💜🍑Shadowpeach Parents LMK: A Hero Reborn AU💜🍑
-WARNING ANGST INCOMING!-
I had an idea for a Lego Monkie Kid AU that basically involves Shadowpeach being MK's parents. I was inspired by @kyri45 's bio parents AU.
But a little more angsty and suspenseful? Maybe?
Honestly, I don't know if I can match or even rival the amazing writing of kyri45. Heck, I don't even know if I'll be able to write it all down or make a comic of it. I hope so, but we'll see. If I don't ever write it down in full or make a comic out of it, I'll definitely summarize the entire thing one day.
For now, I'm only giving the premise and writing down the start of the Au. If I do write it down in full or make a comic, expect some of the dialogue to be changed because I don't think anyone wants a dialogue heavy wall of text in a fic or comic.
Anyways here's the run down!
So, this is an AU where the cycle didn't end with starting anew in either scenario. I'm thinking either MK's sacrifice actually prevented the cycle from starting anew, or MK coming back with the stones and breaking them with his friends stopped the cycle from starting anew but MK still didn't survive either way.
I'm not sure which one I want to do. Where MK's sacrifice keeps the cycle from starting all over and the last they all saw of MK is when he left them behind. Or MK came back but ended up dying in front of them after using so much of his powers with the stone and with healing the pillar of Heaven.
I'm not sure which is more angsty, MK sacrificing himself and the others not getting to say goodbye. Or MK coming back and everyone thinking it's going to be okay and that they've won.
Only for MK to collapse and tell them that he's finished his path. He chose it and he's finished it. And everyone gets to say goodbye to MK, and MK says goodbye to them and passes away peacefully in Wukong's arms.
However, in both instances MK dies.
Either from the initial sacrifice or because even though he removed himself from the pillar, just using the powers of the stones and restoring the pillar ended up being too much for MK and he dies.
But anyway, I don't know what I will go with. I might make a poll. So, let's get down to business here! The whole premise of this AU is after MK's sacrifice, sometime later.
It begins with everyone slowly getting back to their day to day lives, without MK. They're all finding ways to cope with the loss of MK and trying to live their lives to the fullest and protect the world without MK. This proves difficult to do, because Sun Wukong is just so utterly depressed.
The death of MK left a wound in his heart that just won't mend. He barely leaves his hut on Flower Fruit Mountain. Wukong has just stopped taking care of himself. He doesn't sleep, he doesn't drink, he doesn't even eat. Not even his favorite: peaches.
Wukong basically just lies around almost all day. His body might be there, but his mind is somewhere else. All too focused on knowing he FAILED MK. That he lost MK. That it is his fault. He lost his precious little boy.
Wukong lost MK, who he had come to view as a son. MK is gone and Wukong doesn't know what to do with himself anymore. He's just... numb, mostly.
Of course everyone has tried to help Wukong, and they've made some progress, but it's infinitesimal (meaning small) at best and he ends up relapsing shortly after. Sometimes he'll be able to smile, or eat, or drink, or take care of himself- but for the most part Wukong is just down and out.
Unable to cope with the loss of MK.
During all this, everyone else is coping in their own ways. Mostly they've found their own method of getting through each day. Some days are harder than others, but none of them are nearly as bad as Wukong.
They've all done their best trying to help Wukong, but they're not sure what to do anymore. Especially when Wukong is starting to rebuff their attempts as time goes on.
Wukong is just so emotionally and mentally gone, it's like he's put up a barrier of ice around him. Everyone wants to continue to try to help Wukong cope, but they all have responsibilities to attend to and they need to keep the world safe. They can't always be hovering around Wukong.
Macaque seems like the best candidate to keep an eye on Wukong when the others can't. Being Wukong's former best friend, who probably knows him better than any of the others, is assigned to keep watch over Wukong to make sure he doesn't just wander off somewhere never to be seen or heard from again.
Macaque has never seen Wukong so devastated before and honestly it really unnerves him. Because Wukong seems so defeated, like he's not going to bounce back from this. It terrifies Macaque, because he's never once known Wukong to just lie down and admit defeat.
Macaque does his best to watch over and tend to Wukong, but it's not easy work. Wukong seems to try and sabotage Macaque's efforts at every turn. He doesn't want to listen, he ignores Macaque, sometimes he yells at him to go away. He insults Macaque, he tells him that he doesn't want his help and never has needed it, and that he should just leave him alone and not come back. That he doesn't want Macaque around and he wishes that Macaque would have just stayed gone.
Of course, Wukong doesn't mean any of this, he's just grieving heavily. Wukong merely doesn't want Macaque to waste his second lease on life taking care of him. When Macaque could be out there living his own life, free and no longer the shadow of the great Sun Wukong.
He also doesn't want to get close to Macaque again, because he knows that if he does, when Macaque eventually dies... it will just hurt all over again. Wukong doesn't want to experience the pain that comes with the death of someone he cares about again.
Wukong already felt that pain with Macaque centuries ago, and then he felt it once more due to losing MK. So now he's trying to distance himself from everyone as well as Macaque, so he doesn't have to feel the pain again.
Wukong figures if he distances himself now, if he pulls away, in time he will slowly feel less and less for the others and for Macaque. So that when they all die, it won't hurt nearly as much.
Knowing he is going to outlive them all and probably have to wait a long time to see them again... it's too much for Wukong to handle.
Wukong can't do it again. He can't go through the pain of death taking everyone he knows and loves away from him. So, he tries so hard to remove himself from their lives.
Even if it means being harsh and pushing them away.
Macaque tries not to take any of it to heart but damn it... it still hurts. Wukong doesn't make it easy for Macaque to care for him. And sometimes Macaque is ready to just call it quits- and throw in the towel but every time he just looks at Wukong and sees how dejected and destroyed Wukong is...
This goes on for a while, until one day it all comes to a head and Wukong says something that crosses a line.
And Macaque is like- "FINE! If you want me to disappear so badly from your life, then I will! I'll just go ahead and die again, and you'll never have to see me again!"
And then he stalks off, trying to ignore Wukong's desperate pleas for him to come back, that he didn't mean it. Macaque hesitates for a few seconds because he hears Wukong's voice crack, and he sounds like he's crying. And he keeps calling out for Mac to come back.
He hears Wukong struggling to keep up with him. Wukong is so emotionally compromised and panicked that he's having a hard time keeping up with Mac.
Macaque finally gets far enough away that he can open a shadow portal and get away from Wukong without Wukong being able to drag him back out of it or follow him.
Just before Mac steps through the portal he hears Wukong again.
It's been such a long time... Macaque can't even remember the last time he's heard it, but he knows it's been a long, long time.
What he heard Wukong say was - "Don't go! Please stay. Please don't go, I'm sorry. Please bud... please, Plum."
Macaque glances hesitantly and reluctantly over his shoulder and he wishes he hadn't. Because Wukong is on his hands and knees, looking at him like he'll die without him. It's almost enough to make Mac stay, but he just can't deal with it right now.
Because how DARE Wukong call him by that name after so long. Especially after Wukong has been trying his damnedest to push Mac away this entire time. Who does Wukong think he is, how does he feel like he has ANY right to ask Mac to stay after all that?
So, Macaque just says in a soft voice- "Yeah I'm sorry too, bud... I... I'm sorry... I can't, Peach."
And then he leaps into the shadow portal leaving Wukong all alone. Mac doesn't stay gone for too long though, he eventually goes back a few hours later...
Only to find that Wukong isn't anywhere on Flower Fruit Mountain.
And all Hellfire and Brimstone breaks loose, and everyone is so mad at Macaque for leaving Wukong alone.
And he's like- "I know! I know I'm sorry! I'm an idiot!"
And thus begins their frantic search to find Wukong.
Hours later Macaque finally has an epiphany, and he feels like he KNOWS where Wukong is. It's the only place he could have gone to if he didn't want anyone else BUT Mac to find him.
The ruins of Mount Wuxing.
That damn prison built for holding Wukong for hundreds of years.
Macaque steels himself, makes a quick pitstop back at Flower Fruit Mountain for something and teleports there through his shadow portal.
And as he suspected, he finds Wukong there amidst the ruins of the mountain. Curled up in front of the ruined pillar and the chains that once imprisoned him.
Macaque goes up to him and sits down and places a hand on Wukong's shoulder, takes a deep breath and hopes that this time his offering would be better received this time around, and not even up like last time he tried this.
"Hey, bud... I got you a little something."
Macaque holds up the preach and presents it to Wukong. For a few seconds Wukong doesn't say anything, he just looks up at Mac and then the peach.
Then Wukong sniffles and gives Mac a little smile.
"What? For me? You're not serious, that wholleee peach is for me? Bud, you shouldn't have."
This time there's no passive aggression, no sarcasm, just a weak attempt to lighten the mood. It's sincere, rough, raw and pained. It's genuine.
"Quit it, just eat your dang peach." Mac says and shoves it into Wukong's mouth. "You must be starving."
"You're a peach!" Wukong replies around the mouthful of peach and then he eats it up. Then he looks up at Macaque and says: "I miss him... I miss the Kid, Macaque. I miss him so much."
"I know... come here, bud." Macaque holds out his hand and this time there's no 9-Headed Snake Demon to get in the way. Wukong reaches back and Macaque pulls him into a sit and is startled when Wukong just outright collapses against him to cry.
Macaque sits there awkwardly not knowing what to do, other than pat his back and say, "Uhhh there, there? Let it out."
Because he's never had to deal with Wukong being this vulnerable before. Mac is totally out of his element, he really doesn't know what he should be doing in this situation. But then there's a voice in his mind that tells him something that feels right.
Macaque figures he has nothing to lose. So, he wraps his arms around Wukong and just holds him while Wukong is able to properly grieve for MK. To his surprise, again, Wukong reciprocates the hug.
"I'm sorry Macaque, I don't want you to go, please ... I didn't mean it, any of it." Wukong admits, voice rough and ragged from the crying.
"I know." Macaque whispers, as he tightens his hug on Wukong. He can feel the faintest brush of Wukong's tail tip across his own. He curls his tail in response and catches Wukong's tail tip in his own.
