Chapter Text
His ears were starting to ring as per usual.
He could hear the loud energetic cajoles of merchants trying to sell their goods, the whispering conversation of each passerby, and, worst of all, every damn heartbeat of each demon and human (who was foolishly rich enough to enter such a distasteful place) who passed by. It was noisy, annoyingly so, in the deep underbelly of some demon market. Macaque grew tired of keeping track of the places he was going to. Or rather, they were going to.
“Five tael silver and twenty strings of qian!”
“And sold!”
A loud smack of a wooden mallet and the deafening shrieks and barks of animosity from the audience repeatedly bash through his skull. His ears twitch and cringe with every noise as heavy chains are dragged and swung towards the buyer who just bought some demon.
He would’ve casted a spell to lessen the noise, but the shackles around his neck and wrists practically bound his magic somewhere he couldn’t reach. If it wasn’t for the chains imbued with some powerful ancient runes, he would’ve escaped a long time ago.
“Next up, we have a demon, the demon–in fact–who can not only see but hear all. That’s right, with him as your property, you can truly have an advantage against your enemy as you will be able to know any secrets and have the strength that can tear mountains asunder. Now, raise your bets for the Six-Eared Macaque!”
Bright lights attacked him as the curtains were pulled up, but before he could even raise his hand to shield his eyes, the long black chain tugs at him, dragging him to the very center of a decrepit stage where demons of high status, of all shapes and sizes watched him with hunger and greed in their eyes.
Silence rang.
“A qian!”
Roaring laughter burst through the crowd and, on instinct, his claws crack and twist itself into serpents, its talons trying to sink into the familiar dark magic he possesses–ready to make a bloody mess. And on cue, the shackles glow an ominous light, and before he could pull back, bolts of lightning shoot through every nerve of his being. He bites his tongue to stop himself from screaming, blood pools into his mouth.
A different demon raises themself. “Five qian!”
Another rouse of laughter rips through them. And Macaque couldn’t do anything but bare his teeth and growl as he pulled and yanked on his shackles.
They’ve clearly heard of his reputation for his servitude. Every demon who has bought him always dropped him right back to the slavers. Despite keeping him locked and chained, all of his masters either grew tired of his lack of cooperation–regardless of how much they starved or tortured him into submission–or didn’t want to end up being supper for him. His last master did end up looking more akin to a destroyed children doll while Macaque proudly lounged on his master’s seat with flesh and blood dripping between his sharp grin.
Truly fond memories.
The wooden mallet gets slammed again and again–his poor ears are practically glued to his skull–as his abductor twists his face into impatience. “Settle down! Settle down! Now, I know all your concerns but I have a business to run. So am I at least hearing five strings of qian?”
“Five and half-?”
“Six strings-!”
“As if. Four-!”
It all starts to turn to white noise. He couldn’t be bothered anymore in listening to the pathetic power hungry demons raising or even lowering his value as a demon slave. He internally scoffs, he wasn’t even a demon to begin with. He’s a celestial monkey, for fuck sake! And those bastards took that title away from him.
Macaque sighs, letting his shoulders drop in defeat. But it goes to show, without his magic, he’s nothing. Even with his strength, he can’t break his bonds. He can bite, claw, bleed, and break his own bones all he wants but they’ve designed these types of chains to keep creatures like him in place. Ironically enough, he resorted to praying for some god- any god to save him from this hell. But as usual, they all ignored him.
“Ten strings and a tael.” An owl demon–drowning in gold and fancy clothing–lazily raises his hand, blowing out smoke from an ornate yen tsiang.
And something heavy and familiar drops in the pit of his stomach. He exhales. The cycle continues, he bitterly thought.
A smack from the wooden mallet. “And sol-”
“Fifty tael silver, ” a calm, serene voice intervenes as a slender hand shoots up.
For once, Macaque truly couldn’t hear anything as everyone–even the world–turned its attention with bated breath to a lady clad in a simple white and blue hanfu with an ivory weimao obscuring her face.
“…Sold.” His abductor didn’t even bother hitting the mallet, shocked that anyone would even bid this high.
The woman calmly gets up, dusts off her skirt and carefully makes her way to Macaque. If he wasn’t staring so intently he was sure that she was gliding on clouds.
Usually they would drag him to his new master, but, this time, he cautiously hops down from the platform–ignoring the chains tugging at him to keep still–as he assesses his new master. And as she takes the last step, she’s in front of him.
