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Chapter Text

Sun Wukong has always known pain.

It was an old friend, the first one he was acquainted with since the moment he was born. So familiar that now, with several immortalities intact and a fate bound to this world forever and more, Wukong expects that he already experiences every pain known to both mortals and immortals in this realm. 

He would not put it on a scale or make any list, but with so much of it on his belt things began to numb and his reception toward the feeling had begun to fade away. Just like how rock would slowly erode in the face of constant waves. Which begged the question; How would it be when he starts to erode as the time stretched long and traces of any familiar faces began to slip away?

Anyway, dwell on things he shall not. Master had taught him to let go. As a being that could transcend civilization and exist throughout the world’s whole existence, he should be better than letting things of the past creeping back and settling a darkness void within him. Since it was anything but the purpose of going on the journey with his Master. 

If only he could be a good disciple and obey, that would be fantastic.

Wukong put another one of the highly tangled mess of emotional excess that kept leaking out back to the void and put a metaphorical mountain above it. 

For a moment, the world was quiet that he could hear his breath and a steady beat of immortal heart. He could feel the golden ichor run through his veins as he sighed.

It seems like this is another one of those times when he needed reliefs.

Then golden clouds so similar to him pass through the horizon and bring one of the few things Wukong will never be able to let go. As MK drops from the high with a shining grin and excited chippers, Wukong puts back everything broken within him and smiles just as freely.

“Hey, Bud! Ready to start your day with some awesome training session with me?” Slipping back to the outer layers of confidence felt a lot like putting on layers of glamour. Though he rarely did that nowadays outside of doing some simple transformations.

The kids brighten even further, “Yes, Yes, and Yessss! I can feel it, today is the day that I will beat you up and settle the score once and for all!” There was a cocky grin that looked a little clumsy to be called one, but MK had always had these things that made it so he could transfer his excitement to just about everyone around. 

Wukong was no exception, so he cracked his knuckles and chuckled lightly as the surge of warmth filled his chest. He consciously gathered it there and kept it tight as long as he could. “Now, now. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I mean, I’m super strong and awesome and unbeatable, after all!”

“Oh yeah? But I’m younger and totally more creative- Maybe, I mean, I tried to be!” MK stroked his nonexistent beard, always so easily distracted it was rather cute if it wasn’t also dangerous.

One second could change the whole tide of an intense battle, which could mean his life for that matter. Distraction shall not do, not when there’s a possibility in which his life would be compromised in the hand of challenging enemies.

So Wukong, as the great mentor that he totally is, began to charge in without further notice. One hand packing up a punch just enough to put MK on the defensive, though he was careful with the amount of power he puts toward it. 

MK was fast when he drew out the staff, his Riyu Jingu Bang, out to play its part. Wukong could not help but grin widely, fangs showing and eyes narrowing. He realized the kid, despite being distracted just moments ago, could still manage to keep up with his speed and block his punch with the staff.

“Hey! It’s not fair to start without telling me!” The small protest was ignored since MK himself could not stop a small grin from showing up in his face. Seemingly pleased with his own reflexes. 

Great, but not enough.

Few more punches were traded between them, all in equal value so Wukong decided that MK totally could afford a little more beating now that he could keep up with some of Wukong speed and power at this point. Wukong looked around, a mere trick would not be enough to fool MK at this point. 

They found themselves in one of his many clearings, the sky was a clear bluish hue and the ground beneath them strong- it would be such a waste to ruin this one when he could’ve just used it as one of picnic spots, maybe bringing some of the little ones. Not that he already tricked MK enough with misdirection and buried him through enough boulders already.

Something that could highlight his use of instant golden vision as well as jabbing at this easily distracted mind of his that could be trouble in the future. 

If something that he buried deep within the crack of the earth manages to see the light of the day again, not to mention possesses even more power to almost completely put the world in a trance state while trying to erase both him and his successor in the process-

The ever powerfully useless him, that could kill any friends and family but god forbid he ever keep them safe from his neverending list of enemies-

-Anyway, it was time to do a little bit of showing off. 

“Great job keeping up with me, MK!” He called out, watching how the kid visibly brightened from the compliment. But MK was quick to frown and put himself on high enough alert. 

“You always say something like that whenever you are about to do something!” He looked around, making sure there was no trap or funny magical strings (Wukong had done that a lot of times as well, oops-) that could catch him off guard and render him defenseless. 

Because the purpose is not about his reflexes today. Wukong smiled and plucked some of his furs, MK watched him with wide eyes before followed his suit just as fast to keep up with him.

“Let’s see how you will stop so many of me!” Wukong barked loudly as he charged in. All the while MK seems like he was making sure he had enough or even more of the clones to gain an upper hand. That was very smart for him to do and Wukong absolutely approved it!

Their clones began to poof each other out and MK dispersed almost all of Wukong’s and looked around. The loud one, Porty as MK named his own clones, screamed out his lung in victory as the Artist and the Glutton sighed in relief. The original one was confusedly looking around as there was no mentor in sight.

Wukong couldn’t help but snicker as his eyes glow gold and sneak up behind MK, dressing in perfect disguise of his own student, Wukong smiled and let his glamour fall off once he karate chopped MK in the head and saw him falling down to the canyon. All wet and shocked but otherwise okay. 

He looked a little bit annoyed though. Oops?

…

“How did you even join in with my clones! That’s not fair!” The kid shrieked in annoyance, but quickly recovered from the river and just lay in the land. Clothes all wet and breathing hard, but seemingly content with just getting the rest he needed. 

“Well, you would know it if you keep your attention as you try to understand your enemy’s approach.” Wukong explained all too easily, the overconfident persona melts easily as he lets the words sink in before he continues, “Plus, you could probably learn to use your golden sights more often. Especially when you don’t know for sure what your enemy is thinking.”

MK seemed to be letting the word shimmer in for a bit, which is all Wukong needed him to do at the moment. 

Wukong throws his favorite bag of chips as an apology, MK looks at him judgingly- ugh, the kid should really stop hanging out with the shadow monkey- and asks, “Is this the real one or a hair clone?”

“Pfft, Me? Giving you a hair clone to eat?” There was an unspoken ’ again’ somewhere in that line, but Wukong refused to elaborate further and eat his own share of chips. Prompting MK to sigh and open up his own pack of peach chips. 

For a moment, they just sat in silence enjoying his beautiful mountain in its afternoon glow. Bird flocks flying to its home, while the little ones have been called off by their mothers and running to their troops. Wukong slowly works on a heat spell to fasten up the drying process of MK’s clothes while the kid finishes up his chips.

“Have you guys been talking more lately?” MK asked, eyes looking away to feight nonchalantly but Wukong knew better than to believe it. Not when he did the exact same thing every single time. Especially when he knew very well who MK was talking about.

Macaque.

Liu Er Mihou.

A dear friend turned enemy and now they are somewhat unwilling allies at best and insufferable assholes at worst to each other.

“Yeah, kind of? Er, maybe?” That was the best Wukong could say while maintaining a rather honest answer. He has been trying to be more open lately, but even then, there is a lot. Lot more things with context that he wasn’t ready to share, nor he knew how to even begin to tell MK without making the kid get disappointed in him ever further at this point.

He really could not afford any more bridges between them, but Macaque situation has always been one of the most complicated to address. There are too many things that went wrong and after the time stretches long, their bond grows thin and there is just… too little to be able to get right. Now that everything has been said and done.

MK hummed, like the sweetest boy that he alway is. The kid kindly did not push him further, instead decided to stand up and grinned widely at him. Clothes all dried up now so Wukong stopped his magic. MK stretched his hand to him and Wukong took it, standing up. The sun was hanging even lower now, making everything slightly muted and cold began to spread, biting his fur but Wukong ignored it.

“Well, can we pick some fruits? I would love to share some of your super tasty dragon fruits with Mei-! If you are okay with it?” 

