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"Hey, Macaque?" MK asked as he twirled his staff from hand to hand. They were about to start their usual training, Macaque was gracious enough to keep training MK -though MK kind of felt as if Macaque only wanted to train him to annoy Monkey King- and they had set up on the roof of a random building.
"Yeah, kid?" The shadow monkey replied, setting up the area so that they would be able to fight without destroying the area. He was really trying to drill it into the kids head lately that they could fight without destruction. It was failing so far but they would get there eventually.
"You and Monkey King are like friends now, right?" MK walked over to the monkey and sat down next to him, swinging his legs over the edge of the rooftop.
"I wouldn't really say we're 'friends'," Macaque turn to MK, watching the kid look over the city. He sighed as he turned to follow the boys gaze, which was facing flower fruit mountain, even if they couldn't see it from where they were. "Why do you ask?"
"I haven't really seen him for a while." MK shrugged, his shoulders rising and staying there. "And I was wondering if you would know anything."
Macaque thought about that for a moment. Last he had heard Wukong was cleaning out his collection of junk, or so the sage had said anyway. The gold monkey was probably just lazing about like he usually did. It also wouldn't surprise him if Wukong had decided to finally go on that vacation he had been going on about. Though, to not tell MK about it seemed odd, especially after everything they had been through with Lady Bone Demon. He shuddered at the thought of her, cold seeming to seep into his bones.
"I haven't heard from him either," Macaque sighed, distracting himself from the reminder of what had happened, he watched the kid hunch into himself more. That wasn't good, Macaque needed to stop that somehow, "but, hey, we can go have a look around, see if we find anything. It's been awhile since I've seen the troop."
MK seemed to visibly brighten at that and Macaque couldn't help but smile back at the boys beaming face. "Really? Thank you!"
MK jumped up from his position and looked ready to shoot off into the sky looking for Wukong, so the shadow monkey quickly grabbed the boy's wrist before he could get very far.
"We still have a bit of training to do first." He gave MK a look which the boy returned sheepishly "Afterwards, we can go, okay?" He couldn't help the quiet snort that left him as MK pouted but nodded all the same. "Alright, now I'm not going to go easy on you." Macaque couldn't help but smirk as he advanced.
The rest of the training went about as well as expected. The boy was improving in leaps and bounds and Macaque could understand -faintly- where Wukong's ego came from. The kid was starting to get his own style of fighting as well and, though Macaque didn't like to acknowledge it out loud, MK would probably soon surpass both him and Wukong. It was a daunting thought, but not an unpleasant one. He had only grown fonder of the kid as the days went by and it hurt to care as much as he did. Especially about someone who reminded him of a certain golden monkey.
He shook the thought off as he blocked an incoming strike from MK. The staff slid harmlessly across his own shadow version and Macaque pinned them both in place for a moment to catch the kids attention.
"Alright," MK's eyes flicked up to Macaque's face as he spoke, "I think that's it for the day. You're doing really good."
"Yes! Are we going to look for Monkey King now?" MK asked with the kind of energy that Macaque wasn't sure would ever deplete. He couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his mouth, even if his life depended on it, as he caught sight of the kids eager face.
"Yeah, kid, we'll go look for that slacker." A shadow portal formed under his feet as he grabbed MK on the shoulder and pulled him through. They were at the entrance to Wukong's 'secret' cave in a matter of moments and for once MK didn't stumble. The kid was getting used to shadow travel and Macaque tried not to think too hard about the implications of that.
"You know, I was here the other day," MK began to ramble as he opened the waterfall. Technically Macaque could have just shadow traveled into the cave but he thought it might be good to have a look around the entrance, in case they came across a sign of some kind, "And then this box came crashing down from one of the shelves. It broke almost immediately but nothing really happened so I think it was just an ordinary box."
"A lot of his junk is magical in some way but if he has it then it's probably useless."
"Yeah, that's what I figured." MK soon skipped ahead, shouting out "Monkey King" at the top of his lungs. It hurt the shadow monkey's ears but he wasn't going to say a word to the kid about it. Not when it might bring the great sage out of wherever he was hiding.
Macaque followed along behind MK, slowly making their way towards the small dwelling Wukong lived in. He watched as MK ran up to the door and opened it without even knocking. He couldn't help the smile that took over his face as he listened to the kid run around the house, calling for Wukong.
