Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Please Monkey King, you should try and hang out with everyone more and I promise, everything will be fine!”

MK pleaded, following behind Monkey King as they walked around Flower Fruit Mountain, jumping from rock to rock on a simple stream nearby some spectating monkeys.

“You wanna bring all your friends here for a camping night? Look, I don’t mind you accidentally making plans on the same day, we can do meditation another time bud.”

“I know I kinda messed up but I think this a good thing, trust me things have been awkward at the shop, if you and my friends can hang out for a bit and make up-”

“By friends you mean?”

“ Yeah mostly Pigsy, but WOA-”

Mk slipped on one of the wet rocks, being caught by Wukong’s tail, only his hand touching the water. Wukong sighed before placing him back on dry land, himself still standing on a rather large rock in front of MK. Accepting defeat, the boy slugged himself down with the monkeys, which had grown quite fond of MK the more he visited and trained.

Wukong watched for a moment before following.

“Look, I know you wanna just making everything better but-”

Wukong was going to continue but he saw MK’s expression. His face did have an underlying tone of disappointment but he seemed content playing with a baby Monkey on his lap. He thought MK would’ve reacted differently, come up with a scheme to get him to make up with his friends, maybe another sneaky tactic that would eventually backfire. 

He simply accepted it.

This kid.

“Ok, fine.”

“Wait, Really!?”

“Yeah yeah I’ll try okay- hEy.”

Almost in an instant, MK tackle hugged Wukong sending them both flying into the stream. The student did not seem phased at all, only backing off slightly to look at Wukong.

“Thank you Monkey King! I should go tell everyone so we’re all ready for tomorrow, I’ll see you soon!”

Before a second later, a golden cloud engulfed MK, an eagle flying away in his place. Leaving Wukong sitting in a puddle, instead of getting up he simply accepted the fact that he’d have to wash his clothes and relaxed in the slow moving water for a bit, the baby monkey MK was playing with coming over to observe.

“What am I gonna do with that kid?”

Sometimes Sandy felt like he was being watched.

That shouldn’t be surprising to him, living with a whole boat full of cats, he should expect to always have eyes on him, or when his box of special homemade tea was always in a slightly different spot. When his cats seemed to meow at nothing as a greeting, or the cold breeze when all the windows were closed, perhaps doors swaying or creaking more than usual.

All things that would usually creep someone out, it was abnormal. Although, to Sandy it was new and strangely comforting like someone was always there.

After making a batch of tea for himself and placing his homemade tea back in its usual place, knowing it would be moved later on he heard thumping on the outside deck. Going to check it out he met a familiar face at his door who seemed very excited.

“SANDY!”

“Oh, I thought you were with Monke-”

“Yeah to figure out the schedule but , why don’t you join us for a picnic on Flower Fruit Mountain!”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t worry, Monkey King’s fine with it.”

“Then, I suppose it should be fine.”

“Awesome! I still have to find Mei but Pigsy and Tang are going too!”

The two waved each other goodbye as MK ran off to find Mei, Sandy saw him trying to pull out his phone while running and saw him almost trip over the boards of the dock.

“I guess I better make sure everything is alright with all of you while I’m gone.”

Automatic feeders were definitely a good investment as he could focus more on his actual cats than their feeding times, that cold breeze felt near once again when he heard shuffling from the counter.

A box of tea, shuffling slowly to the edge, this was the first time he was actually seeing anything happen. A faint blue glow was near, like desperate hands reaching out for a final meal. Sandy could only watch as a few of his cats hissed and the, intruder? He wasn’t quite sure what it was.

Snapped out of his thoughts by the box falling on the floor, a few teabags inside spilling out he didn’t feel fear. His suspicions were confirmed that there was something .

That cool breeze didn’t linger for long, dissipating as his cats became less tense, a few rubbing up on his leg.

Sandy wonders if he’ll see it again.

Whatever or whoever it was.

“Please, I don't mind, let me carry the tents.”

“What do you mean? Wouldn’t want the great Monkey King to burden himself with such trivial matters.”

“ It’s not trivial at all, at least let me help with something.”

“I think the Monkey King has helped enough, right Tang.”

“I haha, I’m gonna go talk to uh, MK.”

The tension between Wukong and Pigsy, while it was expected to have some animosity at the beginning. Isn’t this a bit much? The entire walk through the mountain, carrying the stuff to the spot Wukong chose for the camp and picnic was nothing but passive aggressive arguing between the Monkey and the Pig.

“MK, I thought you said everything would be fine?”

“It will be, trust me! I just, uh. This isn’t going according to plan.”

The bag MK was carrying felt like nothing compared to the new weight on his shoulders, trying to get Monkey King and Pigsy to co-exist neutrally.

The bare minimum.

“I have an idea! Mei, Sandy, Tang, come here quickly.”

The calm argument between Wukong and Pigsy kept them distracted from the group falling back a few steps to come up with a plan.

“Everyone’s In?”

“Let’s do this Monkey Man!”

Operation P&M 

Tactic 1 - Change the Subject

First up was Mei, she was always good at getting off topic, easily fascinated by everything in sight.

“Pigsy! You haven’t been to Flower Fruit Mountain have you? Aren’t the sights just so cool?”

Pigsy managed to take his glare of Wukong to really take in the sights, the trees that shone a golden light in the sun, how if you squinted you could see the native monkeys observing the newcomers with a cute curiosity. 

“I guess, yeah it’s pretty nice here.”

“Not any natural predators here so if you wake up to a Monkey sleeping on you, take it as a compliment. We’re just about there.”

Wukong jumped ahead slightly, still in sight but enough where the others felt like they needed to job for a second to catch up. The area chosen was a small patch of area where the grass worn down, becoming a more solid dirt patch next to a large cliff that would keep their camp in the shade of the hot sun.

Setting down all the bags and supplies, everyone grabbed different supplies to set up, Wukong trying to figure out the fire pit. Waving the singe from his fur as he burned himself. A small sigh from behind him came closer, Pigsy coming over to help with the fire.

“Aren’t you over three thousand years old? How do you not know how to start a fire?”

Wukong only grumbled, the two starting to glare at each other once again.

Operation P&M 

Tactic 2 - Separate

Tang knows Pigsy better than anyone, his suggestion was to separate them and resolve the issue remotely.

“Monkey King, why don’t you get some rocks for the fire?”

“Alright.”

As he walked away he grumbled something about pork which Pigsy thankfully chose to ignore. The few Monkeys in the area looked to have run off, they know what Wukong is feeling and know it’s just best to steer clear. Sure, he was mad, but there was this other feeling he couldn’t quite pinpoint. He looked back as he grabbed a few good sized rocks.

He knows what it is.

Deja Vu.

Arguing with Zhu Bajie, Tripitaka playing peacekeeper. Sha Wujing knowing to keep quiet. 

Maybe this was the reason he didn’t want to connect with MK’s friends.

He never really let go of his own.

Wukong dropped the rocks beside Tri-, Tang and Pigsy. The best idea would be to sit and actually watch the fire be built, he’s surprised himself that he never learned how because of how much his original crew had to camp outside. Though, his memories of setting up camp was him sitting on his cloud or arguing with his Pigsy.

“I hope I’m not intruding on anything.”

That voice creeping up from behind him, Macaque stepped out of Wukong’s shadow almost too casually, sitting himself right beside Wukong to enjoy the fire. Everyone else was more or less speechless of how casual he was, The Golden Monkey groaned loudly before moving away to sit on a nearby log.

“Aw what? You don’t wanna sit beside your best friend?”

“Not the mood Macaque.”

“You never are, but! I do have a reason for stopping by. Have any of you seen anything of the Spider Demons?”

The only one that had some sort of reaction to the mention of the Spider’s was Sandy. Something that had been eating away at him slightly ever since the event, one of the Spider Demons. He didn’t even know his name.

“You got anything big guy?”

“Oh! I uh, no.”

That nickname.

“Well, I’ve been looking for them. It didn’t really make sense how they just disappeared .”

After a moment, MK had something to chime.

“Yeah! I’ve been wondering that too, the thing is, the last time I saw Spider Queen. It was kinda weird because she, saved me?”

This caught everyone’s attention. Tang speaking first.

“Spider Queen, saving you? When did this happen?”

“Well, it was the morning that the Lady Bone Demon attacked, so much happened I guess I just didn’t have time to tell you.”

“The last we saw of the Spider Demons they-”

Shock overcame Tang’s face, like a horrible realization he didn’t wanna say. Sandy and Pigsy had a similar look.

“Tang?”

“We came for a nice camping trip, why don’t we just-”

“OW!”

