Archive of Our Own

At one point in her life, Princess Iron Fan would have thanked the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. She couldn’t help herself. It was because of him that three of the four most important people to her had been brought into her life.

The first of these four she had known long before anyone else. Chang’e, a goddess much like herself. They were good friends in heaven, and remained close even as Chang’e was exiled from heaven with her husband to live a mortal life and then as she regained her immortality and made her home on the moon. While Chang’e and Princess Iron fan were unable to visit each other in their homes, they made to see each other in the mortal realm. They would talk as they ate Chang’e’s mooncakes and goodbyes would always be bittersweet. They loved each other like sisters and wore accessories to never forget the other. Chang’e wore a feather styled like Princess Iron Fan’s fan in her hair where Princess Iron Fan wore a moon shaped earring that dangled from her right ear. They were inseparable, and nothing changed even as the Monkey King made an attempted attack on heaven, introducing Princess Iron Fan to her now husband.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. Heaven was under attack and she had gone to aid in the fight. The attackers weren’t in large numbers, 5 of them in total. The first among them was of course Sun Wukong, the pesky Monkey King that had caused nothing but trouble for heaven. Also among the fighters were an azure colored lion, a white elephant with golden tusks, a grey bird with dull gold wings, and a Demon king that took the appearance of a purple bull.

The other four in the group were already being fought, so Princess Iron Fan made her way to fight the Demon Bull King. She sped towards him but stopped herself when she noticed the Demon King did not raise a weapon at her but instead he stared at her wide eyed. There was something in the way he looked at her that made her heart skip a beat, a sensation she had heard Chang’e talk about when it came to her husband many times before. She raised her fan; if the Demon Bull King wouldn’t fight then that would give her an advantage. She could win a fight for heaven.

“You’re beautiful…” The Demon Bull King’s words had caught her by surprise, and she looked up at him as he towered above her by at least 3 times her own height. Her heart skipped another beat as he approached her and held her face in his palm gently, as if he were afraid he would hurt her. His hand was warm and rough from what she could only guess were countless years of training. However, the hair that coated his hand was soft. The best part about him was how he looked at her like she truly was beautiful, and the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes upon.

It was on that battlefield that Princess Iron Fan and the Demon Bull King had fallen in love. It was that battle field created by the Monkey King that her life began to change.

The next of her favorite people Sun Wukong introduced to Princess Iron Fan was the Liù ěr Míhóu, or Six-Eared Macaque, a spiritual primate just like the Monkey King. Unlike the Monkey King, the Six Eared Macaque was more reserved and thoughtful before he acted, a heavy contrast to the Simian King’s impulsiveness.

When Princess Iron Fan met the Six-Eared Macaque, she found it odd that he only had one pair of ears like any normal monkey. His look contrasted that of the Monkey Kings. Where Sun Wukong had golden orange fur and a pale heart shaped mask over his face, the Liù ěr Míhóu bore fur as black as night and a red, ridged shaped mask instead. They did both, however, sport a set of gold colored eyes. Princess Iron Fan quickly grew close with the Liù ěr Míhóu and she learned what people would see him as was not truly what he looked like. He hid his true appearance due to a history of teasing he had experienced from other monkeys.

He granted her permission to do two things a few weeks after they had met. The first was to see what he truly looked like. Taking off his magic disguise she came to learn he really did have six ears through which he could hear the past, present, and future. His ears glowed the colors pink, purple, and blue from top to bottom. Another thing about his appearance that changed was that his eyes were a purple in truth and his pitch back hair featured white highlights he claimed would take over his hair the longer he lived. She loved his look and gave him a feather like the one she gave Chang’e for him to wear in his hair, which he accepted and returned the favor by giving her a silver bracelet with an amethyst engraved in it. The second she was permitted was to just Call him ‘Míhóu’ or 'Macaque', and in turn she told him he could refer her to as ‘Pif’.

It was because of the Monkey King that not only did Princess Iron Fan have a husband, but also a friend whom she saw like a younger brother. Chang’e had come down from her moon to meet the people her sister cherished so dearly, and Princess Iron Fan couldn’t have been more happy when Chang’e got along with the both of them. She was ecstatic to meet the Demon Bull King though disappointed she had not been invited to the wedding. Then Chang’e had been just as supportive of Míhóu’s true appearance as she herself had been. They had even traded accessories to remember each other by, a moon earring from Chang’e that Macaque hung on his left blue ear, and an amethyst stone silver bracelet from Macaque. From there, they built their little family, two goddess sisters and their little spiritual simian brother.

Years went by, Míhóu and Sun Wukong became close and even got married at some point. The Demon Bull King remained close with the 4 he had once fought heaven with to the point they called each other ‘brother’, and things were going well.

However, no good thing lasts forever. Tensions began to rise in the brotherhood as they began to speak of attempting to fight heaven once more. The Demon Bull King had grown wary and had no interest in putting his wife in danger, a sentiment that Princess Iron Fan was grateful for. However, there wasn't only tension there but she began to notice Míhóu and Sun Wukong disagreeing on this matter as well, and it caused rifts in their marriage.

In the end, despite her husband’s and little brother’s protests, the rest of the brotherhood had gone to fight heaven again. This time, the Azure Lion, Golden Tusked Elephant, and the Golden Winged Bird returned injured and without Sun Wukong, whom she learned had been trapped under a mountain and would remain there for the next 500 years. Míhóu had left as soon as he heard the news to go see his husband while the injured three left to reside elsewhere. Neither she, nor her husband, had heard from the three again after that. Macaque, on the other hand, returned to her complaining about the Monkey King and how insufferable he was. Although he wasn’t wrong about the golden furred stone monkey being hard to deal with, it hurt her to hear him talk the way he did about the man he once loved so dearly.

Over the next 500 years, Princess Iron Fan lived happily with her husband enjoying the occasional visits from her brother and sister. She couldn't help but be grateful to the Monkey King for being the reason she had 3 people to love and care for instead of just one.

She enjoyed every second she got to spend with her husband be it dancing, or cuddling, or having little dinners together. It was so much fun to hear his laughter, and spar with him whenever the mood hit. She loved laying on his chest and listening to his heart beat as they slept, or feeling his arms around her as they read stories and relaxed on the couch. She enjoyed marrying him a second time, a ceremony they held so Chang’e and Míhóu could be present this time around.

Every minute, every smile, every shared word, it was all worth 500 years. A half millennia that she would relive over and over again if she could. When the Monkey King’s sentence was up, Míhóu and her husband left to welcome him back, but they returned, pissed, informing her that Sun Wukong was now working with heaven and some sacred monk. While neither of them had participated in the final stand against the Jade Emperor, they were still not pleased about their friend working with people he had once fought.

They decided to let it go, especially since they couldn’t stay mad for long when Princess Iron Fan gave birth to a boy with bright, fiery red hair, tan skin, and the cutest ears and tail that made him look just like his father. ‘Red Son’ was the name Princess Iron Fan and her husband landed on to name their little boy, and boy did they love him to bits. He was the absolute cutest. Chang’e seemed to agree when she came to meet her nephew, she just adored him. She made the wish that she had kids that Red Son could play with but unfortunately that was not the case.

Upon that idea, though, Macaque made two clones from the shadows that he controlled and shaped them to be two black and red baby monkeys he named Savage and Rumble. Their fur and skin was black for the most part, but their ears, mask, and patterns on their fur were a bright red. Their masks made it look like they had red fangs at all times, and to tell them apart, they were designed that Savage had a singular pair of ears and Rumble had double that. Macaque assured her that Rumble’s ears did not work the same way his six ears did, and they were merely there as a way to identify the two.

Red Son, Savage, and Rumble enjoyed each other’s company and they became playmates. Princess Iron Fan enjoyed this as it meant Macaque had a reason to come see her more often. They let the little ones play and enjoyed the bit of relaxation their distraction permitted. It was nice and calming. Everything was normal until one play date there was the sound of a fearful monkey screaming and unhinged cackling that sounded like Red Son.