Then they spend the rest of the time left to pick up some fruits. Wukong is making sure Mk brings some of the best peaches he had as an apology for Pigsy since MK will definitely be late for the shop closing now that the sun is gone and the stars take her place. 

The golden cloud shoots into the sky as MK gets back to the city. Leaving behind a trail of gold dust and the sound of his sunny happy chirps. Sun Wukong watched him slowly fade away from the view, letting the warmth that already settled nicely in his chest began to diminish as the usual numbness resurfaced once again.

The hollow that keeps coming back. Which means it’s another time for him to deal with it in his own way.

…

…

…

Maybe he should have just let the feeling completely sink it and took over.

But letting things take control, giving the unfamiliar urge that was building up over the years- over centuries, to be on the surface as he began to fail yet again to put any meaning to it. Letting the metaphorical bleeding happened and being completely helpless, becoming useless-

There is always a way he tries to handle it. To keep it at bay.

As he took another breath of air, Sun Wukong began to do what he did best.

Wukong has always known pain, which is perhaps why he will always be bound to deal everything with violence.

The numbness has become insufferably suffocating and the need of feeling something has become ever more urgent now than ever before for the last centuries. Wukong raised his hand and gouged the very thing that was broken beyond saving and watched it beat in his hand.

His heart, drenched in golden ichor. Beating ever so fast and yet slowly dying as he feels it beat getting lesser, steady, relaxed, until there was none and he has been watching it for gods know how long.

It will be okay, there is always a never ending supply of it.

There will never be not enough supply for him .

Of himself.

No matter how broken, incomplete, messy, unnecessary it is.

Wukong dug a hole and put the broken heart that just refuses to feel something, to drown in numbness and leave his chest empty, on its grave. A newer one had already taken its place inside his ribcage, beating strong and anew like it had never been replaced before.

And then, as he began to feel the telltale sign of the numbness reappear, Wukong just gouged another failed one out of his ribcage. 

It seems that this will take a while to get the right one.

Just like last time. 

So, as soon as the heart died out and the new one took its place yet again. Sun Wukong waits and waits and waits.

And the numbness will resurface.

He took another one out. Watching it slowly died in a trance. 

He hoped it would be done at least just enough before another one of MK’s training days came.

…

There were faint magical traces of dark magic accumulated nearby, as the shadow gathered and a portal formed, a figure emerged from the dark circle. Six Eared Macaque watched the king of the island, hands all bloodied in gold with eyes bleeding red. Clearly in some sort of trance which he didn’t even flinch the moment he should be recognizing Macaque’s own magical trace when he steps foot on the king’s own paradise. 

That’s enough flare to let him know that something was terribly wrong with the whole predicament.

Even so, the shadow monkey keeps his presence at the barest minimum. Ears unglamoured while eyes watching intently as the king puts down another golden stone heart to his freshly dug hole. Let it rest clumsily as he covers it up with dirt and just stays like that for minutes on end.

Macaque frowned as Sun Wukong moved a little further back from the newly built grave. He seemed to be waiting for something while trying to clean up his hands as best as he can. Then, something twisted in his face.

The Monkey King raised his still covered in golden ichor, dug deeper to his chest and gouged out another golden heart. 

Macaque watched it in complete silence. Ears twitching as he listens to the slowing beat of a dying heart. 

Sun Wukong killed another one of his own heart. Macaque realized in horror.

Chapter Text

Sun Wukong seems to have been stuck in a very peculiar problem.

That, or the peach-pit brained idiot was just trying to test the limit of his infamous immortality. 

Macaque had been watching him for a while now and he was sure there are problems in which Sun Wukong, again, up for no good and would most likely affect everything around him. Which naturally involves the kid nowadays. 

That’s totally what he was concerned about, the kid. 

(Sun Wukong has long since lost his rights to be someone he should be worried about anyway)

Macaque sighed as he saw The Monkey King rise early in the morning, it has been approximately one and a half days since he figured there was something really wrong about the king. He was looking a little dead (ha!) and keep walking aimlessly around his private paradise with a certain look that was… If Macaque is being completely honest, unfamiliar to the point that he began to question whether he ever knew Sun Wukong in the first place.

Or maybe, it was just that his death has roped another thing yet again from him. As the time stretches long and thin, so does the bond that was made between the dead and the living. 

Macaque watched as the king sighed and sat around one of the prettily colored peach trees near one clearing. It was quite secluded from any troops nearby, so Macaque needed to be extra careful and masked his magic even more intensely less he would meet with an unfamiliar situation. He was not sure if this Sun Wukong would be merciful enough to let him be once he realized he had been watched for quite some time. 

Something at the back of his mind started asking the same question he had been ignoring for the past 36 or so hours.

Why would he care if Sun Wukong has any problem to begin with?

Their friendship ended centuries ago, Sun Wukong struck the final line and ended it with his blood covered hand. 

And yet….

Macaque finds himself sneaking behind the closest bush he could afford to be without letting the king detect his presence. Waiting patiently as the wind blows softly greeting him yet again despite all the time he spends cursing at their king. The Flower Fruit Mountain has always been very welcoming toward any celestial primates, although its utmost loyalty-and love for that matter- has always been to their favorite child. 

Sun Wukong has always burned the brightest among them all. He will be all grin and proud as he claimed the land as his, while the whole beings of this land- be it the people, the nature, even the very soil itself rejoice below him. Loving him just as much as what he gives to the land, if not more.

Macaque once had the fatal mistake of thinking he was part of the ecosystem.

Part of Sun Wukong’s great kingdom. 

All because of how this land accepts him as its own.

Dwell on it wont help him uncover any more information, so Macaque honed his focus.

It seemed like they were trying to tell him something, as the wind grows cold and chill spread down his spine when he watched Sun Wukong yet again performing an active suicide by plucking out another one of his organs.

It is always the heart that he takes out and watches as it dies in his hand.

Macaque listens to how each of the beats died out while the king was there, staring blankly at his hand. How everything in the island feels just slightly sadder, the gusts of wind grow colder, the mute color of the sky that was just a little darker; how the cloud just a tad but murkier and the stream of the river sounds just a tiny bit harsher. 

This land has always been particular about its mana, every magical spec of dust, which controls every single part of its nature, has always been very empathetic toward its king. They will rejoice in his happiness, as well as cry for his pain.

But as far as Macaque is concerned, The Flower Fruit Mountain has never once looked this way.

Adding to that frustration, Macaque has been none the wiser since the first time he watched Sun Wukong gouging his heart out only to watch it die out and hide it behind the soil of his land. Which makes it all the more understandable that he might be just a tiny bit irritated about the whole thing. 

Sun Wukong probably, no, most likely will never tell a single soul about this. 

Not with the nonsensical prideful nature of his. Macaque would bet his second chance of living on that and he expected to win.

Sun Wukong keeps at it until a certain point in which even Macaque realizes there has been disturbance within the air. A certain magical property so close to the king that Macaque could not help feeling the burden in his chest lessen as a familiar golden light closed by carrying a very recognizable chirpy sound. 

“Monkey King! Look, I have come early today so hopefully Pigsy won't chew me up later since we totally would not be late again this time- Or I mean, at least he knew I tried!” 

The kid was busy explaining how he was being scolded last time but fortunately saved by the amount of fruits he was bringing back. After a round of questioning whether any of the fruits potentially have immortality power attached to it-and apparently a very excited Tang trying to eat it all, so they all need to stop him and force him to use his power to check if there's anything immortal about the fruit- They then enjoy the fruit.

Sun Wukong was very quick to put on an extra layer of glamour by the time MK finished with his tangent. Something that Macaque could not help but associate with the king of the past, with how excitable and happy he was explaining how his day has been going lately. All sunny smiles and loud laughs. Even Sun Wukong’s fake smile seems ever so slightly lighter by the time MK finished with his story.

He did blend in to the ground and lurked even further when Sun Wukong began to crack his knuckles and started their training. He really could not afford being in the middle of their battle, with the king’s honed spacial awareness in the heat of the battle and MK’s own surprising sharpness at times, it might be not as worth it to watch their training close by.

