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Chapter Text

Fly very close to the sea, the sea breeze will sink you with the weight of the feathers; fly very close to the sun, and you will lose your wings to fall into the sea; whatever you do, you will drown.

But, what could an Icarus do but fly towards the sun? 

What could a moon do but dance around the sun?

Before Macaque met Wukong, he traveled the world. 

He never stayed in any one place, always leaving towns behind as quickly as he could when he didn't find something interesting, since he didn't feel like he belonged there or anyone. Eventually, thanks to this, Macaque found legends and stories, different creatures and even other gods.

Sure, it wasn't as exciting as it became in future times, most of the time it was merchants chatting among themselves, adults entertaining children, and at best, it was a man on high ground narrating a perfectly memorized story ( although these also used to be very tedious due to the amount of repeated information). It was in this last form that Macaque heard this legend.

Although, this was a long time ago, in a town where it didn't even happen and in a language that he didn't fully understand, but beyond the names of people he didn't know their importance, he understood.

A father and son were imprisoned in a tower by a king; the father created a pair of wings of wax and feathers to escape together, but not before warning his son not to fly the right way, he would perish; the son so jovial with the thrill of flying, he decided to launch himself to fly towards the sun only to plummet into the sea-

Liu'er snorted and turning around, he left as soon as the narrator recounted the father's grief before continuing with the rest of the story, father and son weren't even the main characters, just a spin-off.

The monkey couldn't help but frown at the story, for him, the young son couldn't be more stupid for wanting to be near the sun when he knew that it would bring him down, just because of the warm feeling it gave him. And Mihou knew that this was nonsense because, even though he didn't know how the world was perceived to these mortals, they had ten suns that almost burned the world, so yes, the shadow ape usted to had an idea how horrible the sun could be.

The macaque wrinkled his nose as he thought arrogantly how he would never do something as stupid as what that mortal had done, young and stupid mortals.

But Liu'er Mihou would never have realized the wrongness of his thoughts until he met Sun Wukong. 

Sun Wukong was like a summer breeze, refreshing, warm, and exciting. 

The orange monkey greeted him with emotion when he arrived at Flower and Fruit Mountain, he didn't even seem upset that the macaque was a stranger, instead he grabbed his hand and gave him a tour of the island between jokes and laughter, feeling the macaque in the full youth of his age. The king's smile shone like the sunbeams, his embraces were warm, and his laughter was more melodious than birdsong.

It was beautiful and warm, Macaco just wanted to be closer to him. 

It was intoxicating, always drawing him no matter what: when he convinced him to stay on the mountain (that he belonged there); when he had to stay while he watched Wukong leaving for new things (but he always comes back); when he lured him into the brotherhood with the dream of going against the emperor (but Wukong was always by his side); when they fought against the sky (but Wukong would make it, right? He promised him an eternity together…).

Macaco felt in the clouds. 

Icarus felt the warmth of the sun before falling into the sea. 

“The Great Sage, he’s gotta drag everyone else into his mess.”

He always knew, didn't he? Even centuries later, even with most of the story erased from his head, the moral was still there and Macaque ignored it, no, he denied it. 

There was always a justification on his part every time the situation seemed to get worse, no matter how many times he saw the signs, he couldn't help but fly for so long near the sun and it was time for him to fall. 

That's what Mihou thought with some mockery as he watched the great sage rise above him before throwing him into the Diyu, chained deep in the underworld.

And there, Macaque promised never to let himself be burned by the sun again. He wasn't going to be persuaded by the cold breeze either, but who was he to ignore a free pass?

Now he knew better, this time he was going to destroy Wukong, and what better way to do it than to use his so 'precious' successor? And there he met Mk.

Mk was something unknown to Macaque, who even in those early days couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

The boy used to look at him as if he dangled the moon, with an admiration that at first was addictive to the ebony fur monkey, made him stand with a pleasant pride on his chest and he felt attracted by the boy's warmth. It was a feeling similar to what it was like to be with Wukong, but different, more forgiving, kinder, more naive.

Of course, Macaque knew that this wasn’t going to last forever, no matter how different this sun was, now the shadow monkey knew how to recognize it for what it was and he wouldn’t let himself get so close to it, a sun was a sun, and this was confirmed for him when the boy made his final attack. It wasn’t a fatal one like the one Wukong had made but he continued to be with an overwhelming force, burning and without mercy, just like the king. 