They ran to the room where the children had been playing under supervision from the Demon Bull King, only to find black and red flames had Engulfed the room and Red Son.

“What happened?!” Princess Iron Fan ran towards her son who was laughing like a maniac as Míhóu ran for his clone children, where Savage was crying, seemingly burnt on one of his arms.

“The kids were playing their version of tag when Red Son grabbed Savage’s arm and started laughing as he set it and the entire room on fire.” She nodded to thank her husband for the explanation and reached for her child only to find the flames that engulfed him were ridiculously hot, and no matter how hard she tried she was unable to put them out. After a few minutes, Red Son had calmed down, falling asleep and stopping the flames all together. Despite the heat of the flames, her son wasn’t hurt at all, a fact she was thankful for as she held her baby close.

She looked at her brother. “Is Savage alright,” she questioned. He nodded.

“He’s healing in my shadow with his brother now.”

She nodded this time. Princess Iron Fan and the Demon Bull King knew almost nothing about the fire their child had created, what they did know though is that it was incredibly dangerous and they would need to keep an eye on their son. They decided to name their son’s creation the Samadhi Fire.

More years passed, 7 to be exact, and Red Son grew with Savage and Rumble being molded to grow with him. As a half god, half demon, Red Son grew and matured faster than the average human child. He was already as tall as his Uncle Míhóu and had the same level of understanding of the world as that of a teenager. He was incredibly intelligent, building all kinds of vehicles in his spare time and learning to play the cello. He would bake with his mother though he kept changing things in the recipes when she wasn’t looking. He grew stronger especially as the Samadhi Fire grew as he did. It grew more destructive, and hotter, and became harder to control. Because of this, he opted to go to the mountains to live alone so as to not put his parents at risk.

Princess Iron Fan tried to convince her son not to go but he left nonetheless with a hug between the two as their final goodbye. Savage and Rumble on the other hand were pissed when they learned that Red Son had left without saying goodbye first and, according to Macaque, sulked in his shadow about it for weeks. Chang’e was also sad to learn her nephew had left the house and didn't say goodbye to her but she figured she could send him mooncakes in the meantime.

Princess Iron fan could not be more happy that this was the family she had been given, and she had Monkey King to thank for it. Had he not fought heaven, she would never have met her husband or her little brother, and had she not met the Demon Bull King, she would not have had Red Son. She loved them all, and she was so happy they were in her life.

However, just as Monkey King had been the one to give her her happy little family, he was also the one to take it away.

A couple months after Red Son had left to live on his own, a knock arrived at his parents’ door. Princess Iron Fan ran to the door in hopes it was one of her siblings or her son, but instead she was greeted by Sun Wukong who bore an emotionless yet apologetic face. She hadn’t seen him for 507 years, and yet the only new thing about him was that he wore a celestial crown around his head. The Demon Bull King came up behind his wife to see what was going on as she was glad he did, there was a feeling in her gut that told her whatever the reason the Monkey King had to be at her door wasn’t good.

“Your son is going to be detained and sent to study under Guan Yin for quite some time, during that time, you two will not be able to come in contact with him at all. Would you like to come say goodbye while you can?” The Golden furred stone monkey looked at the two parents.

Princess Iron Fan felt her heart drop. “How long will he be with her?”

“Indefinitely.”

“Take us to him.”

Upon arriving at the cave where their son had been residing, Princess Iron Fan ran to him as the monk Sun Wukong had been traveling with stopped her husband for a chat. Her son was chained by the wrists as he looked down at the ground. In the corner of the room was Guanyin, waiting to take a son away from his mother.

“Red Son!”

“Mother?” The way his voice broke as he looked at her made her want to cry, what had he done to deserve this?

She hugged him even though he was incapable of hugging back, but he buried his head in her shoulder instead.

“Mother, I’m sorry.”

“Shh it’s ok, what happened?”

“I saw the monk and the Monkey King coming through the mountain and I remembered hearing how eating the monk would make you immortal, so I thought, I could catch him and share him with you and Father. Then the Monkey King came to get him back i was going to kill him because Father was mad at him for working with heaven and-”

“He committed various crimes and hid the existence of such a powerful weapon. He must be punished for them.” The monk walked over with the Demon Bull King who was carrying a gold ring with three bumps inwards and holes in each of the bumps. At the time, she probably should have asked what the ring was for but she was too busy hugging the son she may not get to see or hear from for years, decades, centuries even.

Her husband joined the hug and they stayed like that until he was torn from their embrace. She begged, pleaded, and cried for them not to take him away. She reached to hold her son’s hand until he had been taken too far from her reach and soon he disappeared into the horizon.

Why? Why did he have to be taken from her? She barely had him for 7 years, and now she likely wouldn't see him until his age had reached the double digits. Why? Why did they have to take him?

Her husband held her close and she sobbed into his chest as the Monkey King, the reason her son was being stolen away, left with the monk, and two demons and a horse she hadn’t previously noticed. They returned home and Macaque and Chang’e came to learn what happened too, and stayed by her side as she wept.

She couldn't remember how long she had wept for the loss of her son, she knew that it was a while, though. By the time she was done crying, part of her grief had turned to anger towards the Monkey King, but the rest became fear. Fear that she would lose someone else. She made her husband, Chang’e, and Míhóu promise that they would be safe and not do anything that would take them away from her, and they agreed. She was happy with that. She wanted them to stay safe and with her.

Unfortunately, life likes to play cruel tricks on immortals. It liked to make them watch as the life of someone dear to them was stripped from them. Princess Iron Fan had not a clue the context of the situation she bore witness to. She knew that she was roaming the mortal realm with her husband when in the distance she could see a golden light flying at highspeeds against a similar pale purple. It took her a moment before she recognized the lights to belong to the Monkey King and Macaque, but why would they be fighting? She looked away for only a moment, a moment she would come to regret for the rest of her immortal years.

In that moment, golden had overwhelmed purple, and the lavender light disappeared in a display so blinding the sun paled in comparison, but a darkness soon followed that could rival the evening sky. Upon seeing the spectacle when her gaze returned, her body screamed two different things. She was being called to check out the result of the fight, she needed to know what happened. Was her little brother ok? How badly was he hurt? But another part of her screamed to turn back. Part of her already knew the answer. Part of her knew she didn’t want to see confirmation of what she already knew, but she didn’t listen, and she paid the price.

It struck her like a spear through her heart when she witnessed the scene she descended upon. She could barely move as she stepped towards what she saw.

The Six-Eared Macaque, her little brother, laid in the arms of the golden furred Monkey King. His glamour had been removed to reveal the bits of white that covered a fourth of his pitch black fur by now, and his six ears. He wore his usual yellow and red outfit, with a red cape Sun Wukong had given him just before his final standoff against heaven. Sun Wukong himself was holding Míhóu so that he was huddled over him, blocking her view of the black and white furred monkey’s face, and, Jade Emperor be damned, she wished he had stayed that way.

When the Monkey King noticed her presence, he sat up right to look her in the eyes. He was sobbing and his face was covered in so much blood she wondered whose it was. She wasn’t left to wonder for long as she looked at Macaque’s face. The right side of it was basically nonexistent as it seemed to have been bashed in with the main impact point having been his eye. Blood ran from the open wound like water fell down a waterfall coating the grass beneath the simians.

She went to Macaque and tried to take him from the Monkey King, but he only held him closer and tighter, so she grabbed his paw instead. It was already cold. He was dead, and there was nothing she could do to save him. She looked up at Sun Wukong, preparing to ask who had killed him, but she knew the answer already. She knew the answer long long before she got to ask him. Before she noticed the bloodied red and gold staff.

Before he said, “I’m sorry.” It was so quiet, she almost wouldn’t have heard it, and she wished she hadn’t. She wished he hadn’t confirmed her suspicions.