So retreat he chose, it was not hard to find a good spot to be lazing about while waiting for them to finish up their training. There are all kinds of fruits and trees to provide shade and something to munch on. He was rather hungry after all of those… observation.

The little ones immediately zero in as soon as they sense his presence. Which is scary to think about since there is no way they could sense him but not the king of the mountain. But Macaque thought it must be because he was just lying below a tree shade and bringing a handful of fruits with him so they just happened to see him and thought it was a great idea to join in. 

He didn’t mind the presence, no. It just reminds him a lot about stuff he would rather not think about.

The past is one giant example that he would rather not think about.

The little monkeys start to steal even more of his fruits. Well, technically it’s their king’s fruit and by extension their fruits. But Macaque spent his energy on collecting them and it’s not like Sun Wukong would notice that few fruits went missing in his abundance mountain. 

Some of the little rascals have the guts to offer him his very own fruits that they just took, but he takes that anyway and munches it over. “Gee, thanks.” He said dryly. Which the cynical tone just went through the small monkey that immediately beamed at his thanks.

Some chirps at him in question. Eyes looking back at the loud battle sounds that went prominent within the other side of the mountain. 

“No, I certainly didn’t want to uh… distract their training?” How to tell Sun Wukong’s little minions that their king kind of killed him at one point and he really didn’t want a second retake on the whole situation without actually telling them it? Macaque will never know. But fortunately enough, they are all really easily distracted. Not unlike their king.

He just needed to shove some shadow clones to play with them and Macaque was already free again from impromptu babysit. He would like to complain but then again, he kind of stole a couple of fruits so maybe this could be a suitable payment method, if anyone ever calls him out on this of course.

Sun Wukong stops their training session by the time the sun dipped into the horizon. MK immediately starfished on the ground and panted, it seems that he still needed a little more way to go before he could match the king’s stamina in battle.

That, or maybe because he used a little too much mana trying to one up one of the strongest celestial magic user in the whole history of magic. Combine that with Sun Wukong’s great control over his golden sight of truth, MK should’ve known that he didn’t have much chance to ever try to fool Sun Wukong using glamour magic.

Especially when he just learned it.

But Macaque could see clearly the beaming smile that was all over Sun Wukong’s face. Makes him lit even more despite the whole sunset already giving him a shining glow that shows the rest of the world just how special he always has been. 

Shining like a golden gem, always has been the embodiment of greed itself.

Macaque would know.

But he digress.

…

Just as MK shoots out of the horizon, all the glow and shine dulled with the sun completely swallowed by the sea. Interestingly enough, so did Sun Wukong’s whole emotions. 

The lit in his face grew dulled and he started to get back to the side of the mountain where he did all the “trying to kill himself but failed anyway” act. Which Macaque could not help but feel irritated about.

Still, he followed the king like he did before. There are things needed to be understood and the kid probably needs some heads up about it. But first he really should get all the information before Sun Wukong realizes he had been observed and hide all evidence or play dumb like he always does.

There is a part of him that keeps asking him why he would even care so much.

The other part is fighting to bring up the fact that anything happening to Sun Wukong, out of any being in this realm, certainly could affect the majority of the realms whether he likes it or not. Which kind of means that Sun Wukong’s problem is bound to be everyone else’s problem, one way or another.

Macaque was just playing his part. 

He digress.

But there is something seemingly burning inside his own half dead heart when the king was up to his questionable business again, putting another one of his dying hearts to the very soil of his kingdom. So of course, Macaque was understandably pissed. And he might or might not have thought thoroughly about the part where he teleports way too close to comfort as Sun Wukong looks back at him.

All golden eyes and the very same red sclera that he saw last time the king drew his final blow. 

For a moment that felt like eternity and more, they were both keeping their silence.

There were a lot of questions swirling around his head, Macaque could not help but feel the pressure settling in as Sun Wukong stubbornly kept his quiet as well. Not even trying to explain despite the golden ichor running down his hands and his chest.

How-

What happened-

Why?

None could be spoken, as they were beyond that point of even asking so personal.

Despite the fast moving thought process happening in his brain, Macaque still could feel how the air getting denser and how the wind blew softly urged him to speak on the behalf of everything around him. The moonlight slowly peek from parts of the tree that could not hide from its shine. Macaque took a deep breath.

“If you want to gouge it so badly, why don’t you let me do it for you?”

Chapter Text

Wukong was honestly embarrassed that it took Macaque to actually teleport himself in front of him for Wukong to realize what was happening.

In his defense, he did feel there was some form of uninvited magic traces trespassing upon his domain. But the nature of it was so abstract and there was just so much happening inside his mind that he thought to put that matter aside and focus more on not letting this … feeling of sinking, of something leaking out of his core without him consenting to it.

But of course it was Macaque, out of all people. That just pushes through the barrier and manages to get in like he always did.

All light produces shadows, because even the most blinding light will dim when it runs its course- or something along the line. Macaque had once invited him to the world of shadows, where everything is the same like it was in the actual world but in their shadow forms. 

Which basically explains why he always would find a way in and out. Everywhere.

Wukong also suspects his own domain did in fact let the shadow master roam free without giving him any necessary alerts. Despite him being its rightful ruler, The Flower Fruit mountain itself has its own sentience. And it always has been quite fond of any of the mystical primates to the point of being this lenient. 

Still, he is the king. They should’ve known that Macaque is not a special guest to his mountain.

Not anymore.

He heard an exasperated sigh and looked up. Macaque’s tired face looked back at him, “So are you gonna let me help or you good with bleeding yourself out alone?”

There was a lot of unprocessed thought left untouched, “… Why?” Wukong decided to ask instead.

Macaque has the gal to raise an eyebrow at his honestly fair question. “Because if you want to kill yourself so badly, Your Majesty , I suggest you let someone much more deserving to do the deed for you.”

The slight mention of one particular event let some memories pass through his mind.

Flash of red.

Of blood spilled onto the ground.

Of a dead body.

Of a friend and a killer.

Wukong did not realize that he took a deep breath before he answered, “Fine. Do what you want, it’s not like I could die or anything.”

Macaque now raised both of his eyebrows, looking like he did not expect an easy answer without any complaints. Which was a fair judgment if it was any other day, today Wukong would just want relief.

If Macaque offered him some, then who was he to refuse such an offer?

…

…

…

And so they began to sit across from each other. Wukong had already put his armor and cape down, his shirt was off as the past drench of golden ichor was still sticking wet on his fur. Macaque looked at his own two hands and then went to Wukong.

“So… how do we do this?” The shadow monkey asked. 

Wukong just took Macaque’s clueless hand and pressed it to his golden furred chest. Making sure his claw lined up perfectly where it should be and just … pressed harder.

Macaque jerked back but regained his composure pretty quickly, “Whoa. Okay. Damn, got it.” He said as he sighed. Feeling his claws a little, something tells Wukong that Macaque perhaps was not too sure about this whole thing after all.

Should he just turn down the offer now that it hasn’t started?

But Macaque would probably tell MK about this, would he?

There were many thoughts convoluted inside his brain while whispers started to take in, and despite all of the wrongs stacking high and the string of bonds that were barely attached between them both. Wukong knows well how this could very much go all the wrong direction.

After a while of drowning in silence. Macaque finally puts back his hand to where Wukong had once placed it, “I will not be nice about this okay.” He said, claw closing in, starting to break the tissue of his skin and golden immediately colors the black fur.

Wukong took a sigh and closed his eyes.

…

…

…

There was a foreign feeling of stink when Macaque did grab his newly formed heart and took it out. It was as if the world was closing in and there was only him, while everything else started to blur out of existence. The light grows dull and the sound gets muffled up. Like his stone body started to sink in and the darkness settled in.

He could not even register the stink anymore.

