Chapter Text
Cleaning up some of his hauled hoard in the back halls of his temple, he had expected a peaceful day of just moving and rearranging items with his subjects, not having another worrisome, chaotic, and heart attack inducing adventure ride.
But, fear can control everything.
"WUKONG!!"
Monkeys jumped off the pillars of the hall scared and ran towards the king for protection. Wukong paused his cleaning and waited for the presence to show itself to him, even though the voice of them sounded so familiar to a certain shadow.
"Wukong, for fuck's sake, I'm not climbing over these piles of junk, get over here now!"
The golden monkey scoffed, "You can teleport, quit being lazy. What do you want?"
"Sun Wukong!"
Everything paused itself, the shadow demon had never called him his full name ever in his life. He supposed it's serious, the king sighs as he climbs over the pile he was cleaning up.
Macaque was tapping his foot and arms folded impatiently. Wukong rolled his eyes at him, if he was so impatient and serious about this, he would've used his portals.
"The hell do you want, Macaque?" Wukong matched his pose, the monkeys clinging onto him from the jump scare from before, but now curious on the sudden seriousness.
"Is MK with you?"
The king tilted his head, "No? It's early, he should be doing deliveries for Pigsy right now."
"That's the thing, he's not."
Silence.
Wukong fumbled back a bit.
"He's gone missing. We can't find him."
"What..." The monkeys on the king's back looked worriedly as they could feel the violent shaking from Wukong.
"Pigsy said he never came down for work this morning."
Oh.
That's a definite issue.
"Tang said the last time he saw MK was last night when he went to bed. Mei hasn't seen him either, nor has Red Son. She searched all over Megapolis, he's nowhere to be found. I had hoped he was with you but I guess not."
Wukong thought for a minute, trying to think of any place where MK could be at. If he's not in the city nor at the mountain...
"Maybe... he's just off hiding somewhere? Probably trying to control his monkey form better!" He tried convincing, mostly to himself.
Macaque stared unamused, "You really think he's going to run off to try to control it and not come to you to help him more so than he could do by himself? Wukong, please take this seriously, he's your successor and you're acting like you don't care one bit!"
"I am worried, Macaque!"
"Then act like it!"
"How would I know you're not just lying to me about this whole thing and you're just trying to play some kind of stupid prank on me like you always used to do!?" By now the monkeys on Wukong had fled back to their pillar, more scared of the yelling than Macaque's scare.
The darker monkey growled, "Why would I joke about something like MK going missing?"
"Because you know how much I care."
The squint Macaque gave was dangerous, "You sure aren't acting like it."
Wukong growled lowly and deep, staring unblinkingly at the shadow in a warning of his next words. He didn't want to start a physical fight over this but he will if he has too.
Macaque was unfazed, his focus was on MK and the so-called king wasn't believing him.
"Just tell me when was the last time you saw him. Did he say anything? Did he tell you where he was going? Anything on his whereabouts."
The golden monkey thought back to yesterday's training session, MK was definitely acting differently then.
MK didn't even try to hide the fact he was severely distracted on the fifth time he fell to the ground of the training arena.
"Focus, kid. That's the fifth time you've failed. If you really want to be able to control this form you need to focus."
The successor said nothing, struggling to get up to his feet, only to fall once more. Wukong came over to him to help him up, extending his hand out for MK to take.
He took it but didn't get up with Wukong's pulls, instead MK yanked on the king's arm and fumbled him to the ground and towered over him with the staff to his neck. Wukong was surprised by the sudden attack and he didn't like it one bit.
"No one is going to help you up for you to pull them down, MK. Get off and go home, training's over for today," the golden monkey tried getting up from underneath the other, he was pushed down again. "MK—"
"Tell me the story of why you stole the peaches of immortality from the Celestial Realm," the kid got up, eyes hiding from the king, but he could feel the coldness radiating off of him.
Wukong slowly got up confused and raised a brow at him, "Why..?"
"Just... tell me, Monkey King."
The king didn't want to from the time of voice from the kid, but he couldn't really debate on it.
"I needed to protect my subjects-"
"That's it?"
Wukong stuttered, "Well- No, I— I was also afraid of death but I don't see how this incorporates into your training? If you're so distracted today—"
"I'll go home now. Thanks for answering."
"Uh- kid," the king took the kid's shoulders and turned to face him, "Don't do anything stupidly impulsive like I've done before. Being immortal may sound fun and cool, but nothing comes without pain and suffering."
"I won't. I promise."
Wukong hesitantly let him go, "Goodnight, MK."
"He asked me about why I stole the immortal peaches yesterday after our training, he seemed distracted the entire time and couldn't keep his focus on me," the sage explained.
Macaque's eyes widened, fear creeped in as Wukong's confusion grew at the reaction.
Then realization dawned on him.
He denied the possibility, "No. He wouldn't. He promised he wouldn't do anything stupid or impulsive. He promised he would never break a promise with me."
"Well what he's doing probably isn't stupid or impulsive to him. Sit in here and rot if you want, but I'm going to save him from the pain of immortality," Macaque spat with venom, "If he ends up eating those peaches, this is on you."
"What the hell? What did I do?"
"He's your successor, not your projection."
Macaque disappeared into the shadows of the hall before the other could respond.
