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Chapter Text

The world was empty. A blank white covered everything around them. There was nothing.

Nothing. And Nothing. And Nothing. And Nothing and nothing and nothing and nothing and nothing and nothing and nothing and-

"Save your hero speech child." 

-and he knows that voice. 

"I've existed long enough to know when it's over."

And it's almost over. Isn't it? Just a few more lines. 

"You still think that the universe really wants anything from any of us?" 

And it does. Doesn't it? The universe has expectations that only they could fulfil. Together, with no more communication other than slight head tilts and fleeting glances, they played their roles perfectly. 

"Don't you?" 

He does, he really does, and the universe is waiting.

"I try not to think too hard"

They mustn't keep the universe waiting, it's almost over, just a little further...

"So it would seem...Know this Monkey, you and I are not so different, we both fight for what we think is right"

Do they? Is that really what their fighting for? Do they have different definitions of right? Even with the same goal in mind? They both just need to make it to the end, how different can their paths be?

"That pursuit, only leads to one thing"

It's almost over. It's going perfectly, everything from their tone to their body language. They have both perfected their roles and it's almost over.

"Mhm. To destiny right?"

Destiny, destiny is almost over, just one more line and it's over. It's almost over.

"No. To pain." 

. . . And scene. 

They both smile at each other after the curtains fall. It's finally finished, their final act has ended and it's time to rest. 

_______

"MK" 

Fulfilling destiny was certainly... fulfilling. It was certainly exciting, yet it was also quite tiring. They had worked so hard, and now that it was over they could return to a vague sense of normalcy.

"MK"

Of course, there would still be demons out there wanting to pick a fight. Red Son and the rest of the Demon Bull Family who? would probably be among them. But MK Who?? found himself not minding all that much.

"MK!" 

He's the Monkie Kid after all! Wait... He's the Monkie Kid? No... what's the M n  ie  k d

"MK!"

What? 

He wakes up... well, sort of, standing in an unfamiliar apartment. That's not good. His apartment certainly didn't look like this, yeah the mess was definitely his style but none of these items belonged to him. It was a nice apartment, don't get him wrong! But uh... How'd he get here?

"MK! YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK" 

And who the hell is "MK"? Judging by the fact that he appears to be in an apartment building, he guesses that it's someone who lives in one of the apartments below the one he's currently in. Damn, whoever is yelling seems to be pretty angry. Sucks to be whoever "MK" is. Anyways, back to the task at hand. 

He kicked away a stray t-shirt on the floor near his feet and took another good look around the apartment. 

Facts he knows:

- He's in an apartment that is not his.

- He doesn't remember how he got here.

- He doesn't see any of his belongings anywhere. 

Conclusion:

He's been kidnapped. 

Oh shit. 

He's been kidnapped!

"Ohhh no oh no oh no no no no..." He muttered, eyes frantically searching around the room until they landed on the window. He rushed over, nearly tripping on a random book on the way. He fumbled with the latch trying to unlock the window, he only got more panicked when someone aggressively knocked on the door.

"MK!" 

Oh shit, the guy who was yelling earlier is now right outside the door! Practically banging on it! Shit shit shit! It must've been this "MK" guy who kidnapped him. 

"MK! If you don't open this door soon i'm coming in there!" 

Aha! He'd undone the latch successfully! He slid the window open and crawled through the window onto the fire escape. How convenient. There were people walking along the sidewalk and a surprising lack of traffic. He rushed down the stairs of the fire escape and ran as fast as he could away from the building. He didn't know which direction he was running in, but as long as he got away from the kidnapper's residence then he'd probably be fine. Right? Right. Totally. 

"Qi Xiaotian"

"AH! What the fuck?!" Xiaotian whips his head around looking for whoever seemed to be talking to him.

"Jeez chill out" 

"Wha- Chill out? Chill out?!" Xiaotian sputters, ignoring the people who were giving him weird looks in favour of hiding in a nearby alleyway. "How can I chill out when there's a ghost talking to me?!"

"Bitch I'm not a ghost! Well... I might be... I dunno actually." 

Xiaotian frowned, still not seeing any form of evidence that this wasn't just a voice inside his head. "Who the hell are you?"

"Damn, don't even recognise me, how could you Xiaotian? I thought we were friends"  The voice paused for a bit before sighing. "It's me. Jiagu" 

He raised an eyebrow, even though no one was around to see it. Unless she could see him. "Xiangya Jiagu? From highschool?" 

She laughed. "That's me!" 

"Woah..." Xiaotian thought for a moment. "Oh my god did you die? Is that why you're a ghost?!"

"Yeah... I died, but you did too! It's real unfair that I'm the only one that became a ghost. But on the other hand, i'm pretty sure you have jaundice cause your skin is yellow and-"

Xiaotian cut her off before she could continue. "Woah woah woah! We're going waaayyy to fast right now! Gimme a second to think!" He looked down at his hands. "Oh fuck! I do have jaundice, oh god-" 

"Surprisingly smooth skin for someone with jaundice" 

"Thank you? I'm gonna take that as a compliment" Jiagu made a vague non-committal sound as a response. Xiaotian took a deep breath as he tried to think. What had happened before he woke up in a stranger's apartment. He was at his own apartment, watching TV, eating noodles. A cyclone warning had been sent out a couple hours ago and heavy rain could be heard outside. Xiaotian wasn't worried about flooding since he was higher up in the apartment complex than others. Everything was fine! So how did he get from his apartment to someone else's? Xiaotian had heard slight shaking and little screeches of panic from his upstairs neighbour before it all came... crashing... down... oh. Oh that was right. 

His apartment collapsed. 

"Ohhhh... I did die..." Xiaotian mumbled. 

"Yeah yeah, so sad, oh well!"

"Dude, can't you give me a minute! I'm still processing this!" Xiaotian heard her scoff as he leaned against the brick wall next to him, and slowly slid down onto the ground. "Wow... okay... I think i'm good now."

"Finally."

Xiaotian frowned. "You're always so insensitive. Anyways... How'd you die?"

"My house collapsed in the cyclone, nothing fell on me but it was all blocking my way out, so I ended up drowning." She didn't sound all that upset about it. 

"Oh, yikes... How're you feeling?"

"Not too bad, the most pressing concern is the fact that I don't have a body. I don't feel like a ghost, more like... my soul is trapped somewhere."

"How can you tell? What kind of feeling is that?" Xiaotian asked. He pushed himself up off the ground and brushed the dirt and pebbles off of his clothes. Clothes that didn't belong to him.

"I don't know, I just can!" 

"Ok, ok, stop yelling at me!" Xiaotian put his hands up in mock surrender. 

"Sorry. I think you can tell that this is quite stressful for the both of us, but you're right. I shouldn't have snapped, I just needed to vent a little" He could hear her take a deep intake of breath before slowly letting it out. 

"It's alright." Xiaotian looked out from the alleyway, there were quite a few restaurant joints around and quite a lot of the people eating and working there also seemed to have jaundice. "This is weird'

"I know... Your hair defies the laws of gravity, crazy right?"

"It does what?" Xiaotian felt his hair, it was sticking up and didn't seem to have any sort of hairspray or anything in it, just a red headband. He tugged the headband off and his hair fell down, returning back to listening to gravity. "Uhhh... Magic headband?"

"Worst magical item ever." 

"Well maybe it does other things." Xiaotian shrugged. His hair felt uncomfortably long, he used the headband as a hair tie and put it in a low, short ponytail. "Let's find somewhere to make base or something, we can't hang out in this alleyway forever."

"Alright." Xiaotian couldn't see her, but there was a cold chill whenever she spoke. "If it makes you feel any better, you still look basically the same, it's just the hair and the skin." 

"Thanks, I guess that does make me feel a bit better." Xiaotian put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Well. Not exactly his, but he doesn't really have a choice here. "What were you doing before you spoke to me? Were you watching when I escaped that weird apartment?"

"I had no idea you escaped an apartment, so no. I was just floating around I guess, I tried to tap someone on the shoulder to ask for directions but my hand just went right through them." She sighed. "Eventually I felt you nearby and saw you running across the street."

"There you go again. What do you mean you felt me?"

"Your vibes I guess. I didn't recognise you at first, but you felt familiar. After a while of you running, something clicked, and I realised it was you."

"Okay, that's... sort of making sense..." Xiaotian had left the perimeters of where most of the city was, less and less buildings making space for more and more trees. 

"This is gonna sound crazy"

"Everything that's happened throughout the day has already been crazy, it can't be all that bad" 

"Ok..."  Jiagu took a deep breath. "You know how earlier I said it felt like my soul was trapped somewhere or something?"

"Uhh..." Xiaotian searched his memory to try and remember. "Yeah, why?"

"I feel like you can free my soul somehow, I can see this weird trail of blue smoke on the ground, I don't know where it goes, but the vibes are telling me that it's got something to do with where I'm sealed away."

"Following you so far"

"Maybe, if we follow the smoke, we can free me, and figure out whatever this situation is, together. Also I really hate being a ghost, it's weird and I don't like it."

"Alright! We can do that! We've got a goal, which is good because i'm wasn't too sure where we were gonna sleep tonight." Xiaotian kicked a rock by his feet. "I can't see whatever weird vibe-smoke that you're seeing, so you're gonna have to direct me." 

"That's alright"  A cold breeze flew by again. "Turn a bit to the left, bit more, no- stop." Xiaotian turned around on the spot trying to face the directing that Jiagu was telling him too. "There. Just head that way, I'll tell you if you need to turn."

"Alright! We got this!"

"You sure? I don't exactly know how long this trail is" 

"Pfft- It'll be fine! After all, I'm Qi Xiaotian! Nothing can stand in my way!"

"Except a cyclone apparently."

"Shut up."

______

It had been almost half a year since Lady Bone Demon was defeated. After a long couple months of healing and the occasional talking about problems, everything started to settle down. Everything was almost... Normal. 

