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The warrior took it upon himself to snoop around the celestial realm for any clue as to who released Azure from the underworld. And perhaps because Wukong knew him well, every time Macaque came back from the heavenly court, the king had pressed him for answers. The fact that he knew where Macaque was going every other night without having to be told or asked, was a bitter reminder of their past, that never failed in pulling Macaque's heart at the strings. In which the two monkeys could understand each other with a single head nod or a glance, but still felt worlds away.
Macaque had been keeping a close eye on the kid ever since the fall of the jade emperor and the everpresent cracks in the sky. The monkey secretly watched Mk's training sessions with Wukong through the shadows, picking up on the boy's mental state with the emotional intelligence Wukong lacked in general. And with what the shadow sees, Macaque's anger has gotten the better of him these days, chewing out wukong days prior for being not just a terrible mentor, but a liar. And while Macaque could digress on all of the lies and false promises that have been made by sun wukong, he pushed it aside to focus on his self assigned post. Tonight, Macaque was perched in the trees outside of megapolis, squinting his eyes in the direction of MK’s apartment. The kid was going to find out who he was sooner or later and Wukong would rather lie to his metaphorical grave than tell him.
Macaque would understand if only Wukong wasn't so Wukong. A pathological liar with a touch of egomaniac, all up in his own head. The boy was fragile. Mortal. And Wukong pushes away what he is afraid to lose.
Macaque leans his head against the tree for a moment to think. He hasn't gotten much sleep lately. The celestial court had plans to bring them all to trial despite being refuted by Nezha and a handful of celestial warriors. But Macaque wasn't sure who would get them first, heaven or the Diyu where the scroll was stolen from. Both realms could reach their victims through sleep, as it was the closest thing to spirit equilibrium or death. And so, Macaque can't sleep, not when he's put himself on watch duty.
Macaque reached out his hearing, listening in on the city. He pushes past the weak sounds of rumbling car motors and groggy feet on the sidewalk to reach the sounds of Mk's apartment. The boy's home typically held a simple rhythm at this hour: occasional late night grumbles from the pig demon mk called his father with tang’s obnoxiously loud snores, a contrast to MK's quiet breathing. But today the house was off key, with the notes of Pigsy and Tang right on schedule but MK was catching heavy breaths, and the boy’s bed was creaking loudly in a high eerie pitch. Macaque drew in a sharp breath of his own, waking up at the sound. Macaque stumbled in climbing down the tree before he portalled over to the boy's window just out of sight.
Through the window, Macaque saw the boy laid on his side in bed facing the wall. He could see the slight shake of his shoulders and the wrinkles of his blankets as the boy curled his legs up to his chest looking like a small ball under the covers. Macaque flinched when he thought he saw the lights turn on inside the room, but it was just the boy flickering in and out of his monkey form causing a golden glow. Macaque frowned and portaled himself in.
Mk’s sobs were quiet and paused as if he was forcing himself not to cry or was scared to. The boy hadn't noticed Macaque leaning on the wall, but when he then moved his hand to wipe away some stray tears, MK then noticed the shadow in the corner and squinted in his direction.
“Macaque?” The boy rubbed his red eyes to have a better look in the darkness.
Macaque gave him a faint smile, pained by the sound of MK’s rasped and groggy voice from sleep. “The one and only,” Macaque held his hands out to his sides for a moment in an awkward pose, looking at the boy in concern. He then walked to the side of MK’s bed where he laid and sat on the floor facing the kid. “Are you okay?”
Mk didn't respond immediately at first, and Macaque saw the flicker of light in his body fill the room golden and then dim once more. Finally, the boy said in no more than a whisper, “I can't sleep, “ with Macaque looking directly into MK’s wide and puffy eyes. Macaque answered back, “Me neither. Care to scoot over?” And MK wordlessly got up from his side of the bed and moved to the opposite side for Macaque to climb up. The two monkey demons were then sat up in bed leaning against the headboard, with Macaque moving to tuck his legs under the boy’s blankets. Mk brings his head in his knees, curling up again, just barely leaving an inch of space between him and Macaque so their bodies wouldn't touch.
Macaque's hands fiddle with the blanket. He sneaked a glance at the boy before turning back to the blanket, lost deep in thought. The kid’s bed was warm with the fuzziness of the fabric wrapped around his legs. He hasn't had this in a while. But Macaque pushed his comfort aside to check on who he entered the room for.
