Work Text:
“Who knows!” he huffs, smiling cheekily at his old friend and pretending he absolutely does not feel how battered he is. “Maybe one day, you’ll be tough enough to beat me! Heheh- ”
A familiar, haunting chime echoes, rattling through the destroyed chamber and up into Wukong’s bones- one moment the sky is pleasant and pink, the next it’s a corpse blue and his stomach drops.
He had run out of time. Of course he ran out of time right after he threw his entire body and power at that stupid barrier. Of course!
Nehza turns just as he does, and they see the shockwave rippling out from the Celestial Palace, barely giving them enough time to brace against it. It hurt- way, WAY more than it should, because a foreboding, invading force ripping its way through the air like that should do nothing but ruffle his fur on a bad day. Regardless, he’s able to keep his footing and only shifts back a little as the energy washes over him and Nehza, narrowly avoiding a few hefty chunks of pillars and watching what was left fall entirely. It dissipates just as fast as it arrived, and everything is eerily silent.
That doesn’t matter though. The map isn’t his priority anymore. Because if she’s already got her presence here, then-
“Kid!”
Wukong hears Nehza try to say something, but his old friend will have plenty of time to chew him out later. He’s too busy getting a running start off the chamber grounds before he’s leaping off. As he pockets the map in his sash, it takes way longer than it should for his ride to appear and take him out of there. It’s not important, not yet at least. He may be running on fumes now but he can make it last, as long as he plans out his moves right.
Starting at three.
With a breath he shoots forward, summoning his gate out of the Celestial Realm, and has to adjust as his feet sink into his trusty cloud. ‘Three,’ he counts in his head.
Another breath, and he’s back near the city-
Wukong feels a sucking void hit him in the chest, and it almost knocks him off his feet. It’s only now that he’s in the mortal realm again that he can fully sense it. It’s not quite the same as when Macaque stole MK’s powers, and that just makes it even worse- because that time there had at least been a remnant- but here there’s a worrisome amount of nothing .
There’s a new addition to the city outskirts in the form of a gigantic ugly-as-sin robot, clutching the mangled remains of the kid’s Monkey Mech in one massive bone-white claw. Wukong aims for it and braces- as he comes closer he can see MK, being encased alive in creeping ice, Lady Bone Demon looming over him- and he uses the surge of anger in his system to power up his next move.
With ‘Two,’ he’s leaping off the nimbus and coming down feet first, aiming between the two so that the kid at least has something between him and this living nightmare; he isn’t lifting up his staff, and that’s never a good sign.
His hit connects with the destroyed cockpit of the mech, the second-to-last shred of his power ringing out like a lightning strike hitting a power box, and it’s just as flashy and destructive. He feels the satisfying crack of that invasive ice withering under his boots, along with the metal, and takes the brief moment the light show gives him to correct his stance and firmly plant himself in front of MK. He has enough left to get them both away.
The air clears and he’s staring down Lady Bone Demon, her disguise for the moment gone to be extra intimidating. It doesn’t work on Wukong, not like she wanted it to at least, but it wasn’t meant for him anyways.
There’s a shaky breath of recognition behind him, and if he wasn’t keeping both eyes on the world’s deadliest monster, he would greet MK properly and apologize.
“M-monkey King? You’re really here? ” his successor rasps, and that question fills the void where their powers used to be with something like guilt. He’ll address that later, when they’re both not on the verge of passing out. Maybe. For now he’s glad that MK is okay enough to stand and talk.
“Destiny cannot be undone, Sun Wukong!” the bone spirit bellows, because she has to be dramatic, and he hears the telltale hum of the staff finally being picked up by…
Lady Bone Demon.
Time slows as he watches it float there next to her, frost clinging to it like an infection. That’s why the kid has nothing left-
That is enough for him to drop his facade as he feels the color drain from his face. He had hoped- if the kid couldn’t lift it, maybe he could- at least some small shred of dignity left for him and MK-
Wukong turns to the kid then, and sees that MK is struggling to stay upright and is on the verge of tears. It’s no contest. He knows what the kid wants to do versus what they should actually do, and thankfully Monkey King is calling the final shot on this.
“Let’s test that theory.” he responds, delivered with a side glance and a trademark Sun Wukong smirk just to rub it in. He snatches the kid by his shirt- a rough move admittedly, but at least a shirt doesn’t have super bruised skin he could accidentally rough up- and pulls him along, because the kid would hesitate to leave otherwise. Sure enough, MK is trying to ask what he’s doing as they leap together.
Once again he calls back the nimbus- possibly for the last ride- catching MK by his arm, and as soon as they safely touch down on its surface, Wukong counts ‘One,’ and puts every last bit of his power into their takeoff, planning to get them as far away as possible.
He looks back to make sure Lady Bone Demon isn’t chasing after them, just in time to see the chains break on her horrible amalgamation of a machine. They watch as the now totally freed power radiates through the earth, ice and bone ripping up from the surface and encasing everything it could touch. It’s the final nail in the proverbial (hopefully proverbial ) coffin, and Wukong can only imagine what his successor is feeling as he watches the only home he’s ever known be taken away.
Their sacrifices won’t matter if they don’t escape, though, so he hoists the kid up to hold onto his waist and continues to push forward.
______
They break through the heavy gloom of Lady Bone Demon’s storm, but it’s getting tougher to stay focused. Fumes are totally gone, and he’s willing the nimbus to stay with them long enough to get somewhere- anywhere - that’s not here. Wukong can feel MK’s grip loosening as much as he can feel his own feet touching open air, and if they don’t find a surface that’s closer than 10 feet soon he’s not sure if they’ll both make it.
Somehow, one final mercy is granted.
Wukong sees Sandy’s airship break out of the cloud cover next to them and he makes a hard right to it.
His tail wraps around MK’s waist and he tries to angle them so he’ll be the one to hit the deck first instead of the kid- he doesn’t have enough brain power left to tell him to hold on, so this’ll have to do.
Unfortunately Wukong overestimates how fast they’re going vs how fast the ship is going, and a controlled tumble turns into a harsh fall. He does hit first, as planned, but the bounce is too much and he and MK break apart. The fall leaves Wukong mildly stunned- because shoulder-checking an aircraft will make that happen- and he forces himself to recover.
With some effort, he gets his elbows underneath him and glances to the right, just in time to see the nimbus fade, and with it his last ember of strength, too.
He has the map, sure, but now he has no power. He messed up. Tried to outplay Lady Bone Demon, and now he and the kid are-
Wukong whips his head back around to see if MK’s alright, and to his relief he is- as alright as his teacher is, which isn’t saying much right now, but at least the kid has backup.
His friends have gathered around and are propping him up gently, checking him over and helping him come back to full consciousness. Wukong takes that moment to sit up- with an annoying amount of effort and pain, he might add- and face his successor.
With a weary smile and a hand raised as far up as Wukong’s body would allow it, he finally greets MK.
“Hey, bud.”