He tightly and firmly holds Wukong's tail, wishing that they could stay just like this forever. But that was a selfish thought, and he couldn't be acting like that when Wukong was so vulnerable. He knew that this tentative moment between them would come to an end, and they would be right back to almost biting one another's heads off. But that would be fine, because as long as Wukong has the energy to argue with him, it means that there was hope to get him back to his feet still.
It's been such a long, long time since they've done this... since either of them have intertwined tails, and Macaque thinks maybe he's made a mistake. Because at first Wukong stiffens, and Macaque is convinced that Wukong will tear his tail away from the hold. But then Wukong relaxes and instead curls his tail around Macaque's in return.
"I... I really did, you know?" Wukong says after a few seconds of silence.
"I really did want that peach you brought to me back then. I was... I shouldn't have taken out my frustrations on you back then. I was in a bad place then... like I am now, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you then, and I shouldn't be taking it on you now."
"I know you did." Macaque huffs a breathy laugh... there's no humor to it, not really, just something adjacent to contentment. "Saw it when we were in the scroll. Also, it's... I wouldn't say it's okay- but I understand. You're hurting Wukong... grief isn't just sadness... it's rage too."
Macaque tentatively holds Wukong closer and feels relief wash over him when his former best friend didn't resist. He doesn't know if he'll ever get to hold Wukong like this again, before they go back to bickering and avoiding one another like the plague as they always seemed to do now- so he had to make this moment last as long as he could.
"I should know. I... I grieved over you. Even though you weren't dead... you might as well have been. The old you that I knew was gone, Wukong and I was left behind." Macaque admitted, with a deep and measured breath. He wasn't able to look Wukong in the face, so instead he opted to look down at their tails.
Macaque wrapped his tail more around Wukong's and his heart skipped a beat when Wukong returned the gesture and curled more of his tail around his in response.
"I was hurt and angry at you..." Macaque continued, when Wukong didn't say anything. "I was also angry at myself for giving you that power over me... mostly I was ANGRY at you for a very long time."
There was a brief beat of silence, before Wukong asked between soft sniffles, "Are you still angry?"
"Yes." Macaque spoke and he intended to mean it too, but he found himself in the depths of doubt. His voice betrayed him by quivering, his resolve starting to shatter.
"Maybe...? No. I... what good has me being angry at you ever done for me? Aside from putting me six feet under?" He shouldn't laugh, it's not appropriate, but he lets it slip anyway and snorts.
Wukong sucks in a sharp, deep breath and pointedly says: "Stop... don't joke about that. Macaque I... I killed you. That's not something you should laugh at." His tail tightens around Macaque's as if silently daring him to say that again. "Don't say that please, just... not after everything. Just don't."
"Sorry. Thought it had been long enough that we could joke about it." Macaque mutters more to himself than to Wukong, but he falls silent all the same and just looks up to the stars above them. "Too soon, huh?"
Wukong said nothing to that, instead he shifted the topic of discussion back around to MK.
"I just miss MK, I miss the Kid so much, Macaque. I... I failed to protect him. It's all my fault that MK's gone. I... I should have done better, should have BEEN better. You were right. I needed to be better, and I didn't... I thought I had time to-" Wukong feels like he's choking on each word, they strain harshly and unforgivingly against his vocal cords. Each attempt to speak is like a blade cleaving itself into his chest, cutting deep down into his lungs, all while some prick is twisting the handle.
That is to say he feels like he's suffocating and for an immortal being as himself, it should be downright dreadful. However, for the first time in his immortal life he wasn't terrified of death.
No, he was terrified of NOT being able to die. Because he was going to outlive every single one of his mortal friends and they would leave him behind again. This included Macaque and Wukong's stomach twisted into gnarly knots and he felt like he was about to spew up peach pulp and juice everywhere.
"I thought I had so much more time with him. I... don't know why. The lives of mortals are so short... and I've lived for so long and... I don't know. MK seemed special, like he just..."
"Like he just couldn't die?" Macaque finishes for Wukong, because he sounds like he's about to break into thousands of pieces if he keeps trying to explain further.
"Yeah... he just... I know I called him Kid all the time, but sometimes I forgot he actually was one. At least compared to me, he really was just a kid and not nearly as immortal. He just... he always got back up and kept on going, like nothing could stop him. I guess I thought that... I-" Wukong's voice breaks off at the spearhead of a sob and he buries his face into Macaque's shoulder.
"I don't know what I thought... I just... I thought... I thought that we had more time than that. I didn't think he would... never believed that I would lose him so fast. I didn't even know him for that long and I got him killed, Macaque! I got him killed just like I got you killed. I didn't kill him by my own hands, but I may as well have. I just keep hurting the people I love, Macaque."
Wukong begins to tremor harshly in Macaque's hold as he tries to keep burning and bitter tears at bay, but Macaque can feel the dampness starting to build up where Wukong's face was pressed against him. He was doing a pretty poor job of keeping the tears in, though not like Macaque could blame him.
His poor sweet Sun. His light and dimmed so, and there wasn't anything he could do about it...
"Over and over again, they keep reaching into my cage and they keep getting bit. I... I can't do this anymore. I can't keep hurting the others or... I just can't keep doing it anymore, Plum. It's no wonder I keep ending up back in a cage, it's where I belong. I... should just stay here. I never should have left this damn mountain! I shouldn't have been let out of my cage-"
"Wukong..." Macaque murmurs, uncharacteristically soft and sympathetic, as he hides his face against the fluffy fur of Wukong's forehead. "Don't fight it, it will only make it worse. It's okay bud, I got you. I got you."
Macaque didn't know for how long he sat there with Wukong. He didn't know how long it took until Wukong burned himself out on his grief. Didn't know just how long until Wukong sobbed out his sorrows and put himself into an uneasy slumber.
What Macaque did know, was that when he brought Wukong back to Flower Fruit Mountain and tucked him into bed, he took a trek up to the top of the mountain and found it.
Macaque thought he couldn't do anything to bring back the light to his Sun, but it only took him a moment to figure it all out.
Of course there was something he could do.
Bringing the Kid back is what he could damn well do.
"Here goes everything." Macaque whispers to himself, a solemn sense of resignation cutting through the undercurrent of his voice. As he came face to face with destiny and fate. He knew exactly what he was doing the second he came up here to look for the stone.
That very same stone that Nüwa had sculpted both Sun Wukong and MK out of. It was impossibly small now and mostly in shambles. Hardly the perfect rock to do this with, but Macaque didn't let that stop him. Surely where there was a will, there was a way.
And Macaque was if anything, very stubborn, and his will to see things through couldn't be so easily deterred by a crumbling stone. Macaque didn't know how long it took, but he knew the sun was rising by the time he was finished. There, cradled in the palms of his hand, he held the stone that he had molded into the shape of a monkey that looked identical to MK.
Macaque then found another stone and carved that into an altar of sorts so that he could place the considerably smaller and made of stone twin of MK on the altar.
Macaque steps back and then turns to face the rising sun, and he can't help but smile softly as he calls out:
"Nüwa if you're listening... I would like to ask a favor. You brought MK into this world, right? Then you can bring him back too, yeah? I know I shouldn't ask anything, especially since I cheated death but... if I make a deal and offer my life for the Kid's own... will you bring him back?"
Yes, in order for his Sun to shine bright again, Macaque would give everything he was to that end. He would bring MK back, if it was the last thing he would ever fucking do.
The warmth of the sun in the sky against his fur feels different, somehow. Like he's just been reborn, even though he's calling out to Nüwa to offer his stolen life in exchange for MK's. If Nüwa answered the call to his deal, then he wasn't going to be long for this world, but that was fine...
"Destiny can have me. This world needs Sun Wukong and MK more than it ever needed me. I should have just stayed buried. I lived my life already, and MK only just barely begun to live his. He had his whole life ahead of him, and he STILL should, so... if you're listening, do we have a deal?"
Suddenly the sun burned so bright that Macaque jumped back and rose his arms up to block it out, but then it dimmed just as quickly and then he heard an ethereal voice:
"You would willingly offer your life freely in exchange for the child's?"
Macaque knew who it was before he let his arms fall away from his face. "I would, Nüwa."
He found himself standing not on Flower Fruit Mountain's peak, but somewhere else entirely. He wasn't certain where, but it felt like another realm. It was white as far as the eye could see, and the only two beings that occupied the space were himself and the Goddess Nüwa.
He looked up at her and locked his fiery gaze with her unreadable one. He can only hope that he'll be able to convince her. Bargaining with a Celestial being was a tricky monkey business, Sun Wukong had taught him that much, after all.
"I shouldn't even be alive right now; the Lady Bone Demon brought me back from the brink and took a life so I could live again. The life I live now is a stolen one, and it's selfish I should live like this while an innocent kid like MK doesn't get to live. I know it's selfish of me to give this stolen life away to MK, when it shouldn't be mine to give but-"
Nüwa raised a hand to gesture that it was her turn to speak.
"Be at ease my child, there is no need to beg this of me. I am not so cruel as to turn one of my children away from me. You were not created by myself, but merely you are a byproduct of my creation. Therefore, you are a child to me all the same. I would not just turn a blind eye without hearing you out."
Nüwa circled around him and then reached out to gently place her hand over his head and gave him some placating head pats.
"So, you would truly give up your own life for the Harbinger?"
"His NAME is MK." Macaque couldn't help it when a warning growl kicked up deep in his throat as he gently swatted at Nüwa's hand and ducked away. He shuffled back and smoothed out his fur. "And yes, I would give up my own life."
"Why." Nüwa asked, tilting her head, her expression giving Macaque no clear indication on how this little negotiation would go. Her question was less of a question and more like a statement. "You need not beg, but what compels you to make such a choice?"
"Because I love them. I love Sun Wukong, even after everything and I love that damn Kid. MK is like a son to me, but more so... he'll always be more of a son to Sun Wukong than he ever will be to me. MK already has Wukong waiting for him and Wukong will have MK back." Macaque stated without any hint of hesitation on his part. He was completely and utterly locked into this conviction.
"They will have each other... they didn't need me before I came into their lives, and they don't need me now. It's not like they would even miss me or wait for me, well maybe they would a little, but they will get over it in time. They would think I just upped and left, ran away back to the shadows like I always do. They wouldn't give me too much of a second thought, they wouldn't wait and wonder why I never came back."
