruptly stopped in her tracks, "aww whaaat!? Come on! You can't just reel me in and then not tell me!"

"(Sigh) Look, I promise I'll tell you when you're... An adult or something. Just, remember to ask me. That is, if you're still curious by then.." Macaque could still smell the smoke from the forest, even at this distance. "But anyway, come on. We need to stay on the move." He ushered Mei with a shooing hand gesture.

"Oh I'll make SURE to remember. I'll stay curious about it!"

"Good for you. Now, long story short: During our argument, I said something that might've been.. a bit of a sensitive topic for him I guess? And so, in a rage, he turned around... And... s-slashed my eye.." Macaque's left eye widened, as if he was just now coming to terms with it. He brought his hand up and lightly touched his eye-patch resting over his missing right eye.

Mei was about to respond, but then she noticed Macaque's distressed expression. She placed a hand on his shoulder, which snapped him out of it. He looked at her and then smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm okay.." Macaque reassured. "So... After years of grievances I had with him, this was the last straw." He pointed at his eye-patch. "I told him we were done and I left.. That was that."

"What are griebances?"

"GrieVances," Macaque corrected, "a grievance is like a complaint or a problem that someone has with another. Me and him were, uh, good friends but.. I felt like the journey, which again, was supposed to better him, barely changed him at all.. I just couldn't stay best friends with him if he wasn't even going to try to fix his flaws."

Mei thought for a moment, and then she asked, "well, had you told him to fix his problems before?"

"I... uh.."

"Cuz didn't you say that you only became assertive after the journey?" Mei asked as she scratched her chin in thought, "if you had never brought up your problems before, maybe he thought it was unfair that you all of a sudden had all those.. uhh.. 'grievances' with him."

"....Huh... I never thought of it like that.."

"Yeah I mean, I blew up on you yesterday, and you seemed pretty confused. So, it made me think, maybe that's what happened with him too.."

"..." Macaque stared at the ground as they walked. Mei started to feel a bit guilty about getting angry with him the other day. It did end up biting her in the butt when she ran into those men.

"Um... S-...Sooooorrryyyy about that by the way..." Mei mumbled as she looked away. Her pride made it hard not to drag out the word.

"Huh?.. Oh that.. Heh, it's fine. But, thank you for apologizing. That's very humble of you."

"Hee hee, well I am a very humble gal!" Mei said, not knowing what that word meant at all.

Macaque slowed his walking, "...Um... Mei I... I need you to promise me something." He then came to a complete stop and put his hand lightly on Mei's shoulder.

"Uhh.. What is it?"

He then put his other hand on her other shoulder, fully grabbing her attention. "Promise me, that if you ever see, run into, or even hear people mentioning that Sun Wukong passed by... That you will run away immediately."

"What? Why? I'm sure once I've trained enough I can take him-"

"Moondrop, no.." Macaque shook his head, "listen to me. No matter how much training you have, you will lose against him. Do NOT engage. You understand?"

Mei's face became a bit more serious, and she slowly nodded while looking away.

"He is so many times stronger than me. He is a sage equal to the power of heaven, maybe even stronger." Macaque said, and that seemed to make Mei's eyes widen. "He was holding back when he did this to me," he gestured toward his eye, "so if he could do so much worse to me... You damn well bet he could crush you like a bug.."

"..." Mei was trying to hide her fear, but it was barely working. She then stepped out of Macaque's grasp. "...He's.. In that forest, isn't he? So... I guess we should keep moving then." She started walking again. Macaque hesitated for a bit, but then he followed after her.

"...Yeah..." Macaque grabbed his arm, "L-Look, I know you'll be an amazing warrior one day. But, even strong warriors need to know when to back out of a fight, and to know when they can't win."

"...Hm..."

"...Moondrop? Are you okay?"

"(Sigh) Yes, I'm fine, really. It's just.. A lot to take in." Mei reached up and held onto her bag straps around her shoulders.

Their walk was quiet for a while. Mei gazed up at the moon now creeping up over a mountain. She then finally broke the silence:

"You know... I can't exactly look out for him if I don't know what he looks like." Mei said, trying to lighten the mood.

"O-Oh, right heh.."

=End of Flashback=

=Back to the Present=

Mei's heart started to pound in her chest. She hid her anxiety pretty well by having a blank poker face. Although, considering she was smiling a second ago, they probably could tell she was a bit bothered.

"...Uh are you alright?" Redson asked. Monkie Kid was blankly staring at her, seemingly analyzing her reaction.

"Yeah I'm fine.." Mei answered as she ate more of her tangerine. She subconsciously curled her knees up to her chest. "So.. If this is Sun Wukong's home, then where is he now?"

"He uhh left. He's gonna be gone pretty much all day. That's why Redson is here. Redson always has to make sure he leaves before the sun goes down.." Mk scratched the back of his neck.

"...Why do you have to make sure you leave?"

Redson raised an eyebrow and then said, "Tch, because I'd rather not have my bones shattered just for talking to his child."

'His... Child?' Mei thought as she looked over at Mk. He nodded his head, as if reading her mind.

"I... Didn't know he had a kid.." Mei rested her left leg down and then laid her arm on her right knee. She looked off towards the exit.

"I don't think anyone is aware. Well, except for me and some other heaven officials. Like my big brother Nezha for example."

'A brother huh? I wonder what having siblings is like.. That doesn't matter though, I need to get out of here..' Mei thought.

"I um.. I should probably go." Mei stood up and put her sheep-skin bag on her back.

"Wait what? Why? We barely got to know you??" Mk protested. He was still suspecting that she could've been the one in the drawing.

"Yeeeah, but, like you said. I'd rather not get my bones crushed just for interacting with you." Mk seemed hurt by that and Mei instantly regretted saying it. "I- sorry that's, not what I meant I just.. (Sigh) Okay look.. I was lying, I didn't actually forget my name."

Redson seemed flabbergasted, "you-... O-Okay well, what does that have to do with-"

"My name is Mei. Anyway, the thing is, I've kinda been warned all my life to steer clear of Sun Wukong. I still don't really understand why but... I'd rather not find out the hard way, sooo..." Mei blurted that all out. She knew that if the shadow clone were still here, it would probably be pissed. But, for some reason, she felt like she didn't have to hide anything in front of these two. They just gave off a nice vibe.

"'Mei' is one syllable..." Redson grumpily mumbled.

"You.. Lied to us?" Mk asked.

Redson turned to him, "Oh don't act so offended. We just barely met her."

"Well you didn't lie to me when we first met!"

"...Touche..." Redson folded his arms, feeling embarrassed, "well I was a naive teenager back then..."

Mk looked back at Mei, "So, you really didn't know that you were on Flower Fruit Mountain?"

"(Sigh) Yes, that part's true. I was just told to avoid a golden haired monkey with light tan skin and a peach colored face marking.. I guess my pops probably didn't know Wukong had a son."

'Pops...?' Monkie Kid wondered.

"Look, I'm sorry for lying to you, but you've been stuck in here your whole life. So I'm sure you don't understand the hardships outside these walls. People need to lie in order to get through life.." Mei said.

"Uhh, I haven't been stuck in here my whole life. It's only on this day of the week. He lets me roam around outside the mountain every other day... As... Long as he's watching.."

"..." Mei watched Mk as his expression had turned into a sort of sad smile. She started walking away.

"Wait! Please don't go! I know my dad has a scary past. Redson told me all about it. But I honestly don't think he'd hurt either of you!"

Redson frowned as he said, "Mk, he's nice to you because you're his son. But Sun Wukong has been known to be very unpredictable. We can't risk him seeing us talking to you. If he can't trust you to be alone without his eyes watching, or without a protective barrier? Then it's clear to me that, he would do anything to make sure there are no threats to you.. I mean, he doesn't even let you bring friends over!"

In the past, Mk had complained to Redson about how Sun Wukong refuses to let anyone visit Flower Fruit Mountain. He had said that anyone other than a simian would taint the scent. Redson had taken measures to make sure that his scent was hidden every time he came here. It was just a simple spell. Mei wasn't so lucky, however..

"...I'm just so tired of being coddled like a baby... I literally turned 18 months ago..." Mk leaned his back against the barrier and hugged his knees.

Mei started to feel bad. She sighed as she turned back towards the two. "Then why haven't you tried running away?"

"...I don't have anywhere to go where he wouldn't find me. Not to mention, even if I found someone to stay with... I don't want my dad to hurt them, thinking that they kidnapped me or something.."

"....Gahhh alright fine!" Mei begrudgingly said. Redson and Mk perked up and looked at her. "So you say he leaves all day, every week, on this day, right?" They both nodded. "I'm gonna be away from my pops for the rest of this month. So... I'll... Try to visit you on those days..."

"Wait, really!?" Mk fully turned around to face her with a big smile.

"Eh, I'm gonna be fighting most days. So might as well have some chill days with you two knuckleheads." Mei smirked.

"Knuckleheads??" They both questioned in unison. Mei started to leave but was once again stopped.

"Wait... Here, use this." Redson began casting a spell. He then shoved his glowing hands forward, sending the spell to her. Mei instinctively brought her arms up to block it. All that happened was the spell going over her.

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ABOUT!?" Mei shouted.

"Calm down! It was just a simple scent hiding spell. It'll last for 24 hours." Redson explained.

"..Scent hiding spell?" Mei looked at her hands, as if to see something invisible. "Huh.. Thanks."

...

Finally, they said their goodbyes, and she left. She spent the rest of the day contemplating what just happened, and ended the day with a nice soak in a forest hot spring.

'Oh crap... I completely forgot to wear my hood. Ehh, it's fine. I don't have a bad feeling about it.'

----

Wukong was in a village. Through out the four years of searching, he would occasionally catch a whiff of Macaque's scent in the air. It started out with him investigating any village that was near that forest that burned down. Some days he would disguise himself and just simply sit and wait. Waiting to see if he would smell Macaque wandering around in a village. He'd always end up not catching any smell, or catching a smell that was already fading. Meaning Macaque had probably been in a village a few hours or maybe a day before.

He never seemed to luck out. Lucking out would be him catching a fresh trail of Macaque's scent, so that he could follow it before the wind and sand carried it away.

But, he seemed to always just miss him. Or again, not get any scent at all. Not to mention the village was full of other stinky humans and foods and a bunch of other scents swirling in his nose; making it all the more harder.

"What if he's avoiding me?.." Wukong mumbled. He had his head dropped down and he slowly walked through the village. He heard some people gossiping about him. He looked up and noticed, and felt slightly embarrassed.

'Nah... There's no way he's avoiding me. He probably just, lost his memory somehow.. Yeah, that's it! I mean, we were basically lovers! You don't avoid your lover for 89 years!.... Right?' Wukong grabbed his arm, feeling uncomfortable with these thoughts.

"C'mon moonlight, where are you?" He whispered, trying not to drag attention to himself. He already was feeling a bit insecure since he had stopped wearing his hat in public ever since Nezha told him not to. It had been a while since he'd used Macaque's nickname. It brought up a bitter memory:

="Moonlight, look-"=

="Stop trying to sugarcoat things by using a nickname!"=

Wukong groaned in frustration. That little memory was part of an argument they had just before Macaque left. Wukong folded his arms, recalling the memory, trying to figure out what went wrong. He then noticed that the sun was starting to go down.

"(Sigh) I guess I better get back to Mk.." He hopped on his cloud and zoomed towards Flower Fruit Mountain.

...

By the time he got back, the stars were out, and the moon was full. He did a long exhale as he floated down to the entrance to the cave. But just as he was about to spread open the waterfall and unlock the seal... A smell came to his nose.

It was faint, but it was definitely his.

"..." He aggressively sniffed around. The scent seemed to be mostly washed out by the water. But it was still vaguely lingering in the air. It was Macaque's, and one other person. The smells were mixed together. He walked over to the entrance to the waterfall and smelled behind the mountain walls. "They smell very young... As young as Mk probably. I don't think Macaque came here himself, the smell isn't strong enough. Seems more like this person is someone that knows or.. Maybe frequently visits him."

"Dad?"

Wukong turned around and saw the waterfall open. He looked at his sleepy son standing at the entrance to the inside of the mountain. His son looked so adorable as he rubbed the sleep-sand out of his eye.

"Oh, you're still awake, huh?" Wukong said with a smile.

"Ehh.. I only fell asleep for a few minutes.." Mk mumbled. "Mmwhat're ya doin?"

"I..." Wukong then hopped over to the entrance and was now facing Mk. "Did you, I mean.. Did anyone come here while I was gone? Specifically anyone who looks like a black haired monkey?"

Mk's eyes flinched just a bit. It was almost unnoticeable. "Uhh... The only monkey's are all the ones in here, heheh.." He answered, scratching the back of his neck and looking away. Wukong squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"Okay, let's try this again." Wukong snapped his fingers and the golden barrier instantly dissipated. Mk's eyes widened and he was now fully awake. He stepped back a bit as Wukong walked towards him. He placed his hand on Mk's shoulder. They were basically face to face with each-other, as Mk had gotten taller over the past four years. Except, Mk was a bit hunched like a scared turtle. "Did anyone come here...?"

Wukong didn't like using this tone with Mk, but it's what he needed to do.

----

Monkie Kid didn't want to say anything. It was hard though, because his dad had locked eyes with him, completely blank-faced. It was difficult for him to maintain eye-contact.

"Um... I uh..." He was trying to come up with a better excuse, but at this point, nothing would fool his dad. "I forgot...?"

He felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze a bit tighter. Wukong then put his other hand on Mk's other shoulder.

"Mk... Answer my question."

"..." They looked at each-other's eyes for a bit. Mk then sighed in defeat as he looked away. "There was... A girl."

'I'm sorry, Mei.. But I've known Redson longer. I really don't wanna out him. He's my best friend.' Mk thought.

"A girl?.. I'm guessing she was about your age from the smell I'm getting.." Wukong finally took his hands off of Mk's shoulders and he turned away. Mk let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"You can tell that just from her smell?" Mk asked.

"Yeah... But the weirdest thing though, is that there isn't any scent trail of her leaving. It's as if she just teleported out of here."

"Jeez, you can really tell a lot just from a smell.."

"Yeah it's a learned skill.. But, Monkie Kid," Wukong turned to face Mk again. "Why would you lie to me?"

"I-I... I just.." Mk grabbed his arm nervously.

"Hmm..?" Wukong reached forward and caressed Mk's cheek as he awaited an answer.

"I... Just didn't want you to hurt her.."

Wukong blinked in surprise. He seemed confused by this response.

"Oh? Do you know her? You know how I feel about bringing friends here, Mk-"

"Yeah, I know, dad! It's just.. You're so protective of me, so I didn't want you jumping to conclusions and hurting her!" Mk was angry, but his eyebrows raised as he just realized that he yelled. "I... Sorry.." Mk looked down and stepped back a bit.

'She's not exactly my friend per se.. But, maybe if he thinks she is, he won't hurt her...'

"..." Wukong thought for a bit, and then he spoke, "now why would I do that?"

'Oh crap... I'm getting my memories mixed up. Which ones did Redson tell me about and which ones did dad tell me about??'

"W-Well.. You've told me stories a-about how you would beat up bad guys, s-so... I didn't want you thinking she was some bad guy attacking me."

'Even though technically she did attack at first, but I know she's a good person..'

"...Haha.. Oh Mk.." Wukong ruffled Mk's hair and he groaned in annoyance. "Those stories were centuries ago.. I'm a lot more mellowed out now."

"R-Right heh.."

'Redson's dad wasn't exactly centuries ago...'

"Hm.. You've gotten taller." Wukong noticed as he looked Mk up and down.

"Wait, really?"

Wukong nodded and then turned around, "anyway, I'm really sorry but I have to go again. I feel bad so I'll leave a hair clone with you. I'm sure he'll still be around by morning, as long as you don't damage him of course, heh.." He pulled out some hair and it turned into a perfect replica of him.

"You're leaving already??"

The hair clone perked up, "of course I'm not leaving! I'm staying here with you, bud!" the clone said, cheerfully.

"Ugh, daaad, you know what I mean," Mk complained, as he ignored the clone. He walked passed it, but before he could fully go, it took a hold of his arm. He looked back at it with a confused expression, "huh?"

"Not so fast, bud!" The clone said, still having a smile on it's face. Mk was about to protest, but then he heard the familiar sound of his dad's fingers snapping. He brought his attention back forward and saw that Wukong had closed the barrier again. Mk ripped out of the clone's grip and ran to the barrier.

"Wait! Dad don't go!"

"(Sigh) Look, Mk. That girl had a bit of... uh.. that person's scent on her. She's my best chance at finding them. I'm sorry, but I need to go before the smell fades." With that, Wukong closed the waterfall, hopped on his cloud, and left.

Mk could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he blinked them away out of sheer anger. The clone stood there awkwardly.

"C'mon bud, it's not so bad. I'm here after all!"

Mk folded his arms and refused to face the clone. The clone sighed and used it's tail to wrap around Mk's waist and lift him up.

"Let's go. It's bed time. And I'm sure the monkeys are restless without you around.."

They walked into the mountain, and sure enough, a few of the monkeys were awake. They seemed to be looking for Mk. They all squeaked with excitement when they saw the clone Wukong bringing Mk over. The clone sat Mk onto the nest. The nest was just a bunch of blankets and pillows mashed together into one huge pile. The clone then sat behind Mk and started grooming the hair on his back. Mk usually slept shirtless.

Mk curled in on himself and hugged his knees. He hated that he was relaxing to the grooming. At this point, he was too tired to protest. He began to purr to the soothing touch. Eventually, when Mk was sleepy enough, the clone slowly laid Mk down onto the nest. It then laid down too and put their foreheads together, with an arm resting protectively around Mk.

----

Wukong floated close to the ground on his cloud. He was sniffing the scent's trail. He may not be able to find where the girl went after-words, but he can at least find where she came from. He glanced up at the sky and caught sight of the full moon. A calm smile brimmed on his face as he felt the nice cool night breeze. Maybe Wukong had lucked out after all.

He then reached his arm up, as if reaching to take hold of the moon.

"Soon, my moonlight... Soon."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

There was something that Mk had said to Redson during their friendship that stuck with him ever since.

="You keep saying that my dad is manipulating me.. But from what you've told me about your mom, isn't she kinda doing the same thing to you?"=

Back then, Redson denied it. Just like how he always did when Nezha would basically tell him the same thing. Redson always thought that celestial beings had way too high standards when it came to morals. But if someone like Mk, who has no heavenly bias, is saying the same thing?..... It gave Redson a lot to think about.

----

Nezha was in a private meeting with other high-ranking celestials.

"We must forbid him from continuing these visits!" A female celestial commanded.

"Indeed. The taming of that samadhi-bearer has been stifled too many times because of that traitor.." A male celestial agreed.

Nezha was staring down at the round-table. He had handled plenty of children in his long life-time, but somehow he failed the one that mattered the most. Not that Nezha played favorites, it's just that Redson wasn't exactly a normal child.

He felt guilty, not because he had supposedly failed to raise Redson. But because he had failed to make the other celestials see the good in Redson. No matter how hard Nezha tried, they couldn't forgive Redson's wrong-doings. Nezha of all people understood how children worked. They were emotional, threw temper tantrums, and wanted to be independent. And even if they refused to for a while, with the right training, they can learn from their mistakes.

'He was just a kid... Why can't they see that?...' Nezha thought. 'Is this... Is this what they thought of me when I was a kid?... That I was some un-curable monster?'

"It figures.. He's the son of a demon and a fallen angel. Of course he'd turn out to be a vengeful beast.."

BANG

"He's not a beast!" Nezha yelled as he had slammed his hands against the round-table and abruptly stood up. The room went quiet as everyone stared at him. "I-.. (sigh)..." he sat back down, "look.. You're all acting like you haven't seen this kind of thing before."

Li Jing, Nezha's father, who had previously been quiet for the whole discussion, was now perked up and giving his son his whole attention.

The female celestial spoke up, "Just because we've seen behaviors like this before, doesn't make it any less frustrating to deal with."

"Oh? So you think taking away his right to see his own mother will help?" Nezha asked, rhetorically.

"Nezha, we all know that Iron Fan manipulates him. We can't let that keep happening-"

"I've already told Redson that many times. He's an adult, it's his choice whether he wants to listen or not. We just need to trust him."

The male celestial then spoke, "Hah! Trust him? How can we trust him when he burned down a forest?"

"Not to mention all the shenanigans that happened before the forest fire incident..." The female celestial mumbled.

Nezha pinched his forehead and said, "The forest fire was four years ago.. He was only 14-"

"And then the year after, he tried going into the underworld to retrieve a forbidden item. We're lucky the ten king's forces are so formidable."

"Yes, I remember perfectly well. That was three years ago. And has he caused any trouble since then?" There was silence after Nezha asked this. "What I'm trying to say is, completely stopping him from visiting his mother will only make things worse. Things worked out just fine when I would only take away his visiting privileges for just a few months."

"But what if he's getting smarter?" A third celestial asked. "He got disciplined for those times, so what if he's doing other stuff behind our backs? In my opinion, you let him off the leash too often."

Nezha's fists clenched in anger. 'Stop talking about him as if he's some pet...'

Small pink sparks flamed here and there around Nezha. 'Calm down... I can't be acting irrational or else they won't listen... Alright, why am I angry? Because they're not understanding. So, try to make them understand...' He then took a deep breath to calm himself down, the pink sparks fading away.

"Look, we don't need to worry about Iron Fan planting ideas. As you all should already know, just before the forest fire incident, I had decided that I would be monitoring their visits."

"Oh yeah? And how well did that go for you?" The third celestial asked. "Clearly you weren't monitoring him well enough if he had the idea to go into the underworld and steal the book of the dead."

"I... Wasn't the one on monitor duty that day.. But, I've already taken full responsibility for that and reprimanded the guard that was on duty."

Li Jing then finally spoke up, "we should not be so worried and stressed over the past. As Nezha said, Redson did those things when he was still a young child. It's not as if a powerful demon-child acting up is anything new to us. Or have you all forgotten?"

It seemed some of the celestials wanted to speak up but were hesitating. Nezha knew that his father was referring to him.

Li Jing continued, "(Sigh) and I'm having a hard time figuring out why exactly we're having this meeting now of all times? If there aren't anymore problems that have arisen from Redson, then what seems to be the issue?"

A younger female celestial raised her hand, "U-Um, I believe it's b-because of our schedule p-piling up.. And so this uhh, this meeting got p-pretty delayed..." She shyly said.

The room was quiet for a bit as they stared at her. She meekly hid behind her scrolls of paperwork she was holding.

"Tch... This was a ridiculous waste of time.." Nezha said as he stood up once again.

"Well what about that place that he consistently goes to?" The male celestial asked.

"Huh?"

"We have noticed over the past few years, on the same day of every week, he always leaves and then comes back in the evening time. Where is he going? What is he doing?"

"Like I said, he's an adult. It's none of our business what he does in his private life."

"But what if it's a scheme for Iron-"

"IT'S NOT- (inhale, exhale).. I.. highly doubt that it is a scheme for Princess Iron Fan. In fact, lately, Redson has been skipping a few visits with her. I have a theory that as he's grown older, he has perhaps listened to my teachings, and realized what kind of person she truly is. And I believe my meditations have helped immensely calm his anger over the years."

"Mm yes, I can attest to this.." Li Jing agreed. Nezha gave him a thankful nod.

Nezha then continued, "Of course, I haven't completely doused the flame, but that doesn't matter. As long as it doesn't cause harm to himself or anyone, I trust that it can become a warming light..." Nezha caught his father staring at him with a proud smile. He blushed out of embarrassment and looked away.

"This meeting is definitely long overdue. And because of that, it has become outdated," Li Jing said. "As we know, Redson has not caused any trouble since the underworld incident. My son managed to keep that boy in check for three more years, and now that Redson is 18, he'll have to realize that any future trouble he causes is solely his responsibility."

The third celestial then asked, "but Nezha still raised him, so shouldn't he still take some of the blame?"

"Are you implying that I should do the same for my son?" They were all quiet in response. Li Jing continued, "Haha.. You all have never had any children of your own, so I feel you would not understand."

"I agree," Nezha said. "The whole point of raising children is so they can grow up and walk the world on their own."

'And I'm the god of children, so I can clearly see that you all still act like them..' Nezha thought, but really wanted to say. He kept it in his head though.

Nezha stood out of his spot and pushed his chair in.

The female celestial spoke up, "Wha- Where do you think you're going?"

"I refuse to waste my time with this any further. This meeting is over." Nezha spat out as he marched towards the double-doors and pulled one open. Small pink sparks flew off of him. It took all his will power not to slam the door closed. He needed to compose himself.

...

Nezha had secluded himself in a training ground. He was taking his anger and pink flames out on some hay-filled dummies. Instead of using his traditional weapon, he was fighting with fists. This way of fighting felt more satisfying to him in this moment.

"RrAAHHH!" Nezha yelled as he charged one of the dummies to the ground. He then started throwing relentless punches at it's face. He was yelling pointless insults at the non-living object.

Once he had gotten most of his anger out, he was left sitting on top of the dummy's body, panting heavily. He then stood up and sighed aggressively.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Nezha gasped as he whipped around to see none other than, Redson.

"Uh- No I-.. Um... (ahem) Did you uhh... Do you need something?" Nezha was flustered as his face turned a light red. Although, maybe it was like that from his fighting.

"...I could come back later-"

"No no, it's.. It's fine um.. How long were you standing there?"

Redson began looking at his finger-nails and said, "Hm.. Long enough to see you beat that thing to death." Nezha scratched the back of his neck.

They both stayed quiet for a few seconds too long.

"...A-Anyway, what did you need, Redson?"

"Huh?.. Oh right um.. Well, I don't particularly need anything it's just... Well, argh how do I put this?.." Redson fiddled with his fingers. Nezha raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"...Is it some sort of secret?"

"N-No, I mean, well.. Not really.."

Nezha analyzed Redson's expression, and then he smirked. He got Redson's attention with a wave of his hand. He then nodded his head towards a bench for them to sit on.

Nezha patted the spot next to him and Redson stiffly sat down.

"Haha, relax, it's just me." Nezha laughed.

"I-I am TOTALLY relaxed! It's just... Uggh..." Redson seemed very uncomfortable with what he wanted to say. Nezha frowned with concern, and then he placed his hand on Redson's back.

"Hey, it's okay. You can tell me anything.."

Redson looked at Nezha with a surprised gleam in his eye. He then looked away and started fiddling with his long red hair.

"Has there ever been.. S-Someone in your life, who you really wanted to rescue, but you just didn't have the power?"

Nezha's eyebrows raised in shock. He brought his gaze forward as he thought about Redson's question for a bit. A few guilty memories came to mind, that he wasn't quite ready to share with Redson.

"Hmm... Well, if you count trying to heal a sick child as rescuing, and being unable to in the end.. Then, yeah.." Nezha stared at the floor; focusing on the patterns as he tried to distract his mind from wandering too far into the dark. Redson quietly stared at his surrogate older brother with a sad look.

"So... That was the only time it happened?" Redson asked. Nezha's eyes twitched at that question. He was very reluctant to answer that question with full honesty.

"Well... Not exactly.. There were other times but, most of them worked themselves out.."

"What? How!?" Redson abruptly leaned towards Nezha and he leaned away in surprise.

"U-Uhh.. Well, I wasn't alone. Since I knew that I was unable to rescue certain people on my own, I asked for help.."

Redson's eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned back away. "Right.. That makes sense.."

"..." Nezha stared at Redson. "Is... Is there someone in need of rescuing?"

"Huh? O-Of course not, w-what makes you suggest that!?" Redson waved his hands in front of himself, denying it. Nezha raised an eyebrow in doubt.

'Gee I wonder... Maybe it's your over-emotional reaction?.. Or maybe the fact that you brought it up in the first place..' Nezha thought.

"Redson. If someone is in danger, you can tell me-"

"No! He's not in danger he just-" Redson smacked a hand over his mouth. "I... I mean..."

"What?? Redson, who are you talking abou-"

"Argh, forget it," Redson stood up, "look, it isn't anything that you or I could do anything about.. Trust me, I've tried.." He nervously grabbed his arm. Nezha stood up as well.

"But... Redson, you don't have to try alone. Remember? I said they worked out in the end because I had help."

"Yes, but I don't think it's that simple. I... I feel this is like that 'sick child' thing. It's a situation that is just simply... U-Unsolvable, and it makes me so angry!" Some flames sparked from Redson. He turned away from Nezha as he took in shaky breaths. Hesitantly, Nezha stood by Redson's side and began rubbing soothing circles in his back. "I f-feel so useless.. All I can do is keep him company, while he's stuck in there.."

"...So.. This friend of yours is.. 'Stuck' somewhere?"

"..Well.. Not exactly.. It's just for the same day of every week.. But he's not even allowed to roam around by himself like I can. I feel like such a spoiled brat compared to him.."

'He's... Being so empathetic?.. I guess his pride was so strong over all these years that he hid it well from me..'

"So, that's where you've been going these past few years?" Nezha asked and Redson nodded. "Hm.. Well, I think that is very kind of you."

"What?"

"You felt bad for him, so you made sure to visit him every time the day came.. That is very kind of you."

"Not.. Every time per se... There were some days where I was too busy and I could not be there for him-"

"Enough of that." Nezha shut it down.

"Huh??"

"It doesn't matter if you missed a few days. What matters is that you still care. And that, is very kind of you."

Redson looked at Nezha with bleary eyes. He then blinked a bit and looked away. "Y-Yeah whatever.."

Nezha chuckled and did one last gentle pat on Redson's back before stepping away a bit. "Was there anything else you needed to discuss?"

"No that.. That was it.."

Nezha smiled and then said, "I cannot promise that I'll always be here for you to talk, but, I can say that I will do my best to be there for you most of the time.."

Redson was looking down, but then his eyes widened, as if something clicked in his mind. He then looked at Nezha who was still smiling gently.

"Right..." Redson said as he stared at his older brother, admiringly.

----

=Yesterday Night=

Mei ended the day with a nice soak in a forest hot spring. She was trying to relax so she'd stop thinking about what happened earlier. Redson, the flame boy. Monkie Kid, the son of Sun Wukong.

Two new 'friends.'

The closest thing Mei had to friends were shopkeepers that her and Macaque had become familiar with. This was the first time she had friends that were actually around her age. Well, that is if this 'friendship' actually lasts.

Steam from the hot spring flowed around her as she stared up at the night sky. Tonight was a full moon. She began to get a bit lost in thought.

"...Did.. Did Macaque not raise me normally?.. Hm, maybe it was for the best. Cuz the normal way looks like it totally blows.." Mei looked around, hoping that no one could hear her talking to herself. "..(Ahem) that monkey boy and that little girl, Bai something, seemed to have really strict parents.. Maybe Macaque was more chill cuz he's not my real dad- wait, no.. that girl's parents aren't her real parents either.."

Mei turned around and put her arms along the outside of the little nature tub. She then leaned her head on her arms.

"Macaque didn't have any parents, so maybe that's why. Cuz he never learned how to 'properly' raise a kid.. Did Sun Wukong have parents??.."

A breeze blew against Mei's wet skin, making her arms a bit cold. It felt nice against her face though. It was a bit hard to breathe with all the heated steam around.

"Well.. If my real parents would've raised me like that, then I'm glad I was raised by Macaque instead.. I gotta remember to thank him when I get back.."

Mei closed her eyes and let herself soak in the heat for just a few moments longer. She then clapped her hands together, got out of the water and wrapped a towel around her body.

"Aight, that's enough self reflection for today. Mei wanna go night night.."

She climbed into her tent and fell asleep. Having a weird dream about a mix of everything she's seen.

----

Monkie Kid woke up in the middle of the night. He groggily opened his eyes, sleep-sand crusting them up. It was too dark to really see anything, all he knew was that it was warm all around him. Mk was about to lift his arm to rub his eyes, but he felt a weight holding it down.

"What the..?" He whispered. Mk moved his arm a bit more, and he reached forward, only to immediately touch someone's chest. "...Oh yeah..." He remembered that the clone of his dad had put him to bed. The clone had it's arm wrapped around Mk, and they were facing each other. Baby monkeys were also surrounding them on all sides. The babies were breathing, but the clone was clearly not. It wasn't alive after all.

Mk was too scared to get up. He didn't know if the clone was actually asleep, or if it was just really committed to pretending. It's not like he'd be in any real trouble if he got up, he just somehow felt like he was doing something wrong if he did. Especially when the clone had made an effort to 'put him to sleep' as if he was still a child. Redson had informed Mk that it wasn't normal for a parent to still do that when he's an adult.

Mk slowly reached his arm up to his head, and he pulled out some hair. He then tried to quietly turn his head away so that he could blow the hairs out of his hand. The hair landed on the floor and it turned into an Mk hair clone.

The clone then crept towards the exit to check if it was still sealed. It was indeed still sealed.

"Agh, dammit.." the hair clone whispered. It then came back over to Mk. Now that Mk's eyes had sort of adjusted to the dark, he could vaguely see the clone shaking it's head, implying to him that the seal wasn't open. He sighed in disappointment and the clone poofed itself, leaving a bunch of hair behind.

'No point in getting up then I guess... But I'm too awake to fall back asleep.. Ugh, this sucks..' Mk thought as he miserably stayed still on the nest.

----

=A few hours earlier=

Sun Wukong was standing on his cloud as it flew through the moon-lit night. He followed the scent of the girl who had a hint of Macaque's scent on her. Of course, this trail was only where she had come from, not where she had gone. Because, again, for some reason her smell stopped at Flower Fruit Mountain.

He had eventually gotten to the edge of a forest. Wukong needed to hurry because most of the scent had been carried off by the wind. It was an old scent after all. He sniffed around into the forest. Just a few more steps, and the smell was unfortunately gone.

Wukong then turned on his gold vision and looked around. He kept it on as he wandered further into the forest. Deja vu.

He mostly just saw a bunch of sleeping birds in their nests. Mother birds giving their babies some warmth. A soft smile grew on his face as he was reminded of Mk. He felt a bit jealous that the clone he left behind got to cuddle with his cute little cub. Well, not so little anymore. Mk was almost eye to eye with Wukong.

Wukong tried listening for anything, but all he could hear was crickets. His hearing just wasn't as good as his moonlight's.

"Oh Macaque.." Wukong mumbled, "we could've been parents together.. Why'd you have to leave me?"

Something then caught Wukong's eye. In the distance, his gold vision spotted a small tent. He didn't smell anything in that direction, but he figured it was worth a shot. Wukong rolled his eyes as he stepped on his cloud and floated towards the tent.

He then immediately stopped in his tracks and hid behind a tree. A girl came into sight who had a towel wrapped around her body. She then climbed into the tent that was presumably hers. Wukong squinted his eyes suspiciously. There was no proof that was the girl he was sniffing for, but he didn't want to risk anything. Wukong floated closer on his cloud, and, as quietly as possible, he climbed into a tree. The tree hid him enough that she probably wouldn't see him, but close enough where he could see her.

...

Wukong had been sitting there, un-moving, focused on watching the tent for a few hours now. At this point he assumed the girl had fallen asleep. He started to feel a bit home-sick. His animalistic instincts were wanting him to go back to his cub. But keeping an eye on this girl was his only chance at finding Macaque, so what was he to do?...

"Hmm.." Wukong thought out loud. He scratched his chin, trying to think of a solution. How could he do both at once?... "Oh!" He snapped his fingers, "duh!" He then pulled out some hair and it turned into another clone of him, just like the one currently with Mk.

"I'm a clone!" The clone said with a wink and a smile with it's tongue sticking out. It was holding up a peace sign with it's fingers. Wukong immediately covered it's mouth.

"Ssshh! Are you trying to wake her up?" Wukong whisper-yelled. The clone shook it's head. "Then be quiet!" The clone gave Wukong a thumbs up. "Mkay, you know what to do. I'm gonna get back to Mk.."

"I won't disappoint ya, bud." The clone said as it saluted him. Wukong smirked as he jumped on his cloud and began flying home.

----

Mk shifted a bit, trying not to wake up the babies, or possibly, the dad clone. That is, if it was actually sleeping. Closing his eyes and trying to force himself back to sleep just wasn't working. So instead of attempting to dream, he started daydreaming instead.

He began thinking about Redson. That braid and those fancy clothes made him look really nice. Mk's imagination started running wild. The barrier has been open, and him and Redson are able to touch hands. Redson's hand is nice and warm just like his flames. Mk gets to feel just how soft Redson's face is; just as soft as it looks. Mk undoes the braid to see how curly Redson's hair can get. Mk then asks Redson if he can groom his hair. Redson is flustered. He hesitates for a bit, looking off to the side with a blush. Redson then begrudgingly says 'sure' but on the inside, he's brimming with delight.

They both sit down, Redson sat in front of Mk. Mk then began to groom his hair. It was just as smooth as he'd imagined it. He brushed his fingers through it, wanting to feel all of it. Redson turned his head towards Mk and said 'can you hurry along' his face flushed a deep pink. Mk chuckled at seeing Redson all cute and flustered... Cute and flustered... Cute...

Wait-

Just then, Mk heard the distant sound of the seal barrier opening. His eyes burst open as he cranked his head up, still unable to really see anything. He hadn't quite fully mastered gold vision yet. His face was sort of blushing out of embarrassment, as if his daydreaming was visible to others.

If it was his dad that just came home, he couldn't exactly smell it, since his dad's scent was all over the place. Mk's heart started racing as he heard the person step closer and closer to the nest. In the darkness, Mk could vaguely see a hand reaching for him. He tightly closed his eyes in anticipation.

Then, his hair was ruffled. Yeah, he knew who it was now.

"Ugh dad stooop.." Mk groaned.

"Hee hee, sorry, did I wake you?"

"Mm no, I actually woke up like 10 minutes ago.."

"Aww I'm sorry bud. It's hard to sleep when I'm not actually here huh?"

Mk thought about it for a second, "I guess so, heh.."

"..." Wukong stood there for a bit, Mk unable to see his expression. "Anyway, get outta my spot buckaroo." Wukong poked at the clone and it moaned in annoyance.

"Uhhhgg do I haaave tooooo?" It complained. Without a second thought, Wukong then grabbed the clone's arm and threw the clone somewhere. Mk could hear it poof a short distance away. Then, he could feel his dad crawl into the now empty spot.

"C'mere.." Wukong mumbled as he pulled Mk into his chest and wrapped his arms around him. Mk has to admit, the real thing was way warmer than the hair clone. He also could actually hear his dad softly breathing; which then turned into purring.

One of Wukong's arms was wrapped under Mk. The hand on that arm started gently scratching a sweet spot behind Mk's ear. Mk's ears were always a bit more on the sensitive side. He couldn't help but start purring too at the nice feeling. They eventually both fell asleep.

----

=Present Day=

Day five of Mei being gone.

Macaque found himself in some dark abyss. He was walking around aimlessly for a while. He then spotted something; it was a girl. No wait, not just any girl, it was..

'Mei!' Macaque tried to call out, but his voice didn't seem to be working. He tried touching his mouth but he couldn't quite feel anything blocking it. His attention came back up to Mei, who was sort of a distance away but not that far. He saw her walking but not really going anywhere. Just sort of, walking in place.

Then, suddenly, a pair of giant glowing yellow-ish eyes floated behind her. They were open fully wide and locked onto her. Mei then raised her eyebrow, seemingly confused, as she whipped her head around to check behind her. She saw nothing. But, Macaque saw that the eyes had moved out of her field of vision, and were now in front of her. Mei shrugged and looked back forward, the eyes of course moving back behind her.

'Mei! Look out!' Macaque's voice still couldn't be heard by Mei. But.. The eyes however, they looked at Macaque. Macaque flinched from the eye's strong stare. He felt this feeling before. It was familiar in a scary way.

In a second, the eyes zoomed towards Macaque and they were now directly above, staring right at him. Macaque jolted, wanting to run, but he couldn't. All he could do was stare right back at the yellow-ish goldeny eyes. They never blinked, so neither did he.

...

"(GASP!)" Macaque's eyes shot open as he woke up in a sweat. He was panting hard and his heart was beating into his ears. He sat up and looked around, feeling paranoid. "W-Wha.. No no where is.." He tried to look for Mei, but he couldn't find her. He threw his blanket off of him and walked towards the mostly blocked off entrance to his cave. Instead of moving the boulder, he teleported through it.

He looked around in a panic wondering where Mei was. But, as the warm afternoon sun hit him, he started to come to his senses. "I.. She... Wait.." He rubbed his head, which was aching from getting up too fast. He then put his hand on his chest and took in some long shaky inhales. Then some exhales. He breathed in... And out. In... And out.

"(Sigh)... I'm okay... You're okay.. She's.. Probably okay." His heart beat finally started to slow down. "No.. She is okay.. Right? Yeah, she's..."

Macaque brought out some shadow clones to move the boulder out of the way. He then walked back into the cave and sat down. Staying in the shade while looking out at nature brightened by the sun was nice to him.

He closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirp. The frogs croaking to one another. The leaves gently moving in the slight breeze. Of course, he'd much rather it be cloudy, but, sitting in the shade was okay too.

Macaque opened his eyes and looked up at a tree. He noticed a mama bird feeding her little chicks. That sort of reminded Macaque of when he would spoon feed Mei some mashed up bananas. She almost choked when he had tried giving her a normal piece, so he figured out babies need mushy food. Or in other words, food that doesn't need to be chewed.

A smile brimmed on his face at the memory. Mei was a tough baby to take care of, but he still had some good moments with her when she was young.

"She's... Gonna be okay."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

=Around 99 years ago=

----

The journey had six members in it. Tripitaka, Pigsy, Sandy, Ao Lie, Wukong, and Macaque.

It was nearing the end of the journey. In a few days, they'll all have learned the art of self reflection and meditation. It was a full moon tonight, meaning the tides had raised significantly. The pilgrims, as they nicknamed themselves, were camping out near a beach. Macaque couldn't sleep, so he sat down by the shore. He was hugging his legs with his tail curled around him. He sat just far enough so that the strong waves couldn't touch him.

"Can't sleep either?" He heard a voice call behind him. Before he could look, he felt his feet get a bit wet. It seemed one tide was able to touch him after all. Macaque winced in surprise at the cold feeling before turning around to see Ao Lie.

"N-No I guess not heh.." Macaque replied. Ao Lie came up and sat next to him.

"Ahh.. Beautiful night isn't it?"

"Huh?.. Oh, yeah I guess so.."

"What? 'I guess so'? Look at this view! This is at least worth a 'waah!?' maybe even a 'WOOOW!'"

Macaque blinked in confusion and then he started laughing, "pffthahaha! Haha ahh, yeah well. I've slept outside my whole life. So I've seen plenty of nights like this.." He gazed up at the bright full moon. He then looked down and noticed it's reflection rippling onto the tides. "But, yeah.. It is a pretty 'wow' view.."

Ao Lie smirked, feeling accomplished. Macaque's tail slowly unraveled from his legs as he began to feel more relaxed.

"Hey, do you mind if I scoot closer?" Ao Lie asked with a smile, "it's a bit cold." Macaque's eyebrows raised in surprise and he let out a quiet 'sure' in response. Ao Lie giggled as he scooched closer. He held onto Macaque's arm and leaned his head on his shoulder; which made Macaque blush a bit.

'He.. asked me first. That's.. Odd, but also kind of.. nice?' Macaque thought.

Ao Lie was really the only other person Macaque got along with in the group, other than Wukong of course. Groups never really worked out in the past for Macaque. He would always get sidelined or ignored. Although, maybe part of that was Macaque not properly asking for attention.

It seemed Ao Lie was nearly falling asleep on his new cushion. Macaque didn't mind though; tolerance was practically his middle name. The two sat in comfortable silence, watching the night's view...

While a third pair of wide awake eyes... Watched them very intently...

=Present Time=

About 20 minutes went by of Macaque sitting in the shade of his cave, staring outside. He stretched his arms and legs out and then stood up. He pushed against his back, trying to pop out any knots. Finally, he stepped back out of his cave into the sun.

"Ulg.. It's so bright.." Macaque complained as he blocked his eyes with his hand from the sun. He pulled his hoodie over his head and began walking through the forest, trying to stay under the shadier trees. As he walked along with a clearer head, he started to remember his dream.

'Mei was being watched, and those eyes seemed so familiar. Why did it scare me so badly? Why did I freeze up when the eyes came close to me?' He wondered.

"Ugh dammit!" He said as he tripped on a tree branch. Macaque huffed as he glared at the thick branch, as if it would have a reaction. He sighed in annoyance as he stopped his walk and leaned against a tree. Folding his arms, he went back into his thoughts.

'The eyes were some sort of glowing yellow. Tripitaka's eyes would often glow yellow.. But I wasn't afraid of Tripitaka... I guess Wukong's eyes would occasionally glow yellow-ish gold when he used... When he...' The fear started to set back in when he thought of Wukong. And that's when he realized...

"Oh no..."

Macaque turned to start running in the direction Mei had left five days ago, but then he halted. His legs froze in place. He found himself lightly trembling. Macaque pushed through and jogged a few steps... But he hesitated again. He slowly came to a stop.

"Urrgg come on! What's wrong with me!?" Macaque yelled as he grabbed and pulled at his hair. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You can do this, you can do this, you can..." His eyes opened and just as he was about to start walking again... All the possibilities and scenarios ran through his head.

What if this, what if that, all leading to his worst fears.

'I shouldn't have been gone so long, what if he takes my other eye as punishment!? What? No, he wouldn't do that.. But, what if he's gotten angrier and more aggressive because I've been gone?' Macaque was unconsciously squeezing the clothing over his chest and lightly panting. 'What if-'

Just then, something caught his ear. A high pitched screeching. His eyes darted up and he saw a baby bird falling from a high nest. He jumped forward and just as he was about to catch it, the baby bird got a grip and flew. Macaque was dumbfounded as he had his hands outstretched, watching the baby bird flap away.

"..." He didn't know what to say, but, he felt thankful that the baby got him out of his thoughts. He straightened up and looked forward. "...Yeah.. She doesn't need my help, but... The least I can do is check up on her."

Macaque then brought out one of his purple shadowy clones. They made eye-contact and nodded at each-other, the clone already knowing what to do and where-ish to go. He sent the new clone to go where the last clone had seen Mei. It didn't know exactly where she was, but she couldn't have gone too far from her last spot.

He was paranoid, so he made sure the clone was going super fast. It was even periodically going through it's own shadow portals to get more distance. Macaque watched it leave until he couldn't see it anymore. He then did a long inhale, and a long exhale. Turning away he adjusted his hood and headed for a nearby village; to get his mind off of things.

"...Ha.. I really am such a coward.."

----

As expected, Mei woke up late in the afternoon from staying up in the night.

"Mmggg," she groaned. There was some drool on her mouth that she wiped off. Mei sat up and her hair was a rat's nest. She brushed through her hair with her fingers to the best of her ability, and then tied it up in a high ponytail. She got dressed and then stepped out of her tent.

Immediately the heat of the sun hit her. She grumbled in annoyance at the brightness of it. But then, she felt something. Mei quickly turned with a cautious expression. She had her hand gripping her sword.

'What the...?' Mei thought. 'Why does it feel like I'm being watched?... Ulg, calm down.' She rolled her eyes at herself and let go of her sword. 'There are plenty of animals in the forest. It's probably just that.'

...

Mei jogged out of the forest and activated her dragon powers; making her way toward a beach. Now that she was older, she could do what she wanted. So she decided to try touching the water again.

Even with her powers, it took kind of a while to get there. But it was a lot faster than running.

She walked along the sand towards the shore. Mei was a bit hesitant to touch the water; being told almost her whole life that it's 'dangerous' or that she could 'drown if she went too far in there'. The last time she ever played in the ocean was when she was a young kid.

Macaque didn't know much about mortals when Mei was really young. So at the time, she would often play in the water. But, after some humans told him about the 'Baby, Teenager, Adult, and Old' thing, he became more cautious.

Even after Macaque had figured out that mortals aren't as delicate as he thought, he still advised her not to go in or touch it. He wasn't as commanding about it though. Instead of in the past where he would straight up tell her not to do it, it became more of just.. advice.

"Pfft, how dangerous could it be?" Mei scoffed as she squatted down and... Touched the water.

It was a nice and cold wetness. It felt like any other water she had been in, and the same as when she played in it long ago. Tiny bits of sand brushed up against her hand. She began to laugh, thinking of how silly her mentor had been.

"Jeez pops, you're so paranoi-"

Just then, the water started to glow a sea green. Her eyes began to glow as visions came to her:

-

She was small and someone was carrying her. They had long white hair and green streaks in their bangs. Their face was a bit wrinkled, probably from age. They seemed worried. Their eyes were practically glowing green.

-

She was now somewhere else. The person seemed injured and they were frantically talking to someone. Mei couldn't quite see who they were talking to; she seemed to be wrapped in some blankets.

"Please! You have to take her! I don't know who attacked our kingdom but you're the best escapist I know. So if anyone can protect her, it's you!" The person holding her begged.

-

Another flash and Mei was somewhere else. It seemed to be some sort of cave. She could see her very small hands reaching forward, and she felt hungry. Then, someone walked into the cave.

Macaque. He was holding a banana. He seemed very stressed and worried. She saw his scarred eye. It had been a while since she'd seen that.

"Um.. O-Okay, try eating this, humans like fruit, right?"

...

Mei gasped as she finally pulled out of the water. She was sitting on the sand breathing heavily. She could hear the faint whispers again, just like how she heard when she was a kid. Unconsciously, she scooted herself away from the water. It's funny, when she was a kid, the whispers didn't scare her. But, now that she's older and knows more about the world, they did scare her. Not to mention it had been a long while since she last heard them.

"Wh-what was... I don't-" She noticed the green streaks in her hair were glowing a bit, but then they faded again. Her eyes darted around. "Who was- I-" She couldn't properly form a sentence. It was like someone had forced her brain to think at 120%; visions of the past being brought forward. Mei covered her ears to try to block out the faint whispers.

Slightly trembling, Mei stood up. She stumbled a bit as she turned around and activated her dragon mode again. Just as quickly as she had arrived, she zoomed back to her campsite.

...

Mei was panting after she finally got back to camp.

'Was that the real reason he didn't want me near the ocean??' Mei wondered. 'No way, how would he know that could happen?... Unless, did it happen to my original parents? Would that mean he did know them?'

Mei was lost in thought as she walked towards her tent. She didn’t notice a tree branch in the way. She tripped over it and immediately got snapped out of it.

“Argh!” Mei shouted in annoyance. She turned towards the tree branch and aggressively stepped on it out of anger. It was a thick branch connected to the bottom of the tree so she didn’t do much damage. “Ugg! Whatever!” Mei stomped away to her tent. She threw the door-curtain open and climbed in.

Mei started to think about it.. In hindsight, it was actually pretty funny. She laughed quietly to herself; feeling weirdly thankful that the tree branch snapped her out of it.

“Jeez, I’m starting to act like pops. With those panic attacks he has..” Mei mumbled.

Some time had gone by and Mei had grabbed out some materials to start embroidering. She had made Macaque's eye-patch so sewing or embroidering became a little side hobby of hers. This was something that could calm her down. She sat outside her tent in the grass leaning against a tree. The cloth she was sewing into was going to say 'Mac + Mei'. She wanted to shorten the letters so they could fit on it.

----

The Wukong clone had been sitting in that tree for a night, and half a day now. For some reason, it seemed that the clone could smell her now, but before, her scent was nowhere to be smelt. Well, besides her old trail of when she had first walked to Flower Fruit Mountain of course.

The clone was sitting there watching the girl; waiting to see if she ever moves from her tent again. It had watched her leave somewhere earlier but it didn't follow. It figured she'd come back to the tent eventually, which she did. The girl seemed to be threading a needle through a cloth.

'A swords-woman who likes to sew... Huh...' The clone thought. 'That's funnily ironic.'

The clone snorted and then immediately covered it's mouth. Luckily for the clone, a conveniently timed gust of wind flew by. But, for a split second before the wind came, it seemed the girl had stopped her sewing and a confused expression had appeared on her face.

The girl then seemed annoyed as her green highlighted bangs flew in her face. She spit out the hair that got in her mouth and grumbled as she pushed the hair behind her ear. The clone was trying to hold back it's laughter at the funny sight.

But then, all the humor in it's non-existent bones stopped. For it seemed the wind had carried a scent over here. The clone's eyes widened in shock. It stared in the direction where the scent was coming from, but he couldn't see anyone.

'Is he hiding in the shadows?' The clone turned on it's gold vision, but it didn't see any shadow magic anywhere. 'Hmm.. It seems the wind brought the scent to me too early. But, at least I know he's coming.' The clone thought with a wide grin.

=Two Years Ago=

Sun Wukong had disguised himself in a red cloak and a mask. He was hanging around a sketchy marketplace. Usually he'd go everywhere with pride of who he is. But this time, for what he's wanting to get, he'd rather heaven not be alerted.

He looked around at all the shiny trinkets and cursed objects. Wukong had to hold himself back from buying them all for his piling up collection back home. He was the ultimate hoarder. Collecting useless junk that he'll probably never use. He slid his fingers under his mask and pinched himself in the cheeks.

"Focus..." Wukong whispered. Mk was gonna be turning 16 soon, but, that's not what Wukong was here for. He had already gotten Mk a gift in a more legal way. He got him some paper to draw on. Right now, however, he was looking for something more specific. Something familiar but not quite.

"Why hello~" A silky voice spoke. Wukong turned to look at them, and they had a creepily calm smile on their face. "Anything I can help you find?" The person was wearing a hood, makes sense considering the setting.

Wukong deepened his voice and spoke, "uhh yes I'm looking for something that can uh.." He looked around to make sure no one was watching. Wukong then gestured for the stranger to come closer. Their eyebrows raised in slight surprise, but they then complied. Wukong then began to whisper in their ear.

"Oh interesting.." They responded. "I see you're one who enjoys having all the control. Or... Hm, maybe you want it for yourself?~"

"That's none of your business." Wukong said in an irritated tone.

"..." The person seemed a bit put off, but then they smiled again, "Heh, you're correct. My apologies. Follow me this way~"

=Present Time=

----

Monkie Kid was out a few yards away from the mountain. He had made a few hair clones and was playing with a frisbee with them. Well, the 'frisbee' they had was more of a golden plate. Mk didn't have any proper wooden-carved ones.

Mk's clones seemed to sometimes develop their own personalities when they were alive for too long. It was probably because Mk himself got bored easily. The frisbee game was more fun with different personalities anyway. It almost made it seem like he was playing with actual friends.

His dad was sitting against a tree just at the foot of the mountain. He seemed lost in thought about something. An Mk clone caught the frisbee, and then, an idea came to it's mind. It glanced at Wukong and noticed that he looked a little distracted.

"Uhh oh yeah!? Well, I bet you can't get this throw!" The clone then used all it's power to chuck the frisbee far into the distance. Mk was annoyed, but then he caught the look on the clone's face. It seemed to have a nervous smile. The clone nodded it's tail in the direction of the frisbee and mouthed 'h-u-r-r-y...g-o'. Mk had an 'ah' realization as he got ready and then bolted after the frisbee.

Mk didn't have super speed but he was definitely faster than mortals and demons. He was almost as fast as his dad. At least, as fast as he thought his dad might be. It's possible Wukong had been holding back.

Mk raced his way to who knows where. He just wanted to test a theory. The clone had thrown the frisbee far on purpose, to make it look like it was all part of the game. Little did his dad know, this was an attempted escape route.

The wind blew harshly in Mk's face as he ran. His fluffy side burns were flopping around. At this point, he didn't even know if he was getting close to where the frisbee landed, or if he had passed it. He didn't really care either way. A smile began to brim on his face, his small fangs slightly showing.

...

The clones watched the OG Mk get smaller as he got further away. They cautiously glanced at Wukong and saw that he was still distracted. He seemed to be mumbling to himself as he stared at an opened up scroll; most likely reading something. They then looked at each-other and tried coming up with an idea.

One of the three clones then had a metaphorical light appear above it's head. It grabbed a big rock nearby and walked back towards the other two.

"Let's play monkey in the middle!" It yelled out. "Who's gonna be the middle- NOSE GOES!" It quickly touched it's nose as did the other two. Clone number two groaned as it was the last to touch it's nose. "Hah! You're first!"

"Ugghh but do I haaave toooo?"

"Um yeah, you knows da rules..." Said clone number one, folding it's arms.

"Fiiiine uhh!"

Clone one and three began throwing the rock over clone two, as clone two tried it's best to grab the rock before it reached the other. Monkey in the middle is quite the simple game.

...

Mk kept glancing behind him, feeling paranoid if his dad was following. Although, his clones knew to self-poof if they saw his dad start to follow. Mk and Wukong could feel when their clones get destroyed or poofed.

'But... What if my clones got distracted?... What if they forgot?' Mk thought. He then slapped himself.

"No! Don't think that!" He yelled. Mk then covered his mouth and looked around. The land around him was pretty barren, but he still felt sort of embarrassed. There had been times in the past where he would talk out-loud in villages on accident and get weird looks from strangers. It kind of made him feel insecure about it.

He was sort of out of breath so he continued the rest of the way walking. Mk arrived at a forest. He decided to take a stroll. Immediately it felt colder from all the shade of the trees.

Mk didn't mind the temperature change. He was a lot more adaptable than his dad was. Wukong always seemed to prefer the warmth of the sun and he hated rainy days. Mk didn't mind either way. He found joy in both the night and the day.

Mk rubbed his ear as it started to feel kind of funny. Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of a girl. No, not just a girl, it was Mei. But, he couldn't see her anywhere. Mk couldn't quite make out what she was saying.

'Okay, c'mom gold vision, work with me here..' Mk thought as he tried to focus. He tried to think about what he wanted. He wants to see, he wants to know, he wants.. gold vision.

With all that focus and straining, finally, his gold vision activated. He quietly giggled in excitement, but then he shook his head and told himself to focus. Mk looked deep into the forest. The gold vision was zooming in his sight. Then, he finally caught sight of Mei.

She seemed to be knitting something? Before he could see more, he started to get a headache and his gold vision deactivated. Mk grabbed his head in mild pain.

"Ugh.." He groaned. "I really gotta practice that more.. But.." He covered his mouth once again.

'But how am I able to hear her from all the way over there? It looked like she was only mumbling so how...?' Mk wondered.

He then covered his ears as the distant chirping of the birds seemed to be slowly getting louder.

----

The smell of Macaque had gotten stronger to the Wukong clone. It's smile had grown very wide with excitement. It waited just a bit longer and finally used it's gold vision again. Staring in the direction the smell was coming from, it finally got a glimpse of something.

A shadow portal.

What came out of the portal was mildly surprising. Instead of Macaque himself, it was a Macaque clone. It was jogging through the forest, seemingly looking for something.

"Woo! Finally finished!" The girl yelled. That seemed to get the shadow clone's attention. It perked up and then turned into a full on shadow, hiding in the tree's shade. The Wukong clone's gold vision could see the little shadow scurrying towards the girl. It seemed to be doing the same thing Wukong was doing. Just watching the girl.

The girl seemed to notice it's presence. She furrowed her brows as she grabbed her sword and pointed it in the direction the shadow was hiding.

'Wow... She was taught really well to hone in on her senses.' The Wukong clone thought. 'She's just a regular human with no superior sense of smell, yet she was able to feel that the shadow clone was nearby... Not to mention, she seemed to have briefly noticed my presence a few hours ago, but I guess I'm too far away. Although... Maybe not a regular human. Something about her scent seems.. Oddly familiar..'

"Come out and show yourself!" The girl shouted, ready to fight. Finally, after a few moments, the shadow clone came out. It was nervously pinching it's fingers together with a shy smile. "...Are you serious Macaque!?" The girl shouted in disappointment as she put her sword away.

'So they DO know each-other?'

The shadow clone seemed frantic like it was trying to explain itself. It kept on moving it's arms around and pointing. At one moment it pointed to it's head and then emphasized it's eyes. The Wukong clone was too far to hear what they were saying. It's unfortunate that the girl wasn't yelling anymore. He definitely didn't have Macaque's good hearing.

'That's strange... I know for a fact that Macaque's clones can talk.. Why isn't this one speaking?' The clone could vaguely hear the girl's voice but it didn't hear the shadow clone's at all. 'Now that I think about it... That clone four years ago didn't talk either.'

"No! Only for a few hours! And that's final!" The girl shouted. Clone Wukong blinked out of it's thoughts. The shadow clone looked sad as it nodded.

...

A few hours went by. For some of the time, the girl and the shadow were supposedly having some serious conversation that Wukong just could not hear. The conversation was one-sided with the shadow only responding with body language. At one point, the girl had left for a bit while the clone stayed by her tent. When she came back, she seemed a bit worn out.

"Woo hoo! I got a bit scratched up but the fight was so thrilling!" The girl said. The clone smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Oh! By the way! I wanted to..."

Clone Wukong couldn't hear the rest of what she said. But he had a fair assumption. She grabbed the thing she was sewing into and handed it to the shadow. The shadow had a surprised look on it's face as it admired her work. It hugged the object close to it's chest and nodded it's head at whatever the girl had asked.

The shadow then opened it's arms, supposedly offering for a hug. The girl did a full on head roll with a sigh as she begrudgingly hugged the shadow clone. Though, she couldn't hide the small smile on her face that the gold vision could see from this distance.

With that, the shadow clone saluted and then zoomed off, leaving the girl alone.

"I've gotchu this time, moonlight~" The clone whispered. It summoned a tiny version of the floating cloud and gave it a little command. The tiny cloud seemed to understand as it wooshed off towards the original Sun Wukong.

The Wukong clone quietly hopped off of the tree and followed the shadow clone from a safe distance.

"Let's finally end this game of hide and seek..."

=A few hours earlier=

----

The further Mk walked in the forest, the more sensitive his hearing got.

"Gah, what the hell..?" He mumbled. Mk kept on trying to plug his ears and scratch out any curse that had entered, but nothing was working. He shook his head but the sounds all around were still getting louder. Mk then covered his ears, turned around, and began walking away. He just couldn't take it anymore. It was a sensory overload.

Mk kept his hands over his ears as he jogged his way out of the forest. Just as he thought, the further he was from the forest, the quieter it got. The warm sun hit his skin and he calmed down a bit. Mk then carefully lifted his hands off of his ears to fully make sure the extra noise had ceased. All he could hear was the gentle movement of the nearest trees. There was a slight breeze hitting them. He sighed in relief as everything made sense again. But at the same time, everything didn't really make sense.

Mk scratched the back of his neck in confusion.

'What the heck was that?' He thought. 'I know my ears are a bit sensitive but not like THAT!' Mk folded his arms. 'Well, on the bright side, at least it seems like Mei is okay. Dad didn't hurt her, that's good.'

"(Sigh) Guess I better get back home. And I should probably try and find that frisbee." Mk mumbled sadly. He wasn't fully planning on running away from home. Not today at least. He was just testing the waters for if he ever did want to run away some day.

...

When Mk got back, he saw his dad talking to a clone of himself. He was reading a scroll of some kind.

"What's he doin?" Mk asked his own hair clones.

"We have literally no idea. Earlier he was just kinda reading that scroll so we started playin' monkey in the middle. But then out of nowhere, daddy pulls out his own clone and starts talking to it about somethin'.." The clone whispered back.

Suddenly, some light appeared around the Wukong clone's wrists. And what appeared was... Confusing.

"What the...?" Mk questioned. His dad then spoke a bit more and the magic disappeared, and the clone poofed away. Mk heard Wukong yell 'success!' as he shot his fist up in the air victoriously. "...Ooookay..?" Mk said as he went back to his frisbee game.

=Present Time=

----

It was a bit tricky for clone Wukong to keep up with the shadow clone. With all it's teleporting and all. But this wasn't anything Wukong couldn't handle. The trickiest part about it was trying not to be spotted and stay at a safe distance. Clone Wukong had to be far enough to where the shadow clone couldn't see it, but close enough to stay on it's path.

Luckily, clone Wukong had gold vision. So even if it was too far to really see the shadow, the gold vision made up for that. The plan was perfect.

Especially since the clone had sent it's floating cloud to pass on the message to original Sun Wukong. So all the clone had to do was find Macaque, wait a while for the original, and everything will finally be right again.

...

It was nearing evening time as the sun was just above the mountains. The clone was just a bit tired since it had basically been awake for a whole day. But Wukong had gone much longer than this without sleeping, so the clone would be fine.

The shadow clone had finally arrived in a forest. Clone Wukong was slowly following after. It quickly hid in the first tree of the forest and used it's gold vision to see where the clone had gone. Although, even if it didn't find the shadow, it could still just use it's sense of smell.

It caught sight of the shadow just barely out of range for how far the gold vision could see. The clone cautiously hopped out of the tree and crept through the forest closer and closer to where the shadow was headed.

Eventually it's telescope-like vision caught sight of a cave. The Wukong clone hopped into the nearest tree and watched. The shadow clone turned into a purple blob and it slipped into the cave.

A few seconds passed, and the curtain to the cave pushed open.

"Ma-" The clone covered it's mouth. It had almost forgotten that the Moonlight has excellent hearing. Even from this distance. The clone almost couldn't believe it's gold vision. There he was, in the flesh.

The six-eared Macaque.

Not some purple coated shadow clone. Not a copy who's missing the other four ears. Not the fake who still had both of it's eyes.

A pang of guilt swirled in clone Wukong at that last one. But that guilt didn't matter right now. All this clone had to do was wait.

The clone's eyes started watering. It quickly wiped away it's tears as it held back it's excitement. The clone could barely wait until the original got here. The worst part about this was that Macaque's scent was all over the place. His scent being this strong was so much to handle. So much to absorb all at once.

But, the clone had to wait. It needed to. It couldn't ruin possibly the last chance at getting the Moon back...

----

As Macaque left the cave he felt a chill up his spine. He rubbed his arms from all the goosebumps that crawled up them. It wasn't even cold outside.

He glanced at the sunset. It was a beautiful mix of colors. Some purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows. Macaque lightly chuckled at the pretty sight.

"Now that is one 'wow' sunset.." He said.

He then reached in his hanfu and pulled out a gift that Mei had embroidered. His shadow clone had brought it to him.

It was a cloth shaped as a white circle. It had some grey circles sewn into it. Mei was most likely trying to make it look like a full moon. In the front were the words 'Mac + Mei' embroidered into it. 'Mac' being purple and 'Mei' being green. He smiled at how much his 'daughter' had improved on her stitching.

Macaque yawned as it was getting close to his bed time. He was the opposite of Mei in the way that he tended to go to sleep fairly early.

As he was going back into his cave, a thought came to mind. He had remembered something.

"That's right, there's supposed to be a solar eclipse soon.."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

=Two Years Ago=

----

The clerk at the sketchy marketplace led Sun Wukong to a back room. Wukong hid his identity with a red cloak and a mask.

"Lock the door if you please~" The hooded clerk requested. Wukong did just that. "Oh? You're either very powerful or just stupid."

"Excuse me...?" Wukong asked angrily, whilst also trying to make his voice deeper.

"Hm?.. Oh it's just, you locked the door with zero hesitation. So either you're very powerful and know you can take me in a fight, or, you're stupid. So, which is it?" They asked, their voice almost whisper-like and silky.

"...Let's just say, you wouldn't even be able to blink before I killed you. Satisfied?"

"Teehee wow, I'm sooo scared," they said, sarcastically. "Anyway, here are the items you were looking for. But, I must warn you, using these without heaven's permission is quite risky. You could get in a lot of trouble if you're caught.. So I advise you to be careful."

"Thanks." Wukong reached for the items but the clerk reeled back.

"Aht aht! These aren't free..."

"Ulg.." Wukong rolled his eyes as he handed over two bags of random valuables he had horded over the years. He loved his collectables, so it killed him to give them away.

"Pleasure doing business with you, stranger~"

"Yeah whatever.." And with that, he left with the goods.

=Present Time=

=A few hours earlier=

Wukong quickly glanced up and saw that his son was still playing with hair clones. He briefly smiled but then went right back to what he was doing.

'Okay, so it seems like I can turn the seal on and off as long as I say the incantation correctly the first time..' Wukong thought as he was staring at the scroll he was holding. He had just finished testing out a spell on one of his clones. 'And I already tested the drink two years ago so I don't need to worry about that...'

Wukong looked off to the side as he folded his arms. He started impatiently tapping his fingers.

"Mmm but it doesn't hurt to double check though, soooo.." He whispered. Wukong then pulled out a hair clone again. He grabbed a glass vial of some substance that he had placed nearby. Wukong then opened the vial and offered it to the clone. "You know what to do."

"Ulg why do I gotta do it? This stuff's gross.." The clone complained.

"(Sigh) I know. But we need to make for double sure that it works. So hurry up and drink- BUT only a sip!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it..." The clone took the vial begrudgingly. It rolled it's eyes as it hesitantly took a sip of the vile liquid. It gagged at the taste. And then... the affects kicked in.

Wukong waited for a bit, then smirked.

"Perfect, still works. I don't know why It wouldn't but, just wanted to make sure it wasn't a scam."

=Present Night=

Mk and Wukong were sitting snuggly in the nest. Wukong had scooted his son onto his chest with his arm wrapped protectively around him. Mk was lightly snoring and most likely drooling on Wukong's shirt, but he didn't mind. Sun Wukong was still wide awake. He had waited all day for his signal to come.

Then, speak of the devil, his signal had arrived.

Just as Wukong closed his eyes, he felt something nudge his cheek. He blinked in surprise and turned on his gold vision to see what it was. It was a tiny version of his floating cloud.

It was swirling up and down in excitement and gesturing towards the entrance.