The macaque stayed away, at least in principle, but when he saw his opportunity he couldn't help but take it, tormenting the boy was the closest thing to defeating Wukong, it was the closest thing to rising to the level of the sun and hitting him in the face, but something happened-

At that time, the ebony-furred monkey didn't notice the change, until Mk started talking to him about his problems, comparing himself to... Macaque himself? The monkey felt about to sneer, Mk couldn't be the warrior, he couldn't be an Icarus; the boy was a hero, a sun, bringing down the people around him when they were no longer useful, reminding them how inferior they really were, caring for no one but himself, the boy didn't even realize that his friends wasn’t found!

But he saw something in that fight that sparked something in him, he saw… pain, a pain of self-loathing, self-loathing for not being the best, for not being enough. It was sad, like seeing the death of a star, all that innocence of spring gone, all the scorching heat of summer disappearing little by little, only leaving an autumn where everything was slowly dying.

So... he decided to leave the boy alone, there was no point in continuing to torment the young man. That is until he got too low and that cursed witch caught him in her cold icicle trap and, he supposes he must have seen it coming, to be honest.

A bit of persecution here, a bit of sarcasm there, a bit of heroic words, almost freezing/mystical fire, and a speech about friendship- 

And that was what ended up permeating Macaque. 

"Heroes don't leave their friends behind."

He wasn't even sure if he felt those words so strongly for all the times he felt abandoned by Wukong, or why he had left the king behind, but he knew something, he couldn't abandon MK. 

He didn't think it would be enough, he knew it would never be enough, but he could help the boy with a few little pushes here and there, helping to wriggle out of a frozen king, taking him to his friend, bringing the bony one's faithful dog, etc. He knows that he could never do anything against Lady Bone Demon, he wasn't strong or powerful enough to defeat the witch, but he could be useful- 

"Then don't be a hero, be a warrior."

And… just being him is necessary, he was enough, he was wanted. 

The world was freezing to death, and yet the boy could glow with unmatched warmth in a dying landscape, he was so nice and he just wanted to get close to him until he burned.

And so he did, he fought Wukong once more with the ending being the same. 

He wasn't surprised, he knew what would happen, he would always fall, but this time he had a prize: someone cried for him. 

Mk hugged him so tightly as if he were going to disappear (that's really how Macaque felt), hunching over him as if he were something precious, sobbing fat tears of a pitifully sad expression and babbling terrified (which he couldn't understand) while resisting being comforted by his friends who were just embarrassed around him. Macaque adored this, he knew he must feel bad for being happy that the child cried, but no one had held him before as if they didn't want to lose him, he also felt so happy to see someone worried about him, that made his last moments filled with warmth before falling into the cold of the Diyu. 

'It was a good life, I suppose.' He thought as tendrils resembling his magic rose from his own shadow to entwine around him. ‘Well, at least it was a better ending.’ The vines began to discharge painful energy through Macaque's soul, but unlike last time, he wasn't fighting, he felt whole for the first time, maybe and just maybe, he was ready to move on and be reborn into a new life. 

But that goes to hell when a hooded man comes with an offer of revenge against Wukong. 

'Who am I to turn down a free pass? I can't believe that after all this fiasco with Lady Bone Demon they think I won't do the same.' Macaque thought while he could feel the burning of being alive again. 'I guess some of you can't hear a moral.'

After all, what could an Icarus do but fly towards the sun? 

Chapter Text

He felt himself fall through the air; his wings had come loose from his shoulders. He yelled at his father, but it was too late. Daedalus turned just in time to see Icarus fall headlong into the waves, and the wonderful craftsman couldn't save his son, he could only look with sad eyes at the implacable sea and fly alone to distant Sicily.

•☾𖤓☽•

They were supposed to win.

They were the heroes, heroes always make it with their friends. They save the day and everyone gets their happy ending.

So, why wasn't Macaque getting up

•☾𖤓☽•

"We help people- No, I help people! That's My purpose!"

"Are you sure about that?'

Mk let out a pained moan as he felt his body doing something he could only describe as being separated and joined in the wrong way. The boy could feel Dads- Pigsy and Sandy's hands letting go of him to their surprise, causing him to fall down for his weak body.

