Chapter Text
Bǎi Hé had been twelve years old when her life had been irrevocably changed.
Twelve years old when cold and death had forced its way inside her body and used her as a living puppet to serve its own twisted ambitions.
She had been painfully aware of everything her body had been forced to do - from her distasteful expressions to her rigid posture to her cruel tongue - but she hadn't been able to feel any of it.
She couldn't feel her hands clasped together but she knew that they were, she couldn't feel her legs move but she knew they were walking. The best description she had for it was that it felt like she was a ghost trapped a millimetre under her own skin - unable to feel her body but forced to contort to whatever shape it took.
The analogy became all the more fitting as she realised that she couldn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired anymore.
The only thing she could feel that wasn't an emotion was cold.
Her body never shivered, her breath was never visible and no goosebumps ever appeared on her skin but still her very soul ached from the unnatural cold that had burrowed itself into her bones.
But there was nothing she could do to stop it.
There was nothing she could do to stop anything that was happening.
She was little more than a collection of thoughts and feelings - reduced to a voice inside her own head.
A voice she was increasingly unsure that anyone but her could hear.
It didn't matter how much she screamed or cried, or how much she begged or pleaded it all seemed to fall on deaf ears. Even when fear gave way to anger and she howled abuse, or when anger gave way to boredom and she deliberately tried to needle her captor still there was nothing.
A lack of consequences saw her becoming increasingly bold with her scathing commentary and furious ranting but it did little to distract her from her dwindling hope of rescue.
Her hope had been given a new lease of life after the defeat of the Spider Queen and the Monkey King had discovered it was the Lady Bone Demon pulling the strings, even if she had been greatly disturbed that he had tried to attack her.
She had to remind herself that he hadn't been attacking her. No, he'd been trying to stop the Lady Bone Demon! She told herself that he must have known she was there - he was the Monkey King, after all! He had Golden Vision! He was a hero! And a hero would never have let any harm come to her! He would have feinted at the last second or pulled some other fantastic trick if the Lady Bone Demon hadn't spirited her away!
She had to believe that.
She had to believe that he'd seen her, that he knew she was here and that he was now working to save her.
She had to believe that she could be saved.
Her faith was severely tested however as the weeks stretched on with no sign of rescue and the Lady Bone Demon slowly but surely succeeding in gathering the artefacts she needed for her plans.
Where was the Monkey King?
She'd caught enough grumblings from the spider demons to know that the Monkie Kid definitely knew how to find the Spider Queen's lair and he had to have shared that information with the Monkey King, right...? She didn't really know what their relationship was but surely they had to at least talk to each other? They'd worked together to defeat the Spider Queen - they had to be doing the same to stop the Lady Bone Demon.
So where were they?
Why weren't they coming to save her?
She had nothing but time to think about it.
But while the reasons she was coming up with for the delay were getting increasingly outlandish, because there was no way that their was another supervillain worse than the Lady Bone Demon keeping them busy, it was becoming nearly impossible to ignore the possibility that the Monkey King hadn't actually seen her, that he didn't know she was the Lady Bone Demon's prisoner and if he didn't know she was here...
Then that meant that nobody did.
She didn't even know if the Lady Bone Demon knew she was here and she was terrified what that meant for her.
---
The Monkie Kid accidentally tumbling into the Spider Queen's domain brought with it a rollercoaster of emotions and revelations.
The elation of seeing the Monkie Kid here in person was quickly replaced the devastating realisation that he wasn't aware of her predicament and that he wasn't the confident and competent hero that she'd been hoping for, proving to be an easy target for the Lady Bone Demon's particular brand of manipulation and cruelty.
Her fury had already been sparked by the Lady Bone Demon's "helpless, little girl" act but it was her desperate desire to be heard and to stop the Monkie Kid's suffering that really had her rattling the bars of her cage.