Pigsy still ran his noodle business.

Tang still tried to freeload. 

The Demon Bull Family still attacked every once in a while. 

MK was still always late for work-

"MK!" Pigsy shouted for at least the fourth time in the past two minutes. Tang let out a long, suffering sigh. 

"Pigsy, I don't think he's coming down any time soon. You're gonna have to go up and get him."

"What does that kid think he's doin'?!" Pigsy practically slammed someone's bowl of noodles onto the counter, and the person who ordered cautiously took it back to their table. "He's been late before but not this late. MK! YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK!" He shouted once more. Tang and Pigsy shared a look when MK didn't come running down. It didn't sound like he was moving up there at all. 

"Should we?" Tang asked. Pigsy groaned and stomped up the stairs to MK's room, with Tang following close behind him. "Maybe he's got his headphones on, or just in a really, really deep sleep?" 

"Whatever it is, he's late for work!" Pigsy stopped in front of MK's door. "MK!" He pounded on the wood, ignoring Tang's light attempts at calming down.

Nothing. No answer, not even any movement coming from inside.

"MK! If you don't open this door soon i'm coming in there!" Pigsy was starting to get slightly worried. He sighed, and grabbed the door handle before flinging the door open. 

"MK?" Tang stepped into the room and looked around. It looked the same as it always did, except...

MK wasn't there. 

"Kid?! Where are ya!?" Pigsy searched around the apartment, stopping at where the window was left wide open. "What the..."

"Maybe he snuck out to hang out with Mei! Or... Or Red Son! Or Monkie King! I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation as to why he's not here... Yeah! Yeah, definitely." Tang sounded more like he was convincing himself. "Oh who am I kidding? Pigsy! MK is missing!" 

"I can see that, Tang!" Pigsy fished his phone out of his pocket and called Mei. 

It didn't take long for the girl to pick up, answering with cheer just like she always does. "Heyyyyy Pigsy! Wassup?" 

"Have you seen MK today?" He asked, gripping his phone so tight that it looked like it might crack. 

"Today? No? I saw him last night at the arcade though. Why?"

Tang stole the phone away from Pigsy before he could crush it in his hand. "He was late to work, like usual, but we kept calling for him and there was no answer. Eventually we came up to his room to check on him and he's not here." 

Mei was quiet. "M-Maybe he's with Red boy! Or Monkie King!" She nervously said. "I'll be over there as soon as I can, and I'll call Red on the way to ask him if he knows anything!" Tang could hear her fumbling with her keys before she hung up. The scholar looked back at his husband, who was nervously pacing around the room. 

"I'm gonna close up shop. I'm not resting until we find him." Pigsy declared and stomped downstairs. Tang sighed, putting Pigsy's phone into his own pocket to give back later. 

Everyone's gotten a lot more protective of each other after the whole Lady Bone Demon incident. Everyone tried to see each other at least once everyday to make sure they were all still alright. Now that MK was missing, everyone was bound to know sooner rather than later. 

Tang's eyes locked onto MK's phone, left behind near his bed. He bent down to pick it up and walked back downstairs. The costumers had all left and Pigsy was rushing to put away the ingredients he had set out for the day. 

"MK left his phone behind." Tang said, taking out both MK's and Pigsy's phones. Pigsy huffed, taking back his own phone and staring at MK's with a sense of sadness. Tang placed the kid's phone down on the bench. 

"WHERE IS HE!?" Mei kicked down the door with Red Son following behind her. By the look on his face, he'd not seen MK today either. 

Tang and Pigsy didn't answer. 

Mei frowned. "Who's gonna tell Monkie King?"

"Oooooooh~, tell Wukong what?" Macaque popped out from a shadow behind Tang, successfully almost giving him a heart attack. The monkey took in the looks of the rest of the people in the room and his face fell. "What's going on?"

"Apparently. Noodle Boy is missing." Red Son hissed and Macaque frowned. 

"What do you mean, missing?" He asked, even though he probably already knew the answer. 

"He was late for work, and when we went to go check on him he wasn't there. No one else has seen him, though we haven't asked Monkie King." Tang muttered at the end, before pointing towards the counter. "He left his phone behind as well."

Macaque growled and disappeared back into the shadows, but not before saying. "I'll tell Wukong."

Pigsy grabbed his phone and left for the other room. "I'm gonna call Sandy." 

There was no doubt that The Monkie King would not be happy to learn of his successors disappearance, Tang wasn't sure how fast Macaque would be able to tell-

The roar in the distance could be heard for miles. 

Yeah... The Monkie King is not happy. 

______

There was a roar in the distance that slightly shook the ground. 

"Woah! What the hell was that?" 

"Sounds like a terrifying beast, it came from the East of here." 

"So like... left or right?"

"..." Xiaotian could hear the disappointment in her silence. "Doesn't matter, it's in the opposite direction of where we're going, but you may want to hurry up, we don't know what set it off"

Qi Xiaotian continued to follow the path, shoving the thoughts of whatever monster was out there to the back of his mind. 

Chapter Text

"WHERE IS HE!"

"Damn, whoever that is just keeps on yelling..."  Xiaotian mutters, continuing his trek through the forest. 

"Wonder who they're looking for" Jiagu says from somewhere beside him. Before they were oh-so rudely interrupted by whatever that screaming was, they were having a nice conversation about Jiagu's issues with being a ghost, or something vaguely resembling a ghost. 

She seems to bring a chill whenever she talks, and Xiaotian doesn't find himself minding that much, sure, it was cold, but there was an undertone of something inviting. Something calm. Maybe he should've been concerned, but the cold wasn't all that bad. 

"Maybe it has something to do with the beast that was roaring earlier." Xiaotian suggests, hearing Jiagu hum in response. 

"Maybe..." Xiaotian kicks at a rock that was near his feet. "Whatever it is, we should stay far away. We have a goal after all."

"Right, of course." He nodded, stepping over a tree branch. "Am I still going the right way?"

"Turn a bit to the right" Xiaotian felt that cold chill again, like Jiagu was trying to touch him to steer him in the right direction. But she couldn't. Hence why they were on a journey to fix that. "There." 

"This is going to take a while..." 

"This is heading back in the direction of the city, you can probably steal some supplies before we continue the path."  

"Hell yeah, I'm ready to commit some theft." Xiaotian chuckled, before pausing. "Wait, back to the city we were in before? Didn't we leave from there?"

"Yeah, but this is where the trail goes."

"This stupid trail is leading us in circles!?"

"MK!"

"God, there's that yelling again. What's with this 'MK' guy?" Xiaotian grumbled. The cold stilled, it was still there, but it paused, almost like... "Jiagu? Is everything alright?"

"Xiaotian... Don't be alarmed, but the source of the yelling has changed places..." Xiaotian felt his heart drop with where this conversation was going. "The yelling is coming from the direction of the city."

"Shit." Xiaotian cursed, he stopped his walking for a bit, but ended up continuing anyways. 

"You still wanna go?"

"The sooner we get you free the better... I'll stick to the alleyways, I'll be like a shadow." Xiaotian struck a cool pose on the word 'shadow'

"A shadow, really?"

"Why does it sound like you don't believe in me?"

"Don't take it personally, but between you, and a screaming monster, my money's on the beast."

"I-" Xiaotian paused as tall buildings came into view. "You know what, that's fair." 

"As much as I complain about being the only one of us to be a ghost, I don't want you becoming one either."

"Awww. Thanks, but still. I can do this, just tell me where to go. We'll be in and out before you know it."

______

"I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING!" Sun Wukong screamed. 

After Liu'er  Macaque informed him of MK's recent disappearing act, the first thing he did was scream. Well... More like roar, it was heard for hundreds of miles and terrified tons of civilians in Megapolis. They only seemed to get more frightened when they noticed the Demon Bull family's bull clones scouring the city, along with Macaque's shadow monkeys. Mei and Red Son were searching the streets in their respective vehicles while Pigsy and Tang searched MK's room for any leads to where he may have gone.

Sun Wukong was getting incredibly agitated and the cold chill that came with the coming winter did not make him feel any better. 

They had defeated Lady Bone Demon, she was gone. She. Was. Gone. The chill was only winter starting to settle in. It was only winter. 

So.

Where.

Is. 

"MK!" He shouts again. 

No one answers. 

______

"This place is gross." Jiagu comments as Xiaotian bats away a stray spider web. 

They had planned on getting supplies and then following the trail to where they had assumed was out of the city, but the trail dipped into a crack in the ground before they could reach any places to steal from. It wasn't too far into the city, just by the outskirts behind some random building. The crack was big enough for Xiaotian to slip through and it lead to a large tunnel that went through the city. 

It looked old and rundown, there were cracks all along the walls and spider webs were basically everywhere. 

"Where is this ridiculous trail leading us?" Xiaotian mutters, cringing as he bats away, yet another spider web. "I hate spiders... You'd tell me if there was one on me right?"

"... Of course." Xiaotian didn't like the way she said that, or the silence that came after. 

"I'm choosing to trust you on this..." He grumbled, walking further down the tunnel.

Soon, it began to open up more. It lead to a large empty cavern. There were random pipes left abandoned, scraps of metal were left on the ground, and there were more fucking spiderwebs-

"Are you sure this is where the trail leads?" Xiaotian asks. 

"The trail ends shortly, it's just in here." The cold chill flutters past again. "Can't you feel it?"

"The spiderwebs? Yeah. And it's disgusting." Xiaotian took another few steps forward. 

"No. There's something more." She says, her voice trailing off as Xiaotian walked further. "There."

"Where?" Xiaotian looked around, not seeing anything note worthy. 

"Underneath those scraps of metal." Xiaotian had a feeling she was pointing somewhere, but he couldn't see. "Walk forward a bit more, to the left, forward."