"(Gasp) We actually found him??" Wukong whispered. The floating cloud seemed to nod in response. Wukong's heart started racing. His breathing sort of quickened. He quietly chuckled in relief. "Alright, hang on just a sec.."

He carefully lifted Mk off of him and gently put him back on the nest. Two of the monkeys sleeping with them had woken up but they were too groggy to really react. Wukong then pulled out a hair clone and ordered it to lay with Mk. The clone smiled and slowly lifted Mk onto it's lap as it laid down in the nest. Mk was almost Wukong's same height, so it was definitely a bit squishy in the nest nowadays.

Wukong felt mildly jealous that his clone got to cradle his cub, but, he couldn't focus on that. His cub can wait but his mate can not. He expanded the tiny cloud to be it's normal size. Wukong also grabbed a few items he had gotten from a sketchy market. He then hopped on the cloud and let it lead him to the other clone that had found his moonlight.

----

=17 Years Ago=

82 years ago, Ao Lie and the rest of the pilgrims had finished the journey. Completing the journey had granted them wisdom, self reflection, and mastering the art of meditation. But most importantly, it had granted a select four of the group longevity. Sun Wukong and Macaque were lucky enough to already be ageless and immortal. The other four however, were not. Tripitaka, Pigsy, Sandy, and Ao Lie were basically gifted a few more years to live. Or in other words, their bodies aged a bit slower than your average person. Usually one would die around eighty-five; but these four were now able to live to at least one-hundred fifteen. Ao Lie was now 112 and he had become wrinkled in his old age, but that was okay.

Ao Lie's daughter and her husband had moved to his brother, Ao Guang's kingdom. Ao Guang never had any children of his own so he had requested that Ao Lie's daughter rule over his kingdom. So now, it was Ao Lie and his grand son's family still living in his own kingdom.

Ao Lie's grand son and grand daughter-in-law had recently celebrated the one year birthday of his great-granddaughter, Ao Mireu. Everything was good in his life. His daughter was happy, his grand-son was happy, and his great-granddaughter was energetic, healthy and cute as ever.

...So when did it all go so wrong?...

A mysterious figure had out of the blue attacked his kingdom. They bulldozed their way through the guards and made it all the way to the throne room.

Ao Lie's grandson had handed the baby Ao Mireu over to him. His grandson and his grand daughter-in-law were preparing to fight this powerful stranger. They both knew that Ao Lie wasn't as strong as he was in his prime, so they wanted him to protect their child.

The stranger seemed to be sniffing around the room, and even though they were cloaked and masked, Ao Lie could still tell that they were angry about something.

His grand-children took the first move and attacked the stranger. Ao Lie watched; his green eyes wide with worry as he held the baby close to his chest.

They both seemed to be putting up a good fight until... They weren't. Almost in an instant they were gone. The mysterious figure had been wearing iron claws and they used them to slash at Ao Lie's grandson and grand daughter-in-law.

Ao Lie gasped as tears started to brim at his eyes. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to go and help his grand-children but he couldn't put his baby great-granddaughter down. Protecting Ao Mireu was the last thing they had asked him to do. But he wanted so badly to check if they were actually dead or just badly injured. Both of their backs had long bloody claw marks on them and they weren't moving.

The stranger shook their metal-clawed hands, shaking the blood off of them. They then turned their attention to Ao Lie. He flinched at their cold stare; feeling the emotions from it even through their mask.

In the blink of an eye the stranger was in front of him ready to attack. He had just barely dodged it using his dragon powers. He got a large scratch on his arm.

"Ahg!" He cried out from the pain. He held the baby tightly as he backed away. They kept playing a game of cat and mouse. Ao Lie dodging and getting more scratches on his body. Both his legs and arms had bleeding gashes. His knees trembled as he backed away from the mysterious figure.

They seemed to be enjoying making Ao Lie wait in anticipation. After they had weakened him, they slowly made their way towards him almost in a taunting way.

"W-Why are you doing this!?" The tears began to flow down his face as he stared at the figure. As they kept creeping closer to him, they opened one of their clawed hands, getting ready to strike. Ao Lie's breathing was getting heavy.
"S-stop this! Whoever you are!"

Ao Lie backed up a bit more, getting closer to the wall as the figure was coming near. The stranger's unwavering stare put fear in Ao Lie's bones. His knees buckled from being so frightened. His whole body was practically numb, most likely from the blood loss. He pushed himself as far as he could until his back hit the wall.

He tightly held onto the baby, who was somehow sleeping through all of this.

The stranger finally came close enough and they raised their metal claw, ready to kill him. Ao Lie closed his eyes and turned his back towards the stranger, trying his best to hide the baby.

"Please! Don't cut this poor child's life short!"

The stranger, who had just begun their strike, halted their movements. Ao Lie opened his tearful eyes and looked up to see the claws inches away from his face. The stranger moved their head to look down at what Ao Lie was holding. It seemed they were either re-thinking their decision, or they hadn't realized this whole time that Ao Lie was carrying a baby. She was wrapped in a lot of blankets and was asleep after-all.

"Y-You already... You already k-killed her parents..." Ao Lie could barely believe the word he said. He couldn't fathom that his grand-son and grand daughter-in-law were possibly dead. "(Sniffle) P-please, y-you can't do this to her.."

The figure's clawed fingers twitched at the sound of the baby cooing in her sleep. Ao Lie needed to stall for time.

"I-I'm sure you must h-have children of your own?" Ao Lie's voice was shaky from the crying. The mysterious figure retracted their hand and simply stared down at him. "S-so you do? Then please, stop this m-madness. What do you think y-your child would have to go through if someone k-killed you?" The stranger cocked their head to the side, as if the mere idea of them being killed was foreign to them.

Ao Lie needed to pad for a bit more time. He was secretly charging a blast in his hand.

"I-I don't know what me o-or my family did to you, but t-trust me when I say that, w-whatever it was, we did not mean to.."

The stranger glanced at the baby again. They then shook their head and got their claw ready once more. Ao Lie had to do it now. He brought up his hand to their face and blasted all the power he had built up into them. The stranger backed up and tried waving the smoke away from their mask. The distraction was enough for Ao Lie to use his adrenaline to bolt out of there.

He turned into a smaller version of his dragon form and zoomed out of the window. One arm carrying the baby, whilst his other cast a spell on himself. It was a scent hiding spell. Earlier, the mysterious figure seemed to be smelling something, so he assumed that they must've been some sort of demon with a great sense of smell.

This was his last resort to make sure he escaped and kept the stranger off his trail.

...

His vision was going blurry, and he had no idea how long he had been flying. Ao Lie didn't want to escape to his brother's kingdom. It seemed the cloaked figure only had a grudge against Ao Lie alone. Why else would they have savored in his demise while killing off the other two like insignificant bugs. So dragging the stranger's wrath to his brother and his daughter would be cruel.

His eyes felt sore from all the crying. Ao Lie was flying to the one person he that was his last hope.

He finally arrived at his old friend's current home. It was a cave on a mountain with a curtain entrance. Ao Lie's dragon powers ran out and he turned back into his human form. He collapsed onto his back near the cave, holding the baby protectively. The baby began to cry from the rough landing.

The curtain to the cave burst open, and there his friend was.

Six-Eared Macaque.

"Wha- Ao Lie??" Macaque questioned as he knelt down and slowly sat Ao Lie up.

"M-Macaque..." Ao Lie grunted out as he cracked his eyes open.

"..Hold on," Macaque said as he took Ao Lie into his arms and carried him into his cave. "I'll get you some water." Macaque nervously glanced at the baby. He then set Ao Lie down and started bandaging up his wounds.

"It's no use..." Ao Lie mumbled.

"Stop, you'll be fine. Drink up." Macaque held up a cup of water and Ao Lie obliged. "Now, tell me what happened? And.. Why'd you bring the kid along?"

"My k-kingdom was attacked... My grand-son and his wife were... Killed."

"What!? By who!?"

"Macaque listen, I know it's selfish of me, but, please, you need to take care of this child."

"E-Excuse me??" Macaque stood up, feeling baffled. "Ao Lie, I can't do that! I'm not fit for raising kids, hell, I didn't even have parents."

"Macaque, please! You have to take her! I don't know who attacked our kingdom but you're the best escapist I know. So if anyone can protect her, it's you..."

"..." Macaque's eyes darted around, not knowing what to say. "B-But, I wouldn't even know how! And also, you're saying this as if you're going to die, don't you dare die on me, Ao Lie!" Macaque pointed his finger at Ao Lie, whilst seemingly blinking away tears. "You're.. You're the only friend I have left..." Macaque looked away with a somber expression.

Ao Lie stared at his friend. A melancholic smile then grew on his face. He extended his hand towards Macaque. "Can you come closer, please?" He asked and Macaque hesitantly nodded. He knelt back down to Ao Lie. "May I touch your face?" Macaque blinked in surprise and then nodded. It was strange, he always seemed to be surprised whenever Ao Lie asked permission to do anything. It was as if no one had ever asked for Macaque's permission in his life.

Ao Lie cradled Mireu with his right arm as he gently cupped Macaque's face with his left. They locked eyes with each-other. His thumb lightly brushed over the scar running down Macaque's exposed right eye. Ao Lie's vision was getting blurrier by the second.

"I'm so s-sorry I'm putting all this pressure on you.. But please, Macaque. You're the only one I can trust. You don't need to give her milk, sh-she stopped needing it about a few months ago heheh.. She's sure a-an impatient one heh..." Macaque cupped his hand over Ao Lie's as he reluctantly listened. His lips were quivering and he would occasionally blink rapidly. "A-and, don't call her by her family name. J-Just Mireu or.. Maybe you could even make up a new name, that m-might be better.. I just can't have that person c-coming after her as well.."

The baby girl cooed uncomfortably as she stared up at her great-grandfather.

".....Well, what did this person look like? Can I at least watch out for them?"

"No... They hid their identity. N-Not even their species was visible.." Ao Lie looked down in shame, guilty that he couldn't be of much more help. He could feel himself slipping away by the second... So tired. "D-Don't ever let her head fall down. A baby's h-head is extremely delicate. A-Although heh.. I guess every part of a baby is delicate. So j-just be very careful with her.."

"No no no, please don't go, Ao Lie, please.." Macaque pleaded as he took Ao Lie's hand with both of his and gently squeezed it.

"Make sure to f-feed her every day, and g-give her water every day.. Keep her warm- but not too warm!"

Macaque's eyes darted in confusion as he took in all this information.

"And... Macaque, most important of all.. Please, find it in your heart... To love her.."

Macaque's eyes widened at this. Ao Lie's grip on little Mireu was loosening. His energy was running out. His eyes slowly closed and everything was fading. He heard the distance sobs of his best friend. The pleads for him to stay.

This was the first and the last time he had heard Macaque cry.

----

=Present Time=

Macaque was in an empty white space. Nothing at all around him. Then, he spotted a single someone.

"Ao Lie!?" He yelled as he ran up to his old friend. Ao Lie turned to him. "Ao-... Wait, you look... Young again..?"

Ao Lie blinked and then looked down at himself. "Oh yeah... So I do hee hee. That's relieving heh, being old was not a nice feeling heheheh.." He giggled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"...O-Okay, but, how are you here? How are you alive?? Unless..."

"Alive huh? Been quite a while since I was... heh.. But, I just came to warn you.."

"Wha- Huh?? Warn me about what?"

Ao Lie slowly raised his hand, waiting to see Macaque protest. And when he didn't, Ao Lie put his hand on Macaque's shoulder.

"He's here. Leave while you still can." Ao Lie said with a serious face.

"What? Who's here?"

Before Ao Lie could answer...

...

Macaque woke up.

Day six of Mei being gone.

It was early in the morning. Macaque had a mild headache from the bad dream he had. He groggily sat up and rubbed the crust out of his eye.

He then changed out of his clothes and put on some clean ones. Macaque couldn't quite remember his dream. The only thing he knew was that Ao Lie was in it for some reason. His expression turned mildly sad at the memory of his deceased friend. To an immortal like him, the death still felt so recent.

He hugged his knees, remembering how he had carried his friend's body to Ao Guang. At the time, he had tried to hide it, but Ao Guang most likely noticed Macaque's blood-shot eye from all the bawling. Back then, he usually covered his right eye with bandages if he went out.

"(Sigh) Nope nope, nuh uh.." Macaque smacked his cheeks. "Stop thinking about it." He stood up and walked towards the exit to his cave, ready to start his day.

It was nice and cloudy this morning, just how he liked it. The smell of petrichor filling the air. He put his hands on his hips and smiled. Macaque then took in a big whiff of the air. Such a relaxing smell. He closed his eyes and took in another long whiff...

There was another smell in the mix...

Oh no...

Before he could fully react, his eye widened, and in a second, he was tackled down. He was in a tight hug, and the person had made sure to have their hand under Macaque's head so he didn't hurt it on the ground when they fell.

"Uh-... Wh-..." Macaque couldn't get a word out. He couldn't believe what he was seeing or smelling. He didn't want to believe it. He HAD to still be dreaming... Right?

The person who had trapped him in a tight embrace, was none other than his ex-best friend...

Sun Wukong.

----

Wukong was rubbing his face into Macaque's chest and neck. His left arm was tightly wrapped around Macaque's waist, while his right arm was cradling his head, to protect it from hitting the ground during their little glomp.

He was gleefully laughing as his happy and hot tears stained Macaque's clothing.

"Haha, I finally found you (sniff) I missed you so much why did you leave me oh I missed you so so much, my moonlight, it's been (sniff) I-It's been so long hah.." Wukong was rambling almost incoherent mumbles as he breathed in the wonderful scent of the real Macaque.

He could hear Macaque's heart racing faster and faster. He must be just as excited to see him too. Wukong then carefully let go of Macaque's head, making sure it didn't hit the ground. He then used his now free arm to wipe away his tears as he sat up.

He then looked at Macaque's face with a wide grin and creased up eyebrows. Macaque was simply staring at him blankly with his eye still widened in surprise.

"Hm?... What's wrong, moonlight?" Wukong asked, now having a concerned expression. Macaque didn't respond, he just simply maintained eye-contact with that same shocked expression. Not even his arms moved to hug Wukong back. They just stayed slack on the dirt ground. Wukong raised an eyebrow in confusion.

----

Macaque was in a catatonic state. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. His body was in freeze mode. He could only stare at Sun Wukong. Macaque felt like any sudden movement he made would screw him over. He couldn't teleport out of here because Wukong had a tight hold on him.

Wukong then brought his hand out and waved it in front of Macaque's face. Macaque blinked and his breathing quickened, horrible flashbacks coming back to him.

He smacked Wukong's hand away and pushed him off. He scooted himself away as he panted and began to sweat. Wukong was briefly surprised but quickly snapped out of it as he lunged back forward and grabbed Macaque's ankle.

"Whoa! Hey! What's wrong, moonlight?"

"L-Let... Let me go!" Macaque finally managed to speak, his voice having zero confidence as it trembled. His expression was filled with fear. He tried using his free foot to kick Wukong in the face, but Wukong easily caught it.

"...Let you go...? Why is everyone always telling me to do that, huh?"

Macaque wondered what Wukong meant, but he didn't care to ask. Right now he was focused on struggling. He kept on trying to pull his legs out of Wukong's grip; as he also kept using his hands to try and push himself away.

"Nezha babbled on about me needing to let you go... He called me obsessed.. Hmph.. Is it really an 'obsession' to just want a loved one back?" Wukong looked off to the side with an irritated expression. "He'll never understand how it feels.."

Macaque halted his struggling as he stared up at Wukong in confusion. Wukong looked down at him and then smiled. "Hmm... But, you certainly gave everyone a scare. The monkeys will be thrilled to see you safe and sound." Wukong put Macaque's legs down and leaned towards his face. Macaque seemed to be back in his catatonic state as he stared in fear. "As for this latest little game of hide and seek of yours, thank the gods it's over." He said as he caressed the left side of Macaque's face.

Macaque flinched as Wukong then leaned his lips close to his ears. He then whispered...

"Did you have fun?... Did you get everything out of your system?"

"Wha-.. I-.. This wasn't..."

"Good good..." Wukong leaned away from his ears and Macaque let out a small breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Everyone will be so relieved... Including, our kid."

Macaque's eye widened as he snapped out of it. He grabbed some dirt and threw it at Wukong's eyes. Wukong quickly closed his eyes and Macaque pushed himself away. Macaque stood up and just as he was about to enter a shadow portal, he heard a snap of fingers. In an instant, he was grabbed again.

"What the-!" He turned his head and saw that a Wukong clone had wrapped it's arms around him from behind. The real Wukong was busy rubbing dirt out of his eyes. Macaque struggled, kicked and scratched at the clone's arms. "Grrh, let go!"

"Aww, I'm hurt.." The clone mocked. "Don't you like my hugs?"

"Ugh! Stop acting dumb, Wukong! You're the only one playing games here!"

Wukong finished cleaning his eyes. He then silently ordered the clone to bring Macaque over to him.

"Playing games...? I'm the one playing games? You're the one that's been playing games with my heart!!" Wukong raising his voice made Macaque stop struggling out of fear. Wukong's expression looked angry but... Somewhat sad. "You practically worshiped me for years! And I gave you all of my love and affection in return! And then out of the blue, you suddenly started getting mad at everything I did!?"

"...?" Macaque just stared.

"Just like I told you when I was in that mountain, everything I did was for us! After all I did for you, giving us a nice and lazy life relaxing on Flower Fruit Mountain, and this is how you repay me?.. By running off and making me have to find you!?"

'Haven't you realized by now that I don't want to be found??' Macaque thought but was too scared to say.

"I gave us the chance to settle down and have a family together... And you just threw it all away."

"I-I... Like I already told you, I never wanted to be a parent..." Macaque mumbled as he looked away.

"...Oh?.." Wukong spoke with quiet anger. "That's funny..." He walked up to him. Macaque flinched back but couldn't get far as the Wukong clone was holding him. Wukong then cupped Macaque's face and stared him dead in the eye. "Then how come you have a child of your own?..."

Macaque's eye widened. "...W-What're you talking about...?" He asked, meekly.

"Heh, now look who's playing dumb.. That girl with the green streaks in her hair." Wukong said with a knowing smile.

"..." Macaque used all his skill not to react. "I don't know who you're talking about.." He said while looking away. Wukong stared at him for a bit and then sighed. He pulled away and put his hands on his hips. Macaque looked up and saw that Wukong had a disappointed look on his face.

"(Sigh) If you wanna continue lying then fine.. Be that way. Doesn't change the fact that your hypocrisy pisses me off..."

"...Just.. Let me go, Wukong.. Please.." Macaque stared at him with a pleading look. Wukong's eyes furrowed for a bit. It almost looked like he felt guilty. He then shook his head as he turned away.

"No no no no no, I can't-.. Ugh, I can't do that."
Macaque heard Wukong lightly sniffle. Wukong then turned back to him and he could see that Wukong's eyes were tearing up. "D-Do you know just how mad I went after you left? I-I waited a year for you to come back, cuz I figured th-that you needed more time to cool off or s-something.." Wukong was pulling at his hair; walking from side to side as he continued, "but you didn't come back, so I thought, m-maybe if I go into a 70 year meditation, you'd come back and wake me up in-between then.."

Macaque blinked in surprise at hearing this.

"B-But, through out that WHOLE meditation, you still never came back!" Wukong was panting. Macaque had so much to say but was too afraid to. Wukong aggressively wiped away any moist leaving his eyes. He then looked off to the side. "And, now that I finally found you... (inhale, exhale) things... Can go back to how they should've been."

Macaque subconsciously shook his head in denial.

"At least... I wish they could. But you're stubbornness has made that impossible. So unfortunately, I had to take extra measures." Wukong pulled a tiny glass bottle-looking thing out of his back pocket.

Then suddenly, almost in an instant, the clone had re-positioned them. It now had it's arms wrapped under Macaque's arms, and it's hands were holding his head in place. From the surprise, Macaque flailed his fore-arms around, to no avail.

"W-What the hell!?"

"If I let you go, you're just going to run away from me again. I... I can't handle that.."

For a moment, Macaque almost felt guilty for his former best friend. But he snapped out of it and continued to struggle in the clone's grasp. "Gah! W-Wukong, whatever you're going to do-"

"I really didn't want to do this, but you left me no choice. I just can't l-lose you again.." Wukong's voice trembled near the end. Macaque watched with sadness in his eye. It's not like he didn't wish things could've been better. But destroying the ability to see in one's eye, typically tends to be the last straw. Wukong turned away from Macaque as he took in a shaky breath. "I was so lonely without you.." Wukong whispered, which would've been too quiet for normal ears to hear. Macaque's ears though, were still pretty good even when they were deactivated.

'He's changed in all these years... More frantic, paranoid, and wishy-washy.. It's harder to predict him.' Macaque thought. 'Did he really go insane in my absence..?'

Wukong then turned back to face him. He had a sad smile on his face. "It'll all be okay soon.." He mumbled to himself as he walked up to Macaque, holding the small bottle of liquid. Macaque didn't want to know what was in it, so he started kicking his feet. His arms were practically useless in this position and his head was being held in place.

"Grr, stay away!"

"It'll all be okay, my moonlight~"

"Wukong, stop!" Macaque raised up his legs and kicked at Wukong's chest once he was close enough. Wukong quietly grunted while keeping a pained smile on his face.

Wukong then caught both of Macaque's ankles and raised his legs to be on his shoulders. Macaque blushed at this awkward and compromising position. Wukong held onto Macaque's thighs like they were backpack straps. He then chuckled at Macaque's continued struggle. His forearms and calves moving fruitlessly. The tips of Macaque's fingers were just barely brushing against Wukong's now close face; a weak attempt at pushing him away.

Wukong then popped open the tiny glass bottle, and a smell so vile came out of it.

"Don't worry, it doesn't have any lasting side affects. I tested it on myself." Wukong said, maybe trying to be reassuring. Macaque tightened his mouth closed, even knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. He wanted to try and bring out shadow clones, but he just couldn't. It was some fear of his that if they got into a battle, then he'd end up losing his left eye as well. He knew for a fact that Wukong was so much stronger than him, so why even try to battle him?

"Mm mm!" Macaque denied as he attempted to turn his head away, but it was practically impossible with the clone gripping his head.

"C'mon moonlight, I know it smells pretty bad, and yes, it will taste pretty bad.. Ulg.. But uhh, it'll be fine. We'll be together as a family soon. I'm sure our cub is looking forward to meeting his other dad.." Wukong then grabbed Macaque's jaw and started pulling at his lips as he held the bottle to them. "Ugh, not to be so rough, Macaque, but you're the one making this more difficult than it has to be..."

----

Eventually, Wukong was able to part Macaque's lips enough to slip the vial of liquid in. He was only able to get maybe a gulp in before Macaque jerked. Wukong quickly put his hand over Macaque's mouth to make sure he swallowed it.

It seemed like Macaque was trying to cough it out, but luckily, Wukong had a pretty good grip. He watched Macaque's adams apple closely, waiting to see it swallow. Finally, it did.

Wukong kept his hand on Macaque's mouth just in case, waiting for the affects to kick in. Just as he wanted, him and the clone felt Macaque's limbs going slack. Macaque's eye began to look tired and his eyebrows relaxed a little, but still looking a bit nervous. Wukong then took his hand off of Macaque's lips, slowly. Macaque sluggishly coughed and gagged. Wukong lightly chuckled at that, knowing that the taste was absolutely horrid. It's as if the substance was made to be spat out.

Wukong blushed as he realized that Macaque's butt was still pressed against his abdomen. He then gently pulled Macaque's legs off of his shoulders. Wukong gave a thumbs up to the clone and it leg go of Macaque's head. He then put Macaque's feet on the ground and he did a motion with his hand, gesturing to the clone.

"Alright, shoo shoo.." Wukong commanded.

"Aww what?? But I wanna spend more time with moonli-"

Wukong punched the clone in the face and it poofed out of existence. He caught Macaque as he fell forward into his arms. Macaque was letting out quiet moans of protest. He's probably just in denial of what he really wants.

Wukong then scooped Macaque's limp legs up. He carried him bridal style, holding Macaque's head close to his chest. Wukong felt a bit of light rain start to hit him. He grumbled as he hated cold and wet weather.

"N-No.." Macaque mumbled out.

"Shhh... Don't you worry, my moonlight.." Wukong said as he affectionately rubbed his cheek against the top of Macaque's head. Macaque's cracked open eye slowly closed all the way as he supposedly fell asleep. Wukong then summoned his cloud and carefully walked onto it, as to not jostle the sleeping moon. He then went on his way to his home... Their home..

"It'll all be okay soon..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Monkie Kid woke up early. He cracked his eyes open as he sleepily looked around. Mk then looked up and saw that he was being cradled on his dad's chest. He cringed with embarrassment as he scooted himself off. The other monkey's had already woken up and scattered around so he hopped off of the nest.

They squeaked with excitement when Mk walked to them.

"Heyyy buddies- (ahem)... Heh, excuse the rough morning voice, haha.." Mk said with a tired smile. Two of the monkeys grabbed Mk's hands and dragged him along. "Okay okay, I'm coming." He was pulled towards the grassy area of the inside of the mountain. There were a few trees here and there.

They arrived at a clumpy spot in the grass. Sometimes Mk would sit on that spot while the monkeys showed him some tricks they taught themselves. "Ooh? You guys wanna show me a new trick? (Sigh) aiight fine-" before he could sit down, the monkeys squeaked in protest. "Uhh what is it?"

They then pointed to a hole that was dug just a bit away from the bump. He didn't seem to notice it at first. "So, you've been digging?" They nodded and then aggressively pointed to the bump. "You dug to something inside the bump?" Mk asked and they nodded excitedly.

One monkey then gestured for Mk to start digging at the hole. He rolled his eyes with a smirk and complied with their weird request. "Oookay, treasure hunting it is then.."

Mk took a second to prepare and take a breath. He then used all this power to start digging into the lumpy spot super fast. The monkeys jumped away as dirt was flying everywhere.

Finally, his nails scratched at something hard and he stopped. "Oh hey look, I found something!" Mk shouted and the monkeys crept closer. He pushed the remaining dirt off of it and got a good enough grip. He fell backwards from the gravity of pulling it out. "Oof!"

Mk inspected it, and it seemed to be a broken off slab from a bigger boulder. There was still dirt covering it's sides. He began to wipe the remaining dirt away. His hand then paused as he saw the start of an old drawing. His eyebrows furrowed as he brushed the rest of the dirt off.

Mk's eyes widened at what he saw.

"W-Wait... I've seen this before..." Some of the monkeys hopped on his shoulders and they gasped. It seemed they may have recognized the drawing too. One of the monkeys pointed at the drawing and cooed sadly.

"It's.. The drawing of dad and that other person that he hid all that time ago.."

----

=Three Years Ago=

A 15-year-old Redson was feeling frustrated. Not only did Sun Wukong kill his father, but he also was holding his own child captive. Just how cruel could this man be?

Recently, Monkie Kid had informed Redson that Sun Wukong was going to start leaving on scheduled days. That would make these visits a lot easier from now on. Redson was waiting nearby. He had made sure to cast a scent hiding spell on himself. Once he saw Wukong leave, he zoomed off to the top of the mountain where the entrance to the inside was.

He saw Mk standing behind the barrier. Mk's eyes widened in shock at seeing Redson.

"Your savior has arrived!" Redson announced, proudly.

"Wha- Ssshhh! Get out of here! What if my dad comes back cuz he forgot something!?"

"Tch whatever, it'll be fine! I have a scent hiding spell, remember?"

"He still has eyes!"

"...!" Redson hesitated and he began to sweat. "W-Well then, I'll just fight him if he comes back!"

"You and I both know, you would not win that fight..." Mk said, an unimpressed look on his face. Redson knew full well that he would not win if he fought Sun Wukong, but his pride got the better of him.

"Ulg whatever, I've been waiting too long, It's fine. If you see him coming back then... You can.. You can just warn me or something.." Redson muttered that last part. Mk raised an eye-brow as he folded his arms. "Anyway... I think I found a solution to this barrier problem."

"Look, Redson, what you're doing is... Nice, I guess? But me being trapped in here for one day a week isn't THAT bad, okay? Heheh.." Mk seemed to laugh nervously as he looked away. Redson studied his body language.

"Really?.. So having no one to talk to and nothing to do for 18 hours isn't agonizing?" Redson asked, sarcastically.

"..." Mk looked frustrated, "guh, okay fine! It sucks! Happy? But, at least it's not every day of the week.."

"Well it's not like he lets you have any independence on other days. Did you try going further since our last visit?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you remember?" Redson grumbled, "when I told you to try to walk away from the mountain and see how far you can go before he comes to get you?"

"..." Mk was quiet at that. He looked a bit upset. Mk then sighed, turned around, and leaned against the barrier. He then slid down until he was sitting.

"I'll take your silence as a 'Redson was right' then?" Redson mirrored Mk's action by sitting down and leaning his back against the barrier. Mk just did a quiet 'hmph' as he curled in on himself. "...Well, anyway.. about that solution I found-"

"What's the point?" Mk asked quietly. "You've already tried a few things and none of them worked.. I doubt this new solution will."

"...This solution is a bit more... Indirect.." Redson said. "I feel it could help get rid of the barrier remotely.. And if it doesn't work, then.. I.. Then I guess I'm out of ideas.." Redson dragged out that last part through gritted teeth, his pride making it a bit hard to say.

"...Okay? So what is it?" Mk said, not sounding too hopeful.

"You've heard of the Underworld, correct?"

"Yeah, it's where people go when they die, right?"

"Not just when they die. People who are still alive can go there."

"What!?" That got Mk to turn around. Redson smirked as he turned his head to look at Mk.

"Yeah, it's pretty astonishing, I know. So, I was thinking I'd go there and get-" Redson paused, he thought a second about what he was gonna say. "...Get the uhh, item that'll help with this barrier problem.."

'I can't tell Mk that I want to put Sun Wukong's name back in the book of the dead. The only reason Sun Wukong hasn't died all these years is because he erased his name years ago.' Redson thought. 'Mk still loves his dad... So, I need to play it off..'

"Uhh what item?" Mk asked.

"..Uggh I don't know how to explain it to you. It's just a powerful thingy that is guaranteed to help.. As long as I can get my hands on it... Which I can!"

"...Gee, that sounds so reliable.." Mk said, sarcastically.

"L-Look it's just... Um.. Too hard to explain to uh someone like you who doesn't.. G-get out much.." Redson was nervously scratching his head. Mk seemed to noticed this sudden change in behavior, because he got quiet.

"Well... Good luck with that I guess.."

...

Redson's pride definitely got the better of him. He didn't expect the ten king's forces to be so formidable. Of course someone as powerful as Sun Wukong was the only one to ever get through it.

He had gotten captured by their guards and then the ten kings had snitched on him. A while after, Nezha had arrived in the Underworld to 'pick him up'. Redson had never seen someone be so angry, so quietly. He could only describe Nezha's expression at the time as just, dark.

Nezha brought Redson back to heaven and gave him the whole spiel. Then Redson explained what he was doing, and Nezha almost seemed.. hurt by it.

"You... After all my warnings and my teachings.. You're still trying to take vengeance against Sun Wukong?..." Nezha had a sort of sad expression that Redson hadn't really seen on him before. It made him feel.. strange. Nezha sighed in disappointment as he shook his head. "When will you ever move on and live your life?" Nezha asked. Redson was about to answer in anger, but the way Nezha was acting was throwing Redson off. "I just want to see you be happy.." Nezha said as he looked down.

'Why is he...?'

Nezha basically grounded Redson by putting a seal on him. The seal made it so he couldn't leave heaven for a month. Usually Redson would be fuming about that, but, what Nezha said really made him start to think.

=Present Time=

Redson noticed a correlation. Over the past few years, he had visited Mk on the same day of every week. He had good talks with Mk. He felt like he could just be himself. Well, for the most part anyway. But, talking to Mk felt really nice. They were roughly the same age, so it was as if he was talking to an equal.

The other side of that correlation, Redson had stopped visiting his mother very much. He was only allowed to visit her once a month, and he had skipped quite a few of those visits. Which had, of course, come as a surprise to Nezha.

From these two factors, Redson had noticed something. He felt.. happier. His talks with Nezha seemed more relaxed. Which, maybe they did because Redson himself was more relaxed. He didn't feel all vengeful towards Sun Wukong anymore. Redson didn't feel so stressed and angry all the time.

His focus had changed from revenge on another, to saving another. Even if that meant he could only save Mk from boredom. Redson still felt guilty that he wasn't able to see Mk on some days. But, as Nezha said: ="I cannot promise that I'll always be here for you to talk, but, I can say that I will do my best to be there for you most of the time.."=

Redson can't visit Mk every time, but, he at least tries to most of the time.

'...Maybe he can help...' Redson thought. '...Uggh, no.. big brother Nezha isn't strong enough against Sun Wukong. I'm not sure anyone really is. He is known as the sage equal to heaven after all. So, I'd probably have to ask all of heaven to help... But, would they really go all out just to save one person?'

----

Mei found herself in a white space. It was completely empty. Like a void with no exit. She walked around aimlessly. Her footsteps didn't even make a sound. But, it all somehow felt normal. She then heard a voice talking a bit of a distance from her.

Mei whipped around to see someone a little far away.

"Hey!" She called out. The stranger perked up and waved their hand, beckoning for Mei to come over. She tried reaching for her sword but it was nowhere to be found. Mei started to panic a bit. The last time she didn't have her sword, it didn't exactly go well.

Her body started trembling, and she very slowly started to back away, keeping her eyes on the stranger. The stranger tilted their head; they seemed confused. The stranger then started floating towards Mei. She freaked out, getting flashbacks from that time. Mei balled her hands into fists.

"S-Stay back!" She demanded, not sounding as confident as she wanted to. The stranger paused mid-way, and they were finally close enough for Mei to see their features. They were about two and a half yards away. For some reason, Mei recognized them. "Um.. Who are you!?"

"Me?.. Oh I'm nobody, really.. Just your no-good great grandpa who got himself killed haha! Clumsy me!"

"Huh?... Wait, you're... Ao Lie?"

"Yup!... So uh, can I come closer now?" The stranger asked. Mei nodded her head, keeping her fists balled. The man had long white hair with green streaks in his hair, similar to Mei's. He happily walked closer so him and Mei were about two feet away from each-other.

"D-Did you always have those green hairs?" Mei asked.

"Huh? Oh these old things? Nah, I only gained them after my powers awakened, heheh.."

"...Yeah... Same.." Mei said, reminiscing on how her green streaks had slowly grown through after her powers had awakened as well.

"...Anywaayyy, there's uh, something I need to tell you, young.. Mei is it?.."

Mei blinked a bit, she then blushed as she relaxed her body out of the fight stance. "Yeah... So, what is it?" This was quite the strange scenario to be meeting her great-grandpa.

"It's your father.. Well, technically adoptive father, but still."

"You mean Macaque? What's wrong? What happened!?"

"He's been captured."

"What!? By who!?"

"I'm sure Macaque told you of him... Sun Wukong the monkey king."

Mei's determined expression immediately dissipated. Her eyes were now wide and her eyebrows creased up in worry.

"...No... You've gotta be kidding me.. H-He.. He actually found him??"

"Unfortunately.."

"Well, do you know where he took him??" Mei stepped a bit closer to Ao Lie in desperation.

"Yes, he's at-"

...

Mei woke up with a gasp. She was panting hard. Mei sat up and looked around. She then grasped her head in pain as she had gotten up too quickly. The blood rushed back to her head and she calmed down her breathing.

She then laid back down and was frowning up at the ceiling of her tent. Her hand was squeezing her shirt unconsciously; still feeling anxious about her nightmare.

Mei could barely recall her dream. All she remembered was a familiar man saying that her dad was in danger.

"Did I just talk to my great-grandpops?"

=Flashback to chapter 7=

"No! Only for a few hours! And that's final!" Mei shouted. The shadow clone looked sad as it nodded. It then raised it's eyebrow as it noticed something on Mei's neck. It pointed at it, questioning her what it was. "Oh, is my neck bruised? Yeah that was just from a fight I was in yesterday. It's no big deal, I promise." Mei said as she brushed it off with a wave of her hand. The shadow clone didn't look like it believed her. "(Sigh) Okay so.. Well, since you're here anyway, there's something I need to ask, well, pops, but.. you're the closest thing to him so whatevs.."

The shadow clone tilted it's head. It then sat down and patted the spot next to it, gesturing for Mei to sit down too. She rolled her eyes as she complied.

"So... I kinda... Took a little visit to the ocean..." Mei scratched the back of her neck. She saw the disappointed frown on the shadow clone. "Look, I'm an adult now so, it's my choice." She folded her arms, matter-of-factually. The clone simply rolled it's eyes. "Ugh, anyway. So, when I touched it, I got these weird.. Visions or so.."

The shadow clone raised it's eyebrow with intrigue.

"In those visions, I saw this person. They had long white hair, and green streaks.. L-Like mine.. Macaque, please be honest with me. Who was that? Do you know?"

The shadow clone's eyes had widened. It slowly looked away with a guilty expression. It then nodded, answering Mei's question.

"...Yeah, I figured.. Were they, my original parent?"

The shadow clone shook it's head. It spelled out 'dad' in the dirt and then did a motion with it's hand. The motion seemed to be saying 'a bit higher'.

"...My granddad?... No? Higher?... My great grandad?"

The shadow did a thumbs up.

"Oh.. That's weird, he looked old but not that old in my visions. But um.. You were in my visions too you know. Well, 'you' as in, original pops heh.." Mei hugged her knees up to her chest. "I saw you without your eye-patch. It's sure been a long while since I've seen that. It kinda seemed like my grandpops- Ulg, it feels weird saying that. I didn't even know the guy.."

The shadow clone pointed up it's index finger. It got Mei's attention and started spelling out a name in the dirt.

"Ao... Lie? Was that his name?" Mei asked and the shadow clone nodded. "Does that mean my name is actually, Ao Mei?" The clone hesitated, and then shook it's head. It spelled out a name in the dirt.

"Ao Mireu?? Wait, so you- I mean, Macaque changed my name?"

The shadow clone then spelled out 'to protect you'. Mei pondered that for a bit. She remembered how panicked Ao Lie seemed in her visions.

"Huh... Well, anyway, uhh.. It seemed like 'Ao Lie' was scared about something. Then the next thing I knew, the vision flashed to a time when he was injured and most likely begging you to take care of me. He said something about you being the 'best escapist he knew' or something.."

The shadow clone looked mortified. It seemed as if it was reliving memories. It grimly nodded as it looked away.

"And then it flashed to a time where you.. Pfft, where you clearly didn't know what you were doing. Cuz you tried feeding me a whole piece of a banana haha," Mei laughed and the shadow silently laughed along with her. It had a melancholy smile on it's face as it nodded. "And, that's where the visions ended and it kinda freaked me out a bit.. You know, I guess I'm actually thankful that you're here. Cuz it feels a lot better having someone to talk to about it, ya know?"

Mei put her legs down and sat criss-cross. She then folded her arms.

"But... Why did you never tell me?" Mei sounded angry, but she still spoke quietly, as if she was trying not to be.

The shadow clone scratched the back of it's neck. It then started attempting to explain with body language.

"You were scared? Why?..."

It looked nervous. It then spelled something out in the dirt:

'Ask real Mac'

"..." Mei grumbled and then sighed. "Fine.. I better remember to ask once I get back. But, for now, I guess I'll just change the subject."

=End of flashback=

"He looked a lot younger than he did in my visions..." Mei mumbled. "But I'm sure that was him. Or, maybe his ghost? Yeah, I mean, he probably died if he had to give me to Macaque. The clone looked so sad when I told it about the visions.."

Mei continued staring up at her tent ceiling. She was sort of letting herself fully wake up and process. It was the afternoon; the normal time that she would wake up.

"Wait a minute.. OH YEAH!" Mei sat up again, immediately regretting it. "Argg!" She held her head in pain once again. "Ao Lie said that Sun Wukong got my pops!" She pushed through her mild dizziness from getting up too fast. Mei then opened the curtain-door to her tent whilst grabbing her sword. She quickly tied her hair in a high ponytail.

'Even if grand pops wasn't able to tell me. I have a pretty good guess where he's being kept.' Mei thought. 'But, I can't go in without a plan. Macaque basically said that I have a zero percent chance of winning against Sun Wukong... Hmm.. So I need to use wits..' Mei grabbed her chin and stood in thought.

"..." Her eyebrow twitched in frustration. "UrrAAGGH! I don't know how to use wits! I'm not a brains type of gal!" She yelled, angrily.

----

Macaque groggily opened his eyes.

He looked around and didn't really recognize where he was. There was a bunch of junk around him. He was laying on a nest of blankets.

Was it still day six of Mei being gone? He wasn't fully sure.

Part of his face felt a bit.. Colder? He wasn't really awake enough to process. His brain still didn't really feel all there. Macaque's mind did have a lot of questions, but his body wasn't reacting much. The best way to describe it is that he currently had half a mind.

Macaque's fore-arms were up by the sides of his head. His knees were together and slightly turned to the side. In an outside perspective, he probably looked like a helpless sleeping princess.

"Mmmnn.." He groaned, which was all he could muster in this exhausted state. Macaque then noticed that the room was actually quite dark; only being lit by torches on the walls.

There were a few trinkets in the piles of junk that he recognized. They were gifts that he had given to his ex best friend long ago. They were mixed in with a bunch of new junk that he didn't remember being here... Here?...

"Why.. am I here...?" Macaque mumbled out. His delirious mind knew where he was, but couldn't quite process the absolute incorrectness of him being here.

Just then, he winced at the sound of a creaky door opening. He was too lazy to look up and see. He just wanted to go back to sleep. Light footsteps, that he didn't recognize, approached him.

"(Gasp) He's awake." The stranger whispered. Macaque then caught sight of someone coming closer to the nest. It was... A monkey. But not just a normal animal type of monkey. No, this monkey was like Macaque... Like Wukong...

"Hm?... W-Who are you..?" Macaque managed out.

"You can speak? That's good heheh.. You got here in the afternoon and you were asleep clear until night! You've been conked out for a long freaking time!"

Macaque furrowed his eyebrows and groaned in annoyance at how loud the boy was talking.
"Ugh shush will ya? Jeez..."

"Oh! S-sorry... I guess you have sensitive ears aye? Although, I guess that's self-explanatory, considering you literally have six of them.. My ears only recently started being super sensitive. I had to put cotton in my ears cuz it was getting kinda unbearable.." Macaque's eyes widened and he turned his head to fully look up at the boy. "Yikes.. that's a nasty scar you got there." The boy said as he now had a full view of Macaque's face.

"...Wait... Am I wearing an eye-patch?" Macaque asked.

"Um.. A what? Oh, you mean those things that pirates wear over their eyes? No uh.. My dad took it off of you.. I'm not fully sure why though.. When I asked he..."

=Flashback to a few hours ago=

It was now the afternoon and it had been a while since Mk and the monkeys had found the rock slab cut from the boulder with the drawing of his dad and the other person.

'Okay this person like, HAS to be the one dad has been looking for, right??' Mk thought. 'Although.. If they are, it would be kinda weird for him to desperately hide a picture of someone he's obsessed with.. So, maybe not?'

Mk was outside the mountain training with his clones. His dad had been asleep all day and he wasn't sure why.

"Yo, like, maybe this is yur chance bro.." One of his clones said.

"Yaaaa dude.. Lets go hit the beach and go surf some sick waves~" Another said.

Again, his clones kinda came up with their own personalities because they got bored of Mk's. Even if they're new personas were a little obnoxious.

"I mean I guess but.. What if dad is testing me? What if the second I go too far, he'll wake up and try to find me?" Mk questioned.

"Dooon't worry bro! We like, got yur back duuude!"

"Yaa, just go for it, my guy~"

Mk thought about it. He looked up at the top of the mountain, pondering it. He then shook his head.

"(Sigh) No.. I'm not prepared at all. And I don't even have anywhere to go. Maybe I could plan something with Redson the next time he visits. The next time dad leaves is gonna be in five more days. So I guess I could use that time to think up a plan.."

"...Tubular dude.." The clone said with a thumbs up.

"...Ugh okay, where did you even learn those words? I don't remember them being in any of the stories I've read." Mk said.

"Hm? Oh nah, we just made 'em up!"

"...Okay...? Well anyway, let's do more high ground punches. I need more practice in the air-" Mk stopped as something caught his eye. He turned his head to fully look up at the sky and he saw, "Dad?"

Wukong was on his cloud racing towards the mountain. He was up in the sky so it was hard for Mk to see.

"Use your gold vision dude! What's that thing he's holding?" A clone said.

"Oh right yeah, I keep forgetting I have that heheh.." With that, Mk activated his gold vision and looked closer at his dad. He seemed to be carrying a... person? That person looked like... "It's.. No way! It's another monkey!"

"Pssh, okay? There are a bajillion of monkeys here-"

"No! I mean like.. like us! Like me and dad! You know like, a talking monkey?" Mk explained. They both slowly blinked in unison as if they didn't understand. "(Sigh) the big kind that wear clothing...?"

Both of the clones did an exaggerated 'oooooh!' as they finally got it. Although, they were probably just pretending not to get it.

...

Mk had poofed his clones and rushed back into the mountain. He walked up to his 'dad' sleeping in their nest.

"You're just a clone, aren't you?" He asked it, disappointingly. The Wukong clone peaked open one eye with a cheeky grin.

"I don't knooow, am I?" It asked, attempting to be cute. Mk rolled his eyes and walked away. He waited at the entrance for his dad to come home.

Suddenly, Mk's ears began to feel weird again. All the birds chirping and the monkeys playing were becoming way louder. Actually, things had been becoming louder for a quite a bit, but Mk hadn't noticed until now. He cupped his ears, remembering how frustrating it was the last time that this happened.

----

Wukong finally made it home.

"Oh, hey bud, you-... Uh, Mk?.. You alright?" He asked as he saw his son looking distressed while covering his ears.

"Guhh... It's.. All so ugh.. L-Loud.." Mk whispered. Wukong furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He then called for his clone as quietly as he could. The clone perked up from it's spot on the nest, and a big smile appeared on it's face when it saw who Wukong was holding.

"Moonlight!"

"Sssh!" Wukong shushed the clone, so it's yelling wouldn't further disturb Mk. Or even the sleeping Macaque for that matter.

"Oh... Tee hee, my bad, heh," The clone whispered as it came over to Wukong and took Macaque off his hands.

"Take Macaque to the junk room, and build a nest for him to sleep on." Wukong wasn't whispering to be secretive, he just didn't want to hurt Mk's ears. The clone happily obliged, but then looked confused on how it was gonna build a nest whilst carrying the moon. It walked off towards the junk room.

Mk peeked open his eyes and saw his dad giving him a worried look. He was still holding his ears.

"Mkay, what's up bud? Did you hurt your ears or something?" Wukong asked, sounding worried but also slightly impatient.

"N-No.. I just... My hearing it.. It enhanced.. Just like y-yesterday.." Mk managed to say.

"...Yesterday...?" Wukong mumbled. Mk closed his eyes again, feeling stupid that he blurted that out.

"D-Dad, please, how do I block it out? It's so f-frustrating.. I can literally hear every chirp, and every leaf blow in the wind.." Mk pleaded but Wukong didn't really know what to do. The only person he knew who had enhanced hearing was...

"Wait..." Wukong mumbled as he thought. "Okay uh- I mean, uh, let's just get you to the nest. You can use pillows to block out the sound for now." Wukong lightly pushed Mk towards the nest and Mk did the pillow thing.

"Okay, is that better?" Wukong mumbled.

"Sort of..."

"..Mkay well, we can't have you holding pillows all day so... Ah! I know! You can plug your ears with the cotton inside of the pillow."

...

After they had put cotton in Mk's ears, Wukong led Mk into the junk room. They saw the clone smiling down at it's work. It had set up a new nest and laid the stranger onto it.

"He's not awake right now, so he can't introduce himself, but, this is Macaque. He's the 'someone' that I've been searching for.."

"Wait, really!? Ugh.." Mk winced from his own yelling. "Really? You actually found.. him?" It was strange, now knowing the pronouns of this mysterious person his dad had seemingly been looking for his whole life.

"Yup, isn't he a beauty?"

"Uh.. I guess?" As Mk got a closer look at 'Macaque' he couldn't help but notice that he looked a lot like the other person in the drawing. ".....But, why is he asleep?"

Wukong started scratching his chin and then said, "Oh he was just a bit restless, so I helped him out.." Mk could tell Wukong was holding something back, but he didn't pry. "Oh heh, that should probably come off.." Wukong walked over to Macaque and gently pulled off his eye-patch.

"W-whoa, why are you doing that? It looks like he needs that.." Mk protested. Wukong looked at Mk with a raised eyebrow, seemingly confused by his reaction.

"Haha, nonsense. This wound is super old. You don't need to cover it up once it's sealed up and scarred."

=Present Night=

"When I asked he.. He just sort of brushed it off saying that scars don't need to be covered up.." The simian boy scratched the back of his head nervously.

'No wonder this side of my face feels colder..' Macaque thought.

"Uh anyway, I warmed up some soup for you." The boy brought out a gourd bottle.

"...Uh.. Does this soup have alcohol in it?" Macaque asked as he suspiciously looked at the gourd.

"What?.. No?" The boy looked really baffled by the question. "Anyway, you must be starving so here, drink up. It has some tiny veggie chunks in it." Macaque reluctantly took the gourd and sipped some of the soup in it. He had to admit, it tasted amazing after mostly eating fruit his whole life. His mind started to clear up a bit. Maybe he was just hungry.

"Ahh.." Macaque exhaled after drinking a few gulps of the satisfying soup. "...So, you never answered me. Who are you?"

"Oh sorry, my name's Monkie Kid, but you can just call me Mk.."

'Well that's certainly on the nose... Although, my name is even more on the nose, so I guess I can't talk..'

"Huh..." Macaque then looked around once again, finally registering where he was.

He was at Flower Fruit Mountain.

Macaque's eyes widened; both his working eye, and his blind eye now as he had a realization. He took a closer look at Monkie Kid. His face marking looked a lot like Wukong's.

"...Um.. Your dad, he wouldn't happen to be..."

"Sun Wukong yeah... I'm guessing you know him?"

"..." Macaque looked away and simply nodded. His heart beat started slowly getting faster. He then scarfed down the rest of the soup. "L-Look kid, it was nice meeting you but, I gotta go- oof!" Macaque tried standing up from the nest but then his legs gave out and Mk caught him.

"Whoa, don't get up too fast, you were asleep all day." Mk said he guided Macaque back down on the nest. Mk also sat next to him. "You know.. I've never met another monkey like me before.. Heh, it's funny, I feel like I look more like you then my dad. His hair is golden while my hair is brown. Similar to yours, although, yours is more black. And, well, I guess I do have my dad's face marking."

Macaque's eyes widened. He stared at Mk and analyzed his features now that he was up close. His face looked a lot like Wukong's, but the rest of him looked a lot like Macaque. Wukong's hair was a lot more smoothed out, while Macaque's hair was a bit more spikey and all over the place. Mk's hairstyle was like Macaque's. Even his tail was a bit more fuzzy like Macaque's. Although, the kid had one thing that neither of them had: that lock of bangs.

Not to mention, the kid said earlier that his ears had recently become super sensitive.

"Uhh.. Whatchu thinkin' about?" Mk asked. Macaque blinked as he was snapped out of his thoughts. He looked away as he blushed out of embarrassment.

'It can't be, he looks around Mei's age! Did he really hatch that quickly??'

Then, something Wukong had said came back to him:

="Everyone will be so relieved... Including, our kid."=

"I... I'm so sorry.. Monkie Kid.." Guilt rushed over Macaque.

"...Uh.. Okay? What're you apologizing for?"

"...I just..." Macaque stopped; he couldn't bring himself to say it. "I... I need to go.." Macaque then tried to bring out a shadow portal under him, but when he tried, he winced as he grabbed his wrist. "O-Ow! What the hell?"

"W-What is that??" Mk asked as he was seemingly surprised as well by what they were seeing.

On Macaque's wrist, was a glowing silver circlet. It was tightening around his hand. He then realized he was still using his powers. He stopped and a few seconds later, the circlet stopped glowing and went back to being invisible.

Macaque rubbed his wrist to soothe the mild pain. A terrified feeling came over him when he realized that he could no longer use his powers.

"Um.. Mr. Macaque? Are you cursed?" Macaque turned his head towards Mk in surprise. He never told the kid his name. "Oh uh.. My dad told me your name.." Macaque frowned at this.

"(Sigh)... So he didn't even give me the choice to introduce myself.. Pfft, typical Wukong.." Macaque said as he slumped his chin on his hand.

Mk was about to say something, but then both him and Macaque flinched at the sound of the doors creaking open. And there Sun Wukong was; standing at the door. Mk noticed Macaque's hands go down and tightly clutch the bedding of the nest. His eyebrows furrowed, wondering why Macaque looked so apprehensive.

"Ah how nice. I see our cub has finally met his other father."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Mk was about to say something, but then both him and Macaque flinched at the sound of the doors creaking open. And there Sun Wukong was; standing at the door. Mk noticed Macaque's hands go down and tightly clutch the bedding of the nest. His eyebrows furrowed, wondering why Macaque looked so apprehensive.

"Ah how nice. I see our cub has finally met his other father." Wukong said.

Mk blinked in confusion. "Wait what??" Mk said as he looked over at Macaque. Macaque promptly turned his head away. He sort of looked embarrassed. "Uh.. Oookay dad, very funny. But that's not even possible haha," Mk nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Besides, Macaque's not even the same breed as us."

The room was quiet for a second, with Wukong staring blankly.

"Heh well, luckily, I'm not joking!" Wukong said with a bright smile. "And the reason it doesn't sound possible, is because we're not your parents in the traditional way. But, biologically speaking, yes, we are your parents."

"Tss.." Macaque quietly scoffed as he avoided eye contact with both Wukong and Mk.

"Oh? Have something to say?" Wukong was still smiling but his tone sounded slightly angry. Mk became uncomfortable from the tension in the air. "Hm?... No?.. Well, I know something you could say. Like how you abandoned our child?"

Macaque growled as he abruptly stood up and looked at Wukong, who was still standing about a foot away from the door. Mk's eyes widened as they darted between Wukong and Macaque. His dad still had a smile, but it was most likely a passive-aggressive one now.

"Oh, you wanna play the blame game!? Fine Wukong! Let's play the blame game." Macaque said, sarcastically as he had his hands spread out. Mk slightly flinched as Macaque then turned to him. "Hey kid, you wanna take a wild guess on who did this to me?" He pointed at his right eye.

"W-What..?" Mk stuttered out as he slowly looked at his dad, who was no longer smiling. Wukong's eyes were lidded in a blank stare.

"And he even took away my choice of hiding it.." Macaque said, referring to the fact that his eye-patch was taken away. Mk hesitantly stood up as he unconsciously fiddled with his tail. "That's what he does, kid. He takes away choices-"

"Stop."

"..." For a moment, Macaque looked scared. But he snapped out of it quickly, "Pfft, or what? You gonna slash out my other eye?"

"Urrgg, if you had just calmed down and listened all those years ago, you would've known that it was an accident!" Wukong shouted as he looked hurt. He then started walking towards Macaque as he continued, "I kept on trying to tell you but ironically, the 'six-eared Macaque' just couldn't seem to hear me!"

Mk winced at Wukong's yelling. Luckily the cotton in his ears was muffling it out for the most part.

"We could've worked things out, but no! You had to leave me.. me and our kid!" Wukong said as he was now about a foot away from Macaque. Macaque sort of leaned away but he could only back up so far when there was a nest right behind him. Mk awkwardly stood off to the side as he continued to fiddle with his tail, nervously.

"I-.. Ugh, I already told you, I never wanted a kid.." Macaque said as he looked away to his left; avoiding eye contact with Mk and Wukong. Wukong raised his eyebrow as he scowled with his hands on his hips.

".....And I already told you, that's obviously a lie. Considering just how chummy your shadow clone was with that girl. My clone told me all about it." Macaque's eyebrows furrowed just for a second at hearing that. "(Sigh) Look, it's not like I wanted a kid either. But Nuwa-"

"Wait what..?" Macaque looked back at Wukong.

"Y-You didn't.." Mk squeezed his tail as he stared at his dad with wide eyes. Wukong immediately looked at Mk as if he had just let something slip. "You didn't want me..?"

"Oh, no no, Mk, that's not what I-"

"What the hell do you mean you didn't want a kid??" Macaque interrupted. "You were the one that had come up to me all enthusiastically saying 'hey, guess who just made us a kid with our DNA' and you're saying you didn't even want it- I mean, him?"

"I.. Well.. I mean not in the beginning.." Wukong scratched the back of his neck. "And, I wasn't actually the one who made Mk. It was... It was Nuwa.."

"...Nuwa?... So we're not even this kid's parents??"

"No! We are! He has both of our DNA. It's just.. She told me to give her some of mine, and one other person of my choosing, and I assumed that she just wanted to make another monkey. But instead, she told me later that it was going to be a baby. It was supposed to be some sort of life-lesson she wanted to teach me about becoming a parent or something? I don't know..."

Macaque and Mk were both just staring at him, baffled. This was a lot to take in for both of them, but mostly for Mk.

"But... Why did you lie about that?" Macaque asked.

"...I-" Wukong glanced over at Mk. He then folded his arms and looked away. "I.. (sigh) Monkie Kid, go.. play with the monkeys or something." He mumbled, still not making eye-contact with Mk.

Mk knew that meant Wukong didn't want him to hear whatever he was gonna say. Mk didn't know if he wanted to hear it either. He hesitated for a second but then walked to the open door. He took one last look and saw Macaque staring at him with a sad expression. But once he caught Macaque's eyes, Macaque blinked and looked away.

Mk left and closed the door behind him.

...

Wukong waited a bit for Mk to walk away, although he didn't have super hearing so he couldn't-

"He's gone."

"Huh? Oh." Wukong realized that Macaque had activated his ears to hear Mk walk away. "Alright so.. Back then, I didn't want a kid either.. But, I knew that there was no way of getting out of whatever Heaven told me to do so I uh.. I sort of..." Wukong uncomfortably scratched the back of his head as he looked away. "I.. Made up a different version of the story so that I could.. Cope with it? I guess? I don't know, I was just.. Trying to sort of convince myself to be okay with it at the time. I mean don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Mk now! But.. That's just how I felt back then.."

"..." Macaque's eyes darted around as he took in what he was hearing. "...So, you felt the same way as me? But you didn't want to admit it?..." Wukong paused for a bit, and then he sort of nodded to answer the question as he folded his arms again.

'Is that why you got so angry back then?' Macaque thought. 'Because me telling you straight up that I didn't want a kid was ruining the narrative you were trying to create? Since you were so used to me sitting back, tolerating and complying with everything?'

"(Sigh) Wukong..." Macaque said, disappointingly as he pinched between his eyes. "We could've avoided this whole mess if you had just told me from the start. We could've tried to reason with her, maybe ask her for more time-"

"Gah! There's no point in dwelling on that," Wukong said as he stepped closer to Macaque. Macaque's whole body tensed as Wukong grabbed his shoulders. "You're here now, and that's all that matters.." He breathed out as he pulled Macaque into a hug.

"Uh.. W-Wha..?" Macaque's heart beat was starting to pick up pace.

"Ohh I missed you soo much.." Wukong whispered as he slightly tightened the hug.

Macaque's forearms were hovering over Wukong's waist. His mind was fighting between hugging him back or pushing him away. He could feel his hands trembling. The flashbacks began to come back. The fear he felt when his right eye had been forever taken from him. "Didn't you miss me too?" Wukong's whispered breath went directly into Macaque's ears and he shivered from goosebumps.

'No!- Well, yes I did sometimes but.. I wanted to see you, but I just couldn't! I shouldn't be here! But... Things could be different.. It's kinda nice here- NO! He drugged you and put a seal on your powers! Get it together!' Macaque's mind was going in all sorts of directions as his breathing picked up.

Finally... His hands made their choice.

"Ugh, W-Wukong, let go.." Macaque quietly begged as he pushed against Wukong's waist. Wukong hesitated for a bit, and then slowly pulled away, whilst still having a hold on Macaque's arms.

"Why...?" He looked hurt. They stared into each-other's eyes, and for a moment, Macaque felt bad. He pushed that guilt down and also literally pushed Wukong off of him. It was surprising.. Wukong was so much stronger than him, so he could've easily not let Macaque push him off.. But he did let him.

Macaque turned and took a few steps to the side of the nest; facing away from Wukong. He grasped at his chest as he tried to calm his breathing.

'That's strange.. I felt pretty calm earlier when the kid was around. But, now that he's gone, it's like all my fear is coming back.. Maybe it's because I knew Wukong didn't wanna make himself look bad in front of him?..' Macaque imagined Mei being with him. How she would gently touch his shoulder and breathe with him, counting the seconds for the breaths. If there was anyone he missed, it was her.

"Moonlight..?" Macaque blinked at hearing this. He had almost forgotten Wukong was there. He frowned at hearing the nickname. "Are you okay?"

'The audacity...' Macaque thought, angrily. He huffed out an irritated breath and then looked at Wukong.

"Where's my eye-patch, Wukong?" He asked in an impatient tone as he folded his arms, only looking at Wukong through a side-eyed stare.

"I... I don't know.." Wukong said as he looked off to the side.

"(Sigh) Wukong, please, I need it back!"

"Ugh, why? You shouldn't be ashamed of your scars! I don't hide mine. At least.. Not anymore.." He mumbled that last part, but of course Macaque heard it. Part of him was curious to ask, but that was off topic.

"It's not about being ashamed of it, it's about the fact that I literally can't see if any bug or dust is going to go into my right eye. No thanks to you.." Macaque mumbled his last part too, and by the look of Wukong's glare, it seems he may have heard it. "And, that eye-patch was a gift. Someone put a lot of effort into making it so I can't lose it!"

"It was.. A gift?" Wukong raised an eyebrow. Macaque glanced at him, wondering what he was thinking. It almost seemed like he was jealous. Then, Wukong's expression softened. "Ah.. It was from that girl, wasn't it?"

"W-What?"

"My clone told me it saw her knitting something in the forest, and that she gave it to one of your shadow clones.. So, I guess she also must've made that eye-patch for ya?" Wukong put his hands on his hips, probably feeling smart. Macaque stared at him for a bit, contemplating what he should say.

"(Sigh)... Yes." Macaque finally gave in and admitted it. "Me and that girl are... Close, and she made it for me. So that's why I need it back, Wukong.."

"..." Wukong blankly stared at Macaque for a bit, and then looked away. "I... Can't.."

Macaque wasn't really surprised. He just frowned at Wukong in disappointment.

"You'll really never change, huh?" Macaque said monotonously as Wukong's lips flattened and his eyebrows scrunched up. Macaque then sighed as he walked past him towards the exit. He could hear Wukong turn around and start to follow him. Macaque opened the door and tried to pull it closed, but as he walked down the cave he could hear Wukong immediately pull the door back open.

"Macaque! Wait!"

Macaque didn't listen. He just kept on walking away.

"Urrgg stop!" Wukong demanded as he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, Macaque felt himself being halted. He looked down and saw both of his wrists glowing with silver circlets. He tried stepping forward but his wrists were being held in place. He leaned forward and attempted to pull away but it wasn't working.

"W-What the hell!?" Macaque exclaimed. The circlets pulled his hands in front of him and they stuck together. They lifted his arms up and raised him above the ground. Macaque was then abruptly spun around to face Wukong, who was gradually approaching him. "H-Hey.. Put me down!" Macaque yelled as he flailed his legs around.

Wukong was staring at Macaque with a concerned look. He rolled his eyes and then complied. His hand was shining the same silver glow as he gestured it down, making the circlets lower Macaque back down to the floor so that his feet were touching. But, his hands were still stationary in the air. Macaque closed his eyes as he kept on trying to pull his wrists out of the restraints.

"Grr! Let me go, Wukong!" Macaque then stopped struggling as he felt his face being cupped. His eyes opened again as he stared at Wukong. Wukong seemed to be hesitating for what he was about to say.

"...Look, I don't want to do this, but you gave me no choice. If I let you go, then you'll just run away and I'll probably never see you again.. And I cant-" His voice broke and he looked down. Macaque's eyebrows furrowed. It was rare to hear Wukong tear up. "(Inhale, exhale) I just can't.. lose you... Not again." His thumbs started lightly caressing Macaque's cheeks.

Macaque was cautiously eyeing Wukong's claws, not wanting his only good eye to get scratched out. Wukong then raised his head, his eyes closed. He took another breath and finally opened his eyes with a few blinks. Macaque was sure he saw tears in Wukong's eyes.

"I know you want to leave, and I hate that you want to leave. But, I just can't let you. I've been so alone since you left..." Wukong closed his eyes again and shook his head. Macaque was almost starting to feel bad. Wukong then dragged his hands down from Macaque's face and onto his shoulders. Wukong opened his eyes and smiled, "But don't worry. Things will be different from now on. I won't make you attend any 'stupid parties' and I won't make you go into any 'reckless' debacle with me."

"..." Macaque didn't know what to say. He knew Wukong was referencing things he had complained about in the argument they had just before he had left for good.

"Even though I still feel like you getting mad back then was a bit unfair, since you know, ya didn't really complain before hahaha!" Wukong forced out a laugh. "But whatever, it's aaaall in the past. And we can moved passed the past. And, instead of you worshiping me, this time, I can worship you!"

Macaque winced a bit from Wukong's yelling. Wukong noticed this and cleared his voice.

"Just become mine and I'll serve your every wish." Macaque blinked in surprise at hearing this.

'Become.. yours...?' Macaque thought.

"Under my conditions though. You can't leave, and.. I don't want you covering your eye." Wukong looked to the side.

"...Why?" Macaque asked quietly.

"Because-... Uh.. j-just you know, we shouldn't uhh be ashamed of our scars heheh.." Wukong laughed nervously, and Macaque could tell he was either lying, or holding something back.

"I already told you, that's not what it's about.." Macaque mumbled. Wukong sighed as he let go of Macaque's shoulders and stepped back a bit. His hand started glowing silver and he snapped his fingers. The circlets finally disappeared and Macaque's arms fell down. He started massaging his wrists as he glared down at them.

"As long as you're here, no bug or dust is going to fly in your eye. Here, on Flower Fruit Mountain, I'll give you everything you want. You, Mk, and I can live in paradise as a family! Just as long as you don't leave." Wukong had one hand on his hip while the other pointed at Macaque. Macaque continued soothing his wrists as he watched Wukong. "But I mean, it's not like you can leave. Those circlets don't let you go far outside the mountain." He happily admitted.

Macaque's eyes widened as he could barely believe what he was hearing.

'What happened to you, Wukong?... You were never this.. insane...'

Macaque sighed, turned around, and continued walking down the hall. Wukong blinked a bit and then followed.

"Th-This time, I'll make for double sure that you do get choices and I won't pressure you to do anything!... Just.. You have to stick to my two conditions heheh.." Wukong laughed nervously.

Macaque clenched his fists, ignored him, and kept walking. Wukong's smile slowly faded as his expression turned sad. They walked in silence, Wukong keeping himself a few steps behind.

This time, the sun was following the moon.

----

=A few minutes earlier=

Mk's dad had indirectly told him that he didn't want him to hear the rest of the conversation. Mk could take a hint, so he left.

Mk closed the door behind him and walked down the hallway. As he was walking, he could vaguely hear Macaque through his cotton-filled ears say "He's gone." But it was very faint.

Currently, there were a million thoughts on Mk's mind.

'He didn't want me?.. Neither of them did?? So, does that mean I was a mistake? No no.. I couldn't have been. He said Nuwa created me for them. So I was a gift.. But he didn't want me... But then why would he be so protective of me if he didn't want me?... Ah, right. So that he wouldn't fail the 'life lesson' or whatever.'

Mk folded his arms as he began to feel bitter. His eyebrows then raised as he remembered a few things his dad had said before he left.

="Oh, no no, Mk, that's not what I-"=

="I.. Well.. I mean not in the beginning.."=

'Not in the beginning. Yeah, now that I think about it, he was a little more distant in the beginning. I had almost forgotten about that since he's been way more affectionate through out my life. So, maybe he does love me now but.. It still hurts, knowing that for a while at the start, he didn't want me. And, it hurts knowing that Macaque still doesn't want me..'

He continued walking until he was out of that cave-like hall. Mk stepped into the main grassy area and went passed a few trees.

'Oh yeah.. Earlier, Macaque was apologizing and at the time I didn't know why. I guess now I know, huh?'

Just as he was gonna get to the dirt area, he stopped. He remembered the rock slab him and the monkeys had found earlier. He decided now was a good time to look it over once again, now that his dad was distracted.

Of course, a few hours ago, his dad had left for a bit to check on the sleeping Macaque. Mk remembers seeing Wukong holding some scroll when he left. So at that point, Mk had forgotten about the rock slab, because he had been wondering what the scroll was.

Monkie Kid walked over to the hole him and the monkeys had dug that morning. It was a little hard to see since it was nighttime, so he turned on his gold vision. He lifted up the rock slab and looked closely at it.

"(Gasp) I knew it.." Mk whispered, as to not disturb the sleeping monkeys; and his own ears for that matter. Although, it's weird, they still were sensitive but not as much as they were earlier when he was with his 'two dads'. He looked over at the mystery person in the drawing, and realized that it looked like Macaque. Well.. more like a child's drawing of Macaque. The drawing of his dad next to Macaque looked a lot more realistic for some reason. "Hm.. Maybe one of the monkeys drew the Macaque one.." He theorized.

