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Macaque sat huddled in the corner of the restaurant, grateful that Pigsy had brought him a blanket and headphones, because the longer he stayed silent, the faster his magic wore off and everything became louder and unbearable. Additionally, his mood was spoiled by the knowledge that the only person who could save his life was Sun Wukong, a great sage equal to heaven, who, incidentally, hates him.
The demon began to wonder if there was any point in asking Monkie King for help, considering that he had helped him leave this world previously. How did their relationship deteriorate so much? They were friends, almost brothers, then lovers, partners, and suddenly they are enemies? It sounded like an extremely cruel joke from the universe. The moon was destroyed by the sun he swore to protect.
“Okay, calm down, young man, who got the curse because you're avoiding this answer?” Sun Wukong asked as he entered the restaurant.
“Macaque.” Mk replied, dragging his confused mentor to the corner where the demon was.
“You just have to cancel it.” Tang informed, wanting to show the king the spell he used, but the king just waved his hand.
“I can handle it.” replied Monkie King, to which Macaque growled, already feeling that it wouldn't work.
“Please take this seriously.” said the scholar, who was consumed with guilt.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, I won't spoil him any more.” laughed the monkey demon, earning appraising looks from the entire group. “Difficult audience.”
Six-Eared was already furious, but each of Wukong's comments irritated him more and more, and the sneaky scratch of the curse tempted him to confess and start chanting. At the same time, Macaque was sure that if he gave in to the curse now, he would not be able to stop.
“Earth to Macaque, can you make it a little easier for me and get up?” Monkie King asked and the demon politely complied. “Wow, so you just need to threaten death to get you to listen? Interesting."
“Monkie King!” Mk shouted indignantly as Macaque began to growl at Wukong again, wanting to lunge at his throat with his fangs. “Though knowing you, you're just dramatizing it for better effect.” Wukong added, spilling the beans.
“You think you know me, but you don't know me.” the demon began angrily but still in a calm tone as he approached his former friend. “You think you own me, but you can't control me.”
“Monkie King! Can you stop irritating him and start taking action?” Pigsy asked irritably.
“I'm sorry, but it's not only my fault!” Wukong replied.
“You look at me and there's just one thing that you see, so listen to me. Listen to me!” the monkey demon continued, trying to stifle the song, but to no avail. “You push me back I'll push you back. Harder, harder.”
The demon pushed the king out of irritation, emphasizing his forced statement. Monkie King growled at this behavior, showing his fangs and challenging the other.
“You scream at me, I'll scream at you!” the lyrics were now interspersed with Macaque's growl. “Louder, L-L-L-L-Louder!”
“Tang do something!” Mk shouted in terror as Wukong lunged at the singing monkey.
“I'm dangerous so I'm warning you.” Macaque threw his attacker off of him, immediately taking control of the fight. “But you're not afraid of me and I can't convince you.”
"I'm trying!" Tang shouted back, leafing through the book for help.
“That you don't know me!” the cursed demon's screams rose higher and higher, completely drowning out his or Wukong's growls.
“Oh I know you perfectly!” Wukong replied, dodging his former friend's quick attack and knocking him to the floor.
“You think you got me.” Macaque only replied, rising from the floor. “But you don't get me.”
“Wukong, Macaque, get your shit together!” Pigsy shouted at the fighters.
“I'll teach him something first.” the redhead said furiously, a moment before he was thrown out the window by Macaque's punch.
“You think you want me.” the black-haired man sang, walking outside with his staff made of shadows, where the fight continued.
“Come on, show me what you can do!” Great Sage shouted as he rose and created clones of himself.
“But you don't know what you're getting into!” Macaque replied by creating his own clones, which immediately met those of Wukong.
The monkey king rolled on the ground with the demon breathing heavily, but he refused to let go. Curse or not, he was going to prove something to his former lover. Although he didn't know what.
“There's so much more to me than what you think you see!”
Did he want to show him that he had changed? Or maybe that he doesn't need him anymore? Macaque wasn't sure. He barely managed to avoid the king's blows, but every time he fell, he got up. With each blow that hit him, the demon strengthened its defense and attacked faster.
“Macaque! Monkie King!” Mk's screams were the music accompanying their fists at this point, even though Six-Eared was, in a sense, acting as the radio himself.
“So listen to me! Just listen to me!”
Macaque was having more and more trouble catching his breath, singing and fighting dynamically were not a good idea if you really thought about it. Unfortunately, Macaque had no control or choice over this. His only way to take a breather at this point was to end the fight, so he put everything he had into it.
“You push me back I'll push you back Harder, harder!”
“Monkie King you will kill him!” Mk shouted in panic as the black-haired man was on the verge of hyperventilating. “You scream at me I'll scream at you!”
Wukong looked at him as if he was seeing him for the first time in his life. And there might have been some truth to that, considering Macaque fought him without a single glamour. His ears, his scar, his hair, everything was on display along with the tears of irritation in his eyes and his hard-working chest.
“Louder, L-L-L-L-Louder!”
Monkie King simply stopped, allowing Macaque to continue throwing punches at him, accompanied by silent sobs and tears streaming down the warrior's face.
“I'm dangerous so I'm warning you, but you're not afraid of me! And I can't convince you!”
The great sage carefully grabbed the black-haired man's fists, holding them with one hand, and when he started trying to break free, he pulled him towards him with the other. The demon continued to struggle, but now he had less room to maneuver.
“That you don't know me!”
"You're right." the redhead said quietly, but Macaque's uncovered ears picked it up easily, and the demon slowly began to calm down and its song changed.
“And the longer that you stay, the ice is melting. And the pain it feels okay, it feels okay.”
Gently, Wukong moved the crying demon away so he could look at him, activating his golden vision in the process, searching for the cause of the curse.
“You push me back I'll push you back. You scream at me I'll scream at you.”
Macaque, seeing this, immediately went back to struggling out of sheer shame, but Wukong continued to hold his hands.
“Louder, Louder, Louder, Louder, Louder, Louder!”
“Macaque…” the redhead began with a sigh, seeing the desire to escape in the demon's eyes.
“You push me back I'll push you back. Harder, harder!”
Macaque closed his eyes as Monkie King freed one of his hands and brought it towards his face. Six-Eared was afraid that his former friend would break his neck to calm him down and get rid of him once and for all, or at least until another Lady Bone Demon tried to resurrect him.
“You scream at me I'll scream at you. Louder, L-L-L-L-Louder.”
The Shadow Master was more than surprised to feel a gentle, butterfly-like touch on his cheek just below the cruel scar that had led to his death.
"Sorry." Wukong said, activating his golden vision again, but this time Macaque stood still, mostly due to shock.
“I'm dangerous so I'm warning you But you're not afraid of me.”
“I'm sorry that I couldn't solve it differently back then.” Wukong spoke again, eyes fixed on his neck.
“And I can't convince you.”
“I'm sorry that I also acted like a complete asshole and a moron later. I'm sorry I didn't help you with your LBD. I'm sorry." Wukong repeated like a mantra, drawing a finger across his cheek and ridding his body of the curse.
“And I don't have to.”
“I'm sorry I still can't fix it or apologize to you properly.” the king continued as Macaque fell limply into his arms, inhaling the pleasant and familiar scent.
“I think you know me…” came out of Macaque's throat before he felt how raw it was and how tired he was.
“I'm sorry, Liu Er Mihou.” Wukong whispered, and the demon felt a gentle kiss on his forehead before he fell asleep exhausted in the king's arms.