Xiaotian ended up standing in front of a pile of discarded scraps, tubes and broken glass were scattered around the pile. "Under here?"

"Yeah." The cold chill passes by again, and Xiaotian could almost swear he saw something glow blue underneath the metal. "Be careful, don't cut your hand on anything."

"I'll try..." Xiaotian pushed at one of the larger scraps. "I think I've almost got it..."

"MK!" 

The cavern shook as the monster yelled once more.

"Jesus Christ- It really doesn't give up does it?" He says and Jiagu scoffs. 

"Reminds me of you"

"Should I be offended or complimented?" 

"Your choice"

Xiaotian glared at where he hoped Jiagu was standing. By the way she laughed at him, he didn't think he got it right. Xiaotian huffed as he hauled another piece of metal off of the heap. There was a faint glow coming from a shard of something white, almost like... bone...

"There it is!" Well, at least Jiagu sounded happy. 

"Right... And it is, what exactly?" Xiaotian picked it up with two fingers, holding it away from his body. A cold breeze wrapped around his arm, getting colder the longer he held the shard. 

"..." Jiagu was silent for a moment. "I have no idea." 

"Great." Xiaotian sighed. "Well, you do feel any more 'free' or whatever."

"Not really, but there's another trail, perhaps this piece is just one of many." She suggested. 

Xiaotian groaned. "Oh great, another stupid trail that-" He stopped when his eyes caught the glint of something like blue smoke. It seemed to slither out of the cavern and back to the entrance. "I... I can see it"

"See the trail?"

"If the trail is a weird line of wispy, blue smoke, then yeah" 

"Oh this is great! It must've been the shard, now you can see what I see!" Jiagu gasped as another revelation hit her. "Can you see me?"

Xiaotian looked around. "I can't see you, but I can kind of feel you more? If that makes sense" 

"Eh, good enough" Xiaotian felt her shrug. "So... follow the next trail then?" 

Xiaotian groaned again, he was doing a lot of that recently. "Fine... Let's get going, I'm gonna pick up some stuff on the way."

"By 'pick up' you mean, 'steal' right?"

"Hush."

______

The shadows all stopped. 

There was an ice cold chill that echoed through the alleyways, a kind of cold that left a long time ago, but was back. 

The alleyways seemed to still as the city continued to bustle. The bull clones could not notice the cold, but the shadows would all freeze over if they stayed in the frigid temperatures that only got colder. The shadows retreated back to their origin, zipping through the city as fast as they could to get as far away from the chill. 

When they had arrived back, the screaming from the sun had only gotten louder and the shadows feared how the sun would react once they whispered the news. 

"Lady Bone Demon" 

______

"There's like... no one here" Qi Xiaotian whispered to his ghostly companion. 

"They're probably hiding from whatever beast is screaming its head off" Jiagu suggested. "A minimum wage retail job is really not worth getting eaten by a monster" 

"Ugh, I hated working retail." Xiaotian mumbled as he took spare clothes off of the racks and stuffed into a backpack already full of things like food and supplies, which were all also stolen. He had changed in one of the changing rooms and left the old clothes that he woke up in at the very bottom of the bag. 

"Dude, you should steal some hair clips." Jiagu said, and the cold flowed through the air to a hair clip stand. 

"We're already stealing a shit ton of stuff, and plus, why would I need hair clips?" 

Jiagu huffed. "Xiaotian, you keep brushing the hair out of your face. Did you not notice?"

Xiaotian paused, hand positioned where it was clearly pushing the hair away from his eyes. He really needs a hair cut but they really don't have time for that, not to mention that no one would probably be working what with the monster that was-

The building shook as a roar, somehow the loudest it had ever been, echoed through the city. Xiaotian's hair fell back into his face and he grumbled. He snatched a couple of hair clips off of the stand and booked it out of the building. 

"I can't tell if the monster is getting closer or just getting louder." Jiagu muttered. 

"Well we're not sticking around to find out." Xiaotian ran through the alleyways. "Let's hope the trail leads us out of the city." 

"Hopefully. The last thing we need is for us to both be dead..." She paused. "Or... double-dead? I think we both died once, i'm still dead, and if you die then it'll be your second death." 

"Okay, enough talking about how I might die." 

Far away, on the mountain top. A figure dressed in pink emerged from the Celestial Realm, stumbling slightly as the ground shook. 

Chapter Text

The good news is the trail had allowed them to leave the city. 

The bad news is that the city is surrounded by water. 

"No offense, but I don't think you can swim this distance" Jiagu said, as they both stood on the docks staring out at the trail that lead far out across the ocean. 

"What makes you say that, of course I can!" Xiaotian rolled his eyes. "What are we going to do?"

"We could always steal a boat" 

"Okay, I know we stole all this other stuff, but this was stuff that was cheap and able to fit in a bag, I don't think we're gonna get away with stealing a boat"

Jiagu scoffed. "Oh come on, there's no one around, we can just take one of the boats hanging around and be on our way" 

"All of these are either cargo ships or house boats, I'm not stealing someone's home."

"Then take one of the cargo ships!"

"Are you kidding? If we steal one of those someone's gonna know right away, and it won't be hard to find us because we'll be driving a huge fucking cargo ship!"

"We don't have a lot of choices here Xiaotian!"

"Fine! I'll steal a boat..." Xiaotian huffed already feeling bad. "Which one do you think will matter the least?"

"I dunno, how about that blue one? It's the smallest, although it's still pretty big, smaller usually means cheaper, I think." 

"I don't think that's right." Xiaotian walked cautiously over to the blue boat. It looked like a mix between a cargo ship and a houseboat. 

"Well it has the least amount of room for stuff, that means that this has the least amount of stuff that will be missed." 

"I suppose you're right..." He admitted and felt the cold wrap around him like she was trying to put a hand on his shoulder. 

"Of course I'm right, now let's get going before people show up."

"Are you sure there's no one in there?" Xiaotian asked and felt the cold leave him. 

"I'll check, stay here."

"Not like i've got anywhere else to go." He muttered as he turned his head back to look out at the ocean. He couldn't believe that he had turned over to a life of crime to follow a mysterious blue smoke trail so he could free his friend from being a ghost. The mystery smoke and ghost was the most unbelievable, he always assumed that he would commit a couple crimes at some point in his life. 

"Good news..." Jiagu returned with the cold and an odd edge to her voice. "There are no people in that boat."

Xiaotian didn't like the way she said that, but he didn't have a lot of choices. "If you're lying, i'm not setting you free."

"I would never lie to you."

_______

Sun Wukong's rampage through heaven was widely known and occasionally talked about. Despite the occasional theft or annoyance, Sun Wukong hadn't actually done anything too worthy of the entirety of heaven's attention for a long time. 

Until...

"AAAAARGH!"

The Monkey King's shout could be heard all the way in the celestial realm. 

At first it was a small shock, the gods whispered over what could've been so unfortunate to be the subject of the Monkey King's wrath. Soon that unknown "what?" turned into an unknown "who?" when Sun Wukong had screamed: "WHERE IS HE!?" 

So he was clearly looking for someone, and to heaven, it was a trivial matter. The Monkey King was The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, whoever had started this would likely be dealt with soon enough. 

Nezha saw the Monkey King more often after the defeat of the Lady Bone Demon. At first, Sun Wukong used it as an excuse to check that getting injured by him didn't leave any lasting effects. 

"You're still only like twelve years old, Nezha! And I hit hard, you would know since-" 

But over time, Sun Wukong gave up on excuses. It was... comforting, having people check in on him once in a while. It was quite lonely and boring when he was guarding the map of Samadhi and now that there was no map, he had a lot more time on his hands. 

And then MK started inviting him over for little hangouts. After a while, it became a routine, at least once a day, Sun Wukong would drop by, annoy him for a bit, then leave and at least twice a week, MK would invite him to play games, or train, or just anything really. He was a good kid. 

It was nice. 

So when Sun Wukong started screaming bloody murder that even the celestial realm could hear, it was safe to say that he was a bit concerned. 

It was only more concerning when Sun Wukong screamed MK's name. At first he thought, 'perhaps he's just gotten lost somewhere, or accidentally broke his phone or-'

The yelling didn't end. If he would stop, it wouldn't be for long.

So Nezha went to the mortal realm to see if everything was okay. He appeared on Flower Fruit Mountain and stumbled as the ground shook with Wukong's screaming. There were no monkeys hiding the in trees like there normally were, and one of the Six-Eared-Macaque's shadow clones zipped past him in the opposite direction of the shouting. 

Nezha made his way up to Sun Wukong's residence, where the Monkey King was seen yelling tearing out his hair and sending out seemingly endless amounts of clones. 

"Wukong!" Nezha yelled, getting his attention. Sun Wukong's eyes snapped over to him, and he practically teleported over to the young god and held his face in his hands. 

"Nezha! Are you okay?! You're not hurt are you!? Why are you here? Is she in the celestial realm!? Have you seen MK-" Sun Wukong's rambling was promptly paused when Nezha pried the Monkey King's hands off of his face. 

"I am fine. I am not hurt. I am here because your screaming can be heard all the way from the celestial realm. I don't know who you mean by 'she'. No I have not seen MK" Nezha answers all of Wukong's questions before asking one of his own. "What's happening?"

Sun Wukong's face scrunches up and he stammers a bit on the answer. "Well- the uh- So... um... The other day- no- uh..."

Nezha sighed. "Let's try again, why were you screaming?"

"..." The Monkey King was quiet for a little before he gave in. "MK's missing."

"What?!" 

"And the Lady Bone Demon is back-"

"WHAT?!" 

The Third Lotus Prince's shout could also be heard all the way in the celestial realm. 

_______

"Technically, I didn't lie." Jiagu said, trying to muffle her laughter. "There are no people in here."

Xiaotian held his face in his hands and groaned. "Who even has the time for this many cats?"

