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Chapter Text

Iron Fan raced to through the forest. The wind assisting her as she made her way through, she didn't care that her dress was getting caught in branches, how her hair was getting messed up, how tears were falling down her face in streams, or how mud was clinging to her shoes from the rain.

She didn't care.

She only had one goal in mind: To get to her brother.

She was panting by the time the wind seemed to stop pushing her so vigorously, slowing to a gentle pull. She was panting as she ran to the clearing, scanning the trees for signs of her little brother.

And there he was. 

She gasped when she finally saw him. Her little brother.

He was lying in a pool of his own blood on the forest floor. His chest wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing anymore. He was already dead. And she wasn't there for him.

"No, no, no- no! Macaque, come on, please! I'm here, I'm here! Please, I'm here!" She cried out as she fell to her knees, not caring about the mud now sticking to her.

"Jiejie is here, Mihou.." She sobs as she crawls over to him.

"Mihou.." She gently picks his head off the ground, cradling him in her arms.

"Mihou.." She sobs as she runs her fingers through his hair, his hair that was caked with his blood, the same hair he used to make sure was kept as clean as possible...

She pulled her hand back and looked at it, it was soaked red from blood and had specs of dirt on it. She couldn't help but cry harder. 

Her little brother.. Her lovely little brother..

She hugged him close, as close as she could and cried out to the world for taking her little brother.

"Why!" She sobbed out, she could faintly hear her husband come out from the behind her.

She could barely hear him whisper her brothers name in shock.

"Please, don't take him away from me! Not my Mihou! Not my didi!" She choked on her sobs as she looked at her brothers face.

The gashes that spread on his face like cracks in a broken mirror, his missing eye socket, she took in all of him. And it only fueled her anger and sadness more.

She sobbed for the loss of her little brother.

Her husband slowly came up to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. His heart broke at the loss of a sworn brother, but it broke more to see the love of his life sobbing her heart out.

Iron Fan is the strongest woman he knew, he knew how strong and brave she was, how strong her iron walls are, and he's seen her soft heart.

But he'd never seen her cry this way. He'd never seen this side of her, and he knows for a fact that he never wants to again. He never wants to hear her sobs of sorrow again. Not if he can help it.

"My love.." He starts slowly. "You have to get up." He urges.

She shakes her head, refusing to move away from her little brother's body. She continues to sob, her face blotchy and red, her makeup and hair ruined from the rain.

It hurt to see her so fragile, so vulnerable. But he felt honored that she let him be so close to her during such a sad time. 

Dbk embraced his wife. He was never a man for comforting words, that was always Macaque's expertise. It hurt to see such a good person lying dead before you.

He didn't know what to say, or where to start, or if he should even say anything in the forst place. So he decided to instead just stay there. To be a stable presence for his wife and not say anything. 

It seemes to be the correct choice because after a few minutes Iron Fan stopped crying and leaned against him, her brother's body still clutched in her arms.

"My love.." Dbk started again, lower this time.

"I know." She sniffled.

"He was a fine warrior." He said gently.

"I know.." She whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry.." He whispered.

"Me too."

.

A funeral was held. And Macaque got to be buried in the personal garden of the demon couple. Iron Fan planted a mango tree in the garden to commemorate her lost brother and continued to mourn his loss.

She tended to the garden everyday, with the help of her husband because for some reason she killed just about every plant she touched.

During this period of mourning their reign of their territories were sharp and problems were dealt with quickly. The court had no objections to the terrifying pair.

However, rumors and stories about Wukong and his group's journey to the west became more frequent. It angered Iron Fan. 

She was in the bathroom. She was trying to calm herself down. She had excused herself from a political party because she kept hearing people talk on and on about 'Sun Wukong this' and 'Sun Wukong that'.

She hated hearing about that monkey going on heroic journeys and living his best life after he just ruined hers. It's like he didn't give a shit about her little brother's death. 

About his own husband's death!

Her fingers dug into the counter she was leaning on. 

She sworn to avenge her brother. To avenge Liu'er Mihou, her dearest little brother.

"Sun Wukong, you may be many times immortal, but as Buddha as my witness, I will get my vengeance." She hissed as she punched the mirror she was glaring at.

And with that, she sharply turned away and walked back to the ball room full of guests.

.

