Chapter Text
They had all lent him their power. Wukong and Macaque, Tang, Pigsy, Sandy, Mei and Redson, NeZha, even Princess Iron Fan and the Demon Bull King. He was using it all. Mk pushed forward on the handles controlling the mecha, ignoring the way his limbs burned. Channeling all that power felt like every atom in his body was being torn apart and reformed every second. It vaguely registered somewhere in the back of his mind that he was yelling, letting out a wet cough as he pushed his body far past what it could handle. Finally, it gave, his mecha launching forward to destroy the Lady Bone Demon. Every feeling, every sensation in his body dulled as he let out a sigh and slumped over.
Mk opened his eyes to the feeling of weightlessness and a blinding white. Everything was fuzzy, he looked around in an attempt to place any landmark, an up or down, anything. It was a white expanse of nothingness as far as the eye could see. The only thing that grounded him was a voice from over his shoulder. He turns to face her as she speaks.
"Save your hero speech, child. I've existed long enough to know when it's over." It was the Lady Bone Demon.
She looked different. Human, almost. While he had never really seen much emotion out of her aside anger or the cold and calculating smile she often wore, this was different. It was hard to place. Regret? Disappointment? Sadness, maybe. Dark hair wrapped around her face, it seemed to move with the same invisible current that carried her long white, tattered robes.
"Do you still think that the Universe really wants anything, from any of us?" He asked her, cocking his head to one side.
Sympathy plucked at his heart strings, playing a quiet song of compassion for someone who had brought the world nothing but destruction, chaos and suffering.
"Don't you?" She replied, not turning to face him as she spoke.
The resignation in her voice was so final, so absolute. She had given up. He admired her grace even in the face of defeat. Her question caught him off guard. He wasn't really sure how to answer for a moment, standing there and blinking. Then he sighed and smiled, bringing his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbing it. The soft fabric of his red hair band brushed over his hand as it also followed the current of nothingness.
"I try not to think too hard." He admitted with a soft laugh of embarrassment.
She bit back. "So it would seem." The Lady Bone Demon knew he was smarter than he often let on.
His face dropped at the remark, guessing that his attempts to lessen the tension in the air had failed. The boy dropped his shoulders, eyes downcast as he thought for a moment. Mk snapped his eyes back up at the sudden drop of temperature, an icy chill shooting its way down his spine.
"Know this, Monkey." She leant forward, inches away from his ear. His body stiffened as he whipped his head around to look at her. "You and I are not so different." That comment made his stomach sink. "We both fight for what we think is right. That pursuit only leads to one thing."
Mk rolled his eyes. "Mhm. To destiny, right?" He finished her sentence, or at least he thought he had.
She smiled. Mk couldn't place what it meant. She looked as if she felt sorry for him, young and naïve, but there were faint undertones of malice behind it. She had had centuries to rehearse the perfect smile and yet now, as her body flakes apart into nothingness, it falters. It's something genuine.
"No. To pain." She bows her head, arms tucked behind her back as she lets herself become nothing.
Mk stares for a moment at the place she was just a second ago and wonders what she meant by that. Now he's alone. Nothing but a pure, bright void. If he hadn't already been to the Heavenly Realm he would have wondered if this is what the afterlife was like. The silence is deafening, suffocating.
Meanwhile, cheers and screams of joy and triumph filled the mountain range. They had done it, they had saved the world from someone who sought to destroy it to start anew. Pigsy picked up Tang, swinging the scholar around with praise. The pair were then picked up by Sandy who hugged them to a point that was almost uncomfortable. NeZha congratulated Wukong and Macaque on their teamwork which set the two off in comedic squabble of who was superior. They all looked to the Monkey mecha as it slumped forward, the front hatch popping open as the three kids tumbled out. Somehow the cheers grew even louder, to the point they were sure all of China could hear them.
"We did it! I can't believe that worked, that was awesome!" Mei grinned as she sat upright.
Redson looked over to her as he pushed himself up onto his elbows.
"Yes, I must admit you were pretty amazing back there, Dragon Girl." He smiled, sitting up fully and setting his glasses back to where they should be.
Mei brightened, her smile widening. "So were you! I couldn't have done anything without your help, Red Boy!" She joked back. "And Mk! You were awesome! You were all like 'rahhhhh!' and totally kicked her demon butt!" She acted out Mk in the mecha, grinning over to him.
Mk hadn't moved since he fell out of the mecha. While Mei and Redson had sat up almost instantly, Mk still lay in the same position. He was lying on his side on the stone and facing away from the others. The boy made no movement at the mention of his name. He didn't stir, or shift, or even make a sound. Aside from his hair blowing gently in the wind, he was motionless.
"Mk?" She asked again, a slight urgency creeping its way into her voice.
Redson picked up on her tone, turning to look at Mk. "Noodle Boy?" He frowned, pushing himself fully to his feet and offering a hand to Mei. She accepted and he pulled her up.
NeZha noticed the pair and let himself follow their gaze. His eyes widened as he let out a quiet, choked noise.
"Mk." He mumbled quietly.
This caught the attention of Wukong and Macaque and soon the rest of the group had stopped cheering and they were now all staring at the boy. There was a moment of complete quiet, as if they all held their breath as they waited for him to get up. But he never did. Those few seconds felt like forever, no one dared to move. Wukong was the first to break the silence.
"Kid!" He took off towards the boy, dropping to his knees beside the small, still form.