She wanted to scream at the Monkey King. How could he do this? How could he hurt the man he once loved? How could he take her little brother away from her so soon after taking away her little boy? Why? What was wrong with him? Why did he give her them if he was only going to take them away from her? Why?

She held the lifeless paw of her brother close to her, placing his cold knuckles to her fore head and closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see his half gone face. She heard Sun Wukong apologize again and she screamed so loud she was sure it shook the heavens.

Did they scream? Did the Monkey King feel the grief she had felt? Did Macaque scream when his husband tore his sight and life away from him? They were questions that were left unanswered. She had attacked the Monkey King, she was prepared to blast him away with one swipe of her fan, or attack the monk he had been so desperately protecting for a decade but she got no chance. Words were screamed, names were called, tears were shed. At some point, Chang’e and the Demon Bull King arrived. Chang’e sobbed over their little brother who lay soaked in his own blood, never to move again as the Demon Bull King pulled Princess Iron Fan into a hug.

It wasn’t fair. She didn’t get to say goodbye to him. She wouldn’t get to see him laugh or smile again. And what about Savage and Rumble? They had never gotten to see Red Son before the Monkey King took him, and now they won’t ever get to exist now that Monkey King had killed their creator. They would never exist among the living ever again.

She hated the fate her family was subject to, it wasn’t fair. They hadn’t done anything wrong. They were just being happy.
She sobbed uncontrollably for what felt like forever after Míhóu’s death. It tore her apart from the inside out as she came to terms with both her baby boy and her little brother being in places she could not reach them. It destroyed her knowing she could not hold them close. Did the Monkey King feel her pain? She wished he did. She hated him. She wanted him to suffer in failure when he came to her door step to request the use of her fan.

If that were the case, then why had she given it to him? Why did she help? She knew why. Because she knew, deep down, by the look in the killer simian’s eyes, he hated himself for what he had done. He was grieving just as she was. Part of her had almost forgotten that he loved the Six-Eared macaque just as she had. While they loved him in different ways, he had still meant the world to both of them. She recalled her husband telling her how Macaque was like to the moon to the Monkey King’s sun. He, on his own, could not create light, but around Sun Wukong, he shone brighter than any star in the sky.

In the end she brought herself to help him; to forgive him for his crimes for just a little.

She slowly started to get better with the help of Chang’e and her husband. The two of them were essential in how she recovered. She couldn’t imagine how she could go about her immortality without either of them, she didn’t even want to think of it being a possibility.

But if there are two rules about life that Princess Iron Fan has come to learn so well, it’s that things are given, and then taken away.

She had gotten no warning this time. There was nothing that told her of the doom that awaited her. No message from the Monkey King, no lightshow in the distance, nothing. Just an empty house when she returned from a regular meeting with Chang’e. Despite the hundreds of years it had been, Chang’e missed her husband, Hou Yi. The pain had lessened over the centuries, but it still caused heartache nonetheless. The added loss of their brother did not ease the exiled goddess’ pain either. She had cried with Chang’e, she had comforted her, unaware of what would not await her when she returned home.

She remembered arriving in the living room, expecting to find her husband on the couch, as he often was, drinking wine, his way of coping with the loss of their son, but she had found nothing. She had thought nothing of it at first. She assumed he was in their bedroom, or he was out running an errand, or taking care of business. He was a demon king – it wasn’t unusual for him to deal with disputes between demons.

Princess Iron Fan relaxed in their library for hours, at least she tried. Something in her gut was bugging her, something about her husband. She got up, eventually listening to the feeling that told her to look for him. He was a grown man, she knew that. He could handle himself, but he had made plenty of enemies in his time, they hadn’t seen his brothers other than the Monkey King in centuries, who knew if they had some deep rooted hatred towards him for not aiding in the final fight against heaven. Not to mention, the last times she let someone she cared for out of her sight for long, one got taken away from her for an indefinite period of time and the other taken from her for good, so by now she was a bit paranoid.

That paranoia and the feeling in her gut worsened when she came to terms with the fact the Demon Bull King was nowhere in their house and she had yet to see signs that he had left and would return soon. She continued looking until she noticed his weapon was missing from their weapon rack. It had been a weapon Macaque had made for him as it had been a hobby of his. It wasn’t easy to misplace, nor look over as it was a battle axe large enough to be used by her husband, so the fact that she could not locate it sent warning flags in her head.

Her gut yelled at her to head to a specific location, she didn’t know why; the place was of no significance to her or the Demon Bull King or to anyone she knew. It was a random place, so why did she feel the need to go there? What was there?

She regretted asking the second she arrived.

She had flown there as soon as the feeling in her gut got too heavy to ignore. She tried to tell herself he was fine, that she had nothing to worry about, but that didn’t shake her bad feeling. She had to check it out, and she did.

There, she felt two energies that remained in the area but were waning. There was the energy of her husband, and that of the Monkey King. The Monkey King had finished his Journey with the monk a few years ago, so now he was able to roam free, unburdened, so finding his energy in the area came as no surprise to her. What surprised her was that the Demon Bull King’s energy accompanied it. It seemed off and she looked around.

While this place was of no importance to her, nor anything special at all, she noticed in the near area that a mountain seemed to have its top taken off, and close by a new mountain had appeared. Not far from the new mountain, a small town was in progress. Give it a few millennia and that town would likely become a bustling city. She ignored the town and continued to look around, following her instinct to the new mountain. Here, the energies were the strongest.

Atop the mountain, to Princess Iron Fan’s shock, she found the Monkey King’s staff, leaning, but stuck in the stone of the mountain. She tried to pick it up, but it could only be wielded by the ruling simian for a reason, so it was of no use. The energy of the golden furred monkey was strongest in this part of the mountain, which came as no surprise since his staff was stuck up there. Meanwhile, her husband’s energy came heavily from below the mountain.

She traveled to the foot of the rock structure and looked all around it but saw no trace of her spouse. Why did she feel his presence then?

Upon looking around, she saw some mortal observing the mountain just as she was, though less effectively. They seemed to be the town nearby, so, Princess Iron Fan hid herself to look like a mortal just the same and walked to the mortals at the base of the mountain.

They waved to her and she returned the gesture as she approached them. They exchanged greetings until she asked, “Do any of you know how this mountain got here? I swear it was not here before.”

The eldest of the group, a man, looked at her. “You mean you didn’t see?” She shook her head.

“There was this large purple bull and this small orange macaque that were fighting, and the orange macaque sliced the top of the mountain off, and trapped the large bull underneath it. He then left his staff atop this new mountain and walked off. The fight was insane. You should have-”

Princess Iron fan cut the man off as she raced up the mountain again. She now understood why her husband’s energies were coming so heavily from below the mountain, he was stuck there. She felt the panic rise in her chest. Was her gut trying to tell her this was happening? How long had it been since he had been trapped? If she had listened sooner, would she have gotten to say goodbye? Would she have been able to stop it from happening? Why had he gone to fight the Monkey King? Why didn’t he tell her? Why did Sun Wukong take him away from her?

Why did he have to take away everything she cared about? What was his deal? What was his problem with her? She cursed his name as she reached he gold and red staff that stood at the top of the mountain. The same staff that was used to kill her brother and was now being used to seal away her husband. This cursed staff had done nothing but bring her pain, she hated it. She grabbed the staff and pulled it, hoping it would budge, but the more the realization that her lover had been taken from her just like her little brother and her baby boy hit her, the more she felt her body begin to shake. Her strength was slipping. When her strength was at max capacity she couldn’t lift the staff, she had no hope to lift it as the same strength waned. She couldn’t do it. The staff weighed over 17,000 pounds, the only being to ever wield it being a golden furred stone monkey. The only hope she had of lifting it was that her grief felt as though it weighed more than twice that of the staff, but not even that could secure her success.