"Ah-choo!" Wukong sneezed hard. He sniffled a bit before rubbing his nose.

"Oooh. Looks like someone's talking about you again." Ao Lie said with a cheeky smirk.

"Yeah, probably cursing you out!" Zhu Bajie shouted.

Sun Wukong rolled his eyes. "Ha.Ha.Ha. Very funny, Bajie. You're so creative."

Zhu Bajie grunted, probably cursing him under his breath.

Then a shiver ran down Wukong's spine. He shook himself and pat down the hair that stood on end back down. 

He heared Ao Lie gasp. He turned his head with a raised eyebrow to look at the dragon.

"What?" Wukong asked.

"You just sneezed AND got a shiver!" He said, pointing at Wukong with a finger.

"So?"

"That means someone definitely put a curse on you!" Ao Lie said.

Wukong looked at him incredulously. Then looked at him with concern in his eyes.

"Ao Lie, buddy, how long have you been sticking your head in water to look at the fish? I think the sea water is making your brain a little funny." Wukong said with a lopsided smile. 

Ao Lie looked at him for a few seconds, just blinking.

And then he blasted Wukong with a beam as Tripitaka shouted at him to stop.

Chapter Text

It's cold.

Dark.

And smells of misery and despair.

The only sounds being the screams of anguish and terror as the occupants are ripped apart to make way for a new, clean slate for their next life. 

The first few hours in _____ for Macaque was spent screaming curses at Wukong. Calling him names, telling him he hopes he never finds love and if he does he hopes they die miserably while he can only watch as it happens.

After a while he settled and simply waited to be ripped apart into nothing. He spent his time staring holes into the ground as his mind replayed how he died on loop, pitifully. 

Macaque huffed. He didn't know how long he had been in the underworld. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, years, centuries, a milenium. He didn't know how time worked here compared to the overworld.

The only thing he knew was that the air was dense with misery and death.

And the tight feeling of cold metal chains digging into his skin was starting to drive him nuts. The sound of someone approaching you..wait, approaching?

Macaque looked up.

A woman dressed in white and pale blues with long, flowing hair was standing before him. Hands tucked together nicely in a show of elegance and grace with a sweet smile on her face. Yet her eyes spoke of cold and viscous cruelty. 

"The Six-Eared Macaque, yes?" She asked him.

Her voice was like honey mixed with poison. Sweet but it had a bite to it that one would miss if not careful. 

But something like that would never escape Macaque's ears.

He looked at her as best he could before he responded. 

"What do you want?" He said bluntly. 

The woman's brow lifted as she looked at him with faux confusion. 

Did this woman think he was stupid? He knows what a goddess looks like, and he definitely knows what the goddess of mercy looks like too.

"If you're here then you obviously want something from me. It's obvious in the way you present yourself." Macaque said with an irritated huff.

"And if you're going to ask me to use my ears to listen into the future then you'll be disappointed to know that my ears do not work that way. That was merely an exaggeration from others." He said as he let his head hang low once more.

The woman chuckled a bit, much to Macaque's irritation. 

"I have no intention of asking for something like that." She told him.

"So you do want something." He said as he looked back up at her.

She hummed and raised her hand to tap her cheek as if in thought.

"Yes. I want to make a deal with you." She said as she folded her hands together again.

Macaque let himself go limp with the lack of interest in her words.

"I will free you from here," Macaque's head shot up at her words, "all you have to do is free my body from my grave in the mortal plain." She said to him with an eerie smile.

Macaque looked at her with wide eyes. A glimmer of hope presenting itself to him, a chance of freedom so close he can taste it. He just had to reach a little farther and then-

An image of Sun Wukong filled his head.

The blood-orange eyes that were burned from a fire, an injury fuelled by the hatred of others, and the anger that was placed on him by the person he trusted the most.

Macaque was filled with hatred and sorrow, the bitter feelings that followed him to the grave.

The woman saw this change and her smile grew.

"Of course, I understand you might be afraid of going back there. Back into the unknown, back to the person who promised he would love you and only you for the rest of eternity." She said as she got closer to him.

She circled around Macaque like a snake circling it's next meal. Waiting to go in for the kill, the final strike that will have the prey in its clutches.

"After all, it must be so hard for you to have gone through such a loss. Or should I say, losses?" She asked with false curiosity. 

Macaque looked up at her.