And for the first time, for just one brief moment, she thought she could actually feel the boundaries of her prison. She didn't know if it was the Lady Bone Demon's magic or her soul or what but it felt like there was something almost tangible that she could push against. Despite her best efforts though it wouldn't budge. And much to her dismay, as the Monkie Kid escaped, she found that her strength to keep pushing faltered.
But her attempts did not go unnoticed by her captor.
Once the lair had calmed down after the upset the Monkie Kid's visit had caused, she had found herself staring, once again, into the godforsaken furnace she was forced to look at day in and day out but her plans to lament and reflect upon what had happened were immediately abandoned as she noticed her reflection.
In another first, cold eyes seemed to pierce through her prison of bone and flesh and stare straight into the eyes of the ghost trapped within.
Her bravery momentarily left her as the Lady Bone Demon peered through the bars, all the vitriol she'd gotten so confident spitting into the silence forgotten as she froze in terrified apprehension as the Lady Bone Demon dissected her with her gaze.
She flinched as the Lady Bone Demon suddenly asked, "Why do you persist, child?"
She couldn't find her voice before the Lady Bone Demon continued, seemingly talking to herself as considered her, "To be so unaffected by my presence still... Perhaps I should have your souls record delivered to me, the details of your past lives could be revealing." She held up a hand a contemplated it, "As could this body's lineage."
Trembling, she let the flickers of injustice fuel her courage, "Unaffected? How- How could I be unaffected?" Her voice got stronger as she accused her, "You kidnapped me! You stole my body and then trapped me inside it! I can't do anything but watch you use my body so you can lie and hurt people! How could anyone be "unaffected" by that!"
The Lady Bone Demon was unmoved by her righteous fury, if anything she seemed quietly amused as she rebutted, "Trapped you? It is you that clings so desperately to this body, child. You are more than welcome to leave it if you so wish."
Anger fully ignited, she all but howled, "Liar! And this is my body! Mine! You're the one that's welcome to leave! Not me!"
The Lady Bone Demon sighed in disappointment, "I suppose I should have known better than to grant a child an audience and expect it to be worth my time. But you should know by now that no amount of tantrums or tears will sway me. This body was delivered to me by Destiny, I will not relinquish it."
Destiny.
Oh, how she loathed that word.
She was past the point of no return as she raged, "Destiny!? Destiny had nothing to do with it! You just attacked the first person you found because you didn't have a choice! But now you do! So why? Why not take someone else's body? Why not someone stronger? The Spider Queen is right there! Take hers!"
She was sure later she could come up with reasons why the Lady Bone Demon being even more powerful was a bad idea, and even later still she might feel something about her willingness to trade her freedom for another's, even if that other person was a villain themselves, but right now, she didn't care about any of that.
She wanted her body back. She wanted her freedom. And she wanted to be as far away from this nightmare as was physically possible.
Dismissively, the Lady Bone Demon responded, "Her majesty already has her part to play. And I have no need for another body - not when this one so adequately meets my needs."
Infuriated, she yelled, "How? How can some random kid you happened to find be what you need?" Unable to resist, she also added, "And you're, like, thousands of years old! Can't you see how weird and creepy it is that you're pretending to be twelve?"
The Lady Bone Demon didn't even have the good grace to look annoyed or offended at the slight, if anything she seemed tired of this conversation already, but with the air of a long suffering martyr she still deigned to answer her first question, "Your age is irrelevant. But I will admit, that I too was surprised at how perfect an anchor these bones are, one could almost believe that they had been tailor made for me."
Alarm and an uncomfortable feeling she couldn't put a name to were enough to cut through her anger, and much less demanding than she intended, she asked, "What are you talking about?"
The Lady Bone Demon waved her hand dismissively, "The nuances of my powers and their roots are beyond your understanding but know that I have rarely come across bones so capable of channelling my power." She smiled, "And I'm sure you'll agree that finding such a rarity while I was at my weakest would have been impossible had it not been Destiny's will."