Mk stared at it for a bit longer, and then he chuckled. He remembered that he once thought this drawing could be Mei. Now that he's met the real person, he felt very silly for ever thinking it was her.

Mei.. He missed her. He also missed Redson. Well, mostly Redson.

"I mean.. At least now we have a new guest. Although, he clearly doesn't wanna be here.." Mk frowned, thinking about how his dad basically kidnapped his supposed 'ex lover' or whatever they are. He sighed as he held the stone against his hip; walking back towards his nest.

Mk walked just a few more yards to get to the dirt area. In the darkness he could vaguely see some white lumps on the nest. He didn't need his gold vision to be able to know that those were the monkeys. He would feel bad if he woke them up, so he just sat against the nest instead.

His eyes may have adjusted enough to see the whiteness of the monkeys, but he still couldn't see the drawing. He turned on his gold vision to keep looking at it. Both Wukong and Macaque were smiling in the picture. Mk wondered what happened between the two. Why did his dad slash out Macaque's eye?

'Sheesh.. I guess I probably wouldn't wanna raise a kid with someone who did that to me either. I mean, heh, imagine me and Redson having a kid and then one day his anger goes out of control on me heh.. Yeah, although, at that point, I would've tried taking the kid away from him. But, I know he'd never do that to me..'

Mk quietly laughed to himself as he thought of Redson. It had only been about three days since he saw Redson. Well, technically two, since Redson left in the evening of the first day. Although, it was late at night and Mk didn't know what time it was. It's possible it was the next day. The point was, however, that it hadn't even been that long since Mk had seen Redson. But he still misses him so badly.

He put the rock slab down to his left, turned off his gold vision, and curled in on himself. He started 'day dreaming' about Redson. Thinking about his long hair. Maybe one day Mk could be the one to braid it... Mk's face started to feel warm. He was blushing. He smacked his hands over his face, feeling flustered.

Then, his ears twitched as they heard something:

He heard Wukong say, "Uh y-you know, the junk room is the only place lit up by torches, so it's pretty dark outside. I could help you through here with gold vision-"

"I lived here for years, Wukong. I can navigate just fine through the dark." Macaque said, sounding irritated.

Mk flinched and whipped around, turning his own gold vision back on. Their voices and footsteps sounded as if they were just a few feet behind him, but he couldn't see them anywhere. Then, he remembered that his ears were just super wonky now. He looked down at the pillow his dad had opened up earlier. He reached over and grabbed some more cotton out of it; shoving more in his ears. It really didn't feel good, but at least it helped block out the sound.

Their voices were a lot more muffled now. Mk turned off his gold vision and decided to just wait for his 'parents' to come over.

...

The footsteps had gotten close, but of course, they sounded way closer to Mk. He glanced over his shoulder and could vaguely see in the dark that they were walking near the nest. It looked like one was following after the other.

"Oh come on, Macaque, stop ignoring me. It's not that bad. I mean, you've always 'tolerated' my antics.. apparently.."

Yup, it was Wukong following Macaque.

"..." Macaque didn't respond as he kept on walking. They both walked passed Mk towards the exit. Mk, still sitting in front of the main nest, turned on his gold vision. He zoomed in his sight to see Macaque march up to the waterfall, with Wukong nervously fiddling with his fingers as he followed. Macaque stopped and put his arm through the waterfall; brandishing it around. He then proceeded to jump through.

"Macaque wait- Urgg.." Wukong finally had given up following. "You're gonna catch a cold getting all wet like that.." He mumbled. "Ehh, he'll come back in the morning. It's not like he can go far anyway!" He said, rather optimistically.

'...Can't go far...?' Mk wondered. Wukong turned around and began to approach the nest. Mk turned off his gold vision.

"Oh, still awake, huh bud?" Wukong said, quietly. Mk did a muttered 'yup' in response. But then he noticed something, his hearing wasn't as sensitive anymore. Wukong sighed as he sat down next to Mk on his right side. He then wrapped his arm around Mk's shoulder and pulled him close. "Don't worry kiddo, he'll come around. He just.." Mk ignored the rest of what his dad said as he took out the cotton from his ears and focused on if the breeze through the leaves was still loud. "Uhh kid?"

"Huh?"

"...Heh, I just asked you why you're not sleeping in the nest."

"Oh... I just didn't wanna wake the monkeys.."

"Pssh, they'll be fine. They're never mad for long." Wukong ruffled Mk's hair, and Mk didn't even have enough energy to push his hand away this time. Wukong seemed to notice as his hand slowed to a stop and he took it off awkwardly. "...So... You said something earlier today that really confused me.."

"Hm?"

"When I came home. You said that your ears had acted up yesterday too. Do you have any idea how it happened?"

"...Um..."

'Crap crap crap crap... I had all day to come up with a lie but I got nothing!' Mk grabbed his chin as he pretended to recall the events. It was too much pressure, he couldn't think of an elaborate lie like that on the spot. So he decided to just tell the truth. In hindsight, the truth would be better, since he did want to figure out if his hypothesis is true.

"Well, it was during my frisbee game yesterday. I had uhh, accidentally thrown the frisbee with too much power and it ended up going quite a few miles away."

Well.. Maybe not the whole truth.

"S-So I uh.. I ran after it trying to find it. And I think I definitely went a bit too far, because I ended up near that one forest."

"Hm.. That must've been the forest that one of my clones was in."

"Okay?.. So anyway, I had walked a bit inside the forest, and.. That's when my ears started to act up. It was getting unbearable so I walked out of the forest and it finally calmed down. On my way back to the mountain I had found the frisbee and.. Well, the hyper hearing stopped of course."

"...Hmm..." Wukong began to think. "I think... That may have been around the time that my clone had seen Macaque's shadow clone come to visit that girl."

"...Yeah.. You had said that your clone told you about the shadow clone being 'chummy' with her or something."

"Well, that's probably the only conclusion I can think of then. Being near Macaque makes your ears sensitive. Although, I'm not entirely sure why though."

'I knew it.' Mk thought, 'the only times my ears became sensitive were when Macaque was around. So, I guess it's true. He really is my 'other dad' or whatever...'

"Welp.. That's one mystery solved I guess.." Mk mumbled. Wukong turned his head to look at him.

"Is there another mystery that needs to be solved?"

Mk hesitated for a second. He then concluded that he was too tired to talk about it now. If he questioned why exactly both his parents hadn't wanted him, he would probably start crying. Besides, his dad didn't seem to want to tell him earlier, so what would change now?

"No.. I guess not."

"..." Wukong was quiet for a second. He then began to shift. Mk blinked in confusion as he felt an arm slither under his legs. He felt himself get lifted. "Alright, let's go to bed."

"Wha- Dad, c'mon, I'm too big for this." Mk said sort of loudly, but still trying to be quiet for the monkeys. For just a second, Wukong was quiet, but then he spoke up.

"..Heheh, oh please, I have super strength. You wont never be too big for me. To me, you'll always be my adorable little cub.." Wukong said as he affectionately rubbed his cheek against Monkie Kid's. Wukong then used his tail to move one of the monkeys out of the way as he placed Mk in it's spot. Some of the monkeys sleepily cooed in annoyance as Wukong climbed onto the nest. He then rested his hand over Mk's chest.

'...Always?... I'll always just be a cub to you?...'

A part of Mk wished that Redson hadn't ever opened his eyes to how his dad treats him. Maybe, if Mk hadn't ever met Redson, he wouldn't feel so bothered every time his dad infantilized him like this. But, what if Mk had stayed like a cub if he never had Redson's influence? It was hard to say whether knowing the truth was a good or a bad thing. Would ignorance have been bliss?

"G'night Monkie Kid."

"...Goodnight... Dad."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Day seven of Mei being gone.

Yesterday, Mei had a vision from her great-grandfather, Ao Lie. He had informed Mei that her adoptive father, Macaque, had supposedly been captured by Sun Wukong.

After she had woken up that day, she tried to rack her brain on what to do, but she just kept on coming blank. She didn't know of any magical item that could help her. She didn't have any connections. The only connection she could think of was Redson, but it's not like she knew where he lived. Not to mention he had admitted himself that he is much weaker than Sun Wukong.

Mei had a hard time sleeping last night. Paranoia had flooded her mind; thinking about what was happening to her dad. What if his other eye had been slashed out? What if he had been locked up and chained? What if he was being tortured?? What if... He had been killed?

It was some time in the morning of the seventh day. Mei hadn't woken up this early in a long time. The only reason she did this time is because she barely slept. She rubbed the crust out of her eyes, feeling a mild headache from lack of sleep. Her heart was still racing from the nightmare she had. It was just a nightmare about her current anxieties.

Mei crawled out of her tent and basically face-planted on the grass. She didn't want to get up, but it's not like she could go back to sleep either. She laid there on the slightly moist grass for a bit longer. Then finally, she sat up and lazily tied her hair in a low ponytail.

She decided to go on a walk to clear her head; making for sure to have her sword with her.

----

Mk's eyes cracked open. He glanced up at the hole in the top of the mountain. He could see that it was morning. His dad was lightly snoring next to him. Mk cautiously slipped out from under his dad's arm. It seemed all the monkeys had already woken up and were scattered around. Some were grooming each-other and others were eating bananas. Mk smiled briefly and then walked passed them to the exit. He separated the waterfall and stepped through.

Before he left, he had made sure to grab some cotton just in case his ears acted up again. A cool morning breeze blew in his face. With that breeze came a smell. It wasn't the most familiar smell, but at the same time it was.

"That must be Macaque's.." Mk mumbled.

He decided to follow the scent, he was an extrovert at heart after all. Even if Mk had some unresolved issues with Macaque, he was still a fresh new person to interact with.

...

Just as Mk thought, the closer he got to where-ever Macaque was, the more sensitive his hearing got. He promptly shoved the cotton in his ears. He walked through the trees that partly surrounded Flower Fruit Mountain. Up ahead, he spotted a black tail hanging from a tree. Mk quietly chuckled as he thought of a devious plan.

He started slowly sneaking up to Macaque. Just as Mk was about two and a half yards away, he heard Macaque speak up. It sounded like a mumble, but to Mk's ears, it was as if he was a few feet away from him.

"You know I can hear you, right?"
Mk stayed quiet, just in case Macaque was possibly talking to something else. Then, he saw Macaque peek behind the tree with a raised eyebrow; staring directly at Mk. Mk smiled and nervously chuckled. Macaque just rolled his eyes and turned back around.

"Well dang, and I thought I was being quiet enough even for your ears, haha."

"...Yeah well, you still have those same cautious steps."

"...Huh?.." Mk questioned but Macaque didn't respond. He just tried to quietly sigh, but of course, Mk could hear it. "...Uh anyway.. How you doin?" Mk asked as he walked over to the tree and jumped up. He landed on the edge of the large branch Macaque was sitting on. Macaque blinked in surprise and then went back to frowning and looking away.

"How do you think I'm doing?" Macaque asked, sort of sarcastically.

"Uhh I don't know, because you haven't told me." Mk genuinely answered. Macaque's eyebrows raised in slight surprise as he looked at Mk. That answer seemed to have made Macaque start to think. His folded arms then became a bit more relaxed.

"(Sigh) Right.." Macaque looked a bit guilty. "Sorry.. that I'm being so apprehensive."

"Oh.. It's okay I get it. You live out in the real world so it's hard for you to trust people, right?"

"Huh?" Macaque's surprise seemed as if he had heard that before.

"Well uh, a girl recently told me that. I don't remember exactly what it was, but, she said 'you don't understand the hardships outside these walls. People out here need to lie in order to get by' or something like that.."

"..." Macaque's eyes slightly widened and then he looked away. He scratched the back of his head in thought. Then, he finally spoke, "heh... That's definitely true. Did this girl happen to have black hair with green highlights?"

"Wha- Yes! How did you know-... Oh.. Mei is your daughter, huh?"

"Yeah- Wait, she told you her name??"

"Huh?.. Uh yeah. Well, I mean, not right away. She kinda threw me and Redson for a loop at first. But then I guess she started to feel guilty and decided to tell us the truth."

Macaque stared blankly as he took in what Mk said.

----

'Geez, Mei really is too stubborn to fully follow my teachings.' Macaque thought. 'I guess it can't be helped. She's naturally a social butterfly, so of course she'd eventually break. Not to mention she doesn't actually have much real life experience, so she probably doesn't fully grasp the importance of lying yet.'

"Hm... Redson you say? Is that a friend of yours?" Macaque asked. Mk's eyes widened and he seemed to go pale. Macaque was confused at this reaction.

"Uh... Actually um, can you keep that part a secret? My dad- I mean, Wukong, doesn't really allow friends to come to the mountain. At the time, I had only let it slip that Mei had come to the mountain because he could smell that she had been around. And, also because I had literally just met her so I wasn't fully friends with her yet. But I kept it a secret that Redson was there because he has a scent hiding spell, and because, me and him are best friends and I really don't want to ruin my friendship with him. I really like him and I get all uhh giddy inside anytime I think about him so it would really suck if he-" Mk paused. Macaque was trying his best to take all this info in. "Oh uh... S-sorry, I'm talking a lot aren't I?"

'...So that's how Wukong found out about Mei... Well, I probably shouldn't blame the kid. Wukong most likely interrogated him, and it can't be helped if he had gotten a whiff of Mei's scent. At that point, it's impossible to keep it a secret..' Macaque thought.

"...Eh it's okay, i'm a good listener. So, the point is, you don't want me to tell your dad about your best friend, Redson, right?"

"I... Y-yeah.. I know it's wrong to keep secrets from parents but.. I just don't want Redson to get hurt..."

Macaque observed how Mk nervously pinched at his hanfu-shirt. Macaque then leaned his back off of the tree. He changed positions so now him and Mk were both facing forward on the thick branch; staring off into the distance.

"Consider my lips sealed, kid." Macaque promised, his hands gripping the branch so he doesn't fall. "I've kept secrets from Wukong pretty much my whole life.. Well, I guess not 'secrets' per se. More like, I just hid my feelings a lot. Basically what I'm trying to say is, I understand not wanting to tell him certain things."

In the corner of Macaque's left eye, he could see Mk look over at him. Macaque didn't look back, but his face was starting to blush from the weirdness of being stared at. He then awkwardly cleared his voice to break the moment of silence between them. Mk seemed to get the memo as he finally looked away.

"Um... Speaking of my dad and.. secrets. It's clear that he doesn't really wanna tell me why so... Will you?" Mk asked.

"Huh? Will I what?" Macaque said, finally looking over to Mk. Mk was looking down with a sad expression on his face.

"W-Well... Why exactly did you both um.. N-Not want me..?" Mk started pulling at his pants; probably a nervous habit.

Macaque wasn't expecting such a question. But, it was inevitable, right? He looked down too, feeling guilty. He hummed, trying to choose his words carefully. His eyes were closed as he tried to really think about his answer. It's not that he was going to lie, he just genuinely didn't know the right answer.

"...That's a tough one, kiddo." Macaque answered, finally. "What I can say is, it was nothing personal. I know you heard most of it, right? The things about Nuwa?" Mk nodded in response. "Well, as your pops said, Nuwa supposedly used both of our DNA to create you-"

"Ugh that's not what I want to know!!" Mk yelled and Macaque winced at the loudness. Mk immediately looked like he regretted that, and he seemed to calm down. "I- Sorry I didn't mean to yell, I just.." He nervously grabbed his tail. "I already know how it happened. I just want to know the why.. Why did you leave me? Why didn't you want a kid?"

'...He definitely has Wukong's impatience, that's for sure. But, Monkie Kid is a lot better at apologizing.' Macaque thought.

It seems they both couldn't bare to look at one-another. Macaque's hand unconsciously squeezed the clothing over his chest. He didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings, but the kid clearly wanted the truth.

"Look... Like I said, it wasn't anything personal. I just wasn't fit to have a kid- and before you say anything about Mei! I didn't exactly choose to take care of her either. She was sort of.. Circumstance."

"..What circumstance?"

"....(Sigh) Long story short, loving her was a dying friend's last wish." Macaque looked to his right, fully avoiding Mk's gaze.

"Oh... I'm so sorry..."

"Heh, don't be. It's not like you're the one who killed him.. Anyway, I didn't think I was fit for raising a kid. Hell, Mei is proof enough of that. I had no clue what I was doing for the first years of her life. You see, Wukong and I didn't have parents. We weren't born your typical way, where there's a male and a female sexually reproducing. And well, I guess you weren't really born the typical way either heh."

"I was.. Born from a stone, right?"

"Um.. I think so yeah. But, unlike you, Wukong and I were never kids. We never 'grew up' as mortals say.. And so, I didn't have any faith in us. I truly didn't think that we would be able to raise a kid. And well... I'm sure we could've figured it out but... Then this happened." Macaque said, pointing at his right eye. Mk looked up to see what he was pointing at, and then a sad expression came on his face.

"Oh right.. Yeah, you mentioned that.."

"...Yeah... As Wukong said, we probably could have worked things out back then. But, I'd say getting your eye permanently blinded is a good reason to not want to come back.."

"Haha, yeah I guess.."

"..Hm? What, you don't agree?" Macaque was genuinely asking, but by Mk's reaction, it seemed Macaque may have come off a bit too defensive.

"O-Oh no that's not what I meant I just. W-Well uhh.. I mean, he said it was a-an accident right?"

Macaque stared at him blankly. He then sighed and looked away. "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I don't really remember much after it happened. I just remember feeling like that was the last straw, and then running away for good. At least, I thought it was for good.."

"...But, it wasn't all bad, right?"

"Huh?"

"Your relationship with Wukong. I mean, it couldn't have been all bad. I'm sure you had your good moments, right?"

Macaque looked down as he thought about it. He tried his best, but he really couldn't think of anything. Ao Lie had helped Macaque realize that him and Wukong didn't have a healthy relationship. When he had looked back after that, he realized that he wasn't happy for pretty much the whole thing. But, there must've been some happy memories. It was just hard to remember because all the bad moments had piled up over the good ones.

"...I don't know... Maybe in the beginning there was. Right now, though, I can't really remember. But, I mean, I'm sure there had to have been good times. Otherwise I wouldn't still care for him-" Macaque halted. He almost couldn't believe what he was saying. He had thought it plenty of times, but never out loud. His breathing began to pick up.

Mk looked up at him with concern.

Why? Why did he still care about him? After everything that's happened, he still cared about him. Wukong literally slashed out Macaque's eye, and he still cared about him. Why was it so hard to stop caring? And why, after all that's happened, did a small part of him feel happy that he was found? Why did he feel happy that he was back home?

Home. No, this isn't Macaque's home. He needs to leave. But he literally can't leave. Wukong made for sure with the circlets on his wrists. There's no way to get out of here. But he has to. He needs to get back to Mei-

"Hey," Mk called. Macaque blinked and looked over at him. He didn't realize just how hard he was panting; or the fact that he was subconsciously clenching the clothing over his chest again. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Mk lightly put his hand on Macaque's shoulder.

Macaque was still breathing heavily and he looked away. He could feel tears brim at his eyes but he refused to let them fall. It was too embarrassing to cry in front of Mk.

"Whoa hey hey, deep breaths okay?" Mk said as he scooted a bit closer. Macaque squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to calm himself down.

"I-I'm (pant) sorry Mk (pant)." Macaque breathed out.

"Don't be, it's okay." Macaque then felt a hand go over his own hand that was clutching his shirt. It was a gentle hold.
Macaque imagined Mei here with him.

="Take deep breaths, okay?"=

He took in a shaky inhale, held it for a bit, and then exhaled. He did that process one more time for good measure. His heart rate was finally coming to a slow. Macaque's clenched fingers were loosing off his chest. The other person's hand was still holding his. They then cupped his hand with both of theirs and held it.

"Thank you... M-...Monkie Kid.." Macaque had almost said Mei's name, but he quickly remembered that it was Mk who was next to him. Luckily for him, both of their names start with an M. He finally opened his eyes and saw his hand was held with both of Mk's. Macaque gently squeezed Mk's hand.

"Heheh, it was nothing, really," Mk said. "So.. You feelin' better now, bud?"

'...Bud huh?...' Macaque thought.

"...Yeah... I guess.. (sigh) what is wrong with me?"

"W-What??"

"I've had these panic attacks periodically for years now. They just won't go away.."

"What does 'periodically' mean?" Mk asked. Macaque looked at Mk with mild surprise.

'Heh.. you really do remind me of her, kid..'

"It just means 'at random times'. Like, there's no set schedule for it," Macaque explained. "But.. I was never this panicky before the thing with my eye. I feel like I had sustained plenty of injuries before that. But, for some reason, this one affected me way more. It's so frustrating not being in control like that. I just.. want to fix it."

"..." Mk was quiet. He then started caressing Macaque's hand. "I don't think it's anything that needs to be 'fixed' per se.. I think, with time, you'll slowly get better at dealing with it." Mk smiled optimistically as he slowly let go of Macaque's hand. "Although, you'd probably have to ask Redson about that. He knows a lot about.. uhh psychology I think it's called?"

Macaque glanced over at Mk, and then he laughed. Mk looked over at him, confused.

"Haha, well, considering you want Redson to be a secret, I don't think that'll happen anytime soon. But, thanks for trying to help. You're... You're a really good kid, you know."

"Aww ya really think so?" Mk asked, bashfully as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yup.. I guess Wukong did a pretty decent job without me."

"...R-Right.."

"..." Macaque began to feel guilty again. "Hey um.. I'm sorry.. that I wasn't there for your upbringing. I was just too much of a coward to come back. Heh, not to mention, I didn't think you would hatch so early."

----

"Early?" Mk questioned.

"Well yeah I mean, you're what, like, 20?"

"18 actually.."

"I figured you would've been in that stone for at least 100 years. But, if I'm doing the math correctly, it seems like you were only in there for I think 70 or 80 years?"

"Wait what??" Mk's mind was blown. All his dad ever told him was that he was birthed from a stone. He never knew that he was hibernating in there for a while.

"Uhh yeah.. Wukong didn't tell you?"

"All I knew was that I hatched from a stone. I didn't know I was in there for that long!"

"...Mk, when your dad said 'all those years ago' how long ago did you think he meant?"

"Uhh... You mean during your guys' argument last night? Um.. I don't know, I guess I thought he meant like a year before I was born?"

"...Monkie Kid, I left like, almost 90 years ago. Which means, if you're 18, you were in that stone for like 70 or so years."

"Whoa... Yeah, I don't think dad ever told me that." Mk started rubbing his temples. It seemed as if everything around him was going quiet... Literally... Wait... Mk snapped his fingers next to his ears. He saw Macaque in the corner of his eye give him a confused look.
"Hey, wait a minute. Everything isn't super loud anymore.." He took out the cotton from his ears to double check.

"Huh?... Oh, right. Do you uhh.. Do you want some help controlling that?"

"Wait, really!? Oh sorry, I mean, really? You'd help me?"

"Pfft, of course, kiddo. It's the least I could do to make up for.. Well, you know.." Macaque scratched the back of his head. Mk knew what he meant. Although, Mk wasn't all that upset about it anymore. He felt very calmed that Macaque at least apologized for it.

They both froze as they heard a voice.

"Mk!" It was Wukong, he was in the distance calling for him. "C'mon Mk! Don't scare me like this!"

"Oh, it's dad. He- Wait a minute. If I call him 'dad' then what should I call you?"

"....Uhhh...." Macaque seemed a bit nervous as he looked away. "I mean.. Mei sometimes calls me 'pops' but.. You don't really have to, you can just call me Macaque if you want.."

Wukong called out again, "Mk where are you!? C'mon buddy, it's time for breakfast! You gotta eat!"

Mk rolled his eyes and jumped down to the ground. "Ugh sorry, I gotta go. Do you wanna come for breakfast?"

"..." Macaque looked down at Mk, still having that nervous expression.

"Right, nevermind.. I'll uhh, I'll try to bring you something. See ya!" Mk began to jog away as he waved goodbye. He saw a calm smile appear on Macaque's face as he waved back.

----

Mei somehow found herself back at the beach. She blinked a bit as she felt the crunch of sand under her shoes. She looked up and saw the ocean shore a bit ahead. A small feeling of fear came over her.

'Why am I scared??' Mei wondered. Then, the memory came back to her. Two days ago, she had touched the water and it gave her visions of the past. Those glimpses weren't exactly the happiest memories from when she was a baby.

Although, now that she understood what those memories were. Well, sort of understood. They no longer scared her.

'I guess my body still has a scared reaction because of how I felt back then..'

"Bpppp!" Mei blew air through her lips like a horse as she shook her head. She then lightly smacked her cheeks. "Snap out of it, Mei! You're okay!" She told herself. Mei then marched over to the shore and sat down near it. She hugged her knees and the tide moved a little close to her feet.

'Think Mei, think! How the heck do I save pops??' All this thinking was making her tired headache worse. 'Ugh there's gotta be something I can-'

Then.. An idea came to her. What if she could ask Ao Lie for help? She uncurled and stood on her feet; staring down at the water. Mei then put her hands forward, ready to touch it. She could feel herself trembling.

"Ulg you're fine, calm down," she mumbled, "this time, you're prepared. So even if you do get a scary vision, you'll be ready.." She took a deep breath, and then plunged her hands into the water.

Her eyes were tightly closed as she braced for anything to happen. For a moment, nothing did. But then, some streaks of green power began to surround her arms. She peaked open her eyes and then her mouth fell agape with awe.

It was a very beautiful sight.

"Whoa... (ahem) u-um. Hey uhh ancestors? It's me.. 'Mireu'?? I'm Ao Lie's great granddaughter. If anyone can hear me, I just.. I was just w-wondering if you could help me." Mei glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her. She was starting to feel kind of embarrassed. "...You see uhh, it's my... Adoptive? Yeah I think that's the word. My adoptive father has been captured. And I d-don't know what to do.." She could hear her voice start to shake.

"So please... Please help me.."

Mei was beginning to lose hope as the water had stayed quiet for a bit.

But then, it began to swirl. Her teary eyes widened as she watched the water. A giant translucent dragon came out from the whirlpool. It wasn't green like her's. It was white with light purple hair.

"Wh-Whaaa.." Mei was practically speechless. The dragon then looked down at her. She kept her hands in place because she was nervous that removing them would lose her progress.

"Ahh.. If it isn't my long lost great grand niece."

"Uh- I-.."

"You finally show yourself after all these years. We've only caught mere glimpses of your presence. Why have you hid from us for so long, young Mireu?"

"I... Well... (gulp) I didn't exactly have a choice heheh.." Mei wanted to scratch the back of her head, but of course, her hands were occupied. "I was kinda told most of my life to avoid the ocean.."

"...Why is that?"

"U-Um.. I don't really know.."

"Hmm.. Well, I am Ao Guang, your great grand uncle. What ails you, my child?"

"I-It's my dad- well, I mean, my adoptive dad. He's in trouble." Mei looked down, recalling her dream. "..I think... I think Ao Lie came to me in a vision. He gave me some kind of warning. Or I guess since it had already happened, it wasn't really a 'warning' then. More like some kind of 'just letting ya know' type of thing.."

Ao Guang raised his giant dragon eye-brow in confusion. He then chuckled. "Yes well, I'm assuming my brother attempted to tell you sooner. Sending astral messages can be quite difficult. Especially since you didn't have much of a connection with him before he passed.."

"...How did he die?" Mei asked, grimly. "And.. when did he die?"

"...I... Honestly I'm not completely sure myself. But, what we can gather, is that he was most likely murdered." Mei's heart sunk at hearing that. "We had received word that Ao Lie's kingdom had been attacked. This was when you were merely an infant. There were many injured guards, but no causalities there. So it seemed as if the perpetrator was specifically targeting the royal family... Ao Lie wasn't the only one who was killed. Your parents were lost that day as well.."

Mei could hardly believe what she was hearing. 'Is that why Macaque changed my name? The clone said it was changed to protect me. So... Protect me from this killer??'

"He supposedly ran off carrying you to try and hide you. My guess is he was most likely fatally injured when he ran.. It was already over for him. But, that begs the question, who did he give you to?"

"Oh um.. My dad's name is Macaque."

Ao Guang seemed to be trying to remember that name. He squinted his eyes as he thought. Then, he snapped his scaly fingers.

"Ah, you mean that six-eared fellow?"

"Haha, yeah that's him."

"Hm.. Yes, Ao Lie was quite fond of that one. I only saw the Six-Eared Macaque at a single gathering. Before Macaque arrived, Ao Lie had pulled me aside and asked that I make sure the party was quiet. Then when he arrived, he seemed like a very shy lad. Just one look at those ears and it all made sense why the party had to be simmered down."

Mei was quietly giggling at this story. It made her want to hear more stories about Macaque when he was young.

"So I only saw him in person a single time. But.. I don't blame him. I most likely would not enjoy parties if I had sensitive ears either." Ao Guang then blinked as if he was getting back on track. "(Ahem) Anyway.. So it appears Ao Lie entrusted you to Macaque. And, you say that my brother told you Macaque is in danger?"

"W-Well, by the sounds of it, he's not just in danger, but straight up in the danger zone!" The water splashed as Mei had slammed her hands down to emphasize her point. "Ao Lie said that Macaque was taken by Sun Wukong!"

Ao Guang quietly gasped as his eyes slightly widened. It almost seemed as if he was trying to hide his surprise. Either that or he wasn't as shocked as Mei thought he would be.

"That is.. quite odd.."

"Huh? Why??"

"Well, I vaguely recall Ao Lie telling me that Macaque was a dear friend of Sun Wukong's. Not to mention, I have only heard of Wukong stealing objects, but not people..." Ao Guang scratched his dragon beard as he thought. "Hmm.. It's possible he was attempting to court him."

"...Uhh what? What does that mean?"

"...Well.." Ao Guang was awkwardly looking to the side. "It's.. It's a thing that demons do when they wish to propose marriage. It's sort of an instinct they have, where they kidnap someone who they have fallen in love with."

"..." Mei had an embarrassed blush on her face; thinking about the implications. "I-.. Wait what?? That's.. Why would they..?"

"I know, it's quite an odd phenomena. Although, Sun Wukong was born from a stone, so he should not even have those instincts. It's possible he is in love with Macaque, and so he is trying to do what other demons do when they're in love."

"...But, Sun Wukong was the one that scarred my dad's eye! What kind of person who's in love would do that??"

Ao Guang's eyebrows raised in shock. "...Hm... Well, now I understand why Macaque would not want to be near him. (Sigh) But, I am not sure that I can be much help to you."

"What? Why!?"

"Because, child, I am nearing my end. The best I can do for you is give you some wisdom." Ao Guang's form began to change. His dragon aura shrunk and transformed into the shape of an old man. Mei's mouth was agape in shock. Ao Guang's astral projection then walked on the water toward Mei. She still had her hands in the water, so he knelt down to her level.
"Your best bet at saving Macaque, is to take things slow. Do not go rushing in. You could probably get close to, I'm assuming Flower Fruit Mountain, and examine the terrain; see what you're dealing with first. Sun Wukong's power is equal to heaven, so I know you cannot get Macaque back with brute strength. So you must use wits."

"But how!? I'm not a wits type of gal! I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, unfortunately, the only thing you might be able to use is manipulation."

Mei's eyebrows furrowed, and she then looked down in disappointment. Her heart started racing, and her tired headache was somehow worse.

"(Sigh) If you are unable to find a way, then, I may know a few things to help. I could lend you a spell that'll let you contact one person from the celestial realm. Maybe someone with authority could step in and tell Sun Wukong to let Macaque go." With a wave of his hand, Ao Guang placed a golden symbol on Mei's hand. She could see it glowing through the water.

"Whooaa cool! But, how do I use it though?"

"Simply touch it, and pray to who you want to call upon. Do you know of anyone in the celestial realm?"

"..I definitely have someone in mind.." Mei mumbled as she thought about Redson.

"That is good.. Well, I must go. It was a pleasure finally being able to meet you, Mireu."

"Um.. Well actually uhh.. my name is Mei. It's the name th-that Macaque gave me, heheh.. A-And I'm proud of that name!" Mei said as she tilted her chin up.

Ao Guang blinked a bit in surprise, but then a calm smile came over him. He stood up and turned away. "Heh, very well. I hope we can talk soon before my eventual death.. Young Mei."
With that, his translucent form spiraled back into the water, and he was gone. The green glowing magic that had been surrounding Mei's arms had faded away.

She finally stood up and her knees ached from being knelt for so long. Now that Mei had some hope, she decided to finally go back to her tent and get some sleep.

----

=A few hours later=

It was the afternoon and Mk managed to sneak some fruit out. Which wasn't hard, since Wukong had been taking an afternoon nap in a tree.

Mk made sure to bring more cotton just in case his ears started acting up again.

He looked through the trees to try and find Macaque, but he wasn't in the same spot as he was last time. Mk didn't often use his sense of smell, but it was his best way at finding Macaque. The scent led him to the beach area of Flower Fruit Mountain. Mk saw a distinct looking tree that was sort of close to the shore.

Macaque's scent was getting stronger. Mk made his way over and sure enough, Macaque was leaning against the tree with his eyes peacefully closed. He seemed to be enjoying the shade.

"What's up kid?" Macaque said, his eyes still closed.

"O-Oh uh, I was just wanting to bring you some food. I got a bunch of fruit uhh, what do you like?"

Macaque turned his head so that his good eye could see what Mk was holding. His eye locked on the bananas.

"Hm.. I'm more of a banana type of guy. Peaches are alright but, not really my first choice."

"Really??" Mk asked, baffled. Macaque chuckled and nodded. "Wow, we are definitely opposites on that haha. Welp, more peaches for me!" Mk went around to Macaque's left side and sat down next to him. He handed him the bananas and Macaque mumbled a 'thank you' before delicately peeling it. "Soo, why'd you move all the way over here?"

"Mm.. (swallow) The sun was starting to show up over there. I prefer the shade, so I moved over here."

"You couldn't just move to the other side of the tree?"

"..." Macaque's eyebrows furrowed for just a millisecond. Then a small smile appeared on his face. "I mean yeah, I could.. Buuut where's the fun in that, huh?"

Mk chuckled as he took a bite of his peach. "Ssho howdoaye consttrll dish pawar?"

"(Sigh) Chew and swallow before you talk, Monkie Kid. You shouldn't speak with your mouth full." Macaque said, but he had a smirk on his face. Mk could tell he was probably trying not to sound rude. Mk did as Macaque said.

"Hahaha sorry, uhh.. I said, how do you control this power?"

"Huh?"

"The sensitive ear thing?"

"Oh right.. So, here's a trick I learned when I was young.."

The two spent a while under that tree together. Macaque teaching Mk how to better manage his hearing, and Mk happily listening.

----

=The Next Day=

Redson was hanging around his old school yard. Some of the younger kids ran up to him and were pulling on his arms.

"C'mon! Show us some tricks!"

"Yeah we wanna see!"

"Uggh let go of me you peasants!" Redson said this, but he was barely even trying to get them off. He knew by now to hold back against weaker folk. One of the kids kept a tight hold on his arm, even when he raised it, lifting the kid up off the ground. The kid started giggling from the fun 'ride' they were getting.

Redson almost let a smile out, but he held it back. He then did it with his other arm. He kept raising his arms up and down, giving the kids hanging on them a little fun. The sound of their laughter, and the idea that he was making them happy.. It made Redson happy as well.

"Argg, fine! If it'll cool your whining."

"Yayy!!"

He showed off a couple of his fire tricks and got a couple 'ooo's and 'aah's from the young crowd. The kids were the only ones in heaven that didn't have any disdain for Redson. He couldn't understand why, but they always seemed happy to see him. It could just be because he has 'cool' powers.

But, it was really nice; not feeling judged or having passive-aggressive side eyes at him for once. These kids knew about some of the trouble Redson had caused in the past. Although, instead of it giving him a bad rep, it actually made him a legend among the children.

After a short while of entertaining the kids, he was starting to get mentally drained.

"(Sigh) Alright, that's enough for today-" Redson paused as a jolting feeling hit him.

"Whoooa it's a new trick!" A kid yelled.

"W-What??" Redson questioned as he turned around. What he saw, really surprised him. There was a green glowing dragon symbol floating in the air. "No this.. This isn't a trick, this is a message request..?"

The kids looked around in confusion.

"Uh, sorry children but, 'big bro Redson' needs to uh, go do adult things. Goodbye." He took a hold of the message and ran off. He could hear their protests behind him.

...

He made his way to his room so that he could have privacy. Redson then sat on his bed, and accepted the message request. The dragon symbol opened up and he saw a girl. She gasped and clapped her hands.

"Oh! Yes it worked!"

It wasn't just any girl, it was..

"Mei!??"

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

"Mei!??" Redson exclaimed in surprise. He was sitting on his bed and he had just accepted a message request from an unknown spell. The spell had been a green glowing dragon symbol. When he accepted it, it opened up to reveal Mei, the girl he met a few days ago.

"Woohoo! You answered my prayers, redboy!"

"Urgg, it's Redson," He dead-panned. "How the heaven did you send this to me?"

"Uhh I don't really know. I was just told to touch the spell and then pray to whoever I needed help from. And, you're the only person I know who is a.. celestial? I don't know, I just vaguely remember you mentioning something about the celestial realms, so I assumed you lived there."

"...Alright? Well, what did-"

"I really need your help!" Mei yelled as she clasped her hands together in a pleading way. "My dad was kidnapped by Sun Wukong and I don't know what else to do. I figured you probably had connections to powerful people in heaven so can you please send help!?"

"Whoa whoa, slow down!.. How do I know you're not just tricking me again?"

"What?? I don't freaking know! Just trust me, okay? I'm really desperate here and I normally wouldn't ask for help so you're lucky that you even get the privilege of seeing me beg!"

"Wha- Excuse me??"

"Besides, you want to save your little monkey boy-friend too right?"

"Boyfriend!?? H-He's not my boyfriend!" Redson huffed as his face began to blush. He turned away and folded his arms.

"..Uh.. Did you two get in a fight or something? I thought you were friends." Mei wondered with a confused look. Redson's eyebrows raised in mild surprise. He looked back at the message-spell and analyzed Mei's face.

"...Wait... That's what you meant?"

"Uh yeah, what else would I mean?"

"...Nevermind. I apologize, yes, me and Mk are still friends but.. Uggh, who exactly are you trying to save?"

"It's my dad- well.. My adoptive dad. He was an old friend of Sun Wukong's or.. I think maybe they were lovers?.. I don't know, it's complicated."

"...Alright but who is your dad?"

"Uhh... His name is.. Macaque." Mei answered, hesitantly for some reason.

----

=Yesterday, Day seven of Mei being gone=

After Mei finally got some proper sleep, she woke up in the afternoon. Not as late as she usually does; probably around early afternoon. In her half asleep daze, she looked at the marking on her hand. For just a few seconds, she was confused. But then she remembered what her great-grand uncle had given her earlier that morning.

The mark on her hand was a golden symbol that looked like the head of a dragon. Fitting, considering her lineage. Mei sat up and was about to use it right away, but then she remembered what Ao Guang had said:

="If you are unable to find a way, then, I may know a few things to help."=

Mei scratched her head as she thought, 'it kinda sounded as if he wanted the spell to be my last resort.. Ugh, that's majorly frustrating..'

...

Not only had her sleep helped make her headache go away, but it also cleared her mind. Mei tied in a proper high ponytail this time; her hair decently brushed. She picked up her sword and sheathed it in it's scabbard. She made her way towards Flower Fruit Mountain.

She then summoned her translucent dragon form and zoomed forward.

Mei remembered the direction from that time she had followed Redson there. It wasn't the most difficult path to recall. The way there was pretty much just a straight line for a few miles.

Eventually, Mei had made it to the outer forest that surrounded the mountain. She got out of her dragon form as she landed. Mei then internally face-planted as she realized something.

"Arg dammit!" She whispered, "my dragon form was probably like a freaking beacon... Although actually.." Mei scratched her chin as she thought a moment. "It is daytime.. So maybe they didn't notice.."

Mei shook her head as she didn't want to worry about it anymore. She crouched lower as she sneaked through the forest. Mei wanted to get a good look around. After all, Ao Guang did tell her to 'examine the terrain' first. There wasn't really much to examine. All she really saw was just a normal forest with your average animals. Although she had to admit, there was something about the Flower Fruit Forest that was.. prettier than others. Maybe there was more of an abundance of flowers? Maybe it was the waterfall that flowed down from the mountain.

Mei blinked out of her thoughts as she spotted something in the distance. If he had been naked she would've missed him, since his fur is black. But Mei recognized Macaque's clothes anywhere. Even in the shade of the trees and even this far away, she recognized the un-matching color pattern of his clothing choice. She saw him seemingly chilling in a tree. Something about that made Mei feel a bit irritated.

'Gee, some danger he's in..' Mei sarcastically thought. 'From the looks of it he's doing just fine.' Mei raised from her crouching position and was about to just march over to him.

But.. then she halted. Something in her told her not to go. It was like a feeling in her gut pulling her back. She furrowed her eyebrows at this strange feeling. Mei then recalled the time she first met Mk.

When she saw him trapped behind the golden barrier, her first assumption had been that Redson trapped him there. But in reality, it was the opposite. She knew from that experience not to judge situations from a first glance.

'...But looks can be deceiving. C'mon Mei! You know better than to trust what you see! Remember what he taught you!' Mei smacked her hands against her cheeks. She then smooshed her face around to snap herself out of it.

The smack sound was a twinge loud. Mei could vaguely see Macaque turn his head near this direction.

'Hmm.. Okay, I probably shouldn't get closer than this. Sun Wukong will get a whiff of my scent. I need.. A scent hiding smell. But how the heck do I do that??' Mei hid behind a tree as she thought. She then caught a glance at her hand. The symbol wasn't glowing as brightly as it did when it was first placed. 'Of course! Duh! I'll ask flame boy for help!... What was his name again?.. Something with Red in it, I'm sure..'

=Present Time, Day eight of Mei being gone=

Mei informed Redson all about her getting a vision about her dad being in danger. And then her examining the terrain. She left out the parts about her dragon family as she felt that information was a bit too personal to share. So she kept it vague about how exactly she got a vision and who exactly gave her the message spell.

"And so I made my way back to my tent, did other irrelevant things, and slept it off. Then now it's today and I prayed to you with this spell, and now I'm here." Mei finished.

"...Sooo.. You need to learn the scent hiding spell?" Redson asked and Mei nodded in response. From what Mei could see through the circle of the spell, it seemed like Redson was in a house of some sort. The walls looked like shiny silver. "Mm.. But one cannot just 'learn' the scent hiding spell. You simply must have the ability to do it."

"Wh-what!? That's not how that works! Everything needs to be learned. You can't just- just know how to do something! You're telling me that you could just do it right off the bat?" Mei protested.

"I- Well no but, argg, that's not what I meant! I mean, not everyone can perform spells. Plain old mortals do not have the ability to learn spells. The only way they can is if they used a wand of some sort." Redson explained.

Mei slowly looked down. She grabbed her arm, feeling insecure.

Redson seemed to notice this as he abruptly spoke up, "Uhh b-but! From what I observed from our fight, you don't exactly seem like a 'plain old mortal' yourself. It may be.. plausible for you.."

Mei looked up at him and lightly smiled. "(Sigh) Okay, so, how do we do this? Do you just teach me through here, oooor..?"

"Mm.. It would be more efficient if you were to just head up here."

"Wait.. You mean up to the celestial realm??" Mei asked and Redson nodded. "But- I don't- How do I even get there!?"

Redson got up from wherever he was sitting and he pinched between his eyes. He then grumbled as he looked away. From his profile view, Mei got a good look at Redson's low ponytail. It was strange though; his ponytail was low but his hair was still pointing up. How on Earth was it doing that?

"I think.. I'm going to have to bring you here manually."

"Oh.. Okay??" Mei was confused on why that was such a hard thing to say. What was so difficult about needing to go down and bring her to the celestial realm? Maybe it was more of a hassle than she thought. Redson seemed to notice her confusion as he made a quick glance towards her.

"(Sigh) look.. I can't exactly just bring you here willy nilly. I have to ask permission and then they have to meet you in person to fully see if you're in the clear."

"Oh, well that's fine. If all they gotta do is vibe-check me then that's great! My vibes are da best!" Mei said proudly as she put her hands on her hips.

"...Uh huh.. But, the thing is, I don't exactly have.. the best reputation up here. So, it might not even work. The chances that they'd let me are as low as five percent. Possibly even lower-"

"Gah stop!" Mei yelled, which caught Redson off guard. Mei was pouting in frustration. "I'm tired of people saying 'percent this' 'percent that'! We don't know how much of a chance we have until we try!" She pointed her finger at the glowing circle; in other words, pointing at Redson. "You want to save Mk, and I want to save my dad! So are you with me, or not?"

"..." Redson blinked his surprised eyes.

----

Macaque took a walk around the Flower Fruit Forest to stretch out his legs. He had been just sitting either in or next to trees for a while after all. On his walk, he could hear some of the baby monkeys chirping. He saw one jump out in the distance. Macaque immediately did a 180 and began walking the other way.

But, it seems it noticed him before he could get far. He heard the fast pitter patter of it's tiny steps getting closer and closer. He then ducked his head, and just as he thought, the baby monkey went flying over him. Even after all this time, they were so predictable.

The baby monkey stumbled on the floor, sounding disappointed that it had missed Macaque's head. Macaque smirked down at the monkey, deviously.

"Heh, nice try," he chuckled. The monkey squeaked in protest as it jumped up and down. "Yeah yeah, I know. That was cheap of me." The monkey huffed and then jumped up on Macaque's arm. It's tail wrapped tightly around him. It seemed that all it's previous anger had vanished; for it started rubbing it's cheek against Macaque's shoulder. "Haha, you all really missed me that badly, huh?"

The monkey nodded it's head aggressively, as if being baffled that he would ask such a question.

"(Sigh) Alright, guess you're coming on my walk with me then." Macaque concluded, and the monkey chirped with happiness. As he continued walking, the monkey began to sniff his armpit. It shook it's head as it scrunched it's nose. It then started poking Macaque's face, making unsatisfied noises. "Ack! Hey stop that!.. What? I stink?" The monkey nodded with a frown. "Oh... Yeah that makes sense. I haven't exactly been able to have a change of clothes for a while now. And I am way too petty to ask Wukong for some.. So, I'll probably just have to wash them. Ulg, what a pain."

The monkey climbed up to be on top of Macaque's head, seemingly to avoid the smell. Of course, a primate's hair will never smell bad to another primate. In fact, most of the time they prefer it when it's unwashed.

As Macaque continued walking, the little monkey on his head began to groom all the dirt and bugs out of his hair. It felt nice having his hair groomed by another primate. For years now, he had to do it himself. Mei tried to do it a few times but, it just wasn't in her nature. Since she didn't like to eat the bugs, they would just find their way back onto his or her head.

Macaque's ears caught the sound of more pitter patters. He didn't bother looking behind, for he knew all too well that it was a bunch of other monkeys. Around three more of them had started following him. Macaque let out a light chuckle.

"Macaque!" Mk called in the distance.

Macaque turned his head so quickly that the monkey almost fell off. It lightly tapped his head in annoyance.

"Oh, sorry haha.." Macaque apologized.

"Macaque?" Mk called again.

"Over here, kid!" He answered as he continued to walk. Eventually Mk found his way to Macaque.

"(Exhale) Oh hahh there you are haahh.."

"Uhh.. Out of breath there?" Macaque asked as he unconsciously folded his arms.

"A little heheh." Mk caught up to walk side-by-side with Macaque. The other three monkeys that had been following, proceeded to jump onto Mk. Two on his arms, and one on his head. "Wha- Hey, stop that. Dad already groomed me this morning, haha." Mk grabbed the monkey off of his head and held it in his hands.

"...You know..." Macaque spoke up which got Mk's attention. "I've been thinking.. Being back here is.. Kinda nice if I'm being honest."

"Really??"

"Well.. Only kind of nice. It'd be nicer if I actually had the ability to leave. But, as I've said, all your daddy does is take away choices.." Macaque said, bitterly. A few of the monkeys made uncomfortable noises.

'So that's what dad meant when he said Macaque 'can't go far'...' Mk thought.

"...I-I see..." Mk had a sad expression on his face as he looked down at the monkey he was holding. Macaque glanced over at him and saw this. He started to feel bad.

"(Sigh) I'm.. Sorry, kid. Me and Wukong definitely have our baggage, but.. he's still your dad. I shouldn't be bad mouthing him in front of you."

"Oh.. It's.. Okay, I mean. I have my fair share of.. choice problems too. L-Like how I'm not allowed to bring friends over.." Mk was fiddling with the monkey's tail, probably subconsciously. The monkey didn't seem to mind.

"Right yeah, that 'Redson' friend of yours... That's another thing about being here," Macaque took the monkey that was on his head off. He cradled it in his arms, for it had fallen asleep.
"Being here would be fine if- If I could also see my daughter..."

"..." For a few seconds, Mk was confused. But then he remembered that Mei was Macaque's adoptive daughter. She was his 'circumstance'.

"S-Sorry, didn't mean to get all depressing on you." Macaque said as he turned his face and blinked away tears. He missed Mei so much it was driving him insane.

"...Hey so.. Were you able to think of any happy memories you had with my- uhh with Wukong?"

"..." Macaque's good left eye looked over at Mk. He then simply hummed in response as he thought about it. "Well.. I guess there was that time that we first met."

"(Gasp) Yes yes! Tell me about that!"

"Whoa, I guess your ears are doing better."

"Oh.. Y-yeah haha, sorry, didn't mean to yell.." Mk used his free hand to scratch the back of his head. The monkey on his arm held on for dear life.

"Oh no it's alright, I'm fine... Anyway uhh let's see.. when we first met was a loooong time ago. It was probably around..."

----

Redson had reluctantly agreed to the plan and they hung up the message. He looked in the mirror to make sure he looked as presentable as possible. What he was about to do was no laughing matter after all. He tied up his hair in a high bun. His noticeable high pointing bangs were brushed and pinned down to his head with a barrette.

He rummaged through his closet to find his best celestial outfit. It had gotten quite dusty; Redson wasn't very fond of how uncomfortable they were, so he didn't like wearing them.

It took all his willpower not to explode with fire from sheer anger at how annoying it was to put it on. He probably should've done his hair after putting the clothes on...

...

Redson walked very stiffly towards the meeting hall. It was a place Nezha would go to have meetings with other celestials about stuff unknown to Redson. Although, Redson suspected that a few of those meetings had been about him.

He passed by a few of those kids that were bothering him earlier. When they saw him, they had smiles on their face. But, when they took a closer look at him, their smiles turned to confusion and concern.

It seemed those kids preferred when Redson was his 'scary' self. A flustered blush appeared on his face. Part of him felt bad that he had supposedly disappointed them.

"(Sigh) Focus.." He whispered to himself.

Redson marched up the stairs to giant golden doors. He could feel himself trembling, hoping that it wasn't too visible. He then cleared his voice, and just as he was about to knock on the door, it burst open. Luckily they open inwards or Redson would've been knocked out.

His eyes were wide with surprise as he saw the one who opened the door was Nezha of all people.

"Tch, can't believe those-" Nezha wasn't facing him but he stopped his mumbling as he caught sight of Redson standing in front of the door. "O-Oh, Redson you're.. Uhh.." Nezha looked Redson up and down. "You look.. Different."

"Y-Yeah well! I needed to put effort into my outfit today because.. Um.." Redson looked passed Nezha. He could see a few celestials staring daggers at him. He gulped down his nervousness. "Uh.. E-Excuse me." Redson said as he implied he wanted to get passed Nezha.

Nezha blinked a bit and then turned to make room for Redson to enter. A part of Redson wished that Nezha had not allowed him to. That would give him an excuse not to do what he was about to do.

Redson walked further into the room. He then put his fist to his palm and lightly bowed. "Uh pardon the intrusion!" He tried to say loud enough for the giant gods and celestial beings to hear. Redson heard Nezha walk up to him. Which was strange; it seemed Nezha wasn't using his wheels today.

Redson felt a hand on his shoulder, "What are you doing?" Nezha whispered. Redson glanced over to him, and noticed that they were basically the same height; now that Nezha wasn't cheating by using his golden wheels.

He simply smiled at him in response and gently took Nezha's hand off of his shoulder as he stepped more forward. Of course, it was more of a forced 'confident' smile, but Nezha probably couldn't tell the difference... Right?

"Great many higher gods! I come here to ask for your assistance!" Redson called. A few of the celestials glared at him while others seemed amused.

"W-What??" Nezha whispered behind him.

One of the male celestials chuckled and then spoke up, "oh really? You of all people are asking us for assistance? After all the trouble you have caused?" He was speaking normally but his voice was booming. Redson winced but tried to hide it.

Then one of the female celestials spoke, "yes, you have been very frustrating to deal with ever since we took you in."

Nezha practically growled as he began marching up. But, he stopped when Redson raised his arm in front of him. Redson lightly shook his head as he made eye-contact with Nezha. That look said a bunch of words. It basically translated to: 'it's okay. I've got this.'

Nezha took the hint and backed off, but he clearly wasn't happy about it.

"Th-That is why, I did not just come here to ask for assistance! I have also come here to.. To..." Redson looked down as his pride was getting to him. "I.. have come here to ask for.."

"Speak up, samadhi-boy."

Redson clenched his fists, holding back a mix of anger and fear. He didn't have to look to be able to tell that Nezha was absolutely seething back there.

"You have no right asking us for anything, child. You have broken our trust."

"Yeah! What gives you the right to!"

A bunch of the celestials had piled onto the argument. Saying passive-aggressive hidden insults. Making Redson feel just as worthless as they always did. But there was one action. ONE action that stopped all of their bickering all at once.

BAP

They all went silent. Redson had fallen to his knees and he was bowing. Not just any bow though.. He was so low that his forehead was touching the floor.

"I came here to ask for your forgiveness!" Redson tried to yell loud enough for them to hear; since his face was sort of buried into the floor.

He could hear the celestials mumbling amongst themselves.

"I-I know I don't deserve it. I was upset and.. a-and lashed out. Which caused you all trouble and.. and I'm so sorry!" Redson wanted to punch himself for stuttering.

It was quiet until he heard a familiar deep voice speak above him.

"Please, raise your head.. young man." Li Jing requested. Redson did as he was told as he looked up at Li Jing with surprise. Li Jing offered his hand to Redson. He hesitantly reached forward and took it. "It seems you put a lot of effort into your outfit. We wouldn't want you to get all dirtied up from the floor, now would we?"

"...No?..." Was all Redson could think to answer. Li Jing laughed as he patted Redson on the back. He stepped out of Redson's way to let him continue. "(Ahem) I know that I have caused trouble in the past. So I'm aware that it must be hard to trust me. But, I don't have any other way to gain your trust other than begging for forgiveness!"

Some of the celestials seemed to be avoiding eye-contact. They all either looked guilty or nervous.

Then, another younger female celestial spoke up. She seemed to be more on the shy side, "I-I say we hear him out. A-After all, if he has put th-this much effort into pleasing us. Then w-we should at least give him a chance."

"But we have already let the boy have another chance over and over again. And he continued to fail." The male celestial said.

"Y-Yes but, like Nezha said, he hasn't caused any problems since the underworld incident. That was three y-years ago. And, like he said, he was l-lashing out."

"Lashing out is not an excuse for what he-" the female celestial was cut off by the younger one.

"B-But! You have to remember, the boy lost his father. I'm sure w-we've all had our fair share of losses that made us do... Ugly things.. And losing someone at such a young age was probably.. S-So hard for him.." She almost sounded like she was gonna cry.

"I.." Redson spoke. "I know it's not an excuse. And I should have listened to Nezha a long time ago. But, I'm hoping that it's not too late for me to make amends and.. Ask for help."

"Ask.. for help? With what exactly?" Another celestial asked. They were rubbing their chin with curiosity.

"W-Well.. There's this friend that I've been visiting. He's kind of trapped in his own home. Well, he's not always trapped there but. It's clear that his father keeps a close eye on him. Almost to an unhealthy degree. I-I fear for his safety!"

"...Is this friend of yours, the one you run off to on the same day of the same week? Is this friend the one who you have been visiting for years now?" They asked.

Redson blinked in surprise and then he nodded. "Yes. He is." He realized that nodding was probably unprofessional so he quickly vocalized his answer as well. "In order to save him, there's another friend that wants to help. But, I need your permission to see if it's okay to bring her up here."

"..." They were all quiet as they gave each other looks.

"H-Her name is Mei. She has told me that her father has supposedly been captured by the same man who is keeping my friend trapped. So, I have reason to work together with her on this, since we share a common goal. But, in order to help with that goal, I need to bring her up here. So, please.."

Redson once again put his fist to his palm and he bowed. It was a full 90 degree angle bow. The lower you bow, the more respect you show.

"Please allow me to bring her up here to heaven!"

They were once again talking amongst themselves:

"Well, that certainly was an apology."

"Yes, but when Nezha redeemed himself, he fought a mighty battle to earn our trust. Are we just going to trust the boy just from this?"

"B-But Nezha was a lot older than Redson is w-when that happened. In celestial age, R-Redson is still practically a child. Plus h-he hasn't caused any problems for three years. And he seems desperate."

"Hmm, I will admit, it is pretty inspiring seeing him beg us for help for a selfless reason..."

They talked a bit more. Li Jing walked up to Redson and patted him on the back again.

"Hey, you can lift up now. In my opinion they don't quite deserve that much respect." Li Jing whispered. Redson raised up and saw Li Jing had a proud smile on his face. Nezha then walked up to Redson's other side and he started rubbing circles in Redson's back.

"No matter what happens.. We're with you all the way. I'm proud of you, Redson." Nezha said with a gleeful smile. Redson could have sworn he saw tears building up in Nezha's eyes.

"Th-thank you.. Both of you." Redson looked down at the floor, feeling flustered.

One of the celestials spoke, "all right. We grant you permission."

"R-Really!?"

"But only if you let a few guards meet her first. They will accompany you when you go to pick her up."

"Of course! Thank you!" Redson did a quick bow. "If it's alright, I was wanting to leave right away!"

One of the celestials snapped their fingers and two guards flew along to Redson's sides. He awkwardly looked at them and then turned on his heel towards the door. They opened the door for him, which surprised him and he walked through.

Nezha followed him outside. "Whoa hey! Redson, I can come with you if you want. You don't have to do this alone."

"(Sigh) I'm fine, Nezha. Besides, I won't be gone for long. Hopefully I can be back pretty soon."

"...Okay, just, be careful, I guess?" It seemed Nezha didn't know what to say. He looked like he was hiding some excitement. It was kinda disturbing seeing him be that happy; since it was such a rare sight.

"R-Right.." Redson said, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

----

Mei was pacing around. She took out her sword to practice some moves while she waited for Redson to do whatever he was going to do. She slashed at a poor tree that didn't ask for that.

She then paused as she heard some distressed chirping above her. Mei looked up and saw some baby birds in the nest.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I.. I should've checked the tree for baby birds hahaha!" She scratched the back of her head nervously.

...

She had gotten tired of waiting so she put her hood on and went to the nearest village. Luckily for her boredom, there were some bandits. She beat them down, not enough to kill them, but enough to give them the hint.

The villagers began clapping. Something about that was familiar. Speaking of familiar, a voice called out to her.

"Dragon girl!"

Mei whipped around and saw Bai He. It felt like it had been forever since she'd seen her. But really, it was only a few days.

"O-Oh!" Mei fumbled a bit as Bai He jumped into her arms.

"I missed you! I'm so glad you came back!" Bai He yelled as she looked up into Mei's eyes.

"Haha, really now?" Mei said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "How've you been lately?"

"I've been okay, but! I really wanna show you my recipe! Come on!" Bai He grabbed a hold of Mei's wrist. Something about that felt.. odd. Mei stared down at her wrist as she was being dragged along to who knows where.

"...Hey uhh, can you let go, please?" Mei asked.

"Oh, oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you I just-"

"No no it's fine its... Fine." Mei massaged her wrist. It wasn't hurt or anything but, she was reminded of an old feeling. A fear that she hadn't felt in a long time. Not since she was 14.. Or 13?.. Neither her nor Macaque really knew how old she was when that thing happened. (See chapter one)

"So uh, what recipe was it?"

"Oh yeah! Come on, lets go to my house!" Bai He ran ahead, expecting Mei to follow. She did follow of course, she had no reason not to.

...

Mei sat down at the old couple's dinner table once again. This time, she decided to take off her hood. Her ponytail now being able to breathe.

"I call them, sweet noodles!" Bai He said as she came into the dining area holding a tray. Her parents were supposedly both taking an afternoon nap, so it was just them two.

It seemed they both didn't care too much to have proper manners since the older adults weren't around.

"Wow, this surprisingly tastes pretty good!" Mei gulped down the sweet noodles. Her stomach was growling; she really only had a few apples that day.

They talked a bit more about Bai He's recipes. But then, suddenly, a glowing symbol appeared in front of Mei. Her face was currently stuffed with noodles, so she quickly swallowed them down. The symbol was an orange flame.

"What is that!?" Bai He yelled, she then covered her mouth, almost on instinct to not yell in the house.

"It's.. A message request. Pfft, no doubt from Mr. Flame boy himself," Mei snickered. "It seems he's finally done doing whatever he needed to do." She reached up and tapped the spell, accepting the message request.

"Arrgg finally! You were making me look bad!" Redson yelled.

"Uhh what?"

"I.." Redson looked to his sides. "(Ahem) nevermind.. Where are you? I can come pick you up now."

"Oh, I'm just in a village. Can't you like, pin point my location or something?"

"Mm.. Yes, we can pin point the general area. But we'd need your permission first."

"Welp... You have my permission." Mei said as she shrugged her shoulders. Bai He was staring at the glowing circle in awe.
Then, Bai He's mother appeared at the dining entrance. She had a mortified look on her face.

"...Just who are you...?" The old lady asked. Mei got up from her spot and quietly thanked Bai He for the food.

"You're leaving already??" Bai He protested.

"Yup, I've got some serious warrior business I need to attend to."

"We have your location. We'll see you in a bit." Redson said. Before Mei could get a word in, he hung up the message. She grumbled at his rude abruptness.

"Who am I, you ask?" Mei said as she grabbed her stuff and put her straps over her shoulders.

"Yes, last time you were here you wore a hood. And you seemed so secretive. You're not just some normal trained warrior, are you?" The lady asked once again.

Mei laughed at this.

"I'm just, Mei."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Mei stepped out of Bai He's house and made her way outside of the village. She wanted to get to a spot that wouldn't cause a scene. After all, being 'known' was the last thing she wanted. Macaque always taught her that keeping your identity hidden and being secretive were the trick to an easy life. And.. also the trick to a 'smart' life, as he put it.

Just as she was a few steps to being outside of the village, she spotted something shiny in the sky. A big golden portal opened up, and three people floated down out of it. Mei squinted her eyes, and from what she could see, the person in the middle had bright red hair. There was only one person she had ever seen with hair like that.

"Redboy!" Mei yelled

"It's RedSON!!" She heard him call back, angrily.

Mei giggled as she jogged a few more steps outside of the village. She knew his name, but it was funny to mess with him. All three of them floated down towards her, meeting her in the middle as she got a good distance away from the village; hopefully not drawing too much attention.

"Sooo how ya been? Did you fix your 'reputation' or whatever?"

Redson's eyes widened and a slight blush grew on his face. One of the guards stayed serious while the other was clearly trying to hide a smile.

"Wha- Urgg.. I'd rather skip the pleasantries. Lets go."

"Oookay-"

"Halt," The serious guard said as they raised their hand, "we need to make sure she is safe."

"..O-Oh right. My apologies.." Redson replied. His face was blushing so red that the red dot on his forehead might just become invisible.

The guards then pulled Mei to the side and turned her away so that she wasn't facing Redson.

"We need to make sure he isn't giving you any secret signals. So we're having you face away from him."

Suddenly, Mei was feeling shy. "...Okay.." she said, nervously. She had never really been in this close proximity with an authority figure. Well, unless you count Macaque, but he sure as hell didn't act like one.

The two guards began taking turns asking Mei strange questions that she didn't quite know the right answer to. That is, if there were any right answers to these questions.

Guard A: "Who are your parents?"

Mei: "Uhh... I don't know, I never really met them.."

Guard A: "But we were told that your father was captured, no?"

Mei: "Oh.. Yeah he's my adoptive dad."

Guard A: "Hm... Does your dad have a partner? Or in other words, your other adoptive parent?"

Mei shook her head, but in her mind, she was thinking of a joke, 'heheh... not yet at least..'

Guard B: "Who is your father?"

Mei: "Um.. Some know him as the 'one-eyed Macaque'.. Maybe you've heard of him?" She answered, nervously. She felt uncomfortable revealing information about Macaque to celestials.

They looked at each-other and shrugged, probably not knowing who Mei was referring to. They both then proceeded to ask Mei some more weird questions. 'Do you have any connections with demons?' 'What training do you have?' 'What are your powers?'

It felt like hours had passed by before they were finally satisfied. Of course, it was probably only like five minutes. Mei gave pretty short answers after all; she was getting impatient.

"Alright well, I think that settles it. You're free to take her, Lord Redson." The more relaxed guard said. Redson blinked in surprise and then cleared his throat.

"Y-Yes, thank you. C'mon, let's go."

"How though?" Mei asked. Redson gestured for her to come over to a spot. She obliged and stood next to him. The floor beneath them began to glow. It was a golden circle with a bunch of celestial symbols covering it. Bright light glowed around them and Mei covered her eyes.

A few seconds passed by and she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"We're here."

Mei peaked open her eyes, and they immediately widened at the sight before her. No longer was she in a boring land with only dusty houses and dirt ground. No longer was she surrounded by the mundane life. What she saw before her was like nothing she had ever seen.

It was full of white, gold, and many other assortment of colors that decorated the carpets and tapestries. There were symmetrical rivers going along the sidewalks. These rivers weren't filled with dirt, however. They were just surrounded by cement. There were trees that had been trimmed and way too taken care of. Totally unnatural, but in a pretty way.

"..." Mei couldn't even think of anything to say. All she could do was look around with wide eyes and her mouth agape.

"Are you just going to stand there dawdling or are you going to follow me already?" Redson asked.

Mei blinked her eyes and looked where she heard his voice. He had started walking away, and it seemed the guards had better things to do, because they were nowhere to be seen. She jogged and caught up to him.

Mei then said, bluntly, "You know, you're kind of a jerk."

"W-What?? No I'm not!"

"Yuh huh! You talked to me like some high and mighty asshole.."

"Wha- I- urgg.. Well.. That's not what I meant.. and I'm... S-..Soooorryy if it came out that way." Redson struggled to say that through gritted teeth.

"...Apologizing doesn't come naturally to you, does it?"

".......Admittedly, no."

Mei simply chuckled in response, and they walked the rest of the way in silence as Mei admired the view. But, in the back of her mind, she wondered if she would've ended up super arrogant like Redson if she had been raised in the dragon kingdoms. Of course, Mei was definitely prideful in her own way, but to her, she didn't act like a jerk about it.

...

Redson and Mei were coming up to a building.

"This is the training quarters. There are some dummies in there so we'll have to move them around-" Redson paused as they got to the entrance of the building. The room looked super spacious.

"Uhh what do you mean, dummies?" Mei asked, and that got the attention of the fancy-looking person that was in the room dusting off their hands. They had black hair tied up in two buns and a very feminine looking outfit.

"Oh, well that took a lot less longer than I expected. Welcome back, Redson." The person said with a light smile.

"Yeah.. I see you moved all the dummies around."

"Well, I suspected that you and your 'friend' might need this room. So I cleared it for you."

"What? How on Earth did you know that?"

"Ehh.. I mean, why else would you want to bring your friend up here? I figured it had to be to give her some special training. Oh, my apologies, I'm being rude," the young-looking man then brought his attention to Mei and lightly bowed to her, "hello, I am Nezha. You could say I'm Redson's 'older brother' of sorts.."

"O-Oh no worries, I'm Mei. Me and your brother sort of met under... Strange circumstances, but, we're chill now.."

"You're... chill now?" Nezha questioned.

"Ugg, it just means we're on good terms. Jeez, you and Mk always say such ridiculous sayings.." Redson said, looking at Mei with a raised eyebrow and his hands on his hips.

"Wha- They're not 'ridiculous' they're convenient!" Mei huffed and folded her arms.

"Tch.." Redson looked away from her and frowned.

Nezha stood there awkwardly, looking between them.

"...Anyway... What sort of training does she need?" Nezha asked to break the silence.

"Well, she claims that she needs to learn the scent hiding spell. But I'm not even sure if someone like her can learn it. I figured you had to be born a celestial, or turned into one with hard work, to be able to cast celestial spells." Redson explained.

"..Hm.." Nezha turned his attention to Mei, "you could practice with a spare wand and then afterword see if you're able to do it. Practicing with the wand could help you feel what it's like to cast the scent hiding spell. Of course, you may just have to go through with your plan using the wand. Which has a bit of a disadvantage since the wands aren't as powerful as natural magic."

"Huh..." Mei said.

"...So, the guards gave me the report of your answers. You said that you have powers, but you don't know who your original parents are? You don't know if you have any connection to celestial beings?"

"Uh.. Well.. I mean, I might but, I don't really know the difference between someone who just has powers and someone who has them because they're a celestial being.." Mei rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "You see, I was recently told by a distant family member that my biological parents were murdered a bit after I was born.."

Redson looked at her with surprise at hearing this. She didn't mention this when she was answering the celestial guards' questions.