The conversation started to grow tense, but it was interrupted by a cry of pain from Wukong. Two scared monkeys clinging to his face with a deathly grip.

“AH! Why?!”

He managed to pull one off, the other still on top of his head gripping his hair. The monkey he held by its shoulders began to speak, nobody could understand so everyone waited to gauge Wukong’s reaction, which seemed to be changing from shock to confusion. 

“Calm down, I can barely understand you, something was in the forest?”

“I know two monkeys that happen to be big on tricks, probably messing with you.”

Pigsy proceeded to get scolded by the other simians, Wukong struggling to hold onto them.

“Just tell me what you saw! Try and calm down while you’re at it. There’s no way something is gonna try and mess with the monkeys here.’’

“There aren't any natural predators here, so if something scared them it means trouble.”

Pigsy and Wukong continued to argue about it but Sandy felt something, it was the cool breeze that’d been following him. He wasn’t expecting it to follow him but he’s glad it wouldn’t bother his cats when he was away.

But the more Sandy thought the more worried he got, did he bring something dangerous that was scaring the animals? His thoughts were interrupted by a sound in the forest, was it, singing?

A rhythmic hum in the trees caught both Sandy and Tang’s ears, looking at each other with worry. Sandy stood from his log to get closer while Tang alerted the others.

“Guys.”

“Monkey King! I swear to Buddha, I’d trust the Monkeys and at least go look.”

“If you trust them there’s now way I will!”

“Guys.”

“The Great Sage Is Equal To Heaven! Can’t even listen to his monkeys.”

“Macaque is probably the one scaring them!”

“What’d I do?”

“GUYS!”

“WHAT TRI- TANG!?”

“WHAT TANG!? Wait, where's Sandy?”

“ That’s what I was trying to-, there’s some weird sounds coming from the forest and Sandy went to check it out.”

“You let Sandy go by himself!?”

“ Uhhhh.”

“SANDY!”

The humming grew louder, to a point where no matter where he went he heard the enhancing music. There was a point in the forest where the volume of the voice didn’t grow louder or quieter, a small clearing where he could only try and look for the voice.

Sandy turned and observed too much he felt like he lost his way, not knowing which way led back to camp. 

Ok

Maybe now the cold chill was kinda unnerving.

Really Unnerving.

It wasn’t the comforting cool breeze he had gotten used to, this fog around him was filled with this frantic energy, like it was searching for something.

“Sandy!”

It was Tang, MK and Mei with Macaque close behind although Tang wasn’t looking at Sandy, he was looking up. Tang’s glasses were white with reflections, almost blinding. Sandy followed Tang’s eyes to right above him.

Spider Queen

Her form was transparent, a sickly blue with some details having a more white cloudy look. The fact you could see right through her was more than just creepy, you see ghost's in media all the time but the uncanny valley levels of horrific it is to actually see through someone. Those observations cut away, the Queen tackling him to the ground, but it didn't hurt that much.

“Don’t worry Sandy! Here comes Monkie-”

MK attempted to knock the Spider off of Sandy with his staff, only for it to phase through the ghostly body though not completely. The staff slowed as it passed through her torso, like he was trying to hit through a waterfall his staff lost momentum halfway. 

Like MK was only a small bug annoying the Spider, she simply pushed him away with one of her spider limbs, making MK shiver from the feeling. 

“Ghost plus Spider equals nightmares! What is happening!?”

She continued to do what she was doing before, it was strange because she didn’t look like she was attacking Sandy, only observing him before letting him go. Before walking over to MK, Mei, Tang. She didn’t attack, only observing before she started to walk away from them, when she started humming again.             

“Sandy, are you ok?!”

Mei ran over to Sandy who was still on the ground.

“Yeah! I’m good, but what just-.”

“Spider Queen but she, why does she look like that?”

Tang grabbed MK who was still frozen with both disgust and fear and sat him down beside Sandy. Tang and Sandy shared a look because they’d seen her previously in their fight with the Lady Bone Demon.

“Well that’s convenient for me.”

Macaque walked over to a tree where shadows rose from the base of it, the monkey stuck his hand inside and continued to fidget around for a while, enough time for Wukong and Pigsy to finally realize everyone left and caught up. Wukong noticed what Macaque was doing.

“ Please tell me you don’t still hoard stuff in your little shadow pockets.”

“ I don’t hoard , I just keep stuff that could be useful.”

Wukong growled under his breath before shoving Macaque to the side and sticking his own hand in the cold shadows, pulling out a doorknob. Wukong and Macaque share a complicated look. Wukong being completely and utterly done before lightly chucking it at Macaque’s face. Macaque passive aggressively pushed Wukong aside to go back to searching.

“There we go.”

When Macaque retracted his hand, he held the Spider Queen’s helmet, one side being completely shattered from who knows what.

“After the Lady Bone Demon fight, I kept wondering where the Spider Demons went, I searched both the battleground and their old lair. This was all I could find of them.”

The mood soured with this knowledge, the ghostly appearance and the broken helmet.

“When the Lady Bone Demon forced me to do her dirty work, she repeated this one phrase a few times, I will erase the very memory of you . This is all that is left of the Spider Demons, at least, until now.”

Macaque gestured to the direction the blue wisp of the Spider Queen went.

“Who wants to go Ghost Hunting?”

Chapter Text

Searching.

Search for something.

Don’t know who.

or even what.

Just keep searching.

“Ghost! Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!”

Mei and MK chanted as they strangely excitedly led the group through the trees of Flower Fruit Mountain, Wukong and MK had made flashlights for everyone, Macaque doubting the efficiency of it.

“Can’t you or the kid just use your golden sight or something? This just seems, primitive .”

“Tried, won’t work.”

Macaque just scoffed before branching off from the group slightly, looking past all the trees that surrounded them.

While Sandy was looking as well, he was more caught up in his own thoughts. The Spider Queen was here, could that mean the other demons were there? Maybe the Lady Bone Demon released them after she was defeated. 

Couldn’t avoid it anymore, Sandy just wanted to see that spider demon again. Sure they fought but Sandy felt like he got through to him by the end, but maybe he was just scared. He never did find out that demon's name.

“Haha! You will never defeat me!”

“Mei, nOOoOoOOoO.”

Mei had put on the Queen's broken helmet, imitating her by making little fangs with her hands. Mei chased MK up ahead a little leading the group through the blue trees.

Blue?

A blue glow shimmered across the bark of the thick trees, when the group went silent, they could hear faint humming. MK, panicking before starting a jog towards their new destination.

“Ok! Give me the crown, we’re trying og ghost rules!”

“Ghost Rules?”

“Tang it’s-, well ghosts are like dead right? Spirits trapped in the living realm because of some sort of unresolved issue.”

“You realize there are hundreds of interpretations of ghosts right?”

“I AM TRYING MY BEST RIGHT NOW!”

When they were able to finally catch sight of her she was doing the same thing as before, searching and looking at everything around her. Only now she looked more desperate, clawing at bushes to peek between their leaves, huffs of white smoke coming from her mouth as she searched.

After hyping himself up, MK took the crown between his hands and stepped closer.

“Uh, Spider Queen?”

Her head snapped to look at him, her glowing iris peering into his.

“ Oh no, I wish I had a better plan- Is this what you’re looking for?”

He held out the crown, making sure his hands didn’t touch some of the sharper, shattered parts.

She made her way towards him, her spider legs moving slowly and softly towards her crown.

MK braced himself as she took it into her hands, her transparent pastel blue fingertips turning into a more opaque purple. Everyone’s excitement died down when it stopped before it reached her forearm.

“That was what you were looking for right?! Why isn’t this working?”

Sandy stepped out from the underbrush, and put his hand on MK’s shoulder.

“MK, im sorry but i'm not sure-”

“No! I have to do this, I owe it to her!”

“You owe her?”

“Yes! She helped me and I can’t just leave her like this!”

MK’s mind was made as he ran closer to the ghost, her desperation now turned to a more confused expression.

“You might not have gotten the kingdom you wanted but you still had followers didn’t you? The other spider demons, they were still by your side!”

The lilac skin managed to continue up, covering her arm.

“You did some bad stuff, but I don’t think you should spend the rest of your days like this because of it!”

MK took the crown from her hands and quickly put it on her.

A blinding light forcing him to back away the second he did so.

Everyone had to shield and cover eyes, as the blinding light died down they say the Spider Queen, her appearance being returned back to her normal purple skin and silky black hair, only the tips of her hair were white.

She sat up from the dirt, frazzled before looking around to take in everything. Her eyes landed on MK, who was the closest to her.

“You .”

Chapter Text

Seeking.

Seeking an object.

I know that now.

But where .