She really did not like all this talk about her bones but she especially didn't like the suggestion that they were somehow uniquely compatible with the Lady Bone Demon's power or that she had always been destined to be part of her evil plans.
If she had been able to, she would have closed her eyes and covered her ears as she desperately denied, "No! None of this was supposed to happen! I- I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! There's nothing special about me or my bones!"
The Lady Bone Demon was indifferent to her distress, ignoring her as she pondered out loud, "This body's role in Destiny is apparent but it is your soul that remains a mystery. The fact that it lingers, undiminished by my presence... Curious, certainly, but significant...?" She sighed as she turned away, "I suppose that remains to be seen. It is clear however that there is nothing to be gained from speaking to you."
A sharp stab of panic shot through her at the clear signal this conversation was at its end. Desperate not to be alone again, she cried out, "Wait! No! What- What do you mean? How is my soul curious? We- we could figure out if it's significant together!"
The Lady Bone Demon simply hummed, "Your purpose, should you have one, will be revealed to me when Destiny wills it. For now, I have wasted enough of my time on you."
She swore she could feel the walls of her prison close in on her as the Lady Bone Demon walked away from the furnace and all she could do was beg as fear began to consume her, "No! Please! Don't leave me here again! Please! I don't want to be alone anymore! I-" She began to sob, "I just want to go home. I want my māma. I want my bàba. Please. Please..."
But it didn't matter how much she cried, screamed or begged.
It all went unanswered.
---
Her conversation with the Lady Bone Demon had left her with a terrible crisis about bones and souls and her part to play in all of this but it also, unexpectedly, had given her hope that all wasn't lost. If the Lady Bone Demon could see she was here, then others might be able to as well.
She could still be saved, she was sure of it.
As long as she kept holding on then she could still be saved.
Whether she could saved in time however was another matter altogether.
The Lady Bone Demon was getting closer and closer to enacting her plan, securing two more of the artefacts she needed and leaving her with only the Monkey King's staff to acquire.
The spider demons had been put to work rebuilding the Spider Queen's mech but it was a job that the Lady Bone Demon had little time to supervise, not when the lantern was refusing to cooperate.
Each artefact had to be prepared for the ritual that would bring the Lady Bone Demon's mech, or the "Báigǔ Jījiǎ" as its architect liked to call it, into the world. And that largely seemed to involve taming the artefact's own magic and training it to work in tandem with the Lady Bone Demon's magic but none of them had caused as much trouble as the lantern.
And it brought her no end of delight to see the frustration it was causing the Lady Bone Demon.
Much less enjoyable however was the knowledge that whoever's lantern this was was now also the Lady Bone Demon's prisoner.
She knew little about him, the Lady Bone Demon never having deigned to visit him, but she had been horrified that he'd been left at the mercy of her terrifying thrall.
It had all but begged to be allowed to punish him for his disobedience and disloyalty. A permission the Lady Bone Demon had granted without any stipulations other than that he needed to be left with enough strength to finally heed his destiny when she called upon him.
It still made her feel sick remembering the twisted, manic grin on its face upon receiving its master's approval to torture this unknown man however it pleased. But she could only be grateful that she was spared from having to bear witness to her fellow prisoner's suffering, not even a whisper of what he might be going through reaching her ears.
She did her best not to think about him, focusing instead on his lantern and hoping against hope that the Lady Bone Demon wouldn't be able to wrestle it into submission. But, of course, eventually she did, laughing cruelly as she derided its owner for being so pitiful as she discovered the trick to the lantern's undoing.
It all seemed to spiral so quickly from there - the completion of the Spider Queen's mech, the living sacrifice of the four spider demons, attacking the Monkie Kid, tricking him into giving up the final artefact needed, forcing him and the Monkey King to flee as the Lady Bone Demon finally succeeded in completing the ritual and summoning the instrument of her Armageddon.
The Báigǔ Jījiǎ.
In that moment, all hope had been lost.
Not just for her, but for the world.
