#spitting something

The short answer? No. He wouldn’t. MK would curl into a ball and disappear into the earth if he knew.

The long answer? Well, for the sake of this thought experiment, we'll say that MK became aware of his role as the perspective character somewhere in the middle of the show, well after LBD's whole arc.

(I do believe that an MK who's always known vs an MK who learns eventually are two very different people but that's a story for a different day)

Now, to understand this post we must understand something fundamental about MK. He loves his family and friends more than he loves himself. We see time and time again as he sacrifices himself in ways both big and small just for the CHANCE at helping those he cares about.

So with this, at first, MK would be angry. Angry that he was unknowingly exposing the lives of his friends and family to who knows what. Angry that he didn't know how to STOP being the perspective character for his friends. Not for himself, no no no. MK is angry that those close to him have been forced into this situation that should've been his alone to deal with

After the anger has past, there's no doubt in my mind that the self-isolation would quickly follow. It wouldn't be something quick that catches everyone off guard, it'd be a gradual process. Despite it all, I think MK would have enough sense to be wary about whatever may be watching him, and wouldn't want to put his loved ones in danger by acting rashly. It's steady, slow, and more careful than MK's ever been in his life until even Wukong has been cut off which took the longest time to do but that's neither here nor there And finally, after the isolation, comes the fear. In comes in the paranoia, the eyes the writhe under his skins, the freezing in fear because his every move is being watched and recorded and analyzed. It's squeezing his eyes shut in a dark out-of-the-way location with a blanket over his head for the small, small chance that whatever it is goes away. It's making a nest out of items that still vaguely smell like his loved ones because he can't bring himself to go back. It's thinking back to Lady Bone Demon and wondering if she was right, if his path only ever lead to pain, because so far, nothing has been able to prove him otherwise.

This isn't the end for him, of course. Monkie Kid wouldn't just not help people, and his friends and family wouldn't stop looking for him either. With a father like Pigsy, a best friend like Mei, and a mentor like Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, you don't just disappear. MK has people who love him and a destiny that must be fulfilled no matter what.

MK must be broken free from his isolation and guided through a journey of rediscovery and healing.

I wonder where we've heard that story before..

So what happens next? Does he do what he has to and disappear into the forest forever? Do his loved ones come to his aid and help him deal with his new situation?

No. I think MK ends up in an uncomfortable middle ground that no one is happy with, no matter how much MK tries to convince himself otherwise. He doesn't go away forever, but he doesn't come back either. I don't think MK is capable of ever being able to even remotely close to how he did before with his newfound knowledge. I know they all visit him, they're too stubborn not to, and MK loves them too much to stay away forever either, but there's no more tired MK walking down the stairs of Pigsy's shop. There's no more barging into FFM to bother Wukong or the Troops or even Macaque. There's no more getting dragged off to the arcade with Mei on a random afternoon when he's supposed to be working.

One has lived with that sense of incompletion but was surrounded by friends and family who helped that feeling stay as muted as it did.

The other has only ever known that feeling, growing up with one other person who tells stories of you, your people, and your missing half time and time again so it’s impossible to ignore.

And then, when you finally meet it’s great and amazing but old habits die hard and your sibling leaves again because that feeling of something missing is something they’ve grown accustomed to so walking away towards a goal is nothing new

And that’s not to say they don’t care about you, because they do! You’re their missing half! But to them, that established connection, especially when they can literally feel your energy all the time if they just focused, is enough for them.

But for you? It’s heartbreaking. It feels like abandonment all over again because you feel like your life’s purpose has been waiting for this familiar stranger and here they go leaving you behind to babysit some kid. And when someone comes along and tells you that you two were an unstoppable duo, siblings who stuck together no matter what, you can’t help wonder if something’s wrong with this version of yourselves.

Anyways hi guys!!

How disgusting was it to tell someone

“It doesn’t matter if you kill yourself or not because nothing will change. Kill yourself, so destiny caused YOU to perpetuate the cycle. Keep living, and YOU lead the world to its inevitable end. It’ll always be YOUR FAULT, but that doesn’t matter because the I still win and the earth eventually stops spinning.”

and in the same breath you looked at this person who is experiencing life for the first time ever and go

“It’s okay if you kill yourself. It’ll be your choice. You’ll be taking control of your own life this time.”

And then your creator holds you gently in her arms and tells you that you were meant to live and die in order to keep this world going because you and the world cannot coexist.

“Leave the world better than you find it,” but that’s only possible if you don’t exist in said world.

[YOUR NAME] who communicates to the bat wielding savior with controlled hands and sign language that only he understands

A glow that brightens, flickers, and dims with every step and keeps your carrier warm through the journey

The SOUL, whose relationship with the cage is a complicated thing and maybe one day you can tell them you’d like to play the piano with them some day

The SOUL, who guides the host on journey after journey, save after save, and you hope they feel your LOVE even if you don’t know if they know you’ve been with them every step of the way

The sinner who can do nothing but run until your sins finally reach you but perhaps you can running is all you yearn for now

The expandable who yearns fights for a chance at the surface, to be more than expendable, before waking up down below once more, doomed to do it all again.