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Wukong stared at the wall of his shack, a dirty headband in his lap.
MK was gone. Like, really gone. Not just in the Underworld or stuck in the Pillar or even just dead— It was like the kid never even existed. If it weren't for memories and small things like this headband, Wukong probably would have believed it.
The monkey demon wrapped the red fabric around his knuckles, trying to get out of his head. He just— He begged. Begged MK to just let him give himself up. The kid had a whole life ahead of him, who fucking cares about some prophecy older than the Monkey King??
But all he could feel right now was the fillet tightening around his skull as MK disappeared into the Pillar.
Wukong heard something outside, a thud and his kids rushing away in fear. But he couldn't stop focusing on the headband. It wasn't until a familiar voice shouted "SUN WUKONG!" that he even looked up.
The Demon Bull King and Princess Iron Fan.
They ripped a hole in the side of his shack at some point, but he didn't even notice. "What do you want, Niu Mowang?" He felt like his mind was a millennia away from him. The bull king snorted. "You haven't called me that in ages. And while you were sly, you're not stupid, Wukong."
Wukong blinked.
.
Oh.
"Now? MK's only been gone a month and you're already—" "We've been preparing for this for centuries, Wukong." PIF cut in smoothly. She had a presence that could command any function, which usually the monkey demon respected. But now he was just— upset. "The Monkey Boy is dead, so there's no point in delaying any more. Surely even you can see that."
Wukong was beyond stunned. His fists were clenched and he could hear the headband ripping.
"I just lost my son." The word felt foreign, but so right. MK was born from a chip of the stone Wukong himself came from. He found his cub on the mountain and made the choice to send him to live somewhere, yes, but it was his son. His fucking child.
"And I lost 500 years with my own." DBK snarled and straightened, the ceiling bending with his shoulders as it creaked. "Unlike you, Wukong, I prefer an actual fight as opposed to a mountain on your back."
"No."
Princess Iron Fan paused from her husband's shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean no?"
"I'm not fighting anymore." Wukong felt exhausted. He looked back to the headband. MK lost it during one of their training sessions and just replaced it. One of the monkey demon's subjects found it a month later, and he added it to his treasure hoard. Now he never let it go.
"If you're here to kill me, just fucking do it."
"Oh, you think too highly of us, Wukong." That honeyed voice only a Celestial Maiden had could make his stomach turn. His head snapped up to look at her smirk.
"What?"
"You kept my husband trapped for 500 years. You really think I would let you escape punishment so easily?"
Wukong stayed where he knelt, frozen. A cold, heavy weight against his brow. A mockery of a crown to hide a torture device. The fillet was programmed to tighten if he moved from his spot an inch. And if he didn't, it tightened every 24 hours anyways.
He was counting the seconds. All he could think of was the way it felt like his skull was being split open. The scream that tore itself from his throat no matter how hard he tried to stay quiet. How he could never really join his cub. He fought so hard to stay immortal, stay alive for forever, but now? Now he just wanted death. He just wanted MK. And Wukong could never have that.
And that probably hurt more than the chains and the pain that the once king now bore again.