At least 20 different feline faces observed him from the inside of the boat, the rest were either sleeping or didn't care. Xiaotian slowly started to back out of the doorway. 

"Where are you going? I thought you liked cats?"

"Yeah but these cats don't belong to me!" Xiaotian whispered shouted. 

"Oh my god, it'll be fine, just take the damn boat." 

"What am I meant to do with the cats?!"

"Take them with you! They won't be a problem, we can leave them when we get to where we need to be!" Jiagu urged him and he could feel the cold try and push him back inside. 

"I'm such a bad person..." Xiaotian muttered, walking back into the boat and closing the door behind him. "You are a terrible influence." 

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"This is gaslighting, you're gaslighting me" Xiaotian made his way to the controls of the boat, cautiously moving around the plethora of cats that were just hanging around the boat. "Can't believe that these cats are just totally chill with this" 

"If you ask me, I think they actually like you" 

Xiaotian nearly stepped on one of their tails. "I'm just that good." 

Jiagu made a skeptical sound and Xiaotian scoffed in mock offense.

"Alright." Xiaotian took a deep breath. "Let's steal a boat, and hopefully not go to jail." 

"Just pretend that you own the boat, I'm sure the cats will vouch for you" At her words, a couple of the cats went and rubbed themselves against Xiaotian's legs. "Weird how much they already like you." 

Xiaotian took another deep breath, he was gonna need so much therapy after this experience. And a therapist who wouldn't rat him out to the police. "Alright, let's do this." 

"Do you know how to drive a boat?"

Xiaotian pressed a couple buttons at random. "Mmmmmmmm no-"

"What if one of these buttons is like- a self destruct button or-"

The boat suddenly jerked forward.

"ACK-"

_______ 

Bai He remembers what it was like being a puppet for the Lady Bone Demon. It was a bit of a hard-to-forget experience. 

The Lady was cold and unforgiving, and didn't talk to Bai He often. She occasionally acknowledged her presence when things were going her way and she talked like she actually cared about what would happen to Bai He, but she really didn't. 

When you have nothing but the freezing cold and a vague view of your own body being used by someone else, you have a lot of time to think. 

Bai He didn't think she would ever actually be free from the Lady Bone Demon. She didn't think that there were any heroes that could defeat her. She spent so much time listening and watching the demon that she had built up this image of her being untouchable, nothing seemed to be able to take her down. 

And what would happen to her even if she was defeated? She didn't have any family left at home anymore, and didn't really have any close friends who would able to take her in. She'd likely take to the streets and die by herself in the end anyways.

So when the Lady Bone Demon had ejected herself from Bai He's body, she didn't expect anyone to catch her.

But someone did. 

A monkey, -no, not the monkey king- with dark fur and a red cape, caught her before she fell and shielded her head before they hit the ground together. Bai He couldn't see very well at the time, but she saw all she needed.

The Lady Bone Demon was gone. 

Macaque, -that was the monkey's name, and Bai He didn't want to let him go anywhere without her- had let her stay with him in his little dojo. It was a bit destroyed, but so was everything in Bai He's life, so it was okay. 

Macaque took care of her with a care that her own parents never had, and she often hung out with MK -the monkey king's kid, according to Macaque- and Mei -a very pretty girl from a dragon family, or something like that- and Red Son -a guy with quite literally fiery hair was apparently evil but not anymore but also still not a hero?-. 

Pigsy -a pig who had a restaurant and was also MK's dad- often offered her noodles and Mr. Tang -Supposedly Pigsy's partner so also supposedly MK's... other... father?- told her many stories and Sandy -A very nice big blue guy with a lot of cats- made her tea and let her hang out with his 'therapy cats' and Nezha -A very young god who dressed with the pretty pink armour and the beautiful lotus'- often gave her little gifts that he would make himself. 

Everything was good. 

Then it wasn't.

MK was gone. Everyone was panicking and Macaque had told her to stay safe in the dojo while he went out and searched for MK. But Bai He wanted to help. How could she not? MK was her friend, he helped save her and everyone from the Lady Bone Demon!

Perhaps it was wrong of her, but she snuck out. 

She wasn't actually sure where to go first, but she could hear The Monkey King screaming from atop his mountain -the one with all the peaches and the flowers and the other monkeys. The ones that didn't stand on two legs and spoke like humans- and Red Son's family bull clones scoured the streets. 

She wandered on her own for a while. She thought about places that MK could've gone. Obviously nowhere near the mountain or Pigsy's noodles because then he should've surely already been found then if he was so close. 

Eventually, Bai He found that her feet had taken her to the docks, where Sandy's boat was anchored close to the city and- 

MK!

But- 

Something was wrong. 

Bai He could feel it.

Could feel... her

Bai He knew the feeling of the unforgivable cold and how it followed MK like it was whispering in his ear and- 

MK looked- different. 

He wasn't wearing the yellow jacket with a cartoon image of the Monkey King's face on that back, and his hair wasn't held up by his headband, but was now tied back into a low pony tail and there was a blue hair clip clipped into his hair. 

Bai He remembers her clothes changing like magic, changing to fit the Lady Bone Demons taste- and-

The Lady Bone Demon wasn't gone-

Bai He's breathing stuttered and her legs shook as she hid behind a building. She fumbled for her phone -a phone that Macaque had gotten her for her most recent birthday since she didn't have her own phone before everything- and clicked on Macaque's contact. 

The phone rang and rang until Macaque picked up. 

"Kid? Is everything okay?"

She tried to breathe but she couldn't and she feared that if she breathed too loudly then the Lady Bone Demon would hear her. 

"I- I'm so s-sorry. I-I just wanted to help find him and-"

"Bai He. Where are you, you're going to be fine, tell me where you are."

"The- The docks, and-" Bai He struggled to intake air. "MK's here too- he- he's on Sandy's boat and she's gotten to him- i know she has I can feel her and she's going to find me-"

"Shit..." Bai He could hear Macaque's running steps on his side of the call. "Bai He, you're going to be alright, just stay quiet and stay safe, everything's going too be alright, I'm almost at the docks"

"I'm sorry for leaving, I just wanted to help-" Bai He heard MK yelp and Sandy's boat darted away leaving nothing but a large amount of water on the wooden docks. Bai He watched as Sandy's boat got further and further away and-

And-

And...

And Bai He cried.

Chapter Text

It took Xiaotian a while to figure out how the boat worked, but after he did, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Hah, get it? smooth sailing? Hilarious. 

"Hey" Jiagu spoke up and the cold breeze made some of the cats shiver. 

"Yeah?" Xiaotian answered back. 

"The beast stopped screaming, finally." 

That made Xiaotian pause. "Really?" He waited for a while, and when no loud roaring came, he let out a sigh of relief. "Good, maybe it found whoever it was looking for." 

"Perhaps." Jiagu hummed. 

"What are we gonna do once you're free?" Xiaotian asked. 

"Dunno, maybe we should head back to the city, get a job, get an apartment, try to live normally." Jiagu suggested. 

"That doesn't sound so bad, but are we not gonna try go back home?"

"Do we want to?"

"Huh... Good point."

_____ 

Mei remembered the absolute horror she felt when she first though she lost MK. It was back when the Demon Bull King was first freed, and they were all travelling to Flower Fruit mountain to try and give Monkey King his staff back so that he could defeat the demon.

And Monkey King was just so helpful when that happened. 

"He said, it's up to me. To us!" 

Yeah. Real helpful. 

But they did it, they defeated the Demon Bull King. Well, sorta. They kinda managed to escape, but that was okay because they were all alive. 

And then things keep happening. Danger, danger, danger almost everywhere they looked. At first, Mei found it fun, she enjoyed the adventures and quests. She didn't enjoy it when the adventures started becoming less of stopping schemes and hijinks and instead saving the entire world. 

She remembers being surrounded by the Samadhi Fire, she remembers the blinding heat that only really grazed her skin, but still managed to feel like was killing her from the inside out. 

She remembers MK reaching for her, being there for her like he always was. MK had never abandoned her when she needed him, and she was not going to abandon him either. 

She knows that she shouldn't be holding a grudge against the Monkey King, but sometimes, it just happened to feel like a lot of the things that happened to them, was his fault. 

It was his fault that they had to fight DBK on their own.

It was his fault that Macaque had fought against them for so long.

It was his fault that MK was constantly in danger. 

It was his fault that Mei was almost consumed by the Samadhi fire. 

But MK was there for her, MK would help, MK would rescue her and they would figure it out together. Every time.

And now MK was gone. 

And what was Monkey King doing?

Screaming. Just screaming his lungs out. 

Mei was searching the streets on her bike. Red Son was searching in his car, he had even sent out his bull clones to search the alleyways. Pigsy, Tang and Sandy were searching for any other clues that could direct them to where MK had gone, Macaque had his shadow clones out to look in the crevices of the city. 

Meanwhile, the Monkey King. MK's mentor, MK's hero. Was just. Screaming. 

And oh, how helpful was that? Oh thank you Great Sage Equal to Heaven, you're so helpful on this very important mission! 

Mei slammed on the breaks before she drove herself right into a building. She took a few deep breaths and steadied herself. 

"Stay safe MK, we're coming for you." She whispered, more to herself that anyone else. She was about to get back onto her bike when something glinted in the corner of her eye. It was something white, jagged and sharp. She bent down to pick it up, and immediately dropped it again when a freezing cold ripped through her. She could feel an awful energy pulsating off of the sharp piece of something... Mei knew what it was.

Mei frowned and picked up the shard again. 

What could it mean?

Mei knew what it meant. But it couldn't be true. Could it?

She turned around sharply when something tapped her on the shoulder. She saw the dark outline of a Monkey and recognized it as one of Macaque's Shadow clones. It gestured for her to follow it, and turned around to start rushing in the direction back to Pigsy's Noodles. 

