#hibiscustea

Being her servant was like being drowned in the coldest, deepest patch of space in existence. The icy chains wrapping around one’s limbs until they threatened to break reinforced bone. The ghostly whispers slowly draining one of their strength and spirit to feed their mistress. The torturous agony of feeling all life and passion escaping your grasp with every breath.

Macaque was forced to live with that as he hunted down the kid and his idiot master, but he’d take that over being infused with her power every time.

That power…there was something terribly wrong with it. The instant it made contact with his spirit his entire body was wracked with pain. As every millimeter crawled across his body, he could feel his soul being dragged to an unknown location. It wasn’t death, that much he was certain about. He was quite familiar with the sensation of death.

No, this-this was far worse.

The Samadhi Fire was his only hope to purge his body of her chains, physical, mental, and spiritual. The knowledge his presence pushed the new pilgrims into speeding up their timetable to release the ancient power was the only thing that got him moving. The more power he used to reach his targets, including the energy needed to collapse the impressive distance, increased the rate the bone and ice-encased his form.

A sign of Lady Bone Demon’s impatience and desperation.

He hated how easy it was to pin down the royal pain and former celestial wild child. He could have fought them on his own, but this power… There was no honor to it. No pride is to be gained through this victory.

When he snapped the fake rings, Nezha’s face said it all. Once more the mischievous Monkey King was up to his old tricks. Keeping everyone in the dark unless it served his goals.

And Wukong wondered why he didn’t trust in his little plan. Not that there ever was one to begin with.

Like the others, he never imagined there was a fourth holy ring, much less than it was inside the girl. The looks of fear and betrayal etched onto their faces were all too relatable. They learned why the king wasn’t to be trusted in one of the worst ways.

But it was all worth it.

The release of the eternal flames washed over him like a wave. The glorious snap of dozens of chains once hooked into his bones as links faded into nothing. Freeing him from the frozen abyss to leave him gasping in a burning whirlwind fueled by a child’s sacrifice. For a brief moment, the flash of heat eclipsed that of the icy curse. The temperature shock paralyzed him for far too long, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about his moment of weakness.

He was free. Fully and truly free.

And he intended to keep it that way.

Two days.

Two glorious days since he had been freed from the bone bitch’s chains.

Just the mere thought of it brought a smile to the ancient shadow demon’s face. But Macaque wasn’t a fool. He knew Lady Bone Demon sensed the instant he had been freed. He knew she wouldn’t take his failure, much less his desire to rid himself of her so-called destiny, with the grace she liked to project.

So, his best option was to run. Hightail it out of China until the heat died down. With any luck, Wukong’s little band of misfits would pull off the impossible or the Celestial Realm would finally get off their asses and do something. Alas, he didn’t hold much faith in either one.

Which left him to continue expanding the distance between him and Megapolis. Once more alone with his thoughts, you’d think he’d get used to it. Everyone left you eventually, so there was no point in getting close after they fulfilled their purpose.

He made that mistake once and paid for it with his life.

It didn’t matter if the kid was too kind for his own good, Wukong meant too much to him for there ever to be a conflict of interest. The girl was entertaining, a true beacon of sass, but with the fire now raging inside her it was doubtful she would live long even with proper training. And Tang…

Oh Tang, that silver-tongued devil. In a moment of weakness, he could almost believe the human wanted him around. Didn’t hurt that he wasn’t too bad looking, for a human. Or that he stopped Wukong from nearly taking his other eye in a fit of rage.

In the end was just another human, one with an abnormally large amount of holy power, but a human fated to die all the same.

“Macaque!” A voice pierced the silence with a strange mixture of relief and exhaustion.

That voice…It couldn’t be.

Ears flicking, Macaque turned to the side where a single human trigged up the walkway. Behind thick lenses, dark eyes widen with unmistakable joy as his lips formed a smile. “There you are. Are you alright? Have you been able to eat?” Tang asked all these questions, absentmindedly putting down a pack he had brought as he further closed the distance between the two.

Before Tang’s fingers could so much as graze the monkie’s clothes, Macaque stepped away, more than a little cautious. “Okay, last I checked you lot were pissed I threatened your little dragon for you to unleash the Samadhi Fire, so what’s with all the concern?” Underneath his constant glamor, his infamous ears were fully splayed to detect the slightest hint of this being a trap.