Wukong…

It was as if he was drowning in the middle of the ocean. His body has always been too heavy. Too stubborn. Too harsh. Too useless .

Wukong!

And there was his slowly dying heart, still trying to beat as if it could even pump up another golden ichor running through his body. So naive, so young, so stupid-

Wukong-!

His heart was thrown aside and two black furred hands grabbed his shoulders. “Sun Wukong-!”

Macaque shakes him and Wukong slaps his hand out, blinking away the dullness that settles into his heart. He shoots Macaque an annoyed look, “What.” 

That was not a question, and Macaque should know it.

“Don’t you fucking ‘what’ me now, I was talking to you and you just-” The was a grumble and angry grunts before he just sighed-he sighed a lot nowadays it seems-and then look at him dead in the eyes. “What is wrong with you?”

Wukong tried to not dwell on the question. Instead looking away to the ugly piece of meat that was his already dead heart. There was a lack of beating and it bled out on the ground, so he took it and began to dig. The shadow monkey watches him putting up dirt above the organ and closing up the hole completely. With a little touch of magic flowing through him, the ground where the heart claims his heart has begun to turn green with the wild grass blooming around, making it seems like nothing had happened beforehand.

“So, again?” Macaque then said, seemed like he finally understood that Wukong would not even humour is questioning with any answers.

…

…

…

Again

…

…

And again-

…

…

Again, again.

…

…

More… again.

…

…

Still so wrong.

…

All wrong.

..

Again.

…

…

…

By the time he came to a full awareness as to what happened in between the time where he was in a state of there and wasn’t there at all, Macaque had already helped bury half of the heart that was discarded. Now on the black furred hand was the last of it… for now.

Wukong duly noted how strange it was to have his heart out in the open while someone else was watching. Especially now that Macaque just also stares at his heart in a somewhat trance state. Eyes staring blankly while his mouth slightly opened, despite that, Wukong knows what kind of look that is supposed to be.

A contemplation. 

Macaque has always been a seeker of the truth. 

Which was pretty neat in the past as he always has an interesting revelation that he shared willingly with Wukong. But now that the topic of the contemplation itself was his heart out of all things, Wukong finds he very much does not appreciate this at all.

“What are you staring at, you freak?” He said to the shadow monkey.

Macaque blinked before looking at him, eyebrows unsurprisingly deep in frown as he replied harshly, “What?”

“Stop staring at my heart like a creep. Actually- give it back so I can bury it!” Wukong reached out to his very own heart and the silly asshole had the audacity to put it up higher than his reach. 

“What the heck!” Wukong hissed in frustration. 

“You. What do you mean I’m the creep, you ripped your own fucking heart! What’s up with that!” The other monkey half screamed. They were both looking at each other with a heated gaze and the silence was getting heavier.

Wukong refused to answer, Macaque refused to give back the stupid heart. 

They glared for some more until Wukong decided to be the bigger man and sighed. “Whatever, take my goddamn heart for all I care.” 

Macaque looks flabbergasted for a moment, “You know it wasn’t about this stupid heart!”

“Well, you still insist on holding ‘this stupid heart’ so what are you gonna do about it? Bring it back home? Eat it?”

The shadow monkey growl in anger and throws it to the ground, where the shadow portal absorbs it completely and within seconds, his heart was no more. 

Wukong was speechless for a second before he bounced back quickly. “... So you did bring it back home. What a freak.”

Macaque seems like he was so close to just strangled him right there and then, “I teleport it beneath the fucking ground, you idiot!” But he wisely decided to stand up and dust his pants, seemingly enough of the back and forth now that he was sure Wukong would not give him any answer at all. 

“Well then, let me know when you need to get yourself killed again next time, Your Majesty-” The shadow monkey was about to drop down to his portal but Wukong was quick to yank him back by the scarf. Earning him a warning growl and very creative curse that got him to maybe grin just a little.

“What the actual fuck, Sun Wukong! What else do you want?” Macaque said after the last one his very colorful string of curses in their primitive language.

Now, Wukong needs to get serious when it comes to this. “Do not tell MK about any of this.”

A moment passed before an evil smirk flashed through Macaque’s complexion. “And if I don’t comply? What are you gonna do about it, Monkey King?” Moving along his shadow, suddenly the shadow monkey had already teleported behind him and whispered to his ear, “Are you gonna kill me again?”

Wukong moved fast to look back at Macaque, glared once he heard the asshole laugh at him.

Macaque looked him dead in the eyes when he finally said, an easy going smile played on his lips. Something totally off ruining the overall look as Wukong continues to glare back. “Whether or not the kid will know about this is up to me to know. So you better behave from now on, Monkey King.”

“And what will you say when he knows about you helping me to take it off by hand?” Wukong replied back quickly.

“Eh. I did in fact help, in a way.” With one last shrugged, he then vanished through the shadow portal.

…

…

…

...

…

Sun Wukong, now left alone, decides to get back to his shack and prepare for the day when the kid shows up for another training session. He took another look to the ground, sensing the trace of magical residue, of dead magic. His dead hearts that were all around the ground beneath his feet.

Then he thought of the shadow monkey.

Wukong let out a big exhausted sigh.

Maybe it has been too long since the last time he had any deep meditation. He totally needs that.

…

…

…

…

Six Eared Macaque resurface on another side of the mountain. Hand on his temple, a telltale sign of headache due to the amount of stupid things he somehow managed to do whenever there was Sun Wukong around. Because not only did he offer to help take the heart out of the king, he did that multiple times to the point that he was beginning to get used to the golden ichor running down his hand. 

It's sickening, it's madness.

And the face Sun Wukong wore as he watched his own heart died again and again.

The deafening silence and the contortion on his face when the new heart began to reformed and it just seemed wrong.

Macaque shook his head.

He snapped his fingers and another shadow portal opened up right above his hand. By the rules of gravity it throws out the thing that Macaque had just put there a moment ago. 

A dead golden stone heart. 

… Maybe it was a little freaky. Now that he thought about it more. But this could be proven necessary if Sun Wukong decides to be stubborn and refuse to just let anyone know what is actually wrong with his own immortal heart.

And so he began to put his claw on it and tear it open carefully.

Chapter Text

Macaque standing up, looking down at the newly dug ground and the now somewhat ruined heart resting on the hole. He closed up the hole with dirt as he sighed tiredly.

He found exactly nothing. Zero clue whatsoever on why Sun Wukong wasted a perfectly healthy and normal looking- well, as far as he was concerned, he was no doctor, but surely Sun Wukong’s healing factor could fix anything if it was a physical defect. But in the term of magical imperfection, this heart had nothing to be worried about. Hence the absolute nothingness that he gained by cutting and looking through everything while sensing its traces of mana.

Macaque was about to put some restoration spell to the ground just like how Sun Wukong did that multiple times, to hide the part of the small grave he was creating. But then decide to be against the idea.

He instead chose to plant a wildflower above the little grave. 

With that, Macaque then teleports away.

…

…

…

Despite the soothing feels of the breeze and warmth of the sun, Wukong felt like there were just too many things going on inside.

Yet at the same time, it’s hollow all the same.

The interaction with Macaque has left a bigger hole than it was once settling somewhere deep within him. Something that surely needs to be covered up yet with another thread of lies. He should not be too worried about it, though. Lies are like threads of mana, like how you weave a glamour. And he had always been the best at it.

“Monkey King-!”

“-!!”

Ah, did he get distracted again?

Shit. MK will certainly get suspicious of him now that he keeps messing up. He could not afford to let the kid worry about him yet again, not after all of the things happened. The kid has had enough.

So Wukong did what he does best, throw in some bullshit and hope it works. “Ah, yeah! So-”

“-Are you okay, Monkey King?”

… The kid looked at him with that saddened gaze yet again. Wukong felt like his world was about to crumble but he kept it intact. He can crumble all he wants later, but he can't totally afford to let MK see him like that.

But can he really lie? Again?