"Everything happened because of us. I told you before..." The ink creature's face was deformed until it looked like the head of a bull. "It was us who released the Demon Bull King from his mountain." From the torso up it transformed until it looked like the spider queen. "It was us who let the Spider Demon wreck havoc onto Metropolis city! And..." The ink drained while the dark figure rose still with its hands imprisoned to MK, the new form that the creature took was recognized with three ears on each side of the face and one of the eyes being replaced by a glowing 'x'. "It was us fault-"

"No matter what I do, I only bring pain to others." MK said, more to himself than to answer whatever Pigsy had asked (he couldn't hear it over the incessant ringing in his ears, anyway), his arms trembling as they supported his weight. "Just like Lady Bone Demon said, it doesn't matter If my intent is to help people or not.

Mk smiled to himself, he had to be the one to cheer up the group, especially with Macaque staring into space, like a man with a death sentence. The brunette let out a snort at the monkey's drama. They were going to be fine! They had to be okay, from where they were going they could already see Lady Bone Demon's completely-evil-robot, and they could be the only chance in the world to save it, so the boy couldn't allow the monkey's pessimism, so he approached. 

"Hey, cheer up, shadow man." MK said with a smile, giving off the common happy energy of him, on the other hand, Macaque looked at him unconvinced, but at least he stopped being in a bad mood.

Macaque had sighed before speaking, looking at the opposite side of where Mk was standing. "Kiddo, do you really think this is going to work?"

'Will this work?' The boy had also asked himself throughout the development of this plan, but he couldn't let that thought eat away at him, they had come too far to give up now, so pushing his fears down, Mk replied: "With my life."

Suddenly Macaque turned his face in the direction of the chestnut boy who felt almost faint from the sudden movement. The boy's determination began to weaken under the monkey's gaze but he was able to relax when he only nodded with a crooked smile. "Then I will trust you." 

"...And those weren't necessarily your faults." Mk clenched his fists with an anger that he did not know he had in him, he simply could not continue listening to the lies that his friends told him to make him feel better, he was tired of living this farce.

"They are all my faults." MK finally exploded, after so many sleepless nights his body had grown tired of maintaining the relaxed facade that the boy had put up with so much effort in recent weeks. "It's my fault that I picked up Sun Wukong's staff! It's my fault that Lady Bone Demon escaped in the first place, it's my fault that The Spider Queen Demon was caught by her, it's my fault that she got so much power, it was my fault that Wukong was caught and it was my fault that Macaque-"

There was a lot of blood, why was there so much blood? Nobody was supposed to get hurt, but there were big red stains on him, on his clothes, on his hands and-

He couldn't see, everything was very blurry and he felt hot drops falling down his face. Was he crying? But why?

Mk couldn't hear beyond a ringing in his ears and someone's voice saying they were sorry, who is apologizing? And why did he feel so sad-?

"Boy, breathe." Pigsy grabbed him by the shoulders gently, and then the brunette realized that he hadn't been breathing. "I know things over the past few months have made you feel stressed and scared, but I want you to know that I understand how do You fee -"

"You don't understand, none of you do." Suddenly the monkey boy felt too tired to even be upset so he broke free from Pigsy's grip and started walking away from the group. "You all know that you weren't terrible demons in your past lives, you have families, but what about me?" Mk stopped suddenly at the edge of the terrace. "I don't have anything."

He walked through the empty alleys with some cold and caught a glimpse of the others passing through the busy streets, until his gaze focused on a group of four, two loving adults holding the hands of two children whom they raised in the air, making them laugh. It was a beautiful, happy image, and it made him feel... bad .

"...The worst thing is that I hadn't questioned it until now. Who am I? What is my purpose? I can't put anyone in danger again."

"Mk, wait-"

It was Macaque who was on the ground, covered in blood on his face and with a hole in his chest.

"Please leave me alone."

And with that he flew in bird form away from anyone he could hurt.

•☾𖤓☽•

Mk had already gone two weeks without sleep, two weeks since the whole Lady Bone Demon thing. 

The boy stared at the ceiling tiredly, he couldn't get up, Pigsy would listen to him and the next day (or was it already morning? He couldn't tell and he didn't even want to see his alarm clock) the pig would be on the chestnut tree to discover why he was awake at such a time of night. 