“You .”

The Spider Queen’s large form took a protective stance, her eyes quickly observing each detail around her.

“Where am I?”

It was an innocent question, but her tone made it seem more like an accusation.

“F-Flower fruit mountain, we aren’t looking for a fight! We’re just trying to hel-”

“Don’t go rambling on me monkey, I know you ‘heroes’ would be stupid enough to save one of your enemies.”

With that, Spider Queen simply turned to leave, MK quickly grabbing her arm before she got too far.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not in the mood for a fight.”

“Is that it?! We still have questions, why were you a ghost? How did- what about the other Spider Demo-”

With the mention of her henchman, she slapped his hand away from her giving him a sour look.

“ I don’t know where they are . I only vaguely remember Syntax but I'm sure he wants nothing to do with the woman who turned him into a monster.
The others? Well if they’re alive, they’re free to do what they please.
If not.”

She took a long pause.

“You can figure out the rest.”

Spider Demons, dead. Only the Spider Queen and maybe one of the others remaining. The thought that that might be the truth they’re living made Sandy panic, all he wanted to know was that demon's name.

“Why don’t you let us help? I mean even if one of them isn’t, w-well they’re probably still just a ghost like you were.”

The stares everyone gave him made him slightly anxious, but still urged himself to continue.

“Even if you don’t want us to help, why not spend the night at camp with us, just talk about it more?”

The end of his sentence was followed by Sandy’s nervous laughter.

“Fine, not like I have anything better to do.”

Wukong fully popped up from his crouched position behind the bushes, seeming pleased with the outcome of the interaction.

“Not like your getting off my island either, even if you get past the water theres still the-”

“Don’t think I’ve forgiven you Monkey!”

The Spider Queen mentioned how she was nocturnal on the way there, saying she probably wouldn’t sleep and just relax until morning but, she was the first one asleep. Macaque and Wukong are already snoring in the trees, the tents being shared with Pigsy and Tang, MK and Mei. The only one not sleeping was Sandy.

Watching the embers of the fire slowly fade more, so few embers you could count. Sandy had been putting off going to bed, knowing he’d lay awake just thinking, might as well have something to look at other than a tent ceiling.

Just as he went to completely put out the fire, a blue smoke blew over it. The same presence as the one in the boat. He followed where the smoke came from, seeing a ghostly blue, clawed hand on a tree, with 4 eyes peering around out.

“Ah! It’s you.”

He tried to get up to get closer, but the second he stood, the spider darted into the trees.

“Wait!”

The Spider seemed to shift in and out of three forms, humanoid legs, spider legs and a strange blue mist as he ran, clawing and pushing off every tree he could to gain any sort of speed. The intense landscape of the mountain made it difficult to keep the spider in sight, until two hills collided into a dead end. 

The spider stood at the dead end, extremely wary and very visually terrified. Sandy realised it must’ve been too much to chase him into a corner, so he backed up a few steps and sat down, hoping it would show he meant no harm.

After a few minutes, the ghost finally realised that Sandy wasn’t a threat, finally loosening up. He started to make a small cobweb for himself to lay on like a hammock, tucking the leaves over it so the moonlight didn’t bother him. Sandy got up slowly to try and get closer, the ghost looked at him but didn’t seem to protest.

“I’m glad you’re not afraid anymore.”

He looked up at the Spider as he was sitting in the grass just below the web hammock. Sandy expected him to answer but he only got a blank stare.

“Can you talk?”

Silence.

“Here, I’ll be right back.”

When Sandy came back to the camp, he made sure to be quiet as he dug out the things he needed from his bag, tea cups clinked together loudly which made him panic, stopping and making sure nobody woke up because of the noise. 

Making his way back to the cliff-side, he saw that his new friend wasn’t on the web. Anxiously, he whipped his head around when he heard a small noise in the trees. Normally, seeing bright white eyes staring into you would be chilling, a common horror movie trope. 

Eerie, unnerving even? Nothing, just so happy to see he was still here.

“Do you wanna watch?”

His head crooked to the side, as Sandy gathered all the things for another fire. The spider got closer and closer, eventually being right close as Sandy brought out teacups.

“Wanna try some?”

The ghost seemed even more intrigued, watching the flame of the new fire flicker and dance as Sandy set up a teapot to boil.

“I’ve never tried boiling it over fire before, let’s see if it tastes any different.”

He handed the blue spirit the cup, almost dropping it as it phased through his clawed hands. Sandy tried to catch it but it ended up hitting one of the rocks surrounding the fire, a part of the edge chipping off.

“Guess I should’ve thought of that, but your hands are cold.”

The spider through his translucent hands.

“ co...”

“ You talked!”

The sudden loud volume started him.

“Sorry just. You can talk, try and say it again.”

“ C-Co.”

Each time he tried to say cold it ended in a ghostly whisper.

“Here how about, Tea!”

Sandy held up the two cups towards him.

“ Tea.”

“How about my name! Sandy.”

“ Sa…”

“Hm, what about your name?”

That’s all I wanted to know.

The ghost let out multiple ghostly breaths trying to say something, eventually getting frustrated, standing up to lay back in his web. 

The air was quiet as they both just watched the fire.

“It’s strange, but I'm glad you kept your temper.”

“ Tem…”

“I can’t lie to myself, I don’t know anything about you. But, I still promise that I'll find a way to turn you back.”

“ Back..”

“Yeah, back.”

“Wake up Sandy!”

With a pillow thrown to his face, Sandy jolted upright, he was in his tent?

“Pigsy! What-”

“Discussing what we’re gonna do, you probably wanted to be there for it?”

“Uh, yeah yeah, I’ll be right there.”

Wasn’t he at the fire with the other spider? He rummaged through his bag trying to find any evidence that he wasn’t dreaming, when he cut his finger on something sharp. It was a small cut, nothing to worry about, but he found the broken cup and was suddenly relieved.

Not a dream, so he could still be there.

Exiting his tent, it was early morning but the sun had risen enough to light up the camp. Tang was listing off multiple theories on how exactly they brought the Queen back, with her, MK and Wukong also sitting close.

“Does he usually talk this much?”

“Yeah! Mr. Tang is the best and always has the best stories!”

The Spider Queen didn’t seem as excited to listen to Tang for so long it felt like hours. Sandy and Pigsy sat down with everyone else.

“Alright, what’d we miss?”

“ What didn’t you miss?”

The Queen still was not happy about Tang.

“Well! I think using the crown as an example, we just need something the ghost has a strong connection with. You have anything of, what was his name again?”

“Syntax, and I only have one thing and it’s back at the lair.”

Macaque stepped forward.

“I combed through your whole lair so if it was there I have it, unless you want a piece of rubble.”

“Glasses, green ones.”

“Oh.”

Macaque pulled up another shadow, he seemed to know exactly where it was because only a few seconds later he pulled out a pair of broken glasses.

“None of you wore glasses from what I remembered so I didn’t know what to do with this.”

Macaque swung the already broken glasses half-hazardly, the arms of them were contorted and bent, one lens had a spider-web shaped crack and the other was missing entirely.

Seeing the state of Syntax’s glasses, the Queen took off her own helmet for a moment, silky midnight hair falling onto her shoulders. Originally 6 horns coming from the crown were down to three, one of which was chipped along with countless scratches.

Something which used to demand respect and radiated power, reduced to a scrap piece of metal.

Spider Queen set the crown on the moss ridden log she was using as her seat, wiping off anything she may have gotten on her dress.

“Well, can’t leave my annoying brainiac for too long, he’ll just be more pouty the longer we take.”

“Yay More Ghost Hunting!”

Mei and MK cheered in unison.

“Where to Spider Queen?!”

“I’m not sure myself, my best guess is the place I found the weirdo.”

“Which is?”

“City.”

“To Megopolis it is!”

The team going was going to be Spider Queen, MK, Mei and Wukong with the others staying behind. As everyone was packing their things, Sandy was able to find Spider Queen by herself waiting.

“You need something blue?”

“Oh! I just wanted to ask you something, about your henchmen?”

“What about them?

“I guess, nothing specific just, about them?”

Spider Queen gave him a questioning look, obviously confused why the sudden interest in her men.

“Well, I got three boys. Syntax is a weird one that’s for sure, he was human before we turned him into a Spider demon. He has bright neon green hair which is just an eyesore.”

She laughed to herself over that last comment.

“Goliath is-”

“Spider Queen! We gotta Go!”

“Hm, well I’ll tell you more later if you wish. Maybe I’ll have my little green nuisance with me. Stop yelling Monkie Boy I’m coming!”

“Monkey King! We’re gonna crash!”