Should he break the trust he has been given so graciously after what he had done?

Wukong shook his head and sighed.

As if talking about feelings wasn’t hard already. 

“It was…” Wukong tried, hand suddenly found its comfortable place resting at the side of his head. Scratching something non existent there that Wukong had not pinpoint yet, what he did know is that he did not want to think about it. “So… there has been… a situation.”

“Is that so?” MK looks at him with relief that was off with the situation, but quickly schools his expression, “I am not happy that you are in trouble! I’m just… you are trying to tell me for real and it's been like, times in which you don’t- ” That got Wukong to flinch at the word and MK quickly tracked back, “... I’m just happy you trust me more now.”

“Hey, I’ve always trusted you… it's just… I…” There was always a certain amount of doubt on how MK would perceive him next if he ever spilled anything… anything less than what The Monkey King should do, which is just another way to say that he didn’t trust him enough at the end of the day. Wukong swallowed back those words and tried to think of anything else.

He had never been good at explaining things, feeling is especially the hardest on those lists.

MK puts his hand to Wukong’s shoulder and suddenly all his worries are kept in tight ribbons. The kid smiled at him encouragingly, “Hey, you don’t have to explain it in all the details. Not that I am a professional about this… situation and stuff. But anything you could tell me would be… great. I would appreciate it very much.”

Now that it comes to this, how could he betray the kid’s trust anymore?

So, Wukong took another deep breath and started slowly, “Yeah… Let’s… let’s do that. I will try.”

…

…

…

Macaque saw Sun Wukong again after he made sure the kid had already left. 

He was sure this would be another one of the king’s time to mess up with his immortality. Which means another time to offer his help-

That doesn't mean anything at all. 

Except for maybe the fact that he is both curious and maybe… a little bit concerned. But mostly frustrated to be kept in the dark while knowing full well the drastic action that Sun Wukong took while being insisted on not telling anyone anything at all.

Well, he did hear how the king is trying to explain his pathetic situation to his successor. Obviously trying his best to not specify what he was doing, glazing it over as trying to fix something that kind of … feels wrong. Somewhere, but he will manage. He said in his words. Which basically explains nothing.

And now after all those brave talk and progression, Sun Wukong was still sitting right in the exact place where he usually did his very questionable heart harvesting act. So Macaque decides to emerge nearby with a big dramatic sigh, “ Oh Poor Sweet MK, thinking that you will be better this time while here we are again.”

He was immediately shot with the fiercest glare the king could muster. Too bad for him, Macaque has already seen it all. So he blinked slowly- almost boredly and asked, “So… Need my help?”

And so they began a new round of heart harvesting. 

…

…

…

Wukong concluded that having someone else taking off his heart does feel different.

In more ways than he would like to admit. As Macaque now fully used to the whole motion of ripping and taking it, Wukong could let himself be free comprehending how the blood running free and the process of reconstructing begin in his body. Everything else seems even less significant now that he doesn’t need to be in charge of the whole motion. Almost making the layer of imaginary water that kept his mind to drive off getting taller -deeper . 

There, deep within the complex string of unwanted things, he decided to gather them up and pressed them thin. 

With the pain slowly dulled from his glaringly opened ribs, Wukong started to push the now compressed strings of foreign emotion away. Because he learned the hard way that they just never go.

He took a deep sigh and opened his eyes.

Too bad that the pain always dulled way too fast for his liking.

He would never guess in his younger days that having a superior healing factor would be a problem later in his life. But apparently, there are times when one does want to feel every little bit of pain conjured in his body. Since it was much more merciful than whatever something else was supposed to make him feel.

Wukong watches how Macaque slowly puts the heart to a small portal, it feels way weirder to see his heart teleported away instead of his usual dig and bury. But it does fasten up the process and Wukong didn’t even need to worry about getting dirt mixed up inside his body. It was overall a net positive for him to have Macaque and his handy portals.

“Ah, looks like you finally decide to bestow upon me your attention, Your Highness.”

The attitude, however, needs some major improvement.

“What is it now?” Wukong deliberately jabs at the last word since Macaque insists on being annoying about it. It was not like Wukong was the one pestering him to help out. It was quite the opposite actually, and honestly- Macaque never once elaborated on why exactly he was so keen on helping in the first place!

And Wukong wasn’t gonna just let him scheming away without worry right under his nose. With or without heart, he will find out Macaque’s own agenda. Somehow.

The Shadow Monkey had the audacity to scorn at his tone. All despite the guy himself starting the conversation by being a little shit about it. “You keep zoning out despite having your whole chest out bleeding in the open, if that’s not creepy then I don’t know what it is.”

Wukong blinked at that.

Did he really that zoned out?

Giving it more thought, Wukong did feel like he kept missing some of Macaque’s impromptu jabs whenever they started doing this. His mind feels at ease knowing that his pain would nullify everything that he might have completely disregard Macaque’s voice at times. Or maybe most of the time. But that was the whole reason he started doing this instead.

And he wasn’t about to tell Macaque about it either. He can’t really afford it.

“Whatever, just do that again.” Wukong chose to say, clearly ignoring the glaring problem even when it was out in the open. 

Macaque seems to know as well. He knows too much sometimes, Wukong couldn’t help but think. Seems like centuries of minding each other’s business does come with the added curse of silent understanding, which was great in the past.

Now, it was but another proof of his failure to keep it intact. To protect the bond that was too precious to let go. But instead here they are.

Maybe Macaque also feels the same, or maybe the resentment still far surpasses whatever feeling they might have had in the past. Maybe he tried to find out how to end Wukong while having the close up view on how messed up he has been over the centuries. 

Broken apart, 

Sick in the head, 

Wanting to kill his own heart for something no one could comprehend.

So the dark furred hand reached out yet again, Wukong closed his eyes.

…

…

…

Sun Wukong looked like he was almost enjoying the feeling of dying itself.

As much as it was creepy, Macaque could also feel like his blood boils by the way the king peacefully took his breath and calmed down despite his heart being torn apart. His whole existence was already an exception of nature, but then he really did need to mock everyone by showing off how immortal he could get.

Not to mention how much he lowered his guard despite Macaque being there, holding a grudge bigger than his mountain and deeper than the ocean where he claimed his staff. 

Did he really think Macaque would just let it all go?

Or did Sun Wukong never consider him as a threat to begin with? 

Did he not matter after all?

Macaque throwed another heart to the portal with a little bit more force than usual. Not that Sun Wukong would have noticed that. The king was always either going into some trance or just closed his eyes. Acting as if he was above anything despite doing something so out of mind.

“Look at you… all bloodied up, acting like you could die despite how much blood spilled by your own hand.” Macaque said, and if Sun Wukong could hear him, he did not try to make it look like he did. 

“Are you trying to mock the people that were slain by your hand? Or just had become so out of touch that The Great Sage felt the need to keep testing his immortality? Need some warm up to make sure the healing factor is kicking in just as fast as usual?”

Again, Sun Wukong kept his quiet.

So Macaque continue, “Apparently your master didn’t manage to get rid of that ego out of you-“

“Enough.”

Ah, but of course. 

Macaque did not realize how much it boils his blood for the fact that Sun Wukong is unsurprisingly ready to defend his master from any slander. After all, isn’t that exactly the reason why the king even has the guts to leave him behind? Sun Wukong was blinded by his mortal companion and decided they were worth more than him.

“What,” Macaque couldn’t even try to hide the sneer in his tone. The shadows darkened below him, dancing in tune with the anger that slowly bubbled up like a boiling water, “Can’t handle it when I take a little jab toward your master?”

“He’s not … he’s not even here. Why do you hate him so much?” The way Sun Wukong’s face fell at the mention of a long gone master and the heat in his gaze directed at him is all it took for Macaque to reach forward and yank back another heart. Letting the other gasp at the sudden movement.

Yet, their gaze is as fierce as it was before. No one tried to pull off.