Ice and death would claim everything she'd ever known and everyone she'd ever loved while she was forced to watch, her face split in a manic grin and her eyes shining with rapture.
But the moment of reckoning hadn't quite arrived, the Lady Bone Demon apparently in no rush to usher in a new ice age when there were still loose ends to tie up.
It was then that she got her first look at the monkey demon that had dared to defy the Lady Bone Demon.
He didn't look like he had spent days at the mercy of the Lady Bone Demon's monstrous thrall but she knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving and given his pristine appearance and the familiar motifs of his clothes, she was willing to bet he'd been made presentable for this audience with the Lady Bone Demon.
Whatever he had suffered though, it hadn't broken him and he spoke with no deference as he took stock of the situation, "The staff. The city. You've been busy."
The city...
It had largely been spared during the Lady Bone Demon's fight with the Monkie Kid but summoning the mech had resulted in a barrage of ice that had toppled buildings and destroyed crucial infrastructure, plunging it into chaos as the unnatural mist emanating from the mech flooded the streets.
So far, the Lady Bone Demon hadn't seemed at all concerned with the city or the millions of people currently trying to evacuate it and Bǎi Hé could only pray that one small mercy held out for her friends and family to make it to safety.
If they still could.
Her attention was quickly brought back to the conversation at hand however as the Lady Bone Demon cut straight to the chase, "Tell me. What madness overcame you, that you would forsake your oath? When did you decide to betray me?"
The demon barely got out a flippant, "Listen, Lady Bone Demon-" before the Lady Bone Demon's voice boomed, "Have you forgotten who I am? What I am?" Quieter but no less threatening, she continued, "I, who returned you to the mortal plane. All in exchange for such a little favor. That when the time came, you would free me, aid in my pursuit of equilibrium. But no. With the first breath of a new life, you rebelled against your fate. Fool."
There were implications of unholy powers in that statement that she never would have thought existed before this nightmare started but before she could even begin to process the sheer magnitude of what was being suggested, the demon was talking again, somehow managing a parody of a smile as he quickly deduced, "So. You want something."
Summoning a small artefact that fell into the demon's hands, the Lady Bone Demon magnanimously delivered her ultimatum, "I offer one more chance at redemption. Bring me the Monkey King and his protégé, and perhaps you will be worthy of my mercy."
The demon seemed more concerned with the object he was holding than the Lady Bone Demon's mercy however, asking uncertainly, "And this is...?"
"A compass, of sorts. No matter where they flee, this will find them."
There was a calculating look in his eyes as he considered the artefact and in that moment Bǎi Hé was convinced that he had no intentions whatsoever of following the Lady Bone Demon's orders. And it was all but confirmed as threw the compass up in the air and caught it before making to leave before he'd been dismissed, "Convenient. All righty, then. Seems like they've got a bit of headway, so-"
Unfortunately, if it was obvious to her, then it was definitely obvious to the Lady Bone Demon and Bǎi Hé shouted in alarm as chains rose from a swirling, blue abyss to shackle his wrists and ankles.
He resisted them as they tried to drag him down, his impudent facade finally faltering as he struggled, "What is this!?"
Bǎi Hé had thought her hopes had been completely decimated when the Báigǔ Jījiǎ had been summoned but it sparked something in her to see this demon so brazenly disrespect and defy the Lady Bone Demon in the face of impossible odds.
He'd been her prisoner, he'd been tortured by her thrall, he had seen what she'd done to the city and he was currently standing a top her mech and still he chose to rebel.
He had to believe there was still a chance to defeat the Lady Bone Demon.
And she was desperate to believe that he was right.
Almost as desperate as she was to see no more pain or suffering wrought by her hands.
So she thrashed against the confines of her cage but this time she didn't just push against the bars.
She pushed through them.