There was a daunting stillness to the area that even MK's movement and loudness couldn't seem to penetrate and it set the fur on the back of his neck on end. Something was wrong here and he didn't know what. He heard a crash from inside the house and sighed as he used his shadows to move to where MK was.
"Hey, MK, can-" He was immediately interrupted by MK shoving his face into Macaque's, the shadow monkey would have taken a step back if he wasn't already used to MK's mannerisms by now.
"Did you find him?! Or a note?! Or, or something?" MK's voice slowly faded as he spoke. There was sadness in his tone, and maybe a bit of desperation as the kid clung to the front of the shadow monkey's clothing.
"I haven't found anything yet," Macaque hated how his words made the boy visibly droop but there was nothing he could do about it. The kid let go of Macaque clothes and dragged himself over to the couch before flopping onto it with a sigh. He couldn't let the defeat sit on the kids shoulders for long. So he joined MK on the couch, placing a hand on his shoulder and causing MK to look over to him. "Don't give up yet, he's probably stuck somewhere and if we listen closely we might be able to hear him."
He knew the boy probably wouldn't be able to but he hoped his own six ears would be able to pick up something. Anything to get that look of abandonment out of MK's eyes. It took a moment for Macaque's words to register in MK's mind before he brightened up and sat straighter on the couch.
"Listening. I can totally do that!"
"Good, why don't you listen out for him around here and I'll go see if I can hear anything in his junk room." The shadow monkey patted MK on the shoulder.
He waited for the 'okay' from MK then left him in the house. Hopefully, now that it was quiet, he would be able to pick something up. He hadn't managed to sense anything else so far and he was sure the kid was the same -if Wukong had trained him in that or not, Macaque wasn't sure but he would be saying words to the sage if the answer was 'not'.-
Getting into the room was easy. Seeing just how much junk the sage had managed to collect over the centuries was a little eye opening but Macaque smiled as he looked around.
That sentimental fool had just about kept everything, hadn't he? the shadow monkey thought as he walked around. He could hear his own footsteps as he moved through the room, and MK's muttering from in the house -alongside the chattering of a couple of the troop bothering MK-, but there wasn't any sound of the golden monkey.
That was until Macaque heard MK sulking and imitating Wukong which cause him to chuckle. He just came around a pile of objects when a mirror came into view and he heard Wukong's voice.
"Hey!" The monkey said angrily, stuck on the other side of the mirror, "you're not supposed to be here!"
"What's this?" Macaque put his hands in his pockets as he walked closer to the trapped monkey, a smirk on his face as he bent down to look Wukong in the eyes. "Are we a little bit stuck?"
"I swear, Mac, when I get out of here." Wukong was obviously trying sound ominous but Macaque only laughed harder.
"You'll what, peaches?" His smirk grew as he said the old nickname and enjoyed the flush that covered Wukong's face. Was it anger or something else? Macaque didn't know and he didn't really care, the golden monkey was blushing, and it had been a while since Macaque last saw such a sight.
The trapped monkey seethe for a moment before speaking, "I'll -"
He was interrupted by MK shouting out to Macaque. "Macaque? I didn't find Monkey King anywhere in his hut but I did find this other monkey sleeping on his bed. Do you think they're missing him as well? Hey, I thought the door was locked? Did I leave it open? or did you somehow know how to open it? I thought Monkey King and I were the only ones who could."
Macaque watched as MK made his way over to him, talking and distracted the whole way over. The kid turned the corner holding a sleepy monkey in his arms with another perched on his shoulder. The fond smile on Macaque's face was obvious to anyone who was looking but he didn't really care in that moment.
It took a few seconds longer for MK to realise, as he cooed over the baby monkey in his arms before looking up at Macaque with a grin, that the reflection in the mirror was not Macaque's. He readied himself for the shout that he knew MK was about to let out.
"Monkey King!" The boy shouted, causing both monkeys to hold back a wince at the volume.
"Hey, bud," the sage said, sheepishly. He scratched the back of his neck in a way he always did when nervous, or when feeling guilty, and wouldn't look either of them in the eyes as he continued, "so, I, maybe, got myself trapped by accident."