“Ah, but of course. Precious master can’t do no wrong, right? After all, you’ve been sacrificing every single one of us to make sure he reaches his enlightenment.” Macaque can feel a smile creeped into his face taunting the king, “And yet here you are… leave behind. Alone for eternity.”

For once, Sun Wukong seemingly self conscious about his past sin, eyes lowered to where the ground is mocking him. Shadows all gathered slowly creeped into The Monkey King’s feet, quietly but all the more dangerous. Macaque push and push and push closer. With hand tilting the king’s up by his chin to show once again the broken right eye as a reminder.

“A Friend killer… A Traitor… A Liar… Honestly, where would you have the courage to take on a successor?” Words fall slowly, seeping like poison deep into the heart. Macaque was sure the king would be ripping this one apart anytime soon, considering he already has discarded dozens of the unpoisoned ones just now. “Oh MK… To have someone like you to mentor him.”

“....” Again, silence. Sun Wukong still refuses to meet his gaze.

Macaque hates it.

So he pushed, and pushed, and pushed.

“What are you gonna do anyway? Has he to kill his best friend? Just like how you did it-”

Golden hands push him back harshly. Macaque could see the instability covering Wukong’s glamoured red sclera. It burns just like how Sun Wukong first got it all centuries back, inside of a heavenly furnace. But Macaque's smile didn’t falter. 

If anything, he smiled wilder. 

“What? Hate it when I tell you the truth? Maybe you shouldn’t take all of your precious master’s pointless teachings-”

“-ENOUGH!”

It happened so fast that his shadows were all gone. Macaque found himself put on a chokehold by one of Wukong’s hands. Golden eyes was now drenched fully by its red sclera, and it seems like Sun Wukong has had enough of his jabs.

Didn’t mean that he would stop just because of that. Macaque raised both of his hands to hold onto the king’s hold. Sneering despite how much he just wants to cough and the dizziness starts to pool inside his mind. “Yeah, all you do is to hurt others! The one that cares about you! Instead, who did you choose? Ah, yes! Those mortals! All of them that leave you behind!”

“....”

“So what are you waiting for? Since you can’t handle the truth, why don’t you silence me again once more-”

Sun Wukong throws him across the field.

Macaque coughs and tries to hold himself together. Between the debris flying around and golden energy accumulating all around, his eye was focused solely on one thing. 

“Why does everything have to be a choice when it comes to you?”

…

…

…

He could feel the tears flow down his chin, making his vision slightly blurred in a way that makes him feel a lot worse than he already was. But then again, emotion always has its way to hurt him more than any wound ever could. 

Wukong tried to focus his eyes to the thing in front of him, of someone, of Macaque’s lying body slumping down against the boulder. It cracks all over the place, but that didn’t seem to bother Macaque all that much. His face lacks any emotion as he pierce through Wukong’s heart with his words alone.

“Did you even shed any tears when you let your hand punch through my face?”

The words… Wukong let himself take another breath. Long and deep breath, the kind that should be able to calm the raging storm inside his head. 

“How about when you seal your brother beneath a mountain? Did you realize what kind of punishment you put him through? Come on, you know how it felt first hand.”

The memories, they were fast to invade his mind. The way they worked against him and compiled every single thing he did wrong in his life is both impressive and so … very…

Suffocating.

It’s like drinking a poison that slowly destroys his inside while letting everything seem perfectly fine on the outside. Which makes him believe that if nothing seems wrong with him, surely people can’t see it either.

So why bother asking for their help?

“Maybe that’s why everyone leaves you, Sun Wukong. You have no tears for anyone but you.”

“I said enough…” Wukong “You don’t understand anything.”

There was a cynical laugh. Macaque sneered at him, “Oh yeah? What did I not understand?” Body still sitting on the ground, looking at him as if he was telling a funny joke. “That you have no choice but to kill any of us? That you tried? All you ever do is to hurt people!”

“Why do I have to be the only one choosing anything!” There was a loud golden aura beam blasted everywhere, making things stay perfectly still except for how overwhelmed it got most of the animals nearby. Macaque seemingly unfazed, but he did keep his quiet. 

“Tell me, Macaque. Why do I have to choose between you or Master?”

“Why do I have to choose between saving the people or to kill my brother!”

“Why do I have to choose for anything, why am I the only one that needs to get the blood in my hand?”

“Tell me… Why do I have to choose between your blood in my hand or my blood in your hand?”

“Why do we have to fight?”

He didn’t even know when he decided to lash out, throwing every word away like it meant something. He felt like his throat was burning and his eyes bleed out tears that weren’t supposed to be there. Because why would he cry about it?

“... Do you know how it felt? To keep living knowing that your hand is drenched with all the people you once held dear?”

“Why can everyone just get along… Why do I have to choose which should survive and die by my own hand?”

“Is it because I’m the strongest? Is that all?

The question fell to the world that was silent after his energy outburst, making things far too clear.

“... Maybe you should survive that fight. Maybe… Maybe I should just-” His hand reaches out to the itchy broken useless heart that keeps pumping up hurtful feelings throughout his body. Wukong plucks it out and watches his hand bleed. Same old golden heart, same old ichor blood, all but cursed to let him stay and feel every twist and stab it does to his body. 

He threw it out to the ground.

Macaque looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face. He stands up while the ground below him darkened with shadow magic, it reaches fast toward the heart that is lying to the ground. Swallowing it like some sort of predator.

“Well, well. Monkey King. Seems like you have a heart that is just as big as your ego.”

Then he fell off to the shadow portal. Leaving nothing but cracked open boulders and the silence that is far too suffocating.

The ache however, remains as intense as it used to be. Always ready to pierce his heart with an imaginary spear that just could not be removed. Another one of the useless, weak hearts of his. The one that he would never need.

So Wukong began to fall back to the old act of gauging it by his own hand. 

This might take some extra time to do. But he better start now or else.

Chapter Text

Sun Wukong’s and Six Eared Macaque’s Alternating POV 

Another heart falling to his hand out of the shadow pocket, Macaque sighed. 

Nothing was wrong yet again, not even when he made sure this was the god knows how many of the hearts that he had to dissect. The only possible lead that he has would be Sun Wukong’s own reaction toward the things he tries to pry on him. 

Tell me, Macaque. Why do I have to choose between you or Master?

Sun Wukong asked him just yesterday, his face was gloomy with the thought of Macaque’s own words stabbing through him. The King did seem like he actually cared .

Would that actually be the case?

Did Macaque miss something in their fight back then?

Macaque sat on the shadow of a tree, the sun was bright and its light felt like it was trying to take a jab at him and burnt. But it failed anyway, Macaque has always been a creature of shadow, where the domain embraces him fully as he rules over it. 

The shadow is silent, they are cold and dark. But loyal.

They never left him even in death, they are the only ones to stay when he gets resurrected.

Macaque watched the heart on his hand, laid it gently on the ground and saw how it just plopped and stayed there. Broken and unwanted, despite nothing seems wrong on the outside.

Nothing that Macaque could see, something that Sun Wukong found out and decided to cast aside.

“You and Me, we are the same huh?”

He couldn’t help but say. The heart ignored him, it was dead.

He was once dead, so he gets why it goes silent.

“If Sun Wukong could cast you aside despite finding nothing wrong, then what would it say about me?”

Again, silence. But Macaque didn't care.

“What could it mean… I wonder.”

…

…

…

Wukong could feel how drenched his hands had become, with the never ending supply of golden ichor pouring down to the soil. The ground was wet with his blood and he could not help but think that it couldn’t get any worse.

It felt… disgusting.

To be this messy outside just like how he might feel inside, like all those times when he tried to put everything back together has been for nothing at all. 

Dealing with Macaque always finds a way to ruin him somehow. 

Just like how he had ruined Macaque’s own life.

But what he knows from living over millennia is that you can’t ever change the past. Not that it wouldn’t have its own consequences if he ever tried to change the past, he certainly also could not afford to pay anymore mishaps. Not after so many mistakes had been made.