Macaque clenches his fists tightly and his tail twitches to and fro, and he can feel the way that his heart begins to bleed with each new beat. It hurts, it hurts so much, but it only hurts because it's the truth.
Sun Wukong and MK needed one another more than they'd ever needed him. At least they loved one another as family's do.
Macaque wasn't part of that.
He wasn't even friends yet with any of them, and he definitely wasn't friends with Wukong. He wasn't anything to Wukong and he was certain that he would never be again. He doesn't see how they can ever overcome the distance between them, even the Universe seemed to be against their reconciliation.
Maybe Macaque was a long time ago. Maybe he was Wukong's best bud and family once upon a time and decades ago... but those days were long over.
Macaque knew where he stood with Wukong and had stood with him for a long time. They weren't friends and they certainly weren't family, no.
Those days were long over, and Macaque didn't believe he and Wukong would ever be that close ever again.
Especially since he was well aware of how Wukong thought of him.
"GAH! I hate that guy so much!"
Those bitter and biting words were replayed over and over and echoed endlessly in his six ears. He hadn't physically been there when they were said, but he caught the tail end of it after he had closed his portal, his six ears picking up on them.
"Hell, Wukong already said it best. He hates me... and even if he said he didn't mean it, and that he didn't mean to tell me that he didn't want me around ... there's some truth to it. Wukong has never needed me... not like I needed him. It's selfish of me to hold onto this life when I can use it to bring back the Kid. Someone that Sun Wukong loves more than anything, someone that Sun Wukong loves far more than me, which is he actually loves the Kid, he sees him like his son. We both know I should have just stayed buried. So... I won't ask this again, do we HAVE a deal or not?"
Nüwa's gaze softens and for a moment Macaque can see something similar to sympathy in her eyes. She gives him a soft smile, so warm that it rivals the sun itself. She kneels down, or whatever the serpentine equivalent of kneeling down is, and she gently places her hand against Macaque's cheek.
"Love... I see..." Nüwa gazes deeply into his eyes for several seconds, and Macaque feels like she can see right into his stolen soul. He shivers as she pulls away and rises back up to tower above him.
"Be still my child, and wait here." Nüwa slowly turned around and slithers off into the white. For several minutes Macaque is left in the suffocating silence as he waits for the Goddess to resurface from the misty void.
Somehow it felt like he was waiting forever, rather than just a few minutes. The moment he saw her breach the white he saw HIM.
He was a tiny little thing in her gigantic Goddess hands. No bigger than a peach, or perhaps even a plum.
There MK was. No longer a human, but a monkey. His fur was a mix between orange and black, and the darkened patch of fur that made up his mask on his face was mostly smooth, but there were some stray spiky strands on the outer edges. His tiny little tail tip hung off the edge of Nüwa's hands as she lowered the newly reborn MK down towards Macaque.
Macaque's eyes widened and his golden pupils shifted into pinpricks, he felt as if his lower jaw went slack, as his hands moved without his body or mind communicating together. He raised his hands up to meet Nüwa's as she gently bestowed the new miracle monkey in the form of MK into the palms of his hands.
Macaque didn't know when he started to cry, but he could feel the fur of his cheeks dampen rapidly.
"He's... he's so small." Macaque spoke so softly that he hardly heard himself over his wonder, as he marveled at the sleeping miracle in his hands. "He's... he's a baby." He finally managed to conclude as he looked up from MK and to Nüwa. "Is... Is he going to stay this way for long?"
"For a while, yes. He will remain as a baby for the first months, but he will rapidly grow in the next few years. I would wager that it will take no more than five years for him to return to how old he was when he passed on." Nüwa explained as she turned towards the white void and then turned her palm in its direction.
She recited an incantation under her breath, mostly hisses and hums (not so much words) and a rift began to tear itself into the white void.
Macaque held the sleeping MK close to his chest as the rift in the void grew longer and wider. It took him a second to realize the dark blue of the night sky, the white of the stars, and the peak of Flower Fruit Mountain seeping in from the opening. Wait that couldn't be right.
Hadn't it been morning just moments ago?
Macaque wanted to question it, but there was a more pressing and urgent question on his mind, and he had to know before he gave his stolen life to MK.
"Wait, will the Kid remember? Will he remember his previous life, will he remember Pigsy, Tang, Sandy, Mo and Mei? Will he remember Wukong?!"
"Memories are a fickle thing, my child." Nüwa stated firmly, though not unkind.
"Even I cannot see if he shall remember. Though if I were to predict the probability, I believe that it would be up to all of you to help him to do, if he will remember at all it will be through all of you." She tore the rift open up just enough that it seemed to Macaque that he could walk on through with MK.
However, Macaque damn well knew he wasn't just walking out of here. He was merely going to leave MK on the altar just besides the newly cracked open stone. The same stone that Macaque had shaped and morphed into a miniature twin of MK.
It was open up like a geode, glistening and glittering in the light of a newborn moon.
"Right, I'll just take MK and place him through the rift." Macaque replies, feeling his throat tightening, as though it was threatening to close up on him and starve his stolen soul of light and life right here and now. Though he felt a flash flood of momentary fear, it would not rend his resolve into ruins.
This was the right thing to do.
"Just because it's hard, doesn't mean it's not right."
Macaque hears a soft whimpering cry, and he looks down to see MK stirring. The little miracle in the palms of his hands shivers, then sneezes softly, and then MK's eyes open. MK blinks and tilts his head as he looks up at Macaque with wide-eyed wonder. Macaque wonders if he's starting down at MK with an equal amount of wide-eyed wonder or maybe even more?
"Eh?" MK makes a confused noise and then without any warning begins to shriek out in the most Heaven shattering way that Macaque has ever had the displeasure of hearing.
Heavens this was MK alright.
Oh, great Gods and Goddesses he was perfect.
"Whoa, whoa, ow! MK, hey bud! Hey, hey! It's okay! I got you; I got you; I got you, MK." Macaque wheezes out, trying to ignore the ringing in all six of his now (he was sure) bleeding ears.
"Shhhh it's... It's okay. I know you were probably expecting the Monkey King, huh? Sorry that you only got his shadow, bud. But hey, don't worry, you'll see him really soon, yeah? So please for the love of the Pillar of Heaven and my six ears, no more crying- kay?"
Macaque gently rocked him back and forth, that's what people did with babies, right? He had seen the women at the mother and child stream so this for their crying infants before!
Thank the Heavens because not even a second later MK began to quiet down, though he did stare up at Macaque through tear filled eyes, while he whimpered and hiccupped out shaky breaths.
Macaque couldn't help it... he felt so warm and content in knowing that this was the only way MK could be reunited with his loved ones.
Soon MK would be reunited with Wukong.
"See, you're okay Kid. I know you're sad, maybe you miss Wukong that much- or maybe you're sad about me, mhn? But hey I'll be fine. I've already lived longer than I should have, Kid. It might seem unfair now, but... I promise this is the only way. The only way that you survive MK, is that if I don't."
Macaque's voice drifts away into the void surrounding them, barely even an echo as he lowers his face down and gently nuzzles his forehead against MK's own.
"I don't know if you will ever remember this, but if you do... can you tell Wukong what happened. I know he won't care much that I'm gone, but like I don't want to just leave him without any closure. So, when you grow up... you tell him what happened here if you remember."
He's out of time now, he knows he has to let MK go, but first he just needs to say these last words, his final words to someone. Even if it was to MK, and even if MK didn't remember these words, that was fine.
At least he got to say it and also confess his true thoughts and feelings to someone, even if that someone was an adorable and fluffy little baby monkey in his hands.
"You tell him that I left not because I wanted to... but because I needed to. So that you can be together and that... that I love him. Even if he doesn't love me. Tell him I love him and will always love him so much and that I'm sorry I had to leave like this. That I left without saying goodbye but if I said what I was planning that he would have tried to stop... just tell him, okay?"
Macaque doesn't miss it when he starts tearing up this time, as he stands there and tremors. He hears his shaky breaths and his soft sobs, and he's blinking rapidly to avoid getting his tears all over MK's head.
All the while MK is looking up at him with childlike innocence. That's when MK reaches up, making little chattering noises and at first, they're nothing of substance.
Just chittering and chattering coos, followed up by baby babbles. That is until MK's tiny little hands gently clap against Macaque's cheeks and there's no mistaking it, not with how purposefully MK's mouth moves.
Oh, Heaven strike Macaque down now, he's not going to survive... literally. He sucked in a sharp breath, but it doesn't do him any good, it boomerangs back up and out of his throat in the form of a wounded whimper. It's a mix of deepest sorrows and the most elevated of elations.
"Oh I... I guess I kind of am, huh? I did remake your stone, and the moon is shining down on it out there. Right out there... waiting just for you. You know Wukong did always say that I was the Moon to his Sun... many lifetimes ago." Macaque steadied his breathing and slowly pulled his face up and away from MK's impossibly tiny hands.
"That's right... I'm your Mama, MK and Wukong is your Papa."
"Ba...Ba?" MK repeats with a giggle so soft it could melt ancient glaciers in a frozen sea- and Macaque feels like his knees are going to give up on supporting him if he doesn't get the Kid out of here right now.
"Eh close enough." Macaque snorts and rolls his eyes in fond amusement as he flashes MK a tired smile.
"Come on let's get you back to your Baba. I only wish I could see what happens... I don't know if I can fully rest in peace if I never find out that your memories return or not." He begins towards the rift, but before he can kneel down and reach through the rift to place MK on the other side, Nüwa's hand comes down and blocks the rift.
"I said he would need all of you to help him remember, did I not?" Nüwa's words sent Macaque through several loops as he felt his heart skip several beats as he realized the implications of her words.
"My apologies my child, I did not realize that you did not consider yourself to be part of that very all. You may be allowed to go back and watch MK grow up. I am not so cruel as to deprive you of that."
Ah... then that means Macaque would have a little more time left in the realm of the living- then. That's good, at least he could make damn certain and see to himself that MK did remember. Give or take five years, that's what Nüwa said. That is how long it would take the Kid to grow up back to the age he was before. Five years, five wonderful and blessed years he would have with Wukong and the Kid and the others.