"That's pretty obvious, Wukong," Macaque said, smirking. Which made the gold monkey glare at him but he ultimately ignored Macaque and focused instead on the kid.
"Yes, well, I might need a bit of... help." Wukong said with reluctance.
"Is this why you haven't been around lately? Because you've been stuck in a mirror?" MK asked and Wukong nodded in reply. "How did you even get in there to start with?"
"Haha, funny story that," Wukong avoided eye contact again and mumbled out, "I, kind of, forgot that this one was cursed..."
"Do you own anything that's not cursed?" Macaque asked at the same time MK shouted, "Cursed!"
Wukong chose to ignore the kids outburst and shot another glare at Macaque. Wukong was embarrassed enough that he was trapped. He didn't need the shadow monkey to rub salt into the wound. "Not everything in here is cursed." He mumbled the next bit under his breath. "Just most things."
And, of course, Macaque heard him. Not much could get passed his six ears. He started laughing as MK looked between the two monkeys in concern.
"So, what do we have to do to help you get out?" MK asked once Macaque's laughter had died down. Macaque saw that the kid had started to fiddle with his hands, so Macaque put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. This wasn't anything like the Lady Bone Demon, this was simple stuff that they would be able to deal with quickly.
MK turned a nervous smile to Macaque and took a deep breath. Maybe the kid needed a bit more help with self confidence than he thought. He put that thought on the back burner for now, it was probably something that he would need to talk with Wukong about, and he needed the monkey out of the mirror to do that. Unfortunately.
"Alright, kid, how about you go grab a bowl from the house and I'll get started on getting the idiot out of the mirror." Macaque gently pushed MK towards the door, and the kid didn't resist in the least.
"A bowl?" MK looked sceptical and he had every right to be. "What-"
"Just wait and find out." Macaque interrupted.
MK huffed as he looked between the monkeys then raced out the door. It wouldn't be long before the kid was back and in all honestly Macaque just wanted to have a chat with Wukong while the monkey couldn't escape and MK couldn't hear.
"Can you just get me out already? I know you know how to." The trapped monkey banged on the glass to gain Macaque's attention.
"I don't know," he shrugged as he make his way closer to Wukong with a smile on his face, "I kinda like you like this, peaches."
"Stop it with the nickname, Mac," Wukong said with a warning tone that was undermined by the fact that he was blushing again, which caused Macaque's grin to widen. He loved teasing the monkey, he had almost forgotten how much fun it could be.
"I will for now." Macaque leaned against a pile of objects close to the mirror, so he could look the monkey in the eye. "How long have you been stuck in here?"
"What are we doing, playing twenty questions?" The sage grumbled and crossed his arms, refusing to look at Macaque.
"Wukong." The shadow monkey said in a warning tone of his own, which caused the other to look back at him. "I'll admit, I don't really care how long you've been stuck in here." He paused at Wukong pouted and he snorted quietly to himself before continuing. "What I do care about is how depressed MK has been. He obviously thought you were ignoring him or had just left him alone again. And he'll deny it but he's been sad for the last week, maybe even longer." He mumbled the next part more to himself than to Wukong. "I swear that kid has more abandonment issues than I do."
The Monkey King was silent for a moment and Macaque let him. It wasn't every day that the monkey would actually think before he spoke. "I've been in here a week, maybe two? I don't know, it's hard to tell just how long it's been. But MK has been without me for longer than that before. What's so different about this time?"
"I don't know, maybe because last time you left him for a 'vacation' and he had to deal with the Lady Bone Demon by himself?" Macaque fought off the chill that always seemed to run down his back at the mere thought of that demon. "Maybe, he's still scared something is going to happen and if he doesn't know where his allies are he feels like he's all alone. And just maybe, he feels if something were to happen to him you wouldn't be there to help."
"Mac..." Wukong's breath of his name made him turn away from his former friend and glare at the random objects around the place. Yes, he may have said a bit too much and, yes, he and MK were probably feeling similar things at the moment but he still shouldn't have let Wukong know just how affected he was.
He sighed as he looked back towards the mirror, definitely not making eye contact with the sage. "Look, MK really needs to know you're not going to leave him again, and maybe don't lie so much to the kid. He's old enough to know most things now. So trust him a bit, will you?"