Maybe that’s why everyone leaves you, Sun Wukong. You have no tears for anyone but you.

Macaque’s familiar voice echoing to his mind. 

Will it be much better if he cried for losing anyone he had once held dearly? Would it have changed anything?

… Can it at least change something now? Even if it's already too late?

Wukong moves toward the nearest stream, silently washing off all of the dried blood and letting it flow to the water. Tainting another thing he should have been protecting and cherishing.

He could not help but see his own reflection in the water. Golden eyes drenched in bloody red of his sclera, a reminder of other mistakes he made in the past. He could not be bothered to glamour it for now.

… Will cry for him… for people he cares about… Will that ever help?

Wukong wondered.

Then he proceeds to stab his own eyes with two of his fingers. Watch as the pain subdues and tears start flowing down, it was mixed with golden ichor once more.

Maybe he is always broken. 

Maybe crying only helps those who deserve to be helped.

…

…

…

“Macaque-! What are you doing here!”

Macaque sighed. 

MK grinning as he skips on his footsteps, always so bright for no reason, the kind of energy that is just a bit too much like someone of the past. Macaque had already heard him from way before he ever around his vicinity.

The only reason he did not try to hide is… that he just couldn’t be bothered anymore.

Maybe he should just tell MK about Sun Wukong’s little secret now that it comes to this. 

But first.

“... what are you bringing with you?” 

Macaque was beyond confused on the concerning amount of chips MK is bringing with his two hands. He certainly would have even more if he had embraced his monkey side and used his tails, but alas.

MK proudly displayed even more of the outrageous peach chips, “This is all for Monkey King!” He chirped, hand quickly catching up some of the almost fallen over bag of chips. He should really try to use his tails, now Macaque was sure. “By the way, why are you here Macaque?” 

“....”

That question could be answered in a lot of different ways that Macaque could not decide it fast enough, MK on the other hand took that opportunity to just run with whatever conclusion comes to his mind the fastest.

Which was a good thing apparently for him, because the kid visibly brightened when he half shouted, “You guys hanging out?” 

… That was both right and so wrong at the same time.

“Ah, did you guys fight?” MK's facial expression quickly fell as he said, most likely because Macaque proceeded to keep his silence for much longer than necessary. The kid somehow found a way to reach out to his pocket with one hand, and suddenly, one singular carton of milk was thrown toward him.

Macaque catches it easily. “A banana milk…?”

“Mhmm!” The kid just nodded like it was obvious, “Since these chips are supposed to be for Monkey King! To cheer him up! You can have this banana milk that I bought, it’s pretty popular nowadays so I figure it must at least taste good.”

“... Huh.” Macaque didn’t know what to feel about it. He decided to just put in the straw and drink the milk. 

“Well, is it good?” The kid asked.

“I guess, it’s … drinkable.”

“Then it’s great!” 

There was silence filling up the air for a moment, Macaque was torn between actually mentioning the problem with Sun Wukong to his successor, or just playing pretend and calling it a day. The second option sounds the most pleasing at the time. 

Besides, the banana milk was actually just the right amount of sweet, no wonder it was popular among the mortals.

“Y'know what, I was always wondering about… what went wrong between you two.”

“Hmm?”

“Yeah… about your death as well.” MK turned to look at him right in the eye, for a moment, Macaque thought the kid was gonna see right through his intricately casted glamour that covered his entire right eye. But MK didn’t even use his golden sight, not that it could help to see exactly what happened to that.

“It was him, right?” MK asked, the tone make it sound like it has been on his mind since forever, but judging from the way his face stilled, the growing concern that is hiding just behind a thinly layered masked of calm that he wear, Macaque could tell that MK was trying his best to not let his own emotion ruined how Macaque would received his question.

“And what if it was him? Does it bother you that your hero is not as pure and benevolent as you once thought?” Macaque decides to ask him back instead, which makes the kid blink at his retort before he lets out a small chuckle.

“Right! I think I should’ve known that after DBK showed up, or when The Spider Queen told us about how he destroyed her kingdom, or Azure…” MK sighed, hand holding the peach chips closer to his chest, it almost fell but somehow he managed to keep them all. 

Macaque looked at him once and then back to his carton of milk, “And you will cheer him up now anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Despite knowing he killed everyone he once proclaimed as a friend.”

“You kidnapped my friends two separate times, demeaned me for my inability to control my power, stole my power and hurt my mentor. Technically, I have more reason to hate you instead.” MK told him. But then the kid grinned, “Monkey King left me to fend for myself, lead my friend to Samadhi Fire despite knowing she might get hurt in the process…”

“I could hate both of you.” MK said, the tone of his voice was lacking the heat it should have. 

“But you don’t?” 

MK shook his head a little too confidently, “Too late! I’m already attached!”

Macaque raised one of his eyebrows at that.

“Seriously, I just… I mean I would like to know what happened. But I know those things… are complicated, seems like there's a lot more to it than I would ever understand, huh?” The kid said, Macaque on the other hand refused to look at his face. He really didn’t need any more of those conflicting caringness that reminds him of someone in the past.

If anything, MK is his own person. Just the right amount of cheerfulness yet combines with the sharpness of mind. 

He… he will be fine. 

He’s not Sun Wukong.

…

…

…

“Monkey King!”

Wukong could hear the ever happy chirps from MK from miles away. He tried his best to take a deep breath, closing his heart and pushing all the entangled inexplicably convoluted feelings deep into the box and wrapped it tightly. 

“Kid-! What a surprise!” He said, smiling to MK as the kid ran faster with… a questionably high pile of his favorite peach chips. Wukong looked at him funny, “Aw, is that all for your favorite most awesome mentor?”

The kid, bless his soul, nodded at his remarks pretty confidently. “Figured I could start giving you actual peach chips so you won't be eating your hair as often!” MK said, which was ouch, but also a fair thing to tell him considering… well. 

Wukong shook his head, trying to appear just a tad bit hurted by the jab, “I only did that occasionally, stop saying like it is all I’ve ever eaten!”

Now, it was MK’s turn to look at him funny. “Yeah, huh, sure Monkey King.” The kid retorted, totally unconvinced with his very sound argument. They both then walked toward the stream, the day was getting warmer, which means it was better to start looking for shade of trees and the coolness from the water streaming down along the river would be great.

The silence has always been nice whenever MK is around, so Wukong tried to savor every bit of it. Like the leech that he is, hopefully MK wouldn't mind much.

Especially, he pray that this kid will never need to be corrupted by the same poison that keeps eating his heart. 

It must be the curse of immortality, or Sun Wukong just happened to be something the world is trying so hard to get rid of. And yet here he is, the boulder that persists over time, as it slowly scrapes him with small bits of water from time to time.

“I saw Macaque just by the woods over there,” The kid started, voice was light. One hand reaching to the chips, gently puts them on Wukong’s empty hands. “Did you guys have a fight?”

Well, there's no point in hiding that now. Especially since Macaque would probably already have told MK parts of the story.

Still, Wukong chuckles lightly. Opening the bag of chips- refusing to see the honeyed hazel eyes looking at him with concern. He didn't deserve that. MK shouldn’t waste his empathy on him. “Seems like the good old days have passed. You can't really be all buddy when you punch a hole through someone’s eye sockets. Geez.”

For sometime his successor goes silent, so Wukong tries to focus on something else. Eating the chips, pushing away the gnawing feeling of familiar judgement being put onto him by someone. Anyone. But this is MK, it’s his student. Wukong can take this.

“Can I ask you what happened between you two?” 

There it is. The question that perhaps has been plaguing the kid’s mind since quite sometime. Wukong is trying to not look at those eyes. The way they could reflect things that could affect his soul depending on how disappointed his successor is with him, the way that it would totally ruin him. 

Wukong sighed. Slowly but surely, false golden eyes look to the honeyed brown. There was just a soft gaze, nothing judging, nothing pushing. Just pure concern and confusion filling his eyes. 

