#and Macaque and Mayor's relationship is not a threat

[amazingdeadfish]

What would wukong tgink of the bond that macaque and mayor develop? Does he ever find out?

Within the context of the Blue and Violent series? Well... I suppose the answer is complicated.

Let's go under the assumption that it's after the season three finale, but potentially before season four. If Wukong were to say, stumble upon Macaque and the Mayor talking and chatting as if they were not enemies (perhaps I could go as far as to say they were bickering like an old married couple), then he would be confused and very very concerned for the most part.

I mean, all it would look like to him is that Macaque is 'scheming with the enemy's after all'. He would be awfully suspicious. But of course the more he listens (probably secretly) the more he realises that no, this is not schemeing. It was merely two old friends (acquaintances? Lovers? Wukong wouldn't know) chatting. And he knows Macaque is more than capable of handling himself if the Mayor really still poses as a threat.

Nonetheless he would eventually confront Macaque about it (probably in the worst way possible, both unintentionally and intentionally somehow). Macaque might explain that the Mayor is harmless (sort of) but I don't think he would actually ever tell Wukong his history with the Mayor. But Wukong is smart enough to not be told to know that the history between Macaque and the Mayor is... Certainly something. And so Wukong might back off a bit.

In a nutshell? Wukong doesn't approve. Of course he doesn't, how could he? But Macaque doesn't need Wukong's approval. The extent of what Wukong will ever know about the relationship between Macaque and Mayor is that somehow, at some point, they were close to each other, fell apart, and are... Somehow still talking. And somehow, in some way, Macaque is not holding as much of a grudge on the Mayor as he is on Wukong. Which, understandably, makes Wukong incredibly confused. Because how bad was Wukong to Macaque really if Macaque seemed to have more fun being with the Mayor compared to him? Why was Macaque finding it easier to make amends with the Mayor of all people, rather than him?

Wukong doesn't know. And he'll probably never really know. Is he jealous of it all? No. Just confused, and maybe a little sad that his old friend found better company than him, in the Mayor of all people. So he might find it all degrading against himself actually, haha!

[muffinsouffle]

In your lantern au, what is Macaque and Wukong's relationship?

And is MK a monkey, or just a normal human? Like does he get Monkey King's powers like in the show?

Love your art style btw <3

Thanks, Anon! Hope you're having a nice day.

Wukong and macaque were very distant from each other before MK entered the spirit realm. They used to be friends, but things happened in the past that ruined their relationship.

When MK came, Wukong became his guardian to help him find a way to get back to his human realm safely. Macaque, on the other hand, is working for LBD (a banned witch) and the mayor (a puppet soldier). He follows wukong or MK around by curiosity or even by instinct.

The moment they see each other again, it's very bitter. Wukong doesn't recognize him because of his changed appearance, but he has the gut feeling that he knows him and he's a threat for both of them.

and macaque also doesn't reconize his "old friend" at first. What he did was be hostile towards him, but later, he does recognize him and just follows them in the shadows. As time passes, he has the feeling that what he's doing will not get the freedom he once had before he met the witch. But sometimes macaque helps the MK if he needs something, only if the mayor is not watching.

Mk is a human in this AU. He doesn't gain powers in this, but he gets trained by Wukong. Mei used to be human. Her body slowly turned into a dragon spirit since her family has a heritage of dragons.

[peachshadows]

For this new single parent au:

You could have a set of twins a boy and a girl, the boy resembles Wukong with Macaque’s skin tone and mask color, while the girl resembles Macaque with Wukong’s skin tone and mask color, and both have Macaque’s six ears. The boy’s name is Luzhen and the girl’s name is Ziqi (names that Wukong himself said he wanted to use for their first child).

Luzhen is near identical to Macaque in persona, and Ziqi is undoubtedly Wukong’s little girl.

Both are a little bit younger than Bai He (physically)

Wukong’s heart breaks when he finds out about them and leaves him a shell of his former self (largely because he realized that when he killed Macaque he also killed his unborn twins), he’s still able to train MK properly but he’s a lot more secluded and somber, not a single sign of his once cute and cheaky self (the only time he ever shows joy is when he’s proud of MK).

Macaque after realizing how broken Wukong became feels aimless, and settles down in the city with his kids, properly opening up dojo, and often taking his kids to the park which is where he meets Bai He (who is an orphan with only her ailing grandparents in her life) and ends up becoming a mother figure to her.