"Who was this family member?" Nezha asked.

"He called himself 'Ao Guang'. Does that ring any... bells..?" Mei slowed to a stop as she saw both Redson and Nezha's eyes widen and their jaws fall. "...W-What?"

----

=Meanwhile, with the monkeys=

Mk made his way back to the top of the mountain. Macaque told him the story of how him and Wukong first met. It was quite interesting and a nice change of pace from all the depressing stuff.

Back on the night when Macaque stormed off, Mk had waited for his dad to fall asleep (see chapter 10). He realized that he accidentally left the rock slab drawing next to the nest. Luckily his dad hadn't used his gold vision or else he would've seen it. Mk had used a hair clone that night and ordered it to hide the rock slab somewhere. The problem was, his hair clone had poofed before he knew where it was hidden.

Now it was today, and Mk remembered the drawing's existence. He wanted to ask Macaque about it, since he was afraid that his dad might hide the drawing again if he knew Mk found it. His only chance of finding where his own hair clone hid it, was to ask the monkeys.

Wukong was sitting in a meditation. His legs folded in the lotus position with his eyes closed and his whole body glowing. Wukong and Mk had gotten in an argument this morning and ever since then, he's been in meditation. Mk had left and went to visit Macaque a bit after that. At the time, he didn't really want to tell Macaque about the argument since he just wanted to get his mind off of things. Luckily for Mk, it never came into topic and they instead talked about how those two met.

Now, Mk had nervously come back to the top of the mountain, only to find his dad still in meditation.

Mk went into the forest area inside the mountain and whistled for all the monkeys. They gathered around him, squeaking curiously.

"Okay, so, do any of you know where my hair clone hid the rock drawing?"

They all looked at each-other with confused looks, then one in the back raised it's hand. It jumped over the monkeys to the front. It had a big proud smile on it's face. Mk smiled back and lifted it up.

"Looks like someone stayed up passed bedtime that night, huh?" Mk asked with a smirk. The monkey smiled sheepishly. "Eh, well, I'm not much better. Anyway, where did you see my clone hide it?"

The monkey jumped out of Mk's hands and ushered him to follow. Mk and the rest of the monkeys followed along where it went.

They ended up at the far back corner of the inside of the mountain, where a lonely bush lay. The monkey aggressively pointed at it. Mk knelt down and investigated the bush. Low and behold, there it was. It was just chilling right behind the bush. Mk was a bit disappointed that his clone didn't pick a more hidden spot. Although, maybe the simpler spots were ironically less obvious.

"Okay, let's leave it here until we can get it to Macaque.." All the monkeys nodded in agreement and they all scattered to go off and do their own thing.

----

"You're related to Ao Guang!?" Redson yelled.

"Um... yes?"

Nezha then said, "he's one of the most legendary celestial beings there are! In what way are you related to him??"

"O-Oh, well, he's my great gruncle." Mei answered.

"You're what?" Redson asked.

"Sorry, that's just another 'ridiculous saying' for ya. It means great grand-uncle. I just shortened it to make it sound cooler.." Mei brushed a hand through her hair, dramatically.

"Wait.. If he's your great grand uncle then that must mean you're.. You're descended from Ao Lie!" Nezha said with his hand on his chin. Mei nodded nervously in response. "But.. Why didn't you tell that to the guards?"

"I-I don't know.. They asked who my parents were, and I don't freaking know who they were! I never met them. And, well um.. I've always been taught to not reveal anything about my identity so I kinda sorta got.. nervous I guess.."

"...I'm guessing the one who taught you that was your adoptive father? The uhh.. 'one-eyed Macaque' you said? Hm.. That's strange. I've only heard of the Six-Eared Macaque. I figured he was the last one left.."

"Heheh.. funny you should say that.."

Cue another explanation and another shocked response. Only this time, it was just Nezha who was shocked. Redson had no clue who the 'Six-Eared Macaque' was.

"Wow I-.. I mean I didn't think Macaque was the type to raise a kid. Or at least, if he was gonna raise a kid, I figured he'd do it with Sun Wukong. I knew about Nuwa creating a child for Wukong, but I fully expected Macaque to help him with that.. I guess Wukong chose someone else to help him or...?" Nezha's eyebrows were furrowed as he spoke.

"Uhh.. Well, I was actually given to Macaque after Ao Lie was um.. m-murdered. So, I'm not sure Macaque even wanted to have a kid." Mei explained.

"Interesting.. Wait.. Earlier, Redson said that your father had been captured by someone who was holding his friend captive. Who exactly captured Macaque and uhh, what's your friend's name?" Nezha gestured to Redson.

"Mk."

"Yeah, who exactly is holding Mk and Macaque captive? It would make it much easier to help If I knew, you know."

Mei and Redson gave each-other uncomfortable looks. Neither wanted to say it. Redson had always thought it was helpless to ask anyone in heaven for help, and Mei knew this from the first time they met.

="As you can probably guess, we don't stand a chance asking a God to help us break it.."=

="(Ahem) W-Well, being 'cool' doesn't help your rank in the celestial realm.."=

="Tch, because I'd rather not have my bones shattered just for talking to his child."=

Those were some of the things Redson had said the day they met. He made it seem like asking other celestial beings was useless. Either because of his rank, or because Sun Wukong was seemingly too strong.

Macaque had also described to Mei years ago, that Sun Wukong's power was 'equal to heaven' and she trusted his word since she personally knew him.

Redson gave Mei a look that basically said 'you say it, I don't want to'. Mei gave a frown back that said 'you're his brother, why don't you tell him??'.

Nezha squinted his eyes in confusion. He then sighed with impatience. "Redson, tell me, or else."

"Tch, or else what?"

"Or else we're gonna be doing meditation for a month."

That seemed to knock some sense into Redson as he finally gave in. "Alright alright! (Sigh) they were captured by.. S-..Sun Wukong..." He tried to mutter it quietly but Nezha definitely heard him.

"Uh.. O-Okay this really isn't the time for jokes, Redson.."

"I'm not.. joking." Redson spoke in a very serious tone as he stared his older brother dead in the eye. Nezha shook his head in denial.

"You've gotta be..."

----

Mk hadn't seen his dad act like this since he was a little kid. After Wukong had groomed him this morning, they had an argument and then he went into meditation.

It had been a few hours and he was still in meditation.

'Is he for real gonna do this until Macaque decides to come back inside the mountain?' Monkie Kid wondered. He knew for a fact that his dad could go a 'long time' without eating, drinking, or sleeping. So he could be in this meditative state for a while.

...

=Flashback to this morning=

"Almost done, bud. Soon, you'll look spick and span!" Wukong said enthusiastically. He was finishing with grooming Mk's hair. "...So uh... What have you and Macaque been talking about during your little visits?"

Mk became nervous. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, Macaque literally had a panic attack upon realizing that he still cares about you, haha! Ain't that just neat?' Of course Mk didn't want to tell his dad what they talk about.

"Well.. N-Not much really. I uhh... Oh! We talked a bit about his daughter. So, there's that.. And, he helped me with my sensitive hearing."

"..Hm.. That's good. And, by 'daughter' you mean that little gal friend you saw, right?" Wukong asked.

"...Yeah..." There was something that Mk wanted to bring up, but he was a bit scared of how his dad would respond to it. He decided to test it out.. "I um.. I asked him w-why he didn't want me. Why he left. Since, it kinda did hurt, hearing that he abandoned me but still supposedly had a daughter."

"Mm.." Wukong nodded his head as he continued sifting through Mk's hair; picking out bugs and eating them.

"And.. he told me that Mei was- oh uh.. 'Mei' is his daughter's name. He told me that Mei was just an unfortunate 'circumstance' or something."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Uhh I don't know if I should say, It's probably private.. B-but, the point is, he made it clear that he still didn't want kids and she was sort of forced upon him. But, I guess over time he started to care for her as an actual daughter.."

"Well he would've learned to care for you too if he hadn't left.."

"...It's okay, he apologized for that and I forgave him." Mk said this and he felt Wukong halt for just a second with his grooming. He was being quiet so Mk continued, "he said that he was too much of a coward to come back. And something about not realizing that I'd hatch so early."

Wukong halted his grooming completely and then asked, "wait, what?"

"O-Oh um! Well, I-I don't know if you wanted to keep this secret or whatever b-but, he kinda 'spilled the tea' about how I was supposedly in that stone egg for like.. 70 or 80 years??"

"Mm, it was actually 71 years. You were created 89 years ago, and of course, you hatched 18 years ago. But, I mean, he was right. You did kinda hatch early, at least in my eyes." Wukong did one final brush through Mk's hair with his fingers and mumbled an 'okay finished.'

"What? Why did you never tell me any of this, dad?" Mk asked as he turned to face him.

"I... Well, I didn't think it was relevant. And also, I wanted to wait until you were more mature to tell you certain things."

"Wha- I- ugh dad! I am mature! I'm a full grown adult now, can't you see that?? I'm not gonna be your 'precious little cub' forever!"

Wukong stepped back a bit, seeming confused. "Pfft, you are nowhere near mature enough. It took me years and years of experience to get to how I am today."

"Yeah, that's because you didn't have any parents to raise you properly!"

His dad raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Macaque told me that you two didn't have any parents, and that you both never got to be 'children'. How come I'm learning more about you from him then you've ever told me?? In fact, I bet if I asked him, he'd tell me that, that was the reason you didn't want me in the beginning either, right!?"

"...!" Wukong's eyes widened and his lips flattened. He frowned and looked to the side. He then folded his arms and turned half away from Mk. "...It doesn't matter how I felt in the past. What matters is that I care for you now."

Monkie Kid looked down, feeling frustrated. In his peripheral vision, he could see his dad walk up to him. Before he could look up, he got pulled into an embrace.

"Isn't me wanting you now what matters, Monkie Kid?"

"..." Mk refused to hug him back. He then pushed himself out of his dad's grasp. Wukong seemed saddened by this. "If you really cared about me, you would stop treating me like a cub, and actually talk to me. Tell me the hard stuff, the things I deserve to know!"

Wukong stared at him blankly for a bit.. and then he looked angry. Mk's own angry expression faltered just a bit at seeing this. It was rare to see his dad look genuinely angry. "If you don't want me to treat you like a cub, then maybe you shouldn't act like one. Anytime I had to leave, you would beg me to stay. It's clear that you still need the comfort of a parent-"

"The only reason I wanted you to stay is because it was so lonely without you! But I don't even get to hang out with other people when you leave! You don't even allow me to bring friends over- hell, I can't even make friends because of that rule!" Mk could feel tears brimming at his eyes but he refused to let them fall. His anger was clouding his sorrow. "Macaque is the only other person I've consistently been able to talk to!"

"..Enough.."

"And now, I'm finding out more about you from him then you have told me in years!?"

"I said ENOUGH!"
Wukong's yell was powerful enough to send a small shockwave all around him. It was strong enough to push Mk to the ground on his backside. Mk had instinctively put up his arms as defense but he was still knocked down. He barely even registered what had happened.

Monkie Kid blinked his eyes and looked up at his dad. His dad's fists were clenched and he was breathing heavily. His expression was the most furious Mk had seen. Mk was scared. He could feel himself start to shake.

Wukong seemed to notice this as he snapped out of his anger. His eyebrows raised in shock as he stared down at his son. He un-clenched his fists and stood up straight. Wukong was taking deep breaths. He began to look around to his sides as he gradually backed up.

"No no no no.." Wukong mumbled.

Mk was confused at what he was seeing. He slowly stood up from the ground. He had been pushed back quite a few feet away from his dad. If he was a weak mortal, he would've been sent into the wall.

"D-Dad..?" Mk called out as he hesitantly reached forward.

"No no I'm.. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean.." Wukong kept backing up as he looked around the floor.

"What? Dad, I'm fine, see?" Mk walked up to his dad, but keeping some space between them.

Wukong blinked a few times.. and then slowly brought his gaze up to meet his son's eyes. Monkie Kid's stare was full of pity and confusion. Wukong shook his head and rubbed his hand down his face as he sighed. He then took in a deep inhale.. and then a deep exhale.

".....Well.. it seems my star is bonding with the moon." Wukong said, staring blankly at Mk. It took Mk a second to realize that he was referring to Mk as the 'star' and Macaque as the 'moon'. "Since you two have already become so chummy that you gossip and keep secrets, maybe I should just let you two spend more time together. After all, Macaque has a lot of lost time to make up for with you.." Wukong turned and started walking towards the nest. He then sat down in front of it in the lotus position.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?" Mk asked as he followed.

"I'm gonna go into meditation. I need to think."

"What!? For how long??"

"(Sigh) I don't know, Mk. Maybe for as long as it takes Macaque's stubbornness to subside.." Wukong said with slight bitterness on his tongue.

"But- I- Come on dad, you can't be serious!" Mk protested, but Wukong didn't listen. He closed his eyes, and his body began to glow. Confirming that he was now locked in meditation. He was still relatively aware of his surroundings in this state, but mostly his mind was dreaming. "URGG!" Mk shouted angrily as he turned around and kicked a rock as far as he could.

He stomped his way towards the waterfall and didn't even bother opening it up. He just jumped straight through.

=End of flashback=

At the time, after Mk had jumped through the waterfall, he had just sat outside soaking in not only wetness, but his anger as well. He would occasionally throw rocks in the water or kick some dirt to get out the pent up frustration. But, he eventually dried himself off to the best of his ability, and that's when he visited Macaque. And either Macaque hadn't noticed he was wet, or he just didn't question it at the time.

Mk's priority right now though was wanting to sneak the stone slab drawing out, so that he could show it to Macaque. He knew that his dad couldn't see what he was doing, but he could still somewhat hear and smell.

----

"Wait so he-.. Wukong kidnapped Macaque?" Nezha asked, baffled. "Why would he do that??"

"I have no clue. But, when I told Ao Guang about it, he had a theory that Sun Wukong was trying to.. court kidnap him?" Mei explained. Both Redson and Nezha stared at her with wide eyes. They then looked at each-other and seemed to speak a thousand words just with their stares. Both of their faces began to turn a light pink.

"(Ahem) Um.. But Wukong doesn't even have those instincts. So why would he need to courtnap his own friend?"

'Did he just say 'courtnap'?' Mei wondered as she tried not to giggle.

"Well clearly they're not 'friends' anymore. Haven't you been paying attention??" Redson asked.

"Wha- Excuse me??"

"(Sigh) He kidnapped him, brother. And how long has it been since you've seen the two together, exactly?"

"Um.. Well, that would've been back when they were still on the journey to the west," Nezha said, "but, then around 10 or so years after that, Sun Wukong just became sort of closed off and didn't allow anyone into Flower Fruit Mountain. I figured it was because he was being super protective of his upcoming child. And.. I also figured that Macaque was.. helping him out with.." Nezha's speaking came to a slow as he looked down at the floor. He seemed to be remembering something.

"...What is it?" Mei asked.

"..." Nezha put his hand on his chin as he thought, "it's just.. there was something that Wukong had said back when Redson was born. He mentioned being in a 70 year meditation. And he said that he had been waiting for someone.."

="I don’t get why they haven’t come back. They usually always would.”=

"Then, around 14 years after that, when you lit that forest on fire-"

"You lit a forest on fire!?" Mei blurted out and Redson tensed. "Heeey wait a second.. How long ago was that?"

Nezha raised his eyebrow and said, "um.. I guess around 4 years ago. It was when Redson was 14, and you were most likely 14 as well."

"Holy crap! That must've been the forest that me and Macaque were living in at the time! The forest surrounding our first cave suddenly caught on fire and Macaque told me later that he saw some unfamiliar boy burning it! It was you!"

"Oh calm down, no one even died in that fire.. Luckily.." Redson uncomfortably squeezed his arm, feeling guilty.

Nezha noticed Redson's feelings, and tried to stay on topic, "Alright, that's enough. It's in the past. Anyway, as I was saying. At the time when me and the celestial guards were investigating the fire, we found Wukong in there. For some reason, he was trying to capture one of Macaque's clones. Said that it was his 'first lead in 14 years' or something."

"...Yeah... Back then, Macaque told me that we had to leave because he used his super hearing and.. well, some time later he said that he heard Sun Wukong talking in the fire. He sorta had a panic attack over it and I had to calm him down."

"A panic attack?" Redson questioned, "good Gods, just what on Earth did that Sun Wukong do to make Macaque have a panic attack over just hearing his voice??"

"Something that supposedly made him leave and not wanna come back for 70 or more years," Nezha said. "Did he tell you, Mei?"

"Y-Yeah... Sun Wukong kindaaa sortaaa... permanently blinded ma dad's right eye.."

Nezha covered his mouth with a shocked expression. His eyebrows then furrowed as he looked around the floor, seemingly lost in thought. Redson's face seemed to be cringing at the idea. Having one's eye permanently scratched out isn't exactly a pretty thing to imagine.

"I thought.. Did the journey not teach him anything? Has he really not changed?" Nezha wondered out loud; his voice was muffled through his hand still covering his mouth. "(Sigh) if only Tripitaka were still alive.."

"Well, he killed my dad after the journey to the west. So I'm not really all that surprised." Redson muttered, which made both Mei and Nezha look at him. Nezha seemed a bit timid at hearing this and Mei seemed sympathetic. Redson unfolded his arms and his fists clenched.
"What if he's done something like that to Mk?" He spoke with quiet anger.

"No, I don't think he would do that. Mk was given to him as a challenge to see if he could take care of a child. Wukong is surprisingly patient, so I don't think he would break that challenge in only 18 years. And considering that he brought Macaque back, I'm hoping that he's changed, at least a little, and wants to make amends for what he did to Macaque."

"Meaning...?" Mei questioned.

"Meaning, that if he is wanting to 'make up' with Macaque. Then that would mean he would never want to harm anyone he loves like that, again. I can't promise anything, but from my observations, you can rest assured that Mk will be okay.. I hope.." Nezha explained.

Redson stared at him for a bit, folded his arms back and looked to the side. But then, his eyebrows raised, "wait, how did you figure out that Mk is Sun Wukong's child!?"

"..You literally said during the celestial meeting that your friend was 'trapped in their own home by their father.' Also, It doesn't take a genius to see that M.K. stands for Monkie Kid, right? Nuwa told me what Wukong had named him." Nezha explained and Redson became flustered as he looked away. There was an awkward silence.

"...I guess we should probably get to my training now, huh?" Mei asked. Redson glanced at her, then looked to the floor. He sighed and nodded.

"Will you find her a wand, please?" Redson asked and Nezha nodded and walked out of the room.

"So, what do we do after I learn the spell? I-I'm, not exactly the best at planning." Mei scratched the back of her neck nervously. Nezha was already back with a wand. Redson closed his eyes as he thought for a moment.

"(Sigh) Alright, here's the plan..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

It was now night time and Sun Wukong was still in meditation. Half his mind was aware of his surroundings while the other half was in the trance.

He found himself in a predominantly white space. The floor would occasionally be decorated with golden swirl designs. The place had some pretty sparkles floating around. But the most notable thing was the feeling of the environment. It felt 'heavenly' or peaceful.

Then, a person he saw in the distance, explained why this place felt like that. Why this place gave off a feeling of completion and comfort.

"Master..?"

The person Wukong saw turned their head. They seemed surprised, but then they smiled and ushered for him to come over. Wukong lightly blushed as he shyly obliged. He walked over and sat next to them.

"How have you been, Sun Wukong?"

"...F-Fine..." Wukong answered awkwardly.

"Haha, no need to act so formal. Everyone is equal in the afterlife. Including us."

"Right.. I guess that's probably true.. Tripitaka."

----

Mei spent a lot of day eight attempting to learn the scent hiding spell. She had never used a wand before so it was a bit tricky getting the hang of it. Redson told her that it was as easy as thinking. She had really only seen a wand in a shadow play Macaque put on for her. But as far as Mei remembered, he had only shown her one play where a character had a wand. Although it's not like it would help her either way; the play was about a woman who used a wand to turn men into pigs. So yeah, not helpful.

She tried just holding the wand in both hands with her eyes closed; focusing all her energy into the wand. Redson tried to stop her but it was too late. The wand had exploded from her putting too much of her power into it. Luckily they had plenty to spare but still, it was quite the surprising sight.

"Hm.. It seems to me like you've been brute forcing everything your whole life. I suspect that patience doesn't come easy to you." Redson had said.

"Well it's kinda hard to be patient when there's lives on the line! And just what do you mean 'brute forcing'?? I've got plenty of patience thank you very much!" Mei folded her arms and huffed.

Nezha then chimed in, "Mei, did Macaque ever teach you any meditation techniques?" It seemed Nezha didn't quite believe her.

"Uhh no not really. I mean, he would meditate sometimes but he never made me do it."

"Huh... Well I guess one can hardly blame the guy." Nezha had then proceeded to bring Mei to the meditation room. Redson dreaded going in there, but he ironically did a lot better than Mei. Even if you're really good at something, you don't always have to enjoy it. After all, Mei is pretty decent at lying but she doesn't like doing it.

Through out the meditation, Mei's knee kept bouncing. Her eyebrows were furrowed, refusing to relax. She would also take way too deep and heavy breaths. Redson had told her that they could hear her breathing and she blushed from embarrassment.

To put a long story short, the wand training and meditation obviously did not work out on the first day. So they decided to put it to rest and try again the next day. Mei spent the last of the day looking around heaven; well, at least the places she was aloud to look around.

The place was absolutely stunning to her. All her life she had been surrounded by nature. But this place looked so modernized. It almost intimidated her. It was very clean and organized but that definitely made Mei feel a little out of place.

She made that known to Redson in a sort of jokey way, but it seems like he saw right through her.

"(Sigh) come on, let's get you some proper clothing." He had said.

She did enjoy playing dress up with the shiny dresses, but she settled for something with pants; It's better to fight in. Luckily they had some dragon-themed clothing left over that Ao Lie never got to wear. Mei wanted to share the fun with Redson, so she offered to braid his hair. He declined, weirdly defensively, and said that he only braids his hair for 'one person only now', whatever that means.

She ended up having to sleep in the nursery room with a bunch of young kids. They all gave her weird looks and one bluntly said 'but she's old. Why is she sleeping in here?'. Nezha had to explain to them that it was only temporary.

Still, even though they were just kids, Mei had a hard time sleeping. She always either slept alone or slept with Macaque watching over her (he would sleep sometimes too, but only if he really needed it.) So she didn't feel all too safe with these young strangers.

In the middle of the night, she tried her best to scoot her bed tightly into the corner of the room, so that her back could be facing the wall. Eventually, after much tossing and turning, she was able to fall asleep.

The dream she had was hardly a dream. It was more.. a visit from someone.

----

"Wow, that must be the first time you have referred to me by name. It feels strange to hear but, I like it." Tripitaka said.

"Y-Yeah well, I figured that's what you meant when you say we're 'equal' or whatever.." Wukong scratched the back of his head. "I remember you used to just call me 'monkey' when you were upset with me haha.."

"Hahaha, yeah, and you would call me 'o strict monk' when you disagreed with my teachings," they both laughed it off. "Haah.. But, speaking on that... Sun Wukong, I do feel I may have been, well, too strict with you."

"Huh? What makes you think that?"

"Well, there were a few times that even I was wrong, and I inexcusably punished you for them. I am at least glad that your friend, Macaque, was there to comfort you during those times. But-"

"My friend you say?" Wukong sounded slightly irritated.

"...(Sigh) yes, you're right. I should have tried harder to be friends with Macaque as well. Ao Lie did much better in that regard.. But, speaking on Ao Lie, that is what I was trying to get at.."

Wukong tensed up, having a feeling he knew what his old master was going to say.

"Sun Wukong, I know what you did, and, I feel my punishments may have been partly responsible for it..."

"..."

"(Sigh) You do not have to admit it now, but I feel that some day you should, at least to Macaque. You know that Ao Lie and Macaque had gained a bond through out the journey. Your jealousy over that bond and your obsession over Macaque made you do such a terrible thing..."

"Hmph.." Wukong hugged his knees, looked away, and his tail curled around his legs.

"...Do you regret it?"

"No! It had to be done!" Wukong whipped his head to look at Tripitaka, but Tripitaka didn't seemed phased at all. Still holding that pitying blank expression.

"Why? Was Ao Lie not also a dear friend to you?"

"I-.. Well- Yes, he was a dear friend, but he was the reason that Macaque left me, I know it! Why else would-.. Why else would Macaque have left me so easily..?" Wukong's voice cracked as he looked away.

"..." Tripitaka silently watched Wukong. "You know you will have to tell Macaque sooner or later. If you truly do cherish him, then he deserves to know the truth."

"..Pfft, why should I? He'll just avoid me even more."

"....Hm.... That is what I was afraid you would say. And, as I was getting at earlier, I feel I am partly to blame. The journey seems to have made you more attached to Macaque then you ever were. Maybe because he was always there for you during my punishments..."

"..." Wukong's eyes widened and his lips tightened.

"Is that why the thought of him leaving and being friends with Ao Lie, aggravated you so much? Is that why jealousy consumed you?"

"..."

"I apologize, Sun Wukong. I did not intend to make you feel that Macaque was the only medicine to your grief..."

"He told me he would never leave me."

"Huh?"

Wukong folded his arms on top of his knees as he continued, "during one of your.. particularly unfair tightening of the circlet, I had begun to.. cry in Macaque's arms. He begged you to stop, and you did... I looked up into his eyes, and I said to him, 'please, Macaque, don't ever leave me'... And he said back to me, 'of course, Wukong, I would never leave you.'"

"...Yes, It is hard when a promise is broken. But, there are certain things that make it justified. You greatly scarred him, Sun Wukong. Not to mention you killed his good friend, Ao Lie. Tell me, do you really believe that you still deserve that promise?"

Wukong glared into the nothingness of the trance. He was about to get angry with his old master, but then... Something in the real world alerted him.

His son still hadn't come back to bed.

----

Mei opened her eyes, finding herself in a white abyss again. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. In every direction she looked, it was all just white blankness; like a void with no exit. She raised her eyebrow with curiosity. Just as she took two steps, she heard a newly familiar voice call to her.

"Mei! Over here!"

She turned to see her great-grandfather in the distance waving his hand. Mei rolled her eyes and then a smile grew on her face. She then jogged over to him.

"Fancy seeing you here, great-gramps," It was an ironic nickname, considering Ao Lie didn't look old at all in her dreams. Well, except for that one vision she had when she touched the water. But, that doesn't count since it was a vision of the past.

"Oh wow, looks like you're putting my celestial clothes to good use! They look nice on you!" Ao Lie complimented. Mei blushed and said a bashful 'thanks' as she giggled.

"How's the underworld been treatin' ya?" Mei asked.

"Huh? Oh I wouldn't call it that. I prefer to call it, the afterlife. But, yeah, I guess it technically is the underworld.." Ao Lie scratched the back of his head as he chuckled.

"..Heh.. Well, if you're here, there must be an important reason right? Unless you just came to visit me." Mei folded her arms and raised her eyebrow with a smirk.

"Haha, visiting my great-granddaughter is nice, but you're right. There is a special reason. Although, I must say, reaching you was much easier this time for some reason.."

Mei thought about it for a second, and then remembered where she was. "Oh, that might be because I'm in the celestial realm right now. Maybe being surrounded by celestial energy makes it easier for you to reach me?"

"...I mean I was gonna say it's because we've created a closer connection but, your idea works too." Ao Lie said with a small smile. Mei blushed out of embarrassment as she looked to the side.

"Sooo what's the 'special' reason?"

"Right well... There's something that I wanted to tell you, since I don't know if he'll admit it himself."

"Who? Macaque?"

"No.. Sun Wukong."
Mei looked away uncomfortably and let out a quiet 'oh' in response. Ao Lie sat down on the white floor and patted the spot next to him. Mei sat down and folded her legs while holding onto her ankles.
"You see, I didn't even know this when I was alive. I only found out after I died. I guess dying has it's perks. You become almost all knowing.. almost.."

"Okay? What are you getting at?" Just after she asked that, she had a quick realization. Mei suddenly felt like she might know what Ao Lie was going to say, and it made her nervous. She sucked in a quiet breath; bracing for if the dots that connected in her head were true.

"Well.. I was uhh.. heh this is pretty hard to say out loud haha.." Ao Lie seemed to be forcing a smile. "I know I should've come to terms with it by now but, I've never actually talked to anyone about it so..."

"..."

"Because, it felt like such a betrayal, but uhh the thing is..." Ao Lie inhaled and then exhaled deeply before continuing. "I was killed by-"

"Sun Wukong." Mei said bluntly. Ao Lie's eyes widened as he stared at her. Mei quickly glanced at him and then looked away. She grabbed her arm uncomfortably.

"Wha- How did you..?"

"Yeah I.. kinda pieced it together while you were stalling. Oh and uh, your brother, Ao Guang, he told me that you were murdered. So I knew that much.." An anger began to boil in Mei, knowing that Sun Wukong had hurt both her adoptive and biological family. "Which means he also killed my 'real' parents..."

"..." Ao Lie was looking at Mei for a while, and then he looked down at his lap. He then tugged at his clothing nervously as he said, "right yeah, he did tell you that... But, Mei, could you do me a favor?"

"What's up?"

"I... I don't want you to tell him that-.. th-that Wukong.. killed me." It seemed very hard for Ao Lie to say out loud, like he still couldn't believe it after all this time.

"What!? Why??" Mei said as she whipped her head to look at him.

"B-Because, if he knew, then I know he would certainly want to get revenge for me. And if he did that, then.. I don't know WHAT Wukong would do anymore.. It's like I never knew him in the first place.." Ao Lie's voice was wavering and Mei could tell that he was probably holding back tears. Although, not for long, since the tears began to fall and he covered his face with his sleeves.

Mei didn't really know what to do so she scooted a bit closer. "I-Is it okay if I hug you?" She asked quietly. Ao Lie nodded his head and Mei wrapped her arms around him. Ao Lie unexpectedly turned towards her and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder as he hugged her back. She could feel him trembling as he cried. Mei hesitantly lifted her hand up, and started petting Ao Lie's head.

"Shh shh it's.. It's okay. At least you've got me, yeah?"

Ao Lie simply nodded his head in response. Mei could feel the tears staining her clothes, but, it felt very distant. In fact, she just realized that she could barely feel Ao Lie hugging her. It was most likely because she was in a dream; the dream making everything feel sort of ghosty and half there.

They sat there in silence for a bit longer, apart from Ao Lie's hiccups. Mei soothed him just as Macaque had soothed her. She really missed Macaque. Mei was sure that Ao Lie probably missed Macaque as well.

Finally, he pulled out of the hug and wiped his tears with his sleeves. Mei brought her hands back down and squeezed her ankles.

They were both quiet for a bit, but then he spoke, "however, someone who does deserve to know, is Macaque. Wukong isn't.. well, he just isn't good for Macaque. I was the first person that found out about Macaque's eye you know. I tried everything I could to make it go back to normal. His eye at least healed, but nothing could take away the scar on his face, and nothing could bring back his sight..."

Mei looked down feeling sad. She wasn't gonna respond, until she thought of something. She perked up and looked back at her great grandfather and said, "well, on the bright side, at least there's evidence of Sun Wukong's violence against my dad."

Ao Lie looked at her with raised eyebrows. He thought about what she said for a moment, and then chuckled.
"Haha, yeah I guess you're right. If it had completely healed, Wukong probably would've just brushed it off."

Mei lightly smiled but it faded just as quick as it came. There was a question that was heating up in her brain. If she kept it to herself any longer, it would probably burn a hole through her head.

"Hey, great grandpa?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think our plan will work? I mean, well, mostly Redson's plan but.. a-anyway, do you?" Mei's fingers started nervously squeezing the fabric over her ankles; which she could barely feel in this dream world.

"...No I don't."

"Huh?? Wait, why?" Part of Mei was surprised that he knew the plan in the first place. But, he did say that the afterlife makes him 'almost' all knowing.

"Your plan is to wait until the day that Wukong usually leaves. Except, Wukong no longer has a reason to leave, since he now has Macaque. So what will you do if you go there and he sees you?"

"W-Well, it's not like we were gonna rush in. On that day, we were only planning on just scoping out the surroundings and seeing what we're getting ourselves into. We were wanting to do it at night."

"And then? What will you do after that?"

"We... We don't know after that. Redson just said that for now, I need to use these days to learn a few useful spells. He says that we can't formulate a proper plan until we fully know what we're dealing with."

Ao Lie frowned as he thought for a second. He then sighed as he pinched between his eyes.
"If something goes wrong, you need to have some sort of quick escape plan. Because Macaque isn't going to be able to portal you out of there.."

"Mm.." Mei then blinked in confusion as she fully registered what Ao Lie just said, "wait a minute, what? What do you mean!?"

"...Oh that's right, you don't know. Well you see-"

----

=Meanwhile with Mk=

=A few hours earlier=

It was the evening and the sun was just beginning to set. Mk's dad was still refusing to come out of meditation. Mk decided to get risky. He grabbed one of his bigger shirts and used it as a bag. The monkeys brought some bananas for him and he also put the rock slab in it.

Mk then crept his way to the inner walls of the mountain. He sidled along them as he watched his dad for any sudden movements. Finally, he made it to the waterfall exit. Mk kept his eyes on Wukong as he put his hand behind him to open the waterfall. He then hopped backwards and made it through. Quickly, he shut the waterfall back up before Wukong even knew what happened.

Mk made his way toward wherever Macaque was. There were two monkeys riding on his shoulders. He relied on his sense of smell to find his 'other dad'. The scent that had gotten a bit stinkier today, but Mk doesn't have the guts to tell him that.

Eventually, he spotted him. It was pretty dim outside, and with Macaque's dark fur it was a bit hard to see him. Mk called out to him, but when Macaque turned towards him, he seemed a bit flustered for some reason. When Mk got a bit closer, he figured out why. Macaque was in the middle of taking off his hanfu.

"Oops haha, am I interrupting something?" Mk asked.

"N-No uhh you're fine. I was just um.. Wanting to find a place to wash my shirt.." A blush grew on Macaque's face, and even his six ears seemed to glow a light pink.

"Huh? Isn't it gonna get cold?"

"Ehh, I've been sleeping in a cave for a few years now. One night without a shirt will be fine. Besides, Flower Fruit Mountain is usually pretty warm." Macaque said as he held his shirt-hanfu and started flopping any dust or dirt off of it.

Mk frowned as he didn't feel satisfied with that answer. Even if it was just one night, he couldn't stand the idea of Macaque shivering and not being able to get any sleep. One monkey hopped over onto Macaque's shoulder.

"Wha- hey!" Macaque protested but he was chuckling as if he actually didn't mind. The monkey hugged his head and rubbed it's cheek against his. "Haha stop, that tickles hahaha!" It then climbed on top of his head and sprawled out over it. "Heh.. So uh, what brings you out for a second visit? I figured Wukong was the type that would only allow you one visit a day."

"Yeeeah about that.." Mk scratched the back of his neck as he continued, "me and him got into a.. little argument this morning and um.. He's kind of been in a meditation ever since."

"...(Sigh) classic Wukong, avoiding his problems.." Macaque folded his arms and lightly shook his head; careful not to move the monkey too much.

"Well anyway, I brought you some bananas! And there's something else I brought that I wanted to ask you about," Mk pulled out three bananas that were sticking together and handed it to Macaque. He then pulled out the rock slab with the drawing on it. "Do you know anything about this?"

Macaque leaned a bit and squinted his eyes; the rock probably being a bit hard to see in this dim evening light. His eyes then widened. "Oh wow... Sure haven't seen that in a hot minute."

"...Welp, I really expected more of a shocked reaction to be honest."

"Pfft I mean, what's there to react to? It's just a drawing me and Wukong did."

"Wait, so you were the one who drew this one??" Mk pointed at the Macaque drawing. Macaque's eyes widened a bit and he looked away. He cleared his voice and let out a very mumbled '...yes...' in response. Mk's cheeks were starting to ache from how much he was holding back laughter. Even he was better at drawing then that.

Macaque frowned as his ears could very clearly pick up on Mk's hushed little snickers exhaling out of his nose. "Yeah yeah ha ha, Wukong is obviously way better at art than me. But I'll have you know that he always told me my drawings looked great." Macaque had his finger pointed up matter-of-factually.

Mk couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst into laughter whilst still trying to cover his mouth and stop himself. "Hahaha i-i'm so sorry haha!"

Macaque was pouting, but he ended up rolling his eyes and quietly chuckling too. After Mk had calmed down, he had remembered something that he wanted to mention.

"Oh yeah, um.. for some reason, dad wanted to keep this drawing hidden. I first found it when I was five, and when I showed it to him, he just told me the other person was his 'warrior'. After that, I didn't see it again until I found it recently. I'm just glad that I finally met the other person in the drawing." Mk smiled as he looked down at the art. The monkey on his shoulder stared at the rock curiously.

"Eh my only guess is that he probably just didn't want you asking about me too much."

Mk nodded his head in agreement. He then looked down at what he was still holding and had a realization.

"Oh hey," Mk put the rock slab down and handed Macaque the now empty shirt he was holding. "You can wear this while your hanfu dries!"

"Oh, thank you.." Macaque seemed a bit awkward as he took the shirt with his partly occupied hands. He handed his hanfu and the bananas to Mk. He also picked the monkey off his head and put it on Mk's head. He then put on the long sleeve shirt.

"You can keep it if you want. Long sleeve isn't really my style. I prefer to show off my muscles." Mk said as he flexed with a smirk, which got a chuckle out of Macaque.

"Heheh, thanks Monkie Kid." Macaque took the bananas and his dirty hanfu back. He then gestured with his head for Mk to follow him. Mk didn't want to carry the rock slab the whole way so he pulled out a hair clone and told it to just put the drawing back behind that bush.

...

They arrived at the beach area that was by Macaque's favorite peach tree. Macaque had scarfed down two bananas on the way and let the monkeys devour the last one. He had started washing his shirt in the water and Mk leaned against the tree as he watched. The two monkeys climbed up the tree to find a spot to sleep.

Mk twiddled his fingers nervously as he asked, "hey, Macaque?"

"Hm?" He called back as he continued washing his hanfu.

"I was just.. W-Well um.. I was just wondering if I could uhh.. If I.."

Macaque paused his washing and turned to look at Mk with a raised eyebrow.

"C'mon, spit it out."

"(Sigh) Could I s-sleep with you tonight? I just don't wanna be around my dad right now..."

Macaque's eyes widened and his ears flickered a bit. He looked down at the sand as he thought for a second.

"Yeah, of course, bud." He said with a sincere smile. Mk squealed as he shook his fists with excitement. Macaque then stood up and squeezed as much water out of his hanfu as he could. He then walked over to the tree and hung it on a branch to dry.

Macaque then sat down next to Mk and he immediately cuddled close, which caught Macaque by surprise. Mk's head was against Macaque's chest. Macaque hesitantly wrapped his arm around Mk's shoulder.

He could hear Mk's heart beat. It was deep and relaxed. Unlike his own heart beat that was kinda fast. Only because he was a bit shy from the closeness. He didn't mind though. It sort of reminded him of when Mei was younger. They used to cuddle back then.

That thought put a smile on his face, and he closed his eyes.

----

=Present time=

Wukong stood up as he realized he hadn't heard Mk come to bed. Part of him was worried and the other part was thankful for the excuse. He turned around and was about to leave but then he felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Sun Wukong, please, you must tell him and apologize so you two can move on from each other."

"Urgg I don't want to move on from him! I've been told by you and Nezha to let him go, but I don't want to!" Wukong tried to walk away but Tripitaka stood up as well and instead grabbed Wukong's hand.

"Please Wukong, think about my words. Apologizing and moving on are steps to becoming a better person. Even if it takes small steps to do that."
Wukong is quiet... before yanking his hand away and storming off.

...

He awakens out of his meditation with a gasp. Wukong checks behind him to re-confirm that, yes, Mk wasn't in the nest. He immediately stood up and zoomed through the waterfall, standing on his cloud. He floated over and then straight down to the low ground outside the mountain.

It was dark outside so he turned on his gold vision to see better. Wukong then caught a whiff of both of his family's smells. He turned his head in it's direction and zoomed in his gold vision. A specific tree with many memories came into view. On the side of this tree, he saw a long tail sticking out.

Wukong made the cloud speed over toward the tree. When he floated in front of it, what he saw was quite the surprising sight.

His son was sleeping soundly in the arms of his mate. Wukong squatted down on the cloud and floated a bit closer. His gold vision still being on so that he could lock this moment in his memory. He imagined himself being on the other side of Mk; all three of them cuddling with Mk in the middle.

He reached his hand forward and was about to caress Mk's face, but then he paused. Wukong looked at Macaque's shirt and realized it was one of Mk's. He then looked up and saw Macaque's hanfu that he somehow didn't notice before. It seemed to be hung up to dry.

"Hm.. needs new clothes.." Wukong mumbled without thinking. His head whipped back to look at Macaque as he saw his eyes crack open. The second that Macaque saw Wukong, he gasped and Wukong quickly covered his mouth. "Ssshh.. our child is sleeping. Let's not wake him up now."

In Macaque's point of view, all he could really see were a pair of two glowing golden eyes. They were vaguely lighting up Wukong's face.

Macaque did a short nod in response and Wukong slid his hand particularly slow off Macaque's lips. He then dragged his hand up Macaque's face and slid his thumb down part of the scar. His hand then moved down around his jawline and finally let go off the edge of his chin.

Macaque let out a breath he seemed to be holding.

Wukong floated a bit away and stood up. He then pulled a hair out to create a clone of himself. The clone popped out, looking clueless.

"Carry Mk back to bed. And be careful and quiet about it."

The clone saluted as it leaned down and was about to carry Mk when it noticed Macaque. "Oh, hey Macaque," it whispered with a delighted smile. It then turned to Wukong, "should we carry this one to bed too?"

Wukong hesitated for a bit, but then he shook his head. The clone pouted with disappointment as it looped it's arms underneath the cub and carried him back as carefully as it could.

Now, it was just Wukong and Macaque, alone. There was a bit of an awkward silence before Macaque sighed and stood up.

"Macaque.. I-"

"Oh save it, Wukong."

Macaque dusted off the back of his legs and turned to leave. Before he could get far though, Wukong stepped off his cloud and did something.

"Wait just, stop!" Wukong reached his hand forward and activated the circlets.

"W-Wha- Hey!" Macaque yelled as his wrists were pulled above his head and he was pinned against the tree. He pulled at his restraints fruitlessly. "Urg, Wukong, let go!"

"(Sigh) Look, this is the only way I'm able to get you to listen, okay? So just be quiet and hear me out... please.." Wukong walked over and cupped Macaque's face as they locked eyes.

Macaque frowned and looked away. His eyelids narrowed and he sighed, saying, "fine."

"Thank you." Wukong then leaned his forehead against Macaque's and closed his eyes. Macaque instinctively closed his eyes as well from their close proximity. Wukong took in a long inhale, taking in a lot of Macaque's scent. He then breathed out sharply.

He reluctantly let go of Macaque's face and snapped, deactivating the circlets. Macaque's wrists were released and he folded his arms.

"(Sigh)... Look, if it's that special to you, then you can keep it." Wukong reached into his shirt and pulled out-

"My eyepatch?" Macaque looked down at it with semi-wide eyes. It seemed he was trying to hide his excitement and relief.

Wukong was avoiding eye contact as he motioned his hand toward Macaque; ushering him to take the eye patch. Macaque slowly reached forward and grabbed the eye patch with the tip of his fingers. He held it close to his chest.

Wukong turned off his gold vision and stepped back on to his cloud.

"Sleep well, moonlight." Before he could hear Macaque's response, he made his way back up the mountain.

He was still wet from when he burst through the waterfall earlier, so he decided to open it this time. He floated through and let the waterfall close back up.

Wukong quickly changed out of his wet clothes and into some other ones as he got into the nest. Although, he actually turned away from Mk.

Hoping that his cub was still asleep, he mumbled to himself...

"Small steps..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

"If something goes wrong, you need to have some sort of quick escape plan. Because Macaque isn't going to be able to portal you out of there.." Ao Lie explained.

"Mm.." Mei then blinked in confusion as she fully registered what Ao Lie just said, "wait a minute, what? What do you mean!?"

"...Oh that's right, you don't know. Well you see-"

...

Mei jolted awake at the sound of child laughter. Her tired eyes opened to see a kid on the bed near her's, jumping up and down on it. Then, another kid diagonal from Mei, sat up and thew a pillow at the jumper. It seemed that kid was just as irritated being woken up as Mei was.

Luckily, Nezha soon came into the room and ushered the kids to get up and leave for breakfast. Some kids excitedly left while others groggily left. Mei stayed where she was; her mind drifting off.

Day nine of Mei being gone, and day five of Redson being away from MK. Two more days until 'the plan' starts.

'Please just let me sleep, please just let me sleep..' Mei thought as she turned away and faced the wall. She heard some footsteps come behind her.

"..Mei?"

'Dammit..'

"Mmm?" Mei groaned in her half-asleep state.

"Did you.. want to have breakfast?" Nezha waited for a bit, but Mei didn't answer. "Uhh Mei?"

"Ugghh.." Mei groaned again, begrudgingly turning over on her back. "I had a dream last night."

"...Yeah, that's usually what happens when one sleeps."

"Oh don't get smart with me, young man," Mei pointed a finger at Nezha, with him just looking confused as ever. "I meant an important dream. One that was more than just a dream or a nightmare.."

"Really? What kind of dream?" Nezha asked as he sat on the edge of the bed. Mei sat up and folded her legs, making room for him to sit on that side.

"Less of a dream, more of a vision."

"You think you saw a premonition of the future?"

"Wait what? That's what vision means?" Mei felt stupid for using it wrong this whole time. "So, a 'vision of the past' isn't a thing?"

"Um.. not really, no.. If you're seeing the past then that would be retro-cognition." Nezha explained.

"Retro.. cog.. nition?.. Okay well, what about if you're seeing the present? Or if you're being visited by a ghost?"

Nezha blinked in surprise and then put his hand on his chin as he thought, "hmm.. I'm not really sure if there is a word for having a vision of the present time. I guess the only scenario where that would happen is astral projection."

"What's astral projection?"

"Uh, it's where you project your soul somewhere else. So, I guess that would be a 'present vision' per se. Since your mind is elsewhere seeing what is happening not around you."

Mei's eyes widened and then she said, "(Gasp) Wait, can I learn that?? What if we just do that instead of the original plan?"

"Uh.. I'm sorry, Mei. Only powerful celestial beings can astral project. Even I have a hard time doing it. Anyway, what was this 'important dream' you had?"

"Oh! Right yeah, well.."
Mei proceeded to explain her experience with Ao Lie. How he thought that their plan wouldn't work. How Ao Lie told her that they need to have an escape plan if things go wrong. She intentionally left out the beginning where Ao Lie told her that Sun Wukong murdered him. For some reason she just didn't wanna tell Nezha. But, she did however mention the last bit where Ao Lie mentioned that Macaque couldn't use his portals.

"And then I woke up before he could tell me the rest. Which is really freaking frustrating.. Although, I guess it should've been obvious that Macaque couldn't use his portals. Otherwise why wouldn't he have left?"

"Hm yes.. But that begs the question, how exactly is Wukong stopping Macaque from using his powers?" Nezha pinched his chin.

"(Sigh) I got no clue.. I guess we'll have to figure that out on the night we investigate. But before we do that, do we have anything that could let us have a quick escape if things go bad?" Mei asked.

"Oh that isn't a problem. We have celestial portals that we can connect to you. If things go 'bad' then you or Redson can signal to me with either his flames or your powers and I can get you out of there as quickly as I can."

Mei furrowed her eyebrows at that. She looked down at her hands which were squeezing her ankles. "As quickly as you can, huh?" She asked rhetorically.

"(Sigh) Look, this plan isn't without it's flaws or risks. We all need to be prepared for the unexpected. Now come on, you should eat something." Nezha said as he hopped off of the bed and walked towards the exit. He stopped, glanced at her one last time, and then left the nursery.

Mei laid back down and sprawled on the bed. An anger boiled in her as she remembered details about her dream that she kept to herself.

'Sun Wukong.. not only did he scar my dad's eye, but he killed my real parents AND my great grandpa...' Mei thought. 'I wish I could kill him myself. He deserves it..' Mei huffed as she begrudgingly got out of bed and went to go have breakfast with the children.

----

Mk awoke with confusion. He saw that he was back in the nest. He began to question his own memory on if he had actually slept with Macaque that night, or if it was all in his imagination. Mk then looked over and noticed that his dad was facing away from him... His dad... Wait.

'He's not in meditation anymore!' Mk realized as he fully woke out of his half-awake state. He sat up and just stared down at his sleeping dad. His hand hesitantly reached over and tapped his dad on the shoulder.

"Hey.. you awake?" Mk asked.

Mk didn't hear an answer, but just as he started coming out of the nest, he heard, "yeah."

"Oh.. Did you sleep at all?"

"....Yeah, a little."

Mk was starting to feel a bit awkward. He was still bitter about their argument yesterday morning, so he didn't really have much to say. He scratched the back of his head, feeling some dandruff enter his fingernails. There was an urge to ask his dad to groom him, but he stopped himself.

"Why did you carry me back to the nest?" Mk originally was gonna ask 'did I actually sleep in the nest last night?' but he felt like his dad would lie to him if he did. So he got straight to the point instead.

Wukong slightly curled in on himself, still refusing to turn around as he laid there. He was squeezing one of the pillows. For a few seconds he didn't answer, but then he finally said,
"(Sigh) I just.. didn't like that you didn't at least let me know."

"..." Mk didn't really know how to answer that. They were both quiet for a bit. A part of him felt bad for not letting his dad know that he was gonna sleep with Macaque. Something about his dad's tone made Mk feel like he was mad at him. "But.. Didn't you say that me and him should spend more time together?"

"Yes but this is different. When you didn't come to bed it-.. it freaked me out."

Mk started to feel bad. He had a very quick thought of if him and Redson had a kid. Would he also be paranoid if his kid didn't come to bed at night? Mk then thought of something to do.

Wukong slightly tensed as he felt his hair being gently ruffled. That finally got him to turn towards his son with a confused look. Mk could see some faded dark circles under Wukong's eyes.

"Haha.. Sorry, I'll let you know next time."

"..." Wukong blinked a bit, lowered his eyelids and then faced away from Mk again.

"...Well uh.. Since there isn't really much to do, I'm just gonna go hang out with Macaque. And I'll try not to 'gossip and keep secrets' as you say." Mk was expecting his dad to stop him, but as he pushed himself off the nest, his dad still laid motionless.

Mk then called for the monkeys and quite a few of them gathered around him. He asked them if they wanted to go play some 'classic monkey games' with Macaque and they all cheered. Mk and the little monkeys made their way toward the waterfall. He glanced one last time at his dad, then opened the waterfall, and left.

----

Redson has his hair tied in a low ponytail. He was sitting on a bench in one of the play areas. He was waiting for Nezha and Mei to meet up with him. Some of the kids had come up to him, pressuring him to play. However, he refused, saying that he was very busy. "You don't look busy," one kid had said, "you're just sitting there."

He just simply said back, "it's an adult thing, you wouldn't understand." And they pouted as they finally left him alone. Redson had been told that a few times when he was a kid, so it felt very satisfying being able to say it now; it brought a smile to his face.

His mind then began to drift off, thinking about Mk.

He remembered that strange thing he had seen in a trance a few years ago. It was when he was 14 and Nezha was punishing him by making him meditate (see chapter 3). In his meditative state, he had seen a red silhouette and a gold silhouette dancing together. Back then it didn't take him long to realize who the silhouettes were. Although, it was strange that they seemed to be taller versions of them, as if it was a future prediction. And well, Redson was about as tall as he was in that vision.

So now, he decided to imagine that, except replace the silhouettes with his and Mk's actual bodies. And just as he was in that old vision, he imagined himself wearing a braid. He was standing in front of the barrier. With just one touch, it shattered into nothingness, leaving no walls between him and Mk. Redson extended a hand and Mk gladly took it. He then extended his other hand and Mk rested his on that one too.

Redson then cupped Mk's face, and Mk put his hands on Redson's waist. In a perfect and slow way, Redson leaned in and they kissed. Both of their eyes closed, making it very romantic.

Of course, that part was a bit harder to imagine, since Redson hadn't actually kissed anyone. Although, other lesser demons have attempted to kiss him before. Him being a prince, he had been captured a few times in his life; whether it was being held hostage, or worse, them wanting to court him, hence the attempted kisses.

The imaginary Redson and Mk then hopped on a larger version of Mk's cloud. Redson had no clue if Mk's cloud could even expand, but in his imagination it could. They sat down and held onto each other as they flew off and found a nice volcano to settle by.

It may have been a bit cheesy, but at least this little fantasy made him smile. Because, just for once, he wanted to try living a settled and normal life.. with Monkie Kid. Because that's how Mk made Redson feel.

Simple and normal, in a good way of course.

Redson blinked as he heard Nezha's voice in the distance. He turned his head and saw him and Mei. Nezha was knelt down talking to a kid while Mei stood off to the side, awkwardly. Mei had her hair up in a high ponytail as usual. Redson shook his head, and lightly smacked his cheeks.

He was never going to admit this to the others, but he could at least admit it to himself.
Redson knew plenty enough about psychology to know that he is in love with Mk.

...

All three of them left the play area and went to the training room. On the way, Mei and Nezha explained her dream to Redson.

"(Sigh) I suppose he's right. It is a pretty risky plan. Hmm.." Redson put his hand on his hip and put his other hand over his mouth as he thought for a bit.

"I have an idea," Nezha said. "Have you ever heard of invisibility jades?"

"Invisibility jades?" Redson and Mei asked at the same time. Mei giggled with shock while Redson cringed and rolled his eyes.

"(Ahem) Yeah, they're exactly what they sound like. Jewels made by the Jade Rabbit that turn one invisible. But, in order to get some of those, one would have to go to the moon."

"The moon!?" Mei exclaimed. "How the heck are we gonna get to the moon!?"

"We aren't going to the moon. I'm going there by myself while Redson stays here and continues to train you."

"What?? Why can't we come? You know how much I could rub it in Macaque's face that I went to the freaking moon??" Mei shook her fists with frustration.

"Eh wouldn't going to heaven be impressive enough?" Redson asked and Mei looked at him, confused. "Because clearly he doesn't ever come up here, or I would have definitely heard of him. I mean, come on, a 'six eared' Macaque? No chance I wouldn't hear about someone like that visiting heaven."

"Yeah no, I don't know Macaque well, but I know for sure that he pretty much never comes to heaven. Even though he's technically a celestial himself. Not that he really acts like it.." Nezha casually explained as Mei stared at him with shock.

"He's a celestial too??"

"Well.. yes, you and him are both technically celestials. But, I phrase it like that because you both don't really come here and haven't been trained in the celestial ways."

Redson then cut in, "anyway, the point is, I feel your papa will most likely already be impressed that you even made it into the celestial realm."

Mei grumbled as she folded her arms, "rrmm but the moon would've been a lot cooler.." she mumbled.

"(Sigh) Don't worry, child," Nezha said as he put a hand on Mei's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities to have fun on the moon after this whole rescue mission is finished."

Mei stared at him for a bit and then smiled, "and we better bring Macaque and Mk with us!"

"Haha, of course. Now, I'm going to work out the paperwork, while you two continue the training." With that, Nezha left the firey duo to train.

...

They sat down as Mei insisted they take a break.

"You know, I was thinking. Why do we have to do this training? Why can't you just put the spell on me that day?" She asked.

"...Ehh I could but it's a bit too risky. That day I put the spell on you was actually the first time I had ever done it to someone else. I don't even know if it actually worked. Well, I know that it worked in the moment, since I couldn't smell you anymore. But I don't know how long it worked afterword. Although, considering I was the one who cast it, I guarantee it was absolutely immaculate!" Redson said as he puffed out his chest with pride.

Mei stared at him with an unimpressed look as she drank water from a gourd bottle.

'If you're so confident in your abilities, then we wouldn't be having this training sesh, now would we?' Mei sarcastically thought. She then stared at Redson's low ponytail and remembered something about the day they met.

"Hey, why don't you ever braid your hair again?" Mei asked, "(gasp) can I braid it?" She reached forward but before she could touch Redson's hair, he defensively stepped back.

"You've already asked that! A-And for the last time, no! I'm saving my braided hair for s-special things..." He looked off to the side, blushing. Mei then remembered that time Redson said he only braided his hair for 'one person only now'. She didn't really understand but she shrugged her shoulders and went back to drinking. "Alright, if you're done resting then let's get back to it. I want to use as much time as we have."

"Uggh fine.." Mei groaned as she put her gourd down and picked up the wand.

----

Mk once again used his sense of smell to find Macaque. It seems he never left the tree last night. A few of the monkeys were following Mk. He came up to the left side of the tree and peaked his head playfully. "Peak a boo!"

Mk saw Macaque sitting with his knees curled up against his chest as he stared at the beach ahead of him. He was still wearing the shirt that Mk had given to him. The monkeys then climbed up the tree that Macaque was sitting against.

"Hey.." Macaque said, his voice muffled in his legs.

"...Uhh.. You doin okay?" Mk asked as he walked a bit in front of Macaque. He then stopped and gasped at what he saw. "Wait- Your eye-patch!? Or, is that a new one you made?"

"Pfft, no, definitely not. Mei's the one good at that, not me..."

"...So... Dad gave it back after all?"

Macaque hesitated for a bit, and then he nodded. Mk blinked and then sat next to Macaque. He stared at the gently moving waves of the beach. Each time the water hit the shore it created a nice and peaceful sound.

"(Sigh) Sorry for being all mopey. Is there anything specific you wanted to talk about or did you just wanna hang out?" Macaque asked as he sat up with a smile.

"Yeah pretty much just hang out. Mostly cuz dad's acting really weird and- honestly more 'mopey' than you this morning. I don't know what's gotten into him.. But anyway, enough about him. You wanna play some classic monkey games??" Mk asked excitedly. He wanted to quickly change the subject as he had promised his dad that he wouldn't gossip.

"Oh? Which one? There's Tail Frisbee where you-"

"Where you tie your hands behind your back and only play with your tail!" Mk said super quickly as he shook his fists up and down with excitement.

"Haha yeah that. Or there's Monkey Seek, where a multitude of the little ones go hide and whoever finds the most gets a prize. Back then, the prize was usually Wukong or I making a meal. I would win most of them because of my good hearing haha. So I guess if I played that one with you, it would be a fair game."

"(GASP) you're riiiight! We should totally do that one!"
Macaque chuckled at Mk's cute enthusiasm.

"Alright then, time to see who's the true king of the monkeys. And no cheating with hair clones."

"Huh why not? Oh.. Can you not?"

"Nope. Wukong's little bracelets don't let me."

"Oh..." Mk stared down at Macaque's hands with a sad look. Macaque noticed this and tried to lighten the mood.

"Okay little ones! It's time to come out for hide and seek!" Macaque called out. A plethora of monkeys ran over to where Mk and Macaque were. They were all very happy to be able to play hide and seek with Macaque again after all this time.

----

Luckily, Li Jing made sure there wasn't much paperwork to go through. He let Nezha know that he had all his prior engagements covered; and that all he needed to do was sign where he was going to for that day.

-Who: Nezha
-Leaving to: Chang'e's moon palace
-Reasoning: To receive Invisibility Jades

Nezha thanked his father and went to the universal portal. It could take you to any of the marked spots, as long as you were granted permission.

...

He arrived at the moon. It had a breathable atmosphere thanks to Chang'e's gardens. He looked around the place; admiring it's natural beauty. Every building had been decorated with vines. Some vines made of pure gold and others being real.

There were many different kinds of flowers scattered across the sidewalks and pathways. Some of the flowers were pink lotus, how fitting. In the distance he could see a waterfall coming out of a cloud and falling into a glimmering pond.

As Nezha continued walking toward the main castle, he went passed what seemed to be a rabbit graveyard. It was decorated with the lycoris radiata flower. It seemed there was a flower for everything.

Before he could even walk up the steps to the castle, he was stopped by two guards.

"Wha- what is the meaning of this? I have clearance to be here." Nezha asked, offended.

"We know. But we cannot let you enter. Lady Chang'e and her apprentice, Jade Rabbit are in the middle of a very important ritual. They will not be done for a while. But they said that this ritual must not be interrupted." One guard explained.

"...Alright? Well how long will it take?"

The second guard then chimed in, "(Sigh) we have no clue. They've been in there all morning. It could take hours before they're done."

"..." Nezha furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, I'm sort of in a hurry. Is there any way you could just point me to where I can get a few Invisibility Jades?"

"Uhh no sorry. You'd need direct permission from both of our Ladies for that. Besides, the jades aren't just laying around here. Jade Rabbit herself needs to make them for you."

Nezha was holding back his irritation and trying his best to stay patient. He sighed in frustration and then spoke, "fine, then I'll just wait for them to be done."

...

He had been sitting in the graveyard in a lotus position. Meditation was the best way to pass the time. In his trance state, a bunch of small bunnies had appeared. It didn't take a genius to realize that these were the spirits of the babies that had passed away visiting him. Although, it definitely surprised him that almost all of them had been children when they died.

They seemed a bit scared, but he reassured them by giving them some pets. Some of them had curled up against him, supposedly for warmth. There were some grown rabbits, but they were male. So they didn't really know what to do for the babies. They just kept their distance and watched.

A few babies had been trembling with fear. Nezha made sure to be as quiet and gentle as possible as he reached forward and caressed their small bodies. They seemed to relax at his touch.

Nezha thought a prayer to them:

'I pray that you all pass on with peace in your hearts. I pray that you no longer wander the astral plain in misery and fear.'

...

Nezha blinked at the sound of one of the guards calling for him. He had no idea how long he was waiting there for. It was hard to tell the time at a place that was literally night time 24/7 all year round.

Chang'e greeted him at the castle entrance.

"Oh? What brings you here, Lotus Prince?"

Nezha bowed to her, "please forgive my intrusion, Lady Chang'e. I am here to ask your apprentice for some assistance. May I speak with her?"

"Haha, no need to be so formal. Jade Rabbit!" She called for her apprentice. When Jade Rabbit came out, she looked absolutely exhausted. Nezha hadn't noticed before, since Chang'e is much taller than him. But when he glanced up at her, she had subtle bags under her eyes. It seems whatever ritual they were doing cost a lot of energy.

"Guhhh yes?" She said.

"Hey, don't be so rude to our guest.." Chang'e whispered.

"(Sigh) Sorry m'lady..." She looked Nezha up and down. "Oh hey, I know you!" Jade Rabbit pointed a finger at Nezha and Chang'e gently smacked down her hand, reminding her not to be rude.

"Yeah, I recognize you two. The last time I saw you, you were much shorter. You've definitely grown." Nezha said.

"Heh, same goes to you. We were both kids, remember?"

"Yes haha.. But um, miss Jade Rabbit, I have an important request."

Nezha explained to her that him, Redson, and a girl named Mei needed to be invisible for their mission to have less risks.

"Hmph, well why should I help you? I don't recall ever being in your debt." She said as she folded her arms and looked away with her nose turned up.

"You're not helping me, you're helping the children. Redson is trying to save his friend and Mei is trying to save her father. Please, Jade Rabbit, I beg of you to lend us your jewels." Nezha begged as he clasped his hands together, staring at her desperately.

Her suspicious expression faltered for a second there. She looked away and frowned. "Oh please, I should not mix myself with your Earthly affairs. Find another solution to your-" Jade Rabbit then paused as her ears twitched. "W-what...?"

Nezha awkwardly looked to his sides, wondering what she was hearing. Chang'e didn't seemed phased by this at all. She was most likely used to this odd behavior.

"He really did that...?" Jade Rabbit rhetorically asked as she stared off into the distance. Nezha looked over his shoulder to see where she was looking. He saw the rabbit graveyard. Nezha then looked back at her as he heard her groan.

Jade Rabbit had her hands on her hips and her eyes closed with an annoyed expression.

"Alright fine!..." A blush grew on her face, "but only because you helped calm the spirits of the bunnies.."

"Thank you very much, Lady Jade.." Nezha bowed to her.

"Ehh don't mention it.. Just take them and get outta here. I wanna take a long nap after this."

...

When Nezha made it back home, it seemed as if no time had passed at all. It was still bright day time, but the sky was a bit dimmer. But.. something seemed different. It was quiet. He made his way to the training room, but couldn't find Mei or Redson anywhere.

He checked the library, but no one was in there either.

Nezha was about to check the nursery, but then he spotted someone sitting on a bench in the play area. He made his way over and he found-

"Mei??" Nezha said.

Mei looked as if she had just woken up. Her hair was a down and a bit messy. She looked over at him with tired eyes.

"Jeez, you sure took your sweet time. Did you have fun on the moon?"

"What do you mean? It's evening, so it probably only took half the day." Nezha said.

"..." Mei raised her eyebrow in absolute confusion. "What the heck are you talking about? It's morning. You were gone the whole day."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, it's the next day, dude.."

Nezha blinked in shock. Him being an immortal, it was a lot harder to tell how much time had passed. His meditative dream didn't even feel like it was that long. No wonder Chang'e and Jade Rabbit looked so exhausted. Their ritual had lasted a full 24+ hours.

Day ten of Mei being gone, and day six of Redson being away from Mk. One more day.

----

Mk slept in the nest that night. Wukong hadn't moved from that spot the whole day as far as Mk knew. His dad hadn't tried to cuddle him at all through out the night.

When he woke up that morning, his dad was gone. It didn't take Mk long to find him. Wukong was soaking in the hot spring that was located inside the mountain. Some monkeys were grooming Wukong's hair while he relaxed in the water. That gave Mk deja vu.

He sat down in front of the nest, waiting for his dad to be finished. Two monkeys had begun to groom his hair while he waited. After maybe 5 minutes, Wukong finally stepped out of the water. Mk glanced over but very quickly looked away as his dad was fully naked.

...

When his dad had dried up and dressed, Mk walked up to him.

"Hey dad?"

"Hm?" Wukong said without looking as he brushed his hands through his hair.

"...I... I know things have become a little awkward between us but.. I just want you to know that I still love you." Mk was fiddling with his shirt nervously. His tail had unconsciously wrapped around his ankle.

Wukong finally turned to look at him. He had a blank expression on his face. Although, he couldn't hide the slight surprise in his eyes. He then started chuckling and Mk couldn't really understand what this reaction meant.

Mk then blinked in shock as Wukong walked up and pulled him into a hug. He hesitated for a second, but then hugged him back.

"Thanks Mk.. I love you too."

They stayed like that for a few seconds and then Mk was the first to pull away. He picked at his fingers nervously and Wukong cocked his head at this.

"Is there.. something else you wanted to say?" Wukong asked. Mk looked up, surprised his dad noticed so quickly.

"W-Well, I was just thinking. Maybe you should come with me this time? I think it would be good for both of you if you two talked. Cuz I mean, he didn't outright say it, but I could tell he was a bit confused on why you gave back his eye-patch."

"..." There was that blank stare again. The stare his dad did so often that was so hard for him to read. Mk concluded a while ago that this was probably just his dad's 'thinking' face. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Macaque will want to see me haha.." Wukong scratched the back of his head.

"...Yeeeah he probably won't."

'I wouldn't wanna talk to someone who sealed away my powers and forced me to stay here either...' Mk thought but definitely didn't say out loud.

"But, the least you could do is tell him the reason. For why you gave it back and why you took it in the first place."

"...(Sigh) I already said, It's cuz you shouldn't hide your scars-"

"Dad. We all know that's not the real reason." Mk said firmly as he put his hands on his hips. He was honestly surprised at himself. It seemed Wukong was surprised as well as he stared at his son with wide eyes. "Uh.. n-now come on," Mk grabbed his dad's wrist. "Let's go."

Wukong didn't put up much of a fight as he let himself get dragged off.

"It looked like you two had fun yesterday. I saw you playing Monkey Seek.."

"Oh yeah, it was fun. A bit tiring but, still fun."

'Huh, so I guess he didn't stay in bed all day yesterday after all.' Mk thought.

"So who won?" Wukong asked.

"He won haha, but I was close! I don't really know how to make a meal so I just brought him the last of our plums. I hope you don't mind.. He said they're his favorite so that would be the perfect prize for winning!"

As Mk continued dragging Wukong along, a smile brimmed on Wukong's face.

----

A woman sits in her cell, bored out of her mind. The room is devoid of sound or smell. It was very dimly lit up by candles in each corner. Those candles never needed to be replaced. They were forever burning a magical light. But, they gave off no heat to melt the wax. It wouldn't even hurt if you touched their flames.

She stared at the wall which had a bunch of small strikes on it. Tiny little scratch marks to tell the time that she gave up on long ago.

All this woman could do in this cell was be lost in her thoughts. Longing for her deceased husband. Just craving revenge for her murdered loved one. But, she was unable to enact vengeance being trapped in this cell. Good thing she had a son who could do that. But that begs the question...

"Urgg... Just where the hell is that damn boy!?"

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

"RrraaAAAAHH!!" Princess Iron Fan screamed as she angrily banged her fists on the bars. She hadn't felt this enraged since the first few days of her husband's death. The loneliness and the boredom had clouded her mind. She was seething as she breathed harshly through gritted teeth. "If you fools don't tell me where my son is right now! I promise there will be hell!!"

The guard standing on the outside of the closed door wasn't responding to her. It made her so frustrated and unseen. She almost wanted to cry, but she knew to be stronger than that. PIF couldn't let herself be weak in front of them. They already took her dignity, they didn't need to take her pride as well.