Tang closed his eyes and nodded in understanding. “I was angry. We were angry. Okay, Pigsy is still pretty angry, but with everything happening we don’t have time for blind rage. Besides I’m sure most of the blame fell to Monkey King after the truth came out.” He couldn’t deny it hurt. They placed so much faith in the King’s plan, to learn there never was one, that they were essentially flying blind…He doubted any of them would look at the legendary figure the same way.

For Macaque, this just confirmed what he suspected. And he loved being right. “Really? Now I almost wish I stuck around. But none of that explains why you’re wasting time with me.”

“Macaque, you are many things. Manipulative. Arrogant. Dangerous.” Tang listed.

“Flatterer,” Macaque mockingly batted his eyes.

Rolling his eyes, Tang ignored the obvious baiting. “But despite everything I’ve experienced, everything MK told us about you, when there is a serious threat, when it comes to being honest, we can trust you more than Sun Wukong.”

Till the end of existence Macaque would deny would that simple sentence made his heart beat a touch faster and his tail wag with joy. “Nice speech, but pardon me if I don’t jump on the redemption bandwagon.”

“Heh. Don’t worry the kids are currently focused on Red Son.” Tang stated, quite proud of his children’s hero work. Turns out it had the added benefit of helping Mei focus on anything but how she ended up in this predicament.

That earned a raised eyebrow. Macaque suspected the kids were drawn to Red Son due to shared experience on the battlefield and relatively similar mental ages, but this? He almost pitied his nephew.

“Right…Anyway, just because you’ve actually decided to listen to my hard-earned experience dealing with that peach obsessed idiot, doesn’t mean I’m throwing everything into a plan that could just as easily leave me in an even worse situation.” He just found his freedom; he wasn’t about to toss it to the winds for some kind words and a pretty face.

Tang took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to offer. Even if he knew it was the best, if not the only option, it didn’t stop the fear. “Then use me…”

“Huh?” Six ears and still Macaque wasn’t sure he heard that right. No one would be so crazy as to place their life in his hands. No one was that trusting. Or maybe it wasn’t trust. Maybe it was simply…

“If you can’t bring yourself to trust us, use me.” Tang stated clearly and without stutter. If one was truthful, it resembled a surgeon telling his patient he had to remove a major organ if they were to live. “You said it yourself, I don’t have much to contribute to the group, but I have their trust and MK’s ear. If you know something, I can relay that information word for word while you remain out of sight. You can ensure the plan will work while staying one step ahead of the one who chained you down. And if Sun Wukong discovers you, you can simply threaten my life in exchange for your safety.”

…Desperation.

“Hmm, tempting. Very tempting.” Macaque had to smile at the little mortal, once again he proved far more courageous than his appearance would ever let on. The plan itself wasn’t too shabby either, needed some fine tuning obviously, but it did offer him a prime situation to cover his ass while watching her’s go up in unquenchable flames.

“But let me ask you this,” Vanishing into the shadows, Macaque suddenly appeared mere inches from Tang’s face. “are you truly willing to put your life on the line for the likes of me?” Eyes glowing solid purple as his unglamored fangs were in full view, so close to weak flesh. Claws unsheathed, just grazing cloth, barely touching skin yet one wrong twitch could sever bone.

It would be a lie to say Tang wasn’t scared. He could feel his heartbeat blocking out everything but the sight of those razor-sharp teeth and his spiraling thoughts of what this demon could do to him with no one ever being the wiser. But he couldn’t afford to be scared. Everyone was doing their part to ensure a better tomorrow and he refused to be the weak link any longer.

Gathering all his mental strength, Tang looked past the terrifying visage to the hurt demon who was in far more pain than he could ever imagine. “Everyone deserves the chance to better themselves, to live free, to be happy. Sun Wukong deserves it. Sandy deserves it.” Placing gentle hands over tan cheeks, less than an inch from deadly fangs, Tang brought their foreheads together. “And so do you.”

Just like that, the stuff of nightmares was replaced by an expression of pure disbelief. As though no one had ever told him such a thing, no one believed he deserved such a thing.

“Take your time. I will be waiting for your answer.” Bowing, Tang took his leave and began his walk to rejoin the others.