She fell, kneeling in front of the staff. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the weapon that could only be lifted by the simian that gave her everything, only to take it all away. Her heart squeezed, aching at the thought that she wouldn’t get to see her lover’s caring smile again. She wouldn’t get to feel his warm embrace or his lips on hers. She wouldn’t get to hear his deep hearty laugh. Her meals would be eaten in solitude with the only company being that of the wind and their servants. And maybe Chang’e from time to time. She wouldn’t be able to spar with him, or laugh with him about how they met and his first words to her were to tell her how beautiful she was. She wouldn’t get to see him until the seal was broken, and who knew how long that would be.

It was all the Monkey King’s fault. He was to blame for all of it.

A scream ripped from her throat, winds whipped around her, creating a wind storm that could wipe away the nearby town if she so instructed. She hugged and curled in on herself as the wind whipped and whirled around her frantically. Maybe the wind would erode the mountain and free the Demon Bull King. Maybe it could pick it up and send it flying, but even she knew that wasn’t possible, no matter how hard she may try.

She wasn’t quite sure how long she had been like that until she felt the embrace of someone. She looked up, tears blurting her vision. She saw a mop of black on a tan head, encasing what seemed to be a kind and gentle expression. For a moment she was fooled into thinking somehow the world had returned her brother to her, but upon closer inspection, the person wore teals, green, and white; colors Míhóu never wore. It was Chang’e who pulled her close and comforted her. The moon goddess rubbed her back as her sister of the wind slowly calmed down, stopping the tornado she had created in her grief.

Princess Iron Fan held tight to Chang’e’s clothing, sobbing into her shoulder. They were all gone; Red Son, Macaque, and now the Demon Bull King. Chang’e was all she had left, and she wanted to keep her as close as possible for as long as she could.

When Princess Iron Fan had fully calmed down, she looked around. Luckily, she had caused no damage to the town that sat nearby, but she also failed to cause a dent in the mountain she had grieved upon for Buddha knew how long. The staff still rested in the mountain, and her husband was still sealed beneath it.

Chang’e offered the idea that maybe someone in the celestial realm could lift the seal. Though they both knew that feat was not possible, they left to try nonetheless. Chang’e arrived at the gates with her sister though stopping there as being exiled meant she could go no further. Princess Iron Fan continued inwards alone, eventually arriving at the Jade Emperor’s throne room where she presented her issue. That day, many celestial beings tried their hand at lifting the staff, but none were successful. Demons tried as well. Even Erlang made an appearance to try, but every one of them failed.

The wind goddess accepted the fact that her husband was trapped and wept for him with Chang’e by her side.

Years began to pass. Every day, Princess Iron Fan returned to the mountain to try and lift the staff, and everyday she failed. Sometimes, she would bring flowers to place on top of the mountain for her lover. She would do the same whenever she visited Míhóu’s grave. She did all of this while waiting for the return of her son. She had thought many times to search for the Monkey King, fight him, and demand he do what only he could and free her husband, but she always came up empty handed. She could not find him, and she could no longer get inside Flower Fruit Mountain. She was stuck. So she waited.

She waited for the return of her son, and waited for a day when someone would finally be able to free her husband. She waited with Chang'e, the one person she had managed to keep by her side through it all.

After some time, one of them finally came home. She had been sitting alone at home when she heard the door open. She rose from her seat to greet who she assumed was Chang’e, but her heart nearly stopped when she heard the visitor.

“Father? Mother?” She knew only one person who would enter her home calling for their parents, and no matter how many decades had passed, she would always recognize that voice. She walked faster to foyer where she found her baby boy standing there, looking around.

He had been gone for 64 years and he still looked just as he did when he was taken from her. He looked at her. His skin was still a beautiful earthy tan, his hair a bright red with an orange streak in the front. His ears were still as fluffy as they had always been and his tail still sleek with hair at the end. His horns had started growing in, unlike her own, his were real, taking after his father in that sense. He bore a scar on his left cheek from back when he was younger. He had set his room aflame with the Samadhi fire and a glass cup had exploded from the heat, sending shards flying, one had cut his face and left the mark.

She knew he no longer had the Samadhi fire. It had been separated from his body and split into three rings back when he had been detained. Each of the rings had been entrusted to a different individual to hide; the third Lotus Prince Nezha, the Monkey King, and the Demon Bull King. She had not a clue where the other rings were, but she knew her husband had kept his, and it was now trapped under the mountain with him.

“Mother?” Her son looked at her with tears in his eyes and she could feel them begin to build in her own. She ran towards her son and pulled him into a hug. He had grown taller than her, but she didn't mind, she had him back and that’s what mattered. He returned his mother’s warm embrace and they cried in the other’s arms, having missed each other more than they could describe.

Eventually they parted, though she didn’t want to, she knew it best to give him a little space. Red son looked around. She knew what he was looking for, or who, and it made her smile falter. His smile did not until he saw the look on her face.

“Where’s Father? Or Uncle Macaque and the twins? I would like to apologize for having left without telling them. What about Aunt Chang’e?” He smiled, though it was uncertain and growing smaller the longer she delayed answering her son’s questions.

She took a deep breath in before releasing it and his smile finally dropped. “Mother? Did something happen while I was gone?”

“Chang’e is fine. She’s currently on her moon.” He smiled, his mother did not though. “As for your father and the other three… which would you like to see first?”

“Father.” His answer was quick without hesitation. That made sense. He always looked up to his father more than anyone else, and whether able to embrace him or not, the Demon Bull King would appreciate being the first to be visited by his son when he returned home.

She bowed her head in agreement and took him with her to the mountain that kept his sire under lock and a permanently stuck key. He looked around excitedly but his excitement quickly died down as he grew confused, not seeing his father. He looked at his mother and she looked towards the staff that continued to sit in the mountain, unmoving.

“Isn’t that Sun Wukong’s staff?” Princess Iron Fan nodded. “Why are we here? I thought we were going to see Father?”

She looked at her son, tears welling in her eyes once more, there would probably be a lot of that happening at this rate. She hugged herself and told Red Son what happened to his father, though she left out why he had gone to fight in the first place. She couldn’t have told him anyway, it wasn’t like she knew the answer. He began to cry himself but wiped his tears and ran down the mountain towards the town that had grown to about 3 times its original size over the years. It now surrounded the mountain and was beginning to build on it.

After about half an hour, Red Son returned to the mountaintop with a bouquet of flowers and placed them next to a tree that was just beginning to sprout from the ground next to the tree. He knelt and made a prayer to the mountain, a ritual he must have learned from his time under Guanyin. She watched him and he sat next to her, in front of the staff that trapped his father, and her husband. He rested her head on his shoulder and she told him stories of the man that sired him.

She told him how brave he was fighting against heaven, and how that was how she and him met. She told him about how he refused to fight Heaven a second time just to keep her safe. He listened so intently and his eyes sparkled hearing about the things his father had done. She loved talking about her lover, and Red Son loved hearing about him. It was a perfect family moment, she just wished the rest of her family could be there to enjoy it.

After a while, Red Son asked, “What about Uncle Macaque? And the twins: Savage and Rumble? How are they? Can we see them?”

She nearly cried for the hundredth time as she realized she would have to tell him of their fates, but she held her composure. She held his hand and took him with her a second time, this time their destination being Macaque’s grave. On their way, she continued to tell him stories of the Demon Bull King. This time she talked about the brotherhood he was once apart of. She talked about the little she knew of the three brothers that had returned from the final stand off against heaven, and she spoke about the Stone Monkey that had brought them all together.

Her son smiled hearing about his father’s friends, though his expression grew sorrowful realizing that his father had been betrayed by the simian he once called brother.

She told her offspring about Macaque next and how beautiful he was when he took down his glamour to reveal what he truly looked like. She told him about the accessories she wore to remember him and Chang’e and the feathers she had given them to remember her. She talked about Míhóu and the Monkey King being lovers and how much they had cared for each other, almost as much as she cared for the Demon Bull King. It shattered her again when she remembered how it came to be that she was taking her child to his uncle’s grave.