"What do you mean?" He asked her.

"Oh. I guess that means you don't know? Well, I guess there is no way for you to find out since you're down here.." She mumbled to herself as she walked to the side of him.

Macaque started to panic, trying to turn despite the pain of the chains digging into his skin.

"What? What happened!" He asked with a little more- desperation- urgency.

"Well," She started as she came up from behind Macaque, "last I heard, Sun Wukong doesn't have a son. In fact, I heard he claims to never have had a son in the first place." She said with a smile Macaque couldn't see.

Macaque's heart dropped. The air got much colder all too fast, the air seemed to be leaving his lungs without refilling them.

Macaque looked back down to the floor. His body started shaking, the feeling of sorrow swallowing him whole as he felt the sting of tears start to form.

The doubt that Wukong, his husband, would do anything to their one and only son, who they cherished so dearly, crushed.

The hole in his heart seemingly growing.

"Yes, I also heard that he's still traveling around and protecting his precious humans, instead of returning to his people." She said into his ears.

Macaque felt hot tears roll down his cheeks slowly, agonizingly. 

"The humans call him a hero," she said in a sing song voice, "they praise him, and worship him like a god." Her words reverberated through the still air.

Her predatory smile on full display as she watched the monkey before her form a look of defeat, trying to comprehend what he thought would never happen. Like a beautiful withered flower.

She would have to thank that idiot King for being so painfully predictable. 

She watched as Macaque's heart bubbled with resentment and mix with sorrow.

Once you make the wound...

"I will come back to recieve your answer." She said as she turned to walk away from the shadow demon.

...you must let it fester.

"I hope you think very carefully about our deal." She said with a smile and finally taking her leave.

Macaque listenes as the woman's steps faded into the distance. Leaving him to drown in his grief, sorrow, and anger.

"Surely she was mistaken. There was no way Wukong would do such a thing! He loves Xiaotian just as much as I do!" He tried to reason with himself.

'But you also thought he loved you.' He heard one of his shadows hiss.

'And yet look at you. Sealed away here in the underworld, chained with those trapped in the cycle of reincarnation.' Two hissed angrily. 

'And by who?' The shadows asked in unison. 

'By the one who swore he would love you for all eternity.' Another answered angrily. 

Being reminded of what the mysterious woman said again formed a pit in Macaque's stomach.

"But- But he's our child!" Macaque shouted in a weak attempt at reasoning.

But was more for him to hear than the shadows he was trying to reason with.

Though he did wonder how they were able to speak to him so clearly. 

"Your answer." Her cold voice demands. 

"I accept."

"Good." She smiles wickedly as the air starts to go below freezing temperatures.

Anger 

Blood

Darkness

Pain

A voice

Freedom.

The smell of dirt fills Macaque's senses as he claws his way out of the ground. The smell of fresh air and the slight breeze in the wind giving him a new found vigor.

Gasping as he finally got to fill his once empty lungs with air. He pulls himself up and out of the ground with slight struggle.

Macaque laughs in disbelief as he takes in where he was. It was a garden, with purple and red flowers all neatly together. A mango and plum tree proudly standing tall above him.

He turned around to see a gravestone in pristine condition. With his name on it.

It was his grave.

A small part of Macaque felt moved at the thought of someone having buried him. Another part mourned for whoever cared enough about him to have made him a grave in a garden.

The sound of heavy porcelain shattering on the ground mixed with water caught Macaque's attention. He whipped around to be face to face with Tieshan. His sister.

His older sister. The one who was always there for him no matter what.

Now that he thinks more about it, he was wearing her symbol and colors, and it was the exact garden that they had planted together that he was in. It would make sense that she was here.

She was the one that gave him a proper burial.

She looked just as he remembered. Her hair up, her lipstick the color of blood, and dressed in a red dress with only the finest gold jewelry. 

Yes, this was his JieJie.

He could even hear her familiar heartbeat. A heartbeat that he found himself longing to hear when he was in the underworld. 

She was shaking, and she was crying, her hands went up to cover her mouth as she stared at Macaque in shock. 

She probably didn't believe he was alive, Macaque didn't blame her.

"Mihou.." She whispered so quietly, almost as if she were afraid he would disappear if she spoke to loudly.

Macaque gave her a gentle smile ad he, too, started to cry.

"..I'm back.."

.

