#flying-cat-with-magic

Oh my gosh this is totally something Macaque would do. Especially in a post-season 3 scenario. He hasn't made up with Sun Wukong, but MK is at least friendly to him now, and it's kind of made him miss the companionship. Sure he wanted to kill Sun Wukong for centuries now, but after getting a taste of what it's like to have friends again, he realizes he's tired of being alone.

Monkey King isn't going to let him come back so easily, though, and Macaque is too prideful to come back grovelling and begging to be allowed to come back to Flower Fruit Mountain. So instead, he decides to get as close as he can without letting them know he's even there. There's so many regular monkeys on the island, who would notice one more?? Not to mention, Macaque is a great actor, and he's even able to transform so well that even Sun Wukong's golden eyes can't see through his transformation, so they don't notice him for ages. The occasional slip up definitely being written off as them being paranoid.

“It’s such a beautiful day today,” the hero said, gazing wistfully out the window. “The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming.” They paused and frowned sardonically. “Oh wait, no they aren’t. Because you plunged the entire city into a polar vortex!”

CRASH!

you are one hundred percent valid to picture him that way because he would be such a snarky, powerful bastard who secretly loved Jack and I have written aus where he is pretty much like that haha! so you should imagine him like that if you want to but personally for this au, I was kind of thinking of Anti as like Jack’s dark secret.

Mark has pretty much accepted that he’s more powerful than Jack - not in a prideful or obnoxious way, just stating facts! He controls more spirits at once, including Dark and Wilford, and he’s well-known in the government for his intelligence and power. Meanwhile, Jack is a mid-level magician whose master was of no real importance to anyone and who chooses mostly to isolate himself with his demons in a frankly unimpressive little cottage he favors on the peasant side of town. He’s known to be incredibly clever and there are rumors about the things his demons have done to people who messed with him, but for the most part he is something of a laughing stock to the pretentious assholes who have shit like peacocks on their lawns. Jack doesn’t mind. He has his demon friends and now Mark too and not much else matters. And he confides everything in Mark - except Anti.

I’m still working on this part a little, but I’m thinking Anti is some kind of demon who’s found a way to escape the grasp of human magicians and can still live in the human world. he’s looking for the perfect vessel - and he finds it in Jack. that, or he’s a family curse who consistently takes over the young people in Jack’s family, uses them as vessels for a few years, and only stops when the vessel gives out and dies from being used by him. either way, he’s scary shit - and really, really, really powerful. he haunts Jack. he was possessed by him once when he was younger and he almost killed Jackie and Marvin and Henrik (Joachim, Magnificent, and Haimerich) who were his only demons at the time. without them, he would never have been able to get rid of Anti and now he lives in fear of the demon coming back. when Anti’s beneath his skin, Jack retains control for some time, and he becomes wildly powerful, but eventually Anti takes him over and starts corrupting his personality and heart. when Anti isn’t possessing Jack, he is nothing but a dark silhouette, unspeaking, who stalks him when he’s strong enough and desperately wants to slaughter the demons who protect Jack.

Jack doesn’t want Mark to know about him because he’s scared to drive him away and scared of what Anti might do to Mark. Jack also avoids becoming too powerful to avoid giving Anti too much power when he possesses him. he also really struggles with the idea of letting his demons go because he doesn’t want Anti to hurt them. it really makes him want to seclude himself forever so Anti will leave the people he loves alone. but the others just want to protect him, especially Jackie!! it’s a secret of Jack’s, but because of Anti’s mark on him, his spells and summonings become very strong when he’s angry, and most demons are instantly terrified of him and might not attack him even on their master’s orders, making him, secretly, a very powerful magician. all he wants is to break Anti’s curse on him, but he’s beginning to lose hope of it as time goes on, and at this point he just expects to be gone in a few years...

“You see, you used to be [Villain,] a major criminal in this city, but recently you became part of our new rehabilitation project,” [Hero] explained to the woozy villain laying in a hospital bed before them.

“Which means what exactly?” they asked, their tone wary but not hostile.

“You gave us permission to erase your memories of villainy and retrain you as a hero,” [Hero] said bluntly.

“I did what?” A small spark of panic flashed across [Villain’s] face, and [Hero] had to bite back a grin.

“I know you’re probably worried about having someone poking around in your head, but trust me, it’s for the best.” [Villain] looked down, fiddling with the sheets of their bed as their expression clouded with uncertainty. “I’d tell you more, but the specifics are on a strict need-to-know basis.” And [Villain] certainly didn’t need to know that [Hero] had ripped their memories from their skull bit by bit, until there was nothing left of their old self.