"Yeah," Wukong breathed out, "Yeah, I can do that."
Macaque could hear MK returning and he needed to say one last thing before the kid returned. "He looks up to you, you know? More than he would for just a mentor."
"What's that-" Wukong was interrupted by something falling down in the distance followed by a shout of "sorry!" They both looked at each other and chuckled at the kids clumsiness, the tension between them dissipated for a moment.
"Try not to break the kids heart again," Macaque leaned into the mirror to say one last thing to Wukong before the kid arrived, "and if you do, Wukong, you'll regret it."
The monkey stared silently but nodded his head as the kid rounded a pile of miscellaneous objects. MK was holding a large mixing bowl in his hands and Macaque walked over to him, taking the bowl with his tail.
"Thanks, kid."
"So," MK looked between Macaque and the mirror, "What did you need the bowl for?"
"I didn't," Macaque said as he smiled mischievously at MK, "better duck, peaches." He didn't look back as his tail threw the bowl at the mirror, both MK and Wukong shouting in alarm. The mirror shattered into pieces instantly and a golden mist escaped, slowly forming into the sage, who looked shocked for a moment before he turned and glared at Macaque.
"What the hell, Mac!" Wukong brushed off mirror pieces as MK immediately jumped on the sage and gave him a hug, effectively curbing the Kings ire. Which was exactly what the shadow monkey was hoping for.
He stayed back as the two began talking, not wanting to interrupt. They looked like father and son, and a small part of Macaque couldn't help the fondness that blossomed in his chest, whereas another part was bitter. He sighed as he moved out of Wukong's junk room and outside to the ledge where he could barely see the edge of the city.
Thoughts invaded his mind as he sat on the edge, thoughts of a time long gone and an era long forgotten. Or well, one he tried to forget about. There was so much that the two of them needed to say to each other but not in front of the kid.
He could hear the others catching up, or well MK telling Wukong about all the things he missed over the week. It was the usual babble and Macaque had gotten good at filtering that out. The chattering of monkeys, the bubbling of the stream no far away, the rhythmic thud of heart beats.
Macaque sighed as he filtered out all the unnecessary sounds and heard footsteps approach him. He could tell they were the kid's because MK never bothered to hide from Macaque. Maybe he would have to put that into their next lesson.
"So, why did you ask me to get a bowl?" MK asked as he joined Macaque on the edge of the cliff. It confused Macaque for a moment before he realised what MK was actually going on about.
"Oh, yeah," Macaque picked up a mango on the other side of him and threw it between his hands, "there were probably a lot of objects in that room that I could have used to throw and break that mirror. But, you know, if something else was cursed, or had any sort of magical properties, then it might have just made stuff worse. I figured Wukong wouldn't have any cursed bowls in his house, so that's why."
"Oh," MK swung his legs back and forth as they both looked across the mountain, "he does."
"He does?"
"Have cursed bowls." MK turned and grinned at Macaque. "It's a good thing I didn't grab one of them for you."
"Of course he does," Macaque muttered under his breath and shook his head, "that man sure likes to tempt fate."
"Are you talking about me?" Wukong asked as he carried over a bowl of chips. They were probably peach flavoured and Macaque couldn't help but scrunch up his nose in distaste. The gold monkey sat on the opposite side of MK, offering the kid some of his spoils.
"We were saying you need to get rid of all that junk, or at least sort it a bit." Macaque leant forward to glare half-heartedly at Wukong from around MK. "We wouldn't want another incident like today."
"If you would just get a phone," MK mumbled around his mouthful of chips, "you could have told me and we wouldn't be waiting around for you for as long."
"Yeah, yeah," Wukong waved the concern away but they both could tell that the gold monkey was doing it for show, "I'll get a phone, alright?"
"Good." MK grinned at Wukong.
They all sat watching the sun set, sharing peach flavoured chips and the random mangos Macaque had somehow procured, enjoying the light banter and fading light.
Macaque would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying himself more than he had in a long time. It was one thing to spend time with MK, but it almost felt like old times between himself and Wukong. It was a dangerous thought to have. Yet, Macaque wasn't as scared of that as he had been only that morning. Hopefully a couple more days like this one and they might just patch things up again.
One could only hope.
Or three in this case.