She banged on the bars a few more times. The last of her rage dying out. Her aching fists now resting silently against the celestial cylinders. PIF slid down to her knees; her hands now laying slack on the luke-cold floor. She stared down at it with furrowed eyebrows.

PIF then turned around and crawled towards a corner of the cell. She sat against it and hugged her knees to her chest. The dim magical candles in the room were the only interesting things to look at, at least, when the door was closed.

'If they have done something to him, then I hope that demons tear them apart... However, if he is doing this of his own volition, then maybe I failed at raising him.' She thought. '...In fact, maybe, I should have been stricter...'

----

As Wukong let himself get dragged along by his son, he was beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all? Mk made it clear that the purpose of this was for him and Macaque to 'talk'. But he specifically mentioned that Wukong should tell Macaque the real reason he took away the eye-patch in the first place.

'This feels too soon.. I don't know if I'm ready to face the real reason.' Wukong thought.

By the time he was wanting to just turn back, it was too late. He could already smell Macaque's scent close by. He looked down at the dirt as Mk's grip on his hand tightened. It was a bit embarrassing being pulled around like this by a cub.

They saw Macaque sitting in a tree. This tree was on the opposite end of where that beach-side tree is. Wukong knew Macaque well enough to know that he wasn't the only sun Macaque was hiding from.

In the distance, Wukong could see Macaque's ears flicker. He looked over his shoulder at him and Mk and Wukong could vaguely see a shocked look on his face. He could use his gold vision to fully see it, but part of him didn't want to see it.

By the time him and Mk made it to Macaque's tree, all Wukong needed was a short glance to see Macaque's apprehensive stare.

'Why?... Why do you always look at me like that? Like I'm some sort of monster?' Wukong wondered.

"Macaque!" Mk called. "Can you please come down?"

"Kid.. What are you doing?" Macaque asked, his voice calm but not quite a whisper.

"I just... Ugh look. I'm getting sick of being your guys' middle ground here. You two need to actually talk things out for once. Seeing you two avoid each other like this is driving me and the monkeys nuts." Mk said as he finally let go of Wukong's hand.

Wukong folded his arms, feeling uncomfortable and still not making eye contact.

"Wha-.. (sigh) kid, this issue is a lot more than just us avoiding each-other." Macaque said.

"I-I know! But the whole 'issue' will start NOT being an issue if you two talked. Now can you please just come down?"

"..." Macaque was quiet for a bit. "And what about you huh?" It took Wukong a second to realize he was referring to him. He finally looked up and locked eyes with Macaque.

"What about me?" Wukong said back.

"You really needed Mk to make you do this?"

Wukong's eye twitched at this and he frowned. His tail thwacked against the dirt ground. He unfolded his arms and put them on his hips.

"Look, I was fully willing to give you all the space and time to calm down. But since Mk here wants to speed things up, I figured, fine, I'll oblige. So now I'm here. But if you wanna stay up there and be stubborn, then whatever.." Wukong rolled his eyes and looked away with his hand doing a shrugging motion when he said 'whatever'.

".....Pfft, fine, I'll talk. But I'm staying up here."

Wukong chuckled sarcastically and said, "then I will too. But only if Mk leaves."

"What!? Hell no!" Mk protested. Both Wukong and Macaque stared at Mk with wide eyes. "You are not about to kick me out of another important conversation. I'm staying and that's final!"

----

Macaque felt honestly impressed with Mk's boldness. However, even though he desperately wanted Mk to stay (out of fear of Wukong), he couldn't let his son be his shield. It was supposed to be the other way around.

"Monkie Kid.." Macaque said, "I do want you to stay but.. I have to agree with Wukong on this."

'Wukong is more likely to be truthful with me when Mk is gone...' Macaque thought.

"Wha- Urrggh not you too!"

Macaque saw Wukong down there, staring up at him blankly. That look always meant that he just didn't know how he felt about something yet.

"(Sigh) okay look, we can compromise. You have good control over your ears, right?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"So, I'm sure we can make a deal. You can use your ears to listen in, but you still need to step away." Macaque explained. Wukong raised his eyebrows in surprise. Mk thought it over for a bit, grumbling to himself.

"Ugghhhhh fine.." Mk huffed as he stomped away. They waited until Mk was far enough away to where he looked very tiny in their view. Wukong kept his eyes locked on Mk as he left.

"..."

"..."

Macaque decided to be the one to break the silence.

"(Ahem).." That got Wukong's attention back to him. "So what exactly did Mk want us to talk about?"

"..." Wukong grabbed his arm, seeming nervous. "He.. wants me to say the 'real reason' that I... That I took your eye-patch.."

----

One of the angels that had been guarding PIF's cell had called Nezha over. They told him that it was an emergency. He rushed to the cell as quickly as he could.

"What is it?" He asked the angel.

"I don't know what is wrong with her. She's been screaming and spouting endless threats about the whereabouts of her son. She continues to bang on her cell bars... It is becoming concerning, your lordship.." The angel explained as they anxiously squeezed their spear.

"Well, Iron Fan is usually like this. In fact I'm pretty sure that's where Redson gets his temper from. I'm sure it's nothing to be worried abou-"

"Yes but this time it's different. We have had times where people have become overly emotional, and it has caused them to break out of their binds and wreak havoc. I fear she might break out.."

Nezha held back a chuckle and sighed instead. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling that his time had been wasted.

"Mere emotions cannot break the seal. Her cell is made by the strongest celestial powers. We knew how powerful she once was, and we accommodated for it. Again, it is nothing to be worried about." Nezha said as he placed his hand on their shoulder. He gave them a gentle smile, attempting to be reassuring.

"Y-Yes but.. It is also her mental state that is concerning. Should we not bring the boy over to calm her down-"

"Out of the question," Nezha interrupted. "Redson has been making good progress ever since he ceased his visits with her. If we need to concern ourselves with someone's mental state, it's his."

The angel looked down in shame. Nezha sighed and turned away.

"If it's bothering you that much, you can switch out with another guard. Take a rest." Nezha began to leave and he heard the angel say a quick 'thank you'.

----

'So that's what this is all about?' Macaque thought. 'Ahh jeez.. I guess Mk saw right through me yesterday. Although, I guess I didn't really do a good job hiding it.'

Wukong giving back the eye-patch had indeed stumped Macaque yesterday. It didn't make sense to him. He felt like there must have been some ulterior motive. And of course, his reasoning for taking it in the first place never really sat right with Macaque.

"...Haha.. Gotta give the kid props, he sure can read me like a book," Macaque finally said. "Well he was right, I do want to know the real reason. So, let's hear it."

Wukong was staring anywhere but Macaque. He started scratching the back of his head with his other hand on his hip. Macaque folded his arms as he awaited the answer. Wukong's scratching seemed to become a bit more fastened.

"It- It's because.."

"C'mon, spit it out."

Wukong did a quick frown up at Macaque while pouting his lips, but then looked back down. "...I just... I didn't- guh it's hard to explain."

Macaque could see Wukong getting more nervous by the second. He kept on making small glances behind him in Mk's direction. He had an idea but he didn't like it. He decided to swallow his pride and say it.

"(Sigh)... Come up here, Wukong." Macaque said, his hand motioning for Wukong to come over. Wukong stopped scratching his head and looked up at Macaque with wide eyes. He looked down at him with a pity smile as he patted the spot about a foot away from him.

Wukong blinked a bit and then swiftly jumped up. Macaque moved his hand in time for Wukong to sit in the spot he offered. Macaque's legs were folded and he stayed leaning his back against the tree with his hands folded as well. While Wukong sat a foot away, facing Mk's direction; he kept his eyes fixated on the ground below them.

"...(Sigh)... I just couldn't bring myself.. to believe what I had done, until I had seen it." Wukong's hands gripped the tree's bark.

'...It worked. Him being on the same level as me calmed him down.' Macaque thought.

"Haha, to be honest, I barely even remember doing it," Wukong said as he grabbed his arm. "It felt like I just sorta blacked out. And when I came to my senses, all I saw was blood on your terrified face," his voice became quieter as he brought his hand up and stared down at it, "and that same blood on my claws..." His eyebrows furrowed, maybe in a look of guilt?

Macaque was saddened from hearing this. His shoulders had relaxed, which he hadn't even realized were tense this whole time.

"I just.. wanted to face the truth... That's why I took your eye-patch away. I want- no, needed to make myself believe it.." Macaque could see Wukong's tail wrap around his ankle. "B-Because, I just couldn't believe that I would ever hurt you like that." His voice was starting to shake.

Macaque unfolded his legs and let them hang down. He then reached his hand for Wukong, but paused... He lightly shook his head and pulled his hand back.

"Wukong..." Macaque said, as gently as he could. "...If you don't want to hurt me, then why are you doing it now?"

Wukong blinked and whipped his head to look at Macaque, which almost made Macaque flinch but he hid it as best as he could.

"What??" Wukong questioned, quieter than Macaque thought he would. He was probably trying to keep his voice down, now that he was closer to Macaque's ears.

Macaque looked away from him and said with a tiredly sad expression, "(sigh) I may not have any new scars from you. But you keeping me here?" Macaque then looked Wukong dead in the eyes and put a hand over his own chest. "That is hurting me, Wukong.."

They stared at each other for a bit, and then Wukong was the first to look away. Macaque was almost gonna add 'and keeping me away from my daughter' but he stopped himself just in time. He didn't want to give Wukong any ideas of bringing Mei here and trapping her too.

Wukong's grip on his arm tightened and his lips scrunched into a flat line. He then shook his head just the slightest, "I... can't."

Macaque closed his eye in disappointment, even though he already knew Wukong would say something like that.

"I'm not strong enough."

"Huh?" Macaque questioned as he opened his eye again.

"I'm just not strong enough to let you go.." Wukong mumbled too quiet for normal ears to hear.

'The great sage equal to heaven.. isn't strong, huh?...' Macaque did a quiet exhale through his nose, thinking about the irony as he stared down at the bark.

"I don't think my heart could take it if you left me again..." Wukong's voice sounded shaky again. What Macaque didn't expect though, was what Wukong said next, "haha... Maybe that means I love you too much."

A blush appeared on Macaque's face as his eye greatly widened. He's not even sure if either of them have ever actually said that to each other. The closest he had said to it was him calling Macaque a 'loved one' and saying he 'gave Macaque his love and affection'...

But to straight up say 'I love you'?.. Now that's sure new.

----

Wukong felt a bit flustered actually saying it out loud. He had never really been in love before. But considering just how much he wants Macaque to stay close.. It can't be anything other than love, right?

In the corner of Wukong's eye, he could see Macaque's hand reaching towards him. He slowly turned his head to look down at it, which made Macaque pause. Wukong then looked up at Macaque's eye, and smiled warmly.

He brought his hands up, carefully, as to not startle Macaque. He then took Macaque's hand into his own hands. Macaque blinked a bit, seeming surprised. They then locked eyes; Wukong still smiling. Wukong lifted his leg over the other side of the tree, so now his body was fully facing Macaque.

"I'm.. sorry, Macaque. For your eye... I've done.. unforgivable things.." Wukong didn't so much feel bad for killing Ao Lie, more so he felt bad for killing Macaque's friend. Although, he wasn't ready to confess that just yet. "But, I hope you can a least forgive me for that.." He said as his thumbs gently caressed the short fur on Macaque's delicate hand. He could feel bits of dirt on it. Wukong felt bad that Macaque hadn't been able to bathe properly in a while.

Macaque's eye darted around, not really knowing where to look. His eyebrows were creased up in a nervous expression.

----

...Huh?

...What did he just say?

Were his six ears deceiving him?

Not only did Wukong give back his eye-patch, but he just apologized for blinding his eye in the first place. Did he apologize when he first did it? Macaque couldn't remember, since just like Wukong, he had blocked out most of the experience as well.

"I-I..." Macaque didn't know what to say, so he just blurted out, "I do forgive you..."

He saw Wukong's smile go away as his eyebrows raised in slight surprise.

'C'mon, no you don't!... But then.. why did it feel so good to say it?' Macaque wondered.

----

Still day ten of Mei being gone.

It was still morning, just not early morning. Early morning was when Nezha had finally come back from the moon. At the time, Mei could barely sleep, that's why she had been sitting on that bench so early in the morning.

But now, she had eaten breakfast and put her hair up in her classic high ponytail. An angel urgently called Nezha over for some reason, so she just went straight to the training room with Redson.

Today they were going to practice without the wands. It was definitely easier said than done. It made her arm feel sort of hot. Redson told her that was normal and that the feeling would fade the more she cast spells.

"I should really get Nezha's opinion on that. Cuz isn't your body in constant heat?" Mei asked.

Redson's eyes widened and he blinked rapidly. Mei was really confused at this reaction.

"In constant what!?" Redson's face started turning pink.

'Why the heck is he blushing..? Did I say something wrong again?' Mei wondered.

"Um... You know, cuz like, aren't you literally made of fire or something?"

Redson straightened up as his expression calmed down.

"O-Oh.. that's what you meant..." Redson said as he scratched the back of his neck, looking away. Mei groaned in frustration at this.

"Okay what's the deal? This is the second time I've said something completely normal and you freaked out about it."

"Huh? When did that happen a first time?"

"A few days ago when I asked about your guy friend. Or wait.. I think I said boy friend or..." Mei squinted her eyes as she tried to recall.

Redson folded his arms and pouted as he said, "...Right, that..."

"Well come on red boy! I'm not a baby, so tell me what I said! You're supposed to be my teacher, right? So teach me already!"

"Alright alright! Jeez.. and don't call me red boy.. (Sigh) the phrase 'in heat' is usually used when referring to.." Redson explained what it means and Mei cringed in response. A blush of embarrassment came to her face. It was especially weird watching Redson explain it in the most awkward way possible.

"Okay I think I've heard enough," Mei said, cutting Redson off. "So what about the 'guy friend' thing?"

Redson fiddled with his fingers, he seemed more awkward about this than the literal sex education he just gave.

"Th-The word was 'boyfriend' and it-.. ugh it means... It's just an improper way to refer to a male who you're in a romantic relationship with. So if.. f-for example if Mk and I were d-dating, we would be called 'boyfriends' as dumb as that word sounds.."

A knowing smirk appeared on Mei's face, but she kept her insights to herself.

Redson continued, "and if someone was dating you, then you would be called their girlfriend."

"Oooh.. Well, what about if someone was neither?"

"Huh?"

"Like, what if they're not a boy or a girl? What would they be called then?"

"Uhh... a theyfriend? A romantic partner?? Aggh I don't know! Admittedly, I'm not experienced with romantic stuff so I'm not really the best person to ask about this.." Redson said, his face beginning to blush, well, red.

"Hee hee, okay reeeed boy.." Mei giggled, referring to the color his face was turning, but he probably missed the joke.

"Tch... Let's just get back to training already. I've had enough humiliation for one day, and the day just started."

----

Wukong's smile came back, but this time he smiled with his eyes as well. He then brought his forehead down and pressed it against Macaque's hand. Which just made Macaque blush even more. Part of him was wanting to just rip his hand away, but he just couldn't.

He hoped his trembling was light enough that Wukong didn't notice it. After what felt like forever, even though it was just a few long seconds, Wukong pulled away. And he finally let go of Macaque's hand.

Wukong swung his leg back over and faced away from him again. He still had a calm smile on his face, while Macaque just sat there feeling confused.

"I see Mk gave you one of his shirts. It suits you well. You always did look good in loose long sleeves.."

"Y-Yeah my.. other one is still drying.."

"...You know, tomorrow would usually be the day I look for you haha.. But, I can use it to go shopping instead.."

"W-Wha?" Before Macaque could say much, Wukong giddily jumped down from the tree. He stared up at Macaque, as Macaque stared down at him.

"I'll bring as many plums as I can find. And I'll get you some new pairs of clothes. Oh and, don't worry, I won't get too much, since I know you're not very materialistic haha.."

"Right..." Macaque's eye was in a subtle squint of suspicion.

Wukong's eyes lidded as he put his hands on his hips; still staring up at Macaque.

"Like I said, I'll worship you as you once worshiped me. I'll serve your every wish, my moonlight.." After Wukong said this, he bowed; he actually bowed.. with his hand over his heart and everything.

Macaque's face was beginning to sweat from how much he had blushed just from this interaction. He then burst out laughing from the silliness of Wukong bowing to him.

"Pffthahaha okay okay stop that already haha!" Macaque was honestly surprised at himself. He didn't think he would ever smile at Wukong like this again. Wukong did as he was told and raised back up from the bow.

Macaque didn't realize at the time, but right now in this moment, he was physically and metaphorically above Wukong.

Wukong winked as he did a little salute and turned around to leave. Macaque watched him the whole way as he went to Mk. He activated his ears to hear them talking in the distance. They both started walking back towards the mountain as they spoke.

"See? That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Mk asked.

"Wait.. So you actually could hear all of that?" Wukong asked back.

"Well sorta yeah. It basically was like if I was listening to a conversation through a wall.. Anyway! Don't dodge my question!"

"Oh.. Well I thought your question was rhetorical, bud, haha," Macaque could hear a weird soft sound. He assumed that was Wukong ruffling Mk's hair, from how Mk made annoyed noises afterward. "Yeah.. I guess it wasn't so bad.."

"Good! Now lets go make some veggie soup!"

"Aht! No Mk, let's make soup at dinner time. Soup tastes better at night, when it's cooler."

"Oooh yeah you're right haha. You hear that, Macaque?" Mk didn't yell but raised his voice, probably knowing he didn't have to yell for Macaque to hear him. "Soups on for tonight and you're welcome to join us y'know!"

Macaque simply chuckled at that. As their voices drifted off beyond the waterfall, a dreadful feeling came to his gut. One hand wrapped around his stomach as the other hand gripped his hair. He sort of keeled over as anxiety began to surge.

'Damn it, Wukong.. What have you done to me?' Macaque thought. 'Why must my heart ache for a you that no longer exists?...'

His heart began to beat faster. He curled his knees up closer to his chest, but not close enough to smother his hand that was cradling his stomach.

'Get it together.. He drugged you, kidnapped you, and bound you. You shouldn't be feeling this way. Just how messed up are you? Get it through your thick skull! He is NOT the Wukong you once knew!'

Macaque's legs slipped down and were now hanging off the sides of the giant branch he was sitting on. His hand drifted up and squeezed the clothing over his chest. His eye was closed tight and his brows were furrowed so hard that it hurt.

'Yes I know! And I DO hate him too! But can't you see I'm trying NOT to care for him?? I can't help it, okay!? I just can't help it! I just can't-'

Macaque's eye shot open at the sound of a monkey squeaking. He blinked a few times and then noticed a monkey sitting across from him, looking concerned. He hadn't realized until now just how hard he was breathing.

The monkey crawled up and sat on his lap (well, as much 'lap' as there could be with his legs being spread across the branch.) It leaned against his belly. Macaque shakily took his other hand off his hair and brought it down to pet the little monkey.

Feeling the texture of it's fur was helping ground Macaque. His breathing gradually came to a healthy slow. Without really thinking, he lifted the monkey and brought it to his chest, hugging it close. He could hear it's slow heart beat, which helped to calm Macaque's down as well.

"Thanks.." Macaque mumbled and the monkey simply cooed in response. He scratched it's neck in a sweet spot and it cutely leaned into the touch like a cat. That got Macaque to smile a bit. His eye, exhausted from being shut so tightly, looked up at the tiny speckles of sun peaking through the leaves of the tree. He squinted a bit at the brightness.
"Ehh.. If I'm gonna be trapped here for a while, might as well indulge in it, right?"

Macaque could still feel Wukong's touch on his hand. It made his heart flutter and a blush grew back on his face. He shook his head and wiped both sides of his hand on his pants before bringing it back up to cradle the monkey.

"Cuz like, if I can't leave, I might as well not make my stay here anymore miserable then it has been."

The monkey cooed sleepily in response.

----

PIF had heard everything.

'So it was Redson's choice to abandon his own mother. Unless.. they could just be tricking me... No, Nezha doesn't have the guts to lie.' PIF thought. '...Hm but at least my little outburst was enough to bring me some form of an answer.'

She gritted her teeth; frustrated at her lack of control. With all her might she punched behind her at the wall. It created a good dent with cracks all around. But the wall quickly healed itself. It was a very useful outlet for frustrations. That was the one thing she liked about this cell. Zero consequences to her taking her anger out on it.

None of them understood a thing. Her and Demon Bull King were gonna rebuild the world. They were going to rule it together, with Redson as their one heir. But that Monkey 'King' just had to get in their way.

"Hmph.. 'Great sage equal to heaven'," she said in a mocking voice, "yeah right. You're just an arrogant bastard who wants to rule the world himself. You cannot call yourself a king when you have no lineage.." PIF then sharply spat in the corner.

That spit magically disappeared into nothing. This cell wouldn't even let her corrode away the walls with bodily fluids.

It was truly impossible to get out independently.

----

It was evening and Redson made his way to the bathhouse. Two other men were already in there chatting up a storm. He could tell it wasn't going to be a relaxing bath this time. He had his hair tied up in a high bun as to not get it wet.

He stepped up the stone steps and didn't hesitate going into the hot water. His body was obviously very tolerant of the heat. The servants that had been down below fanning the furnace that was heating up the water, made sighs of relief as they took a break. They didn't really have to do their job when Redson stepped in the bath. His body alone could keep the water nice and hot.

He leaned his arms back on the edge of the bath and he was on the far opposite side of the two others. Redson was mostly tuning out their conversation, but then his pointed ears perked at the sound of a name.

"Yeah, I could not bare to hear Iron Fan's threats any longer. It was becoming quite disturbing.."

"Mm.. and that's her son right?"

"Ssshh! Yes but you mustn't gossip. Lord Nezha said it is wise to not use him to cease her yelling. I do agree that him being away has been good at stopping his anger, but unfortunately him being away has made her anger increase.."

"So? Just do your job and get over it. She can't hurt you. If it annoys you that much then just put bees wax in your ears."

They may have been a decent distance away from Redson, but they were definitely relying too much on the crackling of the fire to drown them out. Their failed whispering was plenty loud enough for Redson to hear.

He wasn't any stranger to people gossiping about him, so he just tolerated it. Although, taking in what they said, it seemed his mother indeed was upset that he has skipped a few visits.

Redson took his arms off the bath's inner wall and sunk himself deeper. The edge of the water was encircling just under his nose as he frowned and blew bubbles. He was supposed to be having a nice and relaxing bath, but all this did was make his heart anxiously beat a bit faster.

----

This soup was a good way to make up for not making a meal when Macaque won Monkey Seek. It was really the only recipe Mk knew how to make. It wasn't really that hard. You just chop carrots and potatoes, then add peas. Boil it all in a pot of water and periodically add salt as you stir.

When Mk had given Macaque this soup in drink form (see chapter 9), he made the minced version of it; the version that's meant for drinking. The version they were making right now however, was meant to be enjoyed in a bowl. The veggies were chopped into thicker pieces.

You could also add pepper to it if you enjoyed a little spice in your soup.

Tonight, Wukong was doing the chopping while Mk was doing the stirring. Mk stirred the pot while one of his hair clones occasionally poured the salt in. When Wukong would finish a batch, he would bring it over and dump it into the pot. If it seemed like a big dinner just for three, that's because it wasn't just for three. They were gonna share with the monkeys as well.

...

Mk and Wukong sat across from each other by the fire with the pot hanging over it. Mk had dished up Macaque's bowl and set it down a foot away from him. It had a cloth covering the top so the heat would stay in. They didn't know for sure if Macaque would even show up, but they hoped. Wukong had made it so the waterfall would stay open just in case Macaque wanted to come in and, you know, not get wet.

The monkeys had dished up but they were pretty messy. They scarfed down the food and then would play with the bowls.

As Mk almost finished his own bowl, he sighed out of disappointment.

"I don't think he's coming-"

And just like that, he was proven wrong. His ears flickered at the sound of footsteps a ways behind him. Mk turned around and saw none other than the six eared fellow himself standing at the entrance. Macaque tensed when Mk looked at him. He scratched the back of his neck as he looked away.

Mk chuckled and called Macaque over. Without making eye-contact with either of them, he obliged Mk's request.

"Here's your bowl, I already got it all set up for ya!" Mk cheerfully said.

"Thanks kid.." Macaque said as he sat down where the bowl was and took off the cloth. He took a long whiff of the soup's scent and a smile appeared on his face.

Wukong was smiling as well as he scooped some more pieces of his veggies. It looked like a very satisfied smile.

As Macaque ate his soup, both Wukong and Mk went for seconds. They made idle chit chat about whatever while they ate. Mostly Mk telling funny stories about his childhood. There were times in between where they just ate the veggies in silence.

...

Macaque only ate one bowl, Mk insisted that he have more but he refused. Wukong didn't seem surprised at all by this. Makes sense, they did know each other for many years before Macaque left.

"He always preferred to save the rest of meals for other days." Wukong said, whilst pouring his third bowl.

"Well yeah, and my stomach can't fit as much as yours." Macaque shot back and they all laughed.

Macaque stood up and put his bowl and wooden spoon in a pile that the monkeys had made. He dusted the back of his pants off from sitting on the ground. He then started walking away while saying a quiet 'goodnight'.

"Wait! Don'tchu wanna sleep with us tonight?" Mk suggested and he didn't see but it almost sounded like Wukong slightly spit out his soup. "It's a lot warmer in the mountain than it is out there.."

"Uhh..." Macaque glanced over at the nest suspiciously. "I don't know.."

"O-Oh we don't all have to sleep in the same nest! We could bring out that extra one that's in the junk room!"

"..." Macaque's eye darted up at Wukong. Mk looked over at his dad and he was blankly staring down at the fire.
"Ehh.. not tonight, kid.." Wukong slowly closed his eyes at hearing this.

Mk turned back to Macaque and said, "you sure??"

"Haha yes, I'll be fine. I'm a primate, sleeping on trees is natural for us." With that, he waved goodbye and left.

Wukong snapped his fingers, which made the waterfall close back up. He stood and placed his bowl in the same pile Macaque had put his. He then put a lid on the pot. Mk was still staring at the exit with a concerned expression. He then groaned as he felt his dad ruffle his hair.

"Ehh we'll get him next time bud. C'mon, let's go to sleep, I'm stuffed." He said as he patted his bloated belly. Mk rolled his eyes as he stood up and followed his dad to the nest. Wukong let Mk lay down first and he laid on his back. Wukong then crawled on the nest next to him and laid on his side.

Things seemed back to normal as Wukong draped his arm over Mk's chest and closed his eyes. He was back to being his cuddly self. Today really put his dad in a better mood than he was yesterday and the day before.

Mk stared up at the stars through the hole in the ceiling of the mountain. He felt pretty good. He said one last thing before drifting off to sleep:

"Heh.. our first family dinner."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Day eleven of Mei being gone.

Day seven of Redson being away from Mk.

Today is the day. It is time to enact the first part of the plan.

The fiery trio woke up early as usual. This was the most times Mei had woken up this early, it was very strange for her. But, it was necessary if she wanted to save her dad.

Redson wanted to use as much of the morning as they could to make sure Mei had a good hang on the scent hiding spell. It was time for Mei to stop practicing on stinky plants and good-smelling flowers. Redson wanted her to try the spell on herself.

"But shouldn't I cast the spell closer to when we leave??" Mei asked.

"(Sigh) Don't you remember what I said back then? I said the scent hiding spell lasts 24 hours. So even if you do it now, your scent will still be gone after we come back in the evening." Redson reassured, in.. his own unique way.

Mei said a quiet 'oh yeah..' and then proceeded to test the spell on herself. Her hands began to glow just as Redson's did back then when he first cast the spell on her. His hands had glowed a orange-ish red color, while her hands glowed a neon green. Makes sense, considering her dragon powers are that same color.

Redson demonstrated the movements needed and Mei followed along. She brought her glowing hands up and thrust them towards her chest at a medium pace. It put on an interesting display; streaks of green powers swirling around her. Redson would never admit this out loud, but it did look really cool to him.

...

"Okay, remember, hold the jade to your chest and do not move it unless you know for sure that you do not need it anymore. Got it?" Nezha asked.

"Got it." Mei said, and Redson only nodded. Jade Rabbit gave them nine invisibility jades in total. Three for testing, and the other six for the mission. They all had tested one out on themselves, so now they had two per person.

All three of them had smelled each other to make sure the scent hiding spells were working. They tried to not make it awkward by just sniffing each other's arms.

It was late morning now and Li Jing prepared a celestial portal for them. "Good luck," he said. "Because I feel you'll need it."

The fiery trio nodded in agreement.

"You ready?" Redson mumbled.

"...Ready as I'll ever be..." Mei mumbled back.

They all then stepped through the portal.

...

It was a nice and cloudy day today. Mei didn't realize how much she missed seeing the clouds above her instead of being on top of them; since the celestial realm is seemingly placed on a plethora of clouds. The petrichor smell in the air calmed down her nerves a bit, since her heart was beating very quickly.

The portal was placed a decent distance away from Flower Fruit Mountain. They were probably about half a mile away.

"Remember, if anything goes wrong, signal to me with your powers. Understood?" Nezha said.

"Understood." Redson and Mei said at the same time. They briefly frowned at each-other but focused right back on the mission.

Green electric-looking power began to spark around Mei as she powered up. Her dragon formed around her, it's mass huge and it's color a neon green. Redson hopped on her dragon's back and held onto it's horns. His face was scrunched up in a bracing expression; they had practiced this with the invisibility jades and he didn't know if his stomach would be ready for a second round.

Inside the dragon, Mei pulled out an invisibility jade and held it to her chest. Her and her dragon became invisible. Luckily, because Redson was physically touching her, he too became invisible from her jade.

Mei then zoomed the both of them towards Flower Fruit Mountain. Redson covered his mouth with one hand while the other still held onto a horn.

----

=45 minutes prior=

Mk stood up and stretched out his arms. He had woken up about an hour ago, and he was confused on why his dad hadn't been in the nest. But then he eventually remembered what Wukong said in his conversation with Macaque yesterday:

="...You know, tomorrow would usually be the day I look for you haha.. But, I can use it to go shopping instead.."=

His dad leaving on the day he would usually go leave to find 'someone' would usually really upset Mk. But now that the 'someone' in question was here to keep him company, albeit unwillingly, he didn't feel too bad.

Wait...

Mk zoomed over and brought his hand up to the waterfall. He braced for disappointment.. but instead, he was surprised. There was no barrier blocking off the exit. He chuckled out of relief as his feet stomped with excitement. He then opened the waterfall and leapt through.

...

It didn't take him long to find Macaque. He was leaning up against the mountain in the comfortable shade of trees.

Mk giddily walked up to him and said, "good morning, pops."
Macaque blinked his eyes wide open and looked up at Mk. Obviously he could hear Mk coming a mile away so it definitely wasn't him that surprised Macaque; it was probably what Mk said.

Macaque composed himself and then said, "heh, barely."

Mk frowned with concern as he sat next to Macaque. He then asked, "Why's it not good?"

"Huh?" Macaque thought for a second, and then spoke, "oh! No no, I meant that it's barely still morning. It'll be afternoon soon. But uh yeah, good morning to you too, kid. It's nice and cloudy, just as I like it." He then ruffled Mk's hair, but the way he did it was far gentler than when Wukong does it. It wasn't as annoying. Mk giggled and lightly pushed Macaque's hand away.

"So since dad's gone shopping today, do you wanna take a dip in our hot spring with me? I mean you only washed your shirt that day so I figured you just didn't wanna soak in the beach water."

"..." Macaque frowned for a bit, but then he smiled. "Aw jeez kid, do I stink that bad? You could've just said so.."

"Huh?? Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to imply that you stink I-I was just saying like, I don't know, m-maybe you would want a bath o-or-"

Macaque interrupted Mk's blabbering with his laughter. This was probably the most energized Mk had seen him laugh, it brought a smile to his face. His smile had a hint of confusion though, as he didn't know why Macaque was laughing.

"Haha sorry kid, hahaha! I'm not offended, really. Trust me, I can handle brutal honesty. After all, I raised Mei."

"Pfft-" Mk then laughed a bit himself. "Haha, well.. I guess you do kinda smell, but I promise it's not that bad."

"Heh, I think the little monkeys would beg to differ. But uh.. would it be okay if we bathed in the waterfall's lake instead?"

"Uhh sure, but why?"

"I just..." Macaque looked away and grabbed his arm. "Being inside the mountain just makes me feel even more trapped than I am. I already had to work up the nerve just to have dinner with you guys last night.."

"Oh.." Mk looked down at his knees, feeling guilty. "But.. the dinner was at least fun, right?"

"...Yeah, it was- it was nice. I could tell the soup was the same one you gave me the day we met."

"Aht! Not quite the same! I gave you the minced version that's travel sized, perfect for a gourd." Mk said, with a proud smile. Macaque chuckled as he stood up.

"Alright, lets go have ourselves a bath. You have towels so we can cover our, you know, right?"

"Yup, but you're gonna have to use dad- I mean, Wukong's."

"Yeah, that's okay."

They made their way up to the waterfall lake.

"I hope it doesn't rain! Then again, playing in the water while it rains could be fun..."

----

=Present time=

Mei and Redson arrived at the edge of the Flower Fruit Forest. She dropped her dragon form and they both quickly hid behind individual trees. Well, Redson not so quickly, for he was cradling his stomach and dry heaving.

Mei, who still had the jade to her chest, whispered, "oh come on. Don't you fly around with your fire all the time? How come I make you wanna barf??"

"It's (inhale) different when I'm not (exhale) in control.." Redson managed out. Mei rolled her currently invisible eyes and peaked behind the tree. She then mentally smacked herself, realizing she didn't even need to hide.

"Well anyway, you go check on Mk, while I search around the forest. Last time I was here, my dad was just sitting in one of the trees. He has to be in this forest somewhere." Mei whispered as she walked away. Redson scoffed and begrudgingly complied with her orders. He didn't like being bossed around but now wasn't the time to be petty.

Redson moved out a bit slower than Mei did, since he was still trying to compose his currently weak stomach. He pulled out one of his jades and pressed it to his chest, making him invisible.

Making sure to avoid as many loud leaves and branches as he could, he made his way to where he always met Mk. The rushing sound of the waterfall getting closer and closer. When he got close enough, Redson used his feet to make fire and boost himself up the mountain. The jade's made his flames invisible, just as they had with Mei's dragon form.

----

Mk and Macaque took this opportunity to wash their clothes as well. The clothing had been hung up on tree branches to dry. Those trees being inside the mountain, since it would be redundant if any rain just made them wet again. They were chilling in the deepest part of the waterfall's lake while having towels around their private parts.

"Yeah.. Nothing like relaxing in luke-warm water during luke-warm whether." Macaque said.

"Huh? Is that bad?" Mk asked.

"...Uhh I wasn't being sarcastic, kid. I like it when things aren't too far one way or the other.. It's under-stimulating in a good way."

"Oooh haha, sorry. Sometimes it's hard to tell," Mk scratched the back of his neck. "I don't really mind either way. Whether it be a hot day or a stormy day, I like 'em both."

"Haha.. That's good. It means you'd be able to make lots of different types of friends."

"Really!?" Mk said excitedly.

"Mm hm," Macaque hummed with a smile as he nodded. "Alright, I'm starting to feel soggy. I'll go check on our clothes to see if they're dry. You keep watch out for any bandits." Macaque said that last part in a dramatic way, which made Mk giggle. Macaque then walked into the cave through the open waterfall. Macaque had requested that it stay open; for his own comfort.

Mk sighed with a smile as he sunk a bit deeper into the water. It was now just his head sticking out and leaning against the lake's outer lining. Macaque was right, the luke-warmness of everything was pretty nice.

Just then, Mk's ears twitched as he heard a rustle nearby. His eyes opened and his head shot up. Mk glanced around, not seeing anything. He decided to activate his ears just in case. The breeze flowing through the trees got louder. And the chirps of the birds were more prominent.

But, through all that noise, Mk was somehow able to hear a faint breathing. Following it were maybe footstep sounds? He wasn't too sure. It just sounded like some movement in the dirt. It couldn't have been Macaque's breathing, that would've been muffled by the waterfall, not to mention Mk was hearing the breathing on his right side; Macaque was to his left.

Mk could hear his heart begin to race faster. He didn't know what to do other than...

'C'mon Mk, pops told you to watch out for bandits. So be brave and do it!' Mk thought.

----

Redson's fire jets finally got him up to the waterfall of the mountain. It had been a week since he'd been here. He landed on the dirt ground as gently as he could. He still held the jade firm to his chest; keeping himself and his power invisible. Redson panted a bit from having to boost himself up whilst also trying to be quiet and careful about it.

He scanned the area and then noticed that the waterfall was open. Yet, there was no golden barrier. A part of him just wanted to zoom over and look for Mk, but Redson knew better. He decided that he would just try his best to glide over to the entrance and cautiously test it out.

Redson had just taken a few more steps back to give him room for momentum, when all of a sudden.

"Hey! I can hear you! Show yourself, you bandit!" Mk yelled as he abruptly stood up from the water.
Redson halted in his tracks as he stared. He didn't even notice Mk over there in the water, he was just so focused on the waterfall entrance. But, now that his brain was processing it..

'Wait.. He's.. Mk isn't trapped in the mountain?.. Does that mean Sun Wukong is home? But, I don't smell him anywhere. Although, my sense of smell isn't quite as great as a monkey's.' Redson thought.

"Yeah that's right, I can even hear that you stopped moving. And I can tell you're trying to hold your breath now," Mk called out with his hands balled into fists. "Trust me, I got real good hearing. So don't even try to mess with me!"

Redson didn't even realize that he was holding his breath. But.. His face began to burn up the longer he stared at Mk.

'He's just standing right there, out in the open. And he's.. h-he's..' Redson put his free hand over his mouth as he furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes still locked on Mk. 'He's practically naked. And he's all w-wet for that matter!'

Mk kept on looking around aimlessly, but he began to walk towards Redson's direction. Redson didn't know what to say. He briefly lifted his hand off his mouth, and the tiniest of breaths came out from his attempt at speaking, but he stopped himself.

Although, it seemed it wasn't quiet enough, for Mk whipped his head in Redson's direction. Redson flinched and put his hand right back on his mouth. He tried staying as still as a statue. It would be nice to talk to Mk, but Redson just couldn't risk it just in case Sun Wukong was lurking somewhere.

Mk lightly frowned as he marched through the water in Redson's direction. Mk was now about a yard and a half away from him. His heart began to race and his face was flushed. This was the first time Redson had seen Mk this close without the barrier in the way. Not to mention, it was also the first time he had seen him shirtless.

Redson's hair began to flair up; luckily the jade made that invisible. Mk blinked in confusion as he brought his hand forward and felt around the air.

"Why's it so warm over here?"

----

There was a sudden heat that appeared a few feet in front of Mk. His arm was reached out to feel around it. This definitely was not normal whether. He trudged through the water a bit further until he was at the edge of the lake. It was a lot warmer right here. Then, his ears picked up on the gentle footsteps, and along with those was the heat moving away.

'Well that confirms it, the heat is coming from this invisible stranger.' Mk thought. 'Oh yeah! Duh! I have gold vision!'

Mk closed his eyes and took a breath. Then, once he opened them, his gold vision was activated. What he saw, was the absolute last thing he expected.

"Wha-.. Redson...? Is that you?"

Through his gold vision, he could swear that he could see a flustered-looking Redson holding a stone to his chest and covering his mouth. He blinked in surprise and slowly took his hand off his mouth.

"Wait.. you can see me?" Redson whispered. Mk's mouth was agape, he could barely believe what he was seeing. Although, it would definitely explain the heat he felt. That's when he looked up and noticed Redson's hair had turned into flames. Mk hadn't seen it do that in a while, since it usually happened when he would get really pissed.

Mk then realized that he was being quiet for too long as he stared at Redson. He cleared his voice and said, "uh y-yeah I have gold vision, remember?"

"...Right..." The flames on Redson's hair died out and he looked to the side with a nervous expression. Mk was wondering why Redson was being so discreet, but then he had a realization.

"Oh, my dad's gone. You don't have to worry about being cautious." Mk assured.

Redson looked back at Mk, his nervous expression softening a bit. He straightened up and seemed to loosen his tense stance. Redson then did a long exhale and took the stone off of his chest; it dissolved into thin air. Mk deactivated his gold vision, now being able to see Redson.

A wide toothy grin crept on his face. For the first time, he was seeing Redson without him being tinted by the golden walls of the barrier. Redson's expression seemed to finally relax and they just stared at each-other silently.

----

Mk smiled as he looked Redson up and down. Redson unintentionally mirrored him, but instantly regretted it as that made him get a better look at Mk's mostly nude body. Over the years, Redson hadn't noticed just how muscly Mk's hairy arms were. His abs were decently defined but not too chiseled.

While the blush was growing on Redson's face the more he stared, Mk abruptly walked out of the water and towards Redson. Redson blinked a bit as Mk wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. His body began to really heat up now. This was the first time they had physical contact. His hesitant hands hovered for a bit, but then he finally embraced Mk back.

Redson's hair was beginning to flair up again, which had seemed to be the cause of the evaporation coming off of Mk. Mk then pulled away and said, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm wet and you're a fire person, agghh I should've known, I'm so-"

"I-It's fine.. you uhh.." Redson looked to the side as he awkwardly pointed at Mk. Mk raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then patted his fur.

"Whooaa! Did you just insta dry me??"

'Insta...? Oh, he means instant.' Redson thought.

"I think so? I have never really been in this oddly specific situation before so.." Redson said as he rubbed the back of his neck and his hair died down. Mk smiled again and went back in for a hug, which surprised Redson. He didn't exactly get hugged often, especially not twice in a row.

"Hee hee, that's so cool. But not as cool as finally being able to hug you and *sniff sniff*... Wait, why can't I smell you? Oh.. you have the scent hiding spell on.."

Redson pushed Mk off of him, not too roughly but firm enough and said, "W-What?? Why the hell are you trying to smell me, you weirdo!? And why do you sound so disappointed??"

"U-Uh I don't- I don't know! I just- w-well actually, why are you sneaking around here with invisibility, huh? Now that's weird." Mk folded his arms as he huffed.

"(Sigh) I just-... Um.." Redson grabbed his arm nervously as he avoided eye-contact. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright..." Mk blinked in surprise at hearing this.

"...But, why would you need to be invisible to do that?" Mk's voice was soft as he asked this.

"Well let's just say a little birdie told me that Sun Wukong no longer had a reason to leave. So I wanted to be extra cautious. But, I guess it turns out he still left?"

"Yeah, he went to go shopping. I'm guessing he kept the barrier open this time so that I could keep pops-.. I-I mean, so I can keep Macaque company."

Redson was quiet for a bit and then he said, "..Right, the six-eared Macaque.. And you called him pops which must mean..."

"Oh.. I didn't know Macaque was famous. Well he's uh.. I recently found out that he's my other father, biologically. I know that probably doesn't make sense but-"

"No it does. Nezha told me about how Nuwa created you for Wukong and supposedly one other person. He guessed that the 'other person' would be Macaque, and turns out he was correct."

"..." Mk frowned, folded his arms and turned away. He then mumbled, "It's not fair.."

Redson raised an eyebrow in confusion. He walked closer and stood diagonally in front of Mk. He then asked, "what's not fair?"

"(Sigh) It's just- it's not fair that your brother told you how I was born all willy nilly, but my dad only told me when he let it slip. And Macaque was the one that told me I had been hibernating in that stone for waaay longer than I thought. I don't know, it just bothers me that other people have known these things about me before I did."

"...Well if it makes you feel any better, I was only told this week. So I doubt I knew before you, and it's not like I've known and have kept it secret from you."

"I only found out this week too. And still, Nezha knew before me-"

"My brother is a high-ranking celestial being. Plus he's old friends? Rivals?.. Whatever, he's known Sun Wukong and Nuwa a long time, so of course he would know about that. It's really not as unfair as you think, Mk. I promise."

"..." Mk looked at Redson.. and then said, "..Well still.. I just wish my dad would open up to me more. (Sigh) but me and him already talked it out, I guess.."

"...Talked it out, huh? Considering you're still upset about it, it doesn't really seem like that 'talk' resolved anything."

"Heheh.. You always knew a lot about psychology." Mk managed a smile at Redson. There was a quiet pause between them. "Sooo.. you wanted to see if I was alright?"

"Y-Yeah.. The 'birdie' said-.. Ugh actually I'll just say it. You remember Mei? The girl that attacked me last week?"

"Yeah...?"

"She told me that her adoptive father was captured by Sun Wukong. Don't be alarmed but, her father is actually-"

"Macaque. Yeah I know, he told me."

Redson blinked in surprise and then continued, "well, do you know where he is? Mei's been worried sick about him. She's down there looking for him as we speak."

"He went inside the mountain a bit ago. Actually he's been in there kinda long for just checking on the clothes.." Mk pinched his chin but then shook his head and smiled. "Oh hey! Do you wanna come take a look around?" Mk took Redson's hand into his own hands as he sort of bounced excitedly; his long tail wagging behind him. Redson blushed as he looked down at their hands.

"I... I don't know, Mk. I don't want to risk being trapped in there if your dad comes back.."

"Oh.. okay. Well uh, hang on a sec. I'll go get dressed. Don't worry it won't take too long." Mk hopped on his cloud and zoomed into the mountain. Redson folded his arms and kept a look out while his foot tapped impatiently.

----

Mei had looked around the forest for a while; occasionally using her powers to be faster. The beauty of Flower Fruit Mountain was wonderful but she had to keep her priorities straight. She eventually found a beach area with a pretty looking peach tree sitting a bit away from the shore. Something on the tree's branch caught her eye. Mei walked closer to it and it was..

'Macaque's hanfu shirt??' Mei wondered. 'I guess he probably washed it. But if he did, it definitely wasn't recent. It feels fully dry. Why would he just leave it here?' She thought as she grabbed the hanfu off the branch. The hanfu didn't turn invisible with her. It seems you had to have already been touching before activating the jade for it to be invisible.

Mei didn't want anyone to just see a floating hanfu-shirt around, so she put it back on the tree. There was one last place to look, and that was inside the mountain. She charged up her powers and zoomed towards the waterfall where her and Mk first met.

...

In her dragon form, she flew up to scope out the lake of the waterfall. Down below, she saw Redson just standing there, not invisible.

'Did he use both his invisibility jades already??' Mei thought. She then flew down, deactivated her dragon form, and landed kind of loudly on the dirt a couple feet away from him. Redson whipped his head in her direction with a suspicious look on his face.

"Mei?... Is that you?" Redson called out and Mei then got a sneaky idea. She carefully stepped towards Redson and then walked around so that she was behind him. Still holding the jade to her chest, she used one hand to pat Redson on the back.

"Boo!" Mei yelled.

"Aaahh!!" Redson screamed as he twirled around, jumped back, and balled his hands into flaming fists in the span of a second. Mei couldn't stop herself from laughing at his reaction. Redson was breathing quickly as he stared at the nothingness in confusion. He then shook his head, seemingly snapping out of his fright. "Argg, are you serious right now?? You almost gave me a heart attack, dragon girl!"

"Bahaha! I know I know I'm sorry, but your reaction was so damn good! Hahaha!"

Redson rolled his eyes as he folded his arms.

----

When Mk went into the mountain, he couldn't find Macaque anywhere. His clothes were gone, so it's clear he put them on and then left somewhere deeper in the mountain. Mk wanted to look for him but he didn't want to keep Redson waiting.

'Eh I'm sure he's fine. It's not like he could've gone far in here. I'll check later.' Mk thought. '...But didn't he say that he didn't like being in here?... Hm, maybe he realized he feels safer now that dad's gone.'

Mk put on his clothes and just as he was putting on his shoes, he heard-

"Aaahh!!"

That was Redson. Without really thinking, Mk hopped on his cloud and planned to use one of his shoes as a possible weapon. He zoomed outside and had his shoe lifted and ready to strike whoever was attacking Redson.

----

As Mei was still giggling about her little joke, she suddenly paused as she saw someone in the corner of her eye approaching from the mountain. It was Mk, and he was flying towards them on a.. cloud? Well, it's not like that was the strangest thing Mei had seen this week. She had spent a few days in literal heaven after all.

"What happened!? Who hurt you!?" Mk yelled as he looked around, trying to find the threat.

"Whoa whoa it's alright put the.. shoe down?.." Redson said as he brought his hands up in front of Mk. "It's just Mei. She played a stupid prank on me."

"Oooh okay phew!" Mk put his shoe on his foot and floated down to the ground. He hopped off his cloud and it disappeared into nothingness. "So where'd she- oh, she's invisible isn't she?"

Redson nodded and Mei decided she wanted to prank Mk too. She snuck around behind him, but just as she was about to do the same thing, Mk turned around and faced her.

"I know you're there, I have really good hearing. I can even kinda hear your heart beat," Mk said. "And now that I think about it, I guess I didn't notice it was you laughing earlier." Mei grumbled as she finally removed the jade from her chest and revealed herself; the jade fading out of existence as it had served it's purpose.

"Ugggh fine, ya got me.." Mei frowned as she put her hands on her hips. "Well if you have good hearing, that means Nezha was right about Sun Wukong choosing pops as the other person to have a kid with."

"Pops? Oh right, you mean Macaque. He told me that's what you call him haha.."

"..." Mei was quiet for a bit as she stared at Mk. She then said, "(sigh) alright, back to business. Where is he, Mk? I need to see if he's okay."

"He's.. Actually I'm not sure. Last I checked he went inside the mountain to check on our clothes. But his clothes were gone and he was nowhere to be found. I think he went somewhere deeper in the mountain or something.." Mk folded his arms as his eyebrow raised in confusion; looking to the floor in thought.

Mei stared at the mountain's entrance with the impossibly opened waterfall. The unknown look and darkness of it made her feel nervous. She then decided something by herself. Mei rolled up her pants and took off her socks and shoes. She began marching in the water, ignoring the boys' questioning her. When she was about halfway there, she shouted, "Macaque! It's me, I'm here! I know you can hear me!"

"I mean we don't know," Mk started, "it's not like his ears are activated all the time. Speaking of which, I forgot to deactivate mine heheh."

Mei turned around to him with a scowl that made Mk's smile falter. "Ugg, I know that!" She said as she turned back to face the entrance. Mei knew it was immature, but she couldn't help but feel jealous of Mk. "Tsk, acting like I don't know my own dad.." Mei whispered as she hoped that Mk couldn't hear it, since he just said he was going to deactivate his hyper hearing.

'Don't forget he raised ME for 18 years, not you.' Literally a second after Mei had that thought, she began to feel guilty. 'Wait a second... Did Macaque not know he had a son?.. Otherwise why else would he not have raised him instead?' Before Mei had anymore thoughts, someone slowly approached from the mountain's entrance.

----

=Around 15 minutes before=

"Alright, I'm starting to feel soggy. I'll go check on our clothes to see if they're dry. You keep watch out for any bandits." Macaque said as he made his way inside the mountain. Once he got a bit in, he paused. He took a second as memories of the distant past came flooding back. Macaque then shook his head as he walked deeper into the mountain toward the tree they hung their clothes on.

He touched his pants and the shirt that Mk gave him a few days ago. They still felt pretty moist. Makes sense, they were washed pretty recently. Just as Macaque was about to go back to Mk, he stopped and looked at the back of the inside of the mountain. Macaque recalled the day he was brought here. How he was placed on the extra nest in the junk room... The junk room...

An idea had come to Macaque, and it made him feel both guilty and nervous. But right here, right now.. was his only chance to get it.

Through the waterfall, Macaque could vaguely hear Mk's voice. He chalked it up to him talking to one of the monkeys. He begrudgingly put on the still slightly wet clothes and jogged over to the back.

...

=Present time=

Macaque shoved something up his sleeve and made his way back to the waterfall exit. He was a few yards away when he paused his walking entirely after hearing something he never thought he'd hear again.

It was Mei's voice, almost drowned out through the waterfall. Macaque jogged over to the side of the exit so whoever was outside couldn't see him. The waterfall right next to him was really not gonna be good on his ears, but he forced himself to activate four of them. He winced as the flow of the water got pretty loud but he tried to focus on the voices outside.

"Ugg, I know that!"
There was no mistaking it, that was definitely Mei's voice. He hoped and prayed that this wasn't some trick. Macaque deactivated his ears, took a deep breath, and then stepped out of the mountain into the open.

Mk and some red haired stranger were standing over on the opposite end of the lake. But most importantly, his daughter, Mei, was standing in the middle of it whilst holding her shoes. They made eye contact with each other; both staring blankly before Mei broke the silence.

"Dad!" Mei yelled as she did some high-knee running to get through the water easier. Macaque just stood still with wide eyes, still hardly believing what he was seeing. It felt like a miracle to him.

"Oof!" Macaque grunted as Mei had aggressively embraced him in a tight hug. He no longer had any doubts as he hugged her back.

"Yeesh, your clothes feel a bit wet. But honestly? I could care less right now.." Mei said as she unashamedly squeezed him tighter.

"Actually it's 'couldn't' care less, b-but, how? How did you know I was here? This- this feels too good to be true.." Macaque buried his head in her shoulder as he pet her head.

"Heh, you can thank great grandpa Ao Lie for letting me know through his astral projections." Mei's voice was shaky as if she was holding back happy tears.

"Wait.. you talked to him??"

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

"Yeesh, your clothes feel a bit wet. But honestly? I could care less right now.." Mei said as she unashamedly squeezed him tighter.

"Actually it's 'couldn't' care less, b-but, how? How did you know I was here? This- this feels too good to be true.." Macaque buried his face in her shoulder as he pet her head.

"Heh, you can thank great grandpa Ao Lie for letting me know through his astral projections." Mei said.

"Wait.. you talked to him??" Macaque questioned as he pulled out of the hug and held onto Mei's shoulders; locking surprised eyes with her.

"Wha- your clone never told you?? Oh that's right, your clones can't talk. So I guess it probably would have been a hassle to explain... I've been meaning to ask, why can't your clones talk?"

"...I'm.. not all that sure. All I know is they stopped being able to talk after I uhh.. well, after this happened." Macaque pointed at his eye. Mei angrily looked to the side. Her hand was clenched into a fist, but she took a breath and calmed down. It wasn't the time for that.

"(Sigh) Well the clone at least gave you the gift I embroidered right?"

"Yeah, the little circle that said 'Mac + Mei' right? I-.. I don't have it with me. It kinda got left at our cave when I was-.. Um, when I was taken.." Macaque looked away and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "But anyway, what were you saying about Ao Lie??"

Mei explained how she had touched the ocean water and gotten retro-cognitions of when she was a baby. She then mentioned how the shadow clone told her the name of the white-haired man she saw, and told Mei what her original name was. (See chapter 9)

"My.. clone didn't even try telling me this..." Macaque responded.

"Did you know that would happen? Is that why you didn't want me near the ocean??" Mei asked.

"I-.. (sigh) no I didn't know. I just- Ao Lie advised in his dying wishes that I keep your identity hidden. And I felt that you being near the ocean was a risk of you being found by 'bad guys' or whatever..."

"...I guess that makes sense... Well, that's not all.."
Mei then explained the dream she had a few days ago; the one where Ao Lie warned her about Macaque being kidnapped. Although, she hadn't yet told Macaque about her more recent dream. The one where Ao Lie said Sun Wukong killed him. She wasn't quite sure how to bring that one up.

"Huh... For some reason, I'm getting deja vu.." Macaque furrowed his eyebrows and walked away a few feet as he thought. "I feel like he tried talking to me too."

"Really??" Mei questioned as she stepped closer to him. Just then they both looked over and saw Mk and Redson floating over on Mk's cloud. Mk had his arm around Redson's shoulder and Redson seemed to be holding onto Mk's hand for dear life. Mei chuckled, remembering how earlier Redson mentioned that he's scared to fly if he's not the one in control.

Macaque's ears flicked and then he asked, "why's your heart beating so fast?.. You scared of heights?"

"What? No!" Redson said as he huffed and hopped down from the cloud; folding his arms. Macaque stared in thought for a sec, and then a smirk appeared on his face as his eyes darted between Redson and Mk.

"Ahh.. I see.." Macaque said as he seemed to have some sort of realization.

"Huh??"
Redson then noticed Macaque's eye patch. He remembered how Mei told him about what Sun Wukong did.

Mei then interrupted, "okay okay, so why does it give you deja vu? Did great grandpops give you a dream too?"

"Yeah.. I think he did. It was the day that Wukong took-.. b-brought me here. Now that we're talking about it, I think I remember Ao Lie trying to warn me. He said 'he's here' or something, and before he could tell me who 'he' was, I had woken up. Pfft, I guess it's pretty obvious who now.." (See chapter 8)

Mei eyed down at the floor for a bit, and then she looked back up and asked, "dad.. if you were taken, then why haven't you left yet? Sun Wukong is gone, so it's the perfect opportunity for you to-"

"He can't." Mk cut her off and Mei turned around to look at him. He was uncomfortably holding onto his arm. Redson stared at Mk sympathetically.

"Y-You.." Mei slowly turned back to Macaque, "you can't?.. Is there some kind of spell keeping you here?"

"Sort of, yeah.." Macaque lifted up one of his hands, and a glow appeared around his wrist. He slightly winced at the feeling and the glowing stopped as he pulled his wrist to his chest and started massaging it.

"W-What just happened? What the hell was that!?"

"Wrist circlets," Redson said, his voice slightly shaky and his eyes wide. "A few times, the celestial court threatened to put some on me a while back. I always thought they were just empty threats to get me to behave; a made up myth... I never thought they were actually real.."

"Pfft, yeah well. I don't know much about celestial rules, but I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be a myth. I doubt Wukong got these legally from heaven.." Macaque theorized. "They stop me from using my shadow powers. And they limit my surroundings. Meaning that I can't really go past the flower fruit forest..."

Mei stared in shock for a moment. Her eyes darted around, not really knowing where to look. "Ugghh! You've gotta be kidding me!" She then grabbed at her hair and stomped away a few feet in frustration. "Redson, c'mon! You've gotta know some kind of spell or- or a cure or something to get those things off of him, right??"

Redson looked at her anxiously, and then grabbed at his chin as he thought. "Hmm.." He hummed as he paced around a bit. "If the wrist circlets aren't legal then.. I may know of a way we can counter them. But.. it'll involve me needing to have a.. very stressful and very long overdue confrontation..." Redson groaned as he then sighed, "but.. It's worth it if it means I can save Mk.. And uh, you as well.." He gestured to Macaque.

"(Sigh) look, I get wanting to take off Macaque's wrist circlets. But why do you always insist on 'rescuing' me? I mean, even if my dad always likes keeping an eye on me and would keep me in here when he would leave. In the end, he is just trying to protect me right??" Mk's tail began to flick a bit. "I mean, I feel like my relationship with him would've been just fine if I hadn't met you!"

"...!" Redson's eyes widened at hearing that. Mk blinked a bit and his frustrated expression instantly faded at seeing Redson's face. Mei and Macaque watched in awkward silence.

"I- No no, Redson I didn't mean that. I was just- It's just frustrating because.. Well, I feel like if I hadn't known just how unhealthy this all is from the beginning.. If I had just stayed ignorant, then maybe everything would've stayed fine."

Redson closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He then said, "...If you had stayed ignorant, then you would've been infantalized and babied for the rest of your life. You would've never seen that you weren't truly able to leave the nest." Redson looked off to the side, his eyebrows creased up a bit. "But.. what do I know?.. Maybe you are right. Maybe.. not knowing would've made your life better. Hell, maybe me not knowing that Sun Wukong killed my dad would have made my life easier as well..."

Mei grabbed her arm uncomfortably, thinking about what she knew. She contemplated telling Macaque, but she just didn't know how. Would him knowing that Sun Wukong killed Ao Lie just make things worse for her dad?

"..." Mk was quiet as he fiddled with his shirt. There was a silent pause with the whole group. Mk then said, "Redson I- I really didn't mean what I said. I am glad that I met you, honest.." He reached and gently put a hand on Redson's shoulder. Redson slightly flinched as he looked over at Mk with surprised eyes. "And I'm thankful that you're trying to 'rescue' me.."

"I-It's fine, I'm.. glad that I met you too..." Redson folded his arms as he seemingly blushed and looked to the side.

"Sheesh, get a room, you two." Mei blurted out.

"Wha- Mei shh!" Macaque said but he couldn't help but smile. Both Mk and Redson seemed confused at that comment. "Sorry, Mei can be a little too straight forward sometimes."

"Tch, tell me about it.." Redson rhetorically said as he rolled his eyes. Mei blew her tongue at Redson which just resulted in him scowling back at her and pouting his lips.

"We uh.. we haven't properly met, I'm the-.. well, you can just call me Macaque." He extended his hand towards Redson and he shook it.

"It's uhh, Redson.."

Mk teased, "Oh? Not gonna do your usual dramatic intro this time?"

"Shut up!" Redson barked back which made Mk laugh.

Macaque smiled warmly as he said, "Mk mentioned you a while back. You seem to make him really happy."

"W-Wha..?"

Mk then interrupted, "Aahhh sshhh! Lets uhh, end that conversation IMMEDIATELY hahaha.." He laughed nervously as he waved his hand in front of Macaque's face. Macaque and Mei shared a knowing look.

"Heh, and you say i'm the straight forward one?" Mei joked with a smirk.

But, before Macaque could respond, a certain something caught the eyes of everyone. They all turned to see a bunch of pink glowing petals spelling something out:

H-e-s b-a-c-k
R-u-n

All of their hearts sank when they read that. They gave each other uncomfortable glances.

----

=A few minutes ago=

Nezha had been standing on his wheels with his arms folded. His eyes were locked on flower fruit mountain. He was waiting to see if either of them would give him the emergency signal.
Although, they'd have to not be invisible for him to even see their signals.

He started getting this weird feeling to look behind himself. And so he did. Turns out his instincts were on point. He squinted as he saw something flying in this direction in the distance.

Nezha's eyes widened as he realized it was Wukong. He sort of panicked, wondering what to do. The last thing he expected was Wukong being gone from the mountain. It's not like he needed this day to look for Macaque anymore.

He fumbled between grabbing his weapon to fight, coming up with a lie to distract him, or just going invisible. Finally, he decided to grab one of his Jades and turned invisible. But, he needed to stall Wukong somehow.

When Wukong floated on his cloud close enough, Nezha's invisible self floated in front of him and stopped him with his hand.

"Oof! What the.." Wukong immediately stopped and looked around. He almost dropped the big bag he was carrying. He then continued floating forward but a bit slower with caution this time.

Nezha floated backwards as he kept his eyes on Wukong. He sent out some pink petals to warn the others of Sun Wukong's arrival (which were also invisible of course). Nezha then flew around to the side and grabbed a tight hold on Wukong's arm.

"WhaaAAHH!" Wukong yelped as he got pulled backwards, which resulted in him dropping the bag. In that instant, Nezha felt awful and so he quickly used his other hand to reach out and catch it... But him pulling his hand away from his chest was a big mistake. He was no longer invisible.

"..." Nezha was silent as he realized it. Metaphorical butterflies fluttered in his stomach from both embarrassment and fear.

"Ugh let go-!..." Wukong turned around and seemingly wasn't expecting to see anyone when his eyes widened at the sight of Nezha. They both stared silently for a few seconds. "Nezha?" He questioned as he tilted his head. Nezha let go of Wukong's arm and floated back a bit.

'Say something already dammit! Just come up with something, quick!' Nezha thought in a panic. He then glanced at the bag he was holding.

"I.. this bag looked suspicious, a-and so I'm checking it for anything illegal.."

"..." Wukong blinked a bit, and then his eyes lidded as he smirked. "Hah, you're not the real Nezha, are you?"

"E-Excuse me?"

Wukong leaned toward Nezha a bit and took a long sniff. He shook his head and said, "Tsk tsk tsk.. you don't smell like him at all. You're missing that flowery scent he always has. And also, I've known big bro Nezhi a looong time. Last I checked, he can't turn invisible."

'Flowery scent?.. Whatever, this is perfect. I have to be convincing though.'

"W-Well you don't know.. Maybe he- I mean, maybe I can turn invisible and just never told you.." Nezha folded his arms in a dramatic way, still holding Wukong's bag.

"...Ha.ha. funny. But no, he can't," Wukong said. "Now give me the clothes back, or you'll get hurt. You're lucky it's hard for me to hurt an old friend's face." He extended his hand with a dark smile.

'Its.. hard for him to hurt my face?... I didn't know he cared that much. Well anyway, I pray that they received my warning. I can't stall forever.' Nezha thought as he began to sweat.

"No, Sun Wukong, it's truly me. And like I said, this bag of 'clothes' is suspicious. S-so I need to check it."

"..." Wukong's eyebrow raised and his smile faded. "(Sigh) Whatever, impostor. It's not like clothing is anything suspicious. And I'm definitely fast enough to catch you in an instant if you try flying off with it."

"..." Nezha eyed Wukong cautiously. He then slowly opened the bag and examined the items. It seemed Wukong wasn't lying, he indeed did just buy clothing. Although, Nezha didn't actually care what was in the bag, he just needed to stall.

"Sooo what? You some kinda poor thief? Heh gotta admit, it's pretty bold of you to try robbing the Sun Wukong."

"Ugh, for the last time, I'm not 'robbing' you. I mean, what idiot would rob the Sun Wukong." Nezha held back a cringed expression from saying that. "And I'm telling you, I am Nezha." He wasn't a big fan of lying, but this was a unique situation. Nezha wasn't really lying, but he had to make it seem like he was lying. Quite the specific predicament.

"Mm hm.." Wukong rolled his eyes with a smirk.

As Nezha began to hand back the bag, he asked a question, "so.. It's hard for you to hurt an old friend's face, huh? Didn't know you even cared about me."

Wukong blinked in surprise and then his eyebrows furrowed, almost looking offended. He then placed his hands on his hips, one hand awkwardly holding the bag. "Heh, of course I care about big bro Nezhi. I mean sure, he can be a bit strict, but you know, he's fun to tease. Why else do you think I call him 'big bro'? The younger sibling always annoys the older sibling. I've seen it plenty of times with the monkeys."

'Oh he's got that right.. And I would know as the god of children..' Nezha thought.

"...It almost felt like, he raised me in a way. I mean, I know I was never a child myself but.." Wukong sat down on his cloud as he stared off in the distance and continued, "he always seemed to worry and occasionally check up on me, like a big brother would. Like that time 18 years ago that he somehow knew that I was going through something, right after that samadhi crap."

"The splitting of the samadhi fire?"

(See chapter 3)

Wukong looked up at Nezha with a bit of surprise and then raised an eyebrow with his signature smirk. "You've really done your research, impostor." Nezha simply rolled his eyes in response. "You know, it's funny that I'm opening up to a stranger like this. I don't think I'd ever tell this to the real Nezha. Call it 'sibling pride' if you will."

"..."

"...Welp, my child and my-.. uhh my moonlight are waiting for me to get home. So I gotta cut this weird interaction short."

"Hmph." Nezha just huffed as he turned around and began floating back down to the ground.

'Good gods that was close. Very glad it's over-'

"Oh but one more thing?" Wukong called.

"Hm?" Before Nezha could even turn his head, he felt two strong hands grip his shoulders. "Guh! Wukong what-"

"If you ever think about 'robbing' my child or my moonlight away from me? I will give you a free ticket straight to the depths of the underworld. Although, I guess the real Nezha wouldn't like it if I killed anyone. But I can still hurt you enough to where you'd want to die."

"Wha- I'm not-"

"Because it doesn't matter if I can't smell or can't see you, my gold vision sure as hell can."

Nezha quickly pulled out his last Invisibility Jade and pressed it against his chest. He then wriggled out of Wukong's grip and shoved him away. As fast as he could, he zoomed down towards the ground. He looked back just for a bit, and in that moment, he could see Wukong's eyes glowing gold. And once Nezha had made eye contact with him, Wukong grinned; his sharp teeth showing.

A chill ran down Nezha's spine. It didn't matter if they were even able get more Invisibility Jades, gold vision could most definitely see right through it.

'Well, hopefully the others were able to at least scope the surroundings; so that they could work out a rescue plan.'

----

=A few minutes earlier, again=

H-e-s b-a-c-k
R-u-n

All of their hearts sank when they read that. They gave each other uncomfortable glances.

"We need to leave." Redson deadpanned.

"..." Mei wanted to agree but she was fighting between wanting to just stay with her father, and knowing she needs to leave. "(Sigh) Yeah.. I guess we do." She grabbed her arm uncomfortably.

"At least we have more to work with. I'm certain we can figure out a way to break the spell on your father," Redson gestured to Macaque. "Mk, you don't have a spell on you, right? So what if you just send out a clone?"

"What? When?? And where?"

"I-.. Ugh I don't know just.. um.. Just, have a clone meet up at the edge of flower fruit forest to let us know if Wukong is gone or not by next week."

"...O-Okay, I'll try.." Mk said, nervously.

Mei began to pull out her last Invisibility Jade but Redson raised his hand to stop her and said, "No, let's not waste our last ones. Just in case Jade Rabbit won't be so generous again.."

Macaque chimed in, "Wukong always comes back on his cloud. And I guarantee he'll come straight over here. You'll be able to sneak out of here through the trees."

Redson nodded and turned to leave but before he could, he felt his hand being grabbed. He looked and saw that it was Mk. In a quick motion, Mk pulled Redson into a hug. Three hugs in one day, that's a record. He hugged back of course.

"Sorry that I didn't wear a braid today." Redson mumbled. Mk blinked in surprise and then he chuckled. He pulled away to look Redson in the eyes.