They arrived and the smile that Red Son had been sporting hearing about the people his mother cared so much about disappeared when he spotted the gravestone. The grave sight wasn’t anything fancy, it was a small clearing with a rock in the center that read “Ānxí ba Liù ěr Míhóu Xiōngdì, qíngrén, fùqīn”, or “R.I.P. Six Eared Macaque, Brother, Lover, and Father”. There were two smaller stones that read “Savage” and “Rumble” in front of the gravestone, and flowers grew around the stones. The decades that had passed had begun to erode the rocks, but the writing on them was still clear as day.

“How did they die? I thought uncle Míhóu was immortal like the Monkey king?” Red Son looked at her confused, and she looked at the ground, sitting in front of the grave. She did her best to keep herself from crying for umpteenth time as she told him the brother that betrayed his father was the same simian that bashed in his own lover’s head, taking away three lives with one kill. She broke as she watched her son grow pissed hearing of all the ways the Monkey King had stolen from her.

Red Son, like his mother, could not wrap his head around what the Monkey King was thinking, and his hair turned to flame as his anger took hold of him. If it weren't for the fact Princess Iron Fan knew her son was no longer in possession of the Samadhi fire, she would have thought those deep red flames would burst from his body and destroy everything in their path. His quick outburst went out though as his anger turned to grief.

The half-demon, half-celestial hugged his mother crying softly on her shoulder. While he had not known Macaque, Savage, or Rumble for as long as she had, they had still been very close, so the loss was just as hard on him. She held her son close and wept with him.

In time they left flowers for the six eared Simian and his clones and they left for home. There they talked, and caught up. Red Son got to learn more of the family that had been taken from him just as he had been taken from his mother. For once, with her son back home, the palace no longer felt as empty as it did.

Years began to pass again. They fixed Red Son’s room to be better suited to his liking. Chang’e still visited regularly, she had been ridiculously happy that her nephew had returned and they made mooncakes on her first visit since his return. They all visited Macaque’s resting place and the mountain the Demon Bull King was forced to reside under. They watched as technology began to enhance over the years and Red Son and Chang’e became quickly well adjusted with it, creating vehicles, robot rabbits, factories, and even creating a cooking show.

With the advancements in technology, the town that started small near the Mountain the Demon Bull King was trapped under, expanded and built over the mountain becoming a very modernized city known as Megapolis. Visiting the mountain became harder to do with the city but they bought a bit of land to keep under construction where the top of the mountain resided. It was now buried under the city but Princess Iron Fan and Red Son still visited regularly throughout the millennia that passed, continuously trying to free her husband from his imprisonment. Unfortunately, they were never successful.

Over the many years, Princess Iron Fan began to close off her heart to the world, even to her own son. However, she continued to long for her husband, even as suitors began to take notice that she had been left without a lover for centuries. Despite not being a demon, when demon courting season came around, demons from all over would come and try to claim Princess Iron Fan to be their wife. They told her waiting for the Demon Bill Kong was stupid as he would likely never be free again, but she didn't care. She loved him, and only him.

When Red Son came of age, demons also began trying to court him: both women and men alike wanted his hand in marriage. They fought him in hopes that they could overpower him, or kidnap him and show him that they would make a desirable partner, but like his mother, he did not care for the suitors. He avoided them and no one was ever successful in winning his hand. However, he also never went after another. He preferred his solitude over finding a partner, and Princess Iron Fan didn’t see a reason why he needed a mate, so she never bothered about it. Chang’e did from time to time, but she wasn’t horrible about it.

She never did bother her sister about finding a new lover though, for she would be a hypocrite if she did. Chang’e had lost her husband to the curse of mortality much longer ago than the Demon Bull King had been under the mountain, but she never once bothered to try and move on. She claimed HouYi was the only man she would ever love, so she understood her sister’s reluctance to move on as well.

Princess Iron Fan even tried using bull clones, a robotic creation of Red Son’s that they used to create a small army, to lift the staff but they failed as well. Part of her was beginning to lose hope until her child ran to her with a gauntlet covering his right hand. He was beaming as he told her the gauntlet, he swore, would be what would finally permit them to lift the Monkey King’s staff. Though skeptical, she agreed to go back to the mountain with him and some bull clones to try out his new invention.

On the way, he demonstrated the strength it gave him and she grew more and more convinced today was finally the day she would see her lover again.

Before they had left, she had made sure both Red Son and herself were presentable. He wore his favorite coat, a red jacket that had a golden pattern on the back alluding to him as the creator of the Samadhi Fire. She wore her favorite red dress that had a small window to her stomach. She had worn the dress a lot back when she had been pregnant with Red Son, but even now, when she no longer has a swollen pregnant belly, it still fits perfectly.

They arrived at the mountain spot, a place of greenery despite being buried under layers upon layers of machinery and being forced to reside in a metal cave. A large luscious tree now sat next to the immovable staff and they were surrounded by moss and vines. The most recent bouquet of flowers Princess Iron Fan had left for her love, sat wilting.

She could hardly wait, it was finally time for her to drive away the countless suitors she got every year and have her husband back. An idiotic bull clone made an attempt to lift the staff, but like all the other attempts, it had failed. Red Son, her fiery offspring was not deterred from this record of failed attempts. He took to the mountaintop and grabbed a hold of the staff.

As he did this she heard the sound of clanking and a voice though she decided to chalk it up to one of the bull clones. She also felt the presence of the Monkey King but she figured that was due to being near the staff.

She watched in anticipation as her son pulled the staff, it wasn’t working to the point his hair lit with fire and she was about ready to call this attempt quits when suddenly, he succeeded! Her eyes lit up and her heart skipped a beat as he successfully pulled the staff from the ground. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and she felt the same worry and grief she had felt so many times well in her chest, but stayed strong and put on a brave face. One she had worn for many years.

It seemed her son had also noticed the lack of the return of his father as well when he asked, stupidly in her opinion, “Mother, are you sure this is the right mountain?”

She scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. “No,” she replied. “Maybe it was that other mountain with a magical staff on it, sealing away my husband!”

Suddenly, the ground lurched and the mountaintop blasted open. She grinned as the same purple bull demon king she loved and missed so dearly walked free towards her. Buddha, she wanted to cry as he spoke about being free. He now sported some blue scars, his frame was lighter, and one of his horns had broken, but that was alright. She loved him no matter what he looked like.

She missed him so much. She missed his voice, it had been so long it was like she had forgotten what he sounded like. Chang’e would be so happy to know he’s back. Now. If only she could bring back Míhóu, her life would be perfect again.

“Demon Bull King, Love.” She spoke, holding back the urge to cry.

He looked at her with the love in his eyes she missed. “Princess Iron Fan.” His voice was full of warmth and adoration. “How did you free me?”

She opened her mouth to respond but Red Son had cut her off, gloating to his father about his success. She shook her head but she laughed on the inside. This was the first time he had seen his father since he was 7 years old, living off of stories she and Chang’e had told him, he had to be excited. She could tell he was.

The Demon Bull King looked at her, relatively shocked to see his son after so long. Even still, their son still had not changed since the first time she had seen him in the foyer so long ago. He was about half his father’s height and his horns had grown much more prominent, but other than that, no change had occurred.

The next moments were ones Princess Iron Fan swore would change the course of her eternity, but she didn’t mind these changes. She didn’t mind as a human had dropped in on their family reunion, other than being a bit annoyed that her time with her family had been interrupted. She watched as her son chased the human to get revenge on him for interrupting his showing off, an action GuanYin would have definitely disapproved of. While time with her had calmed Red Son down quite a bit, he was still very much a hot head, in more ways than one.

As her son raced away she looked at her husband who kneeled to be closer to his wife. Their eyes locked and she couldn't contain her tears.

“How long has it been?” He grabbed her hand in his. His hand was still rouch from his many years of fighting, but it was also still soft with hair, though it was partially covered in debris from the mountain. She brushed away some of the dust from his hand and brought said hand to hold her face as they locked eyes again.

