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Waves crashed roughly against the sand as it drug back into the surrounding ocean. The sound of water splashing and cries of joy echoing down to simple chatter amongst new and old friends. Time seemingly to slow down as the sun set behind the horizon. The moon coming out and settling it’s light against the filled beach.
Casting across the sleeping bodies of two monkey’s fast asleep in beach chairs; covering over the form of a pig, human, and bull demon as they chatter about their favorite show, and finally fall over a mother embarrassing her son to their friend as she tells the dragon girl all about the fire boy’s life.
And then, there was a young hero. Sitting alone against a rock just a few yards away from the group. A wordless blank expression on his face as he fiddled with the sand between his fingers. A small shiver going up his spine as the cold ocean breeze hit him dead on.
The hero’s spine ached against the rough texture pressing into his flimsy shirt, and yet he found himself pushing back towards the rock just as hard. A shaky sigh leaving past his lips as he found his surroundings buzz into mere background static. The sound of the ocean’s waves being nothing but a reacquiring feeling on his feet.
MK was confused.
He often was.
While he knew he wasn’t the smartest of the group, no matter how much he claimed to be; he often wondered if they knew. He wondered if Pigsy caught the signs, he wondered if Mr.Tang had brought it up during a break, and even worse..he wondered if Mei even noticed a difference at all. He had been masking it so well, at least the hero likes to believe he has; no one has said anything. So he must be doing something right.
‘ Unless they just don’t care enough to mention it. ’
MK disregarded those thoughts.
Not as often, as it seems.
The hero couldn’t quite explain it, but it was like a cloud was replacing his brain. Every day goes by with one more part being taken over by a confusing fluffy mess, sucking up his feelings and shocking them inside the cloud only for it to pour back out in a sobbing blubbering meltdown. Reasonably, MK understands this isn’t healthy; he’s always pestering his friends to come to him whenever they need to a shoulder to cry on..so how come he couldn’t?
Maybe he’s scared, maybe he’s terrified of the thought of Monkey King looking down on him for not being able to handle such measly emotions, perhaps he’s worried Pigsy and Mr.Tang will take it badly and blame themselves, heavens know they already do for everything that happens to him. And maybe, just maybe, MK is scared that Mei will leave him; find him uninteresting, find a new and more entertaining best friend to go on adventures with.
So yeah, you could say he’s absolutely horrified of the outcomes that could appear if he said anything.
He remembers distinctly; maybe a few days after LBD’s defeat, he had brought it up with Sandy whilst cleaning up his boat after his shift.
“Do you ever wish..that you could just stop?”
“What do you mean, ‘stop?’”
“Like..have everything just—stop.”
“I don’t understand..”
“Never mind.”
As always, no one seemed to notice his silent cries for help. MK knows, he knows he has to say something, and yet every-time the chance arises, he zips his lips closed. Speaking only with smiles and laughs as he stands aside his friends, completely unaware of the thoughts burrowing their way into the puffy clouds in his head.
MK hopes that maybe one day; he will never wake up again.
“The ocean cannot be that interesting, child.”
“ H-huh? ”
He knows that voice. Turning his head with an aching pop of his neck; his eyes met with the gaze of a golden maroon pair. Black hair held up by a red ribbon in a pony tail, stuck through a cap no doubt he had taken from Wukong’s stash of items. The third lotus prince stared down at the hero, armor thrown aside and replaced with a simple tank top and green trunks. MK was a little taken aback by the oddly domestic attire.
“You’ve been staring at it for the past thirty minutes.” Nezha points out; jabbing a finger at the crashing waves hitting the hero’s feet.
MK nibbled at his bottom lip; scratching the back of his neck nervously as he waved the prince off. “Ah—just lost in thought is all..“ He directed his attention back to Nezha, who made his way beside him; sitting himself down on his knees with his hands folded neatly in his lap. “..Monkey King said you couldn’t make it. Sealing up..Azure and all that.”
“I had some time left over, I thought I would pop by for a quick visit.” Nezha glanced behind the rock they sat against, following over the groups chatting amongst themselves. “Though, it seems I may have been to late.”
The hero couldn’t help but laugh, gesturing out towards the sea and the sky with a free hand. “You think?” He playfully grinned, MK was relieved to see Nezha smirk in response; sure he knew the prince wouldn’t do anything to harm him..but it was obvious he had a short temper to things. The thought making him huff a short laugh.
A comfortable silence overcame the two, aside for the sounds of waves, a grill crackling, snoring of two monkeys, and conversations dying down to peaceful small talk. MK’s chest tightened as Nezha quietly watched the horizon with him, hands grabbing sand into piles and pouring it back out onto the ground absently. All the while, the prince didn’t spare him a glance; seemingly his earlier comment about the ocean must’ve not had as much truth as he thought.
Just as MK was about to stand up and traverse back over to Redson and Mei; Nezha’s voice rung through his ears. A barely audible whisper slipping through.
“Are you okay?”
He froze.
“What?”
“I asked if you are okay.”
“Oh..oh! Hah—y-yeah! Totally, one hundro percento!”
He repeated that response more times then he could count, call it an automatic reflex if you will.