"You can make it up to me by wearing it on our first date. Once me and pops are officially out of here." Mk winked and stepped back a bit with his hands on his hips. Redson's face began to flush red and his hair began to flair up a bit. He silently nodded and jumped down from the mountain.

Mei said to Macaque, "I've been meaning to thank you.."

"Pfft for what?" Macaque chuckled out.

"Well.." She rubbed the back of her neck. "For raising me the way you did. For training me to be a warrior. To have independence. You may not have really known what you were doing but, I still think you did a great job.."

"..." Macaque was speechless as he stared at his daughter. He never noticed how much she's grown. "Y-You're welcome.." He stuttered out with a smile. Macaque looked away as he blinked a bit; probably holding back a tear.

"Haha, I realized it when I met a girl in a village, Bai He. She was adopted too, but.. her life turned out a lot differently than mine. So again, thank you." Mei walked up and hugged him and he obviously hugged back.

"(Sniff) A-Alright, you better hurry along. Wukong might be here soon.." Macaque said as they separated.

"I... I love you.."

"...Hah.. I love you too, Mei.."

They smiled very sincerely at each other.

Just before Mei left, she looked at Mk. She stared at his weird bangs that were wetly hanging over his forehead and sort of covering his eye.

"Hmm.. you know, you could really use a head-band for those bangs. I'll make ya one."

Before Mk could even respond, Mei ran down the side of the mountain; following wherever Redson had gone.

----

Sun Wukong had watched the Nezha imposter leave. Not even invisibility could hide from his gold vision. He chuckled with pride, as he felt that he scared them off well enough.

He glided back home on his cloud, a chill breeze flowing by. There was rain coming, and Wukong wasn't the biggest fan of cloudy days.

...

"I'm back!" Wukong called as he looked down and saw his star and moon standing next to the waterfall's lake. They had been talking to each other, but then they both looked up at him.

"H-Hey dad, welcome home!" Mk said as he smiled and waved. Macaque simply folded his arms and looked away.

Wukong floated down and hopped off his cloud.

"Aw what? Not happy to see me?" He asked, referring to Macaque.

Macaque side eyed him and said, "I'm... indifferent to see you.."

"Ouch.. well I'll take what I can get I guess. But, I bought you some cool new clothes!" Wukong wagged his tail excitedly as he thrust forward the sheep-skin bag.

Macaque blinked a bit and hesitantly opened the bag to look. Mk came over to look as well, and he pulled the top one out.

"Whoaaa, is this silk!? Or whatever that fancy clothing type is called?" Mk asked as he felt the soft fabric. He rubbed it against his cheek, which made both Wukong and Macaque chuckle. Macaque reached into the bag and pulled out a purple hanfu shirt. It was a white with a multitude of tiny purple stars. On the backside had a half moon design. He soon figured out that everything in the bag was made of silk.

"W-wow.. Wukong I.. C'mon I don't deserve any of this.." Macaque said as he stared down at the clothing with his eyebrows creased up.

"Oh pish posh nonsense," Wukong said with a flip down of his hand. "I know you're not very materialistic, but you deserve to have nice things too, moonlight."

Macaque's expression turned into a surprised one as he looked at Wukong. He then, just as quickly, looked away. Scratching the back of his neck he said, "I guess haha.. Thanks, Wukong."

"..." Wukong stared at him blankly for a moment. He felt a bit hurt that Macaque didn't reciprocate the nickname calling. He then brushed it off by smiling and responded, "no problem. You know, I got an outfit for you too, Monkie Kid."

"Really!?" Mk exclaimed as he squeezed the shirt he was holding and his tail wagged around.

"Yup! It's the orange one at the bottom."

----

Redson and Mei were getting close to the edge of flower fruit forest. Both of them still had one Invisibility Jade left, and they wanted to save it just in case.

"Urgg what is taking him so long? Shouldn't he have teleported us out of here by now??" Mei complained in a whisper.

"My guess is he's busy distracting Wukong. Or.. worse." Redson theorized.

"Worse??"

"Its-.. ugh it's possible that Nezha had to fight hi-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, they both paused as a golden light appeared under them. They looked down and saw a circular spell with heavenly language encrypted into it. It was the celestial escape portals.

The light engulfed them and they were teleported out of there. Hopefully they were hidden enough so that no one saw.

...

They appeared in heaven and the first person they saw was Nezha. His fingers were clamped together and his eyes were closed in a sort of prayer way. Nezha's eyes shot open and he rushed toward Mei and Redson.

"Oh thank the gods. You two aren't hurt right? You came out in one piece?" He asked as he individually grabbed their faces and examined them.

"Ulg yes! We're fine!" Redson said, pushing Nezha's hands off.

"Yeah i'm- oop! Yesh em gud.." Mei tried to say with her face being sort of squished by Nezha's hands.

"Sorry sorry I just- well- Wukong didn't see you, right?? Did my warning get to you in time?"

"Yeah we got it. And we hid in the forest before he could see us. Wait, does that mean you weren't able to distract him for that long?" Mei asked.

"Uhh.. Well I hoped I did..." Nezha had one hand on his hip while the other rubbed the back of his neck. "I most likely only distracted him for maybe six minutes.. And at the speed he was flying, it probably took him three minutes to get there? I'm not sure but, I'm sorry it took so long for me to get you two out of there. I was trying to get to a hidden spot so that he wouldn't see me do it..."

"...Why are you acting so strange? What exactly happened between you two?" Redson asked.

Nezha gave him a nervous look. He then closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to speak.
He proceeded to tell them about the encounter he had with Wukong. How he had to pretend he was an imposter so that Wukong wouldn't know what Nezha was doing. He also explained why he seemed so shaken up. Wukong's threat had really gotten to him, even if Wukong wouldn't have made that threat to the 'real Nezha'.

Mei's reaction was a mix of anger and shock. Redson on the other hand, he seemed mildly disturbed, but far from surprised.

Nezha also explained that he used both of his Invisibility Jades. He mentioned how Wukong's gold vision could see through the invisibility, and Redson agreed and mentioned that Mk could as well.

"So, what happened on your end?" Nezha asked both of them. They gave each other a look, and proceeded to take turns.

Both of them silently agreed to leave out the irrelevant details and just say what was important. Mei mentioned that Macaque had wrist circlets keeping him there, and Redson mentioned the Mk clone idea.

"That's cruel... He's practically treating Macaque like a child, not an equal." Nezha said.

"Tch yeah.." Redson replied, "well, I have an idea on how we can get them off. But.. the thing is..." He had his arms folded and his hand was squeezing anxiously.

"Earlier, you said we had to make a 'long overdue confrontation', well, who exactly did you mean?" Mei asked.

----

"Wow! And this is just stuff that people wear casually? Not like, at fancy parties??" Mk asked as he held the silk outfit Wukong bought for him.

"Well, more so rich folk but yeah, pretty much." Wukong answered.

"Oooo 'rich folk' clothing hee hee," Mk snickered as if he was doing something rebellious. Makes sense that it would feel rebellious to him, considering sloppy is the monkey way. Macaque pulled the strings on the bag to close it and then began to walk away. "Whoa hey, where you goin?"

"Hm? Oh I was just gonna.. go I guess." Macaque answered awkwardly.

Mk raised his eyebrow and then protested, "what?? But it's clearly gonna rain soon. You wouldn't wanna get your new clothes wet. Why not hang with us for a while?"

"Hah!" Wukong laughed as he put his hands on his hips, "don't worry kid, Macaque loves the rain. Although.. his clothes getting wet is concerning.." Wukong squinted as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Oh yeah, I forgot earlier you said you liked that it was cloudy," Mk remembered. "But, what about your new clothes?"

"The clothes will be fine," Macaque dryly said, "they're perfectly safe inside this bag. (Sigh) Look Mk, I know you like hanging out with me, but, I'm kinda all 'social'd out' or whatever young people say these days.. I don't exactly have as much energy as you or Wukong do."

"Oh... Y-yeah that makes sense.." Mk said with a nervous smile as he looked down. Macaque noticed Mk's tail wrapping around his leg. Wukong seemed to notice too as he stepped up.

"Hey kid, don't worry, it's nothing against you. Trust me, it took me a while to sink that in back when me and him were first friends. I may have cried... a lot... BUT you gotta know that it's nothing personal. He just likes to have more alone time than we do, that's all." Wukong assured as he pat Mk on the back.

"Yeah, what he said.." Macaque agreed as he blushed in embarrassment. "Alright uh.. see you tomorrow." He once again began to walk away with a wave of his hand this time.

"See ya.." Mk said with mild disappointment as he and Wukong waved back. Macaque hopped down the mountain and headed off, making sure the thing he had tucked up his sleeve wouldn't fall out. In the distance Macaque heard Mk say something to Wukong, "hey, we should train! It's been a while since we have!"

----

"Ullgg the person we-.. I need to confront is.. well it isn't someone you've met before, dragon girl. But once you do, you may just regret it." Redson explained as he nervously tapped his finger on his folded arms.

"Oh my goooosh stop stalling and just tell us already! I can't tell if I'm dying of anticipation or boredom.." Mei rolled her eyes in frustration. A quiet chuckle came out of Nezha, which he badly tried to hide with a clearing of his throat.

"We uhh.. I think um.. (Inhale exhale) I think my mom might know something about the illegal wrist circlets.. O-Or at least, know a way to help.."

"Ugghh I was afraid you'd say that.." Nezha groaned as he pinched between his eyes.

Mei blinked in confusion and asked, "whoa whoa time out. Who exactly is your mom?"

"Princess Iron Fan." Redson said and Mei stared at him blankly. "What? Too shocked to speak?"

"Um.. maybe I would be shocked if I had any clue who the hell that is.."

"What!? She's the tamer of mountain fires, the conqueror of worlds! Or w-well the almost conqueror of worlds.."

"Yeeeah I didn't exactly grow up with a very educated child-hood sooo..."

Nezha then commented, "yeah, you not even knowing about your celestial lineage is proof enough of that."

"Well, what's so scary about her? She's just your mom, so lets just go talk to her already." Mei said, bluntly.

"We can't just- it's not that easy!" Redson fumbled.

"(Sigh) Mei," Nezha stared at her with a sympathetic look. "Princess- or, formally known as Queen but, it changed ever since Demon Bull King, Redson's father, died. Anyway, Iron Fan is.. well.. she's a war criminal. And she's in celestial prison."

"...Oh..." Mei folded her arms, feeling a little bad for being insensitive. "So your mom is a bad person?"

"She's not-! (Ahem)... She's not a 'bad' person she's just.. power hungry that's all.." Redson looked to the side, uncomfortably.

"..." Mei shrugged, turned around, and then put her arms up behind her head and rested against her hands. "Whatever you say, dude."

----

The rain began to gently dribble. Macaque loved the feeling of it dropping on his skin and hair.

He found a small cave around the mountain's corner. Although, it was barely even a cave, it was more just a little dent in the mountain. Really only one person could fit in it, and you'd have to curl in on yourself to fully be inside; even then your toes would be sort of sticking out. The point is, this was the best place for Macaque to hide and be alone for a while.

Earlier he had sneaked into the junk room without telling Mk, and he stole an item from it. He didn't think he'd find it so easily among all that hoarded junk, but he got lucky. Macaque used his ears to double check if anyone was near him. He even used his sense of smell for extra measure.

He then turned back to the 'mountain dent' and started to dig in the dirt. After he was satisfied with the hole, he placed the item he had stolen into it and buried the dirt back on it. He then placed the bag of clothing on top of it.

After all, putting the bag there was the perfect cover for hiding the memory scroll from Wukong.

Looking down at his masterpiece, he mumbled to himself,

"Once I get my powers back, you're gonna show me everything that happened that day."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

The fire trio's next plan was to confront Redson's mother, Iron Fan.

Nezha said, "(Sigh) look, we don't have to visit her today. I would like to say you can do it when you're ready, but we're kind of-"

"No, it has to be today." Redson interrupted.

"W-Wait what?"

"It's only afternoon, I won't be able to sleep if I wait till tomorrow or the next. We need to get this over with as soon as possible. The sooner we get those damn circlets off Six Ears, the sooner we can save Mk." Redson slammed his fist in his hand to further emphasize.

"He's right," Mei said, "I wanna get my dad outta there pronto. And if talking to Redson's evil mom is all we can do, then it's the best we got I guess."

"Argg, I told you, she's not- (sigh).." Redson took a breath as he dragged his hand down his face. He then continued, "nevermind.. Come on, let's just get through this already." Redson began to walk as he pulled his hair down from it's uncomfortably tight bun. Mei jogged along as she caught up to him.

"Uh- uhh.." Nezha stuttered out. He then blinked as he came to his senses, "w-wait up you two!"

----

Princess Iron Fan had just finished letting out her frustrations into the cell's wall. All the cracks she had made healed themselves immediately of course. Since, again, this room had zero consequences for taking your anger out on it. Any progress of escape would get sealed up almost instantly.

Now, she was sitting in her cell, cross-legged. Iron Fan had her eyes closed and she was sitting in a meditative position. She always hated meditating, but it was one of the only things that passed the time effectively. Another way would be sleeping. This time, she was attempting to astral project.

Unfortunately for her, even her astral projections couldn't leave this room. The furthest her spirit could go was at the room's door. She would sometimes use it to peak out the window or listen to people whispering outside. Although, because meditating wasn't ideal for her, she didn't do it too often. And astral projection would usually give her headaches.

Luckily if they weren't whispering, she could hear them just fine without astral projection. Like the other day when she heard Nezha supposedly reveal that Redson chose to cease his visits with her (See chapter 16).

Her spirit walked through the bars of her cell and toward the room's door. She saw what she would usually always see, the angel guard at their post. The same coward that wanted to swap places with another because Iron Fan had been screaming threats at them. Looks like they were either required to return, or they grew a back-bone.
Then, something caught Iron Fan's eye through the window. In the distance, she saw Nezha, some girl, and her one and only son. They were making their way over here.

"Redson, are you sure you're ready to face her again? You know how.. difficult your mother can be.." Nezha said and Iron Fan frowned at that.

"Just trust me, alright? If I had the guts to face the heavenly court, then my own mother should be a piece of cake." Redson answered.

"I honestly don't have much to add to this conversation since I never had a mom. But if your mom is anything like Bai He's mom, then yikes..." The black-haired girl with green highlights added. Iron Fan squinted her spirity eyes. Something about that girl's aesthetic seemed vaguely familiar. The trio got to the door and spoke with the guard.

"A-Are you sure? But Lord Nezha, didn't you say you did not want Redson to calm Princess Iron Fan's tantrums?" The angel guard asked.

"(Sigh) That's not what he's here to do. He's here to-"

"I'm here to simply ask her if she knows anything about- uhh.. Well, that's classified..." Redson folded his arms and looked away. Iron Fan smirked at her son's cute mannerisms. She then blinked and snapped out of it as she ran back to her physical body. Iron Fan woke up from her astral projection and awaited the trio's entry.

----

"You ready?" Mei asked, staring at Redson's hand on the double doors.

"...Ready as I'll ever be..."
With that, he pushed open the entrance to the cell room. Dimly lit candles were in each of the four corners. They never needed to be replaced. The candles forever burned a magical light that didn't even hurt if you touched their flames.

Right there in the middle of the room, was his mother's cell. The three of them stepped in and the guard closed the doors behind them.

Redson put on a front, but in reality, his heart was racing. His visits with his mother were limited to once a month. He had been skipping a few visits with her, meaning he hadn't seen her for quite a long time. Redson hoped that there was maybe a possibility that his mother didn't notice. Every step he took towards her felt heavier and heavier. He gulped down his nervousness and cleared his throat.

"Mother, how are you?"

"..." Iron Fan had her back turned towards them. Redson then heard her scoff. She then snorted up some mucus and spat in the corner. The spit instantly dissipated; not even liquids could corrode these magical walls. "You go months without seeing me, and that's all I get? A pathetic 'how are you'? You should be on your knees begging for forgiveness.."

"Uhh.." Redson's body began to tremble. His eyes were darting around. The anxiety was building, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Mei. When they locked eyes, Mei demonstrated a breathing technique. She slowly inhaled, held it in, then slowly exhaled. Redson followed along with her, and it surprisingly helped him calm down. He nodded his head as a silent thank you and she nodded back with a smile. "Months you say? This cell must be getting to you, mother. It hasn't been that long."

Everyone flinched as Iron Fan suddenly erupted into laughter. It was loud and went on for a few seconds too long. The trio failed to understand what was so funny. When Iron Fan finally calmed down, she turned around and a dark smile was on her face. It gave Mei the chills but Nezha and Redson were pretty used to that look by now.
"I may have stopped counting the days years ago, but I still know when a long time has passed. You can't fool me, I know you've skipped a few of our visits."

The trio were quiet, but then Mei spoke up, "oh yeah? Well so what if he did! You clearly deserved it!"

"And just what the hell do you know, girl!?" Iron Fan sharply said. "Stay out of our business."

"I know that a parent shouldn't ever talk to their child like that!"

"Hah! Then your parents clearly didn't teach you well. Especially since you seem to have no respect for your elders. You're the most pathetic little girl I've ever seen."

"Excuse me-!" Mei was cut off as Redson put his hand in front of her and shook his head. She begrudgingly stepped down; looking away with a glare.

"(Sigh) Mother, yes I admit it. I skipped a few visits. And I'm sorry that I lied about it, but I'm not sorry for doing it. After all, I don't regret it. Skipping my visits with you may have been one of the best things I've ever done.." Redson's voice was slightly trembling but he was trying to sound confident.

If looks could kill, the look on Iron Fan's face would certainly do the trick. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows tilted down in fury.
"Just how useless can you be..? You couldn't even find a way to get rid of that good for nothing monkey. Or even find me a way out of here. What kind of son disrespects his mother like that!?" She said as she stood up and gripped the bars of the cell. Redson took a step back as he kept his eyes on her out of fear. Logic knew that she couldn't get out of that cell, but his fight or flight response wasn't listening to logic.
"And you're not even sorry for what you did.. I gave birth to you, or did you forget!?"

"N-No.."

"Your father and I raised you for a good five years, before that damn monkey took him away from us! And then you have the gall to listen to this worthless flower prince, who separated you from me!? We had a plan, Redson. To get revenge on that stupid primate. And you've thrown it all away for the Lotus prince??"

"Urrgg that was your plan, not mine! I'm so tired of hearing that, 'revenge revenge', it's all you ever talk about!!" Redson balled his hands into fists. "Practically my whole life that's all you ever wanted to do! You never once asked what I wanted! All you wanted was to take over the world, and that was your mistake. You became villains and father paid the price. You never cared about me, all you cared about was revenge and ruling the world. My whole life you were just using me to get what you want. So now, I get to do the same!"

"..." Iron Fan scowled as she stayed quiet.

"Tieshan Gongzhu," Nezha cut in, "we need to know if you know anything about the dark market."

"Tsk, like I'd tell you.." She put her hands on her hips and looked away with her usual frown. "I don't owe you anything. So piss off."

"This is an emergency, lives are at stake! You were a celestial once, you understand don't you??"

"Those lives are not my problem."

Redson then said, "mother, please just do one good thing in your life and help me!" He grabbed onto the bars which sort of startled Iron Fan. She blinked a bit with her eyebrows raised. "My best friend is trapped with Sun Wukong and I'm trying to save him! And Mei's father, the Six Eared Macaque, he's trapped there too. He has these illegal wrist circlets bound to him. You're the only person who probably knows anything about the dark market, so please!" Redson then stepped a bit away from the cell. He sat on his knees and then did a full on bow, with his forehead touching the ground. "Please just do this one good thing!"

"..." Iron Fan looked down at him, confused. Mei then walked over and knelt down with Redson and bowed the same way he was.

"Please miss Teesan Gongshoo! My father and Redson's friend need your help!" Mei pleaded, her voice a bit muffled with her forehead against the floor like Redson's was.

Nezha cringed a bit, then he rolled his eyes, walked over to Redson's other side and did the same thing the other two were doing. Even if doing so greatly hurt his dignity.

"Please help us..." Nezha said.

----

Iron Fan backed away a bit in her cell as she stared down at the trio bowing down to her. This was the first time in years that anyone had bowed to her like this. A blush was beginning to grow on her cheeks. It was a little embarrassing.
As much as she wanted to just scream at them to leave, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe her son was right. Did her obsession with revenge really go too far?

"Gahhh! Alright fine! Just stop bowing already! I-.. I may know where the circlets came from..." Iron Fan folded her arms and huffed as she turned to the side.

"Really??" All three creepily exclaimed in unison as they lifted their heads up. Iron Fan's face contorted into a look of disgust at the trio being so in-sync. Seeing Nezha act so child-like gave her flashbacks to a time long ago; when she used to be a sort of older sister figure to him.

"Ulg yes! Now stop looking at me like lost puppies.."
They all got up and dusted themselves off. Now that Iron Fan was getting a closer look at the girl, she realized why she looked weirdly familiar. "Now I see.. You're related to that Ao Lie aren't you? What, did him and Macaque raise a child together or something? They did seem pretty close last time we saw them on that journey..."

"Uhh no.. I'm actually Ao Lie's great granddaughter. Him and my parents died and Macaque just adopted me when I was just a baby.." The girl grabbed her arm uncomfortably. "I'm Mei by the way, although, we probably won't know each other for long..."

"...You got my name completely wrong earlier, girl. You can just call me Iron Fan if my real name is that hard for you."

"R-Right.." Mei said, scratching the back of her head.

"So, you want to know which dark market would've had the wrist circlets?" Iron Fan asked and they all looked at each other, then looked back at her and nodded. "(Sigh)... There's a certain snake that somehow collects some of the most forbidden and powerful items. I have no clue how he does it, perhaps he made a deal of some kind. But, the point is, he isn't just going to give the counter spell away. He'll have a big price. He might possibly even ask for.. your soul.."
Redson, Mei, and Nezha all gave each other nervous looks, probably wondering if it's worth it.
"Or he'll just ask for a lot of money, who knows?"

"Tch, I thought you did." Nezha remarked.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've been in this cell for years now. That snake could've changed his ways. But he's the only one that I can think of that Sun Wukong might've bought from. After all, if that monkey hasn't changed, then he isn't a stranger to hoarding valuable junk. He could've easily traded some of that junk to get some wrist circlets."

"Alright so, where is this snake?" Redson asked.

"Hmph, what's in it for me?"

"(Sigh) Look, you want vengeance so bad? Us saving Macaque and Mk would be the best revenge on Sun Wukong there is."

"Mk?"

Redson blinked a bit and then realized what he said. "Uh, Mk is the friend I was talking about.."

'So he's been making friends huh?... I guess this dragon girl is probably a friend of his as well. Or... Well, she's not the ideal choice I would've picked for him, but whatever continues the family bloodline I suppose.' Iron Fan thought.

"Hm... Fine, but you must make sure that you journal the entire event and then report back to- I mean, make sure you tell me about it afterwords.." Iron Fan put her hand through the cell. Redson looked down at it. He then turned to look at Nezha for assurance, which really irked Iron Fan, but now wasn't the time to get jealous about it. Nezha nodded his head and Redson turned back and took Iron Fan's hand.

"Deal."

"Heh.. So, this snake fellow is quite the trickster. He'll be hard to recognize since he usually always wears a cloak." Iron Fan proceeded to tell them about how to find the dark market shop keeper. "And there's a phrase that'll help gain his trust. It's one your father and I would use. When you find him, simply say..."

The trio listened as Iron Fan told them the phrase they needed to say. It sounded a bit silly, but Iron Fan promised them that it'd do the trick.

Redson and Nezha put their fist to their palm and did a bow of respect.

"Thank you." They said in unison. Mei seemed confused but she gave in and did the same thing. Iron Fan held back a laugh as she saw Mei use the wrong hands. It's supposed to be right fist to left palm.

'Although ironically, I guess she still sort of got it correct. Since women typically do in fact salute the opposite way; left fist to right palm.' Iron Fan thought.

They all turned around and headed for the door. Princess Iron Fan couldn't help but feel like she had to say one last thing.

"Wait!" She called. The trio stopped and she caught her son's eye. "For the record, you were wrong about one thing. I do care about you, Redson."

"..." His eyebrows creased up as he looked down. "...(Sigh) I.. I could start visiting you again. On one condition though. No more talk about killing, revenge, and ruling the world. Lets just.. talk, like a normal family... For once..."
Mei gave Redson a mildly surprised look after he said this.

With that, the three of them went out of the room, leaving the woman alone in this quiet and scentless room.

"Pfft... a 'normal family' huh?... Us celestials never really have the luxury of that..." Iron Fan said with a sad tone as she leaned against the bars.

----

"...Hey, Nezha?" Mei said, sounding shyer than usual.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Uh.. well, after this is all over, there's um.. Something I gotta tell ya.."

"Okay...? What about?"

"Mmm well uhh something about my great grandpops but.. Ehh don't worry about it. Just, remind me later if I forget."

"Um.. alright?" Nezha was confused but he decided not to pry any further.

=An hour later=

The trio had all dawned disguises. Mei was wearing her hood. Redson put on some peasant clothing and a weimao hat. Nezha had to have a full on outfit change since he was too recognizable. He tied his hair into a high ponytail and put on some face make up. He hoped the rain wouldn't mess it up.

"Okay this is definitely the place.." Mei said as they all stared at their destination. It looked pretty much the same as what PIF described. It seemed like the snake guy didn't change all that much after all the years PIF was away.

It was a nice looking building that had two dragon statues on the sides of the walkway entrance. There was a delicious smell coming from the inside. Mei and Redson's stomachs growled but Nezha's didn't. He didn't really need to eat as the high ranking celestial that he was. He still could if he wanted.

They stepped inside the building and it was beautiful. There were tables and some customers knelt down on pillows with them. The pillars holding up the ceiling were made of shiny copper. Red tapestries were draped along the walls with intricate Chinese designs on them. There was someone behind a counter wiping down some plates.

"Heyyy sooo, can I please get some food before we investigate?" Mei looked at Nezha with pleading eyes.

"Tch, how can you think of food at a time like-" Redson got interrupted by his own stomach growling. He clutched his arms around his abdomen as he stared off to the side with a blush.

"(Sigh) Fine, you two just go get food. I'll look around for anyone who looks like a snake." Nezha gave Redson a bag of silver coins and they walked off to the bar. Nezha walked around, making quick glances at the customers.

----

Mk and Wukong had been training for about an hour (with breaks in between of course.) It had been quite a while since they sparred. It was pretty clear that Macaque wasn't coming back and for sure wanted his alone time.

"Alright, now bring out as many clones as you can!" Wukong commanded and Mk did as he said. He pulled out a few hair clones and directed them. One went left the other went right, and him and another charged forward.

"You go low I'll go high.." Mk said to the clone and it nodded happily. "Hiiiyah!" Mk exclaimed as he jumped up and zoomed down toward Wukong with a fist. Wukong jumped backward in a perfect dodge with a smirk on his face. He also swiftly dodged the clone that aimed lower.
Then the one coming to his right and to his left.

Wukong countered each clone and threw each to the ground; making them explode into a bunch of hair. While Wukong was distracted doing that, Mk hid behind a tree and released another clone. It ran around to the front to keep Wukong's eyes on it.

"Hah, not so fast, Mk. Your little triple clone combo won't work this time!" Wukong charged for the new clone, unaware of Mk's new trap. Wukong pulled his staff out from his ear and put it around the clone in a chokehold. "Come on, admit that you lost and I'll let ya go!"

'Heehee, that's what you think..' Mk thought as he jumped out from behind the tree as quietly as he could. He then used his tail to whip at Wukong's head. Wukong realized it at the last second as he turned his head around, but it was too late. Mk's tail whacked Wukong in the face.

He stumbled back as he rubbed his cheek, the clone that he was previously holding onto, dissipating itself.

"Heh.. impressive.." Wukong smiled darkly which sort of gave Mk the chills. Mk kept his own smile though, smiling through the nervousness. Wukong pulled some hair, but kept it in his pocket. He then grabbed his staff and charged for Mk. He kept brandishing it while Mk kept on jumping backwards to dodge the swings.

Then suddenly, Mk felt something grab his tail. He looked back and it was a Wukong clone. His dad had released the hair in his pocket without him realizing it. He was then thrown into the distance and his back hit against a tree. Mk groaned in a bit of pain.

"Ughh... Ow dad! Come on that was too rough!"

Wukong's exhilirated smile immediately sank into a look of worry and shock. He ran over and knelt down in front of Mk.

"Oh my stars I'm so sorry, kiddo. I-I didn't mean it-" Wukong's words were cut off as he felt a punch to his chin and he was thrown back a few feet because of it.

"Haha, gotcha.." Mk said with a teasing wink. He stood up and popped his back with a stretch.

"Wow heh, you've become quite the trickster. Just like your old man.." Wukong said with an admiring smile as he rubbed his chin a bit and stood up.

"(Sigh) Yurp, I learned from da best after all. Alright, I'm ready for a snack. What about you?" Mk offered as he stretched his arms above his head. Wukong simply shrugged as he walked over.

...

They sat down and ate some peaches.

"Hey.. do you think I'm still immortal from that peach you gave me a few years ago? You know, the one for my-"

"For your 14th birthday. Well yeah, why do you ask?" Wukong raised his eyebrow as he chomped another bite.

"W-Well it's just that.. I never really told you this but um.. A few months after my birthday I uhh, I sort of climbed up the inside of the mountain. I was trying to get to the top and I uhh... I fell... My cloud wasn't working all that well and I hit the ground pretty hard. I blacked out but the monkeys had told me that I wasn't out for that long." Mk recalled (see chapter 2). "What if.. I-I mean, maybe this sounds dumb but, w-what if I actually died that day, and I used up the immortality peach you gave me?"

"..." Wukong stopped chewing and swallowed slowly. He stared off into the distance, barely even moving. He then smiled and wrapped his arm around Mk's shoulder, pulling him in close. "Baahh don't worry bud, that's not how it works... hopefully."

"Huh?"

"Nothing haha. Let's not think about death, kid. The clouds finally cleared up, so it's too nice a day for that." With that, Wukong ate the rest of his peach.. including the seed..

After a bit of silence, Mk decided to reciprocate the side hug by putting his arm around his dad's shoulder as well.

"Yeah, it is a nice day.."

----

While Mei and Redson ordered food, Nezha walked around observing the customers. He then halted as he heard a whistle. He whipped around and saw a lady with black hair and purple skin. She stared at him with bright green eyes. The woman had this weirdly seductive look with a flirtatious smile.

"Heya handsome~ You look like a lost kitty." She said with her smooth voice.

"Is that so?" Nezha fully turned to face her and had his hands on his hips.

"It is so heheh.. I can tell this is your first time in a place like this." The stranger picked up her cup and slowly swirled it around, her eyes still locked on his. "How about I string you along to the secrets of this building's web?"

"..." Nezha broke eye contact as he nervously looked at other customers. He caught some of them giving him nervous looks back. That was all he needed to catch on. Nezha looked back at the pretty woman, who now had a devious grin on her face; her sharp canines now being very prominent. "Yeeah no thanks.." Nezha said as he walked away, feeling the most awkward he's ever felt in a while. Unless you count bowing to a prisoner as more awkward.

"Hmph, your loss..."

...

Nezha came up to Mei and Redson and sat in the stool next to them. "Kids, this place is pretty sketchy. Be careful.."

"Kids??" Redson questioned as he looked at Nezha with an offended stare. Mei seemed offended too, but her face was too full of food for her to talk.

"What? You are centuries younger than me after all. Therefore I have the privilege to call you kids." Nezha folded his arms matter-of-factually with a smirk.

Mei began laughing and almost choked on her food. "Pffthaha, jeez, I didn't know you ever made jokes, Nezha hahaha!"

"Would you keep it down??" Redson nudged her with his elbow.

"Hahaha (inhale) ahh.. Anyway, who exactly are we supposed to.. you know.. 'talk' to? Pretty much everyone here seems like they get into sketchy stuff.." Mei asked as she glanced around at the other customers. Before anyone could answer, the bartender walked out from the backroom; he blinked at the sight of Nezha.

"My apologies, sir. What can I get for you?"

"Oh uh n-nothing. I'm just here to chaperone these two." Nezha answered awkwardly. He was very out of his element here.

"Oh mister! I was actually wondering if you could give me something rare but strong," Mei suddenly said. "After all.. I'm here for the chaos."

The bartender stopped wiping the cup he was holding. His eyebrows furrowed and looked at all three of them. "D-Does this sentiment.. apply to all three of you?" They all glanced at each-other, then looked back at him and nodded. "(Sigh) Look I'm not- I'm not the guy to talk to, alright? I-I just work here, I don't want to get into all that shady business.."

"...Okay? So who is willing to give us some chaos?" Mei asked with a slightly intimidating voice. Nezha and Redson were a bit surprised to see this side of her.

"The pretty woman over there sitting by her lonesome. She has the long shiny black hair and the uh.. um the purple skin.."

"...You know it's not racist to just describe someone's complexion, right?" Redson blurted out after noticing the bartender's weird hesitancy to say it.

"Oh nooo..." Nezha stared at the woman across the building, dreading the confrontation. "That's the lady who was flirting with me earlier. (Sigh) I should've known it'd be her.." He rested his elbows on the bar table and rubbed the sides of his head, trying to avoid ruining his face paint. "It was so obvious from the metaphoric way she was talking. And also how nervous the other customers seemed around her."

...

Mei and Redson were finally able to get Nezha to come with them. Mei said that she could do all the talking while he just followed behind. Mei marched up to the woman's table and sat across from her while Nezha and Redson awkwardly lagged behind.

"...Sheesh, did I intimidate you so much that you had to send your lackeys to defend you?" The smooth voiced woman said, sounding unimpressed.

"W-Wha??" Nezha stammered.

"Uh pfft no, we're not his lackeys and we're not here to defend.. uh anything. We're just here for.." Mei peaked at the other customers and caught a few of them staring. She gave them the stank eye and they all immediately looked away. Mei then leaned a bit closer to the woman and whispered, "we're here for the chaos.."

"..." The woman stared blankly and then glanced at the other two. She then did her wide grin, showing off her canines again. "Is that so~? Well then, I guess you'll be strung along in my web after all," she spared a glance at Nezha as she stood up and continued, "come along and follow me to the spider's nest."

She gestured with her sharp-nailed hand for them to follow her, and with hesitancy, they did. The woman walked with such flirtatious sway; it was almost hypnotizing.

...

They followed her through a back hallway. Then through a sliding closet door at the end of the hallway, which apparently wasn't actually a closet. There were rusty stairs that were a spiral downward.

Eventually, they all made it to the bottom where they saw some dilapidated red curtains. The woman pushed through and held half the curtain open for the fire trio to walk in. They all gasped as they found themselves in a sketchy marketplace. There were shiny trinkets and cursed objects everywhere.

A hooded figure then came out from a backroom that was also hidden by rough-looking curtains. They paused in their tracks as they spotted the four of them.

"Oh..? I wasn't expecting anyone today. But I'm always welcome to surprise guests~" The stranger had a silky voice that was on the deeper side. Through the hood, their creepily calm smile could be seen.

"Who are you?" Nezha asked.

"Oooohh yeah, you're definitely new to this sort of thing.." The woman said. "You see, it's not really polite to ask people their identity in this sort of business.. People like us prefer to stay anonymous." She spoke as she walked over and leaned on the paying counter. "Although.. If we do happen to meet again, you can just call me Spider Queen, as a sort of nickname."

"Okay? Then what do we call this guy?" Mei asked, referring to the hooded figure.

"Oh me? You can just call me the 'Chaos King' haha. My real name doesn't really matter anyway." He walked out from behind the counter. "I will say, it is quite curious how exactly you three found out about this place, and somehow knew the secret phrase as well.."

"..." The three of them were silent as they eyed each other nervously.

"...But alas, I won't pry, for it is none of my business as that one customer said to me two years ago.. So, what'll it be for you three?"

"We're looking for a counter spell you may have for uhh.. wrist circlets," Redson explained, "we were told that this is where s- uhh our enemy got them. And a um.. friend of ours has been binded by the circlets. We need a way to get them off."

Chaos King pondered what Redson said for a moment. A wide grin then appeared on his face. "Hah, sorry, but I don't go back on other clients... Unless?"

"Unless?"

"You offer me something better than what they did as payment."

Nezha, Mei, and Redson huddled up as they whispered to one another. Mei spoke first, "okay 'big bro' what do ya got?"

"What??"

"C'moooon, you're cel- I mean uh, you're highly respected where you live. Don't you have some sort of valuable on you?"

"What, you think I just carry around gold?? I'm a minimalist."

Redson said, "well.. we do have those jades. But we might need them.."

"If we get the counter spell and free my dad, we won't need them anymore."

"But what if-"

"If I may cut in." Chaos King suddenly said. "I know something you can do that may appease me. You, the one with the face paint." He pointed at Nezha. "How about you.. give me a kiss?"

"E-Excuse me!?" Nezha exclaimed, his face beginning to feel hot.

"You give me a kiss, I'll give you the counter spell. Simple as that." He shrugged as if what he was asking for was no big deal.

Nezha nervously looked at Mei and Redson. Redson gave him back a nervous look, while Mei just seemed confused. Nezha was quite the chaste individual, so doing anything like this was extremely outside his comfort zone.

Mei then said, "...(Sigh) I can kiss him if you don't want to-"

"No no.. it's only worth it if that one does it.." The hooded figure said as he rudely pointed at Nezha. "You want to help your bound friend, don't you? So, what'll it be?"

Nezha stood in uncomfortable silence as he darted his eyes around the room; shelves full of junk never looked so interesting before now. Doing this would go against his whole life style that he worked so hard to keep.

"Guhhhhhh fine." He conceded grimly. Nezha walked up to Chaos King stiffly. CK had a sort of cocky smile on his face. CK then pursed his lips as he leaned closer to Nezha, and Nezha squeezed his eyes shut as he attempted to perk his lips.

Nezha then heard a rupture of laughter. He peaked open one eye and saw Chaos King and Spider Queen laughing their butts off.

"Just what the hell is so funny!?" Nezha yelled, offended.

"Hahaha! Oooh my stars it's so hilarious every time!" Spider Queen shouted through her laughing fits.

"Heehehe, oh my.. I can see you were truly willing to do anything to help your friend," CK giggled, "don't worry. I was just messing with you. I like to create a little chaos here and there as you may have guessed heehee.."

"..." Nezha practically stared daggers at the shop keeper.

"...(Ahem) anyway, back on track. I do need you to actually give me something better. Tick tock tick tock~" He said that last part with a playful nature.

"Just give him the jades.." Mei whispered sharply. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her last Invisibility Jade. Redson hesitated for a second but then did the same. Nezha sighed and took the jades from them.

"Will these suffice?" He asked dryly, feeling mentally drained.

"What are they?"

"These are jades I received directly from the moon goddess herself. They can turn one invisible if pressed to one's chest. They're extremely rare and hard to get. So I'd say they're worth it." Nezha explained, showing them off to Chaos King.

"Oooh.. a rare item from a goddess? Now that sure sounds intriguing, no?" Spider Queen said. CK picked up one of the jades and examined it. Suddenly, a long tongue came out of his mouth and licked the jade. Spider Queen wasn't lying when she called him a snake.

"Hmm... Alright, I'll take them." CK took both of the Invisibility Jades and walked off behind those curtains into that backroom.

They all heard clanking and bonking as he rummaged through some stuff in that room. Then they heard him call out, "ah, there it is." Chaos King came out holding a scroll of paper and a feather pen. "This is what you're looking for~" He let the scroll unfurl, but something was wrong.

"The paper is blank, genius." Redson said, sarcastically.

"That it is my red-haired fellow. It's because one of you has to be the one to write down the counter spell." Chaos King handed the pen over to Nezha. "I'll relay the spell to you while you write it down."

Nezha nodded and placed the paper down on the counter. Chaos King stood next to him and whispered some strange words that sounded like a foreign language. He jotted them down; the black ink having a dim orange-ish aura and glow to them. It must be the snake's power.

...

With that, they were finally done, but.. it seemed CK had one last thing he wanted to say.

"You know, it would be pretty nice to brag to my friends that I was close to kissing a high ranking celestial. Especially a war god such as yourself. Isn't that right, Nezha, god of children?"

Nezha halted and he could already feel himself sweat. He looked back at the hooded dark market owner, not knowing how to respond, ".....I don't know what you're talking about."

"You really thought I wouldn't recognize the notorious former demon child? Heh, don't worry, I can give you some blackmail so we can even it out. People don't have to know you enjoy this kind of market, and heaven doesn't have to know I'm running it. The name's Xiangliu."

"...Thanks, but I don't ever plan on coming back. And.. (sigh) I guess I have to say your secret's safe with me.."

"Heh, now you know how this all works. It's all about secrets here."

...

They eventually made it back to heaven, all of them feeling mentally exhausted from this day. Mei slumped down on the nice grass as she caught her breath.

"Oh yeah.." Mei said, "hey Nezha.. Remember that secret I wanted to tell you?"

"Secret...?" Nezha blinked a bit and then remembered, "oh right. The thing about your great-grandfather?"

"Yeah.. when Redson told his mom he didn't want to talk about killing or revenge, it sort of gave me a bit of clarity about something. Well, not really 'something' more so uh.. some dream."

Nezha asked, "Ao Lie came to you again in your dreams?"

"Ehh.. not quite 'again' per se uhh.." Mei nervously twiddled her fingers. "I wasn't entirely h-honest when I first told you about that dream. The one where he warned us about that plan not working. He also told me something else..."

"Mei, if this is important, then please tell me.." Nezha spoke softly as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Mei thought about it for a bit, and then finally caved in:

"Sun Wukong killed Ao Lie."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

Nezha couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mei had just confessed that she found out a few days ago that apparently, Sun Wukong had killed Ao Lie. He shakily took his hand off her shoulder.

"Wha-.. No no, come on. You can't joke like that, Mei." Nezha was in denial, but the serious look in Mei's eyes was enough of an answer for him. "...You've gotta be..."

"Nope. I'm not." Mei said bluntly as she sighed and turned around with her arms folded. "When great-grandfather first told me, it infuriated me. All I could think about was wanting to get vengeance for my dad. Even if it was impossible I didn't care, I just wanted to find some way to kill Sun Wukong.."

'That's certainly familiar...' Nezha thought as Redson came to mind.

"But then Redson unintentionally helped me realize when he talked back to his mom. And his dad was killed by Sun Wukong too right?" Mei asked and Nezha solemnly nodded. "His mom had a horrible resting scowl on her face. She seems miserable. If being obsessed with revenge turns you into that then I don't want any part of it."

"...Heh, you seem to have learned that lesson a lot quicker than Redson did," Nezha said. "In fact, not long ago, he was thinking the same things you were. For years he was just like his mom: always talking about revenge. Him talking back to his mom was actually the first time he's said anything about being tired of hearing about revenge." Nezha had a calm smile as he stared at the pristine floor of the celestial realm.

Mei blinked with mild surprise and then said, "wow.. Redson always seems so stuck up like he's so mature and thinks he knows everything. I never woulda guessed I just witnessed his character arc."

"Character.. arc?" Nezha questioned as he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, that's just something Maca- I mean, pops used to say when he would show me his shadow plays. Ah, good times... (sniff).."

Nezha perked up as he noticed Mei's eyes tearing up.

"Mei are you..?"

"I-I'm fine I'm fine.. (sniff)" She insisted as she faced away from him with her hands on her hips; feigning confidence. "I just um.. I know I just saw him a few hours ago but.. I still m-miss him.." Mei's voice broke as she spoke a little quieter at the end. She quickly wiped her eyes and cleared her voice. Without looking back at Nezha, she began to walk off as she mumbled, "I'm gonna.. go to the bathroom or something.."

Nezha's eyebrows creased upward in sympathy. But he decided to leave her be. She wanted her space so he shall let her have it.

...

Redson had gone to his mother's cell. Just as she told him to do for their deal, he was to journal the whole event and then tell her about it.

He summarized the earlier events as best as he could. While Iron Fan listened, her expression looked the calmest it had in a colossal amount of time. While explaining, he realized that he would have to explain why exactly he wanted to save Mk. So he decided to give context about how Mk was trapped inside the mountain on the same day every week. And that those were the days Redson would go down to keep him company.

"So this 'Mk' friend of yours. Is he truly so worth it to you?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me. Don't make your mother ask twice."

"...Yes he is," Redson answered with absolute seriousness. "He's- he's the first person that I ever.." His eyes dodged around, looking for a proper way to say what he wanted to. Redson would never admit it, but he didn't feel all that brave talking to her now that he was alone. "He was.. the first friend I ever had. All the other kids up here in heaven would always avoid me because of my aggressive tendencies. But.. maybe he wasn't afraid of me because of the barrier. Although, this morning when we finally got to meet each other in person, he didn't hesitate to hug me. It made me feel.. like I finally wasn't the monster everyone always thought I was.."

Redson blinked a bit as he realized he was smiling. He looked up at his mother and saw her eyebrows raised in surprise. He cleared his throat and brought back his usual serious expression.

"Hm..." Iron Fan hummed in response. There was a quiet pause between the two as she looked away in thought. "And what about that girl, Mei? You planning on marrying her?"

"W-WHAT?? HELL NO! I'd rather die than-" Redson smacked his hand over his mouth. "(Ahem) I mean uh.. No, I do not."
He thought he was imagining things, but he could've sworn he just heard his mom snicker from that.

"Heh.. well you are 18, Redson. It's about time I get some grandchildren."

"Moooom!" Redson complained.

"Oh come on my little useless boy~" Iron Fan reached through the cell and pinched Redson's cheek. "That's the least you can do for me after all. Since you failed to-" she paused. Redson had a dark glare on his face as he avoided eye contact and stared down to the side. "Right, no talk of revenge. Got it."

"..You really think that's why I'm upset? You just called me useless for not doing your bidding."

"Whoa now, that is heavily misquoting me. And you can hardly blame me for wanting to continue the family line as soon as possible."

"..." Redson closed his eyes, sighed, and then stood up from his position of sitting down on his knees. He then turned around and said in a monotone way, "see you next month, mother."

'Mk was right. You are just as manipulative as his father.' Redson recalled in his thoughts (see chapter 6). 'Of course you wouldn't change in a day.'

With that, he left.

=Night time=

Mei came out of the bathhouse with a towel resting on her head to dry her hair. She was wearing one of Ao Lie's nightgowns. Or, since he has long since passed, all these clothes were technically just her's now. It was her biological right after all.

She was emotionally drained, for she had cried for pretty much the whole bath. Luckily, since it had been evening, she was the only one using the bathhouse. All the water had hidden her tears very well.

Mei was about to go into the nursery but she stopped as a voice behind called for her. She turned around to see Nezha jogging up to her.

"Oh hey.." She said dryly.

"Hey, sorry Mei, I know it's bedtime but I just. There's something that's been bothering me ever since we went to the dar- uh the merchant's place."

"..." If Mei had been her normal energized self, she would've laughed and teased Nezha for that slip-up. But right now, she could only muster up a crack of a smile.

"When that guy wanted to.. k-kiss me. Why did you offer to kiss him instead??"

Mei looked off to the side, and then blinked, remembering what he was talking about. It was as if that time was so meaningless that her brain didn't care to lock it in as a proper memory.
"Oh that," she said, "well, nothing is worse than that thing I went through when I was 14." (See chapter 1)

"W-Wait what...? Mei have you.. have you been-"

"No. Luckily they didn't get that far. But they sure as hell tried to. Macaque saved me just in time." For once in this conversation, Mei's expression wasn't blank. Her eyebrows had subtly crept upward and her lips tightened. "I uh.. I'm gonna go to sleep now."

"Mei I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried-"

"It's okay, really." Mei tried to muster up a smile, hoping it would reassure him.

"...Look, if anything like that happens again, I want you to know that you shouldn't make yourself do anything for me. I'm supposed to be the shield for the younger generations, not the other way around." Nezha said as he pressed his hand to his chest.

Mei's eyes seemed to light up for a second, but then she returned to her tired expression. "I guess you're right," she said. "See ya tomorrow, Nezha."

"...Yeah, goodnight."

----

As Monkie Kid snuggled into the nest, he just couldn't stop thinking about Macaque. He had acted a little weird. At first, Mk thought that he was just acting weird to get away from Wukong, but he couldn't help this feeling he had.

'Ever since Mei came to see him, he's been acting weird.. Hmm. Wait no, that's not it. He was acting weird when he went into the mountain to get his clothes. When I went in there, his clothes were gone but so was he..' Mk thought. '...I wonder.. could he have been snooping through dad's stuff? I mean, where else would he have gone?'

Mk snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his dad's snoring getting a bit louder. Mk was lying on his back and his dad was next to him with his arm draped over Mk's chest.

"Mmnoo.. don' leave meh..." Wukong mumbled in his sleep.

Mk lightly chuckled before returning to his thoughts. 'Unless he was playing with the monkeys further through the mountain. But I don't know, I feel like I would've heard that... Oh well. Guess there's no point pondering it.'

He then turned to his side, facing away from Wukong as he drifted off to slumber.

...

Wukong was having a funny dream. He was chasing two peaches. One peach was slightly smaller than the other. They were both bouncing away from him. Although the smaller one would sometimes pause in guilt, it would eventually continue bouncing away.

"C'mooon stop trying to leave meeee!" Wukong complained as he chased after them. It's funny, in real life, he could catch up to the peaches easily. But because this was a dream, he was strangely limited.

For some reason, it didn't feel like he was chasing them out of hunger. It felt more like a strong craving to just have them. To hold them. To love them.

To tightly hug and never let them go-

Just then, someone came out of nowhere and stepped in Wukong's way; thus letting the peaches escape.

"Hey! What gives!?-" Wukong then shut his mouth as he stared at who it was.

It was Tripitaka in the flesh. Well.. not really 'in the flesh' since he's dead and this is a dream.

"Sun Wukong."

Wukong furrowed his brows and flattened his lips in anxiousness. He peaked over his old master's shoulder to see that the peaches had hopped a bit further away, but they didn't go any farther. They just sat there observing and so he sighed in relief.

He folded his arms and said, "heh, a bit 'improper' of you to disturb one's dream. Wouldn't you say, Tripitaka?" It was strange to call his master by name, but Tripitaka had said that they're 'equals now' so that's what he's gonna call him.

"I apologize for the unmannerly appearance. But it was simply the quickest way to speak with you." Tripitaka said, as calm and collected as ever. "I-" He paused as he noticed Wukong kept peaking over him. He raised his eyebrow and looked behind him; that's when he finally noticed the peaches. Tripitaka blinked a bit and then faced back to Wukong. "Huh.. what an endearing dream."

"More like upsetting.. I kept having to chase those two around cuz they wouldn't let me catch 'em.." Wukong pouted as he looked to the side.

"...Interesting..." Tripitaka said as he observed. "Well, maybe they don't want to be caught. It seems they would like to be free."

"Eh?"

"Anyhow, I must press you, Sun Wukong. I can sense that you still have not confessed to Macaque about Ao Lie. Have you no shame or guilt?"

"..." Wukong was silent as he glared off into the distance.

"I've tried telling you gently but it seems I must be a bit more strict with you."

Wukong's eyes shot wide and he whipped his head to look at his old master. He unfolded his arms and weakly reached for him whilst saying, "No no please, don't do it. A-Anything but that I-I can't go through that again.."

Tripitaka blinked in surprise as his eyebrows raised. Then, a solemn expression came to his face as realization crept up to him. Wukong was referring to the circlet.

...

Mk's tired eyes cracked open as he could hear his dad breathing strangely. He could hear Wukong taking heavy and sort of fast breaths in his sleep. Mk activated his gold vision, which helped him to see his dad tightly squeezing the blankets of the nest.

'He must be having a bad dream.' Mk thought.

In his half-asleep state, Mk could only think to just reach over and lazily ruffle his dad's hair. He hadn't ever done that before but it's what Wukong usually does to him.

...

"(Sigh) you are no longer bound by my spell, Sun Wukong. Calm yourself." Tripitaka looked to the side, feeling sorry for the monkey.

Wukong's shaky hands lowered to his sides as he tried to calm down. Then, he suddenly felt a warm feeling on his head. Confused, he reached up and patted his hair.

"I do not want to come off as threatening.. but, all I can say is that, if you do not tell him yourself, someone else will."

"..." Wukong slightly squinted his eyes as he wondered who else would know about it. When he killed Ao Lie (and that girl's parents), he made sure to be properly disguised. So who could have possibly figured it out?

"So I suggest confessing before it's too late.."

With that, Tripitaka disappeared out of the dream; leaving Wukong to ponder. He then looked over at the two peaches, they were still just sitting there watching him.

A crack then formed, separating him from the peaches. It wasn't even a huge crack. It was skinny enough to just be stepped over. But, for some reason, in this dream world, it felt like it would be impassable.

So instead, Wukong sat down cross-legged as he and the peaches stared at each other for the rest of the dream.

----

Macaque had found a particularly large tree to sleep in. To no surprise, some of the monkeys had come over to sleep with him. It made sense that they missed him, it had been around eighty-ish years.

The monkeys were the only entertainment he had where he didn't have to worry about socializing. Hanging out with Monkie Kid was definitely fun at times, but still, Macaque needed his space. Usually, during those introverted times, he'd entertain himself with his shadow magic. But these damned wrist circlets prevented him from using it.

It was very strange going this long without powers. He hadn't ever actually been restricted from them before. Luckily he never had a need to protect himself, or he would probably be done for. Macaque doesn't suck at close combat, but let's just say he isn't the best at it either.

At least his ears weren't part of his magic. Those were just a part of him. No seal could take away his sharp senses.

Macaque had a bit of a hard time falling asleep. He was paranoid that Wukong would somehow find the memory scroll that he stole and then tighten his circlets as a punishment.

'No.. there's no way he'd go that far. He's not the type to punish, not after what he went through on the journey..' Macaque thought. 'He would never hurt me.. my eye doesn't count because that wasn't a punishment it-.. was an accident I guess.' He rubbed his wrist a bit. 'Th-Those don't count either.. They're more like bindings, not punishment.'

One of the monkeys was lying on Macaque's chest. He started fiddling with it's tail as a sort of nervous fidget. Luckily it was asleep throughout it. As he fidgeted, he began to recall the argument that started this all...

=Flashback to 89 years ago=

Macaque had just come back to Flower Fruit Mountain. He had been out shopping, which was still a little weird to him even after 15 years. 10 years ago, Wukong, Macaque, and the others had finished the journey, and the journey itself lasted five years. Meaning that the last time Macaque stole anything was 15 years ago.
One of the things Tripitaka had taught the two primates was to cease their kleptomaniac nature.

He had just done some simple grocery shopping. So why was Wukong insisting that he needed to groom him?

"C'mooon moonlight! Even if it was just a simple little shopping trip, hair always gets dirty somehow. So let me groom you please please please please-"

"Alright alright fine, haha." Macaque finally gave in putting his groceries down and sitting on a rock in front of his best friend. Sure, Wukong did start caring a bit more about cleaning himself and his hygiene. But he was never this urgent about it, especially not with Macaque.

"..."

"..."

"..Sooo how did shopping go?" Wukong asked, breaking the silence as he surfed his hands through Macaque's hair. Macaque could practically hear Wukong smiling.

"Um.. fine I guess? (Sigh) Wukong, why are you being weird- OW!" Macaque had just felt his hair being pricked.

"Oh! Sorry sorry hahaha! Weird? I'm not acting weird. I like grooming your hair." Wukong then leaned his head down where it mildly stung on Macaque's head. As he did that, he mumbled something like 'sowwy for da boo boo (smooch) all better now~'. Macaque blushed a bit from suddenly having his head kissed.

"Ugh.. yeah but, you're not usually so damn pushy about it..."

"Haha.. Well, what'd you end up buying?"

Macaque had put the grocery basket a bit away before he had sat down. So he used his shadow powers to portal the weaved basket closer to himself.
"I just got the usual. Some vegetables and fruits that don't grow here on the mountain."

"You mean our mountain, right?" Wukong asked. Macaque didn't know how to respond to that. It was technically the truth, but to say it out loud like that felt very.. intimate.

"Y-Yeah.. 'our' mountain..."

...

The next day, during dinner time, Wukong acted even stranger. He had been gone most of the day but came home around nighttime. Wukong began complimenting Macaque randomly. Macaque was about to eat a plum when he noticed his best friend staring at him. Wukong was resting his head on both of his hands as he gazed lovingly at Macaque.

Macaque then finally asked, "(Sigh) what's up with you? Why are you looking at me like that??"

"Oooh I was just thinkiiiing.." Wukong responded giddily.

"About what?"

"About how your eyes look so beautiful in the moon's light, my moonlight~"

"..." Macaque's eyes widened as his face started to feel hot. He looked away, too flustered to keep eye contact. His six ears began to warm up and they tilted downwards shyly. Macaque proceeded to stuff his face full of plums to exempt himself from responding.

But.. it turns out Wukong had just been trying to butter him up for what he said next.

...

"Y-You.. you did what!?" Macaque didn't want to believe what his six ears had just heard Wukong say. Wukong had just spouted some nonsense about using both of their DNA combined to create a child. "Wha- Wukong I- we can't raise a kid! We didn't even have any parents!"

"Sure we can!" He said, optimistically. "I mean, master was able to whip us into shape. So I'm sure we just gotta follow his example. Except, maybe not the circlet part.."

"What- But- no, Wukong, I'm not fit for being a father! Where's the egg or stone? You need to destroy or get rid of it, now!"

"Look moonlight don't worry, okay? As long as we do it together, everything will be alright. I'm not allowed-... I uh.. I-I'm not going to destroy the stone egg."

"Then I'll do it myself." Macaque turned around and began marching away from Wukong. He didn't know where the egg was but he had a good guess where it could be. Wukong's old stone hibernation place was his best bet. He then felt his arm being grabbed as he was stopped.

"No, you can't! Something might happen to our souls if you do!"

"..." Macaque stopped his struggle of trying to get out of Wukong's grip as he processed what he just said. "...What do you mean?"

"I mean.. I uhh.. W-Well, when the stone was created, our souls became connected to it. I think that happened to help the child grow inside of it or uhh.." Wukong said as he scratched the back of his head. His hand slowly let go of Macaque's arm.

"...Are you being serious right now?" Macaque asked with quiet but seething anger. He couldn't remember the last time he was this angry. Perhaps he had been tolerating things for far too long, and now it had all boiled up to this. He clenched his fists, trying his best to stay calm.

"Moonlight, look-"

"Stop trying to sugarcoat things by using a nickname!" Macaque yelled and he saw Wukong's eyes widen in surprise. "You just-... Bonded my soul to that thing without asking me!?"

Wukong's eyebrows creased upward, almost looking hurt. "Don't say that! It's not a 'thing' it's a life!"

"Yeah, a 'life' that you forced upon me, upon us!"

"..." Wukong became quiet as he looked down to the floor. Macaque could hear his heartbeat speeding up, and he could hear his heavy and angry breaths. Well, who cares? Macaque is the only one who has a right to be angry right now.

"You keep doing things like this! You're so reckless! You never think things through, or talk with me about it first! Making me attend all those stupid parties, going into battles without a plan, pressuring me to stay with you on the journey!"

"Shut up..."

Macaque's whole body felt hot with anger. ”And now, this!? That little master's circlet really didn't teach you anything, did it!?”

"I said SHUT UP!!"

SLASH

It all happened too fast... But what exactly happened?

Macaque's ears were ringing. His rear was aching, so he definitely fell down somehow. A wet sensation dripped down his cheek.. What was that?

He opened his eyes... wait no.. eye..? Why couldn't he open his other eye?

His right hand shakily reached up and gently touched his right eye. It was wet all over and the shape was wrong.

Macaque gasped.

His left eye widened as he finally realized what had happened. His right eye had just been slashed. That wetness he felt was blood. But who on earth would do that??

The pain of the cuts had finally begun to sink in. It stung so badly. Macaque began to hyperventilate as he pressed his hand against his eye. It was then that he finally remembered Wukong was there.

He looked up at him, hoping to beg for help with a pleading look; since he was just lost for words at the moment. But what he saw was heart-shattering.

Wukong stood a few feet away from Macaque, staring at his own hand. Wukong's claws had blood on them. His hand was shaking as if he was just as confused as Macaque.

Macaque's body trembled as he forced himself to stand up, his hand still pressed against his eye. That's when Wukong had at last looked away from his hand and looked at Macaque. Macaque kept his eyes-... his eye locked on Wukong; watching for any sudden movements.

All that anger he had before had fully transformed into a repulsive mix of fear and betrayal.

The vision in his good eye was slightly blurry. Wetness began to fall from that eye as well. Luckily not blood, but tears. He couldn't seem to cry out of his slashed eye. Through the blurriness, he thought he could see Wukong saying something to him, but the ringing in his ears made it hard to understand.

Macaque flinched as he saw Wukong reach his hand toward him. He started backing away from him.

"St-.. Stay away.." He said, in a breathy whisper. Wukong took a step towards him, and without really meaning to, Macaque summoned a bunch of shadow clones to block his path. "I.. I don't ever want to see you again, Sun Wukong." His voice cracked in a sob.

He turned around and bolted, occasionally sinking into a shadow portal to create more distance.

...

Macaque had gotten to the ocean a bit a ways from Flower Fruit Mountain. He started throwing some water at his stinging eye frantically. Everything was going to be fine. He'd wash out all the blood and his eye would be all good as new.. right?

The blood was washing out nicely but nothing could wash away these tears. His breathing was still so panicked. He stopped splashing his face and squeezed the clothing over his chest. Why wouldn't his heart stop pounding so quickly? And why couldn't this hyperventilating just calm down?

Just then, the glow of the moonlight's reflection onto the water had changed into a warm green glow. Macaque stared at it wide-eyed. Emerging from the water was-

"A-Ao Lie??" He stuttered through tears and anxious breaths. His dear friend glided over to him with a look of concern.

"Oh my goodness, Macaque! What in heavens happened to you??" Ao Lie asked as he knelt down on the sand next to him. "I was just visiting my brother but through the water I could sense your distressed presence so I hurried up here."

"(Breath) I-It.. It was (breath).. He just- I don't understand.."

"..." Ao Lie looked down in thought. He then said, "here, will you follow along with me?" Macaque was a bit confused but he nodded. "Try your best to slow down your breathing. Take one long breath in for four seconds, hold it... Good, now slowly breathe out for six seconds. You can hold my hand too if you like."

Macaque took the offer with no hesitation as he continued to do the breathing technique. His hand squeezed Ao Lie's hand, as if letting go would mean he'd disappear.

"...C'mon," Ao Lie smiled gently, "I'll bring you to my kingdom and see what I can do. You can tell me what happened after if you're comfortable with that."

Macaque nodded in response, his body finally seeming to calm down. Ao Lie then turned into his dragon form and Macaque got onto his back; heading to his kingdom to hopefully get healed.

=End of Flashback=

Macaque continued to nervously fiddle with the monkey's tail. The monkey on his chest slept soundly throughout all of it. Maybe the tail fiddling was relaxing to it. Macaque could feel tears welling up in his left eye as he recalled that awful memory. He then took in a sharp breath and rapidly blinked the moistness away.

He never wanted to see Wukong again... Well, at least, that's what he wanted to believe back then. That experience made him fear his own best friend. One cannot blame him for wishing things could've gone smoother or back to how things were. And now after around ninety or so years, he was back at Flower Fruit Mountain.

"...Is it bad that a part of me is weirdly glad that he's been searching for me?" Macaque unintentionally whispered. A few monkeys around him cooed as they groggily blinked their eyes open and looked at him. "Oh, did I wake you all? Sorry about that.."

'Gods, what the hell am I saying?' Macaque wondered. 'Am I just as sick in the head as Wukong is? I even told him that I forgive him for slashing my eye.. Mei probably would've called me crazy for that.'

To Macaque, throughout the years of him being gone, it felt like Wukong didn't give a damn. So to learn that this whole time Wukong was incredibly hurt by it, made Macaque feel good in a strange way. Maybe it was petty revenge, maybe it was flattery, he didn't really know.

All he knew was that feelings were such complicated things to have, and he wished he could turn them off once in a while.

----

=Meanwhile in the celestial realm=

Nezha stared down at the scroll in his hand. It was the counter spell that Xiangliu had given to him. Safe to say he had his suspicions. But who wouldn't be suspicious of someone who had once carried wrist circlets?

'Ulg... Jade Rabbit would kill me if she ever found out I traded her rare gems at the dark market...' Nezha thought as chills ran up his spine.

He was looking for his father. Li Jing was in the courtyard talking to the night shift guards.

"Princess Iron Fan has eased up since Redson decided to visit her. So, for now, you are free to take it easy around her cell."

"Fa- General Li Jing." Nezha called.

Li Jing turned around, a slightly surprised look on his face. He dismissed the guards and brought his attention to his son. "Yes, Nezha?" He said.

Nezha waited a bit for the guards to walk a distance away. He then said, "I was wondering if you could look into something for me?"

"Well that depends on what it is, son."

"This." Nezha pulled out the counter spell and handed it to Li Jing. Hesitating for a bit, he examined it. He then took the scroll and opened it.

"...Hm... Where exactly did you get this?"

"I-.. I cannot tell you.."

"Excuse me?"

Nezha nervously looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. Li Jing observed his son's body language, and then sighed.

"Fine, I'll trust you. What do you need me to do?"

Nezha looked up at his father, surprised. A smile then appeared on his face as he nodded thankfully to him. First, he looked around, making sure no one was listening. He then leaned a bit closer and whispered, "I need you to check and make sure this counter spell doesn't have any curses latched onto it. Are you able to do that?"

"Do you not trust your source?"

"Well.. not exactly no.."

Li Jing watched as he felt as if he figured out why his son couldn't tell him out loud where he got it. "...Well, I certainly can but, what exactly is it a counter for??"

"It's for uh.. W-Wrist circlets..."

"..."

"..."

"(Sigh) this is certainly the strangest mission you have had, my son..." Li Jing pinched the bridge of his nose in mild frustration.

"Yes I know, but the sooner you can check that the better. And after you're done, there's this plan that I was hoping you could help with."

"Plan?"

"Yes, it's something I'm wanting to do after I use the counter spell on Macaque. He's the one who had wrist circlets illegally placed on him," Nezha explained. "So because it was illegal, that means my plan might work, but I can only enact it if the counter spell isn't faulty."

Li Jing stared wide-eyed in shock. He then blinked a bit and composed himself.

"Alright. What is your plan then?"

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

=Flashback to 89 years ago=

"Whoa whoa hold up.. You want me to what now??" Wukong asked. He had been summoned by Nuwa, the goddess of many things, but she was mostly known for being the goddess of creation.

"Raise a child. That will be your next challenge."

"B-But I'm not even- I didn't even have parents so how am I supposed to raise a kid??"

"Ah but see, it will not just be you. You will be able to choose a partner to help you raise that child. Together, that child will belong to you both." Nuwa explained with that calm, never wavering smile of her's. Hearing this made Sun Wukong nervous. He had never really been attracted to any women. Of course, many women would probably kill to have Wukong's child, but he would not really care to conceive it with them.

"...Uh huuhh.. I don't know about this.. I mean, there aren't even any lady celestial monkeys around. And I doubt I can even impregnate humans-"

"Oh no, you misunderstand me, child," Nuwa interrupted. "There is no need for you to conceive. As the goddess of creation, I will fulfill that part. All you have to do is bring me a piece of hair from the partner of your choosing, and yourself. I will then use the combined DNA to create the stone egg for you."

Wukong grabbed his chin in thought. Now that most of his concerns were washed away, he didn't feel as nervous about it. Although, he still wasn't exactly 'good with kids'; that was Nezha's expertise. "...C-Could I um.. Could Macaque be my partner then?"

"..." She seemed just the tiniest bit taken aback by this, but her smile was still there. "Of course. Although, I was not aware you two had gotten even closer."

"Huh?"

"From what I saw it seemed you too were simply very close friends. But if you are wanting him to be your partner, then that must mean you two tied the knot in courtship, no?" Nuwa's smile seemed to widen just a bit, as if attempting to hide excitement.

A slight blush appeared on Wukong's face as he then said, "W-What? I- Well- I don't know about that hahahaha!" He laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Well regardless, yes, Macaque can be your partner in this challenge. Bring me the hair and I will begin creating the offspring."

"But wait, how long will I have to do this challenge for?"

...

After Wukong and Nuwa discussed the conditions of the challenge, he returned home to Flower Fruit Mountain. He obviously had a lot to think about. The monkeys around could sense that Wukong was deep in thought, so they left him be.

Raising as child as someone who had never been 'raised' himself was going to be difficult. But it's okay because he'll have Macaque by his side. Macaque is smart, he'll know what to do for sure.

And Tripitaka sort of 'raised' Wukong.. right? So he'll just follow that example.

Just then, Macaque had come home from grocery shopping. He was holding a weaved basket full of vegetables and fruit that didn't grow around here on the mountain. Wukong got up from where he was sitting and ran up to Macaque, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Welcome home, bud." Wukong said in a quieted down voice, since he was close to Macaque's sensitive ears.

"W-Whoa haha. I wasn't gone for that long. No need to get so excited, sunshine." Macaque said as he hugged Wukong back with his free arm.

Wukong took a good whiff. He really enjoyed Macaque's scent; it was comforting. Macaque didn't really react, he was used to it after all. They finally broke from the hug.

"So can I groom you? Can I can I can I!?" Wukong begged, hoping to have an opportunity to get some of Macaque's hair.

But.. couldn't he just ask?... No. Wukong knew deep down that Macaque would most likely not agree to this challenge.

"Uhh what? I just went shopping, Wukong. I don't really think I'll need it."