Mei put the shard in her pocket and got back on her bike, following the shadow through the city.

Mei ignored the cold that felt like it was freezing through her jacket.  

_____

Xiaotian sighed as he parked the boat at a different dock. It had gotten late and the sun had already set, half of the cats were asleep, while the others were just prowling about. Jiagu had been quiet for a while, so Xiaotian had assumed that she fell asleep. 

He stepped out the door and looked out at the new city that he had managed to drive them to. It was bright, he knew that much. The buildings were tall, but there was a strange lantern like structure in the centre of the city. 

People bustled around and there was a nice open road that Xiaotian followed into a place that looked like a night market. 

It was a shame that he had no money, otherwise he would've liked to try some of the food. 

He ignored the delicious smells and loud talking of passersby, and focused on the ground, where the smokey trail lead to the centre of the market where the strange structure was. 

"Hello there!" Xiaotian jumped as someone tapped him on the shoulder. 

"Ah, uhm. Hello." He awkwardly greeted as the person smiled at him. 

"Are you lost? You look like a tourist" They began, and Xiaotian slowly nodded his head. "Would you like to join my tour group? It's completely free so no need to worry! We wouldn't wan't anyone getting too lost!" They laughed and pointed over to where a group of other people were waving at him. 

"Oh uhm, Thank you for the offer, but I'm just uh..." Xiaotian knew that saying 'I'm following a creepy blue trail of smoke to try and free my friend from this weird entrapment that they've somehow gotten themselves into' wouldn't go over well. "Waiting for my friend, they're from here so I'll be fine." 

The Tour Guide tilted their head at him "Say, did you perform in that talent show a couple months ago? Back when the Ring of Light was taken?" 

Xiaotian paused. "Uh. No? I have no idea what you're talking about. Sorry."

"Are you sure, your face looks quite similar to, but of course they were wearing face paint so..." They trailed off before coming back to him. "You wouldn't happen to know a Pig Demon and a giant River Demon, would you?"

Sorry. A what now????

Pig Demon???

River Demon???

"Uh, No sorry. I don't"

They frowned. "Ah right, sorry. We've been trying to track them down for a while. You can go back to waiting for your friend." They waved goodbye and Xiaotian waved back in a daze.

Should he be concerned? He stood around for a while and watched the tour group walk away. He shook his head and took a deep breath before following the trail once more. 

Pig Demon, huh? Weird. 

____

Xiaotian found himself sneaking inside of the strange lantern structure. It looked broken, and dirty and dusty and all round just generally decrepit. 

In the centre of the structure, Xiaotian saw the glint of something white and knew that it was the next shard of bone that he'd been looking for. 

"Jiagu, wake up! I've got the next one!" He yelled out to the air and ignored the shivers that came with the cold of his friend's presence. 

"Really? Perfect!" She said, and Xiaotian bent down to pick up the bone shard. He gasped when his friend's cold only got stronger and Xiaotian felt like he just got drenched in Ice Water. He hesitated slightly when he turned around and flinched when he saw a face up right in front of his. 

"AH!" He shrieked and jumped back. "What the heck? Why was your face so up close and personal!?" He yelled, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart.

"You can see me?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Ouch, am I that ugly?"

"Only really up close, please girl, I require personal space." Xiaotian took a step back and sighed. 

He took the other shard of bone out of pocket and held the newest shard to the edge where they looked like they would fit together. They were like puzzle pieces, except puzzles don't start glowing and floating, and merging together.

The seam where the two pieces had once been... well... two pieces, was gone, both of the long edges were curved inwards and the shorter edges were broken and sharp, clearly where other pieces had to be places to merge together again. 

"Looks like part of a circle." Jiagu inspected the bone and smiled. "Good news, if all the other pieces are as big as these two, then we only have 3 or 4 more to go!" 

Xiaotian sighed. "Hooray." 

____

Mei had hope in her heart that they were back because someone had found MK, but her heart dropped when she saw Bai He sitting in a chair, thoroughly shaking and a terrified expression on her face. 

When they had all arrived, Macaque explained that Bai He had gone out to try and help find MK, and find him she did. 

At the docks.

Stealing Sandy's boat.

Possessed by the Lady Bone Demon 

No no, it must've been a mistake. MK couldn't be possessed. He was her rock! He was the Monkie Kid! He was MK!

And the Lady Bone Demon was gone. She remembered defeating her. She remembered it vividly, it made her feel better, remembering exactly how they had eradicated her from existence. 

But she was back. 

And where was the Monkey King? Was he helping? Probably not. 

Mei held Bai He to her side as they both cried. 

Chapter Text

After a quick discussion about Jiagu’s fashion choices, she and Xiaotian made it back to the stolen boat. The cats were still unable to see Jiagu, but still shivered and hissed when they felt the cold brush against them.  

"Alright! Where to next?" Xiaotian smiled. Things were starting to get better, he could see Jiagu, they only had like three or four more shards of bone to go and then -hypothetically- Jiagu would be free. Whatever had trapped her as a ghost remains a mystery, but sometimes mysteries are better left unsolved. 

The trail continued out onto the open ocean and they spent their time chatting and eating and petting the cats and all seemed fine. 

"How did we get here anyways?"  Xiaotian asked. 

 Jiagu shrugged. "I don't think it matters, what matters is we're alive. " She paused. "Well... sort of"

"You'll be alive soon, just a few more pieces to go." He reassured her and she smiled at him. Now that he could see her, it reminded him of highschool. Xiaotian struggled to remember, but he vaguely thinks that they were in the same science class. 

  "Watch out, we're coming up on some land" Jiagu stared out the window of the boat, and Xiaotian turned to look as well. There was a large mass of land covered in snow and mountains. 

"This place's geography is weird." Xiaotian muttered, slowing the boat before it hit the rocks. He anchored the boat and once again left the cats behind inside. He still felt really bad over stealing the boat and all those cats. Some poor person is missing both their house and their pets and its Xiaotian's fault. Not the best thing to have on his conscience.  

He got off the stolen boat and his shoes crunched the snow underneath him. He huffed and his breath appeared as a little cloud, flowing through the air before promptly disappearing. The land that the smoke trail had them too was cold, obviously, and jagged rocks and mountains were practically everywhere. 

 "Think anyone lives here?" Xiaotian asked, glancing towards Jiagu who was floating next to him and watching as he manoeuvred around shattered ice and random broken stones. 

"Only the crazy people, probably." She responded.

Xiaotian hummed, continuing his trek through the snow. 

The blue trail weaved around the rocks and made its way to the base of a mountain before turning upwards- 

"It goes up a mountain!?" Xiaotian screeched. "What the fuck- how am I meant to get up there!?" 

“Climb?” Jiagu suggested, voice pitched higher with uncertainty. 

“Oh hell no.” He scowled and shivered. Jeez it was -

-Cold. It was so, so cold. 

MK breathed out a puff of air and shivered. Why was it so cold?

Why were his hands freezing and his teeth chattering? Why were the ice and bone getting closer?

He had done everything right! He completed his destiny and so did she! Why was everything getting worse? Why was his mind getting away from him? Why is he following the path to a new destiny? 

His destiny is over. He does not need a new one. 

“MK!” He startles and looks around for the familiar voice. He knows it, it’s familiar but he can’t remember who it belongs to. He doesn’t remember what it sounds like even if he just heard it. Was it a masculine voice or a feminine one? Did they sound young or old? 

“MK! I’m sorry!” The voice returns again and MK takes his first step. He twists his body around trying to find any semblance of something that could have spoken to him. 

The voice is foggy in MK’s mind and the world remains empty, save for the shards of ice and bone that littered the ground. 

The voice returns again. “MK, please come back.” 

See, he would love to, he really would. He just doesn’t know where he’s meant to go back to or who he's supposed to return to. 

The voice returns again. “Where are you?”

MK tries to respond but his lips are frozen shut, he tries to pry them apart and he feels the skin of his lips ripping and pulling. 

The voice returns again. “Did I push you away?”

MK tries to shake his head. No, no they didn’t push him away, whoever they were. 

The voice returns again. “Did I push you too hard?”

MK continues to try and open his mouth while trying to give some sort of answer to the voice. 

The voice returns again. “Was it all too much for you?”

MK would try to walk closer to the voice but he didn't know which direction it was coming from, it felt like invisible speakers were all around him, talking to him from all sides. 

“I’ll give you whatever you want, just please come back.” 

MK’s trying, he really is, his lips just won’t open. 

“We miss you. — Doesn’t know what to do and — –’s crying and-”

MK rips his mouth open. “Monkey King!”  

Sun Wukong opens his eyes. “MK!? Where are you!?” He shouts, looking around frantically. 

No one answers.

He huffs. MK was alive, that was for certain. He was alive and he was out there. It didn’t give him much but it calmed him a little. 

MK managed to say something to him, something was better than nothing. If he could just find where the voice came from. 

His vision went gold and he looked around once more. 

Nothing. 

Did he even hear MK at all? Or was his mind just playing tricks on him? He could’ve sworn he heard MK’s voice but now that it was gone he wasn’t so sure anymore. 

“I’m going to find you, kid. Just hang tight.” He whispered. 

“Just hang tight,” Jiagu said, floating next to him. 

“I am!” Xiaotian snapped, before quickly apologizing. “Sorry, sorry. This is just really stressful.”

Jiagu tried patting him on the back, but only phased through him. “No, it’s alright, I get it. You’re very high up.” 

Xiaotian looked down at that, and grimaced. He and Jiagu made the oh so smart decisions to just climb the mountain, of course she could just float up while Xiaotian had to actually climb. He was good at climbing, but every time that he went climbing up a rock wall or anything like that he had a harness and multiple far more trained professionals around him. 

The rocks dug into his hands and his shoes rested on whatever was jutting out of the mountain. Snow fell onto his knuckles and was quickly shaken off by how much his hands were trembling. 