The Lady Bone Demon had been halfway through delivering her threat when Bǎi Hé forced herself to the forefront, "A reminder. It seems you cannot be trusted to willingly follow the path of destiny. But know this-"
The Lady Bone Demon's lapse in control lasted seconds and Bǎi Hé had been so shocked to have succeeded she never even had the chance to think about what to do next but the sudden shift in control was enough to cause the demon's chains slacken.
His head snapped up to look at her and time seemed to slow as their eyes locked.
He could see her.
Those four words repeated in her mind over and over again in a holy chorus.
She'd finally been seen. Someone finally knew she was here.
She could have sobbed in relief but her eyes had barely begun to water before she had been forced back into her cage, tears freezing and shattering before they could fall as the Lady Bone Demon stood tall, her expression tight with fury as spirits wailed around her.
The thrall had moved the second its master had lost control and at the same moment the Lady Bone Demon regained control and tightened the demon's chains, its hand made contact with the demon's head and violently forced him to the ground.
She cried out but no amount of pounding on the walls could break through her prison again as the Lady Bone Demon delivered the rest of her threat, venom dripping from every word, "If you betray me again, one misstep, one failure in any way, I will erase the very memory of you. Bring them to me, my champion."
In stark contrast, she called out to him, "No! Keep fighting her! Find a way to stop her! I'll fight her with you! Please! I need you!"
It was impossible for him to hear her but she couldn't bring herself to believe that her words weren't reaching him somehow.
She managed one last fervent scream as the thrall forced him into the pit of magic on the ground before the reality of the situation caught up to her.
She'd broken the Lady Bone Demon's control over her body.
And there was no one here to save her from the repercussions.
The thrall approached, its eyes shining with anguish as it tentatively reached out a hand, "My Lady...?"
The Lady Bone Demon took a deep breath, seemingly to centre herself, before shortly explaining, "A cautionary reminder that Destiny demands I remain vigilant."
Anything else she might have said to further explain herself or give away what punishment might await "destiny's cautionary reminder" was cut off by the mech underneath their feet suddenly rumbling loudly and as the Lady Bone Demon swung around to look at the staff, Bǎi Hé could see that it had started glowing brightly, the ice at its base cracking in response.
The Lady Bone Demon wasted no time making her way over to it and throwing up her hands to summon a seal in order to combat whatever it was the staff was doing.
Bǎi Hé would have loved to welcome the fact that the staff was apparently as fickle as the lantern and appeared to be threatening the integrity of the mech but unfortunately whatever spell the Lady Bone Demon was using to try and subdue the threat was causing the walls of her cage to come alive in a way that felt undeniably dangerous, like electricity was running through the bars.
More alarming still was that her body appeared to be literally cracking under the pressure.
Deep cracks were opening along her hands and running up her arms, briefly revealing the Lady Bone Demon's glowing, blue magic within her, before sealing themselves back together and leaving silver scars in their wake.
She could only scream in horror as her body cracked like a porcelain doll instead of bleeding and breaking like a human.
Thankfully, the staff's power was quelled before her body shattered under the strain but the relief that she'd survived was short lived as it became apparent that this wasn't going to be a one off event.
The staff hadn't been prepared for the ritual like all the other artefacts and the Lady Bone Demon needed to focus all of her efforts into stabilising it and that frequently meant she pushed her body to the limit when the staff inevitably responded poorly.
It never got less terrifying to witness the Lady Bone Demon risk destroying her body but it gave her ample motivation to continue to test the limits of her cage and the Lady Bone Demon's patience.
No consequences had come from her briefly snatching control away from her captor - the Lady Bone Demon refusing to even acknowledge her, let alone speak to her like she had when she'd first managed to make her presence felt - and the longer she was ignored, the bolder she became.
She pictured the monkey demon with his sharp smiles and his irreverent tone of voice and did her best to emulate it as she offered scathing commentary and mockery about destiny, powerful sticks and monkeys, all while pushing at the boundaries of her prison.