“Much too long.” They touched their foreheads together, and she cried, hugging her lover. He hugged her back, it truly had been much too long.

Their lips touched for the first time in millennia and for a second, she managed to forget that her family was still incomplete. She was back in her husband’s arms and that was all she needed at the moment. She had missed him so much, being near him made her heart swell. She had stayed loyal to him for so long, and all that waiting was finally paying off.

He groaned in pain and she helped him walk to a place where he could properly recover, the factory in which the bull clones were made to be precise.

From there, so much had happened she almost couldn't keep track of it all. They ended up fighting the human that had intruded on their family reunion as he, for some reason unbeknownst to her, was the only being other than the Monkey King able to wield the gold and red staff. It was almost PTSD inducing the way he moved and fought like the simian. His impulsiveness was also on brand in a way she felt as though it was actually Sun Wukong they were fighting. She watched as he wielded the weapon that beat her son, murdered her brother, and trapped her husband. She felt her rage boil towards the mortal and she almost wanted to take all her hatred of the golden furred stone monkey out on the child. Ok, maybe not a child, he was an adult by human terms.

Either way, her hatred for the mortal himself grew as he constantly bothered her family, though part of her wanted to thank him. They had found a power source for her husband and he had helped acquire the key they needed to unlock it. However, she began to regret taking the key as they opened the door to the power source. Inside was freezing cold, and it gave an ominous feeling of death.

Something in her gut screamed at her to get away from the door, having found no reason not to trust her instinct before, she listened, pulling her child away from the door as he kicked a weird spirit off of himself. The Demon Bull King stood a ways back and the spirits inside the box they had opened whipped past her towards him. Looking closer inside, she came to the conclusion they opened some kind of tomb. There was some feeling of holy magic, so whatever had been locked up was something that was not appreciated by Heaven.

As the last of the spirits whipped by Princess Iron Fan, she heard one whisper in her ear.

It was the voice of a woman she didn't recognize but she heard clearly what it told her. “He’s back among the living, can you find him before his killer does?” The words were chilling. Princess Iron Fan knew who the spirit was referring to, but there was no way, he had been long dead.

It didn't matter at the moment as she heard her husband begin to laugh. She looked at him, preparing to laugh with him, but something wasn’t right with him and the fear she had felt for her family so many times returned. It returned so many times she wanted to cry.

It started when they opened that tomb and her demon lover started acting as though he were possessed. She felt it as he yelled at their son when he had done nothing wrong. She felt the fear when they had to ask the mortal with the Monkey King’s staff for help and get her husband back to them. She feared he would go too far like his predecessor, but he didn’t and that fear paused momentarily when her husband fell like he had been under the effects of a drug he was just waking from. She felt tears again as she grew relieved he was safe.

She left later that week per her family’s request. They told her she had been stressing too much and told her to make use of the human’s technology to go visit Chang’e on the moon. She ended up going mostly because she did miss her sister, but part of her gut was telling her that was a bad idea. She decided she would simply ignore it for the time of her trip. As she left Megapolis, she passed through the older part of the city, the part you could tell had been there for centuries at the very least as it was not as modern as the rest of the city.

In this older part of the city there was a building she hadn’t truly noticed. She recognized it as she had seen it before, but she stopped in front of it to actually understand what it was. She took note that it was one of those buildings that was used for a business but made use of a separate but still connected part of the building as a living space. The business it seemed to hold was a dojo. It was closed but a peak through the dark windows, it seemed like a place Macaque would have enjoyed if he were still alive. She smiled, but saw something move in the dark. She didn’t want the owner to catch her looking in and accuse her of trying to steal anything, so she left.

As she left though, something caught the corner of her eye in the alleyway that likely had the back door to inside the building. What caught her attention wasn’t anything strange, but the profile of someone she had almost forgotten what they look like. She whipped head to see just in time, the aforementioned back door closing though she failed to see the face of the one who had closed it.

“Strange,” she spoke to herself. “For a second I thought I saw Míhóu.” No, there was no way she had. It must be that stress her child and husband were talking about. The spirit was wrong. He wasn’t back. He had been dead for millennia, and there was no way back from death.

She arrived on Chang’e’s moon stunned to find a thriving garden. She had wondered how her sister had gotten fresh ingredients for her cooking show, and it seemed she finally had her answer.

Princess Iron Fan stayed with Chang’e for a little over 2 weeks. In that time the two of them cooked and talked and overall just relaxed. Princess Iron Fan assisted her sister in her cooking show, though she never went on screen. It was during this visit that she learned Chang’e was in possession of one of the three rings of Samadhi. She only briefly asked about it, but when she learned Chang’e didn't truly know what it was, she dropped the subject. The moon goddess didn’t need to know and the wind goddess had no use for it.

They enjoyed their time together. One of the things they talked about was their late little brother. They talked about how much they missed him. They missed how he would sneak up on them using his shadow portals, or how would make them weapons as gifts. They recalled his knack for poetry and his love of acting. They laughed at the memory of the stories he would tell Red Son using his shadows to make puppets, or how he found ways to insult his big sisters and husband in poetic rhymes. Princess Iron Fan brought up what had happened with the spirits, what one of them told her, and even how she thought saw Macaque from the corner of her eye.

“I must sound crazy,” she suggested to her moon sister, laughing it off, but the exiled goddess shook her head.

“I went down to the mortal realm to do some material shopping, and for a split second I could have sworn I heard him buying fabrics. Unfortunately, when I looked, he was nowhere in sight. Also, did you see the news a while back that a weird, giant, purple monster had attacked Megapolis?” Princess Iron Fan shook her head and she learned a monster almost identical to Macaque’s Kaiju, Smokey, with the exception of an ‘x’ for its right eye, had attacked the city and then suddenly disappeared.

It was odd. The way everything was timed together, Princess Iron Fan wanted to believe it was true. Maybe, by some miracle, their brother had returned to them. Maybe it was him they kept seeing. Maybe, just maybe, she could find him before Wukong did and she could have her little family again. It could be complete once more.

But, she couldn't find him. She didn't even know where she would start looking. As she returned to earth, she took a detour getting home in hopes she would be able to locate her brother, if he really was revived, but she had seen nothing to prove that theory correct.

She had stopped by a theater after her search for her brother. It was growing a small name for itself in Megapolis for incredible Shadowplays and she wanted to feel the nostalgia that would accompany attending one. Luckily, the theatre was mostly empty, so she managed to get a seat very easily. .

Princess Iron Fan could feel herself settle at ease in her seat. It wasn't necessarily comfortable, but the setting was. She relaxed even more as darkness took the room to better enhance the visuals. She felt eyes on her, but she shrugged it off, assuming the reason was that some people recognized her from the chaos her family had caused. She looked around and sat forward as the storyteller took the stage. His face was covered by a hood, but it added to the theming of the room.

The storyteller was dressed in a red black hanfu with the aforementioned hood. Not a very complicated outfit, but it was nice. For a second, right before the show started, she could have sworn the storyteller had looked in her direction, but it was so quick she could have very well imagined it. The hooded figure began to speak, pulling out a lantern that radiated magical energy that would only be noticed by beings of magical caliber such as herself. The shadow play officially started with the lantern out in the open and Princess Iron fan listened to he story intently.