“I’ve never carried three other people before, give me a minute!”

“If this Monkey can’t figure out how to drive I’m gonna-”

“Stop yelling!”

The four were high in the air, within city borders but Wukong was having a difficult time maintaining balance with three other passengers, the cloud shifting and puffs flying off back into the sky.

“Ok! We’re Landing Here!”

“We’re still high up!”

“Tuck and Roll bud!”

“What!?”

Wukong attempted to pull up but by the time they were closer to land the cloud had given out and left them tumbling across pavement, the few people nearby looking confused and concerned.

Mk, Wukong, Mei and The Spider Queen were on their backs, trying to catch their breaths again after that event . After the initial surprise, the people around started to get back to their routine, someone even stepping over MK.

“Yeah we’re fine. Thanks Megopolis.”

Wukong sat up with a cough.

“Not my proudest moment…”

“Try and drag me on your cloud again and you are dead monkey.”

“Yeah yeah you hate me I get it, but we need to get you a disguise.”

“Is that what that horrendous hoodie is supposed to be?”

“Just get some not queen attire.”

“Oh! Oh! Lemme help!”

MK and Wukong were sat outside a thirst store as Mei dragged Spider Queen in to pick out some better clothes. Only after about half an hour did they finally come back, Spider Queen being dressed in all black with a large hat and a patterned, long skirt.

“Not bad, seems the dragon girl has taste.”

“ You don’t know how long I've waited for another girl in our group.”

With the clothing situation fixed, Spider Queen led them to the place where she met Syntax. A more quiet side of the city, you could look around and feel dwarfed by all the towering buildings around but this small patch of the city felt more like a small village that was never renovated to the extent of the main city.

It wasn’t too run down but it was certainly not modern.

“So your henchmen is here?”

“It’s the place I found the fool, so it might be the best place to start.”

MK was blinded for a split second by a shimmering light, and jogged ahead to observe what it was.

What he found was a gold mine of discarded tech and other materials.

“Woah!”

“Plenty of humans dump their junk here, I’m not complaining though, this place was a huge help in building my mech.”

They wandered through the metal and tech like a maze of metal until they reached a clearing with what looked like a makeshift bench made out of a broken fridge door and a few other undistinguished pieces of scrap.

“I first found him here, ranting to himself about getting fired. Eventually he came here often to collect material or just get away from Huntsman when he was terrorising him.”

“Huntsman?”

“Syntax, Goliath and Huntsman. An irritating bunch but, they work for me.”

“Wait, look!”

Mei pointed to a blue wisp hiding within the metal, quickly disappearing once he knew he was noticed.

“Chase is on! Hang on, bud!”

“Wait!”

A dust cloud and clanging of falling metal is all that they left.

“Stupid Monkeys, we still have the glasses. Well, dragon girl we- why do you look like that.”

Mei was frozen stiff, her gaze looking towards Spider Queen but slightly off to the left. Spider Queen sensed something cold near her side but when she was able to turn to look at it, the ghostly hand was already touching the broken glasses.

A blinding light hit once again.

Chapter Text

Find it,

Keep looking

Just find it.

Macaque hung by his tail enjoying the smell of cooking food, whatever Pigsy was cooking smelled delicious and the sound was just as good. The sizzling of the pan was loud but it felt nice to close your eyes and listen to it. Eventually it turned more into dishes aggressively clanging together, he opened his eyes assuming the food was done but it wasn’t. 

Pigsy was still working on the food but grew more aggressive with each chop of vegetable or stir of the wok. He dropped down from his perch above and strutted over with his hands behind his back.

“Never seen someone cook so aggressively.”

Pigsy only quietly grunted before continuing his work.

“You’ve been in such a mood, weren’t you guys going on a vacation?”

“Yeah well Monkey King wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“There it is.”

Pigsy gave a sour look before turning around, but Macaque just rose up from another shadow when he tried to look away.

“What’s your deal? Seriously you’re never consistent.”

“I said it before, I just do what I see fit.”

“...You know Monkey King right? Known each other for a while?”

“Probably too long but, yeah.”

“Could you tell me what his problem is? I seriously don’t know what goes on in that stupid brain of his. Has he always been that difficult?”

“Eh, not really.”

Macaque got comfy once again.

“He was more of a kid back then, I guess we both were.”

“More childish than he is now?”

“I know right?! The old him was a bit more like MK I guess, naive and always wanting some fun or an adventure. We pissed off so many demons with his little plans.”

“You two were friends?”

“I guess, but good old Wukong always makes strange choices, especially with what he tells people.”

“Yeah, could've avoided a lot of problems if he actually talked to someone, I hate him but at the same time I-, never mind.”

“What?”

“I hate him but the kid still adores him for some reason, so I feel like the one who’s just ruining everything.”

Pigsy finished setting up plates at that last sentence, setting them up on a fold-able table he brought.

“I’m the one who’s always been there for MK, but it’s like he just chooses Monkey King to go to over me and I just don’t understand it .”

Macaque sat himself down with a bowl of noodles.

“I don’t know why you started talking to me about this, I hate him more than you. You wanna team up to mess with him or something?”

“No, I just want the best for MK, and I don’t know what that is anymore.”

“He’s not 6, he can figure out some things on his own.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Monkey King wait!”

“Why? We wanna get this done fast don’t we?”

“But we just left Mei and the Queen!”

“Oh. Right.”

Wukong came to a sudden halt, almost throwing MK off the cloud with his leftover momentum, holding on tight as they sped back to Mei and Spider Queen.

When they came back there was an extra person that wasn’t there when they left, a demon. Bright green hair with white streaks across his bangs and light purple skin, he was groaning on the floor covering his eyes. The girls were also on the floor, seemingly to have already recovered, blinking away any pain.

“ What the hell just happened.”

Syntax spoke, finally taking his hands off his eyes trying his best to stabilise himself as he sat up.

“And why can’t I see?!”

“Oh stop whining.”

  The Queen shifted over and reached out the glasses towards Syntax. He snatched them away with an attitude before putting them on, struggling with the bent arms.

“ Where is the other lens?”

“Just be happy you can see.”

Syntax finally collected himself before sitting up, realising Wukong and two other members of MK’s crew panicked before Spider Queen reassured him there isn’t a fight between them at the moment. They Syntax on the nearby bench and began to explain the situation, hoping he would have an answer.

“Let me get this straight, you’re trying to bring back ghost versions of us with items we have a connection with, just because my Queen sort of helped you once. ”

“Yep!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding, how did we lose to your idioticness multiple times?”

Syntax brushed himself off in an attempt to seem professional again, his hand brushed something in his pocket which, the object seemed unknown to him so he reached in to see what it was. He pulled out a cracked stopwatch, the design made it clear it belonged to the Spider Clan with the metal spider legs wrapping around the sides. Spider Queen took a closer look before questioning.

“Where’d you find that?”

“I don’t remember, but I made this for Goliath months ago-”

There was a clack against the ground, the already beaten up clock made a hard impact against the floor, though not breaking. Syntax’s hand had the similar azure glow and non physical form, the reason the watch fell out of his grasp.

“You’re turning into a ghost again!”

Mei shoved the glasses into Syntax’s face.

“Ow! Watch it!”

Pushing the girl away he took a closer look at his slightly clawed hand, the ghostly blue crept until around his wrist.

“Well that’s just great, am I not connected enough to my glasses or something?! Having good eyesight was the most convenient thing about becoming a demon and I don’t even have that anymore.”

Syntax continued rambling in annoyance with the situation when a light bulb went off in MK’s head.

“I know! You were turned into a Spider Demon.”

“Yeah.”

“You were human!”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have anything from your life as a human that would make you go all ghosty ghost?”

“Eh.”

“What do you mean eh ?! If I got turned into a demon and never saw my family again I would not be eh. ”

“My folks weren’t perfect but certainly not terrible, nothing really notable.”

“ What.”

The family oriented MK had a small crisis but what he said did cause Syntax to think. Syntax grew up as a slight oddball, the nerd in a family of jocks. His parents were average people and his brothers-

…

His brothers.

…

Well shit.

Tang always enjoyed listening to the sizzling of Pigsy’s cooking, but something caught his interest more than the smell. 

Sandy had been out of it for a while, it started after the fight with the Lady Bone Demon. It wasn’t too unusual, it was a lot to deal with so of course most of them had felt strange afterwards. 

Tang had noticed Sandy sneaking off at night during their trip, which wasn’t completely unreasonable since they were on the Flower Fruit Mountain, Tang almost got out to join Sandy but when he had unzipped his tent he saw Sandy just running off. 

Which of course seemed

Odd

Especially considering Sandy called out to someone.