She had come to the conclusion however that it was likely that breaking out was dependent on the Lady Bone Demon being distracted, overextended or both. Theoretically, the staff's power flaring up was the perfect time to try and take control but the boundaries she could now find and touch so easily when all was calm became impossible to maintain contact with when they started getting spikey and sparky in response to the Lady Bone Demon struggling against the staff.
Trying to regain control over her body while it was being torn apart introduced her to pain the likes of which she'd never known and she was quickly dissuaded from even attempting it.
It didn't stop her from trying to break free the rest of the time but the Lady Bone Demon provided her with no opportunities to take advantage of, apparently taking her reminder to be vigilant extremely seriously.
Slowly but surely the staff seemed to fall in line but even though Bǎi Hé was sure it hadn't truly been conquered, the Lady Bone Demon eventually deemed it was stable enough that she could afford to turn her attention back to the capturing the Monkie Kid.
Which, of course, first meant locating her "champion" and punishing him for failing to do so already.
As the Lady Bone Demon had successfully incorporated more and more of the staff's power into the mech, the ice and mist that emanated from it had spread further and further. And through that mist the Lady Bone Demon could apparently channel her power and consciousness, meaning that Bǎi Hé was left totally in the dark about what had transpired between the Lady Bone Demon and the monkey demon.
A surge of power had flowed through the mist momentarily straining the limits of her prison but she hadn't the chance to take advantage of it, the thrall placing a hand on her shoulder at that precise moment and flooding her senses with whispering spirits that alarmed and disoriented her.
The thrall had immediately let go once the Lady Bone Demon had returned her consciousness to her body and Bǎi Hé had little time to recover from the ordeal before the Lady Bone Demon laughed manically, "The Samadhi Fire!" She turned to her thrall, "We must start preparing immediately! I have gifted my champion the power to release it but we must be ready to contain it!"
She had no idea what the Samadhi Fire was but it couldn't be good if the Lady Bone Demon was happy about it. Her demands for an explanation of what had just happened were, of course, ignored, but at very least she was reasonably confident her monkey demon was still alive, although she dreaded to think what the Lady Bone Demon's "gift" might have done to him.
The Lady Bone Demon calmed somewhat as she ensured that the mech was ready, but she remained unsettlingly giddy as she monologued, "For as long as time itself, I've had this recurring dream. At first, its meaning was unclear. Now, I know it was a premonition. The very moment I finally achieved my ambition: to perfect this imperfect world. The Samadhi Fire is the final piece of the game: A tool Destiny has gifted me to complete my work."
It felt increasingly hard to deny the influence of some higher power when everything the Lady Bone Demon needed for her plans always seemed to fall so perfectly in to place but as disturbing as her sudden doubts about whether destiny was real or not, she still found time to sneer at the thrall as it simpered, "Then allow me to retrieve it for you, my Lady."
The Lady Bone Demon dismissed its suggestion, "No need. Fate will deliver it in time."
The sudden appearance of the Monkey King at that precise moment should have been enthusiastically welcomed but his timing instead left her feeling inexplicably distraught.
Especially, when the Lady Bone Demon gleefully commented, "Ah, your timing couldn't be more perfect, Sun Wukong. It appears your quest to use the power of the Samadhi Fire to destroy me hasn't gone quite according to plan. Why else would you show up unarmed with no friends for backup?"
The Monkey King scowled, "I didn't need the Samadhi Fire to put you away last time. Figured I could make do without it."
Bǎi Hé couldn't help but furiously demand, "Then why haven't you already beaten her!? Why did you let things get this bad!?"
The Lady Bone Demon quirked a smile as she responded under her breath, "Why, indeed." Louder, she taunted, "Oh, my power has far surpassed what it was when we last met in battle. And now I sense you do not have what it takes to defeat me."
Her outrage towards the Monkey King was quickly directed back at the Lady Bone Demon for having the gall to finally acknowledge her now of all times.
She was so angry she almost missed the Monkey King's challenge, "That won't stop me from trying."
The thrall tittered in response, "A hero to the end. How delightful."