Wukong himself still wouldn’t have the best relationship with the monkie crew, but they’re (Mei and Pigsy) far less suspicious of him and are far more sympathetic towards him (MK drags Wukong to a lot of hangouts and explained everything to the crew about the ex and the kids) and Wukong in turn is much more open with then feeling no need to lie, because he assumes that they’ll eventually shun him if find out the worst things about him (and is stunned when they don’t).

Macaque eventually starts talking his three kids to see the bull clan (which actually slows down their revenge plan to a near halt, once they find out how Macaque broke Wukong).

The real meat of the story begins around season three, LBD not only uses Bai He as a host, she possesses Luzhen and Ziqi turning them into mindless puppets forcing Macaque to become her champion with the additional threat of killing his children if he retaliates.

Once Wukong learns of this his protective instincts kick into full gear, prepared to do anything to end the bone witch for daring to harm HIS family (he doesn’t hold back while retrieving the scroll from Nezha, he informs the crew point blank about the fourth ring and his plan with the Samadhi Fire (which freaks them out but they’re not gonna question a protective Monkey King), and even drags Redson into the plan, since as the creator of the fire, he would have the best known how regarding controlling the fire (and transferring the fourth ring safely out of Mei’s body)).

Course just like in canon the ritual ends up going south and Mei ends up with the fire (due to the Mayor this time around, because Macaque refuses to challenge her).

But of course they manage to take down LBD, free Macaque and the kids, and save the world.

Wukong goes back to his somber, seclusive self once he’s sure the kids are safe, only to be surprised when Macaque shows up on the mountain with the kids, and bluntly informs Wukong that he owes him for destroying LBD and freeing his kids, so he’s allowing Wukong the chance to spend time with the twins (a few hours, once a week, with his supervision) so he doesn’t remain indebted to Wukong (it’s actually a gesture of gratitude, but Macaque will never admit it).

From there the au would be the crew and kids trying to get these two back together, while saving the world along the way, and keeping any annoying competition out of the picture.

(I’m looking at you Azure, Peng, and Xiangliu).

Interesting! Although I do already have ideas for the twins (they're Rumble and Savage cuz I think they're adorable) but I do like the idea that Wukong being totally serious with the fact that his family is being threatened

[real-sun-wukong-fan01]

Hello! I hope your month is still good to you. In Time Swap AU, who is LBD and who did she pick to be her host? You stated that SWK and LBD knew each other before the whole monkie business, how? What was their relationship before? Was there a host expelled from her grip after the fight like in canon, or not? If canon MK and TW!SWK were to swap their demon fighting activities for a week or just a day, what would happen? What would be the difference? Do you consider canon SWK to at least be a good teacher when it comes to the physical aspect of the training? Is TW!SWK still considered a horse girl? And how?

Have a good sleep and eat your meal regularly! Answer this when you're not so addled in mind.

LBD is still the lady bone demon who got trapped (by tang this time), but got freed way before, and therefore there was never the episode of the mayor giving swk the key,

Swk met lbd as a normal kid he saved in his hero usual days, and figured out way later who she really was. Also yes she still possesses Bai he

Yes, there will be a host expelled.

Swk surely has less demons and threats to worry about, since for example, macaque in his universe is just a human,

So if he was in mk's place, he would risk way more and probably struggle to keep up.

For mk it would be like a vacation.

in training, swk is better at physical aspects, and TW!mk is better at communicating and the mind

TW!swk is not considered a horse girl, but ao lie is.

Because even if ao lie got disowned by his biological parents and got adopted by Tripitaka, mk still sees him as the descendant of mei

!!

[time-bone-swap-au]

what is bai-he's exact relationship with each of the group? bai-he will have some insecurity like mk?

Bai He’s Relationships

Tang: She’s her father and she loves him so, she tries so hard to somewhat test his father’s limits and such. Like getting him to conquer his cowardly side, which he does, in the form of being overprotective.

Pigsy: She sees him as an uncle, but slowly started to ship him with her father. She thinks he’s a good father figure, despite his rough tough attitude, there’s a soft side to the pig that makes her smile.

Sandy: She sees him as another uncle figure, this time the yoga-cat type, by far he’s the favorite uncle, but that’s just because of the tea and cats. Also the stories of his adventures in the sea.

Mei: Bestie and Soul Sister, she and her somewhat share the same braincell like MK and Mei, except Bai He and Mei are in another level, like…things that regard risking one’s life…so yeah…

Red Son: He’s like an annoying big brother who always wants attention from her, they’re constantly seen bickering about stuff or dueling the other, and honestly…Tang’s almost about to adopt Red Son as his own.