Iron Fan runs over to him and tackles Macaque into a hug.

"Didi, I thought I lost you forever!" She sobbed out, her arms squeezing Macaque's middle.

"Jiejie, you're going to kill me again if you don't losses your grip!" Macaque struggled to say.

Iron Fan stopped squeezing him and Macaque took in a deep breath. He savored the sweet fresh air of the garden and smiled up at his sister.

"It's nice to see you, too, though! I missed you a lot!" Macaque chirped.

Iron Fan smiled, then her face got all scary as she stared down at her little brother. Macaque dropped his smile instantly and struggled to suppress a shiver.

"Jiejie..let's talk about this.." Macaque tried to reason.

.

Dbk came running into the garden at the sounds of his wife shouting. He knew she could take care of herself, which is why he didn't go to her immediately when he heard the smash of porcelain. 

But when his wife started yelling with an angry tone, that's when it becomes a serious problem.

He rushes into the garden, weapon in hand, ready to assist his wife with whatever was troubling her, even if it was a small critter that annoyed her.

Only to see a very much alive Macaque cowering in fear, shouting apology after apology as his beloved wife shouted and screamed at him for having died.

"How could you worry your older sister like that!? You almost gave me a heart attack when you died! Do you know how worried I was?!? I thought I would never see you again!" She shouted as she hit Macaque with her folded giant fan.

"I said I'm sorry! I didn't mean to die!" Macaque pleaded as he blocked his head from the oncoming blows of her fan.

He continued to stand there, in complete shock of the scene playing out before his very own eyes.

His brother-in-law, who he saw dead, was now very much alive and receiving a beating from his wife, who cried and cursed the man who killed her brother.

"My love, what.." He made a gesture to the two. "Is happening right now?"

She stopped her Fan, mere inches away from hitting brother, and turned to look at Dbk.

Dbk was looking at Macaque with confusion. "I thought you died?"

Macaque shrugged from his spot on the ground. "I got better?"

Dbk could feel sweat starting to form at the base of his neck as his wife stared daggers at him. 

After a few minutes, Iron Fan sighed, hit Macaque upside the heade, and put her fan down. Macaque unfurled from his..spot? And looked up at Dbk.

Dbk inhaled slightly as he saw the new scars that littered Macaque's face and neck. But the most prominent being the huge scar that cover most of the right side of his face.

"Well, dear husband," Iron Fan started, as if nothing happened, "I don't know. I was coming to water the plants, as per usual, when I saw Macaque claw himself out of his grave. I didn't know if I was imagining anything so I started to hit him with my fan." She said matter-of-factly. 

They both turned to Macaque with expectant eyes.

Macaque looked between the two of them before sighing. He then explained that he had made a deal with a lady so he could bring her back to life. In turn, he had to tell her one thing from the future.

Which was a lie, but they didn't know that.

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Dbk asked Macaque with a worried look.

"No, it's not. Not really. The future is always changing, one little tiny piece of a big puzzle can't complete the whole puzzle." Macaque told him.

Iron Fan sighed as she shook her head. "That demoness must be rather ambitious. I can only hope that she doesn't get all the pieces to her puzzle."

Macaque chuckled. "So," he clapped his hand, "when are you going to introduce me to the little guy?" Macaque asked.

The demon couple looked at each other with confusion before turning back to Macaque. 

"What little guy?" Dbk asked.

Now it was Macaque's turn to be confused. "My nephew? Or niece, im not sure what gender they are yet.." 

"What child?" Iron Fan asked.

Macaque chuckled nervously. "Jiejie, my nephew/niece? Your child? I can hear their heartbeat even now-" Macaque cut himself off with a gasp.

Slowly the couple started to realize what that meant as well.

"I'm pregnant." Iron Fan said as she looked down at her stomach with surprise.

"We're going to be parents!" Dbk shouted happily as he embraced his wife, kissing her and putting her on his shoulder.

He picked up Macaque, too and placed him on his other shoulder.

"Brother-in-law, I'm going to be a father!" He exclaimed with a wide smile.

"And im going to be an uncle!" Macaque laughed with him.

"I'm going to be a mother!" Iron Fan smiled wide as she gently rubbed her stomach.

"This calls for a celebration!" Dbk shouts.

That night, a huge party was thrown with every demon in the IronBull territory invited to celebrate the good news.