That seemed to snap everyone else out of their stupor. Within seconds, almost everyone had scrambled over with a chorus of various nicknames for the boy. Wukong's hands hovered over him. The Great Sage hated how still his successor was, the kid that was so full of energy and life was now laying prone, dead to the world. He started shaking Mk by his arm and swallowed down the lump in the back of his throat when the boy didn't move.
"Noodle Boy?" Redson stepped closer while Mei took a step back, shaking her head.
"Kid?" Wukong pulled Mk into his lap, limbs shifting like dead weight. As he did, he was now able to see the boy's face. There was almost no colour left in his cheeks, heavy set bags under his eyes like bruises and Wukong couldn't help but notice the thin trail of blood from the corner of the kid's lips. "Bud? Hey, bud! C'mon, kid, snap out of it." He tapped Mk lightly on the cheek and got nothing. The Great Sage shook him with more intensity, only serving in making his successor's head bob back and forth. "Mk, snap out of it!!" It came out with more aggression than he intended.
"Wukong, stop." NeZha spoke up.
Wukong didn't listen. He had stopped shaking Mk around, instead taking to just holding the boy by his upper arms. "I- I should've known this was gonna happen." He mumbled quiet apologies to the unresponsive boy as he pulled the other into a desperate hug.
"What D'you mean 'you should'a known?' You knew d'is would 'appen?" Pigsy asked, not even trying to hide the accusation in his voice.
Wukong looked up at the old chef, eyes wide and watery, then back down to Mk who he still held close to his chest. He had seen the boy push himself beyond his limits when he had first met Macaque. He had warned him against over exerting his body. Wukong hoped the kid would just be able to walk it off, smile and congratulate himself for saving the world. Any thoughts that Mk might not be able to handle that much power were pushed away. Ignored. Buried.
Those doubts were not the only thing being buried now.
"I- I- he? I thought," Wukong struggled to find the words. He was sure that no words in any language could serve as any decent explanation. No action could amend this. "I thought he could handle it." His words were quiet and shaky.
"You 'thought he could handle it'?" The old chef clenched his fists.
The words Mei had spoken when the Monkie's plan to remove and control the Samadhi Fire had failed horribly replayed in his mind. 'Time and time again I've watched you put Mk in danger..' Pigsy looks to the boy that Wukong cradled to his chest, pushing down the anger that built inside him. The Monkie King's eyes jumped from face to face. Shock, disappointment, anger, sympathy. He shook his head and shrunk under their gaze, turning back to his successor.
"C'mon, bud. Wake up. We stick together, right? That's Monkie Kid 101, right bud?" He shook Mk again, hating the way his small body felt so boneless.
Mk was in his silent white void. The expanse of nothingness stretched on forever. It was honestly kind of dizzying. Only after the Lady Bone Demon had disappeared did it occur to him that he could be dead.
"No. I- I can't be. Right?" He reasoned out loud to himself, his voice being the only sound to fill the quiet. "No. I still have so much to do. I'm not ready yet??" He looked around frantically, as if trying to find someone, anyone to renegotiate. Monkie King had done it before, so maybe he could. "People still need me. My friends still need me! Monkie King still needs me!" His voice increased in volume and urgency the more he said. His pleas were met with no reply.
"Hello?" he called, a last ditch effort. It echoes quietly. "Hello!?" A little louder this time. The echo also increased in volume, except it went on for longer than it should have. Mk soon realised it wasn't an echo at all. It wasn't repeating what he said, it was something else. It was fuzzy though, like all the sounds were underwater. It sounded kind of like his name.
Wukong slapped Mk across the face, hard. That was the last straw for Pigsy. Tang reached out to stop him but he took several angry steps forward. He stopped in his tracks when Mk took in a sharp and pained gasp. He let out a few more wet coughs, tasting copper and screwing up his face. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and he felt himself being shifted around slightly. Mk's eyelids fought to stay open, the bone deep exhaustion trying to pull him back under.
"Bud? Bud, can you hear me? Monkie King to Monkie Kid?" Wukong chuckled nervously as he waited for the boy to respond.
"Did we win?" He asks in a quiet, slightly raspy voice.
Wukong lets out a choked laugh. He's soon joined by other sounds of relief. Mei scrambles over to him and wraps her arms around his neck.
"Mk! I was so worried!!" She hugs him tighter and he lets out a little wheeze.
"Ah, Mei. Ease up on Mk a bit, would'ya?" Pigsy chides and she releases him.
"Don't ever do that again, you hear!" She jokes, shoving the boy's shoulder playfully before scrubbing away the tears that pooled in the corner of her eyes.
"All I can do is try." He laughed back.
After a small bought of coughing, undoubtedly brought on by the laughter, his eyes settled on Wukong. Mk smiled at him, Wukong returned it. He placed one hand on the boy's back and the other behind his head, burying his hand in his hair. Slowly, he pulled the boy forward, touching his forehead to Mk's with a quiet and relieved sounding sigh.
"Thought I lost you there for a bit, bud." The Monkie King said quietly.
Mk let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I'm not entirely sure you didn't for a minute or so."
Wukong let the comment slide for now, everyone else joining them in what was more of a dog pile than a hug but it was nice nonetheless. They all sat like that for what felt like ages. No one really wanted to move, they were all too content to enjoy the fact that Mk was alive. Macaque stood back and watched them fondly, or at least he planned to until Sandy grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him in. He would never admit it but he was glad the kid pulled through. They all were.