The young man let out a tired sigh as he turned in his bed, he had had the same dream with Macaque.

Mk was at one of the cave entrances in Flower Fruit Mountain, he hadn't thought about where to go, he just knew that he wanted to be away from everything and the legendary mountain seemed ideal for that, perhaps that is why the monkey king had decided from the beginning to stay on the mountain for five hundred years.

A pain erupted in the young man's chest as he remembered his master, he had been so wrong about so many things that if it weren't for the fact that the monkey king was now trapped in the broken scroll, the monkey would possibly tell him how disappointed he is with him and that he should have realized what a monster MK really was a long time ago but he felt sorry for him. But the great sage didn’t need to say anything, the boy knew that this was really what the monkey king thought every time he avoided looking at his face or walked away 'discreetly' when the chestnut was close enough, it was like before everything but worse.

He should have known it when he saw that anguished look on the shadow monkey, but he overlooked it until it crossed Wukong's face when after stopping being possessed they found Macaque's corps-

It was always the same dream, it started with a dark forest, he could only see silhouettes, and then, he felt it, a look, something was watching him from the shadows-

A figure walked towards the boy's side, alarming him but he quickly calmed down when he noticed that it was a little monkey. "Hey little buddy." MK greeted, extending his hand so the monkey could smell it. "Where is your fami-?"

A dark liquid spread, absorbing the herd of monkeys who tried to flee with expressions of terror on their small faces.

"Oh." It was all the boy could say before withering away from the little buddy, to sink into his misery again.

The little monkey quickly noticed how the young man was getting depressed, so he gently approached and lay on the boy's leg in the hope of relaxing him, which seemed to have an effect when the boy began to caress his head.

"Thanks, lil buddy." MK whispered as he made soft scratches on the monkey's fur who let out pleased purrs, this made the brunette feel a little lighter. 

And another glitch hit his body.

The boy quickly threw himself away from the monkey, not wanting to hurt it with the cramps in his body or with the claws that appeared and disappeared in his hands. The little monkey reacted alarmedly to the sudden movements but began to scream with concern when it saw how the mortal seemed to change shape in a painful way, so it quickly approached the young man but the kid stopped him in the act.

"No, bud. Stay away." Mk curled in on himself, his core aching hard. "I don't wanna hurt you…" 

'... Like everyone else .'

The brown boy began to breathe heavily as his body stabilized. In the midst of his pain he could hear footsteps finally moving away, so he assumed that the monkey had listened to him, and he couldn't help but feel sad at this.

' This is fine. ' He tried to console himself. ' Being alone I won't be able to hurt anyone else. '

The boy was so lost in his self-pity that he didn't even realize that someone had approached him until he felt something pressed against his cheek. "Oh?" Mk opened his eyes and found a banana near his face, but then when he looked up past the fruit he found the monkey he had scared away. "Thanks friend, but I really don't think-"

The monkey interrupted him with a thunderous screech as if saying: "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."  So the boy took the offered banana so as not to bother the little bud, when the monkey saw his offering being accepted, it nodded to himself and then quickly went to the ledge where they were before, while there it grabbed a bunch of bananas for himself. 

Mk, not knowing what else to do with himself, decided to follow the little monkey by sitting next to him and peeling the fruit. It was already night and the brunette felt so tired that he couldn't find the strength within himself to eat the banana in front of him, nor to keep his thoughts inside him.

"Does Sun Wukong feel like this sometimes too?" Said the monkey boy with his gaze lost in the distance. "So this is why he chose to live In the mountains, and he decided to live in peace with you guys too." Mk gave a weak smile to the monkey next to him who was distracted by eating. “You get it. You know, keeping your distances so he doesn't hurt the people he cares about."

It was like a realization for MK, maybe, just maybe if he stayed far enough away from everything, he wouldn't hurt anyone ever again, he wouldn't ruin it again by releasing some evil, the world wouldn't be in danger again, no one would end up hurt like Mac-

Suddenly the world turned a dark purple .

Recognizable silhouettes began to appear, surrounding him and mocking him, about how pathetic a hero he was, that now everyone should know how horrible they really were, that no one should trust him. The shadows were cruel with their bright smiles and their stalking swirling around him, but the boy preferred it to what was behind him, preferred the dark thoughts to the truth that was behind him .