The king stood silent, his mind wanted to deny it all. MK promised he wouldn't. He'll keep that promise no matter what.
Would he?
"RED SON!" The shadow appeared within the Bull Temple, yelling at the top of his lungs to find the child of the Demon Bull King.
Only to end up face to face with the mother who floated with her wind above him, slowly lowering herself in front of the monkey.
"Macaque, darling, what in the world are you screaming about this early in the morning?"
The monkey brightened to see his beloved sworn sister, "Iron Fan, I need your help."
"Help? With what?" She landed and rubbed her sleepy eyes to wake up.
"MK's gone missing and I fear he's attempting to steal Heaven's peaches and I need to get to the Celestial Realm, like now."
The princess blinked, "Slow down, sweetie. Red Son's in their room, I'll take you there. They've been up for a while, explain everything to them, okay?"
"Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!"
Inside of the son's room, they were at their desk working with a torch mask on. Iron Fan left the two alone and Macaque walked over to them. He waited until Red Son was finished with the blow torch, not wanting to get them hurt by scaring them with his presence.
They took off the mask and Macaque let himself be known to the demon.
"Red Son."
The shadow held his ears harshly from the shriek the fire demon let out and the loud cluttered mess that was made when they fell off of their chair. Stuff was knocked off the desk and almost shattered if it weren't for Macaque's tail catching it even if he was distracted by the obnoxiously loud screaming hurting his ears.
"M-Macaque?!"
The monkey hissed in pain, Red quickly composed themself and came over to help. They apologize to him, finding some oil on their desk to apply to the macaque's ears. They carefully moved his hands off and slowly gently rubbed the oil, helping soothe his pain and calm him down quite quickly.
Macaque relaxed, the pain numbing fast as he regained his consciousness. He sat up, looking at the demon with an unamused emotion.
They nervously laughed, "Sorry?"
"What is that stuff you used..?"
"The lotion oil? I don't know, I just made it with some stuff, helps a lot with pains and ringing. I just mixed a little sliver with lotion, it works well, doesn't it?" They said proudly.
"...Sure."
"Uhm... Why're you here?" They put the bottle of lotion down, picking up some of the stuff that fell off the desk.
"MK's missing."
They faltered, the things picked up immediately falling back down to the floor. Their hair lit up slightly, face turning an unnoticeable pink.
"Hoping you could help me get to the Celestial Realm," he explained. Red Son's flames died down at the reassurance of his visit.
"Yeah, I can do that."
Macaque glared, puzzle pieces weren't connecting here. Red Son would've been worried as hell one hearing MK was missing. Why are they so nonchalant about this?
They know something...
He didn't question it any further, deciding to ask them when he returns.
Red Son marked a symbol on their floor that surrounded Macaque, allowing him to enter the Celestial Realm.
Hopefully Nezha knows something.
In the realm, he was greeted by Nezha thankfully, he didn't need to go searching for him at all.
"Have you seen MK here at all?"
"MK?" Nezha questioned, "No? I haven't been down since the fight with Azure, nor have I seen any of you all."
Damnit.
"Why? Is there something wrong with MK?"
"No one can find him, he's gone missing and Wukong told me what happened yesterday with him, and I fear MK is on a path to eating an immortal peach."
Nezha just tilted his head, "Besides the fact of stealing, how is that such a big problem?"
Macaque growled, grabbing the lotus prince's collar and pulling him closer, "Please enlighten me on the cons of immortality for someone like MK, immortal baby."
The celestial being only looked at the monkey blankly, pensive and unfazed, "I still don't see how that is a problem."
The shadow demon dropped Nezha in annoyance, he forgot him and ran to the Jade Pool where the peach trees sat.
Nezha scoffed and followed behind Macaque.
He yelled out amongst the thousands of trees, calling the kids' names over and over as he portaled his way through the garden.
Coming to the end of the pool with no luck, the monkey hadn't noticed the panic he was in. His breath heavy and rapid, but his determination and adrenaline kept him screaming out for the kid in hopes of any reply.
When Nezha finally caught up to the shadow, he noticed the state he was in. He came down to him and stopped him from going any further, but the monkey didn't like that and pushed him out of the way.
"Macaque, please, you are hyperventilating and your shadows are out of control. You need to stop and calm down, MK is not here," Nezha tried. But Macaque didn't seem to hear him.
The Lotus Prince had no choice but to use force, grabbing the monkey's shoulder and making him stop walking. Macaque looked at him, tears in his eyes as Nezha realized why he's after the kid when the peaches were in the picture.
He'd never would've thought Macaque would care so much about MK.
Nezha sighed softly, bringing the shadow into a hug to help calm him, rubbing his back and the scruff of his neck. Macaque scrunched up, letting the tears go as he cried his heart out in pain.
Wukong was outside his home, fixing up a few things here and there, some monkeys resting while he did his work. Other monkeys came rushing in through the waterfall, scared and yapping as they ran towards their king.
"Woah, what's going on little guys?"
The monkeys were visibly shaking, Wukong was on his guard and ready for anything, knowing nothing could get inside of the waterfall.
But the waterfall had split open anyways, revealing another celestial primate. At first, the golden one thought it was Macaque, until the visuals of the hair style came into view and he relaxed.
Of course, he was right, MK wasn't missing! He was just—
"I ate the peaches."
It was like a train had hit Wukong in the heart.