Nezha: Another Uncle (So many) she and her discuss the more ‘important’ matters about protecting the mortal realm, since outside of personal life, Bai He does take her job seriously

Macaque: She considers him more than a mentor than Wukong, but it’s kind of understandable since Tang annoyed her with Wukong’s stories and she grew tired of it. But she doesn’t absolutely hate Wukong…

Wukong: Now she and Wukong don’t have ill will against each other, so she still considers herself Wukong’s successor, but lately she’s been concerned with Wukong’s mental health…especially since he and MBK were friends for as long as after the Journey ended. That’s gotta rock your brain around

Mayor: Another Uncle! She at first thought bad of Mayor, but ever since he got out of MBK’s control, she realized what type of person he was and adopted him into her uncle squad

Jin and Yin: She thought of them as nuisances who only cause trouble for fun, that is until they become an actual threat and they were actually former Celestials…what fun

MBK: She has…complicated feelings with him, similar to how MK in S4 has complicated feelings with LBD…ever since she found out what her true goal is, she can’t help but hear their voice in her head. Telling her stuff, reminding her, it was until Bby MK showed up that she started to accept what happened.

[inkweaver22-blr]

Phew! Here’s chapter 15!

I’m not sure how I feel about this one so let me know what you think!

AO3 Link

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Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Fifteen: Distressing Encounters

Tang faces a foe more powerful than Lady Bone Demon.

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Tang ran his fingers through Xiaotian’s fur as the young monkey slept. He smiled at the content look on the kid’s face.

He didn’t like this timeline.

These quiet moments of safety and peace were becoming increasingly infrequent this cycle. Tang did his best to be a comforting presence for his son, but the threat of their enemy always loomed in the back of everyone’s minds.

Tang looked at the clock and sighed. If he was going to get any work done before the shop opened he would have to get going soon. Tang placed a kiss against Xiaotian’s forehead before standing to leave.

“Baba?”

Xiaotian was looking up at Tang with half open eyes, obviously still more asleep than awake.

“Go back to sleep, Xiaotian,” Tang said as he resumed running his hand through his kid’s fur. “I was just checking on you before I left.”

“Where ya goin’?”

“I need to head to the shop early to do some paperwork. You don’t need to be up yet.”

“M’kay,” Xiaotian slurred, already falling back asleep from the sensation of Tang stroking his head. “Be safe.”

“I will.” Tang leaned over and placed another kiss on Xiaotian’s head. “I love you.”

“Love you.”

Tang’s heart leapt. It was the first time Xiaotian had confessed his feelings to him this cycle. He smiled down at the once more sleeping figure.

He probably wouldn’t remember this conversation later, but Tang was proud of how much progress Xiaotian was making. The amount of emotional trauma he had been subjected to this cycle was immense. That his loving spirit hadn’t been extinguished was a miracle. Tang was going to do his absolute best to nurture that spirit back to full strength no matter what.

Tang left the apartment and made his way to his antique and artifact repair shop. He was Tripitaka once again this cycle and seemed to have developed a knack for tinkering with relics over the years.

Pigsy, in contrast, was a semi-retired mercenary who liked to hang out at the shop when he had nothing else to do. It was an interesting change in dynamics with Tang being the busy one with a shop while Pigsy loitered around distracting him.

Not that he minded seeing his husband for most of the day.

Tang unlocked the shop and made his way to the back to put away his coat. He picked up several sheets of paper and began working on checking his inventory.

If it had only been Pigsy and himself swapped around, Tang might have found this cycle to be enjoyable. Unfortunately for nearly everyone, that wasn’t the case.

Tang frowned as he absently made a note to order more clockwork springs for his personal repair kit.

This timeline was… pretty bad. It seemed that there was some new crisis every week that would leave horrible emotional damage on anyone involved. Worse yet was the demon who was responsible for the majority of the trauma.

The Monkey King.

Tang shuddered as he remembered the first time he saw the cruel expression of the monster that wore the face of a member of his family.

Tang thought the cycles where he was the villain were bad enough, but at least he could choose to be reformed.

The Monkey King was a bloodthirsty and malicious foe that made any evil version of himself seem tame in comparison.

This anomaly in personality was the result of a plan hatched by Wukong and Macaque hundreds of years ago. Early on during the Journey to the West, the two monkeys had swapped places, with no one being the wiser. So while Wukong was off plotting his revenge against Heaven, Macaque was the one who learned humility and love from Tripitaka and the others.

The end result was the Monkey King being sealed under a mountain with his own staff by Macaque with the assistance of Queen Iron Fan and Red Son who wielded the Samadhi Fire.

Not without a steep price, however.