He didn't want to see it, he's never wanted to see it again, but he didn't really have much of a choice, his mind always brought this nightmare back every night, and he always ended up turning- 

Hands on MK's shoulders brought him back to reality. "Hey kid, calm down, breathe." At that moment the young man realized that his lungs were screaming for air, and he tried to breathe through his mouth instinctively as if he were drowning. "Boy, through your nose, inhale-" Air in. "-Exhale." Air out. "Alright, kiddo, now again."

Mk followed the instructions while he felt a hand making relaxing circles on his back, until his breathing ended up in complete control and her mind finally stopped panicking. 

"Well done kid, sorry for scaring you, I just thought I'd have a dramatic entrance, you know, for old time's sake." Now with a clear mind MK could realize that he in fact knew that voice.

The boy abruptly raised his head and even with his vision clouded by some tears he was able to recognize the figure in front of him, but without the pale skin, the features shining violet, and without the hole in the ches- "Macaque."

The named one smiled at the boy's whisper, he looked so different but at the same time so recognizable, his ebony hair was now mostly white, the scar and ears that he could only see once were there but the wound seemed to have a paler color, and his clothes looked so similar to when he ambushed them in that shadow play, but instead of red details, these were of a flashing blue "The only one."

A tearing sound came from Mk's throat as he burst into tears, and he pressed himself against the chest of the recently bicolored monkey who hugged him a little uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." He let out between sobs, while the shadow monkey caressed his hair.

"It's okay, it's not really your fault. I knew what was going to happen and I still agreed." He tried to relax him but MK could only shake his head, it must be his fault, if only he had thought better of a new plan, if he had not helped free Lady Bone Demon, if he had not grabbed the staff, if he had stay awa-

The brunette writhed again while his body suffered another 'glitch', but hands kept him stable. "Boy, are you okay?" Mk just tried to get as far away as he could, but the arms on either side of him prevented him from doing it, so he turned his face away from him, refusing to respond. "...good." The grip on his sides disappeared and when the brunette opened his eyes he could see how Macaque stood up from his place. For a moment the young man thought that the shadow monkey would leave but Macaque just looked at him waiting. "Come on, silly kid. I have a good present for you." 

This time Icarus returned.

Chapter Text

Wukong once went to a celestial ball, they didn't really want him there but he went anyway. 

He remembered marveling at how big the room was and the sheer number of people in his naive youth as he stuffed his mouth with food. And he also remembers one of the few celestials who didn't seem bothered by his presence. 

Chang'e. 

The goddess laughed a little at his mess and then asked him if the cakes tasted delicious, to which Wukong answered 'yes' vigorously with his mouth still full, which made the smile spread further on the moon goddess's face.

"That's good because I was the one who made them." Chang'e expressed with pride and then she softened into something akin to longing in her eyes as she gazed into the distance. "It was my husband and I's favorite dish." 

And Wukong, so impeccable at reading people, asked her where he was at that moment, and Chang’e began to cry.

•☾𖤓☽•

Mk is gone, everyone is gone. 

“MK!” The monkey king shouted, running through his own island, before, when he was looking for his student, it only took him to a stone, but now the scroll wasn’t taking him anywhere, it is as if the artifact was broke-

He end up reaching a scene, a memory - no, it's just a writing, he couldn't even remember how he felt when he was born or when he joined the tribe, buddha, he can’t say if he actually joined the tribe, many times the monkey king can only remember his life when it was written. But this moment was... wrong, when the fake stone monkey approached the monkeys they simply disappeared and returned to the starting point where the great sage found them. 

'It's corrupted.' Wukong thought to himself as he looked at the memory. ‘Was that really how it happened?’ The monkey looked away from the scene towards the waterfall. “Five times immortal and twice king? You are a greedy man, Sun Wukong.” The great sage laughed to himself at the phrase, he doesn't know where he got it the last part but it always amused him, and with that he jumped to the waterfall, so he could make a path towards his successor.

•☾𖤓☽•

“My husband was an archer.” Chang’e began, now they were sitting in front of the room where the party was, in the garden, in the middle of the night both immortals hid from the prying eyes that pierced them when the goddess ended up breaking. “he was more than that, especially for me, but for others he was just that.”