Nezha squinted his eyes at him; almost like he was studying MK’s every twitch and nervous stim; eyeing the way the hero’s nostrils flared and refused to meet the prince’s gaze. MK’s tongue flicked out; words dripping off of it hesitantly as a question irked him to ask. His cloudy head screaming at him to cure the curiosity.
“Why do you ask.?”
Nezha’s eyes moved back to the ocean.
“I’ve noticed things about you MK, and I noticed when those things became..out of place.”
He almost felt his heart plummet down to his stomach; his mouth went dry. The hero’s throat seemed to close, hands clutched desperately into the sand as he flipped his head towards the prince. Their eyes still stuck on the water, almost like they were purposely avoiding MK’s stare as he spoke such serious words.
“I..don’t know what you mean.”
Nezha’s golden eyes finally met his own dark hazels.
“I may have not known for you for long, but I can always tell when someone is..struggling.”
The hero let out a short startled gasp, his chest tightening. The prince’s gaze shot into him like a dagger into skin, sorting through his soul and uncovering things MK didn’t even realize about himself. A disturbed feeling settling in his chest. Nezha wasn’t referencing, that , he had hidden it so well! So well in fact, that even his friends couldn’t figure it out! His hands grabbed onto his forearms, digging his bitten nails into the tender sunburned skin.
“Look—Nezha, if you’re worried about me because of what happened with Azure..I’m fine! Really!” He accidentally snapped.
“We both know that’s not what I’m talking about, MK.”
The ocean’s waves crashed against the shoreline. Barely touching their feet as the moon pulled on the water.
“I get it, okay?”
MK clamped his top teeth to his jaw, biting his tongue.
“The feeling that there isn’t any other option..”
The hero’s head clouded further.
Nezha’s voice soothing down into a mere soft whisper, barely audible if you were’t directly next to him.
“You aren’t al—“
“You don’t understand.”
The prince’s words froze to an uncomfortable silence. The hero’s tongue already regretting the phrase that fell off of it, as he hurriedly looked up to the other, eyes widen with plead and worry. He hadn’t mean too..he didn’t—
“I didn’t..I don’t—“
“I did it. I killed myself before, MK.”
It was like everything came to a stop, the oceans waves halfway up the shore, the crackle of a grill cooling out silencing itself, the chatter once muffled now a deafening quiet. Those golden eyes stared into him, almost like he was trying to rip apart the hero from the inside. Nezha’s expression was unreadable, bland, sending shivers down MK’s spine as he watched the prince move his hand to his shoulder. Hesitatingly clamping it down with a comforting grip.
“If anyone , would understand..it’s me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, you didn’t know.”
“It was insensitive of me!”
“MK..”
“I-I’m such an idiot, I swear I—“
“MK.”
“Nezha, I’m so sorry!”
“ MK !”
His risen voice made the hero’s gaze flick up to the prince’s; a gentle arm carefully wrapping the young man’s, Nezha pulled him towards him. MK haphazardly fell into his shoulder, legs curled up halfway onto the prince’s lap as a hand gripped onto their shirt cautiously. The quick yet thought out movement was almost familiar too the both, the prince only doing it with no time to think, and the hero just accepting his fate.
“Did you..regret it?”
“For the reason I did it in the first place, no..but like I said; there wasn’t anything else I could do.”
“Wha—“
“I do however, regret everything besides that. The pain, the expressions my family had..MK—“
The prince hand squeezed the hero’s shoulder tightly, a silent plea as he hesitatingly stuttered his words out. Careful with what left his tongue.
“It is not worth it, I didn’t have a choice..you do . You can’t know the future, but I promise you when I mean that everyone here..everyone would be devastated .”
He felt a warm dampness on his cheeks, his free hand coming up to touch the straying tears from his eyes. MK hadn’t even realized he began to cry. Nezha’s words lingered in his head, dissecting them to make sense of all he had said. All the while, the prince made no moves to urge an response out of him. He held onto his grip, holding the hero close to his side. Almost like he wanted to just hide him away from the world, keep him away from all the horrors that cause his mind to cloud.
“And for what it’s worth. I’d miss you as well.”
“Nezha..?”
“Yes, MK?”
“How..how do you..stop it?”
The prince glanced above his head, over the rock. Watching the group begin to awake from naps, dismiss their conversations, and start to pack up the beach gear. The moon’s light twinkling among the surrounding stars, decorating the night sky as it watched the mortals and immortals alike. Nezha glanced at the sky, to the group, and back to MK.
“You don’t.”
The hero tilted his head, confused.
“These thoughts won’t leave..they’ll always be there..but..”
Nezha poked his finger over towards the others, a realization coming to MK’s face as he followed it over.
“There will always be people to help silence them.”
“I can’t..”
“You can ..”
A gentle breeze washed over them, the humid air, the sand crunching beneath their shuffling feet. The rock pressing harshly into both of their spines. MK rose his gaze, looking over everyone of his friends. His family . Pigsy and Tang hurriedly packing up the grill, and blowing out floaties, Mei and Redson about to flip over the beach chair Wukong and Macaque came to share as they slept, PIF and DBK gathering their things together as the waited for their son.
“Okay.”
Nezha jumped a little as MK suddenly wrapped both of his arms tightly around the prince.
“Thank you..Nezha. Thank you..”
The hero felt two hands press against his back, Nezha’s chin resting in his messed up hair.
“Of course, MK. Of course.”