Safe to say Tang couldn’t really sleep for a while.

But, Sandy had disappeared again into the forest somewhere, he was a strong guy so he wasn’t in complete danger. That’s at least what Tang told himself in the meantime.

When he also noticed Macaque and Pigsy talking, ( It seemed more like the monkey was annoying the other demon ) The scholar decided to look for his friend this time, picking himself up from his seat with a hint of determination as he pushed pass bushes and followed a dirt path set through the bushes and trees.

While the scenery was nice he still couldn’t help but wonder why Sandy had 

wandered so far from camp, after about another minute of walking he heard a voice in the distance, through a more dense part of the forest leading towards a cliff side.

“Sandy?”

“Tang!”

Tang startled the river demon so much he swore he could feel a chill down his spine.

“Uh-, what are you doing so far from camp?”

“I came to ask you the same thing, but this cliff side is really nice.”

“YeAh! Just getting some nice time, uh- AloNe!”

“Ok ok, I’ll leave you be. Just checking up on you.”

Nothing to worry about, of course Sandy was fine.

Though Tang didn’t remember Sandy packing a hammock.

Syntax had two brothers when he was human, both attention seeking and stuck up competitors. Didn’t matter the challenge, any physical activity they would try and somehow drag Syntax along with them. 

Syntax was the youngest, the middle son being the one he bickered with the most even though he was more stoic. The eldest was much more lively and always had a new friend he wanted to introduce to him.

Syntax had a normal human life

Syntax was a normal human

Syntax was human

Syntax is a spider demon

Syntax shouldn’t worry about something he cannot change

It wasn’t logical.

“Oh who cares about being logical just knock on the damn door!”

His deep thought was once again interrupted by his Queen, tapped her fingers with impatience.

“You go missing for a year and try to knock on your brother's door!”

He waved his fist but was once again reminded of it’s transparency, knowing if he didn’t do something he was only going to have half of his usual mobility. 

Just knock on the door.

Were they even home?

Did they even care?

He always just fought with his family. It didn't matter if he came back.

Just come back to more arguing.

About eating his food

Stealing his clothes

Taking the TV remote

Invading his personal space

Beating his high score in games

Not being able to have one day without bothering each other.

Not one day 

Without each other.

“Ok, I’ll do it. Just wait for me by the docks or something.”

With the pressure of four people staring at him finally gone, he could finally knock on the door. The tall brownish-gray door eyed him down, maybe the silence was worse.

Just knock

Should he?

No

He won’t

Syntax sighed pathetically as he removed his glasses, choosing to believe the blur in his eyes was because of the lack of corrective lenses. The Spider Demon placed the lime green specs in front of the door, they’d probably be stepped on or brushed aside by the door if it opened but that didn’t matter.

He would leave his old life and stay the person he was now, so a Spider Clan that honestly annoyed him just as much.

Goliath always stole his food

Huntsman somehow breaking every remote he came in contact with

And he swore Goliath would never stop leaning down to look at what Syntax was doing

Huntsman always one-upping him with the Queen

They wouldn’t stop bothering him.

Family huh?

It’s weird

Syntax left without knocking

But he left a note

“Hey the guys are back!”

“Looks like you were successful too, and you are?”

“Syntax, now please tell me what that smell is.”

Being a ghost for a month makes someone very hungry as they found out, Syntax eating most all their leftovers as they discussed more of their plan.

“So, since we have something of Goliath’s we should find him first.”

Would Goliath be his name?

“Are we sure that old thing is going to work?”

Goliath could fit him.

“Best we got since the lair was destroyed.”

Should he leave now to ask or wait?

“ I think I ate too much .”

“You didn’t complain the entire way here about being hungry to complain even more.”

“I’m just gonna take a walk to think over a few theories.”

“Ok drama queen have fun.”

Spider Queen seemed eager to get rid of Syntax before resting her arms behind her, looking up at the sky.

“Hey, Monkey.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah?”

“The king one not you two!”

“What is it?”

“How’s the rain on the island?”

“Eh, depends. Haven’t had a bad storm in a while.”

“Well I think that is gonna be a problem.”

Everyone looked to where the Queen gestured, a dark cloud in the direction of the east side of the mountain. A harsh gale of wind sends more chills through the camp.

“Yikes, that might be a little problem.”

“ Little?”

“I’m sure it’s fine , might wanna grab your friend before it starts though because I don’t wanna hear him complain about being wet.”

Spider Queen, Sandy and MK left to find Syntax, his tracks led towards the beach. A few droplets had been coming down at this point but the demon was spotted down by the shore, he was strangely still with his eyes fixed in the forest.

“Syntax!”

No response.

“Damn brat is ignoring me.”

With a faster pace they were about 10 meters away from the man but at this distance they could see what Syntax was so transfixed on. A ghastly image of a large spider staring back.

“Goliath.”

Goliath wasn’t him.

“The Watch you idiot!”

Syntax scrambled his hands and basically threw them into his pockets, ripping out the Watch and holding it out.

“ What do I do now?!”

“He has to touch it!”

Before Syntax could make a move, a wisp of cold and blue flashed in front of him. Goliath now directly in front of Syntax with little to no room for movement.

The smaller demon let out a started, sound. Though more sizzling sounds started to fill the tense silence. 

The sizzling continued until the realisation made each person present, panic. The sizzling was Goliaths own ghost body melting from the rain. Each drop taking a small sliver of his form.

“What the hell?!”

“Just shove it into him or something quick!”

Syntax did as his Queen, quickly and haphazardly throwing the watch into Goliaths chest. Quickly covering his eyes as the flash came about once again. A large thump to the sand made everyone hesitantly look once again, with Goliath being in his regular form once again.

On top of Syntax.

“BluE guY! HelP!”

Sandy quickly helped Goliath up and sat him against a tree, still being out of it and in pain. Burns stricken across his shoulders and back made him groan in pain.

Sandy came to a haunting realisation.

Rain can hurt ghosts

Water hurts ghosts

Rain could kill a ghost.

Chapter Text

Hunt.

“Damnit!”

A Queen thrashed one of her large legs through bushes, her kingdom had begun not long ago but two trouble-making lowlifes had stolen her crown as a stupid tease.

“How can none of you find it?!”

She had multiple subjects of hers searching through the forest, none of them could even find a trace of the damn bandits that humiliated her. After more nothing from the searches, she felt a tiny touch from behind her trying to get her attention, quickly jolted around and eyed the small spider behind her.

“What.”

The spiderling held up her crown, when he didn’t hear a reaction he peeked around the large helmet and gazed up at her. She was able to see the large coat he was wearing, obviously having to be one of his parents belongings.

“How did you find this?” She questioned that a child was able to do a job multiple adults couldn’t do.

“It had a scent, I found a camp and took it back.”

“Heh, not bad kid. What’s your name?”

“Huntsman.”

The Queen called for one of her subjects, a hunting spider. He had been by her side for years and trusted him enough to show around a new recruit, a strong spider.

“You’re on introduction duty, take him around.”

“Yes my Queen.”

She left the two in the entrance to her castle cavern, Huntsman kept his bow until she was out of sight until he stood himself up and brushed him off.

“So, what’s your name, big guy?”

“Oh! Uh, Goliath, you?”

“Huntsman.”

“Huntsman!”

Syntax yelled at the other spider who wasn’t paying attention, laying in his web hammock.

“Hell! Don’t yell in my ear four eyes!”

“Maybe if you actually heard me I wouldn't have to yell. Now get your ass out here, Queen wants us.”

“Fine, I’ll be right there.”

When the spider finally left and he was free of his eyesore neon green hair he took a minute before getting up. He was one step away from the door until he stopped abruptly.

He pulled out a small tea bag from his pocket, he was mainly purposed for hunting so he was used to the earthy smells of tree bark and dirt. The teabag had a similar earthy scent but was almost refreshing with a hint of seawater-

“Huntsman!”

__________

Huntsman?

Huntsm̶͍̥̉͐̓͊͠an

Ḧ̶̥̹͇̘̦̞͕͔́̐̈͘ū̶̡̗̳̩̟̫͔͎̮͕͕͚͑̽͊̋̿̀͗͐̌̃̕ͅntsm̶͍̥̉͐̓͊͠an!

Ḧ̶̥̹͇̘̦̞͕͔́̐̈͘ū̶̡̗̳̩̟̫͔͎̮͕͕͚͑̽͊̋̿̀͗͐̌̃̕ͅņ̷̨̗͖̣̈́̂͋͆̇̏̐͐͠ẗ̶̡̤̖̬̮̼͍̱̖͕̪̼͚́̈̀́̋̎͋̊͜͝s̷̢̛̮͓̦̗̮̙̟͂̏̀̈̈́͂̄͋̾͗͂͌̊͘m̶͍̥̉͐̓͊͠ą̴̹̼͇͖̘̟̏̿̊̓͋͒̄̔̀͑̀͠͝͠n̶̢͈̞̱̦̞͈̗͇̥̂̾̉̕!