He was terrified.

He was incredibly high up and once he fell that would be it. Why was he doing all of this?

He could die. Again. 

Jiagu tried reassuring him, but the cold that she brought with her voice only seemed to make it worse. 

He hesitated every time he went higher and tried to make himself feel better by just imagining how little left he had to climb. 

Once he made it to the top and had safely moved quite a ways away from the edge of the mountain. He laid down, took a deep breath and screamed . 

“I can’t believe I just did that” MK breathed.

“I can’t either.” Jiagu’s face floated above him “I thought you were going to die again for sure.” 

“Me too.” He slowly rose up from where he was lying on the ground and turned his eyes to the blue trail. Why was he so focused on this? 

“There’s the next piece.” Jiagu looked at him. “You alright to walk?” 

“Yeah.” Xiaotian nodded. “I can do this.” Why was he doing this for her?

He walked over to the piece of bone that laid in the centre of the large space of the top of the mountain. Pillars were carved symbols of what seemed like another language and surrounded the circular ground. There was a set of stairs that led up to a stone table that stood in front of a large stone circle that was partially broken at the top left corner also engraved with the symbols. There was a faint glow of gold to the symbols that was quickly snuffed out by the trail of blue smoke. 

He picked it up off the ground and brought out the other merged pieces from his pocket. 

MK recognizes the area of which both Samadhi Fire rituals took place. He recognizes the bone protruding from the ground still left over from the Lady Bone Demon. He recognizes the rocks that were broken and laying on the ground. 

He remembers the heat of the Samadhi Fire and it’s the only bit of comfort he has when he’s covered head to toe in ice in the back of his own mind. 

MK knows the person who follows the voice without question, he knows the person who bends down to pick the special shard up off the ground. 

MK knows the ghost who speaks with an echo and brings a chill wherever she goes, he knows the ghost who speaks icily and leaves no room for argument. 

MK misses the feeling of the golden staff in his hand. He can feel it in his ear but can’t move to take it out. He misses the sun and its warmth. He wants to get rid of the cold but he can’t move into the sunlight that’s so close and yet so far.

His mouth is sealed shut again and he mentally apologizes once the voice reaches out to him again. 

“MK!? Where are you!?”  It asks. 

Where are you?

Where did you go?

Are you okay?

Are you hurt?

Is she there?

Can you talk to me?

All these questions and MK is unable to answer. He wishes he could, but he can’t move anymore, he used to be able to at least pivot around or take a few steps but not anymore.

He is trapped. 

“There’s the next piece.”

MK feels like he’s freezing to death.

Xiaotian shivers as the shards form together, soon enough he would have all the pieces to bring Jiagu back to the physical world that he was in. How did they know this would work? 

Jiagu smiles at him. The trail that they had followed up the mountain shifted and led back down out onto the ocean once again. Xiaotian groaned. “Ugh! This is gonna take forever.” He looked down the mountain and grimaced. He was not looking forward to having to get back down. 

“Only a couple more to go.” Jiagu reminded him and with shaky hands and even shakier legs, he began his descent down the mountain. This is a bad idea. Stop it. Stop it. What are you doing?

MK closes his eyes.

Chapter Text

"The thing you need to understand about the old legends, is that the story is never finished."

MK kept his eyes closed, and felt his way around his memories. The feeling of tables and chairs of his dad's restaurant, the feeling of the slightly worn walls that lead to a door. From the door he feels his way around the outside of the building, hitting the metal of the fire escape and carefully walking up it. He missed a few steps occasionally and stumbled sometimes, but he kept his hands on the railing and made his way to his window: unlocked and already open. 

He puts his left leg in first, slowly climbing into his apartment. His shoes hit the floor with a 'clack!' and MK kicks around the floor until he hits his bed. He turns and sits down onto the blankets and sighs. 

"There may be no pages left to turn, but there is always more to the journey."

MK reached a hand up to his ear, waiting. 

His hand felt warm. It was a blessing considering how cold he felt. His apartment wasn't this cold in reality. MK waits for the golden staff to materialize in his hand and he can see the golden glow through his eyelids. With the staff now in his hands, MK could feel it's divine warmth spreading from his palms to the rest of his body. It chased the cold away and MK felt the floor disappear from beneath his feet.

As it got warmer, MK felt the urge to open his eyes get stronger. But he couldn't. He shouldn't. The bed disappeared from beneath him too, and MK found him self sitting on the cold hard ground of somewhere. 

"Rising from the netherworld, the Demon Bull King attacked." 

He kept a firm grip on the staff as he stood up. He kept a firm grip as he used the staff to feel around in front of him as he walked so that he wouldn't bump into anything. He kept a firm grip as the sounds of his shoes clacking on the ground got louder as the ground got harder. He kept a firm grip as a cold breeze brushed passed him. 

He kept a firm grip.

"No one could stop him, no one could resist."

But not firm enough.

He felt the staff slip out of his hands and he didn't hear anything as Ruyi Jingu Bang left him. He felt the cold return without the safety of the staff and MK resisted the urge to scream in terror. He kept his eyes closed.

"No one... except..."

He wished for someone to come and save him, someone, anyone. He didn't care who and he didn't care how. He had to leave this place. He couldn't be here. He shouldn't be here. He should be at the wheel, controlling the body and running as far as he could. He should be running, shutting out his mind and preventing anyone from getting in there. 

He wanted out. 

"The legendary Monkey King."

He didn't want to stay in the dark any longer. He wanted the light and the sun and the warmth. 

He wanted his friends, he wanted his family. He wanted anything but this horrid place. He wanted anything but the cold that surrounded him on all sides. He wanted the staff back. He wanted back the sweet comfort that its heat brought to his skin and his soul.

"The Monkey King used his magical staff to pick up a nearby mountain ."

MK felt his joints stiffen and his eyes almost opened. But he kept the closed, he screwed them shut and wouldn't open them until he was free. Until he was safe. 

He tried to walk forward some more to find anything that he could try to feel. The only thing that he knew was around was the floor, and he so desperately wanted to touch it with the skin of his hands to confirm it was real. But if he sat down, he didn't think he'd be able to stand back up. If he stopped walking, he didn't think he would be able to start again.  

His movements became harder and harder with every step. He felt himself slowing and struggling to continue. Like he was turning into stone. Or being encased in ice-

No. No no no no.

He had to leave. He had to leave. He had to leave.

"Oh-hoh-o-kay." MK rasped out. "I want out!" 

"He trapped the Demon Bull King underneath it."

MK was trapped. 

"The Monkey King sealed the mountain with the staff that no other being could wield, trapping the Demon Bull King forever."

MK knew these stories like he knew the back of his hand. He remembers the legends being something obscure and worthless, only a requirement for his curriculum. He remembers the legends being something everyone knew and revered. 

MK remembered being young. A youth that came first, and a youth that came second.

He remembered his parents. Parents who he never felt attached to, and parents which he did. 

He remembered his friends. Friends that would leave him at the first sight of trouble, and friends that wouldn't.

He remembers his teachers. Teachers who thought he just needed to 'try harder' without any semblance of help at all, and teachers that really taught him things. 

Perhaps none of them were perfect, but some were certainly better than others. 

"With the battle won, the Monkey King vanished, never to be seen again. Legend says the staff still lies on top of that mountain, the one thing keeping our world from certain destruction."

MK remembers staring himself in the mirror. 

The mirror was a little ways away from the bath that he was placed into. His yellow skin was caked in dirt and his hair was grimy and spiky. 

He recognized himself, despite looking younger than he should've been with a mind too big for his body. 

"And with the Demon Bull King gone, civilization was able to advance into the amazing city we now live in."

MK remembers scouring the internet for things he knows. He searched for things that he knew existed, he knew they were real at some point, but he never got any answers. 

'Sorry! Nothing seems to match your search!'

But he knew they were real, he had lived in a world where those things were real.

"A world of elegant cultures, gentle loving people, a city brimming with five-star cuisine, and all because of the Monkey King."

MK knew things that no one else knew. He had lived a life that no one else in this world could. He had strength beyond comprehension. He held power that no random mortal could. 

MK had a mind unlike any other.

Yet he found himself trapped all the same. 

Xiaotian was a terrible person.

He told himself this in his mind as he parked the boat in the same place he stole it from. "I'm gonna get caught." He whispered. "I'm gonna get caught and I'm gonna go to jail."

"Don't be ridiculous, as long as you get out of here fast you'll be fine." Jiagu pat him on the shoulder. It was a pit of a shock when Jiagu had tried flicking him in the forehead after he had made it down from the mountain. 

"You could've died!" She had said. And despite thinking her fingers would phase right through Xiaotian's head, it actually managed to hit him. She had laughed as Xiaotian gaped with a dumbstruck expression. "It must've been the newest piece. I'm getting more and more alive each time!" 

Which was good. That was good. This is bad. Stop it. What are you doing?

Xiaotian grabbed his bag of stuff off of a chair and quickly ran out the front door. He didn't want to risk any one noticing him leaving the crime scene of a stolen house boat. Hopefully the cats wouldn't snitch on him.

He jumped onto the dock and rushed into the closest alleyway. He didn't hear any one shouting at him, so that was a plus. Actually, he didn't hear anyone. It was weirdly...

MK couldn't hear anything or anyone. It was so quiet.

So quiet.

He didn't like it. 

Too silent.

He needed sound, he needed something.

He couldn't feel anything, he couldn't see anything, he couldn't taste anything, he couldn't smell anything, and he couldn't hear anything.

It was so.

Horribly-

-...quiet.

"Uh..." Xiaotian whispered. "So it's like... weirdly empty around here... right? That's not just me?"

"No, it's not just you, it's definitely a bit barren." Jiagu said, peering out of the alleyway. "Wow, there's legit no one here."

"Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?" He asked, receiving a shrug. 

"Maybe it's best to stick to the alleyways for now." She suggested and Xiaotian nodded. The trail of smoke went straight through the city roads and Xiaotian tried to advance further into the city without going out into the open. 

"I wonder where everyone is" 

"Maybe there's some big festival happening somewhere? Or everyone just decided that they don't wanna go outside today." 

"Let's hope it's not something bad."

They continued to walk in silence for a bit until Jiagu spoke again. 

"Did you see that?"

Xiaotian looked around, only seeing garbage bins, brick walls and fire escapes. "See what?" 

"It looked like the shadows moved." She narrowed her eyes and scanned the alleyway.

Xiaotian laughed. "It was probably just a black cat. Nothing to worry about." He said, despite the nagging in the back of his mind that she was right. 

The trail led them through a part of the city that Xiaotian recognized and he got more and more suspicious of it as they continued. His thoughts were only confirmed when they ended up standing at a large crack in the ground behind some random building. 

"Wait... isn't this...?" 

"The exact same place we got the first shard? Yeah." Xiaotian grumbled as he resigned himself to crawling back into the opening in the ground. "Stupid trail, why couldn't we have just gotten these two first instead of just galavanting around the world!"

"Maybe the next one will lead us back to the mountains." Jiagu laughed. "Like a game of Ping Pong." 

"Except Ping Pong's more fun. Why does this blue smoke hate u-" Xiaotian paused. And then promptly shrieked. 

"Ah! Oh my god what the fuck are you screaming for?!" Jiagu flicked him on the forehead. 

"A spider just jumped down from the ceiling! Like- right in front of my face!" He grimaced, brushing off his clothes and frantically looking around. 

"You're scared of spiders?" She sounded unimpressed. "Really?" 

"What? It's a normal fear!" Xiaotian continued his way through the tunnel, following the smoke in the same direction it had led them the first time. "They're creepy and crawly and if you take your eyes off of them for like one second they disappear! And they've got so many eyes and legs and some of them are like- huge! And-" Xiaotian paused. 

The trail led into the same large empty cavern they found the first piece in. But now there was someone in there. And they were crying. 

"Uh..." Xiaotian whispered. 

"Oh my god, she's got green hair." Jiagu commented. "Not what would've been my first choice if I were to dye my whole head one, bright colour." 

Xiaotian saw the trail lead up to the lady crying. She had a purple dress and that bright green hair that Jiagu commented on was styled... interestingly. She was holding a black helmet with half broken horns protruding from it. He took a step forward. 

"Xiaotian... you better not do what I think you're gonna do." Jiagu hissed.

"The trail leads up to the thing she's holding." Xiaotian took another step. "And besides, she's upset. Maybe I can help her feel better." 

"I'm not sure if this is a worse idea than climbing up that mountain." She sighed, and reluctantly followed him into the cavern.

"Um. Hello!" Xiaotian waved. The lady startled and turned to look at him before quickly turning away. From the quick glimpse he got, she saw that makeup was running down her face and her eyes were puffy from crying. She turned back around to face him and the ruined makeup and red eyes were gone. 

"You..." She whispered. "You seem familiar. Aren't you Sun Wukong's successor?"

"Uh. No?" He gave her a confused look. "I'm not." 

"Ah... Sorry, must've mistaken you for that kid." She looked down at her lap where the helmet was resting. 

"It's alright." He inched closer. "You don't seem alright though. Wanna talk about it?"

She gave him a skeptical look. 

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Sometimes it's better to talk about things instead of keeping them bottled up. You look like you could use a listening ear and I've got the time to spare." He grinned.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt..." She said. "You don't have to stay if you get bored though."

"I'll stay until you get it off your chest." He sat down next to her and his grin faded into something softer.

"This... this place used to be the home of a friend of mine." She gripped the helmet she was holding tighter. 

"'Used to be'?" Xiaotian prompted. 

"She's not around any more... and she's not coming back." She said, and Xiaotian knew that it meant she was dead, and considering the state of this place and the helmet in the lady's hands, her death wasn't pretty. "She was my first friend, and I was so happy with her... I thought we were going to be together forever." A tear fell down onto the helmet.  "I just wanted someone to stay with me, and she had. For a while." She sighed. "But she said she wanted to rebuild her kingdom, take over the world..." 

"Sorry what?" Jiagu interrupted, but Xiaotian kept his mouth shut and continued to listen.

"She didn't want to stay with me for forever... we had a bit of an argument. I had planned to apologise to her the next morning when we both had cooled down... But she had already left." She sniffed. "I tried to find new people to be friends with, but no one ever wanted to stay. And I have new friends now and they're so nice and kind... but I don't know how long it'll be until they leave too..." 

"Sometimes I wonder how different it would be if I had convinced her to stay... Or if I had gone with her."

"Do you think you would've been happy if you had gone with her?" Xiaotian asked softly. 

She shook her head. "My new friends told me about the things she did to this city, trying to take over it and force the people to be her subjects." She looked over at Xiaotian. "I didn't want to take over the world or rule a kingdom. I just wanted to live calm days with my friend. I wanted to live my days content and peaceful with her. I regret not seeing her again before she... died... But I don't think I would've been happy taking over the world with her." 

Xiaotian stayed quiet as she took a deep breath and stood up. "Thank you... for listening."

He smiled. "It's no problem. Sometimes it's good to say these things out loud to someone" 

She nodded, and held the helmet to her chest. The shard of bone fell out of the helmet at the movement and Xiaotian's eyes flickered over to it. The lady didn't seem to notice. 

"Are you sure you aren't that successor kid?" She asked again and Xiaotian grinned. 

He was Monkey King's successor!

He should be stronger than this!

So why was he so weak?

"I'm 100% sure" He said, sneakily grabbing the shard off the ground as she turned away. 

"I should get back before the boys start to worry." She said. "Thank you... child."

"Xiaotian." 

"Don't tell her your name!" Jiagu spoke up for the first time in a while, 

"She literally just spilled her sad life story to me, it's only polite!" He whispered back, ignoring the strange look he got from the lady. 

"That's a nice name." Xiaotian smiled at the compliment. "My name is Xiezi." She waved as she made her way to the exit. "Stay safe Xiaotian."

"You too Xiezi!" He called out as she left. 

Jiagu nudged him. "Well, that was sad and dumb." 

"I think that was a nice talk. Sad, yeah. But it was nice talking to someone other than you. And I made her feel better!" He smiled. 

"Yeah, Yeah." 

Chapter Text

Fulfil Destiny. Or die.

Those are the only options.

It's a competition. 

Tang remembers his life when it was normal. 

He walked the earth the same as any other mortal creature did. He grew up a normal child, in a stable household. He had a small, select group of friends all with their own unique experiences and home lives. He had a caring family, all with their own unique interests.

For Tang, his special interest was history. Particularly the Journey To The West. He enjoyed other texts too, but Journey To The West had this special... feel to it, that made Tang favour it over the other parts of history. His friends and family didn't enjoy it the way he did, and often got bored listening to him ramble on about whatever chapter he most recently had read. They all humoured him, they all hummed and nodded at certain parts but Tang knew that they weren't exactly listening. But that was alright, he took joy in analysing and reading the text, and that was all he needed. 

He received a scholarship and majored in History. He moved out of his family's house to be closer to his university, and that was around the time when he stumbled across this nice little noodle place. 

Pigsy's Noodles. 

The owner was a pig demon. Demons were a rather controversial topic back when Tang was a kid, but it had finally sputtered out around when he became a teenager. People had taken their time adjusting to demons living in their society the same as any other human would. There was the fear of the demons trying to eat them or steal their valuables or destroy their homes, and there were bound to be the occasional 'old minded' person who still regarded all demons with hatred. Demons also weren't often seen serving food, he remembers reading an article once about people's concerns of the demons poisoning their food or feeding them the meat of other humans. 

The first time he walked past the restaurant, he heard two people whispering to each other. 

"Do you really think that place is trustworthy? I mean, it's owned by a pig demon. Surely it's unhygienic or something."

"I don't know, the reviews are good."

Tang hadn't actually gone in until a few weeks after that encounter, when he finally found himself with a break from all his homework and studies. The owner was nice, and served the best food. He was enamoured practically as soon as he took the first bite. 

And from that point onwards, he would come back to that restaurant. Again. And Again. 

One day, Tang brought in some of his homework texts with him to the restaurant, and Pigsy asked what he was studying. He went on a tangent about his interest in history and Journey To The West and his current exams and somehow he delved into story telling. After about half an hour, he caught himself and apologising for ranting. It was then he noticed how intensely Pigsy was listening to him. The pig demon brushed off his apologies and said that he could tell that Tang really enjoyed what he did. 

Tang would take his studies more often, and sometimes Pigsy would ask questions, and he would explain while he wrote notes in textbooks and while Pigsy cooked. 

It was nice. It was a routine. It felt domestic. It felt normal.

Pigsy considered food as a form of art, which was something that Tang understood entirely. The pig demon prided himself on creating perfection, anything he deemed 'not good enough' would not be served. Tang had once saw him set aside a bowl of noodles, muttering to himself about a little mistake he made on the spices. Tang had offered to eat it anyway if it was just going to sit there. It took some- no. It took a lot of nudging, to convince Pigsy to give it to him. 

"You shouldn't eat it, it's not good enough."

"Anything you make is wonderful, Pigsy! And I love every single one of your dishes!" 

Ever since then, Tang had tried to weasel free food out of Pigsy. He was always successful, no matter how much Pigsy grumbled and complained, he always gave in.  