The Lady Bone Demon laughed, "No backup and no weapon. So your plan is to... fistfight a child?"
The Monkey King glowered at her, "We both know that's not what you are."
That was all the warning she got before he lunged at her.
---
Bǎi Hé hadn't thought it was possible for her terror to reach new heights but as terrifying and distressing as everything she'd experienced so far had been, never had she come face to face with someone actively trying to kill her and her fear was only exacerbated by the fact she was entirely powerless to stop him.
The Monkey King moved faster than she could keep up with and hit so hard that the Lady Bone Demon's barriers of ice and magic shattered almost immediately upon contact. Her body's limits were being tested even more than they had while the Lady Bone Demon had been trying to tame the staff and every blow brought with it new cracks that quickly turned to scars.
Never before had she ever wanted the Lady Bone Demon to win but if she lost here then the Monkey King would kill her.
And she didn't want to die.
Over and over again she pleaded with him not to kill her.
To realise she was here and find another way to stop the Lady Bone Demon.
In a brief reprieve, the Lady Bone Demon managed to bite out, "This body — it's too weak! I can't stop him."
Hysterical, she'd responded, "Of course, it's too weak! That's the Monkey King! No one can stop him! He's going to kill us!"
As if to prove her right, the Monkey King caught the Lady Bone Demon off guard, destroying her hastily raised shield and kicking her into the mech at break neck speed before pinning her by the throat.
Clearly, desperate herself, the Lady Bone tried, "Stop! Have you forgotten? Destroy me and you destroy the host. Have you become so desperate to end me that you would sacrifice this blameless, innocent child?"
Under normal circumstances, she would have seethed at being used as a get-out-free card but she could only be sickeningly grateful to have her attendance pointed out to the man currently trying to kill the demon possessing her.
For one brief moment, the Monkey King's face fell, remorse flitting across his features as he looked into her eyes, but it wasn't enough to stop him from strengthening his resolve and responding gravely, "You've given me no choice. All the time you spent locked away, you haven't changed a bit! I'm going to finish you, like I should have done a long time ago. I told you, you should've stayed buried!"
He'd seen her. He knew she was here.
And he was going to kill her anyway.
It felt like time had slowed as he brought his fist back to strike her and she could only stare up at him frozen.
The Lady Bone Demon was not so dazed however and throwing up a hand, she screamed, "I've come too far to let you ruin everything again!"
Bǎi Hé was snapped out of her terrified trance as she witnessed the Monkey King be violently stripped of his autonomy.
The Lady Bone Demon's manic laughter and the Monkie Kid's shouts of distress sounded far away as she struggled to make sense of the last thirty seconds of unimaginable horror.
She was alive.
But at what cost.
She regained enough of her wits to scream as the Monkey King was ordered to attack the two men that had apparently arrived mid-fight. She desperately wished she had been able to cover her eyes as one of them was taken down in a single devastating punch but at least she had been able to witness the miracle that took place as the Monkey King turned on his successor.
Inky shadows and purple, glowing magic stole the Monkie Kid away to safety.
It was him.
It was him! It had to be! It was the same magic as the lantern, she was sure of it! He had come back! And he was still fighting!
The Lady Bone Demon watched the demon's magic dissipate before standing atop her mech and glancing over to see that her thrall had vanished before huffing in amusement, "So desperate to defy his fate, and yet his every action only ensures its realisation. I almost pity him."
She felt the first sparks of anger at the disregard the Lady Bone Demon held towards her hero but they were snuffed out as she flinched as the Monkey King landed forcefully in front of her, instantly falling to one knee and bowing his head as he awaited orders.
The Lady Bone Demon's smile was sickeningly pleased with the display but she didn't waste time relishing in her victory, instead she closed her eyes and snapped them open again minutes later when she had found her missing prize and this time she apparently couldn't resist accompanying her champion in person so that she could witness him claim the Samadhi Fire in her name.
