Work Text:
A flash of light was all it had taken.
Macaque always considered himself a force to be reckoned with. If not for his innate abilities then for how he honed them over the years. He was far from a bumbling fool - experienced on a battlefield, friend of adrenaline and, as his own tastes proved, an expert with sneaking and silence .
Yet, here he was.
He did not want to say his ears had failed him, but that was what it felt like. He had been travelling with the others - sent deep into a cavern for an artefact Wukong had misplaced. It came as little surprise to everyone, and Wukong’s ‘bashfulness’ as he shared the news had worked on no one. Macaque and MK had shared an exasperated look at the mouth of the cave, but neither fought as they slipped into the shadows of it - the others filing in behind them.
It started well. Easily, even. Macaque and MK led the way, Wukong and Tang right behind them - Tang providing a low thrumming light and Macaque’s ears hearing the shift of uneven rocks in the ceiling before the light could cast upon it. MK was careful to knock any falling rocks out of the way, and Wukong guided them along the best he could. He spent most of their journey babbling, having a halfhearted argument with Pigsy and Mei, who were bringing up the rear along with Sandy. Macaque thought it was about six too many people, but he kept his mouth shut. Wukong talked enough for the entirety of the group, little quips from Mei and Sandy driving his chatter onward. It only turned sour when the split appeared.
They followed the winding path Wukong provided the entire way, Wukong confident with his instructions. When the air chilled and the path began to drop, they were all stopped by a fork in the road. Two paths, one crude and clustered with fallen rocks - the other cleaner, trodden but not cluttered.
Like fools, they separated. Wukong couldn’t remember which way to go, and as Macaque crept closer to the decrepit path, he had a feeling it was not for the faint of heart. He had stepped a foot into it, and as he stood quietly, the air rattled with threats of falling stone and stalactites.
Macaque insisted he go alone.
The others had put up a fair fight, and if he were any less stubborn, he surely would have listened to them. Unfortunately, he was never praised for his teamwork, and he insisted the fewer in the tunnel the better. They had agreed with immense hesitance, only allowing it when he reminded them he could enter shadows - and the entire thing was made of them. If there was a dead end, he could just wind back and catch up - if he got lost, he was the best fit for escaping.
Once he entered, he had wished he’d let someone come with him. It was dark - more than that, it was small. He had to crouch, hands masterfully shifting over sharp stones to avoid injury as he kept his head from brushing against the ceiling. His tail was careful behind him, not drifting against rocks or crevices in the wall. He had to pause time and time again, stilling his chest until his breath was nothing but soft air - then, he would listen. There were parts of the path more perilous than others - the ones with thin sections of rock around him that he had to shift through with awkward movements until he was safely on the other side - creatures, bats maybe, taking up home deep in a cavern. For a second, he had been grateful for the opening of the tunnel, but the creatures forced him to be more careful, made him tuck his shoulders in and hang his head low.
The only proper respite he got was when he reached, what he presumed to be, the end. He only had a moment to study it, however, before it had happened.
He hadn’t heard anything. No trigger set off, no person in the room with him, he only heard a soft gush of air before there was light.
Light is too gentle a word, but Macaque was not given the time to process it. It had ricocheted off the sides of the tavern, swooping underneath his feet and clawing at his eyes - both of them, stinging from the pseudo attack of light . It burned in his head, blistering across his face until he was on the floor - causing a wetness in his ducts that he could not identify as either blood or water. Slamming his hands over his eyes did nothing, pressing his head to the floor did nothing, and writhing as the skin around his eyelashes began to fester with something acidic did nothing. He was at a loss, and as he groped at the creases around his eyes, he found that he could not see. Even as his eyes opened and closed, blinking with ferocity - there was nothing but a heaviness in each. He scratched his fingers across them more - but it did not change. Instead of the darkness of the cavern, his vision had been wiped with a film of milky whiteness.
This was not typical blindness. He knew blindness - he knew it because he had it, and he was adjusted to this - but only partially. Both eyes was something new. As Macaque’s hands slowed, and he touched around his face with more ease - he realised that nothing felt out of the ordinary. His eyes hurt no longer - nor did his eyelashes, or his tear ducts that were, indeed, dry. They were simply… milky.
Macaque craned his head to the side, hands shifting across the stone floor. Thankfully, he had fallen somewhere smooth - nothing obstructing his way. He reached out further, creeping forward as much as he dared - and he was thankful for his caution, as his hand slipped from the edge and fell into… emptiness.
There was a cliff.
Macaque froze, blinking like it would save him, and forced himself to use his ears.
It was silent.
He had no heartbeat to be heard, there was no wind, there was nothing but still air and the rare, rare tremble of stone across the walls. He shut his eyes, though it did not help, and crept back until he was on solid stone.
