Chapter Text
“That story, that was you wasn't it?” MK looked around trying to see any sign of Macaque. “The hero was the Monkey King and you were the warrior, right?”
“Guess you aren’t as dense as you look.” MK whipped his head around only to see the shrinking image of a tail.
“Somethings coming,” this time his voice came from the top of the alley, “something you’re not ready for at all, but hey, you can never have too many teachers.” Macaque turned as his figure began to fade into the shadow of the building.
“Wait!”
Just as his head entered the shadow he turned back to MK.
“Could you maybe tell me what happened?” MK looked down, not able to make eye contact. Macaque said that he was ‘just a little too much like him’ , it didn't take a genius to figure out who he was referring to. What he said didn’t sit right with MK, especially after the realization that he did get stuck in his head the past day and forgot about his friends. “What really happened between you and the Monkey King, I would normally ask him but he’s on his vacation or whatever.”
Macaque paused and slowly stepped out of the puddle of shadow. He flipped down from the roof down the alley until he was only a few steps from MK. “Vacation? At this time? Well I suppose he really doesn’t change even after a millennia huh”
He seemed to talk more to himself than to MK, then suddenly looked up, “you know what? Sure I still have time.”
“Wah—“
MK didn’t get another time to react as the floor under him disappeared and he fell through without a word.
——————
With a groan MK sits up from a corner and looks around only sees an old looking temple with what looks like old papers half ripped from the walls.
“Finally woke up huh”
MK snapped at the voice and found Macaque sitting at a low table eating a mango. “You wanted the full story right? Well I don’t have all day.”
“Wait where am I? Where are my friends?” MK frantically looked around but there didn’t seem to be any doors, only two windows that showed a foggy view of forestry with no path or cityscape in sight.
“Don’t worry I won’t try anything, you get your story, and I get to finally catch up with you again without that damn peach around.l”
MK turns back to Macaque and shuffles to the table across from him. Macaque polishes off the mango he was eating and stares at MK before beginning, “believe me, or don’t, but just know you asked for the story so that’s what you're getting.”
“To begin with both me and the Monkey King we’re born of stone, you could say we were one in the same, only difference being our fur color and my extra ears,” MK looked up confused, Macaque seemed to understand and waved his hand as two puffs of smoke appeared next to his head and two sets of ears appeared along the ones MK saw originally. He waved again and the two sets disappeared. “I don’t usually openly show them for disguise purposes, but we were essentially the same.”
“We fought together, ate together, laughed together,” Macaque looked almost wistful, “no one could stop us, we were the number ones from the celestial realm to the demon realm.” His face turned down, “at least we were until he changed, he started getting new powers , suddenly he started leading, then he met him .” Now Macaque looked downright furious, “some monk with immortality or something started talking about fighting for good, we started drifting apart, then he went on his ‘journey’ and we stopped communication all together”
“I waited, hoping that one day he would come back, maybe it was a mistake, maybe he didn’t know, but he never did, at least not the way I wanted him to return.” Macaque looked more sorrowful now, “once his journey was completed he started hunting demons for the sake of the heavenly realms or so he says, I was deemed as a dangerous demon and as a result was ‘eliminated’, I was killed and that was supposed to be the end of it.”
“But you’re alive, what do you mean he killed you?” MK asked, Macaque looked up at MK for the first time since the start of the story, “this is who I was warning you about, kid, the one who revived me was someone called Lady Bone Demon, she promised me life if I agreed to set her free from a box that the Monkey King put her in. I just agreed since I was dead anyways what left is there right? Well when I was revived I found the key that could supposedly open any lock and I was supposed to free her, but I tossed it and went looking for the Monkey King to get my revenge, she was locked for a reason and it isn’t my problem to free her so I didn’t.” MK suddenly saw a flash of blue as memory of the mayor and the skull key flashed in his mind.
“That time with DBK, that was the Lady Bone Demon right? And the time with the Spider Queen,” MK asked.
“I’m surprised you put it together so quickly but yeah, I’m almost certain it’s her, it matches her past pattern almost to a T, originally when I went looking for revenge imagine my surprise to find some kid holding his staff,” Macaque chuckled at that but MK just stayed silent at the memory of their first encounter, embarrassed at his first words to the demon being praises to the Monkey King.
“With the return of Lady Bone Demon, it was only a matter of time before she tracked me down to collect the debt I never paid, so I wanted to check in on my favorite student,” Macaque stared out the window as he continued.
“I’ll admit I was surprised by your improvement, but I was also greatly disappointed, you’re starting to act too much like him,” MK looked down at his hands in shame, “always jumping head first into danger, disregarding anyone who you’re not fighting,”
“Considering you’re his successor I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised but I had hope,” Macaque turned back to MK, “anyways that’s the end of my story, Monkey King killed me, I revived, Lady Bone Demon revived and now I have an expiration date, any questions?”
MK’s mind was running a mile a minute, his mentor who was the supposed embodiment of good, betrayed his own friend, and MK felt his gut turned as he started connecting his own action to what the Monkey King had done. MK just blurted, “Can I stay with you?”
Macaque whipped his head around at that. “Excuse me?”
“N-not like here here, but like can you train me again, without you know taking my powers, I want you to be my mentor, or well, you know, an actual mentor this time,” MK sputtered, “If what you said was true, I don’t want to be like him, I want to save the world sure but I don’t want to lose the people I care about for the sake of it.”
Macaque huffed before turning around, “well I did say I was your teacher right?”
“Is that a yes?” MK asked.
“It’s a maybe, kid, Lady Bone Demon is an actual threat and even with your training it’s not enough, the Monkey King barely beat her last time. What's to say we have any better of a chance.” Macaque reasoned, “but I do like you kid, so I’ll train you, at least until she shows up.”
At that the world turned black again and MK woke up in his bed, he looked out to the familiar scene of the city with a heavy weight in his mind.