His consciousness had been in and out, sometimes he would be vaguely aware of the world around him. Maybe feel something he touched for a second or two.

Ev̷͚̳͓̝̤͖̤̯͛̏͌̊͝erything se̸̢̤͇͉̣̩͒͑͒̎̒̓͘é̸͓͖͔̰̙̣͖̩̖̦̮̮͎̀͋̌̃̔̍̆̽̇́̾͂͘͜͠med off̷̧̛͈̘͕̤̟̉́́̀̽̿͑̋̌͝

But Huntsman wasn’t awake enough to register what was happening around him.

Nothing, until a burning feeling started to engulf him.

It started as a single sting but grew until he felt as if his whole body was on fire

Ironic

His only thought was to run, to try and escape the unbearable pain.

His body listened to his mind for once.

“Sandy? What’s wrong?”

MK noticed Sandy staring fearfully into the mountains, he was still trying to help up the other large Spider so his hands were occupied.

MK almost fell over when all the weight of Goliath was put onto him, Sandy starting to retreat to the forest.

He was stopped almost immediately, almost bumping into Pigsy who was with the others who came to see what the commotion was.

“Sandy! What’s goin’ on?!”

“Woah, Big guy, what’s the rush?”

Through Pigsy and past Wukong, Sandy threw himself into the forest with Pigsy reaching out to stop him.

“Grab him!”

“ Why , and have you seen that guy?”

“Enough with the stupid jokes- Sandy! The hell is he running for?”

The queen moved closer to help MK with Goliath, the boy thought for a moment.

“Maybe he left something at the camp?”

“The camp is that way .”

Pigsy sternly pointed to the camp, his hand landing right through Wukong.

“And You! Can you take something seriously for one minute and actually help?”

“Pig, stop yelling over there we have better things to worry about.”

It was hard to hear her as the storm got worse, heavy rain hitting the tropical trees of the mountain made a harsh beat half as loud as thunder each time. Spider Queen lifted her damp hair out of her eyes to try and get a bearing of what was going on, stopping her gaze at a singular spot on a mountain edge, a familiar blue glow flashed through rock and tree.

“I know where he’s going.”

“Where?!”

“Huntsman.”

A thousand needles of fire, launched themselves into his skin. Seeping into his body was a burning liquid, Huntsman kept fading in and out of awareness. While he was glad to have some sense of control over himself this was the last thing he wanted. Each step felt like falling through a puddle of magma, the embers splashing up his legs and arms.

His ears started to ring with sounds, the brushing of the leaves he swept up with his fast pace, a voice calling through a storm, winds pushing more waves of fire into his body.

He almost felt like he was breathing, the pain bringing him back alive for each drop of liquid flare that slid down his forearm.

Huntsman exasperated as he lost his footing, the feeling similar to being shoved into a stove, pyres of pain dripped off his face. He was forced to stare himself in the face within a puddle.

…

It’s water.

“I’ll take him, you spiders could get up there quicker.”

Pigsy took Goliaths left side from the royal's arms, urging her to go ahead. Spider Queen, Mei and Syntax took the liberty of going ahead. MK, Tang, Pigsy and Wukong remained with Goliath

“Speaking of speed, you could’ve been up there and back like 8 times already?!”

“Wha- What would I do? The spiders hate me and I have no clue about the blue guy.”

“This little ‘I’m retired’ act is getting real old Monkey.”

“What’s getting old is you yelling at me every 10 minutes over nothing .”

“Nothing?! OH, so leaving your successor with no guidance is nothing?”

“You’re still mad about that?!”

It reached a point where Pigsy and Wukongs voices melded with thunder, the flashes of lightning lighting each others faces with each argument they threw. MK was beginning to lose grip on Goliath as Pigsy was slowing down, the boy looked to Tang for some sort of help but he looked just as lost. Both were stuck as the two men could only yell at each other.

More

And more

Sandy was fast, but god did he wish he was somehow faster, all he needed to do was catch up and try to save him but each slip of mud made it impossible to keep traction.

He still doesn’t even know his name

Why was he so invested on saving him?

Pity?

No.

Something different.

A beacon in the dark shined, other than the brief flashes of lightning there was a stable, soft glow he was able to pinpoint.

He was up at the top of Flower Fruit Mountain, the few must’ve been incredible but the only thing his eyes wanted to see was the spider.

The spider looked horrible, white translucent skin burning off into a horrifying mist of death. 

Endless pins of cold ice, seeping into his body was a chilling feeling. Sandy was relieved to be so near, so close to save him, but he almost felt paralized in his tracks. Each step felt like ice crawled up his spine, the icicles melted and gave nothing but a feeling of cold sap sticking to every part of him

Sandy was a river demon, he felt at home with the sea. This feeling wasn’t the welcome cold of water he liked, the burning pain in his chest felt something similar to frostbite.

No

It felt like Fire.

…

“ Finally .”

Sandy heard a tired voice from behind him, seeing the two spiders and Mei. Their eyes instantly shot to the fourth spider, the last one who needed to be saved. The top of Flower Fruit Mountain, it had it’s famous fruit trees at the entrance to the top but the tip was more of a clearing, a dirt patch surrounded by rocks.

“ Never make me chase you ever again.”

Syntax’s remark was followed by a quick smack to the head by his queen, before she made her way towards her subject, slowly. Sandy still felt frozen, Syntax went with the Queen while Mei went up to Sandy’s side.

Both couldn’t help but stare, nothing to do but hope they had something to bring him back. The Spider Queen crept closer, reaching out to the shivering form of the ghost, he snapped his head to look at her but was startled by the close distance. 

Huntsman lost his balance in the wet ground below him, stumbling backwards to the edge.

Both Sandy and Mei rushed forward, the ghost had four of his spider tendrils latched into the mountain, though they kept slipping in the soft dirt. 

The Queen attempted to pull him up but her hand only swept right through his.

Another hit of thunder quaked their ears, Pigsy and Wukong’s voices continued to blend in with the harsh volume of where they were. MK just wanted it to stop, MK let Tang go up ahead with Goliath while he thought of a way to stop this.

“Pigsy-”

“All you’ve ever done is leave some sort of cryptic message that’s supposed  to teach MK, but you do is confuse him!”

“Monkey Kin-”

“You try and teach a mortal to be an all powerful god, I’d like to see how you’d at least try to ease him into it!”

“But you're not , your lessons don’t help MK. He’s been having to learn the hard way by fighting countless demons!”

“Guys!”

“Not now MK!”

MK didn’t know if it was crackling electricity or the voices in front of him, everything seemed muddled in his mind, so loud it felt silent. He couldn’t choose a side between the two of them, they're both important to MK, how could he?

“Guys-”

He just wanted the yelling to stop .

“PIGSY, MONKEY KING!”

As much as he hated it the only way to enter the ring of fire they had created was to become a part of it himself. The two finally took a moment away from each other to look at the boy, that was when everything around him finally registered in his mind.

From the muddled sounds of everything, he became aware of each and every noise, each drop of rain on the soft mud, wind brushing the trees, the rage induced heartbeat of both Pigsy and Wukong.

“Just Stop , why are you two even fighting right now!”

MK meant to sound loud and commanding to overpower the sound around him, but his voice came out with nothing but desperation . He hated the look of pity both of the men gave him when he registered his own voice in his head.

“I know you hate each other! But I thought for one weekend you might be able to at least coexist! I guess I shouldn't have had hope .”

Water

Maybe MK was a ghost too

Because he just hurt as more and more water streamed down his face

Rain mixed with tears

Thunder mixed with desperation

Pigsy and Wukong felt guilty, MK was simply standing there. Shivering from the cold, anger and betrayal of it all.

" It was my fault, I shouldn't have brought both of you. Just, stop yelling at each other."

His voice was so quiet it left the other two speechless.

" Please. "

Tang and Goliath must've reached the top by now, there was a flash of light but as they awaited the thunder

It didn't appear

What was that light?

“ Damn.”

Syntax attempted to reach for Huntsman with his ghostly hand, not being able to reach. He only tried to lean forward just a tiny bit more . Leaving your life in the hands of mud is a bad tactic. 

Syntax grasped Huntsman, only because he slipped down with him. Spider Queen let out a desperate sound of both surprise and fear as everything felt as if it stopped.