Wukong had ended up asking about the story about the black-haired woman's couple, more out of curiosity than anything else, but he still gave her some napkins from the banquet buffet to wipe away her tears, clean ones of course. 

“When the ten suns struck the mortal world, the emperor sought out my husband after he could not get his children to obey him. 'They disobey direct orders from the emperor, contempt, betrayal. You know how that is punished.'” The last part was said by Chang'e, raising his voice to imitate the tone of the Jade Emperor, making the stone monkey laugh as he remembered the most beloved of his brothers, Macaque, who loved drama. “And well, my husband was an archer to everyone, so when they looked for him for the quest, it was obvious what he should do.”

“What could an archer do besides shoot where they aim?”

•☾𖤓☽•

He just came out of the memory of when he was expelled by his first teacher, even if he didn't get to the end of the scene, he could still remember bitterly how that great patriarch expelled him when he was just trying to get along with his classmates, but this seemed to anger the great Taoist who scolded him for 'monkeying around'. He couldn't help but snort at the thought. ' I'm the monkey king, monkey , what else should I do? Although I guess in the end I'm really not just a monkey .'

He arrived at a small green patch with a direct view of a beach with a unique tree on it. ' Mihou's favorite tree '. The king thought to himself, surprising a little, even after so much time he still remembered this small and inconsequential detail.

“Hey Mihou, are you alright, bud?” He heard a childish voice and when he looked up he found himself younger and more naive.

“Welcome back, your majesty.” He was greeted back by a voice familiar to him and at the same time unknown without all the venom from the recent times.

“Don't be like that, just eat some fruit and bask in the sun!” the fake Wukong happily expressed to his gloomy counterpart. “I worked hard for this.” 

“Wasn’t it to become the strongest person?” Has Macaque always had that tired look in his eyes? He could swear that had only happened since…he came back.

“Of course not.” Even he could hear the falsehood in his tone, oh buddha, why does he feel like he is going to vomit? ”Okay, it absolutely was, but that's not the point! The point is we don't have to worry about anything or anyone anymore! Now we have all the time in the world to eat fruit, be happy and live as we want.”

Why couldn't he follow his own words for once? He really doesn't remember much but he knows that it was after this that he joined the brotherhood, yes, all positive memories of Azure Lion and the others faded in the bitterness of their encounters during the trip, it was in these that he discovered what that they sought him through the very mouths of those whom he had called brothers; 'a destroyer', 'an unstoppable force', 'a weapon'.

And his people were the ones who suffered the consequences of being a weapon. 

The sound of cheerful laughter without a hint of malice or sarcasm reached his ears and the monkey king had never felt worse than now. 

He must go, now . 

He could have made a crack right there but he got as far away from the scene as he could before fighting his way away from it.

•☾𖤓☽•

“The emperor punished us both.” The black-haired woman continued, shrugging her shoulders when Wukong looked at her completely surprised. “'Even if it was an order from the emperor, royal blood was shed and that still deserves punishment.’ I think he was just feeling sad.” Chang'e looked down as she moved her fingers as if she were kneading. “His children died because of him, he made the right decision as an emperor but the wrong one as a father, and my husband was the best option to vent all his negative emotions.” 

“And what did he do with your husband? Did he execute him?” Wukong felt so upset on behalf of the goddess next to him, Azure lion had already told him about the injustice with which the emperor ruled, but he never imagined it would be so terrible. 

But the immortal next to him shook her head. “No, I think he realized that he ultimately couldn't put everything on my husband, so he just expelled us from the heavenly court to the mortal realm.”

•☾𖤓☽•

Chang'e was nice. 

They weren't friends or sworn brothers, but she was really nice. And maybe that's why he still remembers her story even if everything seems blurry. 

It wasn't a courtesy from the fear or an oath, she was genuinely nice to him.

He had just passed through his memories as part of the celestial court, which reminded him of the moon goddess whom he hadn’t thought about in centuries even though he had spoken to her recently. 

He looked around the darkness, trying to discern where or when he was, when his eyes met painfully familiar talismans. ' No, it's impossible, I destroyed this place myself. I can't be back here, no, no, no- ” 

“Hey bud, look what I brought you.” 