Macaque watched until the human disappeared. Focusing, he could hear the sounds of the scholar being addressed by the chef about his whereabouts only to wave it off at the sound of several cats demanding attention and a burst of flame accompanied by authoritative shouting.

This was concerning. Based on the reverberation, they were little more than an hour’s hike away. He should have heard their approach. Either way it was time to start heading to the next mountain range.

Looking down, the demon noticed the pack Tang brought. Curious, Macaque loosened the drawstring to it filled with gauze, a canteen, and mangos. Giving the fruit a tentative sniff, the monkie was surprised, they were almost ripe and had no trace of being tampered with. Macaque could help but smirk at the human’s attempts.

He was trying to coax Macaque into working with them by manipulating his desire to control others along with his need for revenge. He was trying to manipulate a manipulator with an added touch of kindness. Naturally, Tang was far from the first to attempt such a play, but the demon had to admit his pitch was by far the most compelling. Offering his life as collateral was a nice touch.

Picking up the pack, he froze at a strange sound. Almost like the crinkling of paper. Opening the pack, Macaque saw something new. At the bottom, nestled among fruit and cloth was a small piece of paper with a series of numbers written across it with a message.

If you ever wish to talk

Macaque smiled at the horizon.

“Stubborn human.”

Carefully folding the small piece of paper, Macaque returned it to the pack and continued his journey.

§~~~~§~~~~§~~~~§

In a secluded corner of their campsite, Tang contemplated everything that had happened.

The combined efforts of Nehza and MK were enough to restrain the Monkey King (didn’t hurt that he really held back with MK present) long enough for the ancient trickster to face the grim truth and allow himself to return. The rest of them had managed to find Mei, strangely in the presence of Red Son.

Apparently, he sensed something was wrong when they stayed at the Bull King’s fortress. It made sense as the flames were apparently born from him that he could sense when they were near and what could happen if they were allowed to roam free. The knowledge he was willing to aid them in their quest did help, if nothing else it raised MK and Mei’s spirits.

Although Nedhza always looked at the young demon with suspicion, probably debating on if letting the Samadhi fire’s true master stay within close proximity was the wisest course. But even he caved to the wisdom that Red Son was their best option in getting Mei to the point where the slightest burst of emotion wouldn’t turn her and anything close to her to a smoldering pile of ash.

Looking at those he had grown close to, those he had nearly died with, Tang truly wished things were different.

They can’t face this threat on their own. Even with aid of ancient warriors and powerful demons, it was doubtful Mei could truly master the Samadhi Fire before the Lady Bone Demon showed herself. Even if she learned to guide it, she’d constantly be plagued by thoughts of accidentally killing them, thoughts the Lady would be all too happy to abuse.

They needed more power if they were to survive.

And since the Celestial Realm had been silent, aside from the presence of Nehdza (who did have a history of doing things his own way), they had to make do with what they had. Which meant seeking help anywhere they could.

Tang knew his actions would have mixed reactions.

He wasn’t lying when he said the others were enraged by the dark monkie’s actions, even if they sympathized with his plight. One can’t simply forget how he ruthlessly hunted them down across seas and deserts.

But the more Tang thought about it, the more it became clear Macaque was always rooting for them.

When they first met, he could have simply hid on the airship and stole MK when they went to sleep. His assault on the Eastern Sea Palace was so grand and bold it forced the Dragon King to allow them to leave. Mei’s rendition of their time split between two trucks proved Macaque could have kidnapped both Monkey King and MK and neither of them would be the wiser until it was far too late. Monkey King was suck in his meditation, MK had only unlocked the eyes of truth, hell he was sleeping. Instead, he prodded MK, threatened Sandy and Mei until he regained the powers necessary to fight back. The ancient simian could have killed them at any time, yet he purposely chose to play with them so the kid would be motivated to regain what he had lost.

It was these actions paired with their talk that proved to Tang this vital truth, Macaque was their ally.

It was obvious he held no love for his jailer. He too wished to see her fall. But he had to work smart and unlike Sun Wukong his actions made sense. Everything he did forced them to put more effort into finding the rings and completing the ceremony. His actions reminded them of what was at stake because his life was on the line too.

He hoped the monkie would take his offer. He hoped they could work together. He hoped Macaque would voluntarily join their group. No one deserved to face the world alone.

He prayed to be able to gaze at the skyline without constantly being reminded of their failure.