"C'mooon moonlight! Even if it was just a simple little shopping trip, hair always gets dirty somehow. So let me groom you please please please please-"

"Alright alright fine, haha." Macaque said, giving in.

Wukong clapped his hands and wagged his tail in excitement. He directed Macaque to sit on the usual rock while he stood behind grooming his hair. While Wukong was sifting through Macaque's beautiful black hair, there was an awkward silence looming over them. So he decided to start some small talk.

"..Sooo how did shopping go?" He asked while smiling.

Macaque turned his head to glance at Wukong for a second with a confused look. But he then faced back forward. "Um.. fine I guess? (Sigh) Wukong, why are you being weird- OW!"

Wukong had just pricked some of Macaque's hair and quickly shoved it in his pocket. He felt really bad that he had to hurt Macaque to get some of it though.
"Oh! Sorry sorry hahaha! Weird? I'm not acting weird. I like grooming your hair."
Which was technically the truth, Wukong did enjoy grooming hair, but mostly Macaque's of course.

...

The next day, Wukong left in the morning to meet up with Nuwa. As she asked, he gave her hair from his head and from Macaque's.

"And you're sure just these bits of hair will be able to create a whole monkey kid?" Wukong questioned.

"Haha.." Nuwa's laugh was deep and quiet but soothing. "Usually I do not like to show off pride. But, child, I am not the goddess of creation for nothing you know. I assure you I am capable."

Wukong returned home around evening and saw Macaque soaking in the hot spring. He smiled, took off his clothes and jogged over to go join him. He wasn't quite ready to break the news to Macaque just yet. There was a chance Macaque was going to be mad, so the best idea is to butter him up before he tells him.

But that's not hard, complimenting Macaque is easy.

"Your fur is so shiny and pretty when it's wet." Wukong blurted out. Macaque blinked in surprise as he stared at Wukong.

"Pfft what??" Macaque questioned as he chuckled.

"Oh you know, just something I noticed.." Wukong casually said as he relaxed against the water's walls. Through out the rest of the night, when the opportunity seemed natural enough, he would throw a flirt toward Macaque's way. Pretty much every time, it would make Macaque's six ears turn a light pink.

So of course, when dinner time came, he did the final blow and complimented Macaque's ears. It made Macaque extra flustered as his six ears tilted down and he stuffed his face with plums.

...

No. No. Why is everything going wrong?

After Wukong told Macaque about how they were going to raise a child together, they got into an argument. They didn't really get into big arguments. The last one that happened was back when Wukong had been imprisoned under a mountain. But that worked itself out since afterward Wukong was able to convince Macaque to come on the journey with him.

He could definitely work this one out too, no problem.

...

What is this? Why is he acting like this? Why is it not going Wukong's way already? Why won't Macaque just calm down and agree to do it already? Why are they still arguing? Strange.

"You keep doing things like this! You're so reckless! You never think things through, or talk with me about it first! Making me attend all those stupid parties, going into battles without a plan, pressuring me to stay with you on the journey!" Macaque yelled.

"Shut up..." Wukong whispered, trying his best not to explode. His body was beginning to feel hot with anger.

Macaque continued, "And now, this!? That little master's circlet really didn't teach you anything, did it!?"

...What?

How dare he. How dare he bring that thing up. How dare he bring him up.

At that moment, Wukong remembered that his anger wasn't sealed under a mountain anymore. He was boundless and free in this moment. He was seeing red and all that festering anger decided to burst out of it's bubble.

"I said SHUT UP!!"

SLASH

It all happened so fast... But what exactly happened?

Wukong was heavily breathing with his eyebrows cranked down in a rage-filled expression. A few moments went by of him just staring off into the distance. But his expression faltered as he looked around.

Where did Macaque go? Wukong looked down. Oh, that's where he went. Macaque was a few feet away from him sitting on the ground. But why was he on the ground-

Why is Macaque bleeding? Wukong lifted his hand to reach for his friend but he paused. He looked down at his hand and saw deep red blood on his claws.

Oh no. It was all coming back to him.

Wukong stared down at his now trembling hand as the realization came to him. He had just slashed his best friend's eye. His head lightly shook in denial as his wide eyes never left his hand. It's as if he didn't want to look at what he had done to him.

Then, in the corner of Wukong's eye, he could see Macaque standing up. Reluctantly, Wukong slowly looked up from his hand, and what he saw was heart shattering.

His best friend looked terrified as he had his tear-filled eye locked on Wukong. And his other eye.. There was blood all around it. It was hard to see the wound since Macaque was trying to stop the bleeding with his hand.

"No no.. M-Macaque I'm sorry it was an accident I promise-" Wukong reached for Macaque but stopped when he saw Macaque flinch.

Macaque began to back away from him as he said in a breathy whisper, "St-.. Stay away.."

"No wait.. Please Macaque I really didn't mean to. It was an accident-" Wukong had taken a step towards him but paused his talking as a bunch of Macaque's shadow clones appeared in front of him. Wukong blinked in confusion as he stared at them. They looked a bit janky. A few of them had an X over their right eye and they only had two ears. While others looked normal with six ears and two intact eyes but were completely stiff and blank-faced.

Wukong then peaked over the shadow clones to see Macaque had created more distance between them.

He then said, his voice cracking in a sob, "I.. I don't ever want to see you again, Sun Wukong."

With that, Macaque turned around and sunk into a shadow portal, running away. Wukong turned his attention back to the clones and said, "ugh c'mon, you have to tell the original that it was an accident, please!"

One clone tried to respond but when it attempted to speak, nothing came out. It tapped it's neck and mouth, seeming confused. It looked to the other clones, who also attempted to speak, but nothing came out for them either.

Wukong shook his head and brushed passed them, marching towards the waterfall exit. He didn't care about his clothes getting wet, he was too frustrated to activate the opening spell. Soaking wet, he marched over to the edge of the mountain and turned on his gold vision. He could see that Macaque had already ran out of flower fruit forest.

He frowned and deactivated his gold vision. Wukong rolled his eyes and scoffed as he made his way back inside the mountain. The shadow clones had dissipated.

Wukong would just wait it out. Macaque would have his tantrum and return eventually.

...

Sun Wukong had waited for a whole year. He spent most of his time waiting at the mountain. Sometimes he'd go out and party when the boredom was too much to bare. But still, mostly at the mountain. He would play with the monkeys, hoping that one day Macaque would walk through that waterfall and come back to him.

He would also sometimes just sit and watch the stone egg as it sat there hibernating. There were brief moments where the stone egg would give off a similar scent to Macaque, and it brought Wukong that sense of comfort.

But, since this year had passed and nothing came of Macaque, Wukong decided: Since Macaque clearly needed more time, Wukong was going to sit in meditation. If-.. no, when Macaque comes back, he'll surely wake Wukong up.

It was around daytime, the sun was shining nicely. Wukong got into the lotus position, something Nezha had taught him. He then sunk into a deep meditation.

...

70 years he was in that meditation, and Macaque never showed up. Instead, the one who woke him up was Nezha. He needed Wukong's help in stopping something called the 'samadhi fire.' So, including that first year, Macaque had officially been gone for 71 years.

The stone egg seemed like it was going to open fairly soon; possibly in a month or so. That's weird. It seems a bit early for it to be hatching. But stranger things have happened.

=End of Flashback=

----

=The next morning=

Li Jing found Nezha and brought him back the counter spell scroll.

"So..?" Nezha questioned in anticipation.

"It seems your source was true to their word. There were no curses or consequences attached to this," Li Jing said as he handed it to Nezha. "However.. the magic that was coming off of it was certainly.. interesting. The writing seemed to be written with chaos energy. (Sigh) Nezha, did you really go to the dark mar-"

"Ssshh!" Nezha blurted as he waved his hands frantically in front of his father's face. "Uh I mean um.. Sorry I just- look, if the heaven officials find out, I know they'll overreact about it and throw the situation way out of proportion. I just cannot have them getting involved in this.. Not yet at least."

"..." Li Jing was quiet. He was holding back from smiling since Nezha was acting like his past teenage self. It was cute.

"Please father." Nezha then bowed at a 90 degree angle.

"Whoa son it's alright, raise your head. Like I said last night, I'll trust you. I just hope you know what you're doing.." Li Jing placed his hand on Nezha's shoulder. "Now, if you need anymore help, just ask."

"I-.. Yes, thank you father."

...

Nezha looked around the court yard trying to find Redson and Mei. He asked around and one angel told him that they saw Redson in the training room. Nezha walked in to see Redson kicking and punching at a dummy that had a poorly drawn picture of Wukong on it.

"Heh.." Nezha snickered as he stared at the ugly art. Now he just had to go find Mei.

When he checked the nursery, it seemed like she had already left. Nezha checked the dining room to see if she was having breakfast but she wasn't there either. He looked around a bit more and eventually found her in the library. She wasn't even reading, just sitting at one of the tables.

He walked up to Mei and asked her to meet up with him in the training room with Redson. When all three of them were gathered together in there..

"Alright, I have a plan. So listen up.."

...

=A week later=

Mk and Wukong were out grocery shopping. It had certainly been a good while since they last went. Wukong had just been hesitant to leave Macaque alone at the mountain, which is why he went shopping alone last time (see chapter 17). The wrist circlets stopped him from using powers, so Wukong figured if anything happened, Mk would at least be able to protect Macaque until he got home. That's why Wukong left the waterfall's barrier unlocked so that Mk could leave. He knew for a fact that all Mk would want to do would be talk to Macaque, so he had no worry of him leaving Flower Fruit Mountain.

Back to present day though. It had been a week since Wukong had bought Macaque new clothes. Earlier today, Mk had come up to Wukong and said something interesting:

"The past few days Macaque's b-been uh.. more shy than usual haha.. So I was thinking, w-what if me and you- I mean, you and I just go shopping and have a day together!"

It was funny, Wukong hadn't even noticed Mk's grammar mistake. That must've been something Macaque taught him, because Wukong certainly wouldn't have cared to correct him even if he had noticed.

Wukong had responded, "know what? That sounds great, Monkie Kid. But, I wouldn't want Macaque to get bored.. So how about-"

"How about I leave behind some clones? That's a great idea dad! Mine sometimes have different personalities so I'm sure he'll never get bored. S-So come on, let's go already!" Mk had responded as he physically ushered Wukong forward.

With that, they had both hopped on their own individual clouds and zoomed off to a village; both holding a weaved basket to hold the groceries.

...

Looks like it was their lucky day. There was a festival going on in this village. Women wearing those koenji straw hats with silk kimonos. Men wearing a drum strapped to their chest and banging against it in rhythm. Some children followed along throwing petals around.

What a glorious day to go out shopping.

"Whoa! Long time no see, kid!" An old man shouted at Mk. He was fanning himself with one of those circular fans on a stick.

"Oh hey! You're the guy that I played uh.. That board game with!" Mk said.

"Haha! It's called 'GO' kid." The man grabbed his plump belly as he laughed. "You didn't do half bad for it being your first time playing. So how's about it? You wanna try again?"

"Sure, but I'll probably need a bit of a refresher on the rules heh.."

"Huh?" Wukong questioned, "but, Mk, I thought we were gonna.."

Mk turned to look at his dad and then gasped, "oh that's right. Sorry sir, will it be alright if we play later? I was planning on having a day with ma dad." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Of course sonny, sharing time with your parents is precious. You never know when they'll kick the bucket."

"When they'll what?"

"That means 'die' son."

"O-Oh.."

"Although, it seems like Wukong here hasn't aged a day. So I guess you won't have to worry for a while hahaha!"

".....Right hah.."

Wukong raised his eyebrow as he looked at Mk with confusion. Mk then said his goodbyes to the old man and ushered Wukong away to the market.

It seemed like today was fairly special. There were some games that kids would ask their parents to pay for so that they could play. One game involved throwing rocks at gourds and if you could tip all of them over, then you could win a tapestry.

----

Mk noticed a little girl and supposedly her grandmother in line for the game. They were a bit of a distance away, so Mk couldn't hear what the girl was mumbling. His dad was distracted as he was admiring some shiny dragon fruit. Mk activated his ears and tried to focus on what the girl was saying:

"Come on, mom, pleeeaase?? I want to try again so that I can get the dragon tapestry. I don't know if I'll ever see Mei again, so I want something to remember her by.." The girl tugged on her, apparently mom's, sleeve. The woman looked way too old to be the girl's mother. But, to be fair, Wukong looked way too young to be Mk's father.

The most interesting part though, was that the girl mentioned Mei. Mk almost didn't register it, since Mei is such a common name. But with the added context of the dragon, there's no way it could be any other 'Mei'. Over the week, Macaque had mentioned to Mk that Mei was descended from dragons. That's where she gets those strange green powers of hers.

"Ugh, this dragon girl has made you way too distracted, Bai He. She's busy doing warrior stuff or whatever. You had your chance and you missed it. I'm not spending all my savings on this game."

"But moooom!" Bai He complained as she tried to stop her mother dragging her away by the arm.

Mk walked up to them and intervened, "hey, I could try getting it for you."

Bai He and her mother paused and looked up at him. Mk smiled warmly at them, awaiting their response. The girl bounced up and down excitedly as she stared up at her mom with pleading eyes.

"No no, that's very kind of you sir but, we mustn't accept offers from strangers. We have no way of repaying you."

"Hm? Who said anything about repaying?" Mk asked with a head tilt. "I just wanna do it to be nice. I remember being a kid and wanting things suuuper badly but not being able to get them. So I just wanna make your dreams come true!" Mk said 'your' while pointing at Bai He with his tail, which made her giggle.

"Your tail is real and it's alive!" Bai He shouted.

"Bai He shush, that's rude." Her mom whispered, sternly. "Well, how do I know you won't try and hold this against us and make us pay you back later on?"

"Uh... Oh I know! I'll get a ton of witnesses so that I won't be able to do that. HEY EVERYONE! I AM FULLY WILLINGLY PAYING FOR BAI HE'S GAME AND DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING IN RETURN!!" Mk made sure to deactivate his ears before yelling all of that. The old woman had a mortified and speechless expression, while Bai He was laughing her head off.

"HAhaahaha! Stop hahaha!"

Mk then walked up to the stand and asked the clerk, "what do I gotta do to win the dragon tapestry?"

The clerk looked up dully and said, "you must hit down every gourd in the span of 10 seconds. It's 1 silver for a game."

"Deal!" Mk said as he pulled a silver out of his pocket and smacked it down. The clerk took it and handed Mk a bag of rocks. Mk offered his weaved basket to Bai He, "will you hold this please?" She nodded and happily took it off his hands. Mk popped his fingers and cracked his neck. He then grabbed some rocks with his hands and his tail.

"Bahahaha! Look he's using his tail that's so cool!" Bai He yelled as she pointed. Her mom simply frowned down at her in response.

Mk analyzed the gourds and their placement. He carefully aimed the rocks.

----

Over the week, Nezha had asked to meet with Nuwa. For his plan to work, he was going to need her help as well as his father's. He already privately explained his plan to Li Jing, so he just needed Nuwa for the final piece.

Yesterday, he met up with her, and this is how it went:

"Lady Nuwa, I fear Sun Wukong has broken many rules and will need a proper punishment for it." Nezha said.

Nuwa responded, "well if that is your judgement, then so be it. However, I am failing to understand why you are telling me of all people."

"Because for the punishment, I was wondering if I could have your divine blessing. But first, Lady Nuwa, I must ask, what were the conditions that Wukong needed to follow when raising his child?"

"Hmm.. let's see.."

=Flashback to 89 years ago=

"But wait, how long will I have to do this challenge for?" Wukong asked Nuwa.

"Well the challenging part only lasts until he is 18. Those are the years where you will not harm him and you will raise him. Then, once he is of age, he is free to go his own way. But remember, even if he has become an adult, you must still carry love in your heart for him. It sounds difficult, but trust me, it'll feel easy once it gets to that point."

"...Huh... W-Well I am the great sage equal to heaven! Nothing is too difficult for the monkey king, Sun Wukong haha.."

=End of Flashback=

Nuwa hummed as she thought. She then said, "as I recall, I said that he must never harm the child and raise him until he is an adult. Then, once Mk is of age, he is free to go his own way."

Nezha briefly smirked and then quickly went back to being stern-faced.

"Well I regret to inform you that he has broken those vows. Mk turned 18 months ago and yet he has still not been set free. Wukong has kept a strict watchful eye on him and anytime he would leave, Wukong would put up a barrier so that Mk would not be allowed to leave as well."

"...I see..." Nuwa said with a somber expression. "He was doing so well... But, he has not harmed the boy, has he?"

"Unfortunately I am unaware. Redson was the one that informed me about Mk being trapped. But whatever happens when Redson isn't there?... We have no clue."

"Hm... Still, I do not feel this warrants a punishment just yet. Maybe a warning should come first."

"My lady I fear that is not all.." Nezha said, staring up at her large, ethereal, and snake-like form.

"Oh...?"

Nezha proceeded to inform her about Wukong's illegal use of the wrist circlets, keeping Macaque against his will, and the murder of the dragon king of the west, Ao Lie.

The goddess of creation was speechless at this news. This was the most surprised Nezha had ever seen her look; she would usually always have a composed expression.

"So, will you lend me your divine blessing and permission to enact my plan?" Nezha asked. Nuwa contemplated for a bit, and then sighed. Her sigh blew a gust of wind down on Nezha and he did his best to not budge from it. Funnily enough, her breath simply smelt like clay.

"Well.. that depends, what is your plan?"

...

That was yesterday, and now it was today. He had successfully gotten Nuwa's divine blessing. Now Redson, Mei, and Nezha all cast a scent hiding spell and went down to Flower Fruit Mountain.

They had to be extra careful since they didn't have the invisibility jades anymore. All three began to creep through the start of the forest, but Nezha flung his arm out to halt them. He saw someone walking in the distance.

"Wait, it's alright, that's Mk." Redson said as he brushed passed Nezha's arm. Mk spotted Redson in the distance and a big smile appeared on his face. He ran over excitedly.

"Redson, you came back!" Mk yelled as he reached them in just a few seconds. He then lifted Redson up in a tight embrace.

"W-Whoa!" Redson exclaimed.

"You're looking as hot as ever with that braid, my oh so very special friend!"

Redson's entire face turned red as he blushed. Mei then jogged up to them with a worried look on her face.

"Would you two quiet down?? We just got here and you're already trying to get caught? I am not losing this opportunity to save my dad cuz of you." Mei whisper-yelled.

Mk gently put Redson down, "oh you don't gotta worry about that. The real Mk and daddio left a bit ago. OG Mk came up with the perfect distraction so that y'all could get here without a worry on your mind." The, apparently clone, said.

"(Sigh) now it all makes sense.." Redson said as he face palmed. "No wonder you're bolder than usual."

"Huh?" Mei questioned.

"Mk's clones often have slightly different personalities than him. I have a feeling it's because of his isolation that manifested into a trauma response where he creates different personalities to talk to when he's alone." Redson said with a hand on his chin.

"Haha! You and your psychology knowledge. That's why we love you!" The Mk clone said as it put it's arm around Redson's shoulder and cutely poked him on the cheek.

"...A-Anyway, it seems Mk remembered what I told him a week ago. About leaving a clone out here to update us on where Sun Wukong is. Good. Now that we know that he'll be gone for a while, the plan will go by smoothly." Redson gently but awkwardly pulled the clone's arm off and stepped away.

"My dad comes first though." Mei said.

"Indeed," Nezha chimed in. "Clone, do you know where Macaque is?"

The clone tilted it's head and said, "huh? Don't you smell him?" They all looked at the clone, confused. But then, someone spoke from above them.

"Right here."

They all looked up to see Macaque up in a tree with a mischievous smirk on his face. A wide grin appeared on Mei's face as her eyes began to slightly tear up.

"Dad!" Mei yelled and Macaque hopped down. Him and Mei engaged in a tight hug. He pet her hair as they embraced. "It's sure been a long ass time since I've seen you do one of your dramatic entrances haha."

"Yeah well, I couldn't resist," Macaque said as they both pulled away from the hug. "I had my ears activated and hurried over once I heard you lot arrive."

Nezha stepped forward, "hello, Six-Eared Macaque. You may not remember me, I'm-"

"Nezha the god of children. Yes, we saw each other once or twice on the journey. No wonder Mei learned how to hide her scent. She had the help of a heavenly official." He said with a polite smile.

Nezha rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit bashful. "Well, anyway. I brought a counter spell for those wrist circlets of yours.."

Macaque's polite smile instantly faded as his eye widened just a bit. He glanced at Mei, who nodded at him. He looked down while rubbing his wrists nervously.
"C-Can.. can you really do that?"

"Of course, I even had the spell checked for any drawbacks, and there were none," Nezha pulled out the scroll and opened it, ready to read. "So.. are you ready?"

----

Mk got super close on his first try. He missed two just as the 10 seconds were over. The old lady told him it was fine but he insisted on trying again, which made Bai He very happy. Especially since she was gonna witness another impressive display of Mk's unnatural rock throwing speed.

He got the rocks in his hands and his tail. Ready.. aim.. fire!

The clerk started the countdown and with his demonic strength and speed, he was able to hit every gourd under 10 seconds.

"Woohoo!" Bai He shouted as she clapped while bouncing up and down. Even the clerk was shocked. They coughed and began to take down the dragon tapestry.

"Here's your prize, sir."

Mk smiled as he turned and traded the tapestry for his basket.

"Thank you thank you thank you!!" Bai He yelled as she squeezed the tapestry.

"Haha no problem. And I'm sorry but, did I over-hear that you were wanting that because of a girl named Mei?"

"Yup! She's a secret warrior dragon girl who vigilantes in the night and saves the town!"

"...What? She never said all that." The old lady said.

"(Sigh) okay the part about the vigilante I made up, but she did save the town from those creeps, Jin and Yin."

Mk then asked, "save the town, huh? So she was some kind of hero?"

"Not 'was' she is a hero! At least to me she is.."

'..What is this feeling?' Mk thought. 'Something about that just sounds so appealing. I mean, just the act of helping this girl out gave me so much.. dopamine? Is that the word Redson used?...'

"Haha, well, you two have a good day!" Mk said as he waved at them and began to walk away.

"Wait! What's your name?" Bai He asked.

"Hm?.. Oh, the names Mk, it's short for Monkie Kid. Super on the nose I know heh.." He answered and then continued walking back to his dad. Wukong was standing with a basket full of exotic fruit.

"What was that all about?" Wukong asked.

"Oh nothing, just helping that little girl win a game."

"..." Wukong stared with a blank face and then smiled, "welp, come on, that basket won't fill itself!"

"Right haha.."

'Come on, focus. Macaque told me to keep dad distracted long enough for whatever plan Redson and Mei have up their sleeve..' Mk thought. 'I gotta extend this trip as long as I can..'

----

Nezha read the foreign words on the scroll and glowing rings appeared around Macaque's wrists. Everyone stared in amazement. Luckily this wasn't the bad kind of glow, where it would usually mean his wrists would hurt.

Macaque closed his eye as the circlets shined even brighter.

Nezha finished reading and there was a silence. Macaque cautiously peaked open his eye and looked down at his wrists. There was no longer a glow, but he didn't feel fully safe just yet. After all, the circlets were always invisible until Wukong activated them or until Macaque tried to use his powers. Meaning that there being nothing on his wrists wasn't exactly comforting just yet.

"Go on, try and use your powers. Let's see if it worked." Mei said.

Macaque gulped down his anxiety and shakily lifted up his hand. He faced it towards a tree as everyone watched in anticipation. He inhaled.. and then exhaled very slowly. He closed his eye and then, he attempted to activate his powers.

And...

.....

.....

It worked!

Mei silently celebrated, as to not disturb Macaque's sensitive ears. Nezha and Redson both smiled warmly. The Mk clone cheered fairly loudly, punching it's fists in the air.

Macaque, hoping he wasn't being pranked, cracked open his eye. But his eye then shot wide open as he looked and saw a shadow portal on the tree. A breathy laugh came out of him as he was too shocked to really say anything.

He then raised his other hand, and with that, he summoned a few shadow clones. It had been too long since he could use his powers.

"L-Look Mei.. I can.. I can finally show you some shadow plays again haha.." Macaque's voice was shaky as he blinked away some happy tears.

"Yup, y-you sure can haha.." Mei said, her voice shaky as well. She rapidly blinked and cleared her voice as she looked away with her hands on her hips.

"Nezha," Macaque said. "Thank you. Really I don't know how to repay you."

Nezha brought up his hand, "no need. Just wanted to help."

"So.. what now? What exactly will you do about Wukong and Mk?" Macaque asked. "He won't exactly like if you take Mk with you to heaven."

"Yes, do not worry, I have a plan. But unfortunately for this to work, I'm going to need you to pretend you're still trapped here. Can you do that?" Nezha asked.

Macaque looked passed Nezha. He then walked passed him and tested it out. It was true. The circlets were truly gone. He was no longer bound by a barrier. He then turned back to face Nezha with a smirk.

"Of course, I do enjoy acting after all."

"He really does.." Mei agreed. "But, before all that, there's something I need to tell you, dad."

He turned his attention to Mei. He felt a bit nervous from how serious she was being. It was out of character for her. "...Alright, what is it?"

"Sun Wukong killed Ao Lie."
Mei didn't sugarcoat it at all; she just blurted it out so bluntly.

"..." Safe to say, Macaque was speechless. He looked around and saw Nezha and Redson avoiding eye-contact uncomfortably. The Mk clone was confused.

"..Macaque?" Mei questioned.

He squeezed the clothing over his chest. Macaque could feel his heart beginning to race faster and faster.

"W-What makes you think that.. Mei." Macaque's tail was wagging anxiously.

"I don't just think it, dad. Ao Lie himself told me, as an astral projection."

"...No no no..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

"I don't just think it, dad. Ao Lie himself told me, as an astral projection." Mei said.

"...No no no..." Macaque denied as he covered his mouth and turned away from her.

"...(Sigh) I don't get why this is so hard to believe. Don't you remember a week ago? How I told you that, in my dream he warned me that you were captured-"

Macaque whipped around and yelled, "It's not that I don't believe you! It-..." He paused, seeing Mei's surprised expression. He felt a bit flustered as he glanced at Nezha, Redson, and the Mk clone. Macaque folded his arms uncomfortably, looked down, and continued. "...It's the fact that it's actually the opposite. I do believe you, and that's what scares me."

"I... I wanted to tell you last week, but I just couldn't do it. I didn't have the heart to bring it up. "

"...That means that.. Oh gods, your parents.. Your father, Ao Run and your mother, Long Nu. They were so young, and so happy to finally be able to bare a child."

"..." Mei's eyes widened at hearing this. The anger she felt when she first found out was beginning to boil again. Her fists were clenching but she inhaled, held it for a bit, then exhaled slowly. "You said you believe me and that scares you. What do you mean, exactly?"

"...I mean, that.. a part of me sort of already knew. But, I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. The scratch marks that had been inflicted on Ao Lie.. they reminded me of when I had seen my eye in the water's reflection all those years ago. Back then on the journey, when Ao Lie and I started becoming friends, I could always sense this growing jealousy from Wukong. So when Ao Lie was-" Macaque seemed to be caught up in his words. There was something he was afraid to say, and so he was hesitating.

"...Pops?" Mei stepped forward and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Macaque gave her a weak smile.

"When Ao Lie was dying I- I had this random 'what if' thought come to my head. 'What if Wukong took his anger out on Ao Lie because I never went back to him?'... But I kept telling myself that there was no way. No way he'd stoop that low. After-all, he was his friend too, wasn't he?..." Macaque was clutching his stomach as his other hand squeezed his hair.

"..." Mei's hand on his shoulder could feel him trembling. Macaque then dropped down to his knees as he hugged himself.

"If Ao Lie h-hadn't been my friend, Wukong w-wouldn't have killed him... It's my fault." Macaque's voice began to waver.

"What?? Dad no-"

"No, it is not." Nezha cut in and Macaque looked up at him with his tear-filled eye. Nezha stepped in front of him and knelt down to his current level. Macaque looked away, avoiding eye-contact.

"B-But.. when my eye got slashed, I went to the ocean to clean it. Ao Lie had come out of the water to help me. If I had only just-"

"I guarantee that Ao Lie had zero regrets helping you. Besides, he didn't have that much longer to live anyhow. Yes, it is awful that Wukong decided to speed up the process. But that's just it, it was Wukong that killed him. Not you. You are not responsible for Wukong's actions."

"I- but I- even though the circlets are off, I can't even leave.. B-Because If I do, all of you will be in danger! And if anyone ever even wants to get close with me in the future, he might just k-kill them too!.. (Sniff) all I can do is just disappear so that no one else gets hurt.."

Mei quietly gasped as she stared with a shocked expression. She was about to step forward and protest but Nezha put his hand up to stop her. He looked up with a reassuring smile, then back at Macaque with a serious expression.

"Macaque, I know it's hard. But, please rethink that. There are people who still need you. Your son and your daughter. Mk needs his true father, and Mei was entrusted to you by your dear friend. Don't make his death in vain.." Nezha placed his hand on Macaque's shoulder, which made Macaque look up at him. "Many people would have caved much earlier in your position, yet you've been strong. Please, trust me- no, trust us. Let us help you continue to be strong. Push through your hardships to inspire the younger generations."

Redson knelt down as well and said, "Macaque, if you ended your life, then that would mean one of the few good people in this world would be gone. The amount of shitty people in heaven that never tried understanding me, or the people that have courtnapped me? It almost made me lose hope too.."

The Mk clone spoke, "or a dad that would keep 'me' trapped in the mountain for entire days. Not let me make strong connections with anyone other than him or you. Continue to infantilize me even after I grew up so that I'd never leave the nest... Oh yeah, and one other thing but, OG Mk doesn't want me to tell you about that one haha.."

Macaque raised an eyebrow hearing that last bit. But Mei knelt down next to him as well. She then said, "ooor that douche-bag, piece of trash, un-deserving of life, sorry excuse of a man who tried to molest me." Mei had a sarcastic smile on her face. Redson and clone Mk were shocked at hearing this, but Nezha and Macaque didn't react much. Well, Macaque sort of had a sad chuckle, but it was because she said word-for-word what he had called that man all those years ago (see chapter 3).

"Hah.. alright alright.. (sniffle) I'd probably be too much of a coward to kill myself anyway.."

"Pfft!" Mei exclaimed, "you're not a coward if you don't kill yourself. In fact, not ending it all after everything you've been through makes you the bravest guy that I know!"

"...!" Macaque looked at her as if he had felt a revelation. It was a feeling of surprise and satisfaction. As if he'd been waiting to hear Mei say something like that for a while.

Mei stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. She then extended her hand for him to grab, a confident smile on her face. At that moment, the light was shining behind her, making her look as if she was glowing to Macaque's eye. She looked almost ethereal to him in that instance.

Macaque wiped his tears, took her hand, and stood up.

"...Before you go through with this 'plan' of yours. Do you think we could do something first?" Macaque asked, speaking to Nezha.

"Um.." Nezha looked to the clone Mk. It gave a thumbs up and nodded it's head. "Well, what did you have in mind?"

Macaque grabbed his arm nervously and said, "I want to see it with my own eye.. In the scroll of memory..."

----

=Meanwhile with Mk and Wukong=

Mk had gone around buying some healthy looking vegetables. Wukong had never seen him want to buy this much. Maybe the festival was making Mk more excited.

He had also been interacting with a lot of the people who were participating in the festival. Mk was more social than Wukong in that way. Wukong got along better with beings that were closer to his level.

"Dad come over here! They're offering facials!" Mk pulled on Wukong's arm and dragged him over to some women that were putting some green stuff and cucumber slices on people's faces.

"Ehh I don't know, kid.." Wukong was grossed out. He stepped his heels into the dirt to stop himself from being dragged over.

"Urgg dad come oooon! Try new things for once!"

"Mmm..." Wukong uncomfortably groaned.

"(Sigh) fine, I won't force you. I'll just do it by myself then." Mk said, rolling his eyes as he marched over. Wukong had leaned against a wall off to side and patiently watched the display. Just looking at it grossed him out.

...

After maybe an hour or two of doing many festival things, Wukong thought that the day was over, but Mk told him it wasn't. He still had to play that GO game apparently. Wukong had hoped that he would've forgotten about that. He was getting tired of holding the basket of fruit. Not because it was heavy or anything, it was just annoying to have to be holding something for this long.

Wukong sat next to Mk and the old man and watched them play GO. He leaned his head on his hand as he stared in boredom. There were quite a few moments where one or the other would just sit there and think for a while about what their next move should be.

He wanted to let Mk have fun but he was getting antsy thinking about how Macaque was doing.

'I really should've left one of my clones too..' Wukong thought as his leg bounced with impatience.

----

Macaque led the others to where he had hid the scroll. He took the bag of clothing off of the dirt pile. He then dug up the memory scroll that he hid there a week ago.

"That- is that the scroll of memory!?" Nezha stuttered in shock at what he was seeing. "Where did you get that!?"

Macaque's ears lowered from Nezha's shouting. He said, "we've had this since the brotherhood. I figured Wukong forgot it was there, so I searched and I was right. I found it among his plethora of junk."

"The brotherhood?" Mei questioned.

"Wait that sounds familiar.." Redson said, "was my father, the Demon Bull King, apart of this brotherhood?"

Macaque raised his eyebrow and stared at Redson, "...That guy had kids..?" He questioned.

"Wha- 'that guy'?? First of all, no, I'm his only child. Second of all, you act as if you two weren't close at all-... although now that I think about it..." Redson put his hand on his chin as he thought for a moment. "...When father had described the brotherhood, he mentioned three others, but then just said 'Sun Wukong and his buddy'. Does that mean that you...?"

"...Yeeeah, I was probably the 'buddy'. I was such a wallflower back then, so I practically didn't exist in the other's eyes. Really the only one who paid any amount of attention to me was Wukong-... (Sigh) but that's not important right now." Macaque said as he held the scroll straight in front of him.

"He seemed to pay a little too much attention. Tch, no wonder he courtnapped you."

Macaque's cheeks and ears began to blush pink. He hadn't realized until now that Wukong bringing him here like this could've been a poor attempt at courtnapping. Macaque shook his head and closed his eye as he began to focus his energy on the scroll. It started to glow dimly blue.

Nezha then said, "you must be very careful. We don't know what exactly could be in there.."

"No worries, I know what's in there. Or more accurately who's in there.. I just gotta make sure we avoid any memories with them," the scroll slowly opened. "Mk, can you keep watch with your gold vision? And if you see Wukong, can you hide the scroll away from his eyes?"

The Mk clone perked up and saluted, "yes sir!"

Macaque rolled his eyes with a smirk and then nodded back at it. A blue circular seal then appeared under the four of them; Macaque, Nezha, Redson, and Mei. They all began to glow as they swiftly entered the scroll.

...

All four of them opened their eyes to see they had transported to a completely different location. Not just that, but sometime in the past as well. They seemed to be in a rich looking village. There was a castle a bit away that looked like it was made of emerald or jade. There was an obvious dragon theme about it. Like the statues on the sides of the double-doors for example. Mei got this weird sense of nostalgia as she stared at it.

"I took us to the morning of the day Ao Lie gave Mei to me," Macaque said. "We're able to interact with everything here. Luckily it doesn't affect the actual past, but still, try not to touch anything or stand out too much. If the ink in here senses too much disturbance, it'll try to attack us and force us out."

"Pfft, well then what's the point of this scroll anyway if you can't even have fun with it?" Mei complained as she folded her arms.

Macaque lightly chuckled and said, "the most fun you could have is trying out food from the past. But, right now, I'm using the scroll for it's actual purpose."

Nezha asked, "wasn't it's original purpose meant for finding evidence in court cases?"

"Exactly."

Mei then realized what exactly they were there to see. She remembered what she had seen in those flashes of the past she got back when she touched the ocean (see chapter 7). The 'vision of the past' that she got where she was a baby in an injured Ao Lie's arms. Mei felt a sadness as she recalled the words he heard him say:

="Please! You have to take her! I don't know who attacked our kingdom but you're the best escapist I know. So if anyone can protect her, it's you!"=

"Dad do you-.. Do you seriously want to see that??" Mei questioned. Macaque looked down with a frown. He then slowly looked up at her with a sad smile.

"I just... I need to see it for myself to really believe it. I don't- I don't think I can actually watch it happen. I just have to really see that it was Wukong who did it.."

"...You sure, pops?" Mei put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, moondrop."

"..." Mei frowned a bit and then sighed, "okay well. Since you said we're able to interact with this world, that must mean that this Sun Wukong will be able to smell you. So let's give you a scent hiding spell, shall we?" Mei began casting a spell. She then shoved her glowing hands forward, sending the spell to him. Macaque instinctively brought his arms up to block it. Of course that didn't work, and the spell covered him.

"W-What was that about??"

"Oh sorry haha. Probably shoulda warned ya huh?" Mei rubbed the back of her neck.

Macaque turned to Nezha and Redson, "you two don't have to watch if you don't want to."

"I'll watch," Nezha said. "For legal reasons, I want to see it happen."

"...Is there anyway I can see a different memory?" Redson asked. "There's something I desire closure on as well."

"...I understand." Macaque said as he let out a shadow clone. "My clone will guide you where you need to go. And you can let it know when you want to leave the scroll. Oh, make sure you don't enter any memories with yourself in them. Or.. at least make sure you don't interact with a past version of yourself."

"Thank you." Redson said and they split and went their separate ways.

...

Macaque shadow teleported Mei, Nezha, and himself inside the castle walls. They were in the throne room, hiding behind a wide pillar. They heard a few people speaking. Ao Lie was standing in the middle of the room. He had wrinkles and looked older than in Mei's dreams. Ao Lie was talking to two others. One of them was holding a baby.

"Those two are Ao Lie's grandson and grand daughter-in-law. In other words, your parents, Ao Run and Long Nu." Macaque whispered.

Mei got a good look at them. Her biological father, Ao Run, had a funny looking mustache and white hair swerved to the side. Her biological mother, Long Nu, was wearing some jewelry over her head, and she had short black hair that perked up at the ends.
Ao Run was holding a baby, most likely Mei.

"Grandfather," Ao Run spoke. "Do you know of any neighboring duke's or duchess's that also have new children? We were wanting to set up Mireu's future spouse pronto."

Mei blinked a bit at hearing that. She had almost forgotten that her original name was Ao Mireu. She recalled how several days ago, Macaque's shadow clone explained to her that Macaque had changed her name to protect her; well, explained as best it could, considering it can't talk. But now she was reminded that there was a question she was planning to ask him but forgot until now (see chapter 9).

"Mac.. I've been meaning to ask you.. A while ago, I asked your clone why you were too scared to tell me about my past, and it just told me to ask you instead. So.. why?" Mei asked.

"...(Sigh)... I just felt like.. if I told you about your past, then you would've gone to look for your family. Which might've made you a target for the killer.. which in turn, would go against what Ao Lie had asked of me..." Macaque whispered. "...But still.. you had a right to know. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did.."

"..." Mei pondered for a bit, and then she said quietly, "no, I think it's fine how I found out. If Ao Lie said to keep my past a secret, then it makes sense that he would be the one to know when to tell me. And honestly, you're probably right. Young me would've most likely ran away to try and find them. But considering they were trying to court me when I was just a baby.. Yeeeah I'd much rather prefer you over that.."

Macaque smiled at her, happy to get her understanding. He then said quietly, "yeah well, it was really only your parents that liked things traditional. Ao Lie himself was never a fan of traditions or royal requirements."

Nezha tried to hold back his smile as he watched Macaque and Mei. It always warmed his heart to see family bonding, especially as the god of children.

"Macaque," Nezha said. "I'm sorry to say this, but, we really shouldn't spend too much time in the scroll. Is there anyway to speed it up to after everything happened?"

"Yeah.. I just-.. wanted to see him when he was still happy.. Since my last memory of him was when he-..." Macaque could barely even finish the sentence. "...When he wasn't.."

Nezha, instantly understanding, felt guilty, "I-.. my apologies, I-I shouldn't have been so insensitive-"

"No, it's fine, you're right. We need to stay focused." Macaque reassured as he raised his hand and the world around them seemed to speed up. Quick flashes of a battle went by and blood appeared. The bodies of Ao Run and Long Nu were just laying there lifeless with bloody slashes down their backs. He let go of the memory. He then teleported all of them closer to the scene so that they could all hear what was being said; them hiding behind another pillar.

They saw a stranger wearing a red cloak and a mask. Their entire body was hidden and they were wearing metal clawed gloves. Blood dripped from their claws. The stranger shook their metal-clawed hands, shaking the blood off of them. They then turned their attention to Ao Lie and he flinched as he clutched baby Mei close to his chest. In the blink of an eye the stranger was in front of him ready to attack. He had just barely dodged it using his dragon powers. Ao Lie got a large scratch on his arm and he cried out in pain.

Macaque gasped and reached his hand forward, about to use his shadow powers to rescue Ao Lie. But he was stopped. His wrist had been firmly, but not tightly grabbed by Nezha. He whipped his head up to look at him, but Nezha was giving a stern look.

"You said it yourself. We cannot interfere with the memory or else the ink in the scroll will attack us." Nezha whispered.

Macaque begrudgingly nodded as he looked back at the scene in front of him. But as he watched Ao Lie keep on dodging around but still getting cut up on different places on his body, Macaque just couldn't bare to watch anymore. He closed his eye and bowed his head, just waiting for the sounds to be over.

Mei on the other hand, watched very intently. She was scowling the whole time. She wanted so badly to just pull out her sword and stop the 'stranger' but she knew she shouldn't. Both Ao Lie's legs and arms had bleeding gashes. He trembled as he backed away from the mysterious figure.

"W-Why are you doing this!?" Ao Lie yelled as tears fell down his face. "S-stop this! Whoever you are!" His knees buckled and he pushed himself further away from the stranger until his back hit against a wall. The figure crept closer to him as they opened their claws, preparing to strike.

Mei then noticed that her baby self was somehow sleeping through all of this, since she didn't hear herself crying. It seems she used to be a deep sleeper. It's a good thing Macaque trained that out of her.

Ao Lie suddenly whipped around, shielding baby Mei as he pleaded, "Please! Don't cut this poor child's life short!"

Macaque opened his eye and looked back up at the memory.

The stranger, who had just begun their strike, halted their movements. Ao Lie opened his tearful eyes and looked up to see the claws inches away from his face. The stranger moved their head to look down at what Ao Lie was holding. It seemed they were either re-thinking their decision, or they hadn't realized this whole time that Ao Lie was carrying a baby. She was wrapped in a lot of blankets and was asleep after-all.

"Y-You already... You already k-killed her parents... (Sniffle) p-please, y-you can't do this to her.." The baby in his arms cooed and the stranger's claws twitched at that. "I-I'm sure you must h-have children of your own?" The mysterious figure retracted their hand and simply stared down at him. "S-so you do? Then please, stop this m-madness. What do you think y-your child would have to go through if someone k-killed you?" The stranger cocked their head to the side, as if the mere idea of them being killed was foreign to them.

The smell of blood was strong, but now that they were closer, Macaque could get a better whiff. He sniffed a bit, and it was unfortunately all the more confirmed. The cloaked figure was indeed Wukong.

'..Pfft.. Of course Wukong would never understand what it's like for a child to go through their parent dying... Typical..' Macaque thought bitterly.

"I-I don't know what me o-or my family did to you, but t-trust me when I say that, w-whatever it was, we did not mean to.."

Wukong looked down at the baby for a bit. He then shook his head and aimed his claw once more. But suddenly, Ao Lie lifted his hand to their face and blasted some power at it. Wukong backed up and tried waving the smoke away from his mask. The distraction was enough for Ao Lie to bolt out of there. He turned into a smaller version of his dragon form and zoomed out of the window. One arm carrying the baby, whilst his other cast a spell on himself. It was a scent hiding spell.

Wukong shook his head a bit, his mask still smokey. Macaque, Mei, and Nezha all then heard the sound of cracks. In a few seconds, Wukong's mask broke apart and fell off his face.

"Urrgg... pathetic mask.." He mumbled as he slid off his hood and shook sparks and smoke out of his hair. He then looked around, Ao Lie nowhere to be seen. Now there was no doubt for Mei and Nezha that it was indeed Wukong. He hopped on his cloud and looked out the window. A few moments passed by, he sighed and flew back down to the ground.

He blankly stared down at the dead bodies of Ao Run and Long Nu. Wukong then put one hand on his hip and used the other to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Gaaahh... things wouldn't have ended like this if you two hadn't gotten in my way.." He then released his hand from his bridge. "But I will admit, you two put up a pretty good fight, considering you were related to that weakling."

Wukong then lifted up both of their bodies and placed them facing upward next to each other. He crossed their arms over their chests, and then closed their eyelids.

"Alright so.. what else do humans do when people die?.. Oh that's right, they pray." He put his hands together and began to pray out loud, "please safely guide these unfortunate souls to uhh... a happy underworld? Or wherever people go when they die I don't know."

Macaque's eye widened in surprise as he watched him. Wukong paying respects to Mei's parents was the last thing he expected to see. Wukong then flinched as he heard voices yelling from outside the throne room. He pulled his hood over his head and ran towards the other side of the room. "They sure woke up fast.."

"Woke up?" Nezha questioned.

"Yeah, Ao Guang told me that when it came to the guards, there weren't any deaths. Just many left injured and unconscious." Mei explained.

Macaque rolled his eye as he sarcastically whispered, "wooow how generous of him."

A guard burst through the doors and they caught the last bit of Wukong jumping super high and leaving out the window. "Hey! Get back here!" They yelled. More guards flooded in and they looked horrified at the scene before them. They knelt down to their fallen king and queen. "Where is the princess?" "And where is lord Ao Lie?" "I think that hooded figure must have chased them outside. I saw them leave through the window!"

----

=Meanwhile with Redson and the shadow clone=

Redson had given the shadow clone instructions of where and when to go. The shadow clone was silent as it brought up it's hand and changed the location. They pushed forward four years when Redson was 5-years-old. The day that his father died.

They both hid off to the side as they watched the battle between Sun Wukong and Demon Bull King. Redson could barely keep up with how fast they were moving. His eyes darted around catching small glimpses of what was happening.

Wukong was wearing a hat, probably to hide his forehead scars. At least, that's what the shadow clone's guess was.

Sun Wukong was fighting with his signature staff, while DBK was fighting with just his claws and armored fists. Wukong landed a few slashes all around DBK's body, while DBK didn't land a scratch on him.

Redson had tried to get up and help, but the clone firmly gripped his shoulder and shook it's head with a frown. He grumbled and knelt back down. He had to remind himself that it was only a memory.
Nostalgia had filled him at the location. It was a mountain with a giant cave. There was a half built castle around it. Redson had lived in heaven for so long that he almost forgot about his old home. Back then, his mother had instructed him to stay hidden in a tunnel deep in the cave where they slept.

It seemed his father was losing blood and losing energy, Sun Wukong took that opportunity to make his staff huge and deliver the final blow. Redson wanted to look away, but he just couldn't take his eyes off the sight before him. A huge hole was punctured in his father's chest and abdomen. He coughed up blood.

"That's what you get for trying to take over my home, brother." Wukong spat that last word in a mocking way.

"Guh.. y-you damn traitor (cough).."

"(Sigh) are you still on about that? Don't forget, I was the one who took all the blame for when we fought against heaven! You did this to yourself, bastard."

"Urgg.. don't.. d-don't hurt my family.."

"Pfft, father to father, I won't hurt your boy. I can't say the same about your meddling wife though. She's probably just as bad as you. Who knows what sort of schemes she'll get up to if I let her go. So," Wukong, standing on his cloud, was about to fly into the mountain, but then-

"Wukong!" Redson and the shadow clone looked over to see a Nezha from the past. Using his golden flaming wheels, he flew over to Wukong. "What in the heavens happened here!?"

"Hah! What, you haven't heard? Demon Bull King has been terrorizing kingdoms in pathetic attempts to 'take over the world' with his family or whatever. Him trying to take over Flower Fruit Mountain yesterday was the last straw. He got what he deserved."

"W-What?? Wukong, for the last time, there are better ways to solve things like this. All you had to do was stall so that heaven could take care of him!" Nezha looked down at DBK and realized that he had died. "You.. you didn't have to kill him, Wukong! He had a child!"

"..." Wukong frowned as he looked back at the cave. Both their attention was then grabbed as they saw Iron Fan flying out of the cave. She let out a scream as she saw her husband lying dead on the floor, still having the enlarged staff penetrating his body.

"How could you!? You son of a bitch!" PIF screamed as she took out her fan and charged for Wukong. He dodged around but was literally blown away by her fan. Although, it didn't blow him back as far as her usual opponent would be.

The fight was mostly him dodging and blocking her attacks, until eventually, he knocked the fan out of her hands and stole it. He knew how to use the fan since he had once used it during the journey to the west. So, he gave her a taste of her own medicine and blew her against the mountain's wall. Wukong flew over to her on his cloud and was about to punch her when his hand was stopped by a ribbon.

"Wukong stop! That's enough!" Nezha yelled. "I'll have the heaven officials take care of her from here.."

Redson's eyes widened. He then thought, 'If it weren't for Nezha, my mother would have been killed as well. Yes, he didn't get there in time to save my father, but it's still thanks to him that my mother survived...'

Sun Wukong scoffed as he retracted his staff from DBK, shrunk it, and let it magically enter back into his ear.
"That samadhi kid is somewhere in the cave. I have my own cub to get back to." Before Nezha could even respond to Wukong, he flew away on his cloud.

A few heaven officials came by and took Iron Fan into custody. Nezha went into the cave, supposedly to find the young Redson.

"Can you speed it up a bit?" Redson asked the clone. It nodded and lifted it's hand. A few minutes turned into a few seconds. During the sped up time, some angel guards had carried his father's body away. "Stop, right here." The clone let go of the memory.

They saw Nezha coming out of the cave, holding the hand of a 5-year-old Redson. He looked grumpy as ever. Nezha looked over and saw the blood splatter of where DBK used to be.

"(Gasp) uhh how about we go flying, yeah? That will be fun I'm sure.." Nezha then abruptly picked up the fiery kid, who understandably protested. He held him in his arm and made sure that he never saw the blood.

"...That was the day he took me to the celestial realm. I never realized that he was trying to shield me from seeing it. I remember back in the cave, I always wondered why he kept on telling me that we needed to wait before we left the cave... Turns out he was trying to give them time to take away my father's body." Redson said, solemnly.

----

The Mk clone was entertaining itself by watching the ants on the ground. It's tail was waving around in slight impatience.

"(Sigh)... What's taking them so long-"

Before it could even finish speaking, the scroll began to light up and there they all were. It sat there in utter shock. It also noticed that all four of them just sort of looked empty inside. The Mk clone then stood up and dusted itself off.

"Redson, what exactly were you trying to see in the scroll?" Nezha asked.

"...What really happened when Sun Wukong killed my father."

Macaque's ears perked up at this, he seemed surprised but not as surprised as one would think. He still seemed pretty emotionally drained from whatever he had seen. "Pfft.. good thing the others are trapped in this scroll then..." He mumbled.

"...I see..." Nezha said as he looked down with guilt.

"Thank you, big brother." Redson suddenly said.

"What??"

"You saved my mother. So, thank you."

"...Hah... Yeah I guess I did." Nezha then turned to Macaque, "in order for the plan to work out, you need to stay here just for a bit longer. I'll need you to send a message to me with this once Wukong is back and in his mountain. We plan on enacting it tonight once he's asleep." He held out his hand, non-verbally asking to hold Macaque's. Macaque obliged and Nezha proceeded to place a spell on his hand. There was a golden symbol there.

"Oh yeah, you can use that spell to send a message request to anyone of your choosing. A while ago, Ao Guang gave one to me and I used it to ask Redson for help," Mei explained. "You just gotta touch it and then pray to Nezha."

Macaque dryly chuckled as he looked down at it. He then turned and dug through his bag of clothes. Deep at the bottom of the bag were some finger-less gloves. He put them on to cover up the golden symbol.

"So wait till night time when Wukong is asleep, let you know, and then what?" Macaque asked.

"Well, also tell Mk about the plan once he's back. Have him come out of the mountain once Wukong is asleep and let you know when to message me. Then, both of you wait at the edge of the forest for us and we'll take care of the rest from there." Nezha explained and Macaque nodded in response. "Clone Mk, can you come with me to keep watch? I need to set the marks on the circumference of the forest."

'The marks...?' Macaque wondered.

"Uhh not sure I can keep watch for that long, buddy.." The Mk clone said as it stared in the distance with gold vision. "I can see original Mk and daddio in the distance."

All of their hearts sank at hearing this.

"I'll shadow portal you all as far as I can in the opposite direction. Once you're out of range, you need to get back up to heaven quickly, before Wukong sees you." Macaque said as he opened a portal. Nezha and Redson nodded and Nezha hopped in but Redson was stopped by the Mk clone.

"Thanks for wearing your hair in a braid. It looks super pretty! But next time, I'm sure OG Mk would reeeeally love to smell your scent~" It said, innocently. Redson cringed and his face heated up with a blush.

"N-Next time, keep your intrusive thoughts to yourself. Hmph!" Redson huffed as he then hopped into the shadow portal as well.

"Hey wait a sec," the Mk clone said, turning to Mei. "Didn't you say last time that you were gonna give me a head-band for my bangs?"

Mei blushed a bit in embarrassment and then said, "w-well.. you're not the real Mk. So I can't give it to you!" Mei then turned her attention to Macaque. She hesitated for a bit, but then gave Macaque one last quick hug. He tightly hugged her back as he pet her head.

"We'll see each other soon, moondrop. Don't worry.."

"Oh we better!" Mei said loudly with a smile as she let go and hopped into the portal. Macaque used his ears to hear how far they were and where to place the next few shadow portals. It took some extra strain and effort to make some even further away, but one could hardly blame him after not being able to use his powers for two weeks.

"(Sigh) whatever this plan is better work..."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

----

The Mk clone knew what to do. After Redson, Mei, and Nezha had left, Macaque told it something. He told the Mk clone to be the one to inform the real Mk about the plan.

="If I try going near Mk, Wukong will get suspicious since I don't have a scent right now from Mei's scent hiding spell. So I need you to isolate Mk and explain the plan to him. I'm sure my clones don't have a scent either, so at night time, I'll have one sneak in to signal Mk."=

The clone went up to the pond that the waterfall flowed into. It sat there waiting for Wukong and the real Mk to get home. It stuck it's feet in the water as it faced away and activated it's ears. It's ears perked up as it heard an incoming conversation:

"Oh come on dad, would ya quit your sulking?"

"Wasn't the day supposed to be a father son day? You kept on spending it doing things with other people.."

"Gahh dad! Are you seriously getting jealous right now? Besides, I tried to invite you to join me on some of those things but you're the one that didn't want to!"

The Mk clone deactivated it's ears as it was getting bothered just listening to them. They eventually flew down behind it on their clouds. It turned around and smiled at them. They were both holding a grocery basket.

"(Sigh) can we just do what I want next time? And preferably not when there's a festival going on. You know how frustrated I can get with too many humans around.. They always recognize me and then want my autograph or something." Wukong asked.

"Next time?" Mk questioned.

"Yeah like maybe next week, same day or whatever. Uggh I'm so mentally drained. Imma go take a nice hot bath.." Wukong floated past the Mk clone, opened the waterfall and floated inside.

Mk landed from his cloud and made it disappear. He then walked up to his clone. Kneeling down next to it he asked, "so.. how'd it go? Did they show up?"

"Yup! You shoulda seen it! Redson was wearing-"

"Ssshh! Not so loud." Mk whisper-yelled.

"Redson was wearing his hair in a braid just like he said. He looked so pretty~"

Mk blushed as he began to feel envious over his own clone. He took in a breath and then blew it out slowly.

"Hey don't look so jealous," the clone said. "He hid his scent again so at least you didn't miss out on that."

"Haa haa..." Mk blushed even more out of embarrassment, "anyway, where's Macaque? I did what he asked so what happened?"

The clone then proceeded to explain to the real Mk, as quietly as it could, how Nezha took the circlets off of Macaque. It also talked about how Mei told Macaque about some friend of his that Wukong had murdered. It said that they all had gone inside something called the 'scroll of memory' so that they could feel some closure. And that apparently Macaque knew Redson's father, DBK, but wasn't aware that Wukong killed him as well.

Mk was saving his questions for after the clone was done. The clone had paused for a bit so he took that opportunity. "Okay so the circlets are off, that's great, but.. dad killed Macaque's friend, Ao Lie? And he was someone on the journey?"

"Yeah, Macaque mentioned that they became friends during the journey. Oh yeah, Macaque also said something about daddio killing Mei's parents too." It said.

"...Sooo connecting the dots, I'm guessing that Ao Lie is someone related to Mei somehow. Cuz don't you remember dad saying something about a dragon being on the journey with him and the others? And there was this girl I met in the village that talked about a 'dragon girl' named Mei; and over the week Macaque had mentioned that Mei was descended from dragons... But dad killed her parents too..? Jeez, what are the odds that he killed both Redson's dad and Mei's parents.." Mk frowned as he curled his knees up to his chest. "Wait.. you said that Macaque knew Redson's dad? The demon bull guy?"

The clone shrugged and said, "apparently. He said something about a 'brotherhood' they were in together with ol' Wukong."

"And that's.. different from the journey group?" Mk asked.

"Yeah probably. He never mentioned Redson's dad being with him on the journey. I think we would've remembered him mentioning a giant cow haha."

"Hm.. Ugghhh why does dad have to be so secretiiiive.." Mk complained as he rubbed his hands down his face. "(Sigh).. that's so messed up. Why would he keep all this from me?"

"I mean, if you had killed a bunch of people, would you want to tell your son?" The clone asked as it kicked it's feet in the water.

Mk didn't know how to respond to that. He just rested his head on his knees as he had an internal panic. He felt so stupid for ignoring all the signs that his father really wasn't a good person. Literally several days ago, Wukong had angrily shoved Mk to the ground (see chapter 13). Mk still hasn't told Macaque about that. He just didn't want to give Macaque any further proof that Wukong was dangerous. Deep down, Mk wanted to try and prove to Macaque that Wukong had changed since he slashed his eye. He just wanted to have two parents that loved each other. But.. it's clear that reality isn't so kind.

"Hey bud? I know it's a lot to take in but, there's something else," it said as it placed it's hand on Mk's shoulder. "Nezha passed something onto Macaque, and in turn, Macaque wanted me to pass on to you."

Mk looked up from his knees and said, "what..?"

"Nezha has some kind of plan. Macaque said that he's going to send in a shadow clone to wake you up. And you gotta make sure that Wukong is asleep before you leave the nest. Then, you and Macaque need to wait outside at the edge of the forest, then Macaque will message Nezha; giving him the signal to enact his plan."

"Message Nezha??"

"Yeeeah don't question it. It's some sort of spell he gave to him."

"...Okay..?" Mk put his legs down criss-cross. He frowned as he took in this information. "Wait but, won't dad be able to smell Macaque if he sneaks in?"

"Oh yeah, that. Haha, don't worry, he won't. Mei put the scent hiding spell on him. The one that Redson always uses." The clone explained.

"...(Sigh) alright, better mentally prepare I guess."

Once the Mk clone had finished telling Mk about all that happened, it exploded, turning into a bunch of hair.

----

=Night time=

When Mk and his dad went to sleep, Wukong faced away from Mk instead of cuddling him. Seems like today really did upset him. But that was good, it worked in Mk's favor. It made it a lot easier for when he was going to sneak out.

The plan was that Macaque was going to wake him up, but the thing is, Mk couldn't even get himself to fall asleep. He could hear his dad lightly snoring behind him. Mk could sleep through Wukong's snores just fine, it was the anxiety of uncertainty that was the problem. The uncertainty of whatever this plan of Nezha's was going to be.

Just then, Mk felt something pulling on his ear. He turned his head and was expecting to see one of the monkeys, but instead he saw a dark shadow. He gasped and the shadow quickly covered his mouth. Mk then turned on his gold vision to see what it was. The shadow then grew and took a form that looked like Macaque; except it had both eyes and only had two ears. It had a finger over it's mouth in a shushing motion.

'I guess this is Macaque's shadow clone.' Mk thought. 'Looks like it's finally time...'

Mk slowly got up from the nest, trying not to disturb his dad. He tiptoed a bit away from it and toward the waterfall. Mk wasn't looking forward to getting all wet, since opening the waterfall would probably create too much noise. But instead, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the shadow clone and it shook it's head.

Then suddenly, Mk held in a gasp as the clone seemed to have opened a portal in front of the waterfall. He covered his own mouth in awe. He then reached his finger to touch it. It truly was a portal, because he couldn't feel the water beyond it at all.

...

Once Mk and the clone stepped through the portal, the shadow clone turned back into a little blob. It scurried off towards the real Macaque, who was standing a few feet away. The portal disappeared and Macaque turned to look at Mk with a smirk.

"Pretty cool huh?" He asked, quietly.

"Yeeesss!" Mk whispered loudly as he shook his fists in excitement. "Really really cool!"

"Haha.. Alright, let's get down to business." Macaque took a glove off of his hand, which revealed some sort of glowing symbol. "Mkay so.. they said that I just had to pray to Nezha or whatever so uhh.. here goes nothing I guess.." He pressed his hands together and silently prayed. Mk turned off his gold vision and realized just how dark it was since tonight was a new moon.

----

=Meanwhile in the celestial realm=

Nezha, Redson, and Mei were all awake and ready. They were awaiting Macaque's message request.

"Hey look!" Mei pointed behind Nezha as they all turned to see a floating symbol. It was a purple monkey head with six long ears. "Gee, I wonder who that could be, heh." She said, sarcastically.

Nezha quickly accepted the message request. The symbol opened up and they could just barely see Macaque and Mk. It was really dark where they were. Macaque had his eye closed and his hands in a prayer. Mk tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the others.

"O-Oh, it worked.." Macaque said, embarrassed.

"Are you two close to the edge of the forest?" Nezha asked.

"Yeah, and Wukong is sound asleep. So, what now?"

"We'll head on over. My father will also be joining to help."

"Alright hold on, what is 'the plan' exactly?? What are you going to do?" Macaque asked and Mk stepped up, clearly curious as well.

Nezha was a bit quiet as he glanced over to Mei and Redson. He then took in a breath and exhaled slowly. "With Nuwa's blessing, we're going to trap Wukong in the mountain."

"W-What!?" Mk exclaimed. "You guys are going to do that again??"

"Yeah I really don't think that's a good idea," Macaque said. "Sealing him under a mountain for another 500 years is only going to make him worse.."

"Huh..? Oh! No no, sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean we're going to create a seal around the entirety of flower fruit forest. He'll still be able to roam and walk freely, just not outside the borders we'll create."

Macaque and Mk stared in shock. They looked at each other for a bit. Mk grabbed his arm uncomfortably. Even though Wukong wasn't a good person, he was still Mk's dad. He couldn't help but feel bad; like he was betraying his flesh and blood.
"Oh, well..." Macaque looked back at them. "I guess that's.. better?"

"Pretty fitting punishment aye?" Mei said. "He did the same thing to you. Made it so you couldn't leave flower fruit mountain."

"...Haha.. yeah I guess you're right."

"Sucks that we can't do anything about his powers.. but whatever. Nezha says that Sun Wukong's powers can't break the seal so, it's fine."

Redson then spoke, "anyway, stay out of sight. We'll head right there. Over and out."

...

A celestial portal opened and there they were: Nezha, Mei, and Redson. But even after they came out, the portal remained open for some reason. Mk ran up to Redson and hugged him tightly.

"Oof! Th-this better not be your clone again!" Redson complained as he kept his arms away.

"Nope, it's the real flesh and blood Monkie Kid!" Mk exclaimed with his long tail wagging in excitement. "And thanks for wearing the braid, it's super pretty~"

"...Oh... W-Well good.. I'm glad it's the real you.." Redson blushed as he shyly embraced Mk back. He then blushed even harder as he heard Mk take a long sniff.

"Ooo~ You smell like you recently took a bath.." Mk said seductively.

"Wh-wha??" Redson broke away from the hug and folded his arms, the glow of the portal was showing his face turning pinker and pinker. "That was two days ago! Y-You can smell that?? Also, what's up with you and my scent?"

"Ehh it's a simian thing," Macaque said. "You'll get used to it."

Mei then added, "heh yeah. Pops tried to be subtle about it when I was growing up. But when he would groom my hair, I could hear him smell it sometimes-"

"Ah ssshh! I-It just.. the scent of loved ones just brings us comfort is all. Our species can't help our instincts.." Macaque faced away, blushing and feeling flustered. "I-If humans had a strong sense of smell like us, they'd probably be the same way."

"Oh yeah!" Mei said as she then pulled something out of her pocket, "since you're the real Mk, here's this." She held out a red ribbon head band.

"F-For me?" Mk reached and took it. He admired the golden stitching on the inside that said 'For Mk from Dragon Girl'. A big smile came to his face as he tied it around his head, and the headband nicely held up his bangs that would often get in his eye. "Haha! This is really nice, thank you!"

Mei put her hands on her hips and tilted her chin upward, pridefully. "Hah, twas nothin'.."

Nezha laughed and then said, "well anyway, I was able to get one more invisibility jade from Jade Rabbit," he scratched the back of his head. "I uh.. I didn't tell her what we did with our last two. If I did she would've never given me this..." He pulled out the pretty green stone with a rabbit head symbol on it. "I had asked for more, but I think she could tell I was hiding something. So she only gave me one. Which means it needs to be a last resort."

Just then, Macaque and Mk saw why the celestial portal had remained open; someone else came through.
Li Jing, a celestial military general, walked through the portal, and that's when it finally closed up. When it did, Redson lit a fire in his hands, since the new moon made it so dark outside.

"This is my father, Li Jing. He'll be helping Mei and I with the ritual."

"Wait, Mei, you're doing the sealing spell with them? I figured Redson would.." Macaque questioned.

Mei said, "yeah I thought that too. But Redson told me to do it for some reason.." She eyed Redson suspiciously.

Redson, who was being hugged around the chest from behind by MK, responded, "Tch.. Like I told you, you have celestial ancestors so it's better if you do it."

"And I told you that doesn't make any sense! You've been living in the celestial realm-"

Nezha interrupted, "(Sigh) look, as much as I agree with you, Mei, we don't have time to argue about this. I need you to get into position. My father will show you the way."

Li Jing was eyeing Macaque the whole time. Macaque's ears flicked nervously as he finally noticed him staring.

Macaque shyly said, "um.. heeeyy, I don't believe we've met. I'm-"

"The six-eared Macaque. Yes, I know you. Right hand man to Sun Wukong during that great battle between heaven and the brotherhood almost 600 years ago." Li Jing said sternly with his chest puffed and his hands behind his back.

"...Y-Yeah but to be fair, I was the only one that kept warning them not to go through with it." Macaque nervously laughed as he brought his hands up in a shrug. Li Jing stared at him with a frown.. But then he smiled, and then he laughed, which surprised Macaque.

"Haahh.. Well, It's all in the past now. I'm more than happy to be able to meet you as a person, instead of as a warrior."

Macaque was wide eyed but then he relaxed and sincerely smiled.

Nezha then said, "alright, the three of us need to form the triangle around the entirety of the forest. We'll be far from each other, but don't worry, I'll be at the front. If Wukong ever awakens, then he'll most likely come this way."

"Come along Mei, I'll show you where your post is and then be on my way to mine," Li Jing said. "Shoot an energy blast in the sky to signal to Nezha. Then once I am at my spot, I will send some lotus petals to him. Then we will begin the sealing ritual."

Mk parted his arms from Redson and said, "what are we supposed to do?"

"Us three just need to stand and watch," Redson said, referring to Mk, Macaque, and himself. "The most we can do is keep watch for enemies."

With that, Li Jing and Mei zoomed off. Nezha stepped forward and got into position, awaiting their signals.

"Oh yeah, we should get out of bounds so we're not caught in the barrier." Macaque said, ushering Mk to walk away with him.

Redson raised his eyebrow and said, "what?.. Oh! Yeah, you two don't need to worry about that."

"Huh? Why would-" before Macaque could finish his question, a green light caught his attention. They all looked to see Mei's signal in the distance.

"Good, now we just need to wait for my father's." Nezha said.

In this now awkward silence, Redson's mind began to race. A blush came to his face as he remembered what Mk had said a week ago:

="You can make it up to me by wearing it on our first date."=

His fiery hair began to flair up at the memory. Mk looked over and gasped.

"Whoa, you okay?" Mk asked.

Redson blinked a bit and looked over at him, "uhh y-yes! I'm just fine!"

"You sure? Because you're literally burning up.. Wait, does your body like, burn up double time if you have a fever??"

Macaque chuckled as he watched the two talk. Nezha smiled too but then his smile quickly faded when his father's lotus petals arrived, signalling him to start the ritual. He inhaled, got his hands in position, and then exhaled.
He began the spell and two golden lines formed on his sides. They shot forward in the distance, supposedly connecting Mei and Li Jing in a giant triangle around the whole forest.

Mk and Macaque stared in amazement. But, then a strange feeling came to Macaque. He couldn't help but feel anxious. He decided to activate his ears to their full capacity, taking advantage of the group's silence. His eye closed as well to help him focus better.

So many sounds became abundant. Everyone's heartbeats enhanced. All the crickets and the leaves swaying in the gentle wind became much clearer. But there was one sound that he was hellbent on hearing. And he did in fact hear it...

"...Mrrgg... Mk..? Mk?" Wukong's sleepy voice said. "Mk!? Where- where are you??"