“Is this for me!? Really ? You're giving me the whole peach? Are you serious?”

“When the fact that we were now mortal and that death was upon us became known to us, I went mad with fear, fear for my life, fear of the unknown of the new world around me, and fear for my future. Eventually that fear turned into anger against the one who at that moment I thought was the only one to blame: my husband.”

“I want to help you, but-”

“Oh sure, just like how you ran to help me before!”

“I began to blame him in my mind and out loud, every time he brought dinner from the hunt I belittled him and scolded him for our situation, and he never answered me, he just took my words full of venom without complain.” 

“You’re the one who always walks away! Searching for more power, searching eternal life, you’re the one who didn’t know how to restrain himself! You call yourself Monkey King. You’re just a monkey who drags people down!”

“Until one day he just left.”

“¡Stop making excuses! You did this to yourself.”

He needs to leave, he just can't stay here a moment longer. 

He doesn't want to be alone in the dark again. 

He turned to run but a hand stopped him. It was the great monk Tripitaka, and he was putting the filet on him again.

•☾𖤓☽•

“When he was gone, it was like the whole world around me faded into darkness . I entered a state of despair alternating between a cycle of crying, blaming myself, and praying to whatever god would listen for my husband to come back. There were long periods of time in which I didn't eat anything because I was remembering all my actions, seeing everything I did wrong, everything I shouldn't have said.”

Wukong felt the fillet pressing on his skull and a scream of pain left his mouth, why was his master using the spell? He had promised that he wouldn't use it again, and the monkey had been good .

“ Oh, are you sure about that? ” Multiple voices were heard in the landscape and when the monkey king looked up he found an amalgamation of several people made of ink and glitching. “ A-a weapon shouldn't d-be left unlocked, d-don't you think? ” The figure narrowed its eyes with a malicious gleam. “ We should put the s-safety back on. ”

Wukong watched with horror how the dark liquid twisted into a recognizable figure. “ Disciple Sun, what have you done?” Said his master standing imposingly and, the great sage felt so bad and small. “ These crimes cannot be ignored, I must ensure that you have learned to let go of this unacceptable nature. ”

' This is not my master. ' He had to think to himself as the figure began to recite the spell while a phantom pain hit his head. ‘ This is not my master, he is just a monster who uses his face .’ This brought the monkey out of his pain. ' He's just a dirty monster who dares to use his face .' 

Now Wukong was beyond furious, and he lunged to hit the ink demon. “Don't you dare tarnish the memory of him by using his face!” He screamed almost growling but when his fist was going to hit the creature, it opened, spreading threads of ink as if it had exploded. 

And in the center of it all was Mk, covered in blood with a lost and terrified look, terrified of him . It looked just like the day that Macaqu- 

He doubted, clearly he was going to hesitate to hurt the boy and this was taken advantage of by the creature who let out a malicious smile before grabbing the monkey king by the chest to throw him to the ground.

“ F-falling back into old tricks, old man? ” Wukong stood up shakily to watch as the brunette was replaced by a malicious ink monkey with the voice of his student. “ Or is it that the g-great sage f-fears that Mk will be destroyed l-like everything he touches? ”

“Shut up! You know nothing about me!" The king lunged again only to find his attack blocked with a staff that looked so familiar.

“ Oh~ but I know .” The creature tilted its head in such an unnatural way that it was uncomfortably painful to see. “ I know all those horrible things that you did against heaven, on your journey, to your brothers and above all, I know about those things that you hide inside yourself pretending that didn't happen .”

“Can you just shut your mouth already!?” Wukong shouted again, pushing the cane with which they were both struggling. The monkey knew that the scroll was just trying to get into his head, like the roots of that cursed crown, and it was honestly starting to irritate him, why couldn't it just stop? Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop- “Why don't you just die in silence already!?”

He grabbed the fake cane and stuck it in the ink creature's face... 

But it was no longer the ink creature.

Below him was Mihou with a lost and terrified look, and with half of her face destroyed by a cane. "No, no, no." The monkey king said to himself, this isn’t how it should happen, Macaque was sealed in the Diyu by his master, that's all, he WAS SEALED, not murdered, he didn’t murder the person he loves most, he couldn’t be.

The monkey only surrendered by kneeling, he had no more strength in himself to stand. The bloody mess faded into black, and receded from him as lightning began to fall from the sky above him. 