He nearly slipped off another edge.
An edge he could have sworn wasn’t there before.
Macaque’s breath caught in his throat, and he curled himself up carefully. Teleporting out of here was possible, but dangerous - and whether or not what had blinded him would try to find the others was also up to question, but he hardly had time to process.
“Macaque?”
An inquisitive tone, and one that burned familiarity under his skin.
“Wukong,” He said, voice rougher than he had expected. “Are you all fine?”
“Yeah. We just reached the end - or, we tried. There’s a big locked door here, I think you’re on your way to open it. Or you were. You good? Scared of the dark?”
“If only,” Macaque supplied, eyes fluttering open (with no change). There was a sharp inhale, and Macaque turned to it.
“What the hell happened? Your eyes look… not–”
“Quite right? I don’t know. There was just a… flash. I can’t see anything,” he hated to admit it, but he wasn’t sure where he was either - and he would rather admit to being trapped than accidentally fall off an edge to an unfortunate, embarrassing second death. “How are you here?”
“Golden Projection,” Wukong answered, closer now. “MK asked me to check on you, since he, Sandy, and Mei are busy tussling with the door.”
“Can you…”
“You’re in a miserable looking cavern. I don’t know where you were before, but the exit is across a hole. I don’t think you can find your way back there. Uh, a little to your right–a little–no wait, go back– there, yes, there’s a skinny little stone path. Takes you toward…" There was silence for a few seconds, and Macaque waited patiently, hand resting on stone. “Looks like it takes you to a door similar to ours, but it doesn’t look locked.”
“Did you set this up?”
“I hope not. I don’t remember, I might have. If I did, you can scold me for it later. For now, let’s get you across!”
“Sorry?”
“Get you across! I’ll talk you through it!”
“Not necessary,” Macaque bit out, hands sliding forward as he began to move. He mapped out the beginning of the stone path - finding where the edges were, then shifting forward slowly. It was decently sized, but he didn’t have much wiggle room. If he took a wrong turn, it was very likely he would go off the edge.
It was fine.
He continued moving, feeling like a fool as he crawled along; but his embarrassment lessened significantly when he blinked and his head throbbed - loss of eyesight straining along his forehead and into his skull. Unpleasant, but a reminder.
Not his fault.
He grit his teeth and continued, barely able to smash his fingers into the rock when the path grew thin and he nearly went stumbling off the edge.
“...Shit,”
“Not going well now, is it?”
“That was one slip, Wukong. Shut up.” he tried again, sneaking forward - but as his hands moved, they entered emptiness once more - and he nearly fell into the awaiting void head first. As he scrambled, he found there was a violent corner - leading him to the right, instead. He cursed again, adjusting.
“Two slips, now.” Wukong sounded much too pleased, and Macaque glared in the direction of his voice. “Now that’s just not fair.” Macaque scoffed, continuing on.
His next trip dragged a sharp stone across his palm, and he swore - pressing the gash into his clothes.
“Macaque,” Wukong said again, more tempered. “Stop fucking yourself over.”
“You’re just going to walk me over the edge,” he hissed, with pain or insecurity he couldn’t say. He didn’t really think that - Wukong needed him to get into that damn room, but it wasn’t impossible. This was an easy way to do it, and paranoia was thick around Macaque’s chest, wet with the blood across his palm.
“I am not !” Wukong sounded offended - and Macaque found it a bit funny, because he didn’t think of it as a surprising mindset - but Wukong was thoroughly flabbergasted, his words closer and pitched a little louder. “Come on! I am so much nicer than that! You can’t be serious!” Macaque turned his head away from the sound, in a way that made his bones ache with familiarity. He’s done this before. Many, many times.
Everyone likes yelling.
“You can’t really think I’m just gonna be like, ‘yeah! Macaque! Take a left! It’s totally safe-oh, sorry, there was a cliff there and now you’re dead!’ Right?”
Macaque stayed silent.
“Dude!” The exclamation rocketed through Macaque’s head, and he huffed an irritated sigh as Wukong gasped and wallowed for the following thirty seconds, waffling through indignance in the same amount of time he always had.
“...but we can’t unpack that right now,” he finally said, as if he hadn’t spent half a minute doing just that (without Macaque saying a word but, hey, whatever). “Trust me! I’ll get you to the door.” Macaque rubbed a hand over his face, careful to do the one not bleeding, and finally came to the conclusion that if he were to die again, he could at least die right , and that was usually worth it.
“Fine,” he readjusted himself, finding the path again. “Lead the way, asshole.”