Macaque's eye shot open and his heart began to race. He deactivated his ears and turned to the group. "Wukong's awake!"

Nezha, Redson, and Mk all looked at him with dread. They glanced around at each other. Nezha frowned as he closed his eyes and thought. Redson brought his flames out.
"Then I'll just have to fight him, like I've always wanted to-"

"No." Nezha interjected.

"What!? But I-"

"We've talked about this. If you fight him, he would over power you tenfold," Nezha said, which made Redson begrudgingly put his flames away. "I'll be the one to fight him."

"What?? But how? You're supposed to be doing the ritual!" Redson yelled.

"Yes, the ritual does need to carry on. But that's why I'll have you take over for me."

"...I-.. N-No I can't. I'm not-"

"Redson, listen, I feel I know the full reason you don't think you can do it. But I'm telling you now to not worry about that. You having demon parents does not make you any less of a celestial being. Remember, your mother was once a celestial being herself. It was her actions that labeled her a demon. It doesn't matter if Mei had great celestial dragon ancestors. If she had done the same things Iron Fan did, then she'd probably be seen as a demon as well."

"...But..."

"You can do this." Nezha gave Redson a determined smile. Redson hesitated for a bit, but then stepped over towards his big brother. Nezha brought his glowing hands over and held Redson's. And just like how people try to replace an item with another item of the same weight, they swapped places quickly.

Redson's hands were lightly shaking as he held his hands up and tried to focus. Nezha undid his twin buns and took the ribbons out of them, his hair falling down. He tied them together and then wrapped the end of it to the invisibility jade. Nezha then wrapped it all around Redson's body and tied the jade against his chest. In a few seconds the Jade activated and turned him invisible. But something unexpected happened. The golden glowing lines of the seal turned invisible as well.

Redson said, "haha, now that's convenient. It's just like what happened when I rode on dragon Mei's back. Because I had been touching her, the jade made both of us invisible."

"Ah, so because you're connected to the seal right now, it's in turn making it invisible. Heh, that's perfect for us." Nezha said as he then brought up his hands and put a scent hiding spell on Redson.

"Don't you need a scent hiding spell too?"

"No, last time Wukong found me with my scent hidden, he suspected me of being an impostor. And he gravely threatened me because of that. I need to make sure he knows it's the real me. Because I know that Wukong will not kill me," Nezha then turned to Mk and Macaque. "I need you two to stay nearby. Trust me, the plan will work better if you're still around. We need to make sure that Wukong is inside by the time the seal is finished."

Macaque was about to question him, but then he gasped as a smell hit his nose.
"Look out!"

Nezha instantly lifted his golden spear up in defense and braced for impact.

SHING

The sound of the strike rang through out the night. Nezha stared into the eyes of Sun Wukong. He had struck Nezha's weapon with his staff.

"I thought I told you, impostor, not to take away my star and moon- wait.." Wukong sniffed. "Hold on, the smell of flowers.. You're the real big bro Nezhi??"

Nezha hopped back a couple of yards, "in the flesh, 'little bro Wukong'" he said that last part in a sort of mocking way.

"Whoa, it's rare to see your hair down like that. But also, what the hell are you doing here!? And why are Mk and Macaque out here?" Wukong asked as he looked over at his son and ex best friend. Luckily, Mk and Macaque were still standing in the perimeter of the forest, so Wukong still had no idea that Macaque had his circlets taken off.

"You've gone too far, Wukong. We know what happened to the dragon king of the west. A-And.. and heaven will be on their way to arrest you." Nezha had to come up with a quick lie.

"..." Wukong glanced over at Macaque, who quickly looked away. Macaque could hardly even make eye contact with Wukong after knowing what he had done. He then looked at Mk who nervously stared back. Then he looked back at Nezha and laughed, "HAHahaha! I could take on all of those celestial guards any day. Especially since I doubt the Jade Emperor would get his lazy ass involved in a silly issue like this." He cockily looked at his fingernails as his other hand pressed his staff into the ground.

A vein appeared on Nezha's head as he became irritated from Wukong insulting the emperor.

Mk felt heart broken that his father didn't deny it, or even seem remorseful at all that he had killed Macaque's best friend. He just referred to it as a 'silly issue'. His dad would truly go as far as killing just so Macaque couldn't have other close friends. It was no wonder Wukong didn't allow Mk out that often and hardly allowed him to have friends. A boiling anger began to fill Mk as he clenched his fists.

Nezha half-squatted downward in a fighting stance. Wukong blinked in surprise at this.
"Show respect to the emperor. He plays a bigger role for this world than you could ever realize."

"..So you say, but you never explain the why of that little 'fact' of yours," Wukong attempted to tease him but Nezha showed no reaction. "...Hmph, well? Feeling catty then scratch! Whatchu waiting for?"

"Tch, I know better than to make the first move."

Wukong then widely grinned, showing off his sharp canines. He got into a fighting stance as well with his staff.
"Haha.. alright then."

In the blink of an eye, Wukong had collided his staff against Nezha's spear. Nezha manifested his flaming wheels and zoomed backwards, taking the fight into the sky. Wukong hopped on his cloud and followed suit. Many times they kept on clashing their weapons together. It created a bunch of loud ding sounds.

----

Mei was placed near the beach that had a peach tree. Her whole body was sweating as she had never done a spell this large before. Her eyes were closed to try and focus better on the sealing ritual.

The pressure from the wide-scale spell was getting to her and she could feel her feet being pushed back. Wetness began to fill her shoes as she had been pushed to the shore of the water.

"C'mon c'mon focus Mei, focus." She whispered to herself. "Do it for Macaque. Do it for your parents. Do it for great grandpops.." Suddenly, everything around her went white. She looked around in utter confusion. But then, a voice echoed around.

"We're here for you, Mireu." A feminine voice spoke.

"Be strong, you can do it, Mireu." A masculine voice spoke.

Then, the supposed sources of those voices appeared before her. Mei recognized the two individuals from that memory in the scroll. These two were her biological parents. They looked a lot more angelic and peaceful than Ao Lie did in her dreams.

Mei's eyes were wide and her mouth agape in shock. She then smiled at them and blinked away the building tears.

"Thanks.. You're right, I can do this." As they began to fade away, she said something else, "oh and one last thing, I go by Mei now. You don't have to worry about me anymore, Macaque did a great job as my dad." She gave a determined smile as they nodded their heads and faded away.

Mei opened her eyes, and they felt moist with tears brimming at their edges. Everything was back to normal, and it seemed that was only a vision caused by her feet touching the water. She used her shoulders to wipe her tears, and she stepped away from the shore. Mei took in a breath to calm herself down, and then put all her spiritual strength into the spell.

"Here we go."

----

Wukong had landed some light hits on Nezha's upper arms. From Wukong's smile, Nezha could tell that he wasn't giving his all. He felt insulted by that. But he could feel his hair blowing in the wind which he wasn't used to, since he always had it tied up in his twin buns. Which put him at a mild disadvantage, so he wasn't going to let his pride get to him. Any other day, Nezha would've arrogantly challenged Wukong to give it his all. But right now, taunting him wasn't smart to do. He was only meant to be stalling him.

Mk was trying to keep track of the fight with his gold vision, but they were moving almost at the speed of light. He could only hope that he'll one day be able to fight like that. Macaque on the other hand was keeping up with it just fine, even with only one eye.
Redson was very nervous about the battle going on behind him. He was in such a vulnerable position. Plus, he was invisible and scentless which means it's possible for Wukong to accidentally run into him. And Redson hadn't been able to look behind him so he wasn't even aware that the battle was taking place in the sky.

Mk looked over at where Redson was supposed to be. It seemed he shared the same concerns. He turned to Macaque and said, "you stay in the border. We can't have dad find out about.. y'know.. I'm gonna go block the path behind Redson, just in case he needs protection."

"What?? Are you sure? Have you ever even fought before?"

"Well.. No, I've never been in a real fight. But I have sparred with dad before. Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm immortal afterall!... I think.." Mk tried to mumble-whisper that last part.

"I heard that!" the six-eared Macaque called as Mk turned on his gold vision to see where Redson was and continued to walk away.

Mk turned off his gold vision and said, "don't worry hot stuff, I'll protect ya." He blushed as he face palmed and regretted his words. He could then feel a heat building up behind him. That probably means that Redson's hair is burning up from blushing as well.

Nezha flew backwards a bit with his wheels, but he then realized that they were getting too far out of bounds. He gasped as he brought up his spear to block Wukong's head on charge. Nezha pushed him away and then circled around to fly back towards the forest. Wukong followed behind on his cloud, still with that annoying smirk on his face. It was as if he was excited to be fighting someone again after all this time.

Nezha needed some way to guarantee that Wukong was going to stay in this area. So he decided to say something stupid after all, "what's the matter? You don't seem all that eager to protect your child and moonlight from being robbed away from you!"

Wukong halted as his smile instantly faded. "That day.. so it was you after all..." His hand that was holding his staff hung slack by his side. He began to laugh darkly. "Hahaha... you know, I had my gold vision off and relied on my smell to give you an advantage. But now that I know that heaven intends to take my family away.." He closed his eyes and then opened them to reveal the bright gold glow. "You've officially pissed me off."

Nezha's gut filled with dread as he realized what this meant. If Wukong looked down at all, then that means he would be able to see Redson. He couldn't let that happen-

....It hit him so fast. In a milisecond, Wukong had appeared in front of him, and before Nezha could even fully process it, he felt some feeling push against his abdomen. Strong winds blew past him and he collided into the ground, creating a crater underneath him.

"(Cough cough) wh-what.. what just happened?" Nezha struggled to say as the pain finally began to rush to his stomach. He finally realized that Wukong had just full force punched him to the ground. Nezha weakly looked up at the sky and could vaguely see Wukong floating on his cloud.

"Oooohh my gosh oh my gosh, a-are you okay??" Mk said as he jogged over to him. Nezha's eyes widened as he realized that he landed pretty close to where the other three were.

'Oh no...' Nezha thought. 'Get up.. come on you have to get up and divert his attention before he notices. Before the dust cloud dissipates!' He used his hands to help sit himself up, but he was too weak and too slow.

"Huh..? Wait who's..?" Wukong questioned as his gold vision revealed Redson to him. He frowned as he stared at this stranger. He floated down to ground level and hopped off his cloud. "Hah.. another pathetic adversary trying to take my family away." He put his hands together and popped his fingers. "Don't fret 'big bro', I won't kill him. Just gonna make him wish he never came here."

"N-No wait!" Nezha begged as he tried to get up. Wukong got in position and then zoomed towards Redson, ready to strike with his staff. But then..

Instead, his staff collided with Mk's hands. He planted his heels into the ground, but from the sheer pressure of Wukong's inertia, his feet scooted quite a few yards. He finally slowed down and stopped just a few inches away from Redson. Redson's heart was racing and he began to sweat.

Wukong turned off his gold vision as he stared at Mk with a frowned surprise. "Kid, move. This doesn't concern you."

Mk was struggling to hold onto the staff. "Guh.. n-no, this absolutely concerns me," he grunted out. "You were about to hurt my best friend, ugh.. I-I can't let you do that.. I'm not gonna l-let you do the same thing you did to Ao Lie.."

Wukong grimly scowled at him. He reached for Mk's shirt and lifted him up. He then threw him towards the forest. Macaque gasped as he zoomed forward and jumped to break Mk's fall. Even though Wukong hadn't even thrown him that hard, but it was still nice that Macaque had that paternal instinct.

"Uggh, you okay?" Macaque groaned.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." Mk said as they both stood up.

"Nezha! Get up!" Macaque yelled, feeling frustrated that he was told to not reveal his powers in front of Wukong.

Wukong's eyes widened as he felt a hint of betrayal. Determination shot through Nezha as he stood up, brushing off the pain.

"Hahh.. haahh..." Nezha breathed, "this fight.. is between you and me.. Keep Redson out of this.."

"...Ah I see, so you allowed your cub to visit mine aye? How cute." Wukong pulled out some hair to create a few clones. "You know what to do." They all nodded as they ran over to Mk and Macaque. They restrained them, wrapping their arms around their bodies.

"Argg let go of me!" Mk yelled as him and Macaque struggled.

Nezha didn't like using this move all that much because he saw it as cowardly, but he had no other choice. He summoned a plethora of lotus petals and they swarmed Wukong. He was caught off guard as he had been distracted by Mk and Macaque. With most of the strength that he had left, he launched Wukong deep into the forest.

He held his stomach as he hobbled over to Redson's general area. "H-hey.. is the ritual almost done?"

"Yeah it's getting close. So you need to keep the rest of the fight inside the forest. We can't let Wukong be outside of the border when it finishes. Besides, it doesn't matter if you're there, since you can rely on his portals."

Macaque's ears twitched as he picked up on what he said. He knew what to do now.

"(Sigh) alright, I'll try.." Nezha let go of his stomach and straightened up. He used his wheels to fly above the clones and towards wherever Wukong had landed. He then quickly brought up his spear to block as he caught sight of two glowing gold eyes quickly approach him. Nezha looked down and noticed that Wukong's staff was nowhere to be found. He must've dropped it after he was thrown.

"Why does everyone insist on taking my family away from me? First Ao Lie manipulated Macaque to leave me, then Demon Bull King threatened my home, and now this! You are SO lucky that I can't bring myself to kill you, Nezha!" Wukong released the spear but then started throwing relentless punches at it.

Nezha was practically fighting on pure adrenaline. He felt like if he blinked or hesitated for a second it would result in another brutal punch to the gut.

"No one is taking your family away, Wukong! You're the one that's making them want to leave!"

Wukong stopped his punches as he stared at Nezha with wide-eyed anger. His eyes darted around. It was something that he knew deep inside, so he couldn't really deny it. "Th-That's not true! Monkie Kid still loves me. And Macaque just needs a few more decades to finally accept my love. I know he'll eventually come around!"

"Your child may still love you but you've completely lost his respect," Nezha said with seething anger. "And having control and binds on Macaque is not love. It's an unhealthy attachment and toxic obsession, and I am so damn tired of you denying that!"

"...You'll never understand how it feels..." Wukong looked down and clenched his fists. "Macaque was the only one who cared about my pain when that monk tortured me, putting on a show for the others to see.. He was a shoulder to cry on. The first person I met who understood me. My best friend. My beautiful moonlight. So I don't care what it is to you.. Because to me, I am truly and deeply in love with Macaque."
He looked up and stared Nezha in the eyes with his pained angry expression.

"If it is true love, then why doesn't he reciprocate that?" Nezha asked, rhetorically. "If you truly loved him, you would let him go."

"...Pfft.. It's only because I accidentally hurt him all those years ago. He forgave me for that, I know he'll eventually forgive me for the Ao Lie thing. I have all the time in the world."

"Don't you realize that you're still hurting him by keeping him here!?"

Wukong's eyes widened as he remembered something. Macaque had said something similar a short while ago.

="You keeping me here? That is hurting me, Wukong.."=

He blinked as his eyes darted around and his eyebrows creased upward. So many complicated thoughts swirled through his head. He turned off his gold vision as a small guilt was building deep inside him. Just then, his head darted upward as he saw something gold form in the sky. It's glow brightened up the area.

"...It's finished.." Nezha mumbled with a calm smile.

"..What?"

----

Macaque felt that Wukong was probably far away enough. So while the clones were distracted by the barrier's glow, he released some shadow clones. They pulled the Wukong clones off of him and Mk. The shadows then morphed around and squeezed the Wukong clones so tightly that they poofed into hair.

"(Exhale) thanks pops haha.." Mk breathed out. He then brought his hand up to his ear and activated his hearing. He could hear struggling noises between Nezha and Wukong, but the next thing he heard sent chills down his spine..

CRACK

He then heard a pained scream, but he deactivated his hearing and covered his ears before he could hear anymore of it. Macaque turned his head as he could vaguely hear Nezha's scream in the distance. He then jogged over to Mk.

"What? What is it? What did you hear??" He asked frantically.

"H-He... I think dad broke one of his b-bones.." Mk's voice was shaky as he spoke. Macaque's eye shot wide open at this. He then turned and began to run as fast as he could towards Nezha.

"I am not letting another person die because of me.."

----

Li Jing could've sworn that he had just heard his son's scream in the far distance. But it was too vague to really tell if it was just his imagination or not. But he couldn't do anything about it right now because the barrier was complete.

But he couldn't help this dreadful feeling he was getting. His parental instincts were going buck-wild right now.

"(Sigh) calm yourself. He'll be fine.." He didn't even fully believe that, but he had to tell himself that. He had to push these feelings aside and stick with the plan.

----

Nezha had his front side pressed against the ground. Wukong's knees were straddled on either side of Nezha's waist. He was pinning down Nezha's wrists. He had just barely squeezed his left wrist so hard that he cracked his bone. Nezha screamed out in pain and he could feel tears brimming at his eyes, but he refused to cry in front of Wukong.

"Tell me what that is now. Just what the hell are you and your father planning? That's right I know he's here. I could smell his and that girl's scent. I was just too focused on you to go after them."

"Urrg... g-go to hell, Sun Wukong.." Nezha's voice was hoarse. His right cheek was pressed into the ground as he side-eyed up at Wukong.

"...(Sigh)..." Wukong let go of Nezha's left wrist and used that free hand to knock him out; hitting him in the back of the neck. He then stood up, slithered his arm under Nezha's torso, and lifted him up.
"I guess I'll just have to use you as a hostage until heaven takes down whatever that is."

Wukong turned around, now facing the mountain. He was just about to summon his cloud and fly up there. But he suddenly felt a pressure against his back. It made him drop Nezha and he went flying quite a distance.

----

=A few moments before=

Macaque followed Nezha and Wukong's scent. He then slowed down and hid behind a tree, squinting his eye. He could vaguely see Wukong lifting a supposedly unconscious Nezha up. Macaque then heard Wukong say something about using Nezha as a hostage.

The moment that Wukong turned around, Macaque gunned it. He jumped up and set a strong kick to Wukong's back. The impact made Wukong drop Nezha and so Macaque quickly summoned a shadow portal to break Nezha's fall. Wukong was sent flying probably 20 yards away.

Macaque opened another portal above him and let Nezha fall into his arms. He carried him and ran away as fast as he could back to Mk; occasionally going through portals to create some more distance.

...

He could see Mk waving him over. But as Macaque got closer, he not only saw Redson, but also Mei on the other side of the barrier. It seemed like she had zoomed over to Redson in the time Macaque was gone. His ears were activated to make sure he didn't hear Wukong following him.

"Is he badly hurt!? What happened!?" Redson yelled through the wall.

Macaque then heard Nezha's weak voice quietly say, "..o-ow.."

He wanted to comfort him but words were useless right now. Macaque then did one peak behind and what he saw filled him with dread. Wukong was on his cloud fast approaching. No wonder he couldn't hear any footsteps. Macaque had to think fast.

Once he was close enough, he deactivated his ears and yelled, "Mei! Get ready to catch Nezha!"

Mei nodded, instantly knowing what to do. She stepped a few feet away from the barrier's wall and turned into her dragon form. Macaque opened one last portal in front of him and chucked Nezha through it. It opened on the other side and Mei's dragon hands caught him.

Macaque didn't know what would happen if Wukong chased him through the portal so he decided to close it and keep running. He then sent a few shadow clones behind him to hopefully slow Wukong down even for just a few seconds.

"Good, you made it!" Mk said, seeing Macaque run over to him. "Is Nezha alri-" He then gasped as he saw his dad seemingly appear out of nowhere and grab Macaque by the left arm.

"Gah!" Macaque tried to punch at Wukong with his right hand but his wrist got caught by Wukong's other hand.

"And just how the hell do you have your powers back?" Wukong questioned as he re-positioned to now be holding on to both of Macaque's wrists.

"Urrg let go!"

Macaque couldn't see it since the footsteps were coming from his blind side. But he knew that Mk was probably going to try and intervene. He didn't want Mk to get hurt, so he opened a portal under him.

"W-Wha!?" Mk stared down in shock as he fell through the floor. Wukong looked over wide-eyed. He begrudgingly let go of Macaque's wrists and charged for Mk.

Mk had already fallen all the way through but before the portal even began to close, Wukong reached into it. On the other side of the barrier, the other portal had opened and Mk barely landed on his feet. Wukong's arm then came out of it, but, something unexpected happened.

"AAGGGHH!!" Wukong screamed as he was seemingly pushed out of the portal and there was this strange golden electricity sparking off of his arm.

'..Now I see. So that's what Redson meant when he said us two didn't need to worry. This barrier must be specifically designed to only keep Wukong in. So even if he tried to leave through magic or a portal, the barrier won't let him..' Macaque thought as he stared in surprise.

Macaque then blinked as he came back to reality. He then opened a portal against a tree and began to sink into it, but he was too slow as Wukong had quickly turned around. He reached into the portal and grabbed Macaque by the neck before he could even teleport to the other side. Wukong pulled him right back in and let the portal close.

Macaque grunted as he tried to pull Wukong's hand off of him. Wukong's hand shifted downward so now he was only pressing against Macaque's collar bone instead of choking him.

"How could you betray me like this over and over!? First you left when I was sealed under that mountain. Then you left me to take care of a child all on my own. And now you're trying to run away from me, again!?" Wukong yelled with hurt in his voice. Macaque had terrified eye contact with him, too scared to look away. "Answer me!"
And just like that, the tears began to fall down Wukong's face. His head bowed as his hands clutched the clothing over Macaque's chest.
"...(Hiccup).. just answer me already.. (Sniffle) Wh-why must you leave me alone like this?.. You promised me, y-you promised that you would never leave me.."

Macaque's eye slightly widened at hearing this. He had almost forgotten about that promise he made during the journey. Back then, to him he was just saying comforting words during a tough time for Wukong. But it seems Wukong really took those words to heart. Macaque felt a bit guilty.

Macaque's hands released from Wukong's arm. They shakily hovered, him not really knowing what to do with them. He then decided.. one thing he could do.
He reached his hands to cup Wukong's face. Gently, he tilted Wukong's head up to face him. They stared at each other with their saddened expressions.

Macaque then slowly leaned forward, and kissed him.

Wukong was caught off guard but Macaque seemed relaxed with his eye closed. So Wukong did the same and closed his own eyes. He let go of Macaque's shirt and raised his hands to cup his face as well. Macaque used his thumbs to wipe away Wukong's tears.

They had never done anything this intimate before. The most 'romantic' thing they had done was cuddle together, but that was only romantic to humans. To simians, that's just what you do with anyone you love, whether that be your child, friend, or your partner.

But a kiss? No, not even simians do that with 'just a friend'. Their relationship was certainly a complicated one.

They broke away from the kiss, them both softly panting. Their cheeks were both lightly pink from blushing.

"...I am sorry that I broke my promise. And.. I do forgive you for slashing my eye." Macaque then looked down, a somber expression on his face. "But... sunshine.."

"...Moonlight?"

"..." Macaque frowned a bit, and he closed his eye. Then in a second, he shoved Wukong away and summoned shadow clones. The plethora of clones wrapped all around Wukong, holding him back.

"W-What??"

"...But I will never forgive you for killing Ao Lie." Macaque said with quiet anger as he opened his shadow portal behind him against the tree once again, and he sank into it.

"No no Macaque wait please!!" Wukong shoved the clones off of him and reached for the portal, but he was too late, it had already closed.

----

Macaque appeared on the other side and half turned to look back at Wukong. He was sitting on the floor, staring at Macaque with shocked and tear-filled eyes. Macaque couldn't bring himself to keep staring, so he looked away.

"You okay!?" Mk asked.

"...Y-Yeah i'm fine. How's Nezha?"

"Well.. he's alive. Barely conscious though.."

Macaque's attention then turned to the sound of Li Jing's quick footsteps approaching. He gasped at the sight of Nezha as he bolted for him. Nezha was laying on Mei's lap with Redson knelt down next to him. Li Jing lifted Nezha into his arms.

"My son... Uhh come on everyone. You all must be exhausted, let's get you all into heaven to rest. We can discuss things in the morning." Li Jing opened a celestial portal. Redson and Li Jing stepped in.

Mei turned to look back at Macaque. She then looked passed him at Wukong. He had been hyped up so much, so to see him like this.. So.. pathetic, was very strange to her.

Mei then offered her hand for Macaque to take.

"...(Sigh) come on, let's go."

Macaque glanced up at her, then looked down at her hand. He took in a deep breath and took the offer. She led him through the celestial portal, and it closed behind them.

Wukong sat there trapped behind the golden pyramid. He couldn't even feel a breeze anymore. Were these golden walls going to keep any further weather out?

"...I didn't even get to smell your scent.. one last time.."

----

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

This was so fun to write, and I'm so thankful to those who were patient and stayed through all of it! So during this short hiatus, I thought it would be fun to let you guys do a Q and A.

Y'all can ask questions and I'll edit them into this page as an answer. To signal to you that it's been answered, I'll just reply to your comment with the word "Answered". And you can find it in here.

----

But for now, I'm just gonna answer some questions that I've come up with on my own:

Question by me: Who was the hardest character to write?

Answer: Wukong for sure.. It's really hard to get into the mindset of someone who's basically insane. The closest words I can think of to describe him would probably be either 'sociopath' or 'narcissist.' Cuz like, he's still capable of feeling empathy, he's just too selfish to act on that empathy. One interesting thing about him is that he never hurts the people he cares about on purpose. Like yeah, he'll hurt or kill his enemies (Demon Bull King) on purpose but NEVER people he cares about. Like Mk, Macaque, and Nezha to a degree (he honestly could’ve done MUCH worse than fracture Nezha’s wrist. But he stopped because he couldn’t bring himself to do any more than that.)

--

Question by me: Who was the easiest to write?

Answer: I'd probably say Mk. Since he's the main character in the show, we kinda know the most about him. Plus, he doesn't really do much in the story since most of the time he's stuck in the mountain. The only hard part about writing him was writing his complex feelings about his father. Although, all I really had to do was think of my own complex feelings about my own parents.

Anyway, ask questions if you would like to be featured on here 😊

--

May 6th 2025

Question from Red_Vvv: Wukong said he didn't want MK as well, and that he was distant when he was younger. So, when did Wukong start loving MK? When did he start taking proper care of him and why?

Answer: Honestly? I'd say he started caring more after DBK tried to take over the mountain. So Mk was 5 during the flashback where Wukong was distant and kinda neglectful, but he was also 5 when Wukong killed DBK. So I mean yeah, I'd say that he 'started taking proper care' shortly after that. That experience made him become more paranoid because he had already lost Macaque so he didn't want to lose Mk too.
For the loving thing, I'd say he always loved him. He just didn't show it properly because he was still depressed about Macaque being gone. But the DBK thing made him get a grip.

Question from Frenchkitewrangler: Would Mei continue training and regularly visiting the celestial realm or would she visit less often now that she has Macaque back?

Answer: I think she would definitely be very protective and paranoid in the beginning. Like she probably would want to stay near Macaque at all times so that he doesn't get court-napped again. So yeah, the visits to the celestial realm would definitely be minimal in the beginning; and it would more often be the others visiting her down on Earth (especially Mk since he's, you know, Macaque's son. So of course he'd want to visit him.) And the celestial training is very useful to her so she would definitely still want to do that, but she'd want Macaque to be there too.

--

May 8th 2025

Question from Scone (guest): How tall are the characters?

Answer: The canon answer is that any height that hasn't been confirmed, is fully up to interpretation by the audience.
However, if you really just want a satisfying answer from the author herself, aka me lol. Then I'll give you MY interpretation. But keep in mind, I'm saying these heights as if I was just an audience member, not as the author confirming the heights:

Wukong - 5,4

Monkie Kid - (Age 14) 4,7 - (Age 18) 5,2

Macaque - 5,3

Mei Dragon - (Age 14) 4,4 - (Age 18) 5,4

Nezha - 5,6

Redson - (Age 14) 5,2 - (Age 18) 5,7

If these heights don't fit your headcanon, then they're not canon. Cuz like I said, any audience interpretation of unconfirmed heights is valid.

--

May 10th 2025

Question from Skimini (guest): Were you inspired by other AU's?

Answer: Indeed I was! I was inspired by: Bio Dads AU on tumblr, Yandere Wukong AU on tumblr, and The Coldest Winter AU on AO3 (the original tumblr creator does not associate with the AU anymore so I’m sticking with the fan version on AO3.) I said a longer version of this on Tumblr but basically, being inspired is NOT the same as ‘copying’. In fact, I actually thought of the idea of Mk being Mac and Wukong's son way before I even found the bio dads AU. But the Yandere Wukong AU did inspire the wrist circlets (in that AU, Macaque has a circlet on his neck.)

--

June 14th 2025

Question from Blazingsword049 (on Wattpad): Are you still updating this story?

Answer: Indeed I am! Have no fear, this is NOT an abandoned fic. The story is just on a little hiatus until I've had a long enough break. There was just some things in life that I needed to catch up on before I wrote the official aftermath ending to this. But don't worry, I have an ending in mind.

Chapter Text

----

Previously on Successor AU:

Nezha, Redson, Mei, and Li Jing all came over to Flower Fruit Mountain in the night to enact their plan. They planned to erect a golden pyramid barrier around it. But, Wukong had awaken from his sleep in the middle of them performing the seal. Mei, Redson, and Li Jing performed the seal while Nezha kept Wukong busy.
Wukong banged Nezha up pretty badly and Macaque was able to save Nezha just in time before Wukong could take Nezha as a hostage.
Macaque teleported Mk and a beaten Nezha outside the portal but Wukong stopped him before he could leave as well. Wukong cried as he angrily asked Macaque why he kept breaking his promise to never leave him. Macaque felt guilty, so to console Wukong, he kiss him.

Macaque then told him "I am sorry for breaking my promise. I do forgive you for slashing my eye. But.. I will never forgive you for killing Ao Lie." and with that, Macaque pushed Wukong away and left him through a shadow portal.

Everyone then went through a portal to recoup in heaven, leaving a crying Wukong as he says, "...I didn't even get to smell your scent.. one last time.."

----

=In the Celestial Realm=

Li Jing quickly carried his son towards an infirmary. They were all following after him.

"Well.. we managed to escape pretty nicely huh?" Mk said to break the silence.

"Tch, the escape was sloppy at best." Redson said, coldly.

Mk nervously looked to the side with a smile and said, "Well, sloppy is the monkey way haha."

"My brother isn't a monkey. He should've been more careful." It was clear that Redson wasn't in a jokey mood. Mk lost his smile and looked down.

"R-Right.. sorry.."

Mei frowned at this and said, "hey! I know he's hurt but there's no need for you to be a jackass!"

"What!?" Redson stopped and whipped around to look at her, but before he said anything else, Mk caught his eye. He noticed his body language; Mk was grabbing his arm and staring towards the floor. Redson began to feel guilty as he sighed. "No.. I'm sorry, Mk. It's just stressful, you know? I've never seen him this hurt before."

"Oh it's okay Redson, you don't need to apologize." Mk said as he waved it off. Redson smiled as he turned back to follow after Li Jing again. Redson then halted and turned to look at Mk, Macaque, and Mei.

He said, "Mei, you remember where my room is, right?"

"..Yeah? Why-"

"You three can all sleep in there if you want. I have extra blankets and pillows in the closet for you and Macaque. Mk is the only one allowed to sleep on my bed. I can't sleep until I know my brother is okay. See you in the morning."
Redson began to march off again towards the infirmary.

Mk blushed in surprise, but then he blinked as he snapped out of it and said, "whoa hold on, I'm coming with you. If you're not getting any sleep then neither am I."

Redson stared in shock and then briefly smiled at him in appreciation.

"We'll come too! Right dad?" Mei said as she turned to look at Macaque. He seemed to have spaced out as he blinked a bit after hearing his name being said.

"Oh uh, yes, of course. It's the least I can do after he saved me." Macaque responded, awkwardly. Truthfully, he just wanted to be alone right now so that he could process what he just went through. But, staying to see if Nezha is okay is the least he could do.

...

Li Jing and Redson were standing close-by Nezha while Mei, Macaque, and Mk were at a short distance. Nezha was laying on a bed and a nurse had placed a wet rag over his forehead. He was barely keeping his eyes open with his exhaustion from the fight.

The nurse came over and began to wrap up his fractured wrist in bandages.

"Where else does it hurt, Lord Nezha?" The nurse inquired.

Nezha grunted and spoke with his hoarse voice, "I don't know.. e-everywhere I guess?"

Li Jing quietly gasped as he frowned and looked off to the side. Redson silently squeezed his fists, wishing he could've punched that Sun Wukong just once.

"Hmm.. well that checks. You certainly seem like you've had a real beat down. You'll have to rest in here for a few days so a doctor can check for fractures that we may be missing-"

"No please! Ow.." Nezha sat up a bit in protest but winced as he slowly laid back down. He cleared his voice and said, "please, there has to be a faster solution. I have duties that I must attend to. I do not want to push them onto anyone else.."

"...Hm... (Sigh) I guess there is one thing. But I'm only doing this because you earned my respect long ago, Lord Nezha." The nurse said as he left through a side room behind a curtain. They waited in silence for a few seconds, and then he came back in. He was holding a tiny glass bottle. "Here, I'm sure you know what this is. If you drink it, it will heal all your injuries over night. Although, I don't think it's strong enough for bones. You'll still have to keep that wrist of yours bandaged for a while."

Macaque stared at the bottle; there was something familiar about it. The nurse then popped the cork off of it. Mk covered his nose, him being able to smell it at this distance due to his heightened primate senses. Redson and Li Jing barely had a reaction. It seemed they had experience with this medicinal smell before. Mei couldn't smell it at this distance because she was human.
But.. Macaque's eye widened as he finally figured it out.

His heart began to race when he remembered that horrible time that started this whole mess in the first place. The time that Wukong drugged him with a mysterious liquid that had this exact smell. He unconsciously brought his hand up and squeezed the clothing over his chest.

The nurse asked, "Lord Li Jing, could you prop him up so I can help him drink the medicine?" Li Jing nodded as he did as he was asked. The nurse brought the bottle close to Nezha's lips, but before he could pour it in-

"Wait, don't drink that!" Macaque yelled as he reached his hand forward in a stopping motion. The whole room froze as they all stared at him with surprise. "Uh.. U-Um.. It's probably very disgusting.. M-Maybe you could mix it with a tasty soup or something?"

"Ooooh you could put it in veggie soup!" Mk said excitedly. "Soup tastes best at night."

"Hmm.. would you be okay with that?" The nurse asked, referring to Nezha. He stared curiously at Macaque, but then smiled at Mk.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Alright, how about you take a nice nap and we'll wake you when it's done."

Li Jing said, "I'll stay with him. You all can go rest up too. Nurse, take Monkie Kid to the chefs so he can teach them how to make this 'veggie soup' he speaks of."

"Of course, Lord Li Jing. Come along, child." The nurse ushered with their hand for Mk to follow him. Mk blinked in surprise and looked over at Macaque for approval. Macaque gave him a thumbs up with a smile, and that was good enough to give him the go ahead.

Mei, Redson, and Macaque stepped out of the room. Macaque then asked, "out of curiosity, what would happen if you took that.. 'medicine' with little to no injuries?"

Redson looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. It seemed like an oddly specific question but he wasn't gonna push it. So he answered, "haha well, I'm the best person you could've asked. You see, when I was younger, I tried pretending to be sick so that I could avoid stuff. But Nezha, fully believing I was sick, told me to drink that medicine. I figured, 'it's just medicine, surely there's no harm in me taking it. I'll just drink this and once he leaves, be on my marry way'.. Boy was I wrong, heh.."

Mei whined, "c'mooon tell us what happened. Don't just leave us on a cliffhanger like Macaque used to do with his shadow plays." Macaque became flustered as he stared off to the side.

"Well, I couldn't even get up after taking it. Because the medicine had no injuries to heal, it ended up using it's energy on me instead. I fell asleep a few minutes after taking it, and I was knocked out for a very long time. Usually when an injured person takes it, they just become a little sleepy, because the medicine is supposed to spend it's energy on healing."

"And because you didn't have a scratch on you, it ended up using all it's energy on making you TOO sleepy." Mei concluded.

"Exactly."

"...So, how long would you say it made you fall asleep for?"

"Mm.. probably around 12 hours. I was also super sluggish when I woke up too. And it was as if I had half a mind. I was barely comprehending things around me. The only thing that helped snap me out of it was eating some food."

That was the last straw. Macaque got all the evidence he needed to know that it was the same drink Wukong had used on him. He clenched his fists and glared down at the ground so hard that his forehead began to hurt. In a split second, he angrily punched the wall, making the place have a slight tremor and some cracks left behind.

"...So Wukong essentially used a medicine meant for helping people.. to drug me to sleep so he could kidnap me..." Macaque darkly said in a hushed voice. Redson stared wide-eyed and Mei watched with sympathy.

"(Sigh).. honestly nothing surprises me at this point." Mei said.

"..." Macaque removed his fist from the wall and stared at his hand. He felt very empty inside. "Mei.. I kind of just want to go to sleep, if that's okay with you."

"Y-Yeah, sure dad.."

"And Redson?"

Redson looked up in response. "Hm?"

"When Mk comes back, could you just tell him that I was tired?"

"No offense but, I don't really want to make a promise like that," Redson folded his arms. "Mk is an adult, he deserves to know the real reason."

"...Yeah, you're right. I just.. didn't want to break his heart more than it already is. Wukong is still his father after all.." With that, Macaque began to leave as Mei followed after him to show him where the room is.

Redson thought about what Macaque said. It reminded him of the fact that he still hasn't even told Mk about the time he tried to write Sun Wukong's name back into the book of death. He felt like a hypocrite now for telling Macaque off like that.

He then undid his braid and shook out his now curly hair to help himself relax a bit.

----

Mk stared in awe at the rich beauty of heaven. Everything was so clean and elegant. There was no patchy grass, only well cut and purposely shaped grass. There were some bushes that had unnatural but cool shapes. And waterfalls that fell into very symmetrical and organized rivers. There were a few buildings around that had matching golden statues on either side of the entrances.

It was pretty much the complete opposite of Mk's 'sloppy' lifestyle. Redson did not do it justice when he would describe it to Mk in the past.

Although.. him admiring the celestial realm's beauty was probably his way of avoiding his feelings. Feelings that he was attempting to bury inside. Guilt and confusion swirling in the back of his mind.

"Here is the kitchen," the nurse said, which awoke Mk from his day dreaming. "What ingredients will we need for the veggie soup recipe?"

"Uhh.. wait, what's a kitchen?" Mk asked.

The nurse blinked a bit and then smile, "it's where people store the tools and ingredients to make food recipes."

Mk walked over to a counter and saw long, dry, and white strips. They looked sort of familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. "What are those?"

"Those are dried noodles. They were left over so we let them dry overnight so that we could hopefully use them again."

"WHAAAAT!? That's what noodles look like when they're not cooked!?"
The nurse couldn't help but laugh hysterically at Mk's naivety. Mk didn't quite get it but he began to laugh along with him. "(Gasp) wait! I should totally add it to the recipe.. And since this place is rich and fancy, I'll bet you guys have tastier spices than just salt."

Mk frantically opened baskets grabbing all the things he needed. He got carrots, potatoes, and peas. He tried to find a place to build a fire, but the nurse quickly informed him that there was already a boiling pot set up above a burn pile that was circled by big rocks. With the nurse supervising him, Mk got to work.

----

Macaque ended up sleeping in a tree that was nearby Redson's room. He just needed some space right now. Mei told him that she was still feeling restless so she was gonna go walk around.

In reality, Mei wanted to talk to Iron Fan about how she had a visit from her parents during the sealing ritual. Mei felt like no one else around her would understand. Nezha's ancestors were all still alive (the start of his bloodline was fairly recent). Redson was busy looking after Nezha. And neither Mk nor Macaque even had ancestors.

She was hoping that maybe Iron Fan had some spiritual experience. At least more than Redson does. Besides even if Redson wasn't busy, Mei felt like someone who was her same age probably wouldn't have the best advice.

...

Mei walked up to Iron Fan's prison and noticed that there were no guards in sight. She felt weird sneaking around like this, but she figured asking for forgiveness would be easier than asking for permission. She approached the doors and opened them as quietly as she could.

It looked.. different than the last time Mei saw it. It looked like the area Iron Fan was barred behind had been expanded and cleaned..?
Iron Fan was sitting on a chair with her leg crossed over the other and she was reading.
Mei thought, 'Okay that chair is definitely new. And who gave her a book??'

She glanced up at Mei for a moment, but then continued to stare down at her book. Mei gulped and began to walk towards the cell.

"You know.." Iran Fan spoke, "I can tell that this book was made in a hurry. The person who wrote it didn't even let the ink dry before they closed the book. They smooshed all of it together into a blurry mess. Figures the celestial court would give me their most sloppily made book.."

"...Well, are you still able to read the words?" Mei asked, awkwardly.

"Mm technically yes."

"Then why are you complaining?"

That got Iron Fan to finally stare back up at Mei. She was squinting her eyes in a light scowl, and she raised her eyebrow. "Hah. You should watch that smart mouth of yours, young lady. It could get you into bad trouble one day." Iron Fan closed the book and softly tossed it to the floor.

"I.. No sorry I- wasn't trying to be rude I just.. Um.." Mei scratched the back of her neck. "Sooo w-what book were you reading?"

"..." Iron Fan frowned as she studied Mei. She then rolled her eyes and said, "(sigh) if you must know, I was wanting to catch up on my knowledge of spirits and the afterlife and such. I used to study this stuff from scrolls, but now it seems they're putting the updated version in books. There's.. a certain spirit that I wish would have visited me. But, it seems he- uhh that person is unable to reach me here..." She stared down with a somber expression.

"Oh... wait.. hey hey!" Mei enthusiastically grabbed the bars which startled Iron Fan. "I was actually just gonna talk to you about that!"

"Excuse me??"

Mei began to speak speedily, "Redson told you about the plan right? Good, so, during the sealing ritual, I was starting to get really nervous. And because of that, the power of the spell was pushing me back and my feet touched the water. A bit after that happened, it was almost as if I went into a trance and then I saw my parents! They comforted me, telling that they were here for me and to be strong. I had a theory that the reason I saw them was because I touched the water because I've seen flashbacks before when I would-"

"SLOW DOWN!" Iron Fan's voice boomed. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as she sighed. "Good grief, Mei, take a breath.."

"You.. you actually remembered my name?" Something about that warmed Mei's heart.

".....Unfortunately yes. Just what on earth does this have to do with spirits??"

'Heh, I can definitely tell she's Redson's mother. They are SO alike..' Mei thought.

"Uhh didn't you hear me? I said I saw my parents. And they spoke to me in present tense, which means that this time, it wasn't just a flash back. So um... Has this sort of thing ever happened to you?" Mei fiddled with her fingers. "I just.. I feel like no one else will know anything. Since it seems like no other person I know has any ancestors."

"..." Iron Fan leaned down to pick up the book and set it on her lap. "And what if it has? It's not like it would help you to know."

"..Well.. maybe it will. I just- I want to have a better understanding of spirits and astral projections and well.. the afterlife I guess. I want a better control of when that sort of thing happens. Cuz like.. what if I'm taking a bath and suddenly I get one of those flashbacks or visits again?? That'd be like, super awkward.."

"...Pfftt haHAhahaha!" Iron Fan hugged her stomach as she could hardly contain herself from laughing. Mei didn't know her well, but this was still a surprising and out of character sight to see. "(Exhale) you are one interesting young lady haha.."
Then, she smiled. It was a very warm smile, and it made Mei feel a certain way that she hadn't felt before. It felt similar to a feeling Macaque had given her, but different somehow.

"Uhh thanks I guess? Heheh.."

"The last time I smiled like that was two days ago. I was talking to Redson about his love life. I was fully expecting him to say that you and him were engaged. But, turns out he has someone else in mind." Over the week, Nezha decided to get rid of the 'only visit her once a month' rule. His reasoning was that, Redson was an adult now and he trusted him to not make any 'evil plans' anymore.

"W-WHAT!? Eww hell no! Redson is like a little brother to me." Mei folded her arms and huffed.

"Hah! A brother you say? What, does that mean you came here to call me 'mom' hahaha!"

"...!" Mei blushed out of embarrassment as she pouted and looked away. Ah.. she figured out what the feeling was. It was motherly love. She had never actually felt that before until now. Each parental figure in her life had been men after all: Macaque, Nezha, Ao Lie, and Li Jing.

"Anyway, spirits are way smarter than you think. The knowledge they carry is even too large for an immortal like me to fathom. They know when they're allowed, and when they're not allowed to enter your mind. And even if it may seem random to you, their spiritual knowledge lets them know that they're needed or allowed.. However, if you truly wish to get rid of the unpredictable factor of it, and wish to have a more secure grasp, then I suggest meditation."

"Mmm.. I gotta agree with Redson when he says that meditation is boooring. Anything else?"

"Yes, him and I share the hatred for it. But it's only 'boring' because you were doing it to help hone your celestial power. I'm talking about using it for astral communications and projections."

Mei's tight, folded arms loosened as she raised her eyebrow. "Communications and projections?"

"What I mean is that you can meditate so that you can speak with projections from deceased loved ones.. ooor you can also do it yourself."

"...You mean like, project myself? But I'm not dead-"

"But you do have a spirit. Sure, you can't go all that far from your body when you astral project like dead spirits do, but it's still useful.. heh I should know." Iron Fan smirked and stared off to the side (see chapter 19). Mei was confused but she didn't question it. "I learned how to.. sort of do it from my late husband, who learned it from Sun Wukong. The only useful thing we got out of that damn monkey. You know his son right? Maybe he could teach you."

"Why can't you?"

"I highly doubt the 'oh so perfect' celestial court would want their prisoner teaching their guest useful things. (Sigh) I suggest you leave, Mei. You don't want to get involved with someone like me."

Mei was starting to feel bad for her. Iron Fan changed a lot in a week. It seemed Redson's deal with her where she wasn't allowed to talk about revenge was paying off.

"Okay.. thanks for the advice.. it was uhhh.. nice talking to you, T-Teishoon??"

"Just call me Iron Fan."

"R-Right yeah heheh.."

...

Mei went into Redson's room. Just as he instructed, she didn't lay on his bed. She got extra blankets and pillows from the closet and made a make-shift futon on the floor for her to sleep on. She could sleep just fine like this. After all, most of her life she just slept on blankets on the floor with Macaque, or in a tent in the forest. She felt very at peace right now after that conversation. Falling asleep was much easier now that her mind was more clear.

----

Mk and the nurse were heading back to Nezha's room. They needed to carry seven bowls, so Mk pulled out two hair clones to carry a few. The nurse was carrying their own bowl.

"We're back!" Mk exclaimed as he came into the room. "Whoa hey, wait a minute. Where's Ma- uhh pops and Mei?"

"Oh uh.. Macaque said he was tired and Mei probably went with him to show him where my room is. Although, she hasn't been back for a while so I'm assuming she went to sleep too." Redson explained.

"Aww what??" Mk said disappointingly as he glanced over at one of his clones.

The clone said, "ehh, more for me I guess, hee hee.."

"Well anyway, soups ready everyone! I call it, veggie noodle soup!" Mk and the clones passed around the bowls. The two clones began to feast on the two extra bowls that were supposed to be Macaque and Mei's. Mk shooed them out of the room because it was too crowded.

The nurse took Nezha's bowl and poured the medicine into it. "There we go, that should drown out the taste well enough."

"Thank you, nurse. And thank you Monkie Kid. It smells amazing." Nezha tiredly said with a soft smile. Everyone dug in and enjoyed a hearty meal.

"Wow, this is one fine dish young man. I'm impressed," Li Jing said. "You have a natural talent for recipes."

"Aww ya think so? Haha, it's funny, I haven't even tried it. This is a variation of the usual recipe, since it seems like heaven has a lot more resources than I originally.. did." Mk began to think about his 'old' home on the mountain. The guilt was beginning to creep back in. He briefly shook his head to snap out of it and put his smile back on. "What about you, Redson? You likeeyy??"

Redson blinked out of his trance as he had already been staring at Mk. He then said, "oh uh, yes of course. It's quite the delicacy. I do indeed... 'likey' it?"

That earned a quiet chuckled out of Nezha. They all ate more and Nezha was beginning to get more sleepy.

Li Jing said, "Redson, feel free to go on to sleep with Mk. Nezha's my son, I'm the only one that needs to parent him right now." He had a smirk with a raised eyebrow. If anyone else had told Redson to go, he would've denied them. But, because it was Li Jing himself, he felt more obligated to obey.

"(Sigh)... Alright.. b-but I'm checking on him first thing in the morning. C'mon noodle boy."

"Ooooh is that my nickname now?" Mk said as Redson took his hand and dragged him out of the room. It seems the two clones had finished their soup and poofed. The two bowls were left on the hallway floor. "Wow, your curly hair looks nice. Is that what happens when you take out braids?"

"Heh, yup."

Mk could still hardly believe that they were actually able to touch each other now. After years of them only being able to talk through a barrier. Now they get to hug and hold hands. And the best part, he can smell Redson's scent.

"...Hey so... can we talk about.. us?" Mk shyly asked. Redson halted, still holding Mk's hand. Both of them began to blush in silence. Redson then took a breath to calm down and unhanded Mk.

"Actually, I was wanting to talk about you." Redson said, sort of quietly. Mk's good ears were able to hear what he said though, and his heart sort of dropped.

"Uhh.. w-what do ya mean?" Mk asked, trying not to sound bothered.

Redson sighed and turned to look at Mk. "I mean, how you're acting right now. You keep on smiling, joking around, and acting like everything is perfectly fine. Aren't you upset? Aren't you frustrated? Aren't you.. angry at me?" Redson looked down at that last one.

"..." Mk's eyes widened a bit. Of course someone who's into psychology would catch on to Mk's act really quickly. But, that last question... "Wait.. why would I be angry at you?"

"Don't you remember what you said?" Redson asked. "You said that things with you and your dad would have been just fine if you hadn't met me.." (see chapter 18)

"Wha- gahh I knew that was still bothering you! I told you I didn't mean it, okay-"

"You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it.." Redson folded his arms and leaned against a wall with a blank expression trying to hide it's sadness.

"Well- I-... (sigh) you're right.. I did sort of mean it back then. B-But after tonight, that's not how I feel anymore!" Mk placed his hand on Redson's shoulder, and he did not flinch this time. "Do you believe me, Redson?"

Redson stared at Mk as his heart began to flutter.
"Yes." He responded almost unconsciously; getting lost in Mk's eyes as his cheeks turned a light pink. They stared at each other for a bit, and then both broke the eye contact after getting flustered, Mk also removing his hand from Redson's shoulder.

"So.. us?"

"...I feel we should probably figure out you and I before we figure out 'us'. Does that make sense?"

"Uhh yeah totally!... Yeah no, I don't get it.."

Redson lightly chuckled at that, and he stepped away from the wall he was leaning against. He then began to walk down the hall and Mk followed.
"Look, don't get me wrong, I do want there to be an 'us' eventually. I just feel like we need to sort through our own individual issues before we can become.. a-an item. That's what I mean when I say you and I."

"Oh.. yeah okay that makes sense.." Mk grabbed his arm while smiling to hide his disappointment.

"So firstly, I want you to answer my questions earlier. How are you actually feeling? I noticed your hesitation earlier when you were talking about not originally having resources."

"..." Mk's smile finally dropped and he had a somber expression. "(Sigh) yes, of course I'm upset. I feel horrible for just leaving my dad like that. Although.. seeing all the lengths he went to just to keep Macaque with him, and seeing just how banged up he made Nezha? It definitely eased my guilt a bit.. But then I start feeling guilty for not feeling guilty and it's just this stupid cycle! Ugg.."

"Pffthaha.." Redson brought a fist up to cover his mouth as he let out a pretend cough. "Well.. I can't guarantee those feelings will ever go away. It'll be a tough adjustment for sure. But, what I do know is that you're free now. Make your own choices. Go wherever you please. U-Unless there's some strict rule to not go in a specific area, then I guess technically you can't go wherever you please?? Ulg whatever, semantics."

Mk had never heard that word before, but from the context of the conversation he could infer what it meant. He smiled again, for real this time. It felt really nice just blurting out negative feelings.

...

Redson showed Mk the bathroom. Mk made a comment about how he could just poop in a bush. Of course, Redson immediately shut that down. There's no way heaven would let that fly.

When they were walking to Redson's room, Mk got a whiff of Macaque's scent. He looked up a tree with his gold vision, and there he was. He was supposedly sleeping so he didn't want to bother him. When they went into the room, Mei was sleeping soundly. She had dragged some blankets right next to the wall and her back was facing it. It seemed to be a survival habit of her's. She was lightly snoring.

"I'm surprised she fell asleep so easily like that." Redson whispered.

"Well she was raised by Macaque. They probably slept outside on the hard floor a lot." Mk whispered back.

Mk convinced Redson to turn his leftover bedding and pillows into a nest. Redson reluctantly agreed. They awkwardly scooted around, trying to get in a comfortable position. Redson was laying face up, while Mk was on his side. Mk had his arm draped over Redson's abdomen, and Redson had his arm under Mk's head and around his shoulder.

Mk fell asleep fairly easily, but Redson was having a bit of a struggle. His mind kept racing; worrying about Nezha. He was also thinking about the future. The celestial court weren't exactly welcoming to Redson in the early days since he was the son of a criminal like Princess Iron Fan. So how would they react to the child of Sun Wukong? Or the son of the Six-Eared Macaque for that matter. He had no idea what sort of past Macaque had with heaven. But considering Li Jing's odd reaction to meeting him, it probably wasn't the best.

After a few hours of overthinking, the sleepiness eventually got to Redson, and he finally fell asleep.

----

=Later=

"You did WHAAAAT!?" Redson exclaimed loudly as his hair began to flair up. Mei had just revealed that she visited his mom last night.

"Whoa, it's been a while since I've seen Redson this angry.." Mk mused with a surprised smile.

"Wait what??" Macaque questioned.

"Okay okay look! Everyone just CHILL OUT! I-I can explain.." Mei said as she nervously fiddled with her fingers.

=Flashback to earlier that morning=

Redson was only able to sleep for three and a half hours. He carefully scooted out of Mk's sleepy grasp. Mei was awake and they made brief eye-contact, but they were both too tired to say anything. So Redson just left the room.

He headed to Nezha's infirmary room just as he said he would. When Redson opened the curtain to the room, Nezha was still deep in sleep. Li Jing was sitting on a stool and his top half was resting on the bed; he seemed to be asleep as well. Redson smiled as he watched for a moment more, then quietly closed the curtain and left.

----

Two people were not having a good dream right now.

Nezha was reliving that night. He hadn't felt fear like that in a long time. In the nightmare, he didn't have any weapons or powers. He was completely helpless. Nezha would stumble and crawl away in an endless black abyss, with only trees surrounding him here and there.
Wukong's laugh would echo around through the darkness. It came from all directions, making Nezha confused and scared. Occasionally, Wukong would zoom in from the dark and try to slash at him, with Nezha just barely dodging as he ran away.

Sometimes, Wukong would land a strike and it would make Nezha bleed. That didn't ever happen with immortals like Nezha. Their skin was too strong. It would take a lot for Nezha to actually get cut and bleed. But even if he did, he would just bleed for a second and the cut would heal almost immediately.
But this time, these cuts were staying. They weren't healing as they normally should. Nezha actually felt like he could die here. In fact, Wukong definitely should've been able to kill him instantly. So it's clear that this nightmare Wukong was just playing with his food.

The other person that was not having a good dream, was having a similar one.

Macaque too was reliving that night in a way. In his nightmare, there were multiple Wukong clones following him around. Anytime they got close, they kept on grabbing onto him and saying the same things: 'Why did you leave me?' 'How could you betray me like this?' 'Did that kiss mean nothing?'
It became especially claustrophobic when multiple would grab onto him at the same time. Macaque would use all his strength to shake them off. He would attempt to escape through a shadow portal, but every time he opened one, more Wukongs came out of them.

A lot of the clones would wrap their arms around his body in a toxic hug. As if they were trying to force their love upon him. "Let go! Get off me!" He would shout. Finally he found the peach tree by the beach. He quickly climbed it and looked down to surprisingly see all the clones gone.
It's clear his ears weren't working properly in this dream, because he should've heard when Wukong had climbed the tree as well. Macaque flinched at the sound of his voice, "ah look, it's our favorite tree to chill by. We used to come here a lot and just bathe in the sun. Good times."
Macaque didn't respond, he just kept his cautious eyes on Wukong. Then, in a split second, Wukong was suddenly right in front of Macaque, his hands were pinned the tree on either side of Macaque, caging him in. "We had good times. So why did you leave!!"

...

Fortunately, Macaque was able to wake up. His heart was racing and it seems in his sleep he had clawed at the tree he was sleeping in.

Nezha on the other hand, still had to have his nightmare for a bit longer. But, at least there were some parts of the dream where his dad would shield him.

...

Everyone had breakfast, and then a few hours later the heavenly court called Macaque, Mei, Redson, and Mk to their meeting room.

=Present time, late morning=

"We understand that you have all been through quite the ideal. But we must say this, the Six-Eared Macaque cannot stay here in heaven," one celestial said.

"W-What?? Why not!?" Mei protested.

"Look, you've all been through so much, so we will allow him to rest up here for a few days longer. But because of his past misdeeds with heaven, he cannot be allowed to live up here. Even if he did go on the journey of enlightenment with the great monk."

Macaque then said, "that's fine. I wasn't planning on staying here that long anyway. It's not my style."

"W-Well.." Mei stuttered as she thought for a bit. "Then I wanna be banished too!"

Redson said, "(sigh) he's not being banished. He just isn't allowed to live here."

"Oh whatever, that's totally a banishment!"

"Wait, Macaque," Mk started. "If you can't be here for very long, then where will you live??"

"Hah, I'm a primate. Living out in the wild is my norm." Macaque assured.

Mk then smiled and said, "right yeah. Sloppy is the monkey way after all." Macaque smiled back and nodded.

Mei said, "well still! If he's being forced to leave soon, then I wanna be forced out too! I'm not leaving him again. Last time I did, he got kidnapped by his creepy ex!"

Macaque coughed with wide eyes and he whispered with gritted teeth, "he is NOT my ex."

Another male celestial said, "but you have done nothing against heaven's rules. You have no reason to be escorted out."

"Uhh.. well I um.. I actually might have a reason..." Mei rubbed the back of her neck. "I uhh... I kinda sort of.. went to go see Princess Iron Fan last night without anyone's permission..."

"You did WHAAAAT!?" Redson exclaimed loudly as his hair began to flair up.

"Whoa, it's been a while since I've seen Redson this angry.." Mk mused with a surprised smile.

"Wait what??" Macaque questioned.

"Okay okay look! Everyone just CHILL OUT! I-I can explain.." Mei said as she nervously fiddled with her fingers. She proceeded to explain how there was no one guarding it last night. How there was no one she could talk to about seeing a flashback of her parents during the sealing ritual. And how Iron Fan actually gave her some good advice.

"Uh I mean," Mk began. "I technically can project myself into people's minds. But I kinda stopped doing it ever since I practiced on the monkeys at the mountain. It seemed to scare them real bad."

"Okay I get that but, you can still teach me to do it right? Like, after you teach me, you won't have to do it ever again!" Mei said.

Macaque interjected, "Uh Mei? The only ones who can project themselves directly into someone's mind while they're still alive, are Wukong and I guess Mk. You'd only be able to do that if you were dead. The only thing you can do right now is just project yourself somewhere, but you won't be able to communicate to anyone in that state."

"...Ooooh so that's what she meant when she said she only 'sort of' learned.."

"(Sigh) enough of this!" A female celestial boomed. "Mei, you have admitted to visiting a prisoner without our permission. Although.. I will admit myself that we lowered the security since Lord Nezha insisted on gradually giving her more benefits if she continued to behave... But still, you refused to even ask Li Jing or Redson himself. So for that, we shall use that as a reason to.. 'banish' you as well.. I guess." Halfway through her babbling, it seemed like she had forgotten why she was angry in the first place, like her reasoning wasn't as big of a deal as she thought.

"WOOO! Yes!"

"Wha- Mei.." Macaque said. "You deserve a much better life than living in a dirty forest with me.."

"Hah! I'd much rather that than live in a strict castle with my original family."

That got everyone to smile warmly.

----

Finally, Nezha awoke. It was a pretty intense wake up. His eyes shot open and he sat up way too quickly. He was panting and his heart racing very quickly. Nezha's whole body was sweating. Him waking up so violently was able to wake up his father.

"Huh wha who's there!?" Li Jing mumbled in his half awake jibberish. He then blinked and noticed his Nezha's distressed state. "Son, you're awake! Are you.. alright?"

Nezha had tears brimming at the corner of his eyes. He was still breathing pretty hard and he could only shake his head in response to his father's question. Li Jing scooted his stool closer so that he could put his arm around Nezha's shoulder to comfort him.
Nezha started taking deeper breaths to hopefully calm himself down. He then wiped away the tears that were beginning to form.

"I.. (exhale) I just, had a bad dream, that's all.."

Li Jing noticed Nezha being vague, so he decided not to pry.

"Seems like it was a lot more than just a bad dream, son."

Nevermind, he decided to pry..

"..." Nezha contemplated it for a bit. He decided to just shorten it, because describing his dream in detail would only make him cry. "It was.. I was reliving last night, but much worse..."

By Nezha's silence, Li Jing could tell he wasn't going to continue, so he let it go.

"Well, on the positive side, at least all your bruises and bones have healed."

...

=A few days later=

Macaque and Mei were getting ready to leave. Redson, Mk, and Nezha came to out to say their goodbyes.

"Seriously, thanks for everything, Nezha. I can't imagine how much longer I would've had to stay there if it weren't for you and Redson. And Redson, thank you so much for being there for.. well, my son." Macaque said with a shy smile. Mk smiled very widely at hearing that.

"Of course." Nezha said as he smiled softly and briefly bowed his head.

"U-Um.. Mac- I mean uh, pops?" Mk spoke. "Before you go, there's actually something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now but.. was too afraid to?"

Macaque's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he gave Mk his full attention. "When you're done, I actually have to tell you something as well.." Macaque glanced at Redson who did a short nod.

Mk hesitated for a bit. He then took in a breath and slowly let it out. Mk proceeded to spill the tea about what had happened that day with Wukong. The day that Wukong accidentally let out a shockwave that had pushed Mk to the ground. How it was during a heated argument they had around two weeks ago (see chapter 13).

"And so yeah.. that's the gist of that.."

Macaque had his arms folded and his hand was squeezing his arm. His eyes were closed with his clips flattened. He slowly exhaled out of his nose.
"I see... Thank you for telling me, Mk. It seems he just can't go a single argument without hurting a loved one," he pointed at his eye. "Luckily you got off pretty well. Hopefully that means that he learned to better restrain himself."

"Heh yeah.. Wait, didn't you say you had something to tell me too?"

Macaque stared at him for a bit, and then blinked in remembrance. He then proceeded to tell Mk about when Wukong drugged him and brought him to the mountain. And how the medicine that Nezha took was most likely the same substance.

"Th-That's horrible! He used something that was meant to help people, to kidnap you!" Mk yelled and then immediately covered his mouth, remembering Macaque's sensitive hearing.

"Haha, yeah that's almost exactly what I said when I figured it out... (Sigh) Sorry, I know I shouldn't bad mouth him, he is still your dad after all-"

"No, it's okay," Mk interrupted. "At this point, I think he deserves a little bad mouthing."

"Pfft, a lot more than a 'little' in my opinion.." Nezha mumbled quietly.

Mei then said, "welp, if everyone's done confessing things, I think we'll be heading out-"

"Wait." Redson said. "Mk there's actually um.. something I need to tell you as well.."

"...Well if it's a confession for Mk then we can probably go, yeah?" Mei asked, gesturing to Macaque. He smiled and shrugged.

"Nezha, since things with me and heaven are a bit rocky, could you arrange a way for me to contact Mk?" Macaque asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't ever want to keep family separated."

"Thank you. Well, Monkie Kid, I guess this is goodbye." Macaque said as he opened his arm to offer a hug. Mk's eyes lit up and he rushed forward and hugged his pops strongly.

"It's only goodbye for now. Y-You.. you better try to visit me, okay? You're not actually banished from heaven. They j-just said you can't like, live here, y'know?" Mk said, trying to hold back tears.

"Heh, obviously, what kind of pops would I be if I didn't visit?" Macaque pet Mk's hair as a sign of affection. It's something he would do a lot to Mei. One could say, it was his way of fully accepting Mk as his son.

They finally broke the hug and Nezha opened a celestial portal. Macaque and Mei waved goodbye, and then left.

...

Mk and Redson ended up going into his room. Redson wanted to tell Mk privately about the thing. He sat Mk on his bed and took a bit to gather the courage. Redson told Mk that he'll probably be angry, but Mk promised that he wouldn't be.

"So.. I tried to kill your dad.." Redson said.

"Uhh yeah, I know. You've been swearing revenge on him since we met."

"No I know! But, uhh.. I um.. (Sigh) when I was 15, I had legit found a way to do it. And I was fully planning on doing it, but luckily I was stopped. It um.. I was planning on writing his name back into the book of the dead."

"..." Mk looked down with a frown, contemplating this information. He then smiled and stared back at him. "Well, you were only 15 after all, and no harm was done. I don't hold any grudge, Redson."

Redson looked up at Mk, surprised. "You.. are you sure you're not mad?"

"Ehh.. he killed your dad. It's understandable that you'd want him dead. He.. really isn't a good person, and I see that now... But, he was still a decent dad to me sometimes. Even though he's done terrible things, I still don't want him dead.. So, luckily you were stopped indeed."

"...Heh.. yeah.. I think death would've been a mercy. That little barrier he's behind is a much more fitting punishment." Redson smirked proudly and Mk laughed.

"Yeah.. Alright, enough about my dad. Let's talk about 'us' now. I feel like we've probably aired out enough about 'you and I' so.. Do you think we can..?" Mk and Redson over the few days have had time to process everything they had been through. So Mk was hoping their relationship would have a chance.

"...You know what? Screw it, why not? Let's try it out." Redson turned his body to face Mk better on the bed they were sitting on. He then closed his eyes and slightly pursed his lips.

"Uhh what's happening?"

"I'm offering to kiss, you moron."

"Pffthahaha! Wow, it's been a while since I've seen that grumpy side of you haha! Uhh.. well um wow this uhh.." Mk fiddled with his fingers, feeling nervous. Redson opened his eyes and grumbled. He then cupped Mk's face.

"Fine, I'll do it. Close your eyes."

Mk grinned widely and then nodded. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips comically. Redson rolled his eyes and smiled.

He then slowly leaned in, trying to hide that he was just as nervous. He hoped that Mk couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest. Redson lips then lightly made contact with Mk's. Mk felt a bit disappointed, so he brought his hands up and gently pushed Redson closer.

This was their very first kiss, solidifying the start of their relationship.

They broke apart and stared into each other's eyes. Both of them had a look of wonder and awe. Neither of them had ever done anything like that before.

"So... I guess now we have to get married, move into a castle, and have multiple babies.."

"Sh-Shut up!" Redson playfully pushed Mk and they both started laughing while blushing.

----

=A week later=

Mei had decided that she wanted to try visiting her biological family in Ao Guang's kingdom. Her and Macaque had gone to the sea and called for him. They worked things out and were allowed inside.

As expected, Mei's grandparents were of course ecstatic to finally be meeting the lost princess. They remembered Macaque from when Ao Lie used to invite him to parties. They decided to have a big feast in honor of Mei coming back.

Macaque apologized profusely for not bringing Mei back sooner, saying that it was one of Ao Lie's dying wishes that Mei should not be apart of her heritage. He asked what they could do to repay them, and they said there was no need. And that him raising Mei and honoring their father's wishes was enough for them.

During the big lunch, her grandparents expressed how they were excited for a proper heir to run the kingdom of the west, but of course, Mei immediately declined.

"Look, I get you're upset but, I'm not fit to be a queen. Trust me, if you put me in a position of power, the kingdom would get ruined within weeks." Mei explained.

They started arguing about how one cannot ignore the law.

Macaque then spoke up, "what if she started ruling the kingdom when she turns 30?" Everyone at the table looked at him, intrigued. "I mean, if we can't outrun the law on this then.. she could just do it how Ao Lie did. I mean, he didn't start ruling until he was 30 after all. And I uh.. as a proper apology to you all, I will vow to serve Mei and anyone who might come in her bloodline."

"W-What?? Macaque you don't have to do that!" Mei protested.

"It's okay Mei. This is my choice. It always felt like I was forced to always stay by Wukong's side.. but, now, I get to choose for myself. And I'm choosing to serve you, when you're in queen mode at least."

"...Heheh... Well, what do y'all think of that, huh?"

Her grandparents gave it some thought, and they ended up agreeing to the terms. They agreed to have an advisor rule the west kingdom until she came of age. Both of them still needed to rule the east kingdom since Ao Guang had no children of his own to rule it.

...

"Once I'm queen, you're keeping your freedom. You could probably perform some fun shadow plays to the kingdom's children!.. But, what about children though? I.. I don't really think I want to.. have sex."

"...Well, if they end up pressuring you to get married and birth an heir to the kingdom, then you could do what Ao Lie ended up doing. He wasn't fond of marriage or all that relationship stuff either. So he instead had a surrogate mother birth his daughter. His daughter is your grandma haha."

"Huh.. not a bad Idea. But, won't I still have to get pregnant though?"

"Mm.. yeah, but you won't have to worry about the process leading up to it."

"...Welp, I guess time will tell how all this will go."

----

To Be Continued... in The End