“What's wrong?” Macaque asked and the room stayed still, with the only sound being the quiet rub of MK’s feet across the mattress. Mk looks up at him, taking his head out of his knees. “Do you remember when I said I felt like the warrior in your story?” Macaque was about to react to that with a groan before MK cut him off abruptly, “I don't mean what I thought before about thinking that my friends don't care about me and that other junk because it's not true but-” MK stopped talking, awkwardly squirming under the blanket. His nervous energy soon turned into frustration, kicking the blanket off his legs and then throwing it aside. With an exasperated huff, MK then put his head back in his knees, hugging himself tighter this time. Macaque stayed quiet by his side, waiting for the boy to continue, and soon enough MK took a deep breath.
“Did you ever get scared?” Mk said in barely a whisper, his eyes looking wide at Macaque after taking his head out of his knees. The boy continued, looking away this time. “I mean for Wukong. That- he would mess up so bad- so bad that it couldn't be fixed?”
Macaque knew the boy was talking about the past Macaque from the story. If Wukong’s “best friend” ever worried about him getting into scary situations where his life wouldn’t be the same. But that didn't stop Macaque from instinctively reaching up to his scarred eye. Though covered by glamor, the lingering pain throbbed constantly like a pulse,and the kid’s words only sharpened the pain. Macaque cupped his hand around his blind eye to shield it from the dim light of the window, playing it off like an eye rub or scratch from sleepiness. Of course he was worried then. It seemed like so much of his life on the mountain was spent anxiously waiting for Wukong to come home.
“I killed Azure,” the boy’s words were but a whisper pulling macaque out of his thoughts. “He's dead because of me.. that wasn't the plan I know but I-” MK chokes on his words, taking another shaky breath. “I became that- that… thing!” Mk ran his fingers through his hair, then pulled on the strands with both hands at the ends. “What kind of a hero am I? That I’m- supposed to be. If I- ” Mk gulped in guilt, his voice strained. The words were left unsaid. If I killed him, Macaque thought. What kind of a hero is also a murderer?
Macaque sighed and leaned back on the headboard. “Kid,” Macaque started, closing his eyes as he thought about his next words, “Azure did that to himself. He knew it was a bad idea but he did it anyway,” Macaque folded his arms at his statement and sank a little further into the mattress. “Nobody made him take the Jade Emperor's power. Nobody made him kill the Jade Emperor either.”
Macaque kept quiet on the kids bed, resting his eyes. Memories Macaque didn’t want to name flashed in his mind. After a while of no response, Macaque fought off his exhaustion for what seemed like the fifth time tonight and cracked open his one eye. MK had moved away from him, still on the bed but sat on the edge facing the window. The kid’s back was hunched over, the light from the window highlighting his silhouette. The room’s deep heavy silence was broken by a soft sob. “I planned to save him- I planned to save everyone!” MK looked back at him, tears shining on his cheeks. “But I couldn’t.” As Macaque looked into the kids eyes for a moment he felt like he was looking right back at Sun Wukong. His genuine promises that Macaque hung onto with every word. The kid looked back at the window, sniffling while watching the start of the sunrise.
Macaque unwrapped himself from the covers as the sun rose, crawling to sit next to Mk, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. The kid seemed to break at the touch, letting out full gasping sobs. Macaque switched between rubbing the kids shoulder in comfort and moving the kids hair out of his face as he cried. The kid slowly calmed down, shaking ceased, his sobs turning into small hiccups for air. Macaque quietly fiddled with the kid's hair, curling it in his fingers. Macaque started to talk again in a soft voice. “You know, the hero and the warrior is a really old story,” Macaque paused to take a look at the kid's tired face. “Sometimes I think there’s actually no heroes at all. I know that-that seems really like something that wouldn’t cheer you up at all but- ” Macaque let out a sigh thinking back to the cracks in the sky. “Here’s where I say your dumb mentor was right. And you too when you said it right back to him. We can’t be perfect and we can’t fix everything. We just need to leave it a little better than we found it. It’s enough to try.” Macaque then felt the kid rest his head on his shoulder, the kid's eyes fluttering shut with the slightest peek of eyebags growing under his eyes.
“That’s all I wanted you know,” the kid spoke in a cold and quiet whisper. “to be a hero..”
Macaque smiled sadly.
“I know.”