“Fantastic!” Macaque could’ve sworn Wukong was right above him, radiant light warming his back. “You’re going to travel forward for five steps, then it’s going to veer to the left - and it’s a little thin, so move through slowly, ‘kay? I’ll remind you when it’s coming up.” Macaque groaned, internally, but he listened.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six–
Nope, empty space. He froze as his hand slipped, taking a moment to collect himself.
“You can count, right?” it took everything in Macaque not to snap at the genuineness of the question, merely nodding as he turned to the left, searching along the slim path to find his way.
“Well, okay. In ten steps, or scooches, or whatever you’re doing - it dips. It continues going straight, but it goes lower, prepare for the slip.”
Macaque grit his teeth again, and this time, he did not risk disbelieving him. Instead he followed his words to a T - carefully sliding down the slant as Wukong hummed at his side. He would not be fool enough to call it comforting, but it warmed some part of the chilliness across his skin - reassuring, at the very least.
Wukong continued to guide him, urging him forward when he began to hesitate. He would give Macaque directions that felt absurd, and Macaque would doubt him - and Wukong would let him struggle, his snippish comments lessening as Macaque continued to fumble. At some point, Macaque wasn’t sure when - Wukong started talking and never stopped. Macaque would inch forward, and Wukong would reassure him. Macaque would hesitate, and Wukong praised his choice to recollect himself. It was a constant stream of chatter, and Macaque found himself relying on it.
That was why his sudden silence was so disconcerting.
There were no directions, not even a breath - and for a moment, Macaque thought Wukong had left - but then he was there again, speaking slowly.
“Macaque, you’ll need to jump.”
“Sorry?”
“You’ll need to jump. There isn’t a way over there. The path ends. You have to jump - it’s not far, you can make it.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“You’ll have to, if you want to get across. The door is on a platform a little lower than you, you only have to jump.”
“I am not doing that.”
Macaque had fallen into a pit once before - and in that pit he had to stay, bruises festering under chains and spite blossoming within old injuries. He did not want to do that again - or risk it.
“I know, Macaque. But you have to. Come on. I haven’t led you astray.”
“Yet,” Macaque supplied, creeping backward. “It’s a good scheme. Lead me right to the end, make me comfortable, get rid of me then and there.”
“Why would I want to do that?” Wukong sounded genuinely bewildered, and Macaque could picture his expression. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re our way into this room. I’m not going to make my life harder.”
“You’re very good at that, though.”
“No need to be an asshole,” Wukong replied waspishly, and Macaque frowned.
“Whatever. I’m still not going to jump.”
…
Silence.
Macaque shut his eyes, a feeling of loneliness replacing any warmth left across his skin. The chill sluggishly sank back in, and Macaque let himself scrunch up. At the end of the day, he’d just need to teleport. It would suck - god, who knew how bad it could go - but it was one of his few remaining options. He took in a slow breath, and paused as the air around him began to buzz.
“Wukong?” Wukong didn’t make a sound when he projected, but Macaque tried anyway.
“And me,” MK’s voice rang clear in the room, and Macaque went through varying emotions - alarm, concern, perhaps a little shame too.
“Hey, kid.” Macaque said, with more confidence than he felt.
“Hi,” his tone was soft, but firm, and the air shifted as he moved. Yeah, MK for certain. He had to make noise everywhere he went. It was one of those things Macaque had grown accustomed to.
“Wukong with you?”
“Yep,” this voice was closer to Macaque, irritatingly prideful in the way only Wukong’s could be.
“To what do I owe the honour? I thought you were finding a new way in.”
“Macaque, the cliff isn’t bad.” MK this time. Clearly, Wukong was trying to win him over with more company. Macaque bristled, glaring in the direction Wukong had last spoken from.
“I’m not going to. I already told Wukong that, and I’ll gladly tell you, too.”
“Come on,” MK coaxed, less insistent than Wukong - but twice as unrelenting. “I swear, you could make this jump in your sleep. Just trust us.”
Macaque bit back a laugh. This would be more convincing if it weren’t planned. Clearly, Wukong had told MK what to say.
“I’m fine here. I was going to teleport out, actually. Send someone else this way.”
“That’s not fair,” MK said, and Macaque, suddenly, felt guilty. “You went that way because you knew you could do it best. You still can. It’s just this one little leap.” Macaque bit his lip, cursing all god’s above.
“How high is it?” Macaque finally said, shifting to stand unsteadily on his feet.
“One second,” MK sounded giddy, and his telltale buzzing disappeared for a few seconds before returning - louder.
“It’s only a couple feet.” This was Tang. MK must have dragged him along, and there was a distant wonder to his voice as he inspected whatever the jump was - several feet away. “If you were the same size as Sandy, you could just lower yourself onto it. It’s Sandy-height.”