The day Tang graduated, he ran into the restaurant and squealed at Pigsy, blabbering on about the ceremony and what he was planning to do afterwards. Pigsy was happy for him, even hugged him and picked him up -he was incredibly strong-, and then, when Tang mentioned having to move out of the student apartments, Pigsy offered for Tang to move in with him. Had they really come so far together that moving in together seemed like the perfect next step to take? Tang of course said yes, and soon he saw Pigsy almost every hour of everyday. He was already coming in for noodles daily, but now he lived in the same house as Pigsy did, he hardly had to go out of his way to see him. 

Pigsy had a room on the first floor where the restaurant was, in a little off room from the kitchen, and Tang lived in the apartment above. 

Tang wasn't sure when he slowly started to move into Pigsy's room too. 

Maybe it was that time where Tang and Pigsy were talking about Tang's new job, and they just kinda... both fell asleep together in Pigsy's bed. Or maybe it was when the heater in Tang's space of the home broke, and he ended up staying in Pigsy's room where the heater actually worked. 

Either way. The apartment above soon became empty, and Tang and Pigsy just stayed in the same room. 

Tang wasn't sure when the line between friendship and relationship started to blur. He wasn't sure when they became so... together. But Tang was alright with it like that, and Pigsy was too. They never outright said it, but they knew that they were a thing, that they loved each other. 

One day, Pigsy presented him with something. Rings. One for him, and one for Pigsy. 

Tang knew what it meant, and he thinks he cried the first time they said 'I love you' to each other. Tang and Pigsy both wore their rings everyday, and it was normal. The regular customers knew it too, they saw the little rings on their hands as soon as they walked into the restaurant, they were happy for them and their little relationship was normal. They didn't have a big wedding or a party, they told their close friends and their families, and they continued on as normal. The only changed being that they kissed occasionally and perhaps got even closer, if such a thing was even possible. 

One day, Tang got home from work, and there was a trail of mud inside the restaurant. He was concerned at first. Pigsy was always intent on keeping his restaurant clean and up to regulations. 

His concerned doubled when he noticed a little kid, sitting a stool, wearing one of Pigsy's tank tops, socks and his chef jacket. The kid was thin and covered in mud, no doubt the source of the mess on the floor. Pigsy gave the kid a bowl of noodles and pat him lightly on the back, before walking up to Tang, who stared jaw-slacked at the child. 

"Pigsy. What is this?"

"I don't know, I heard some rustling outside and thought that those racoons were back again but when I looked it was just that kid covered in dirt and mud and he had no clothes and he looked cold and skinny and-"

Tang didn't need to hear more. 

And just like that, there was a new addition to their little life of domesticity. The kid became their own, Tang read him stories and Pigsy made him food. It was nice. It was normal.

Time passed. MK made a friend, Mei, and they grounded each other, clung to each other like two rocks glued together. Mei spent a lot of time hanging out with MK at the restaurant, and it was almost like they had a second kid. It was nice. It was normal.

Time passed. MK still couldn't move. Or hear.

Time passed. MK stayed in the apartment upstairs, he went to school and Tang helped him with his work while Pigsy grumbled about the unnecessary changes to how maths is solved. It was nice. It was normal.

Time passed. MK still couldn't feel. Or talk.

Time passed. MK graduated, got a drivers license and did delivery for Pigsy's Noodles. It was nice. It was normal. 

Time passed. MK couldn't tell how much time. It could've been years. Or decades. Or centuries. Or seconds. 

It was perfect.

It was awful.

And then one day, MK came back from a delivery, really, really late. It was normal for him to get distracted sometimes, but according to Mei, she had to grab him out from the sky because someone was chasing him in a spiky, raging race car. 

MK comes back with a giant staff, a prop, that's was Tang thought it was. MK always liked the Monkey King parts of the stories he read to him, so it wouldn't be surprising if he found a prop and just decided to... take it. But no, the staff is real and MK was... wielding it?

Tang thinks it's that point where his life started to veer away from "normal"

Things kept happening, things that Tang never thought would happen to his peaceful, domestic, normal life.

MK, the Monkey King's successor. Strange, but Tang supposes he can work with that. It would be difficult to keep him safe, but he was an adult now, and surely the Monkey King would help him. 

And MK would get better with time.

Mei, the fourth Ring of Samadhi. Unfortunate, horrifying. Tang could do nothing but watch as Mei was consumed by the Samadhi Fire and rage and sadness.

And Mei got better with time. They saved her, and she accepted the Samadhi Fire as part of her. 

Him, the reincarnation of the Great Monk Tang Sangzang ? Ridiculous. Impossible. It just wasn't true. They had the same name, but there is something called a coincidence, and that's all that it was.

And that would not change, no matter how much time had passed.

After the defeat of The Lady Bone Demon, Tang tried so hard to steer his life back into the lane that everyone else was in. He tried so hard to make everything normal again. But it never would be. This was his life now, and he had to accept that. No matter how much he didn't want to. Sure, it was exciting, at first. But over time, Tang began to despise the future ahead of him. 

But he had his family, and new friends. As long as he had them, it would all be okay. 

And then... he didn't. 

"MK was late for work so we went upstairs to check on him and he wasn't there but his window was open and he left his phone behind so we asked around if anyone had seen him and no one had so we went out looking for him and at some point Bai He saw him at the docks and The Lady Bone Demon was possessing him and then he stole Sandy's boat and he left! Please can you tell me if you or the demon brothers see him, at any point!" That is what he asked of his friend, the Scorpion Queen. Sure there was the whole kidnapping thing, but after a few misunderstandings were smoothed out, she and him became quite good friends. 

She promised that if she saw him, she would call him immediately.

So when she called back a day or two after he made that call, Tang couldn't help but get his hopes up. 

"So, your kid... I think I ran into him?"

"Think?"

"Well... He looks a bit different, and he didn't appear to be possessed? He was certainly in control of his own body and still had his mind. But I asked if he was Sun Wukong's successor and he seemed confused. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. I could see a demons power certainly interacting with him, and I assume that he was talking to her, though I couldn't hear anything. Said his name was Xiaotian-" Tang dropped the phone in surprise. "Tang? Are you alright? What was that?"

Tang quickly brushed off her concern. "Nothing! I'm fine! Thank you! That was him! Where is he?" 

"You know that alleyway with the giant crack in the ground that leads into... the S-Spider Queen's old la-"

"Yes! I know where! Thank you so much!" 

He hung up and ran downstairs, where Monkey King and Pigsy were arguing, Mei and Bai He were curled up in the corner of the room while Red Son stood next to them, The Third Lotus Prince stood by the door, Sandy was seated at one of the barstools and Macaque stood near the left wall by the tables and chairs. 

"Scorpion Queen just called! She said MK's near the ruins of the Spider Queen's old lair!"

Macaque spoke up from where he was stationed. His eyes were closed, but there was a slight purple glow from underneath his eyelids. "One of my shadows just spotted him, he hasn't left the area yet, but we've gotta be quick if we want to get to him."

Tang saw the others perk up at the information, and he rushed to explain the rest. "She said that the possession isn't the same as Bai He's or Monkey King's was. But she's done something to his mind to make him think he's not the Monkey Kid anymore." 

Mei stood up and began making her way to the door. 

"Wait." The Lotus Prince put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her before she could leave. 

She shook of his hand and tried to bolt outside. "We know where he is! I have to go find him!"

"We need to be careful. The Lady Bone Demon is certainly present around him, and we have to send the right person to make sure he doesn't run as soon as he sees one of us." Nezha explained. Mei visibly deflated, but she understood what he meant. 

"Yeah. Uh. Sun Wukong already left." Red Son huffed, pointing to where Monkey was once standing. Everyone turned to look and saw that he was in fact, no longer there. 

"Ugh!" Mei stomped her foot and groaned. "Of course he left!" 

MK couldn't breathe.

Someone had to save him. Surely! Surely someone would come and help him. 

Someone, anyone. His dads or his mentor or his friends or anyone! Anyone at all!

"I'm coming for you kid!" He hears Monkey King's voice. The only thing he's heard in a long, long time. It was muted and far away, but it was something. Something was good. Something was coming to save him.

Or perhaps it wasn't such a long time, he didn't know how long he'd been here, he didn't know how much time had passed. He could see nothing and feel nothing and-

The Monkey King's voice returns, still sounding like MK was wearing earmuffs, and hidden underground. "Kid!"

He tries to open his mouth. He had managed to rip it open to talk once before.  He thinks, he can't quite remember. It felt like it was so long ago. Surely he could do it again.

He tried. He tried. He tried. He swears he did. But nothing happened. 

He wants Monkey King's voice back, he want's his own voice back. He wanted something, he wanted someone. 

Someone would save him. Sooner or later. Someone would save him. Soon. Someone would save him. He just has to be patient.

They can't leave him to die here. He was essential! Nothing could progress without him! 

Someone would save him. 

They have to. 

They HAVE to

"Kid!" Xiaotian turned whipped his head around and gaped.

A... Monkey. Wearing clothes, speaking english. Xiaotian rubbed his eyes, surely he's hallucinating. 

"What the fuck is that?" Jiagu asked, grasping onto his arm and hiding behind him, even though Xiaotian was the only one who could see her. 

"I... I'm pretty sure it's a monkey...?" He whispered lightly, taking a step back. The monkey... thing took a step forward. 

"MK..." The Monkey breathed out, and Xiaotian's heart beat faster in his chest. He could practically feel it pulsing in his eardrums and shaking him to the core. 

"Oh shit." Jiagu cursed. "Xiaotian run! That's the fucking monster that was yelling earlier!" Jiagu pushed at him, and Xiaotian stumbled before turning around to start sprinting away. 

The Monster, surely about to kill him-

The Monster, going to kill him to fulfil destiny.

Xiaotian came to a stop when he saw that he was unexplainably face to face with the Monster that he swore was just behind him. He looked back to see that the Beast was no longer behind him. He turned back to face what would soon likely be his second demise. He took a shaky step back and smiled nervously. 

The Monster reached out a hand. 

And Xiaotian screamed.