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Xiaotian let out a loud huff as he jumps away from The Monkey King for the last time that day, they had just finished their last spar of the day and he was happy to catch a breath. Once they had both collected themselves Monkey king made his way over to him.
“Wow! You’re really picking up the pace! Good job!” Wukong said while ruffling the brunette’s hair, his bandana slips down his face allowing his hair to fall into an odd shape. Xiaotian shook his head in an attempt to settle the unruly hair, but with no luck, it stuck up in odd places and wouldn’t settle just right. He decides the best solution was to tie it all back with his now loose bandana forming a small ponytail.
“Ah! Yeah!! I have been occasionally sparring with Red Son to see how I fair against their fast and hot, temperature-wise, attacks!! It’s super cool, and it’s a new way to challenge myself!” Mk began to ramble on about his rounds with the fire demon and how he was finally learning better reaction time and proper dodging. The longer he went on the more he reminded the King of himself when he was younger, though his sparring partnership was a bit different and a bit more complicated. The King hadn’t noticed how lost in his thoughts he had been until the kid breaks them. “Heyyyyy Monkey Kingggg, you in there?”
“Oh! Uh- yeah kid sorry, I was just thinking about something.” Wukong jumps at the sudden question. He was hoping the monkey kid wouldn’t try to pry, but of course, as usual, he did.
“What was it? Something bothering you?” He simply asked while tilting his head toward Wukong.
“I mean it’s not really anything that important it’s just some old memories, nothing special.” Wukong scratches the back of his neck while waving a hand in front of himself in dismissal.
“What? Like super awesome battle stuff?! Oooohhh I totally want in on those old memories, come on! Let me in!” Mk is making waving motions with his hands as he says this as if that will sway Wukong’s decision to tell him what’s happening in his head.
“It’s not super awesome, or battle stuff, well not really. It’s more I’m…hm… reminiscing? You reminded me of something I used to do with an old friend.” Wukong stated and then threw himself backward onto to dirt to lie on his back and look up at the sky. The sun had fully set now, and the moon was peaking over the horizon, almost like it was teasing him, telling him to just spit it out. “You reminded me of when I used to spar with Macaque.”
“Oh, well that’s still awesome battle stuff! I bet you guys went crazy when you sparred, probably threw each other across the country just for bragging rights.” Mk put his fists in front of him to imitate a fight, throwing a few punches and giving a small laugh after his joke. Wukong did not want to admit that what Xiaotian had said was entirely right, so he rolls his eyes and shoves him lightly from his position on the ground.
“Hey! Give us some credit, we are mystic monkeys we have a reputation to uphold!” Wukong huffed and put his hands behind his head, “But…we did get into some trouble from time to time, we were so young we thought it was the funniest thing to piss off heaven…” He trails off and looks to the moon again, it glints at him.
“Believable, from what I’ve seen. Man, whatever did happen between you two?” Mk looked at the moon too, to him it looks like it was smiling, crescent moons are his favorite for that reason.
There is a long silence between them as Wukong considers his options, the full story hurt too much, but lying to the kid to get out of a long conversation and a few tears would probably be worse. They sat in silence still, and after a long while Mk spoke up.
“I didn’t mean to strike a nerve, sorry.” He rubbed his hands together nervously, he tended to get fidgety when things got stressful. After the events of the lady bone demon, he had a habit of being jumpy. Wukong sits up, places a hand on his shoulder, and lets out a breathy laugh.
“No, no you didn’t hit a nerve, I’m okay. It’s just a heavy subject…but I guess it’s been long enough, and this isn’t the first time you’ve asked.” That last part is true, Xiaotian had asked both of the monkeys on different occasions about what happened between them all those years ago, but neither of them had yielded an answer. “I can tell you a bit about us.”
“Really? You’re okay with that?” Mk looked to his mentor worriedly.
“I just said so didn’t I?” Wukong gives a small smile. “Well, you were right, we were destructive and dramatic. Every time we decided to spar the demons of the surrounding mountains thought there was a new war beginning! Ha! It was great I still think of that time a heaven official came to me with an official notice telling me that I had to notify them if my mate and I were going to have another lover’s spat, He got a kick out of that one!” Wukong was now hunched over with his elbows on his knees.
“Wait, Heaven came down to tell you guys to calm down? What am I talking about of course they did.” Mk deadpanned as he was rethinking his shock, the shock then returned when he processed the other parts of Wukong’s story. “WAIT!! MATE??”
“Oh yeah, we actually got married during the war with heaven, on the battlefield.” Wukong began to smile to himself thinking about the moment, it was followed quickly by melancholy knowing where they stood with each other now.
“Married?! Battlefield??!! You can’t just leave it there!!” Mk’s hands were now frantically shaking the Monkey King’s shoulders.
“Ah! Kid, calm down! Yes, we were married, but we aren’t anymore. Or at least I don’t think we are, considering the circumstances. Ha! I wonder if marriages continue after death!” Wukong tried to brush off the heaviness of the subject with a joke, but it fell flat as Mk’s expression falls with it.
“Did…um…did Macaque die? I mean did he die before and come back?” Mk looks at the dirt below him, he wasn’t sure how to bring this subject up without it being the weight of an elephant. The anxiety sat in his lower stomach, and he moved one of his hands to clench it.
“Yes,” Wukong responded. “He did.”
“How did it happen…” Mk now looks to his mentor, who is looking at the moon once again, that thing is laughing at him he swears.
“I killed him.” The words don’t roll off his tongue like they usually do, here they spill out like thick black tar. “I honestly don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for it, but I killed him.” The words swim in Xiaotian’s head, to him they are like a tsunami, a heavy wave of fast-flowing water hitting his brain instantly. Once the wave finally settles he finds himself asking another question.
“Did you bring him back?” and another. “Was it an accident?”
Another long silence from Wukong as he resists the urge to flee, to run from his successor and never speak of this again. To flee from the biggest problem, he has ever created for himself.
“I did not. And it wasn’t.” Wukong’s arm begins to shake, and he instantly grabs it to steady himself. “Lady Bone Demon was the one who brought him out of the underworld…and when I…when I did what I did, he was a threat to the journey. I was bound to the monk; I did what I had to ensure the monk’s safety.” Wukong waves a hand in the air to seem more carefree, but the hand shook as well as his voice.
He remembers exactly how it all went down, He remembers how the tightening spell was active, his head pounding as he approached his traitor mate. He remembers begging him to stop and not knowing exactly who he was begging. Eventually, he had ceased being the one begging and now his bloody and broken love was pleading under him. Once the pleading stopped and his voice fell silent, the spell lifted, and his head was cleared only for the sight in front of him to send him into a state of panic. All he could do was cry and yell out for anyone to help him, knowing he didn’t deserve it. The other members of their journey watched as he sat with the deceased as a storm rolled in.
“Monkey king…?” Mk placed a hand on his shoulder again and gave him a worried look. “We don’t have to talk about it, it’s okay. I know you did it for a reason, you don’t have to tell me.” It was now that Wukong noticed that his cheek was wet, he immediately wiped away any trace of the wetness and looked out to the sky again.
“Have you ever noticed that the crescent moon looks like a smile, ha, that’s why it’s my favorite moon!” Mk pointed out toward it and gave a wide smile to imitate the celestial body. Wukong feels tears well up again but pushes them down to hug the kid.
“Well, it’s my favorite too.”