In an instant, he knew. From that soft but bright glowing glint that emits through cracks of this woman, Macaque knows.
“How?” He mutters in disbelief.
Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, lifts her weimao and discreetly winks at him with a soft smile. “I heard you.”
Flying on a cloud was terrifying.
Entering the celestial realm was a different beast altogether. With his long hair whipping behind him, he soars through the elegant ornate architecture with spiraling pillars and statues, the tips of mountains bursting through the clouds, the glow of each god, and the sound s of rushing water and the life that surrounds the entire realm; Macaque could see and hear it all, perched right next to Guanyin on her cloud.
It was breathtaking.
But Macaque knows he wasn’t here just to sightsee.
“Six-Eared Macaque, I will grant you the salvation you desire.”
Freedom had a price and he was gonna pay it.
Out of nervousness and habit, he rubs at his neck and jumps at the touch of his own fur and flesh. Guanyin, thankfully, didn’t notice–and even if she did, she didn’t comment on it. He curls his hand. He needs to get used to this feeling for his own sanity. He’s now a free being after all. Without chains choking him or masters torturing him.
He almost laughs out of deliriousness.
“Macaque.”
He gets pulled from his thoughts and sees Guanyin already off her cloud, a calm smile gracing her face. Embarrassment immediately rushes to his cheeks as he rushes to get off, almost tripping and landing on his face before he corrected himself.
Belatedly, he realizes they landed in front of a palace. Somehow, this palace was even grander, more mystical than the rest of the buildings he saw.
The Goddess of Mercy just softly chuckles at him and his awestruck expression, then turns to walk towards the palace entrance which itself is huge and gilded. As soon as she’s in front, the doors are pulled wide open as if her mere presence alerted it.
Two deities–servants, he assumes based on their attire–walks up to the goddess and bows.
Guanyin nods in response. “I would like to request an audience with the Jade Emperor.”
Wait. The Jade Emperor?
“Right away, your benevolence.”
One servant runs off–most likely to inform the Emperor of Guanyin’s arrival. The other stays and briefly glances towards him but before Macaque could decipher anything, they turn their attention back to Guanyin and a beat passes before they nod. “If you’d follow me.”
And off they were, or at least with Macaque hesitantly rushing to follow them on their walk. He couldn’t even marvel at the inside of the palace as he’s struck with each scrambling thought. Was he even meant to follow them? What were they doing here? Does he have to talk to the Jade Emperor? Why were they meeting the Jade Emperor? Is his actions really that reprehensible? Is this his punishment?
A loud bang echoed through the palace, snapping him back to reality. And another colossal door greets them. The servant, who just knocked on the door, waits for a moment then pushes it. The door yawns and reveals a throne room decked with tapestries foretelling of legends and gods, priceless powerful artifacts, carved marble pillars, and at the very end is the Jade Emperor himself–sitting on a golden throne, three flights above as two great wings spread itself, all white and jade.
The Emperor had a pinched look, annoyed and miffed at something as he had the jut of his chin on his palm. And that expression stayed even when he finally directed his attention to Guanyin.
But, as soon as his eyes landed on Macaque, he scrunched his nose–unimpressed and borderline grossed out.
Regardless of his self-consciousness, Macaque doesn’t blame him considering his grimy state and tattered clothes that definitely didn’t belong in the celestial realm–and the fact he hasn’t even bathed in a while. He just has to suck it up and hope for the best.
The two celestial gods stared at each other, one with cutting sharp eyes trying to decipher the being and the other with an unflinching pleasant smile, and a beat passed. “What-” he relents with a sigh, waving his hand towards Macaque “-is this?”
“The solution.”
A bright red vein practically bulges on the Emperor’s forehead. “And how is another one of his kind going to help us?!” he snaps, slamming his fist on the armchair as it lets out an echoing boom around the room.
“Because this will prove beneficial for Sun Wukong,” she replies coolly, her gaze and smile never wavering.
Sun Wukong. Macaque tossed that name around his mind, recalling every passing whisper and talk from customers, slavers, and poachers ranting about the infamous Monkey King, known for his mischief and chaos. But how is he meant to be of help?
“Oh?” The Jade Emperor settles down, curious and intrigue dancing in his eyes.
“The Six-Eared Macaque can…entice Sun Wukong to a more palatable degree.”
Entice-?
“And how so?”