Macaque best make them count for all of Wukong's immortal years, then. He wanted to give Wukong, MK and the others memories of him that would last and stand the test of time. That way they could look back and smile whenever they thought about him...
Macaque could only hope that they would. Wishes they would. Though they probably wouldn't. Not after all the danger he brought to them before.
It would be the dream, though... wouldn't it? If he could slip away at the end of the five years knowing someone or a couple of someones loved him for once in his life.
"Thank you, Nüwa." Was all he could think to say. As he pulled MK closer to his chest, wanting to hold the Kid forever and not let him go. Macaque knew that he would have to hug the Kid many times to make up a lifetime of hugs so whenever he passed on five years from now MK wouldn't feel as if he was deprived of them.
Macaque had his work cut out for him, but he didn't mind it. Not if it meant that he got to spend five more years with everyone. Especially if it meant that he would spend five more years with Wukong...
Maybe in those five years... somewhere down the line... Wukong would learn to love Macaque like he did back then. Maybe even learn to love him even more than he had.
Macaque can't remember what that felt like... he realizes. An ice-cold sensation swoops through him like a snowstorm- and he feels his entire body, heart and stolen soul ache.
He can't remember what Sun Wukong's love felt, didn't know what that warmth felt like anymore. Couldn't remember just how brightly that orb of love once burned, just how much that the sun had shimmered for him, Wukong's once beloved and precious moon.
Macaque misses it so much and he can't even remember what it felt like. How was it possible to miss something so much, especially if he can't remember what it felt like, in order to miss it?
"Mama!" MK's tiny voice cuts through Macaque's scattered thoughts and he's brought back to attention. He could feel himself falling down from an emotional high. If he wasn't so worried about dropping MK on his head, he would have let his knees buckle and accept his fate to land face first on the white floor.
"Yeah, I know, I know you want to see your Baba, bud." Macaque nuzzles MK's forehead with his, and that earned him a little giddy giggle from MK as the little scamp squirmed in the palm of his hands.
Macaque managed a small smile through the pain of it all and then turned his gaze to Nüwa. "Thank you so much, Nüwa. I know that it's nowhere near sufficient enough, but thank you."
Nüwa shook her head and laughed so softly and elegantly it was more so a song than a laugh. Macaque swears her smile is still far warmer than the sun itself.
"Here- why don't you have something to eat or drink before you leave, my child? You look like you could use a meal. You've not been taking care of yourself much while watching over your dear Sun, have you? You will need your strength to care for that little one, he's chaos itself, and I mean that in an endearing way. He is merely too wild to be contained, I had a feeling that not even death could keep him caged, turns out I was correct."
Nüwa turns away and then with a flick of a wrist a large table appears in the middle of the white void, and on the table, food begins to appear. Macaque can't help but note the irony that all of the dishes are peach themed. He sees a cup on the table, and he has a feeling that the liquid inside of the cup must be peach flavored too.
What the Hell, why not? Macaque wasn't going to lie to himself or the great Goddess Nüwa that he wasn't positively parched or that he wasn't simply starving.
Gods, he was such a hypocrite, getting onto Wukong's case for not eating or drinking, when in comparison Macaque needed to eat and drink more than Wukong did. Sure, Wukong still felt thirst and hunger, but he didn't need to drink or eat to survive.
More or less Wukong did so to keep up his immortal energy and because he enjoyed it. It was a want more so for Wukong, than an absolute need.
Macaque having a mortal body was not afforded such a luxury, he still has to eat and drink.
Besides, refusing such a lovely gift from the Goddess of Creation herself would be downright blasphemy, and Macaque had already sinned lifetimes worth of sins by now. If he was going to die in five years, he had a lot of amends to make with the Heavens if he EVER hoped to see the realm of a relatively peaceful afterlife.
Macaque had seen the other place and well he wasn't fixing to go back there anytime soon.
Macaque could still feel how frozen down to the very core it made him, even now. Just thinking of that place, and thinking of the trauma it had left in the form of a dark stain on his soul-
"Wow, a whole feast for me? You shouldn't have, Goddess!" Macaque laughed, even though it was very much not a time he should do so. "You really know how to charm a monkey, Nüwa. Though I'm afraid I'm going to dock some points for improper lighting and a lack of romantic musical accompaniment."
Nüwa merely continued to smile, though Macaque caught the faintest flash of exasperation flicker within her eyes, though she still regarded him with love as she did all of her creations or byproducts of said creations in Macaque's case.
"Mhnnn you're right, the atmosphere is rather lackluster, I suppose I shall have to make up for it next time, then?" With a smile and a wink, she slithered her away slowly on over to the table and then gestured Macaque to follow her.
"Yeah... it will be a date to die for, won't it?" Macaque whispers almost soundless, barely even a phantom of a noise.
Macaque took one last glance back at the rift and then to Nüwa, then down at MK, who was busy playing catch his tail. He was grunting and babbling as he reached out and tried to grab his tiny tail with his equally tiny hands. Macaque sighed soft and fond, before he repositions MK and holds him underneath his behind, and up against his chest and shoulder.
"Mama!" MK squeaked in joy as he nuzzled his face into Macaque's shoulder and grasped at the fabric of his sleeve and began to nibble and chew at it.
Macaque patted him on his head and ruffled his spikey bangs until his fur was all wild and untamed, chaotic just like MK.
"Today's a special day, kiddo! You're going to get to try peaches for the very first time, well in this lifetime, I guess. Shhhh, don't tell Wukong about this later, it will be our little secret. He would kill me if he found out I gave you peaches before he could, literally- huh. Wait Kid, do you even have tee-"
Macaque's question was cut down before it finished, and it ended up morphing into a subdued shriek as it was proven MK had tiny teeth as they ripped a hole into the fabric of his sleeve and grazed into the fur and skin on his arm.
"Yeowch... yup that answers THAT."
Macaque didn't stay for long. He didn't want to overstay his welcome, he had already intruded long enough. In the end he opted to stay for no more than fifteen minutes, or maybe twenty? He sat there and stuffed his face with peach after peach, after peach dish, unable to restrain himself.
Every last little bite of peaches he took made his mouth water, and he was hooked from that very first bite, and he just felt like he couldn't stop. It was like an addiction, because every bite was euphoria unmatched. He could feel electrical energy surging through him, bringing him back from the brink of possibly passing out from hunger that he had been fighting off for days now.
"These are the best peaches I've ever had in my mortal life! Well... maybe not THE best." Macaque trailed off as Wukong's face flashed before his mind's eye and focused in on his lips. Macaque was grateful for his dark fur; it kept the bothersome blush on his face from being noticeable.
Macaque had kissed Wukong but once...
Not that Wukong knew, or if he did or does, then he never said anything. See one-night lifetimes ago- Macaque just couldn't take it anymore. He was going insane, thinking about how Wukong's lips would fit perfectly against his own.
He guessed of peaches, and of sunshine and of the stars.
Macaque had been correct.
The kiss had been short, sweet, simple and sneaky.
For he had done so while Wukong was asleep, curled up with him in their favorite tree on Flower Fruit Mountain. Not his best moment, to steal a kiss when Wukong didn't have a say in it... but that crime paled in comparison now to his many crimes he had committed from then on up until today.
Yes, the kiss had been sweet and simple. It was a short kiss, as short as they came, and warm, so warm. There were no fireworks, no fanfare, no angelic choir, no- nothing like that. It was just warm, and it felt like home.
He felt safe, secure and loved.
That is to say: It blew Macaque's fucking mind.
And from then on, he stole kisses from Wukong as he slept. Never on the lips, though, he already violated that. Once had to be enough, if he would ever kiss Wukong on the lips again, it would be with his express consent.
Still, he left kisses elsewhere. Against the tip of his ears, his nose, all over his face. Anywhere and everywhere, Macaque could reach he kissed Wukong. He did it whenever they were cuddled up after a long day of monkeying around and Wukong was lost to the realm of dreams.
Macaque always wondered what Wukong dreamt about... becoming stronger and more immortal- probably.
Though that didn't explain the times Macaque was nearly startled out of his own skin and fur whenever Wukong would murmur out his name and shift in his arms and follow the touch of his lips.
Every single time that happened Macaque almost ended up in an early grave from a heart attack because he thought he'd woken Wukong up and was caught. Wukong had nearly killed him so many times... it was almost laughable now that Wukong did kiss him back in the end.
Not on the lips no. He had bestowed upon Macaque the kiss of death with the end of his mighty weapon, his staff. Wukong had sent Macaque to an early grave after all, after so many times of accidentally almost killing him before by way of nearly waking up.
Heaven help him, if he must die again, then Macaque would die kissing the great Sun Wukong in his last moments of life or damn it all he would crawl out from his grave one last time to kiss him and then die for good. He made a mental mark in his mind to save that for later.
Macaque needs to know if kissing Wukong would be just as heavenly now as it was back then.
"Still, they're pretty, good. Thank you for the meal, Goddess of Creation."
Though Macaque supposes anything would taste like a bite of Heaven itself when one hasn't had a bite to eat in almost a week now. "Here Kid, have some!' Macaque shifted MK in his arms until MK was sitting forward and then tore a small and soft piece of a peach off of the pulp and held it under MK's nose.
The baby monkey that was MK, yeesh, that would take some time getting used to- (Fortunately Macaque had five years to do that) - stared at the piece of the peach and then nosedived his face into the peach immediately to take a big whiff of it.
MK let out a shocked noise as his tail fluffed up. It was a mix between a soft shriek and snort. Peach juice shot up his little nose and he made an odd, strained snort and then sneezed like a kitten.
Then MK shot up into a sit, his eyes shimmered like stars, and he squealed in utter delight as he yanked the piece of peach away from Macaque. He ate the entire thing whole; he basically inhaled the damn thing. He didn't even take the time to chew or swallow. He just sucked it right up like...
Macaque didn't even know.
After MK was done, he excitedly babbled and tried to reach down to the table to grab a full peach, but Macaque was able to stop him.
"Whoa! Slow down there, Kiddo! No one is going to take them from ya!" Macaque chuckles softly as he gives MK more and more pieces to nibble upon while he continues to eat his own dishes, taking experimental bites between them.
