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It was another cold and icy day within the Lady Bone Demons abode. The kind that would make any mortal curl into themselves and cry with how cold it was.
As usual plans for world domination and decontamination were being crafted as easily as water molecules froze and birds flew. Missions with obtainable prizes were set.
Or as obtainable as stealing from the celestial realm, from your former home and from one of its greatest warriors can be.
Which wasn’t very obtainable by the way.
So Mensheng, the Lady Bone Demons thrall, commander, general and warrior was sent to retrieve the celestial item from none other than the protector of children, the third lotus prince, Nezha.
It had been a fierce battle, neither side had escaped unscathed, burns from ice and fire decorated their bodies like unsightly petals of a flower or smudges of ink. But in the end, the god had won and the thrall had to add another failure to his very short but easily rememberable list of failures.
The thrall retreated before the lotus prince could land the finishing blow that would’ve surely ended up with him being captured. He was in pain from the numerous burns and cuts that he had gained throughout their battle that would surely need stitches later. Although the thrall knew that his current state of being was nothing compared to what was to come.
“You have failed me…” His Lady stated as Mensheng limped into her icy cavern. She stood in the middle of the cave with her back turned to face him. But her rage and disappointment hung heavily in the air, almost palpable.
“My Lady I-ACK!!”
The thrall was cut off by a hand encircling his neck and crushing his windpipe.
“You have failed me.” She spat in his face.
The thralls eyes widened in fear, a vulnerability that he wouldn’t usually display so easily.
His lady sighed, her expression softening slightly, “You know how much I hate having to do this to you.” Her tone was lined with pity and guilt that to anyone else would've sounded fake, but the thrall had been around his Lady long enough to know that she was being sincere. Mensheng gasped and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat the best he could. His Lady tightened her bruising grip on her thralls neck, her nails digging into the soft flesh, drawing little droplets of blood.
“Drop your glamorous my thrall.” His lady commanded.
Mensheng did as he was told, removing the carefully and painstakingly placed glamorous he placed upon himself almost everyday to reveal an immutable amount of scars that stained the thrall's skin. Most were on his neck and quite clearly travelled further down his body and beneath the suit he loved so dearly.
But there was one scar, one scar that wrapped around his head, it peaked out from beneath an all too familiar circlet in cracks and valleys.
The circlet had once been used to discipline the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the legendary Sun Wukong, the monkey of warmth and the stark contrast to his Lady who was cold both physically and emotionally and would much rather see both her thrall and the Monkey King dead before showing an ounce of kindness towards those she deemed as unworthy of it.
She did care for him though!
At least the thrall hoped she did…
Otherwise why would she go through all the trouble it takes to punish him if she did not believe that he could be better?
The Lady Bone Demon dropped Mensheng on to the rocky floor harshly. It was cold. Much like everything else that he came into contact with. The majority of the warmth he felt came from those small brushes with the enemy when fighting.
The thrall gasped and heaved as he tried to refill his lungs with oxygen and calm his racing heart. The thrall felt the burning sensation of shame pooling within his gut, he was sure that he was a sorry sight.
His lady ‘tched’, “Pathetic.” She sneered and snapped her fingers together, the resounding SNAP that echoed throughout the cave sealing the thralls fate.
The thrall gasped and his hands flew up to his head, trying to claw the circlet off of his head as he screamed and moaned from the pain it caused him.
He deserved it though!
At least that's what he told himself and blood began to roll down his face, from the circlets unrelenting force or from his own frantic and desperate attempts to claw the wretched thing off of his head.
“AAAAAAHH!! NnGH!!” The thrall screamed as the circlet doubled it’s efforts to crush his skull, tears had begun to flow down his face.
The thrall had curled in on himself, shielding the rest of his body from whatever other forces decided to hurt him while the circlet cracked his skull open.
It was fine though!
He deserved it for failing his Lady!
For failing her after everything she’d done for him!
The very least he could do was lie there and take whatever punishment she deemed necessary for failing her again.
Mensheng gasped and cried as the circlet continued to shrink around his head, blood flowed freely down his face at this point and the world began to blur. It was a pain he felt often that somehow got worse with every use. And it was used a lot over the last thousand years.
“AGH! I…I’M NNNGH!” The thrall screamed again, he felt his awareness of the surrounding world begin to slip out of his grasp, everything had become extremely blurry at this point, “ I’m sorry f-AHH! FOR FAIL-AAAHHH!! FAILING YOU MY LADY!!” He cried out, he hoped his Lady would be able to find it within her to forgive him.
