#checks time

The girl’s laugh rings in his ears, blue wisps cloud the edges of his vision. There’s a piercing pang in his head and tight, restricting pressure on his neck. Macaque feels like he’s being watched. Like he’s back in that stone-cold cell with his back pressed against the wall, indulging a scared little girl with idle conversation.

Heavens, he can still hear her every sob, every watery laugh, every desperate, pleading whisper, telling him to promise, promise that you’ll take me with you—

A tree root catches him by the foot, and Macaque falls flat on his face. Blood bursts from his lip. Blue flickers all around him, an icy chill runs down his spine. Macaque curls in on himself, waiting for it to stop. Waiting for the others to find him already. Where are they? The sky is dark and the moon slowly rises to replace the sun, and he hasn’t found them yet. He should have found them by now—

“Why would they want to find a liar like you?” The girl asks from behind a stone wall. Anger drips from the seemingly innocent question.

Macaque screams at her, swiping a ring of violet magic through the air. Trees bend and fall in the face of his anger, but the girl doesn’t even flinch.

“Well, I guess there’s one thing that we still have in common, Six Ear.” Her laugh is shaky and filled with tears. “Neither of us will be missed!”

Bai He’s watery laugh edges dangerously towards hysterics. Then suddenly she’s sobbing and screaming, her voice grows raw, and yet she still shrieks. Macaque covers his ears as if that would block out the voice in his head.

Because it had to be in his head, it had to be. That’s all the Lady Bone Demon could do. That’s all she was. Just a bunch of old bones and whispers and blue, blue, blue—

“You promised! ” Bai He shouts, pounding at the stone wall separating them. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me alone! You’re a liar, Six Ear! I hate you! ”

Macaque digs his claws into his ears, trying desperately to block out the girl's enraged voice. Vines crawl up his arms and legs and wrap tightly around him, and Macaque lets it happen, too focused on Bai He’s continued shout of “I hate you!”

The Lady Bone Demon laughs, and Bai He’s sobs turn into pained, terrified screams.

“You drive everyone away eventually, Macaque.” She whispers, placing a cold hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her. “Soon everyone will realize that you shatter every promise, that you corrupt the brightest souls. Those who do remember your pitiful existence will call you a fake, a shadow, a mistake. You are nothing. And you will die that way, M—“

“Macaque?”

Opening his eyes--when had he closed them?--Macaque just barely stops himself from lashing out with shadow magic when he catches sight of MK, crouching in front of him.

“Are you okay?” MK asks. "We've been looking everywhere for you." The kid's face softens into something akin to understanding as Macaque looks around, taking in the bright, vine-less forest. Red Son stands off to the side, watching the exchange with cautious concern.

The voices are silent, but the blue still clings to the edges of his vision. Macaque blinks, tears falling unbidden from his eyes.

Surprise flickers across MK’s face before he schools his expression and slowly places his hand on Macaque’s shoulder. He pulls away quickly at the demon monkeys flinch. “...whatever you saw, whatever the forest did, It wasn't real.” He tells him firmly. “Trust me, I know.”

Trust me.

You corrupt the brightest souls.

I hate you!

Furiously wiping away his tears, Macaque silently moves to stand, Mk sighs and slots himself next to him, taking a bit of weight off of Macaques injured leg.

The moon rests high in the sky by the time they regroup with the others. Pigsy grumbles about infection as he goes to grab the first aid kit, and Wukong practically tackles his successor. Red Son, who neatly side-stepped the tackle-hug, laughs until he’s pulled in by Wukong’s tail.

Macaque gingerly lowers himself to the floor, his wounded leg stretched out in front of him. He leans his head back against the ship's railing and focuses on the others voices instead of the ones trapped in his head.

He tenses up when he hears Pigsy approaching with a first aid kit in tow.

“No,” Macaque says, tiredly. He shifts away from Pigsy, his fur bristled.

“Ah-ah, don’t give me the immortal shtick." Pigsy huffs, mistaking Macaque’s uneasiness for his usual stubbornness. The pig demon crouches down in front of Macaque, setting out the supplies, he reaches for his injured leg. “You should at least clean it--”

“I said no!” Macaque snaps, pulling his leg close to his chest. He immediately hisses in pain as the wound flares up.

The idle chatter around him stops at his outburst, everyone turning to stare at him. Pigsy’s eyes widen in shock, nevertheless, he pushes himself up and walks away, grumbling under his breath. He leaves the first aid kit behind.

You drive everyone away eventually, Macaque.

“...Why don’t you guys start dinner? I’ll be down in a moment.” Wukong suggests, pushing Mk and his friends below deck. The kid lingers for a moment before disappearing down the steps.

And then Wukong is sitting down right next to him. Reaching for the first aid kit, he sets to work untying Macaque’s scarf from around his leg and cleaning up the wound. He frowns as he opens a bottle of antiseptic, the smell making his eyes water. Macaque barely winces as he applies it, his tail swishing back and forth in quiet agitation.

“Alright, what’s wrong with you,” Wukong asks, setting down the bottle. “You’ve been...weird since you got back. You’re not hurt anywhere else, right?”

Those who do remember your pitiful existence will call you a fake, a shadow, a mistake.

Old anger swells up in Macaque, he shakes his head, turning away from Wukong. The Monkey King stares at him like he’s a complicated puzzle in need of solving, it only further irritates Macaque.

“No, I’m fine.” He growls. Wukong levels him with an unimpressed side-eye, but there’s a genuine concern hidden in his expression as he continues to wrap his wound, and that scares Macaque more than he’s willing to admit.

“...Promise?”

Promise that you’ll take me with you.

Blue clouds his vision, a little girls voice fills his head, a demons icy touch lingers around his neck. Macaque squeezes his eyes shut and ignores the part of him that wants to tell Wukong everything. This is his problem, his choice, his mistake. The others already have enough to deal with as it is.

You’re a liar, Six Ear!