He can't seem to finish any of them, because each is sweeter and tastier than the last and he feels like he has to eat at least one bite from each. Once he's eaten all he can stomach he reaches for the glass in front of him to wash it all down.
Only to immediately regret all his life choices that led up to this moment as he almost hacked it all up on the table. The liquid that Macaque could only describe as pain incarnate sparks off a scorching and burning sensation in his throat. It tastes of peaches and of fire, it's as if he's swallowed the sun itself.
He winces and it takes all his will not to drop MK or the glass. The fur on his body stands on end and his tail fur fluffs up as he wheezes. He clumsily sets the now empty glass back in the table, having made the mistake of downing it all in one greedy gulp to quench his dry throat.
Which only felt drier now.
"Pardon me great Goddess- but what the Hell was in that thing?"
"You are pardoned." Nüwa stifled down a laugh as she gracefully ate her own peach dish, keeping with proper etiquette to not talk with her mouth full, only speaking when she was done chewing and swallowing her own peach.
"That was a little taste of Heaven, as I said- you shall be needing its energy to keep that chaos child under control." She gestures to MK who is holding up a piece of peach pie and playing with the crust. She then falls into silence as she finishes off her dish and then goes for another.
Macaque sat there in that silence basically recovering from being burned alive from the inside out. If he didn't already have an intimate understanding of what death felt like, he would have sworn he had just temporarily died.
"Forgive me when I say this, but I don't believe I want another glass."
"No, I didn't suspect you would, besides one will be enough anyways. Even one seems to be potent enough that you wouldn't have to drink it again. I too could wait for millenniums before ever drinking it again, Sun Wukong though... that's a different story. That menace wouldn't even ask for more. He would just take it. He would out drink anyone and everyone in the mortal and immortal realm when it comes to this peach flavored elixir."
Nüwa hummed before she placed her utensils down, only having eaten half of her next dish, and then flicked her wrists. Out of the white void a book appeared in the air and floated down to hover in front of her.
"It's been lovely having you, my dear Six-Eared Macaque. Truly Liù'ěr Míhóu, you are more of a gem than the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong. He would have eaten me right out of dwelling and my realm if he had been here. I would love to keep you on this date of ours longer, but I am sure you are ready to take MK home to his ahem, Papa as you say. Also, I do have work I need to attend to. There are souls that need my attention."
The Goddess gestures to the book and then magics up a quill and ink, she flips the pages carefully scanning through them until finding whatever it was that she was looking for and then begins to write several things out that Macaque couldn't see from his vantage point.
"Why don't you take the rest of the dishes to go? I am certain a very hungry Sun Wukong would be in your debt. In fact, take this flask of the rest of the drink, all this combined will get him back to full strength. Though, perhaps seeing the child will do that all in of itself, but just in case- you should give the rest of the food and drink to him. The Universe needs the Monkey King to be in peak condition, since the Child will be out of commission for a few years he needs to take up his old role as Protector. For there are many dangers still yet lurking beyond what even I can see."
A large container melted up through the surface of the table and then the rest of the dishes which consisted of peach pie, peach pudding, peach cobbler, peach crumble, just plain peaches, and more all stack themselves nice and neat into the container.
A lid manifested out of nowhere and slapped down snugly onto the container and it slid itself across the surface and came to a spot at the end of the table right in front of Macaque and a flask flashed into existence right next to the container.
Macaque blinked and stared at the container, the flask, and then to Nüwa and tilted his head. He couldn't quite understand why but he felt like he was missing something. Though a soft little chirpy yawn from MK broke his concentration. He looked down just in time to see MK nod off into sleep, peach juice all over his face, he was a right mess.
But the most precious mess Macaque had ever seen in his entire life.
"I... thank you?" Macaque didn't know what else to say. Really, what more was there to say? It's not like Macaque could EVER match the mercy of Nüwa and somehow convey just how grateful he was for her grace. Though he would be lying if he wasn't still a tad ticked off at her for putting MK through all this in the first place.
But he wasn't about to risk MK's new lease on life by being snarky. For once in his life Macaque thought it would be best to still his tongue and not look a gift horse, er... snake in this case, in the mouth.
"Goodnight Liù'ěr Míhóu, may you enjoy the rest of your life with your family." Nüwa said as she flipped the book closer, and it vanished into the white void and went back to wherever it came from. She gave him such a serene smile that Macaque couldn't help but feel comforted and all the more certain in his conviction that his life was but an infinitesimal fraction of a price to pay for MK to live on.
"Thank you, great Goddess of Creation, though I don't know about that. I'll try... but I don't think I'm part of their family, not yet anyways. I have a lot of amends to do and a lot of proving myself worthy of their trust and love, first." Macaque slowly stands up, being careful not to jostle MK, and puppeteers one of his shadows to carry the container and flask for him.
He begins to move slowly towards the rift, and only stops momentarily when Nüwa's voice calls out to him:
"You are more loved than you will ever hope to know in this lifetime ahead of you, my child."
Macaque goes to turn around and ask her what she means by that, but he's momentarily blinded by a void of darkness. Then the black cracks and falls away and he's on top of Flower Fruit Mountain, with MK safely snug and secure in his arms and his shadow puppet is by his side, still holding the container and flask.
Macaque stands there for a few seconds, stunned and blinking in the starlight as he tries to piece together everything that just happened. Coming to the slow realization that it was not in fact a desperate dream. He looks up at the moon and wonders again, why it is night- when mere minutes ago the sun was starting to ascend.
He doesn't have time to ponder it though.
Because in the distance he hears a sea of sound. It's a frantic sea, tumultuous and terrified. It's difficult to make out because his ears are so sensitive that it almost makes him go deaf, but he manages to pick apart the chaotic choir of voices and make out who is saying what and what is being said.
"MACAQUE?! MACAQUE WHERE ARE YOU?!"
That's Mei's voice, and she sounds like she's fired up in the worst way. Her voice seems strained as if she had been yelling for hours.
"WHERE ARE YOU, MAC- BUDDY?" Sandy's voice booms out right after, "COME ON OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE! YOU'RE SCARING US AND MO!"
"COME ON, COME ON! POP OUT OF YOUR SHADOW PORTAL ALREADY!" Pigsy calls out into the chaos of voices, "WE DIDN'T MEAN TO BLAME YOU FOR WUKONG RUNNING OFF- REALLY!"
"MACAQUE! COME ON, PLEASE! WE'RE SORRY FOR WHAT WE SAID EARLIER!" Tang chimed in from somewhere down the mountain, "WE DIDN'T MEAN IT! PLEASE, WE ARE ALL WORRIED ABOUT YOU! ALSO, I'M SERIOUSLY TERRIFIED THAT SUN WUKONG WILL LEVEL THE MOUNTAIN LOOKING FOR YOU!"
As soon as Tang said as much from down below the mountain trail, Macaque felt the entire Mountain quake violently and heard an explosion on the shoreline at the edge of the island. Without wasting any more time Macaque dismissed his shadow puppet to go place the container and flask into Wukong's kitchen.
"WOULD YOU JUST HURRY UP AND COME OUT, SHADOW BOY?!" Red Son, who sounded like he had been interrupted from a deep sleep, interjected into the flow of frantic voices. "THE MONKEY KING HAS GONE MAD, EVEN I'M STARTING TO GROW SERIOUSLY CONCERNED THAT HE'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE THIS WHOLE MOUNTAIN INTO RUBBLE!"
After making sure the sounds of frantic idiots screaming into the night hadn't woken MK up, Mac didn’t hesitate, and he promptly teleported down to the beach where he heard the explosion originating from.
There just several feet away from him was Sun Wukong, he had his back turned towards him. Macaque could see how frazzled Wukong was, even though he wasn't facing him.
He saw his back and shoulders expand and fall rapidly, his tail was fluffed up, and his clothes were a tattered and torn mess. He had all manner of debris clinging to his clothes, leaves, flowers, vines, pieces of peaches, sticks...
There was leafy, rocky and sandy carnage scattered all over everywhere, and there were scorch marks in the sand, as though Wukong had been blazing all over creation looking for Macaque.
The mighty Sage Equal to Heaven didn't seem so equal to Heaven at the moment. He was doubled over by the tree Macaque often slept in... their tree...
Wukong was trembling and it seemed he would collapse then and there. Though he did not need to breathe, he was making strained breathy sounds as he struggled to silence strangled sobs.
"MACAQUE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! MACAQUE ANSWER ME, PLEASE! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, ANSWER ME!"
Wukong sounded downright dreadful, the way he called out for Macaque so desperately. The manner in which Wukong called out for Macaque was an eruption of despair, it was nothing short of defeated. Macaque couldn't keep still just watching Wukong spiral like this.
"MACAQUE WHERE ARE YOU?!" Wukong all but wailed to the Heavens themselves as his knees threatened to give out, he clutched onto the trunk of their tree like it was a lifeline. "PLEASE ANSWER ME! PLEASE, MAC, DON'T DO THIS TO ME. DON'T LEAVE AGAIN! PLEASE, PLUM!"
"Yo, hey bud!" Macaque finally found his voice as he took a few steps forward, smiling sheepishly as he moved towards Wukong. "I uh... I got you a little something that you're not going to believe-" he wasn't able to finish because his voice died in his throat as Wukong whirled around as fast as a spinning typhoon and their gazes locked together.
Macaque's heart stalled in his chest.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Couldn't believe the tears shimmering in Wukong's eyes that were obviously being shed over him. He wanted to say something, anything, but all he could do is stare as Wukong looks at him like he's seeing a phantom.
"Ma- Mac...? Macaque it’s you... you’re-" Wukong's whisper is barely audible over the soft breeze and crashing sea waves. His chest is heaving and he's looking at Macaque like he is going to vanish into thin air, and he would never see him again for the rest of eternity.
A nervous smile spread itself across Macaque’s face, “Wukong...?”
Before Macaque had any time to respond, Wukong bunched his muscles and then shot forward in a frantic and mad dash towards him, tripping and stumbling, yet still- he made his way over almost faster than a bolt of lightning could land against the earth itself.