A commanding figure of power and authority

Soaked through with tasteless rain

Hair falling straight to the floor, dripping

Desperately trying to save the few lackeys that stuck with her for so long

How her old self would feel revolted even looking at her now.

She isn’t a Queen

Just a desperate woman holding on to the embers of her pride.

Holding onto Syntax and Huntsman, her mechanical legs were a godsend in this moment, the only things holding the three spiders from a long fall.

“Syntax don’t you dare let go!”

“That’s gonna be difficult!”

She wondered why of all times would his stupid rivalry with Huntsman interfere, but it wasn’t. Steam rose from Syntax’s hand, he was getting hurt in this weather too.

Goliath was only exposed to a small amount of rain compared to Huntsman and he looked terrible. If they stayed out here any longer-

She just needed to get them out .

She gave one more pull, feeling her strength fail her, but something from behind had helped pull both, her Syntax, Huntsman was in a safe area now, still hanging off a ledge but no fear of falling.

“Goliath!”

He gave a small smile before slightly collapsing, beside him was Tang and Mei. Sandy was there, but he was quickly at the edge trying to help Huntsman get up for sure. He reached out to Huntsman and the spider reached back.

“You can’t, your hand is just gonna- WHA?”

Sandy pulled up Huntsman with little issue, Sandy was about to question why Syntax had yelled but as he grasped Huntsmans cold hand, there it was.

The fourth burst of light.

Chapter Text

Stinging

Everything stung like hell.

Huntsman pushed himself up off a soft bed with his right arm, trying to gather himself through confusion and pain.

He looked to be in an average looking bedroom, black curtains blocked his vision from the outside, sun beams illuminated the small amount of dust around the space. The room was mainly black and purple with the decor around it being mostly spider themed, even a small spider trinket on a dresser. The only out of place item being a soft stuffed animal of a blue cat that contrasted the sharp edges and violet colour to the room.

…

Where the hell was he?

In a pathetic attempt to escape, he threw his legs over the edge of the bed only to be greeted by immense pain from under the multitude of bandages on his body.

So many bandages.

Did someone try to mummify him?

He saw his coat hung over the back of a chair, pushed into a desk next to the bed. Reaching out to grab the one thing he recognised, he reached for it, and missed.

Ok.

That’s weird.

Whatever hurt him must've messed up his vision as well because he swore he saw his hand go right through the chair.

His transparent hand.

HIS TRANSPARENT, WHITE HAND.

“What the fuc-”

He stopped midway through his sentence, his voice was already pretty raspy before but it somehow sounded worse, struggling to make a coherent sentence.

The very confused spider used his other, not weird , hand to get his coat which had a few more rips then he remembered.

There was a voice nearby that made his ears ring , a stupid agitating voice couldn’t belong to anyone worse.

Syntax.

Syntax?

Already in enough pain, he did not want to deal with him. After listening for a moment more he was relieved that he wasn’t coming up the stairs. Feeling adventurous he decided to step outside, carefully swinging open the door hoping for no loud creaks. 

The room he occupied was at the end of a hallway, four other rooms along with a staircase was the only thing he could see. The smell didn’t feel out of place, it was similar to the old spider lair. He still heard Syntax somewhere down the stairs, so he decided to get closer to properly observe what was happening. Stopping about halfway down the stars, he was able to see through the banister to Syntax at a kitchen table surrounded by a mountain of paper and books.

His hair was tied back, head buried in a laptop while looking back and forth between three different old looking books. Goliath was there too, handing him a plate of toast that was brushed away by Syntax’s hand.

“How hard is it to create a cure from scratch? Like seriously how has nobody tried to cure a thought to be permanent change before?!”

“Maybe you should take a break?”

“Yeah well it’s either this or checking on Sleeping Beauty, I choose this.”

If the ‘sleeping beauty’ in question was him, Huntsman was totally going to punch that four eyed motherfu-

“Syntax!”

A female voice came from behind him on the stairs, startling him with the sudden volume, he felt himself fall. He expected to fall down the stairs but he fell backwards, through the wall landing onto the concrete of a small alley. 

He looked where he came from with a small gasp, the house he was in seemed to be a townhouse within the city. Shaking off the pain from falling a good two stories down he stood up with a small limp.

Seeing the rush of people walking by, he really didn’t wanna deal with anyone right now.  He walked deeper into the alley, not seeing a blue figure walk by to where he just left.

“Syntax!”

“Ugh- Yeah?!”

“Where the hell is Huntsman!”

“What do you mean?!”

“He’s not in his room!”

“No!”

“Did he phase through the floor again?!”

All three of them quickly went to investigate the living room, which was under Huntsman’s room. He had phased through the floor before but he wasn’t there this time.

“Well I’m out of ideas, have fun.”

Syntax tried to walk away but his Queen grabbed him by his collar.

“Nu uh, you are helping.”

“I’m busy .”

“Well you better hope we find him quick!”

“Uh, hello?”

A soft voice interrupted the sharp tongues of the Spiders, Sandy had just walked in the door and was confused what the commission was, as the Spider Demon’s new house had been mostly quiet for the past two months.

“Hi Sandy.”

“Goliath, what’s happening?”

“We uh, ʷᵉ ˡᵒˢᵗ ʰᶦᵐ.”

“You what?”

“ We lost Huntsman.”

“ WHA-”

Going to the old lair was a terrible idea, the only thing he got from there was scrapes on his legs from tripping over a pipe.

It felt strange to be there, everything destroyed. It was his home, but everything was just gone , the humans above none the wiser to their existence.

Huntsman didn’t have strong feelings either way about being a Demon, just how it was for him and how it always will be. Some demons didn’t have it as rough as he did, maybe because they look as rough as he did. For some reason that reminded him of that blue guy again-

“AGHHH!”

He kicked an empty can, hearing the echo of it hitting a wall a few seconds after.

Why couldn’t he get that stupid guy out of his head, any time he felt some sort of comfort his mind went back to a fight where his enemy offered him tea .

Who does that?!

What does he even do now?

He thought he was dead after the whole ordeal with that Lady Bone- whatever she was.

He almost felt fine with death, if he lived what was he going to do? Keep committing petty attempts at taking over the city for some lost vision of his Queen, actually atone for his actions? 

That doesn’t suit him

He knows that

The blue guy was a fighter back in the day, he doesn’t seem like one but that’s what a few other demons told him. Did he atone , bet better? How do people even word going from nothing but a fighting machine to some guy who likes tea

There he goes again thinking about him.

He needs to get out of this sewer.

Things at Pigsy’s had been 

Awkward

A lot of stuff was done and said that night.

A lot of stuff has been avoided ever since.

Tang wasn’t there, but he knew something was up, with MK especially.

The last time he didn’t pry on someone he turned out to be hiding a ghost.

He should talk to MK.

Tang knocked on the door, hoping for an answer.

“MK?”

“...”

“I’m just worried, y’know?”

“...”

“I know something happened back at the mountain, I just want you to know.”

“...”

“We can talk about it? Or I can help you talk with Pigsy, or Monkey King.”

“...”

“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

He was starting to feel ignored, but just as he backed away from the door he heard it click, MK poking his head through. Tang smiled.

“ Do you wanna talk about it?”

“yeah.”

“Hey.”

A voice from behind Pigsy startled him, whipping around to see exactly who he thought that voice belonged to.

“ Hi?”

Wukong sounded, friendly? Pigsy couldn’t tell with the dry tone he used, even more confused because they haven’t talked since-

Haven’t talked since MK snapped at them.

“Why are you here? You want something?”

“Noodles, as plain as you can make ‘em.”

Not what Pigsy meant but seems like he has money.

“Plain? What? The king doesn’t want anything extravagant?”

“Nope.”

Pigsy expected more of a reaction, but Wukong had money so he had to real reason to deny his order.

Aside from the fact he let his kid face a-

No more demon talk.

Just

Noodles.

Wukong was patient, he sat in one of the stools directly in front of Pigsy’s station. Each clang of the pans was almost soothing as he waited. After a short wait Pigsy served up the plainest noodles he could make, nothing but slightly flavored broth and noodles.

Neither Pigsy or Wukong said a word for a good 5 minutes as they each did their own thing, eating, while the chef cleaned a few dishes. After a minute Pigsy noticed the monkey stopped eating with a good portion still in his bowl.

“What, they ain’t good or something?”

“No, they’re good.”

Just like he remembered .

“I know you didn’t come all this way for noodles from me , we both know why you’re here.”

Wukong looked between him and the bowl before sighing under his breath.

“I don’t want MK to stress just because we don’t like each other.”