“ E-even after all these years and the result is still the same. ” Wukong could hear the twisted and glitched voice of his successor again. “ Even with all that love you used to proclaim for him, you still don't hesitate to harm him, I guess once a weapon always a weap- ”

“Shut up .” Wukong expected with his voice almost breaking. “Just…shut up, I don't even have the energy to be horrified by what just happened. Go away and leave me alone.”

“... At least the other one already chose, although I can't say if that choice was different or better .” And with that he left.

Wukong sat on the ground and stared into the emptiness, he could feel the ghosts of his past and mistakes behind him but he didn't have the energy to worry anymore. Maybe he should keep remembering the story of Chang'e, yeah, he'll just do that until eventually the world or the scroll is destroyed.

“He ended up coming back, badly hurt, and I was ready to apologize and promise to be better when he gave me a bottle. ‘It’s an elixir for immortality.’ He said. 'Now you can go back there, I'm sorry for ruining your life.' He didn't even seem angry when he said it, only, tired, and that broke me. “

Wukong continued looking to the precipice that he created during his fight while the sky was broken by lightning, until he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and quickly turned around. “Mk, you’re here!”

A golden body initially stood between them, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and there he was, his successor without blood or fear. “I can't,.. I…” The boy sat softly next to him, this didn't even feel real at this point. “I wanted to become stronger and stronger, strong enough to protect those around me.” Was Mk really Mk? He couldn't say it, but it felt so good to say these words that he couldn't think about it so much. “But I got distracted, and forgot my original intention. I know I’ve made a lifetime of mistakes that can’t be undon-”

“I kept the bottle where I couldn't see it and tried to continue our mortal life as if nothing had happened. He used to come every night with dinner and he used to ask me if today I would finally take the elixir, I used to hold back the urge to cry and told him: 'not today, maybe tomorrow.' And he would leave the topic for the rest of the day.”

“But, reliving these memories over and over here…” 

“But, you'll live forever.” The boy said without malice in his tone and his face only seemed compassionate. 

“What?”

“You have enough time to start again.” The boy said with a kind smile that made the monkey king's stomach drop, the monkey began to shake his head. 

“Mk, I-”

“Eventually someone ended up listening to us, his apprentice sneaked into our house while my husband was hunting, he almost killed me and to save me from falling into Diyu I took the elixir. And I floated into the night sky, I couldn't even say goodbye to Hou Yi.”

“You told me something, and I thought you were talking nonsense.” The boy began, giving Wukong a comforting touch on his shoulder.“But you were right, we can't fix all our mistakes. We can only make things better than we found it, as long as we believe this, we can face everything that comes next.” The child seemed to illuminate the darkness that was Wukong's mind, like the full moon in the middle of the night. The great sage's gaze was attracted by a figure behind the boy, it was Macaque but different . 

It wasn't the darkness that had stalked him in recent years, and it wasn't like the glow of the new moon from his past either, it was more like a crescent moon, beautifully rare but still being covered by the darkness of the night. He had a soft smile on his face the likes of which he hadn't seen in a long, long time, though he felt it was less to cheer him, and more to support Mk's words.

“Monkey King, there’s still a lot I have to learn.” The boy caught Wukong's attention again. “But I'm going to stop Azure Lion and I need you to once again, became…” Mk stood up and began to take out his staff. “The invisible Monkey King!”

“I stayed on the moon to be as close to my husband as I could, since I couldn't return to the mortal realm, every once in a while some balls of dough would appear in front of me: they were our favorite pastries, I used to knead them and shape them, and my husband used to make the filling, we used to loved making them together.  The ones that appeared in front of me were deformed but their insides were truly tasty, so I realized they were from my husband.” Chang'e let out a sad smile. “Even after everything, he was still looking out for my happiness.”

(The monkey king at that time couldn’t understand her sadness, because now the woman was an immorta-)

Wukong looked at the two people in front of him, he had dragged them both into the pit that was his problems until they were down with him, but now the king knew what to do.

Just like Hou Yi, he had made their moons sink by his mistakes, but like the archer he could still fix it to get them out of the misery that was being around the monkey king. 

And Wukong was going to give his all to his moons, even if it included sacrificing his very existence.