"Mac! Macaque!" Wukong breathed out, breathless and filled to the brim with equal parts relief and rage. Even under Wukong's fur Macaque could see how puffy and red his cheeks were, how red his eyes were.
“Hey bud-” Macaque couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“MACAQUE!” Wukong’s voice boomed like a bellow of roaring thunder.
He was far too focused on Macaque that he didn't even notice the precious little bundle that was MK curled up in his arms. Which was understandable, Wukong was an emotional fucking wreck, and Macaque could barely believe it was all over him.
That the few hours he was missing had almost taken Wukong to his knees and had nearly hollowed him out completely. Leaving him a shaking and shivering shell.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHERE IN ALL THE MORTAL AND IMMORTAL REALMS HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Wukong snarled, his expression dark and dangerous, as though he was going to drop kick Macaque to the fucking moon. Tears flowed freely and without shame from Wukong's eyes as he finally came to a halt in front of Macaque.
Macaque would have found it endearing that he had brought Wukong to tears, if not for the fact that Wukong's hands found his shoulders and clutched onto them so tightly that it burned. Macaque tried to pull away, but Wukong's hold on him was unrelenting.
"Ow! Take it easy, bud! Could you quiet down a bit you're going to wake the Ki-" Macaque tried to talk Wukong down, but he wasn't having any of it. He felt Wukong basically bash his forehead against his, effectively silencing Macaque for a second as stars filled his vision, "Ow, you son of a- what the fuck, Sun Wukong?!"
"NO! DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME TO QUIET DOWN, BUD! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU- DAMN IT, MACAQUE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOU BIG, STUPID IDIOT?! I WOKE UP AND COULDN'T FIND YOU ANYWHERE! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?! YOU'VE BEEN MISSING FOR THREE DAYS!"
Wukong all but shrieked like an irate banshee while shaking him like a ragdoll, and Macaque was left stunned because there wasn't any possible way that could be right. He couldn’t even think about it really, because he had to hold onto MK for dear life, so the poor kid wouldn’t fly right out of his arms.
“W-Wukong! S-Stop it, l-let me explain, damn it!”
This made no sense, it at most had only been a day since he was gone, right? Surely, he wasn't gone for THAT long. He swore he had only been away for a few minutes at best?
Then again if there was any indication of the validity of Wukong's statement it would be in the way he was shaking. There wasn't any way that Wukong could be lying, not when he looked so vulnerable. He felt Wukong wrap his tail around his waist to pull him in closer.
Wukong stopped shaking him, and instead just breathed, his chest heaving harshly.
"Fuck... fuck! Macaque I'm sorry I... you were just gone for three days with no word. We couldn't find you anywhere, we looked wherever we thought you might be and I..." Wukong tried to pull himself back together, but he was falling apart and in all different damn directions that it was next to impossible to do so.
"I thought that something happened to you and that you were..." Wukong can't finish, he is strangled by a sob and all he can do is stare into Macaque's eyes. "Heaven help me, you... you scared me almost to death, Plum. Don't... don't ever... don't you EVER do that again. Don't you EVER up and vanish on me like that again without saying anything!"
Macaque laughs at the absurdity of it all, the very thought that he could kill the immortal Sun Wukong by just vanishing into the shadows never to be seen again. Surely, not- right? There's no way that he held that kind of great importance to Wukong.
Wukong must be delirious with grief, because Macaque is certain the second that he saw MK he would forget all about his beloved warrior once again.
"I almost scared you, the immortal Great Sun Wukong to death? Wooooow."
It's not funny and he shouldn't be laughing, but he is, and he can't stop it. He hears Wukong make some type of wounded sound, and he quickly adds on in a rush of words to placate him, "Sorry, sorry I just... you're crying over me. I didn't think you cared about me that much."
"Wha-what?! What do you mean, Mac?! Of course I care about you, idiot! Why would you think that I wouldn't-" Wukong began but then blinked back tears and realized that he was the idiot in question. He was so fucking dumb for even wondering why Macaque would doubt him.
Wukong has given him every single fucking reason to doubt him. Of course, Macaque would be hard pressed to believe in him when all he's done is given him the cold shoulder and bared his teeth at him ever since they had reunited.
Hell, he should have realized that Macaque would doubt him. Wukong had tried to brush off that hint of hesitation when Macaque reached out to his hand back then when they thought the cycle was all going to end. Wukong couldn't think of anything else to say, other than to slowly release his death grip on Macaque's shoulders.
With an unsteady, slow and deep breath Wukong opted to apologize for bashing his forehead by nuzzling his forehead against Mac's instead. Wukong would have to work towards fixing that. He couldn't let his beloved Plum think that-
Damn it, he's all over the place. Okay, first he figures out where Mac has been and THEN he will start being better to Macaque, because he didn't deserve the painful edge of his agony.
"I... I'm sorry for losing it on you like that. I just... you scared me, Macaque. I thought you were gone. I... where have you been?"
Macaque felt like he was going to meltdown into a gooey shadow puddle, he was lightheaded. He didn't know if he was concussed from Wukong's bashing their heads together, or if it was because they were so close underneath the moonlight like this. The only sounds being that of the distant and barely audible voices of their friends, and the lovely little lullaby of the ocean waves.
Or maybe it was because of the warmth that was radiating off of Wukong, caressing him like the rays of a golden sun, sinking deep down into his core and melting it down. He opens his mouth to speak, but his throat and tongue is so dry that he can't form the words. He has to swallow thickly before he can find his voice again.
"Sorry I uh... I kind of got a littlleeee distracted." Macaque hums, his lips curling up into a cheeky little smile as he looked down at his arms. It almost falters because he is shocked to see that MK is still sleeping soundly in his arms, even after all the chaotic commotion clamoring all about him.
He almost forgets to adjust his arms so that Wukong would be able to clearly see MK, for he was so small that he was almost invisible pressed against his arms and chest.
"Macaque, what...?" Wukong's gaze follows Macaque's and when he sees what Macaque is holding, he audibly gulps in a broken breath. He stares down at MK, his eyes so wide that Macaque thinks if they got any wider, they would pop right out of Wukong's eye sockets.
"Yeah, funny story, you're going to laugh so hard- I kinnnnnd of went on a little journey to the Pillar of uh...Heaven." Macaque replies, clearing his throat, "I guess it took a little longer to complete than I thought it would but-"
"Kid...?" Wukong says, as though he's dreaming. He's so stunned that he almost does fall to his knees, only being saved by Macaque's tail quickly coiling around his torso and holding him steady.
"Whoa there, bud- easy. Don't die on me and the Kid now, yeah?" Macaque couldn't help but tease him lightly in lame attempt to lighten the overall mood. He was still feeling faint, but he could hold out a little longer before passing out.
"Holy Heavenly Mother of the beautiful Buddha!" Wukong wheezes as he takes in sips of air that he didn't even need all because he felt like his soul was trying to ascend right up and out of his body.
"Mac what...? How did?! This... it's the Kid, right? This is MK, right?"
"The one and only, Monkie Kid, Peaches." Macaque affirms as he watches Wukong's face become a flurry of different facial expressions, unable to completely fall and settle into one or another. It takes more than maybe two to three minutes of Wukong just staring at Mk’s sleeping form before his expression finalizes itself.
A bright and beaming grin stretched across the immortal monkey’s face, and it was so bright and warm that Macaque doubted that even the sun could be that bright and warm. Wukong’s tremoring took on a whole new meaning, it slowly flowed and ebbed away from an emotional meltdown to pure euphoria.
“KID!” Wukong bursts out into deep-bellied laughs, they’re borderline hysterical, but so, so happy. He lowers his hands away from Macaque’s shoulders and let them hover over MK who looked so peaceful, far more peaceful than Wukong has ever seen him in a long time.
MK looked so happy curled up like that in between Macaque’s arms and chest.
He was almost reluctant to break his peace...
“C-Can I-?” Wukong starts up, but he doesn’t even have to ask because Macaque slips MK over into Wukong’s awaiting arms. “K-Kid... MK.” He breathes out, his tears starting to seep up to the surface of his golden eyes once more, this time out of joy instead of despair. “Thank Heavens.” He breathes out in between a soft sob and breathy huff of a laugh.
That’s when MK’s eyes slowly open, the little baby monkey blinks as he stares up at Wukong and then he tilts his head, “Eh...?”
“Oh no,” Macaque winces as his hands fly up to his six ears as he braces himself for impact.
Tears well up and surge out of MK’s eyes and he lets out a shriek and Wukong stiffens up as his ears start to ring, but he powers through it and holds MK close.
“Whoa, hey bud- it's just me. It’s Monkey King, you... you know me. I got you; I got you... I got you.” More tears trail down his face, and his breathing shakes in his lungs slightly. He doesn’t know what in the Heavens compels him to do this, but he leans down and places a kiss to MK’s forehead. “I got yah, Kid.”
It takes MK all but a few seconds to calm down and then giggles, “Mo-ki-kiinnng?” His tiny little hands find Wukong’s cheek fur, and with all the might in his tiny body, he yanks. He cackles like a mad little chaos chimp as Wukong grimaces for a split second.
“ICH-” Wukong chuffs out, but otherwise he keeps his composure. “Yeah, it’s me bud.” He doesn’t care that his cheeks hurt now, because they’re going to hurt anyways later on for how much smiling he has to make up for. After that his attention turns back around to Macaque, “H-How did? Mac... seriously, what did you-? How?”
Macaque feels heat blossoming to the surface of his cheeks and he’s as grateful as ever that his fur is able to hide it. He raises a hand to the back of his head and rubs it nervously as he averts his gaze, because Wukong is looking at him like he’s someone that used to be blind and is seeing the moon for the very first time.
“Well, I guess you could say I went on my own journey to the west?” Macaque chuckles as he shrugs, feeling a bundle of nerves settle into the middle of his chest like little round butterfly cocoons that broke open immediately after falling into the spaces between his ribs.