For a moment, the thought of lying came across his mind.

But the thought of the kid, so trusting, so caring, he could not bear to ruin that again after grasping on to the last straw for quite some time since keep ruining the trust MK put on him. 

“… I killed him.” There he has it. An admission so small the wind can easily take it over and leave no trails behind. Still, it was loud enough that MK could hear it, and he would be very disappointed. He will never look at him the same way, and it would all be his fault over again.

It is always his fault. 

Wukong looked deeper into the ground, wondering if it could claim him right there and then. Everything was so quiet that he didn’t even have the guts to look at how MK would look at him after that confession. 

There was a shift of movement in silence, Wukong closed his eyes. 

“We are fighting… I can’t… stop. He… didn’t want to stop… I can’t afford to let him… be. I… did it, I chose to end him ....” He tried, but the words kept caught and stuttered in all the way that made it jagged. He couldn’t just admit it, he can’t even do that even though he can remember clearly the feeling, the way Macaque’s slowly cooling blood pooling on his claw, dripping to the ground as his heart bled with it. 

“… I… It was my fault. I should’ve done something different.” He concluded. Leaving no room for further questions on that subject.

Even centuries have passed and recalling just flashes of memories breaks something somewhere. It shouldn’t have been like that considering how fast he could heal. 

Accepting fault is one way to figure out how to move forward, or something- Master should know about it, if only he ever bothered to ask instead of just stubbornly staying still and ignoring every single piece of him that was rotten. False and cursed- parts that make people leave, that let them die or hurt.

Or is it just everything about him? Is that it?

Before he could make sense out of the tangled emotions bubbling out of the repressive box, MK was already pushing his shoulder more urgently. It seems like the kid has already done so multiple times, a growing concern leaking even more now. Both of their peach chips were long forgotten. 

“Monkey King?” MK said softly, as if he was talking to something fragile. Wukong blinks away, only to find tears have been collecting to the corner of his eyes and such falling to the ground without a care. Wukong brushes it off violently, but MK just waits beside him. If he has something in mind from the pathetic display of emotion, he didn’t say anything about it.

Wukong took his breath and grinned, “Well, seems like… it’s harder to explain than I originally thought. So-“

“I’m sorry.” The kid cut his poor excuses. Wukong looked at him funny.

“Huh? What are you even sorry about, its me actually-“

“-No! Actually- Let me finish first. Please?” MK almost half shouted as he cut Wukong’s own words for a second time. Wukong stayed quiet, which MK took as his cue to continue, ”I’m sorry, Monkey King. I shouldn't have asked you about it. You seem… not over what happened, it must still be a very tough subject for you. I’m so sorry… I just… I’m so curious… I- don’t know… I thought I could help… I want to help you! But… I’m sorry.”

“I mean… after all the trouble I have you to handle, answering a few questions about me and Macaque is the least I could do for you.” Wukong didn’t like the way MK’s face felt the longer he talked, “A-anyway, how about we talked about this more… sometimes?”

That somehow enough to make the shine back to the kid’s face, “You promised? I mean, I-“

“I promised. I will do better… I mean, I’m trying… to. One at a time, right?” 

The kid wrapped him up in a sudden hug, it was warm and comforting, something that Wukong couldn’t help but chase. His hand instinctually wrapped, more awkward than he would’ve liked, but still.

He wondered how long it would linger, covering the ache in his heart like a nice blanket.

…

…

…

“So much for trying to be better, don’t you think?” Macaque said, watching the way Sun Wukong jabbed his fingers tirelessly to the hole on his chest, as if he didn’t even bother to wait for the heart to fully reformed yet before snatching it away. Discarding it to one giant hole this time.

“… You heard it.”

The king said, it wasn’t a question. Instead, it was framed lightly as a mere fact. Of course, knowing how his six ears worked, Sun Wukong would’ve guessed that he might be tuning in to Sun Wukong’s and MK’s conversation. 

Macaque sneered and chuckled lightly at it. “I sure did.” 

There was silence ensued for a bit, so many questions hanging in the air as Macaque decided which to be spoken out and which he thinks should’ve just remained stuck in his box of unspoken questions. 

Before he could let any of it out, Sun Wukong flicked his gaze to him. Eyes went intense for a moment that Macaque didn’t realize it could make him hold his breath. “MK … knows.” 

It took him some time to click on those vague words. But they really don’t need much to understand each other sometimes, even if it leaves more anger boiling inside him rather than its past bubbling light feeling. “What? That you killed me? Did you think I told him that?”

Wukong shook his head, “No- I think… I think he just knew it.”

“And?” Macaque just stood there, watching the way Wukong realized that his heart had fully formed. Frowned a little, and discarded it seamlessly as if he was just ripping off a bandaid.

He took some time to adjust with his… heart- less situation. Then continued, “He knows… and yet he still asks me what happened.” The word sounded more like a belated epiphany, to which Macaque let it hang in the air for a moment. Waiting. 

Nothing coming out of Wukong, Macaque scoffed. Should’ve thought as much. “Guess he is stubbornly attached to you. Despite everything.“ 

“Then why are you here, Macaque?” 

It was such a small question, Wukong didn’t seem to fully mean it when he asked, yet Macaque found himself caught completely off guard by the suddenness. 

He also then realized he did not have a good retort to it.

Macaque decided to begrudgingly walk close to the king that was sitting lazily by the tree. Sitting down right in front of him, sighing as he looked back to Sun Wukong, then down to the hollowed chest bleeding golden.

”You know it.” He said, hand reaching toward the slowly reforming heart, he plucked it in one swift move. Not even letting it beat. Sun Wukong let out a soft gasp, yet the king let him do as he pleased with the now dying organ. “I just want to know what this is all about. That’s it.”

Sun Wukong hummed, closing his eyes. His face slightly paled from all the blood he had lost over the course of the time he started to pluck out his many hearts. Whether the king believes in what Macaque had told him or not, he did not elaborate further.

Maybe he doubted it, maybe he didn’t.

Maybe he just doesn’t care.

Maybe Macaque was just trying to say it out loud so he believes that was really all about it.

…

…

…

“Monkey King-! I know I should’ve let you have your time to deal with… whatever that was happening- with the lowered spirit lately, or with whatever happened to Macaque as well. I hope everything will be alright and I understand I shouldn’t keep bothering you but I can’t help but be sooooo worried about you! So I’m just checking up- Y’know, just in case you might want to do some movie night! I will even invite Mei and maybe we could try to take Red Son with us, even Pigsy and Tang and Sandy! And Mo of course-“

Wukong could see the golden light flickered, it seems that MK was getting better at using his cloud. The swiftness of the sound and the speed certainly increased from the last time he used it.

The problem about it would be the fact that currently, Wukong might be a little busy disposing yet another heart out of his ribcage. Macaque’s hand hanging on the gapping bloodied hole on his chest certainly did not help to make the scene any less concerning. So much so that the golden ichor drenched their whole hands, painting an even more gruesome.

There were a few seconds of silence between them. As MK stares at the whole scene while Wukong’s own mind suddenly switches off almost completely.

“… L-look, I can explain.” Part of Wukong’s brain finally kicked in to form in some sentences.

MK’s eyes zeroed in on Macaque. 

“What do you think you are doing?” The kid asked Macaque.

Macaque, on his part, decided to be an absolute asshole about it. “Look, I was just here to help.” Both of his hands were up in nonchalant pose, despite ichor running down his arms.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ’HELPING’?” MK was about to pull out his staff when Wukong finally was able to move enough to be between both of them.

“Wait, he's right! I’m the one who asked him to do so!”

Macaque apparently did not like that exclamation due to a certain inaccuracy in it, “No, I’m the one offering to help out. You on the other hand just keep tearing up your ribcage on your own and plucking out hearts any other day like that suppose to be a freak hobby-“

MK on the other hand, seemingly to already have enough of it. “WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON HERE?!”