His Lady ‘hmmed’ before leaning down in order to be face-to-face with her thrall, “You know I hate punishing you like this…” She paused for a moment and Mensheng felt bile rise up his throat, which was his only warning before he threw up from the amount of pain he was in. The thralls chest was heaving as he gasped and cried, both from the circlet still tightening around his skull and now the only thing he could think about was the taste of copper and bile. His beloved suit was now stained with his blood as well.
“Aaaaaawww, am I being too hard on you?” His Lady cooed.
The thrall shook his head desperately, “NO! No No I-AH! Never my Lady!”
His Lady cocked her head at him. “Hmmm,” She tapped her finger against her chin as if she was in thought.
Mensheng screamed again as he felt the circlet finally crack his skull, he just wanted this to end!!
“In fact,” His Lady began as Mensheng shook on the ground, “I don’t think I’m being hard enough.” The thralls eyes widened, was his current state of suffering not enough for her?!
Blue chains made of the oldest ice and magic charged towards the shaking form on the floor. Ensnaring the man's limbs and yanking the man harshly up and off of the floor as he cried and groaned because his injuries from his battle with Nezha were pulled at and the loss of use in his limbs.
Cold. More cold crept up his limbs, his arms and legs, slowly but steadily creeping their way towards his core.
The numbness was welcome but was also a whole different kind of torture on its own.
BUT! It was fine.
He deserved this, right?
He was the one who disappointed and failed his Lady, he’s the one who failed the one job he was supposed to be good at!
So he deserved punishment!
No matter how painful it was…
“That’s better…” His Lady purred as her thrall writhed and screamed.
The Lady Bone Demon clapped her hands twice and a muzzle made of ice appeared around her thrall's face, muffling those pathetic noises he was making.
“Now, you’re going to calm down and shut up while I complete the final part of your punishment alright?” Despite the question being rhetorical, Mensheng nodded through their tearfilled eyes and pained moans that would’ve been screams if not for the muzzle.
The circlet had lessened its attempts to crush his skull like a peach, it was still shrinking of course. But Mensheng was pretty sure that he was becoming numb to it. Not that that was a good thing.
His Lady floated behind him, making her thrall tense as he realised what his Lady was about to do.
It wasn’t a punishment that he received often, only when he failed an extremely important mission.
His Lady gave no warning, leaving her thrall in a horrid sense of suspense, fear and pain.
Being unable to do anything but wait for his Lady to strike.
He waited for what felt like forever, his vision had almost completely blurred out at this point and it was very blue as well.
Then his Lady struck.
The whip came down on his back, cracking and tearing apart the skin on Mensheng's back causing white hot pain as it was dragged down his back and left behind a slight cold feeling that lingered around the edges of the mark. The feeling had the thrall screaming, despite the muzzle that was meant to muffle those sounds.
The whip came down again
And again
And again
And again
And again
And again
And again
And again
Mensheng didn’t know how many times his Lady struck him with her whip, but he passed out sometime around the ninth lash. From both the crushing force on his skull that was most definitely cracked or fractured at this point, the lacerations and burns from his fight with Nezha and the multitude of whiplashes had bestowed him with.
But it was fine !
It just showed how much he messed up, how much his Lady cared for him!
Right?
The thrall groaned and opened his eyes, which was a struggle when one of them was sealed shut with his own blood. His head was throbbing and his back felt like he’d just been burnt by the Samhadi fire.
“It looks like you’ve finally woken up my dear.” His Lady cooed before slapping him across the face, her nails which were more like claws dragged across his cheek, cutting it. “You disappoint me.” She huffed as she left the cavern.
A moment or two passed before the chains suspending him mid-air for all to see disappeared and he fell to the ground.
But instead of the hard landing that he was expecting, that he was used to, he landed in someone's arms. They weren’t his Lady’s arms, these ones were warm and soft. Hers were cold, but they comforted him occasionally, usually after a punishment, his Lady would come back after venting the last of her frustrations.
Mensheng hissed as he was carefully rolled onto his back within the strangers arms, “Shit! Sorry Icy pole.” They apologised. Their voice was familiar, but in his blood deprived and injured state the thrall couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he’d heard the voice before, so he cracked one of his eyes open with a great amount of effort to see who was holding him ever so carefully.
Macaque's anxious and agitated face stared back at him, “Just hold on for me yeah Icy pole?” Macaque sounded panicked, so despite the pain he was currently in, the thrall reached up to attempt to reassure the shadow monkey that he was alright and that he deserved everything that had just happened to him.
But he only succeeded in worrying the already distressed Monkey further.
“Just hold on Icy pole, you’ll be okay..” Macaque couldn’t tell who he was trying to assure more himself, or the man who would be dying of blood loss if he wasn’t immortal and tied to the Lady Bitch Demon.
“You’ll be okay.”