It told the story of three magical beings that didn’t quite belong but found solace in each other, forming a sibling bond. One of the beings had been cast aside for looking different that the rest of his kind, one had been abandoned by her family due to a misunderstanding, and the other loved a man whom her family did not approve of. Despite the ways they suffered in society, the three came to understand each other. They supported the outcast and his looks, took notice that the girl had been wrongfully punished, and understood that love was not the other’s to control. They formed a bond stronger than blood and traded accessories that they still bore to this day to remember one another, no matter the distance put between them. It had been a sentiment that proved useful as the women continued to live through many years when their ‘brother’ had been taken from their grasp and killed. They had lost one, but they still had eachother and the memories of the love they all shared, and that’s what mattered most to them.
As she listened, Princess Iron Fan wanted to laugh about how much she related to the woman in love in the story. However, that did not hold her attention the most through the show. It was the fact that the storyteller had sounded so much like Macaque, it was uncanny. From just how his voice was pitched to the way he spoke and told the story. It was enchanting in the same way he had told stories so long ago. She wanted to talk to the storyteller, to ask him if they knew each other, but she was unable to find him after the show. Taking that loss, she returned home to her family, who were being oddly friendlier with each other than prior to when she left.

She ignored their odd behavior. It was just a father and son reforging the bond that should have been built long over millennia, and that was fine with her. They continued living happily together, though she should have suspected that their lives would not be peaceful with the spirit that possessed her husband still roaming around.

Her first clue in that they were not completely safe was when, suddenly, a month and a half after her visit to Chang’e, the Monkey King’s successor was in her house with the descendant of the dragon the Monkey King once traveled with, and the reincarnation of a lake demon that had been on the same journey. Red Son had brought them in, and they learned the three were looking for her son’s creation, the Samadhi Fire.

The mortals claimed tey needed it to fight an enemy and asked if they knew where to find the three rings. While they told the mortals of the Samadhi Fire’s origins, they refused to share any locations. It wasn’t like they would be much help, only Princess Iron Fan knew of two of the three rings locations. They intended to keep the secret of the one ring the family knew of, but unfortunately, somehow their guests had learned that the Demon Bull King’s nose ring was one of the three pieces they were looking for. They had even managed to take in while they were asleep and get away with it. She didn’t trust their so called reason for needing the fire, mostly due to the fact that this was a mission they said was requested by Sun Wukong himself. She hated him and had little to no faith in any plan he concocted.

Her doubts, however, began to disappear when only a couple days later, Princess Iron Fan and her husband had been caught by surprise and knocked unconscious. Fear began to boil in her heart, scared about what was going to happen to them. Would they be killed? Separated? What about Red Son? Her baby boy. Luckily before she was fully out cold, she managed to catch sight of her child getting away before their attacker could harm him too. But she also felt an icy cold fill the room. It reminded her of the tomb they opened.

The next time Princess Iron Fan woke was in a cold sweat in an even colder cellar. Sounds of the Demon Bull King ramming into something echoed through the room. She was grateful to find he had not been taken from her a second time, but as she sat up, she felt dizzy. She held her head and groaned, an action that had not gone unnoticed as her lover stopped running into a icy blue barrier an instead came to her side, holding her up and keeping her steady. In doing so, he also caught her up on their situation.

They were stuck in this prison that seemed to be unprotected by any guards. There was, however, a demon with and eery smile and glowing blue eyes that would visit. While he seemed to be semi powerful, he was clearly not the one in charge; which begged the question, who was? There had also been no sign that their child had been captured as well, so to their knowledge, he was still safe. Her husband also informed her that he had been trying to escape since he woke up hours ago, and still had no success. That was ok, if not a little worrying.

Whoever imprisoned them had to be the enemy that the Monkey King felt he needed to reforge the Samadhi Fire to beat, and considering they couldn’t even get through a simple barrier, he might just have been right. Who could be responsible for this? Who held so much power they scared the Great Sage that terrified all of heaven into needing such a destructive force the parts to it had to be hidden?

She was snapped from her thoughts as the sound of someone approaching their cell reached her ears. She whipped her head to look out the cell, an action she paid the price for with a splitting head ache. Something about the air made her feel dizzy, like she way being drugged. She hated it. She got in a stance, prepared to get into hand to hand combat despite her situation. She did not have her fan so she would be at a disadvantage if their opponent specialized in weaponry.

However, when she saw the one to approach them, her heart stopped, not in fear but in shock. Their visitor’s face was also accompanied by a voice that she really should have recognized a month or so ago when she had gone to that Shadow play.

“Pif,” the voice called into the darkness, she didn’t respond as she began to cry. She had missed the owner of the voice too much. Their visitor called again. “Pif?”

She approached the barrier that separated her from the voice. “Míhóu?” Her voice cracked as he came closer, proving to her she wasn’t hallucinating. Her little brother truly was just in front of her. He had been dead, she didn’t even know how he came to be walking around, but whatever the reason was she was thankful for it. She had missed him so much.

“Pif, I’m here. It’s me.” She cried, placing her hand on the barrier, his paw mirroring her on the other side. He truly was there. She looked towards her husband with a smile on her face as tears fell down her cheeks. Their presence was the warmest feeling down in this cellar. The Demon Bull King seemed just as shocked as she was to see the black furred simian.

Princess Iron Fan faced her brother once more to take in how he had changed. It hadn’t been much, at least not for his disguise. The only real difference was that his fur had been permitted to grow long enough to be pulled into a ponytail. Hisclothing had also changed. He wore a deep blue with golden accents and a demon symbol on his chest. A red ribbon was embedded in his hair instead of her feather and the earring from Chang’e was gone, a choice she had a feeling he had not made on his own. He did still have the red scarf-cape Sun Wukong had given him so long ago. Something was bugging her. What did he look like without the glamour? What if he took it down?

She asked, and with some hesitation, he did. A gasp left her mouth at the sight. While his glamour had not changed as he had full control over it, his original appearance was a different story. On the least surprising end of things, his fur was half white, on his right, which made sense, though she had almost expected it to have taken over more of the black over the years. But while his left looked almost different from his glamour , other than two extra ears that had glowing insides, his right was entirely different. His face had a large x-shaped jagged scar on that side, stemming from a clouded purple eye. It looked as though the blow that killed him had blinded him on that side. The three ears on that side were also scared and had tears in them.

What shocked her the most though was that there was no hyperpigmentation to his face, there was no sign of blood flow through his body. He was pale, like he wasn’t actually alive; just a corpse with the ability to walk around. If she touched him, would he be as cold as he was when we died? If she listened for a heart beat, would she find one? How was he able to move?

“Macaque, how are you here?” Her husband beat her to the question.

“The Lady Bone Demon. She freed me from the chains of death. She gave me the ability to walk among the living. I’m not actually alive, she couldn’t grant me life again, but I'm allowed to roam like I still have a beating heart. I guess it’s good i’m the only one with absurdly good hearing.”

“So,” Princess Iron Fan started. “Is your.. life tethered to hers? If she dies, will you die again too? Is she why we’re down here? Can you get us out?”

The simian shook his head. “If our lives are tethered I’m not sure, but I do know she’s why you’re down here, and why I can’t help you. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be chasing the kid – err– Monkey King’s successor. She’s taken over Megapolis. I heard the sounds of her taking you two captive so I wanted to come say hi.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, as he looked around. He clearly didn’t have much time until he risked being caught. “Listen, as soon as she has what she wants, I’ll see if she’ll free you, but I can’t promise anything. Just stay here and wait a bit longer. I know you’ve been doing that a long time, but just a little longer, Pif, please.”

She held back more tears, she was just happy he was back with her for a little. She nodded and he bid farewell before replacing his glamour and shadow portaling away. She didn’t want this ‘Lady Bone Demon’ to get what she wanted, but if there was a chance her life was tethered to Macaque’s, she would let it slide, just so she could keep him with her.

She hugged her spouse and cried as she said, “He’s alive. He’s been brought back to me, love. My family has finally all been returned to me. He’s alive.”

She felt the Demon Bull King laugh slightly. “He’s not exactly alive.”

She chuckled. “No, no, I guess not. But he has been brought back to me. Time brought back our son, we brought you back, and now this Lady Bone Demon brought back my brother. You have all come back to me at last.”