A million little fluttering butterfly wings brushed against the bones of his ribcage, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“That is to say, I went on my own redemption journey and found MK at the end of it. I marched right to the Pillar of Heaven and demanded an audience with Nüwa herself. I told her that destiny was complete and utter moonshine, and that MK deserved to live. She agreed with me and well... yeah- I got the Kid back. Not like how we remember him, but it’s him all the same. He uh... he might not remember us right away b-but he will, so-”
“MAC, YOU MAD BEAUTIFUL MANIAC OF A MONKEY!” Wukong couldn’t contain himself any longer, everything was just right in the Universe again and it was all because of Macaque. His beautiful and amazing, wonderful warrior- his precious Moon.
“THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH!” He leans forward and without even thinking about it he plants a petal-soft kiss to Macaque’s forehead-
Before Macaque can even register what just happened the others find them.
“YOOO! There he is!” Mei bays out in joy as she leads the group across the sands at a breakneck pace, “Hey Shadow Monkey Man! We were all worried sick about you, you silly little simian! You almost gave poor Monkey King here a heeeaaarrtt atttaccckkk----”
She slid to a sudden stop and sand sprayed up and into the air as she almost crashed a burned, her feet almost flying up right from under her.
Mei’s eyes went so wide that they looked like helium balloons and that she would float off into the emptiness of space at any given moment.
“OH, MY GREAT SAGE!” She gasps, as tears start to shimmer in her eyes, “MKKKKKKKK!!!!!!’ She shrieked sounding a lot like an excited monkey herself.
“MK! IT’S MK!” She jumps up and down and stares at MK, who stares back at her, he chatters excitedly and opens and closes his little hands as he looks at her.
“What-” Tang started to say, his glasses falling askew as he rushed over, but his voice was cut off by Sandy’s voice-
“The-” Sandy stomped through the sand faster so he could see what all the commotion was, something about MK being back? He felt his heart hammer away in his chest.
Mo lets out an excited ‘mrow’ as he leapt off and ran over to stand next to Mei, Wukong and Macaque. The feline stares up at MK with dilated eyes and began to purr. And he gently climbs up Mei’s back so drape himself over her shoulders to get a better look at MK.
“HELLO?” Pigsy picked up the pace to get to everyone’s side and when he finally reached everyone and there wedged between Wukong’s arms his eyes beheld the most beautiful sight his sore eyes had ever seen before. “It... It's really... the Kid, it’s you.... MK! It’s really you!” The dam broke and he burst out into tears.
“Th-There there, old friend.” Sandy sniffles as he shakes and tries to pat Pigsy on the back, but he ends up succumbing to his own emotions and busts out in a bellow of emotion. “There, there i-it's okay- all is well and right with the Universe again!”
“Noodle...boy?” Red Son said, as he was the last to arrive and he stared at MK, he swore that his head was about to go up in flames.
“B-but h-how?! And why is he a baby monkey?!”
“I-I don’t know.” Wukong manages to say as he can’t help but nuzzle his forehead against MK’s tiny head and laughed alongside MK’s giggling. “I don’t know why, maybe it’s because he was in his monkey form when he went into the Pillar of Heaven I don’t... I don’t care. He’s back now and that’s all that matters... that’s all that matters-” He released a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in.
“You’re welcome, everyone.” Macaque put on a smug display to hide away his true emotional dismay, his thoughts still getting stuck on Wukong brazenly kissing him on the forehead like it was no big fucking deal.
Which one, how dare he, and two HOLY HEAVENS Wukong kissed him... HE KISSED him!
“Honestly, I’m a little shocked that you didn’t think to march up to Nüwa’s doorstep and break it down and demand him back yourself, bud.” He quickly uses his shadow portal to slip down into the sand and out of Wukong’s tail hold. He gently elbows him in the shoulder, “Why didn’t you think of it, mhn?”
Wukong opened his mouth but found his voice was missing as his brain blanked. His face went bright cherry red, not even his fur could hide it and if they were in a cartoon show then steam would be blowing out his ears. He took a breath and shifted MK to one arm and then rose up the other arm to playfully shove Macaque in the shoulder.
“Why, you cheeky little-” But Wukong missed his mark by a mile.
Macaque barked out a laugh and merely jumped back to evade the blow and smirked, he hid it well on the outside- but on the inside he was burning like the sun was burning up his belly and by extension body. He still couldn’t get the kiss out of his head, over and over it replayed in his mind’s eye.
Suddenly he was cut off guard as several arms shot forward and he was pulled into a group hug, not that this hadn’t happened before, but it ALWAYS startled Macaque all the same. He doesn’t even try fighting it and just lets himself slowly relax, or rather he relaxes as much as he can.
He’s still caught up in the kiss to his forehead. He can still feel the phantom feeling of Wukong’s lips, it’s warm and he feels like he’s going to melt into several scattered shadow puddles into the sand.
“MK, you little rascal!” Mei cooed out as she reached over and gently ruffled the fur on his tiny head, “Welcome back to the realm of the living my dudeeeee!”
MK and chatters and clicks, as he swipes playfully at Mei’s hands, trying to catch and once he got ahold of them, he gave them a nip.
Mei sucked in a sharp breath but otherwise held herself together and smiled so wide that she felt like her cheeks were going to burst, “That’s our MK, alright!”
As everyone gushes over MK, Wukong finds himself finally coming out of his emotional spiral then his gaze signaled out Macaque. “No, seriously, Macaque how did you get MK back?” He finally breaks out the big question, because he really wants to know.
He has a sneaking feeling that Macaque isn’t being forthcoming with them.
“Y-Yes! I too would like to know how you got Noodle Boy back!” Red Son sputtered as he pulled his hand away when MK tried to also nip it. “No, naughty Noodle Boy! No biting!”
Macaque felt everyone’s eyes land on him, and he slipped out of the hug using his shadows and then hopped onto his and Wukong’s favorite tree. He heaved himself up onto the highest branch turned away and laid down his tail flicking to and fro, “No really, I just asked for MK back. There’s nothing more to tell, really.”
That wasn’t a full out lie, at least.
Suddenly he felt something smack into his shoulder and he lost his balance and came tumbling down out of the tree with a loud grunt, he flailed helplessly in the air and the ended up falling face first into the grass and sand.
When he looked up, he saw Wukong standing over him holding out one arm while holding MK in the other. Macaque notices there’s a peach lying next to him on the ground, half intact and the other half smooshed in – so that’s what he was hit with.
His heart skips a beat as he looks back from the peach and to Wukong’s hand. Macaque takes a few steadying breaths and tentatively slips his hand into Wukong’s and then without warning he’s hoisted up and into a one-armed hug.
Wukong holds onto him like if he lets go then Macaque would vanish... honestly, he wasn’t too far off. He would soon, but not tonight. He wraps his arms around Wukong and holds him back. He feels Wukong’s tail encircle his own several times and so he let his tail wrap around Wukong’s right back.
“Thank you, bud.” Wukong says, voice impossibly soft- he can’t recall the last time he had heard Wukong sound so... content. It must have been before MK sacrifice though, surely. “Thank you so much.”
It hurts... because he doesn’t know if Wukong would be thanking him in a few years' time now when he had to leave him. As they hugged one another, MK began to wriggle in between them and let out little ‘eeps’ of discontent.
“Oh whoops! Sorry, Kiddo!” Wukong breaks the hug first, so he stops accidentally suffocating MK, “Kind of forgot that mortals needed to breathe for a second! My bad!” He releases his one-armed hold on Macaque to gently pat MK on the head to soothe the scorned simian.
“Yeah, it was nothin’ really.” Macaque mutters as he stares at MK and watches just how easily the kid is able to make Wukong smile with the simplest of gestures or sounds.
Wukong is hyper-focused on the kid, gently poking his cheeks and MK is puffing them out and making raspberries which makes Wukong snicker and smile like Macaque hasn’t seen him smile in so long.
“Nüwa herself said that not even death could contain this chaotic little hairball, said he was practically clawing and biting at his cage bars to get out. He really is so much like you, eh?” He lightly elbows Wukong’s shoulder.
Wukong grunts and lets out a huff of a laugh and then reaches up and ruffles the fur on Macaque’s head, “If anyone bites and scratches here it’s you bud! Still, it’s impressive that he’s so resilient, I wonder where he gets that from?” He sticks out his tongue and winks, before he looks back down at MK.
“So... what now? Did Nüwa say how long he was going to be like this for?”
“Five years.” Macaque replies as he tries to keep exhaustion from creeping into his voice, amongst other things such as resignation and acceptance. He can’t let it slip, can’t clue them in on what’s going to come, they didn’t need to know that the price he paid for MK was his stolen soul.
Ignorance was bliss, after all.
“Ah, so he’ll be back to his annoying self in my lifetime, wonderful!” Red Son snorted as he grabbed the collar of his black sweater and fanned it out, and cleared his throat, “Well then!” Red Son clapped his hands together and crackling embers floated into the air around them and dissipated.
“This has been a simply divine search party, thank you SO much Dragon Pony Girl for waking me up in the DEAD of the night tonight to go chasing after Shadow boy here!” He gestures over to Macaque in a dramatic flourish.
“I must be off, because I can’t do any devious and very evil scheming without my beauty sleep!”
Mei snickers at this as she waves her hand in an overly exaggerated motion and calls out in a sing-song voice as Red Son turns to leave, “Sureeee Red Boi, whatever you say- night!”
With that the emotionally charged night was coming to a close as everyone else filed into Wukong’s shack for the night for an impromptu sleep over.
Everyone opted to pile pillows, blankets, comforters and whatever soft things they could find in Wukong’s junk pile into the middle of his living area so they could all curl up and go to sleep. Somehow Macaque found himself, Wukong and MK smack in the middle of the team, the others lying around them in a circle.
Wukong was too busy staring at a sleeping MK, to even notice that Macaque was staring at him with eyes so full of love. Wukong was just totally enthralled with the Kid, as though he was his most precious treasure that he would NEVER lose again if he could help it, that he completely and unintentionally has turned everyone and everything out.
Wukong is just too damn happy, he’s so happy that he could jump up and scrounge through his piles of junk to find his firework kit and set of fireworks right here in the living room- but he didn’t want to disturb MK’s sleep.
He was so tiny and so cute.
“I take back everything I said on the moon; this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Macaque raises an eyebrow, the context of this statement lost to him. He didn’t even know that Wukong had gone to the moon before. Honestly and truly, though- what was so cute on such an empty and dark space rock?