The pig couldn’t think of anything to say, he looked away in guilt, knowing both of them were in the wrong. Wukong took another bite of his meal.

“Macaque told me a bit about you.”

“Oh boy.”

“He said you were more like MK, ‘back then’, I guess he meant when you were?”

“With Tripitaka, yeah.”

“So what happened?”

“It’s been what, at least 800 years? Maybe closer to 1000.”


“Since what?”

“...”

“Since?”

“I’m immortal.”

“Yeah.”

“My friends weren’t.”

“...”

“It shouldn’t be an excuse, I should be focused on the kid and not-, not them…”

"..."

“You’re done with your noodles.”

Wukong only stared at his empty bowl.

“You want more?”

“No, maybe later.”

“Pigsy? Monkey King?”

MK, he had just stepped down from the stairs, confused to see the two. He looked like he had been crying, Tang had his hand on the kids back in a comforting way, just as surprised as him. 

“Hey bud! I should’ve had some earlier, this guy can really cook!”

Wukong held up his bowl in a celebratory way, his somber tone gone in an instant once MK showed up.

“I-, you-”

“Yeah I know, I know I haven’t been around- BUT! We gotta make up for lost time shouldn’t we? Now, what are the Spider Demons up to, they got a place in the city didn’t they?”

“They did but- Pigsy?”

The boy felt like it was information overload on Wukong’s part, so he looked to Pigsy for some sort of explanation.

“It’s alright kid, don’t worry about it anymore ‘kay?”

MK looked up with a dopey grin on his face, running over to both of them.

“What’d you get?”

“This guy likes the plainest noodles I’ve ever seen, I don’t understand how he enjoyed that.”

“Hey! Do you want me to take back my compliment?”

They were getting along, all three of them. Tang was about to join in with his extensive knowledge of Pigsy’s cooking when he felt a buzzing in his pocket. 

“Hello?”

“Lost who? Sandy what are you talking about?!”

“WHAT!”

“Mr. Tang, is everything okay?”

“They lost him!”

“Lost who?!”

“The ghost, spider guy, they can’t find him!”

The breeze of the ocean made him chill and his breath was cold, he had been wandering around for so long the sky had begun turning orange. The fur on his coat waved in his face, annoying him more and more each second.

His left arm was still weird , he couldn’t grab or even rest it on anything. He had it in his pocket, but he mostly held it up hovering in his coat. 

Everything smelled like the ocean, he went to the docs, what was he expecting? Maybe to see that demon again-

Can he stop thinking about that guy for one second?

And when could he throw this stupid thing out.

He still had the teabag, a little cartoony face of the demon that looked to be hand drawn. It was a stupid bag with dead leaves inside it, it meant nothing. 

He’s kept it for months now

Tucked away in a pocket

Huntsman gave up trying to throw it out, he just listened to his footsteps on the wooden docks, glad his legs weren’t ghosty like his arm. He wondered if he’d fall through the wood and into the water. 

He tripped himself up on a loose board on the dock, fucking safety hazard . He still had bandages covering half his face and down his neck.

 He needed to get these off.

He stumbled down on a lowered part of the docks and behind one of the ships, he took off his coat and shivered. Hoping he’d get this done quickly, he set his coat beside him and tried to find the start to the wrap.

It had to be the most awkward spot behind his back, pulling the clip he felt most of the bandage go slack. After getting most of it off he finally pulled off the part around his face, the sun was bright in his eyes, he blinked away the sting.

He threw the pile of old bandages to the side maybe a bit too harshly, he turned away just to hear of sliding fabric. When he looked back he was too late to grab his coat from falling into the sea below.

“Shit!”

He reached for it, missing it’s slide down the edge of the dock he reached his hand into the water and instantly felt it burn. He made a cry of pain louder than he would’ve preferred, he was trying to stay hidden.

Huntsman used his other hand to pull out the now sopping wet jacket and tried to think of something. He was already cold-blooded, this wasn’t helping at all .

Warmth

He needed to find warmth.

But the sun was starting to set.

He might as well use it while he still can.

Huntsman felt like he wobbled his way off the dock, starting to shiver. He found a good spot away from the boats beside a few storage containers that faced the ocean.

He wanted to stare into the sun hoping that would make him warmer, it just made his eyes hurt as he looked to the calm waves below.

Water

He wasn’t in the mood for a swim

The shimmering waves gave him an uneasy feeling

Dread

For if he were to fall in

He leaned back on the cold iron of the container, it stung only for a second before his little body heat was able to make the small part he leaned on a bearable temperature. 

His mind was elsewhere, he tried to focus on his breath, which was now visible with a fog in front of his fangs.

The ghost heard a sound from somewhere, he couldn’t quite pinpoint where it came from. He tried to focus on where it was, closing his eyes while his ear twitched.

He heard something more clear from behind him, but not before there was a hand on his shoulder.

Huntsman instantly tensed and threw himself back away from the intruder, he found himself almost horizontal over the edge of the platform he was on.

With the water below

Whoever startled him had him by the wrist, in a panic he did summon his spider legs that clung to the edge with a vice grip. Noticing now that one of his legs had the white sheen as his arm did.

“You!”

“I- Huh?!”

It was him.

That stupid river demon.

He had this dopey grin on his face, looking as if he had been running, out of breath. For once he was actually wearing something other than only sweatpants, some sort of pink tracksuit.

 

“The hell are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you everywhere!”

“Well don’t, and let go of me.”

Huntsman lightly slipped his hand out of the others grip, his hands had a soft fuzz to them unlike the blue scales of the other demon.

There was a shiver that was audible in his voice, despite how warm everything looked he couldn’t feel colder. 

The ghost threw himself back onto the crate with a huff, followed by an awkward silence with the shuffling of the intruder sitting down. Huntsman looked at him confused as he was sitting way too formal.

Even if only a minute or two passed with a silence between the two if felt like forever. Huntsman shivering more and more each second.

“Do you wanna borrow my coat?”

“Of course not, why would I?”

Even with the protest, a piece of cloth was quickly placed over his shoulders.

“Hey!”

“You’re cold.”

“You’re shirtless!”

“You’re cold blooded.”

“UGH!”

As much as he hated to admit it.

He really needed this jacket.

Huntsman felt he was able to speak without his voice quivering from the breeze.

“So.”

“Hm?”

“Why are you here? You said you were looking for me.”

“Oh, right. Your friends were worried about you.”

“My clan wondered where I was so you ran across town looking for me?”

“That sounds kinda crazy huh?”

“I meant that as a joke- did you actually check all over town?!”

The bearded man only let out a guilty chuckle looking away with Huntsman still baffled.

“Jeez, you and your little Monkey crew are all crazy.”

Huntsman expected a response, when nothing was said he looked back to see that dopey grin had once again crawled up his scaled face. 

“What’s that look for?”

“I’m just, happy.”

“About what?”

“You don’t know how long you were out do you?”

The spider only gave a small “hm” to confirm.

“It’s been almost a month since the whole thing on Monkey King’s island, do you remember that?”

“Not really, it’s kinda fuzzy. But, I do remember you.”

“You do?”

“It all feels stupid distorted, I think I remember seeing you dumb face a few time.”

“Well that’s good.”

He completely ignored the casual insult thrown in the sentence.

“How’s your, y’know, injuries?”

“ Things phase through my hand. ”

“Ok, so not good.”

Huntsman gave a defeated sigh before turning his attention back to the scenery. 

“Oh right!”

The spider looked back over, as the other demon started rummaging through his bags pulling out something small that was able to fit in the palm of his hand.

“The hell is that?”

“Tea! Well, just the bag but, you had it. You kept it.”

“That? I just, uh.”


He totally forgot he had that.

He tried to throw it away a few times, but he just held on to it.

What kind of weirdo keeps a teabag in his pocket.

Who got defensive when Syntax tried to throw it out.

His jacket smells like Chamomile.

“I wanted to, give it back.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, what about it?”









“Are you really a bad guy?”

“I work for my Queen.”

“Your Queen comes to my boat at least 4 times a week to watch tv.”

"..."

“You don’t need to fight anymore.”

“What are you going on about now.”

“I was a lot like you.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I kept fighting and fighting for, years . I think the worst part is I didn’t see a problem for a long time .”

“...”

“Your friends are starting to see, they’re trying to change like I did, like you could do.”

“...”

“You don’t have to fight.”

“...”

Happy endings don’t suit Huntsman.

Sandy raised his hand like he was encouraging hand shake, Huntsman gave him a confused look but the river demon just smiled even more.

“Sandy.”

Sandy?

Oh.

He never learned this guy’s name did he?

The spider sighed before returning the gesture.

“Huntsman.”

Maybe they could.