Something she didn’t tell her husband was how grateful she was that she was not indebted to the Monkey King for giving them back to her like he had given them to her in the first place. She was grateful she didn't have to find it in herself to forgive him for taking them away just because he had returned them to her, because he hadn’t. It was all her waiting that brought them back. She had waited and her son came back to her. She waited for technology to advance and her son to create what they needed to free her husband. It was waiting to find that tomb and get what they needed to open it that brought back her brother.

They were back because she waited.

She waited some more, this time with her husband and, eventually, they were freed. Not because some strange woman came and freed them or because Macaque arrived with some way to unlock the barrier, but because things began to fall apart.

The air got warmer, they could breathe without feeling like the air was filled with a drug meant to keep them dizzy. There was a solid in the area that was ice cold to the touch but closer inspection proved to be similar to that of bone. It even had the same texture as bone. Princess Iron Fan came to the quick conclusion this was the result of the Lady Bone Demon’s power. It felt fitting for a character of such caliber to have such a chilling power – literally and figuratively. Then it hit her as she watched the bone-ice begin to disappear, allowing things that it had been supporting to crumble to the ground.

If this bone-ice was created by the Lady Bone Demon, and it was disappearing, that meant that the villainess had been defeated. She was dead.

Macaque. Where was he? She looked around frantically, searching for the black furred monkey. Surely even if he was dead, his body would just collapse right? It wouldn’t disappear. It should be easy to find.

Then she spotted it. A large group of 9 people. She recognized everyone at least a little bit with the exception of one person; a human child that was being wrapped up in a blanket that had likely been found lying around from the wreckage. There were also the reincarnations of the demons and monk Monkey King once traveled to the west with. Alongside them was the successor of the Monkey King who was being hugged and congratulated by the pig demon and the monk’s reincarnation.

Among the group she also spotted her son. He was supporting the descendent of the dragon horse from the stone monkey’s travels, keeping her standing. He was not wearing his usual red jacket and the girl was wearing singed cloth and messy hair, though Red Son wasn’t in a much better shape. She smiled. Her son hated physical contact with basically anyone and said that, the day he holds someone or he lets them hold him, will be the day he falls in love. Buddha, if that was the case, though she was not fond of whom he fell in love with, she was glad he was opening his heart to another. She knew that action could lead to pain, she knew that very well, but she also knew love was not a choice he could make and would accept him no matter who ended up loving. She did find it amusing though the dragon horse girl was about half her son’s height.

He was safe, though. Messy, but safe.

Also among the crowd were two monkeys. One had orange golden fur, wearing bulky armor as he tried to approach, even talk to the other creature just like him. The other had black fur and harbored no care for the presence of the golden furred monkey as he held the unknown child close. The armored monkey reached to place a hand on the other’s shoulders, irritation starting to brim as the black monkey shrugged him off, but his action had been stopped when a gust of wind flew by, dragging both the non-armored monkey and the celestial fire demon from the women they were assisting into a hug.

Princess Iron Fan pulled both men close to her, one in each arm.

“Mother?”

“Hey, Pif.” Her embrace was reciprocated by the simian much faster than it was by her offspring but they hugged her nonetheless. “Thank you for waiting.”

She let go of her son and pulled her brother close to her, trying to feel his warmth, but not even his glamour could hide that he was dead. His body was freezing cold, and she felt his neck for a heartbeat but found none. He truly was a walking corpse.

She pulled away, just for a moment to look at his face. She could tell the pigment on his face was caused by the glamour he wore. The same glamour that hid his scar. She only saw it once, but she could still see it clearly in her mind. Princess Iron Fan gently held her brother’s face in her hand. She rubbed her thumb under his eye, the one she knew he couldn’t see out of.

“Has he seen it,” she asked as he put his paw on her hand. They were rough and blistered. Had he been taking proper care of himself? Did it even matter if he did? “Have you shown him what he’s done to you?”

“He doesn’t need to know. I look terrifying, no one needs to see that.”

“I know you do! That's why he should see it! He should know the pain he caused you! I want him to feel the guilt and pain I felt being unable to save you! You’re pale, Míhóu! Your body is still cold! There is not a beat to your heart or a breath in your chest! If I cover your right eye, does it change how you see the world? What about the left eye?! Will the world go dark for you again?! You’re blind your right eye, Míhóu! I can tell! And it’s his fault! He should see what he did to you!” She was crying, holding his face between both her hands now she put her forehead to his, and covered his ears. She was yelling and she knew it would hurt his ears.

“Princess Iron Fan, let him be. Let’s just head home.” She looked up at her lover as he approached them.

“No! Why are you defending him! He hurt you too! He trapped you for no reason under a mountain for millenia! Hr sent your only child away never to talk to you until not only he returned but then until we found a way to free you!” She felt her brother’s paws hold her hands and pull them off his ears. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and down at their hands. “He had the audacity to bring you into my life then strip you from me like you were his to take! I want him to feel that same pain! I want him to suffer the way I did!”

“Macaque, I-” She heard the wretched simian’s voice. It was closer than it should be. Why couldn't he just leave them alone? Why did he have to exist?!

Princess Iron Fan spun to face the Monkey King and slapped him; she had been wanting to do that for so long. She glared at him and poked him in his armored chest. “Stay away from him, murderer! Thief! Lying bastard! Get off your fucking high horse! You were an enemy of heaven and now you’re their lap dog! Since that change you have done nothing but betray the people who cared about you! You imprisoned your brother, abandoned the other three wherever they are! Did you hurt them too?! You killed your husband!! You took three of the people I love most in this world without a care! You robbed them – us, me!– of so much! Do you even feel a little bit of guilt in that stone heart of yours?! Does it beat regret at what you’ve done?!”

“Of course it does!” His face twisted in anger, the mortals behind him were watching, shocked and confused. They knew nothing. None of them knew the pain the monkey they looked up to caused. It really showed how different people are villainized in different stories. She probably looked deranged right now. “I know what I did! I know how I hurt them! I regret it every day! You saw it when I came to ask for your fan! It's why you gave it to me, isn’t it?! You saw how I cried over his body! I know what I did! And I know an apology can’t fix shit of what I’ve done! That doesn’t change the fact that I'm sorry! I know none of you will forgive me, and I don’t expect you to!” The stone monkey took a deep breath and stepped back and he quieted his voice. “I understand I hurt you. I don't understand just how badly you suffered because of me. However, you also don't understand how I suffered because of my actions. They affect me too.”

He looked behind her. “Macaque, will you please let me see you without your glamours one last time. I want to see what I did to you.”

Her back was turned to her brother, he didn’t say a word and neither did the monkey king. Did he show him? Or did he continue to refuse? If he showed him, did the mortals see? Could they see him?

The Monkey King walked away and flew away on a cloud. His successor chased him, though less effectively. A paw surrounded by dark fur was placed on her shoulder. Sheput her hand on it and faced Macaque. They touched foreheads before he walked to the little girl he had been taking care of.

She left with her family. They would see each other soon. Even if she didn't know it, he did. Perks of being able to hear the future.

Did he know he would be killed? Did he hear his fate? Had Míhóu walked into that fight knowing he wouldn’t walk out of it? Did he know she was doomed to be left alone? What was it like to know that kind of stuff?

In the coming days, Red Son left to go celebrate the victory over the Lady bone demon with the mortals and the spiritual monkeys that aided the fight. After it, both him and Míhóu came home to reconnect with their family. Chang’e came down at the same time.

Princess Iron Fan watched as Savage and Rumble escaped from her brother’s shadow to tackle her son. So many years apart. They were still childhood friends. Chang’e had pounced on the mystical monkey sobbing as she gave him a tight hug. He took down his glamour for his family and he once again wore the items to remember his siblings, no longer under the villainess’ control. He also wore a necklace with a wedding band hanging from it. She frowned, but she could do nothing about it.

The Demon Bull King hugged his wife’s waist and pulled her close watching the scene before them. She smiled again and rested her head on his chest. Her family was back together. She was so glad she waited.

And maybe, just maybe, she was thankful to the Monkey king he had brought them to her. Just maybe.