That put it into perspective, and Macaque inched forward again.
“And the platform? If I land on it and fall to the side either way, will I be at an edge?”
“No,” Tang replied, all business.
“Doesn’t look like it!” MK added cheerily.
“You’re too small,” Wukong added last, and Macaque’s hand lifted and smacked toward him on instinct. There was light laughter, and he felt something in his gut alleviate as he took another few steps.
“Oh, this is baby stuff!” Mei. Macaque winced at the sudden intrusion, but smiled nonetheless. “You could do a sick flip though! Can you imagine it, MK? Especially with the mechs.”
“Oh yeah!” their enthusiasm bounced off each other - Wukong must have grabbed Mei, then.
“You’re gonna see it later and realise it was nothing, Macaque. I swear!” Mei urged him another step forward, and all at once, Macaque felt ridiculously foolish. He was never one to get too enthralled with the dynamics of trust - something he could not risk, even as he worked along with this group - but clearly, they had no such restraints.
“Pause here,” Wukong again, close to his ear. “This is where you’ll have to jump. It’s right ahead. Take a step back, brace yourself, and go. It’s not so bad. They’re all right.”
Macaque stepped back - not even aware of it. There was a whoop to one side of him, and he traced it back to Mei - MK and Tang clapping to the other side, and he let himself take a deep breath in.
Then, he put his weight heavy on one foot - and leapt off.
He wasn’t flying. He knew that - but he felt light. There was a weightlessness to his limbs as he plummeted, a voice in his head yelling at him to prepare to roll - and it could have been any of them, as he was sure it wasn’t his own voice - and he let their directions twist him as his shoulder smacked against stone and he rolled forward.
There was just… rock.
There was no void, no abyss, just stone - and there were cheers over his shoulder, phantom warmth across his skin and clothing as he drew in a staggering breath.
Fuck .
“Fuck,” he echoed, slowly lifting himself.
“You okay?” MK chimed in, somewhere close to his side.
“Yeah, fine. Shoulder is a little sore but I’m fine.”
“Okay. The door is right ahead of you.”
It took Macaque several beats, but he managed to drag himself up. Walking normally felt foreign, more used to crawling by now - but his hand found the cool metal of the door, intricate details pressing against bloodied skin, and he pushed into it.
It clicked open beneath his touch.
The air went silent. He took a step forward, foot knocking into something, and he stilled.
“It’s just rubble.” Wukong . “Keep walking. It’s not enough to trip you.” Macaque, now, listened without hesitation. His feet followed the words Wukong provided, sleek and confident in his ear. “The door is just on the far side, I’ll direct you there.”
Macaque let him.
When he found the door, it was just a matter of shaking loose the large lock across the inside handles - and dislodging the thick slabs of wood spread from side to side. It took time, but he managed to wrench them off - tossing them to the side with little struggle as he tore off the lock next - pushing the door with all his might, feeling rust begin to chip and give as it slipped open.
He tumbled, but hands grabbed him at either side. He could, now that he was with them - immediately recognise the hands as belonging to Pigsy and Sandy, who held him up carefully.
He found he didn’t mind. Not as much as he might have before.
“He’s fine, he just looks tired.” Sandy said, to someone.
“Let me see him,” that was Wukong, who came before Macaque and, with a delicate finger, touched the skin around his eyes. “Blink,” Macaque did, feeling a warmth seep into his skin as the whiteness began to dull - strain in his head lessening. Several seconds later, and he could properly see Wukong before him - smiling bright enough that it was nearly able to blind him once more. MK was looking at him too, peeking over Wukong’s shoulder - and Mei was over the other shoulder, smiling as soon as Macaque focused on her.
“Hey!” Mei said, excitement leaking into her grin. “He’s focusing on me! He’s back!” She shook Wukong’s shoulder, and Wukong shot her a look of brief amusement. Then, he looked to Macaque, reaching forward to tap his shoulder with a hand.
“Just had to trust us,” and he winked, because of course he did.
“Easier said than done,” Macaque replied sullenly, feeling a mix of gratitude, embarrassment, and defensiveness churn grossly in his gut.
“Well, you did it, so it can’t have been too hard.” Macaque blinked, grateful to know it did something this time, and Wukong pushed past him into the room. “Now then, let the treasure hunting begin!”
The others followed too, Macaque showing them he could stand steady, and he was left on the outskirts - purposefully frozen in place. He felt uncertain on his feet, torn between rebuilding the wall that had just been forcibly dismantled or… letting it stay broken. As his feet turned toward the room, lips curling into a soft, shy smile - he found the answer come to him with little deliberation.
Doubt had no place here. Not anymore.
Macaque had already taken his leap of faith.