There wasn’t much to love about the moon, really.
It was just a silver rock with ugly dark craters... it was incomplete, barren and void of any life- right?
“Yeah, cute.” Macaque decides to just play along for now, as the heavy and oppressive chains of his expiration date began to coil round him and hold him down into the sheets and blankets. He goes silent and stares down at MK, not realizing his face has fallen way into something crestfallen.
Not until Wukong’s voice shatters the silence as he reaches over MK and gently rests his hand on his shoulder, “Mac...? You okay bud?”
“Uh, y-yeah.” Macaque gives his best effort to smile, but he feels like Wukong can see right through him because he sees him raise his eyebrow ever so slightly in doubt.
“Just tired, it’s been a long three days for me, all that traveling to the Pillar of Heaven- y’know?” He tries downplaying it, hoping that Wukong would drop it. Even though he hadn’t walked anywhere expect up the peak of Flower Fruit Mountain, but Wukong needn't be any the wiser.
Macaque didn’t want to be the one to dim Wukong’s light once again. He was finally happy once more, and if Macaque had anything to say about it- happy he would stay.
Nothing has changed... as soon as the last night of the fifth year rolled around, Macaque would return to the shadows of his grave from whence he came and everyone would move on.
Nothing that happened between the span of these three days meant anything, he concluded. Not the hugging, the tail holding, the pet names, the tears, the hand holding or-
Wukong would be sure to regret all of it with the rebirth of the sun that came with tomorrow’s dawn. All of what happened was because Wukong was emotional, that’s all. Nothing more, and nothing less. It was as Macaque predicted, Wukong was just too hung up with his fatherly love for MK to think about anything else besides it.
Wukong gently squeezed his shoulder, and he regarded him with a somewhat somber stare, “Are you sure? You look...” He trails off and bites his lip and flicks his tail, it was something he did when he was worried. “You look more tired than I’ve ever seen, Plum.”
Macaque huffed and snorted, “Hey, we mortals don’t have boundless energy like you Peach. I’ll have you know I haven’t slept in, uh... a week?”
“A week?!” Wukong replied sharply, as he furrowed his eyes, “Mac, you’re going to get yourself sick. Shut up and go to sleep.” He gently slaps him on the shoulder to show he was serious.
“And don’t you even think about trying to sneak off with your shadows, bud. Because I’ve got my immortal eyes on you, and I can stay up alllll-” a long and dramatic yawn ironically interrupted him as if to disprove the very point he was about to make.
“I can stay up allllll night, bud.”
“Tch, yeah maybe when you are at one hundred percent, but all you’ve had to eat in weeks is probably that peach I picked for you.” Macaque huffs but lets his head fall to the pillow without further argument.
“While on the other hand, I might be tired, but I... oh- before I forget, Nüwa gave me some food to bring to you, saying you needed a pick me up, since you haven’t eaten. It should be safely stored in your food stock. Congrats you hit the jack pot, peach pies, cobblers, crumbles and more- oh and she gave me this drink to give to you too, she said that you would like it because of how potent it was.”
Wukong’s eyes went wide, and he gasped softly and his tail began to wag back and forth and there was something scary in the wicked way he was smirking, but Macaque ignored it.
Heavens, Wukong really was just a GEM wasn’t he?
“For real? I didn’t know she would stoop so low as to get that drink! That is some serious stuff! It really hits the spot! I’ll have to have some when I get up tomorrow.” He looked like he was right tickled about the knowledge of said drink and Macaque wonders what the fuck is so great about it.
It tasted like liquid metal going down his throat, not even the peach flavor could make it bearable. Maybe he didn’t do it right, though? Maybe he was supposed to only take slow and steady sips, rather than guzzle the whole thing down?
Fuck, he was actually tired, his eyelids were getting heavy.
The exhaustion fell fast and heavy upon him, so much so that he almost didn’t notice that Wukong’s tail curled around his, nor did he really register that Wukong took his hand and held tight.
“Okay, but seriously though, bud- you look half dead, you’re worrying me.” Wukong squeezes his hand and that’s the only reason why Macaque realizes they’re holding hands. He feels heat rise to his cheek and he averts his gaze again, unable to look Wukong in the eyes.
“Hey, being half dead means that I’m also still half alive, so-” Macaque gives a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders before a yawn slipped out past his parted lips, “I consider that a win-win, honestly being mortal just means we’re constantly living a little, but also dying a little everyday-”
Macaque stops talking when Wukong’s hand tightens around his and he can feel Wukong’s golden gaze burning holes into his forehead.
“Bud come on... don’t joke like that, you keep... you keep making jokes about death and dying lately and I’m not going to lie, it scared me. So, when you went missing for three days after you joked about me putting you six feet down and now, you’re kind of acting like MK before... Mac if there’s something-”
Macaque finally and reluctantly meets Wukong’s gaze and he regrets looking, because his resolve almost shatters when he sees the wounded look on Wukong’s face. The immortal monkey looks almost as pale as death itself as he stares into Macaque’s eyes.
“Fuck, sorry Wukong, I didn’t know it would shake you up this much, I won’t joke about it anymore and no, it’s nothing, really. I’m just tired...” He trails off and lets out a low and drawn-out sigh.
“I won’t joke about it anymore.” Macaque gives Wukong’s hand a soft squeeze to reassure him. “I promise I won’t sneak off, okay? Why don’t we both get some sleep, it’s been a long few days.”
Wukong stares at him for a long time without so much a word, he holds Macaque’s gaze for several minutes before he gives up the ghost and starts to slowly succumb to sleep’s soft siren song.
“Heh, that’s the understatement of a few centuries.” Wukong gradually releases a soft sigh of relief as he lets his gaze fall back to MK, who was curled up in between them, all warm and content- without a care in the whole Universe.
He smiles as he watches MK’s fluffy ears flick and his tail tip twitch slightly. “It’s been a long few years... I swear Macaque, between you and this Kid, I’m gonna wake up one day with a pelt full of gray hairs.”
“Can’t get gray hairs if you don’t age, Wukong- if anyone is going to wake up with gray hair it’s gonna be me. You and that Kid stress me out on the daily. Both of you go looking for trouble and trouble goes looking for you.”
Macaque leaves no room for argument as he too looks down at MK, “Looks like you’re for real a dad now, congrats.”
“Yeah...” Wukong replies without giving it much thought, and then it clicks. “Shit, you’re right! I’m actually a dad now.” His face scrunches up in thought and his nose twitches, “What does a dad even do? How should I act? Maybe I should ask Pigsy...? But he’s asleep.”
“Heh, calm down Wukong, you have an eternity to figure it out.” Macaque twirls his tail around Wukong’s in an attempt to reassure him.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Wukong finally calms down and lets his head fall to his pillow as well.
“And you’ll be right here with me for years to come too. The Kid looks at you like another dad, you know that, right? Well congratulations Mac, you’re now part of the official MK Dad squad, so like it or not you’re stuck with me and the Kid for the rest of your mortal life- and if I have anything to say about it, you aren’t dying on me for a lonnnnggg time. So-”
Wukong’s gaze is burning bright, and Macaque feels the sin of his lie by omission slip down his spine, “Seriously enough with joking about death, kay? Now go to sleep, you’re drooling on your pillow.”
“Pftttt I am not.” Macaque made to argue, but then he felt the faint hint of wetness against the corner of his lips and licked and tasted salt. “Shitttt I am... ugh you’re impossible, Wukong.”
Wukong merely sticks out his tongue and like his good little shadow Macaque mirrors him.
“Goodnight, Peach.” Macaque turns his face away and hides it into his pillow, and he has to take a steadying breath to reforge his resolve to keep his dirty little secret that his soul was on a time limit, and he’d already lost three days' worth of time he had left already.
Macaque wants to cry when Wukong gives his hand another squeeze, but he doesn’t. Instead, he smiles into the pillow and thinks about how he’s going find a way to squeeze in an eternity into five short years.
MK wasn’t the only one that was reborn.
In a way Macaque had been too, and even if he only had five years well... that didn’t matter. It’s not how long you lived, after all. It’s how much living you did in the time you had, and well- he planned to live all of forever during those five years.
Once he hears the soft snores indicating Wukong had fallen asleep, he turns his face too look at him and smiles softly and then down to MK who was still sound asleep, purring lowly.
“Heh... leave the world a little better than you found it... wasn’t that what you said, Kid?” Macaque leans down and presses a kiss to MK’s fuzzy little forehead and then he gently guides Wukong’s hand more towards him and presses a kiss to the top of it.
“Five years... that’s not a long eternity, but it’s all I got.”
Sleep takes Macaque swiftly.
Tomorrow with the birth of a brand-new sun he would wake up and take his first step into the rest of forever.
And so, concludes the premise of this AU. Honestly, I didn’t mean for it to turn so fanfic like, I wanted to explain it short and simple, but I felt like that wouldn’t do it justice.
Anyways, there you have it my Shadowpeach parents AU! It will have all the fluff, slice of life, comedy, adventure and action it in that you could ever want and that sweet, sweet after taste of Shadowpeachy angst.
So, what will happen in this AU? Only I know. What will happen to Mac in the end? Only I know. If you want this to continue, please show your support by liking, following, commenting and reblogging! Your support means the Universe to me and will give me the strength to keep moving forward with the AU!
Will it be drawn? Will it be written? Or maybe it will be a little bit of both- who knows.
JOURNEYTOTHEWEST/DRAGONBALLZ
💜🍑Shadowpeach Parents LMK: A Hero Reborn AU💜🍑
Also, for Heaven's sake, Mac! Wukong loves you, you stupid monkey! I literally CANNOT with these two, like please- take them away from me. They make me FERAL! MAYBE I NEED TO BE IN A CAGE, DAMN?!
Seriously, these two need some couple therapy already! Like they are driving me up a wall. Mac, sweetheart, honey- Wukong is like holding your tail, and touching you, and hugging you and nuzzling you. He's wrapped around your tail tip! He keeps saying he cares about you! When will you learn? WHEN WILL YOU LEARN HE LOVES YOU?! GAH?!
AUTHOR'S WHISPER-
I left behind some subtle clues in this that might hint at what I have planned, but can you figure it out?
