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The ringing in his ears wasn’t unbearable per se. It was just… very unpleasant. He reached blindly for his weapon before realizing that opening his eyes might be helpful for locating it.
That proved a lot more difficult than it should have.
While working on forcing his vision back, his hearing slowly returned. Yells, screams, massive winds on his back and, undeniably, more intense heat than there was before.
He was able to settle on his hands and knees, his eyes opening only to blink several times to attempt focus. During this, he heard his mentor’s yelling.
“We gotta get going!”
“What about MK?!”
“I’ve got him, don’t worry! Just hurry up and get out of here! This is not going to end well!”
MK groaned and turned towards the only sense of comfort he’s felt in awhile. That mentor of his jumped in the way of his view, though. He knelt down next to him, something akin to a burn on his shoulder.
“M-Monkey King…? Wha -“
“No time to explain. Come on, Bud.” Despite the obviously dire situation, he was grinning. “Glad to see you’re not hurt.”
“Wait, what happened?”
“Eh… okay, we’ll worry about that memory thing later. Ya need help getting up or something?”
“No, no… I got it.” His balance was a little rough but he managed to stand. If Monkey King was right and his memory was messed up, and also the ringing in his ears and…everything else, then he must have hit his head. And hard. He tried regathering a sense of self and the area, but when he looked past the familiar form in front of him, he felt his heart stop and the oxygen catch in his throat.
There was a mass of fire. Not just any fire, though. This was different. This was blue and yet not. It almost felt like it was every color all at once, like he could touch it and he wouldn’t get burned. But there was only one other fire that wouldn’t burn him so why did he feel that way?
Monkey King had followed his gaze before turning back to him. “Yeah. Samadhi Fire. We found it - woot - but right now we gotta get away from it!” He grabbed MK’s wrist and tried running off. “We’ll find some other way to - ah - Hey!”
MK freed his hand with ease. Too much ease, in all honesty. He’d have to talk to Monkey King about that later. For now, he had a different question.
“Where’s Red?”
“What?”
MK turned his fearful gaze to the one who had promised him that there would be no more lies. “Where is Red Son?”
His mentor’s breath hitched and he seemed conflicted before pointing in the direction of that swirling power. “He’s in there. And he’s completely lost to us now. He’s gonna go after Macaque no matter what we say to him - I don’t even think he understands us anymore! He’s like a shell - a monster - like a - like -“
“Like a weapon…”
“Yeah! Exactly! And one we can’t control so we have to GO!”
MK ran off, leaving Monkey King in the dust. “WAIT! That’s the wrong way - MK GET BACK HERE!”
He ignored him. Ignored the tears forming and ignored the way they instantly evaporated once he got close enough. He could say he dodged the fires but in reality, it bent to his will. Monkey King was wrong.
Red Son wasn’t lost.
Red Son was letting him through.
He made it to the eye of the storm, the center of all this power, expecting to see the newest member of his family before having to stop and flinch back. That… didn’t look right.
That didn’t look like his Red.
MK hesitated. He stared as the giant form of a red-furred bull slowly marched forward towards what was currently the strongest enemy besides Lady Bone Demon herself. It looked as though what could be classified as hair on its head was burning like the flames it controlled. Only it was blue.
He almost turned back, he even took a step in that direction, but as he turned his head, he noticed an ember landing on the back of his hand. He began examining himself further and, sure enough, none of the embers felt like anything. Not even like a mosquito bite. He could watch one land directly on him and not feel any change at all.
MK made note to chastise himself for doubting Red later. For now, he needed help.
He turned right back around and ran in front of Red Son, arms stretched out. He glared up into the eyes of the ‘weapon’ as Monkey King called him and stood still as a rock. He kept his balance and his focus. He used everything he had ever learned from his mentor.
Including his stubbornness.
When the giant stopped and looked down at him, MK didn’t falter. He continued to stare. There was a flicker of something in those eyes and he smirked.
“You’re really going to run off without hearing my answer?”
A flinch of recognition. So MK continued.
“I need to know that you can hear me, first, though. So stop walking towards some other man that you seem so interested in and come back to me.”
There was a solid minute of no change and MK started to doubt himself. But then he noticed the fires around them dying down, slowly disappearing even without changing to a calmer color. After he made that mental note was when the beast knelt down in front of him. Those eyes were shining with… something.
Something that told MK all he needed about how to give the answer to Red Son’s question from the previous night when they had a moment alone, star-gazing at the top of the ship. He had needed more time to find his answer but now… now he was sure he had it.
He put his arms down, relaxed his muscles and smiled, bringing his hands to each side of Red Son’s face. He felt tears in his eyes and brought his forehead to the others. “I’ll stay with you. Just don’t leave me like that again.”
By then, all the fires were gone, but MK didn’t care. He had his Red again. Even if he was a massive bull thing. He could work with that. Wasn’t what he expected and felt like some kind of reverse of Beauty and the Beast but whatever.
Without a word, he was lifted up, somehow gaining some air before settling back into the gentle grip of massive hands. He looked up at the smiling face of his fri - wait, no, partner now - and then laughed.
There was a lot of cheering. Lots of hooting and hollering from Mei and fanboying from Tang. MK didn’t bother to look at anyone else until he heard Monkey King from right below them. He had his arms crossed with a smirk and raised brow decorating his face.
MK just grinned and his mentor nodded.
It was a nice moment. One where Red Son was oddly quiet and calm.
Well, at least he was until he heard Mei yell out a mocking “GAAAAAAAY!”