And then her smile drops into a set line–something that instantly sets off alarms in Macaque’s head–conflict weighing in the vast universe of her eyes and she sighs in resolute. “The Monkey King needs someone at his side, he needs someone to take care of his land, citizens, and even himself when he’s off doing his business. With Macaque, he can-”
“What? Stop that ape’s rampage?” The Emperor snorts and cackles, a familiar cruel sound which Macaque had to stop himself from growling on instinct. “Maybe, if we clean the monkey, dress him in fine clothing, and put a touch of makeup; maybe, Sun Wukong will see a spouse! And…oh.” All the amusement across his face vanished, replaced with something thoughtful- no, strategizing.
Macaque, fear gripping him at the mere suggestion of what’s going on, weakly calls out, “hold on-”
“I see now.” A wide delighted grin stretches on the Jade Emperor’s face, pointedly ignoring Macaque’s pleas. “With this creature on our side, we can control the Monkey King. Guanyin, you are a genius! Now, let's clean up our guest here before our other…unruly guest arrives.”
He snaps his fingers and a line of servants instantly surround Macaque.
Hands try to touch and usher him to somewhere, but he harshly slaps and yanks and even bites at the retracting limbs of the terrified servants. “I didn't agree to this!” he bellows out, heaving in anger and betrayal as he turns to face Guanyin, who didn’t even bother to look shameful. “You said- you promised that I will have my freedom. Now, you're trying to sell me off like some common whore!”
The Jade Emperor simply rolls his eyes at this spectacle. “You quie-”
Guanyin raises her hand, stopping the Emperor, and she kneels in front of Macaque. And he sees the way her face breaks into something akin to sadness–a thing that doesn’t belong to such a Goddess–but even that couldn’t stifle his anger. “Macaque, I am truly sorry for this. But I will keep my promise to you. You may not see it now but you will soon.”
He looks away, refusing to stare even for one more moment. He knows in himself that he couldn’t do anything, but he refuses to let them even have the satisfaction of putting him in a vulnerable position. He didn’t let any of his previous masters succeed before, he won’t start now. With that, he raises his chin and stomps his way to the exit as servants rush to chase him. Not bothering to look back to the two higher beings who signed his fate away.
A clicking sound from the door makes as the last servant steps out of the room and, finally, Macaque is alone in some extravagant room. Freshly cleaned and clothed in swaths of gold and red silk and chiffon.
He sighs, glaring at the mirror. He wants to rub the winged line on his eyes and the touch of red on his cheeks, but he knew that it would only make him look more ridiculous than he already is. At least they stopped trying to put up his hair and that stupid flower headpiece on his skull…after he kept threatening to bite their heads off.
Well, small mercies are small mercies.
Clacks of steps echo through the hallway, the sound only getting louder and louder as it reaches the door of this room. The person didn’t even bother to knock as they opened the door. Although the overbearing presence and power already made it obvious to who it was.
The Emperor comes in, swiftly closing the door and locking it without straying his gaze from Macaque. He wasn’t even sure if he could make it out with the Jade Emperor standing in his way.
He didn’t know what to do or even say, so he just bowed–firmly eyeing the floor as if it was the most interesting thing.
“Y’know,” the Jade Emperor starts, his shoes making a clicking sound as he steps closer to Macaque, “one thing I gathered from that power hungry simian is how much he cares for his kind.”
Macaque’s head snaps up, and sees the god holding a golden cage. A cricket cage, in fact, with gold molded into swirling flowers and vines. But he knows that it isn’t a normal cage.
“What…what are you doing?” He tries to step back and instantly his back crashes to the vanity desk.
“This is in no way personal, just…a guarantee he doesn’t go on another rampage.” The god steps one more closer and shrugs. “If he accepts you, that is.”
“What-”
The cage pulses. Then, it was as if his entire being was pulled and ripped from him, he topples forward, writhing on the floor as he clutches his chest. A beat passed and the pain finally got muted enough for him to breathe.
He harshly gasps and tries to push himself up with trembling arms. Something is missing, he could feel it with everything aching inside him. And that ache pulls his focus back to the Jade Emperor- or rather, the cage.
The once empty cage is now filled with an overflowing dark orb that pulses and bangs itself into the swirling flowers–as if trying to escape.
It dawns on him, all too slowly.
It’s his heart.
“Tell this to anyone and I'll crush your heart with my own shoe.”
“…Yes, your highness.”
The Jade Emperor smiles–void of anything good. “I wish you eternal happiness, Six-Eared Macaque. Now, our guest has arrived.”