Bǎi Hé had zero clue what the deal was with this fire and how it was now in one of the Monkie Kid's but it was a deeply disturbing flame to even catch a glimpse of and she was both in awe and a little terrified of this woman that was able to keep it contained, even while the Lady Bone Demon tried to pry it from her after imprisoning her in the mech's heart.
How long could she hold out though?
Long enough for one last ditch effort from a ragtag team of heroes to save the day apparently!
And nothing gave her more hope at the end of the world than seeing the monkey demon that was leading the way.
Still fighting, still flippant, and ready to risk it all to give the Monkie Kid the opportunity he needed to reclaim his staff.
She couldn't believe that anyone was brave enough to go toe-to-toe with the Monkey King, especially not when he had been augmented with the Lady Bone Demon's power, but with a grimace of a smile he threw himself in harm's way to protect the Monkie Kid.
She desperately wanted to watch him fight but her eyes were focused on the Monkie Kid's significantly less impressive efforts to pull the staff from the ice.
But while the Lady Bone Demon taunted him, she could feel the way she was struggling to keep hold of her tenuous control, the cracks on her body and the dangerous, electric feel of her cage a clear indicator the Lady Bone Demon was stretching herself too thin.
She could help.
If she could find the courage to push against the bars she could steal control for long enough to give them the advantage. This was it. This was the final stand. She had to do everything she could. It would only hurt for a moment. Whatever future awaited her if the Lady Bone Demon won was worse than the pain of her body being broken over and over again. She had to do it. She had to...
She tried. She really did. But even the barest hint of the agony that awaited her stopped her from committing.
That was until her hero fell.
Until she saw his broken body tossed to the ground and stepped over as if he meant nothing.
She screamed in agony as she grabbed the bars of her cage and pushed with everything she had.
He hadn't given in. No matter how much it had hurt. No matter how much was at risk. He had fought. And he had kept fighting.
She was going to do the same.
And she knew she'd succeeded when her screams actually escaped her mouth.
It was only for a split second but it turned out to more than enough because when she regained her bearings after being forcibly thrown back into her cage it was to the sight of the Monkey King holding the staff side-by-side with the Monkie Kid, his golden eyes free of the cold, dead blankness that had consumed them while under the Lady Bone Demon's control.
The Lady Bone Demon screamed in fury but Bǎi Hé almost couldn't hear it - all her attention focused on the fact that her hero had struggled to his feet.
He was still alive.
Her elation was short lived because before she even knew what was happening she'd been forced back into the driver's seat and suddenly she was falling.
The fact that she was falling was a distant concern compared to the fact she couldn't seem to breathe however. She didn't even register the fact the falling had stopped, just that someone was close enough to claw at as she desperately tried to communicate that something was wrong.
A magic completely unlike the Lady Bone Demon's sunk into her body, snaking around her heart, lungs, throat and nose and carefully and rhythmically constricting them, forcing them to start circulating oxygen around her body again.
Darkness began creeping along the edges of her vision, her awareness of the world quickly slipping away. She had no idea that she was now falling for a second time, the only thought that repeated sluggishly through her mind was that she was so unbearably cold.
it was only when an attempt was made to put her down that she startled and managed to direct bleary, unseeing eyes up towards the face of her saviour.
Her hand was gripping the front of their shirt, and as they tried to remove it, she quietly choked out a small, incoherent sound.
"You gotta let go, kid."
She forced a strangled, hoarse whisper past her lips, "C-c... old..."
There was a pause and then more magic was flooding through her, this time wrapping around her bones and insulating her body from the cold emanating from them. As it did so, she saw a glowing, purple silhouette of her hero, with three strange bumps on either side of their head where their ears should be.
She didn't fight it when her hand was pulled away and placed on her chest, nor did she fight it when a hand covered her eyes and a strange darkness pulled her under, but before she lost consciousness she could have sworn she heard her hero say, "We'll take it from here, kid. One way or another, this nightmare will be over soon. I promise."