Macaque had lost his right eye. Red Son had almost been consumed by the sacred flames until Guanyin placed a hoop around the boy’s neck, sealing the flames and unfortunately his memories of being a demon as well. His parents were forced to keep him a bit at arms length to prevent the seal from breaking.

Tang clenched his pen as he thought about the more recent events.

Mei, who was being emotionally neglected by her parents, had witnessed Xiaotian’s adoptive father, the Yellow Wind Demon, being freed from his mink form. She had attempted to fight him, only to be blown away. Once she returned with her family’s spear, she managed to force the demon to retreat. Macaque had then proclaimed he would take her on as his student.

But the worst was yet to come.

Yellow Wind Demon tricked Xiaotian into removing the staff that was sealing the Monkey King away. It was then that the horrible truth had been revealed.

Xiaotian was a clone of the Monkey King.

Tang had to stop and take a few breaths as nausea rushed through him. Luckily Xiaotian had become independent enough that the Monkey King couldn’t just dispel him, but that didn’t stop Tang from having nightmares about it.

Mei and Red Son had rushed off to save Xiaotian from Monkey King’s clutches, and Tang had followed after them. The pure hate the demon monkey had sent his way when he had recited the tightening sutra for the first time in all the cycles to rescue the kids would be seared into his memory for years to come.

Xiaotian had turned against his creator and now lived with Tang and Pigsy in their apartment. The trauma of being a copy of that monster was still strong, but Tang intended to smooth it out with endless kindness and love.

Tang pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes as the image of a sinisterly grinning Monkey King filled his head once more.

He had been extremely lucky that he hadn’t been recognized as Tripitaka by the demon. He had no doubt the Monkey King would then stop at nothing to hunt him down for turning Macaque against him. Not that it had been too hard once he and the others had pointed out to Macaque how abusive the Monkey King was in their relationship.

Tang sighed as he tried to focus on his inventory list.

He hated feeling this powerless. The Monkey King was the most terrifying adversary he had faced across the timelines. Worse than even Lady Bone Demon and the Mayor. He was going to get ulcers from how worried he constantly felt.

The bell above the front door chimed, signalling an entering customer. Had he forgotten to keep the sign flipped to closed?

“I’m sorry,” Tang said, not turning from his paperwork. “But the shop is closed at the mome-”

A paw clasped around his mouth and a strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him close against someone. Tang dropped his papers as his glasses fell from his face.

“Hello Tripitaka,” a horrifyingly familiar voice said.

Tang turned in terror to see the sneering face of the Monkey King leaning close into his own.

“I missed you so much.”

No no no no no!

How had he found out?!

“Let’s go find Liu Er and the kid and go home now, hmm?”

Tang’s blood ran cold.

Monkey King didn’t want him dead. It was so much worse than that.

He wanted Tang to be a part of his twisted family with Macaque and Xiaotian.

The thought of being used against his old friend and son to make them comply made Tang’s pulse quicken.

He couldn’t let that happen!

Adrenaline rushed through him as previous years of fighting experience kicked in.

Tang shoved his foot back into his captor’s, managing to catch Monkey King by surprise and push him off balance. The strength of the Earth suddenly seemed to flow through him as he grabbed the demon’s arms and managed to throw him over his head into one of the displays on the wall.

Instinctively, Tang raised his hands as another power came forth. He quickly called out the tightening sutra while casting a binding spell simultaneously. The Monkey King snarled in pain as his fillet squeezed his head and ropes of golden-yellow light wrapped around him.

Tang waved his hands and recited another spell, summoning several domed barriers of light around the demon as he knew the ropes wouldn’t hold for long. He would worry about how he was doing this once he was out of danger and not running on autopilot

“You’ll regret that!” The Monkey King bared his fangs at Tang as he strained against the magic ropes, several of them already beginning to snap.

“The only thing I regret, Wukong,” Tang said coldly, his hands glowing golden-yellow as he began to manipulate the Earth beneath the shop, “was not being a good enough teacher to show you the error of your ways.”

The Monkey King snarled in defiance as two enormous slabs of rock burst through the floor and fused together around the barriers holding the demon. Tang rushed forward and placed the strongest seal he knew onto the makeshift prison.

It wouldn’t keep the insanely powerful demon trapped permanently, but it would buy Tang enough time to get to his husband and son and escape to somewhere safe.

Tang picked his glasses up and ran from the shop, placing another seal on the building itself for good measure. A few of the friendlier shopkeepers from the neighboring buildings were standing outside.

“Are you alright Tang?”

“We heard a loud crash coming from your shop.”

“The Monkey King is trapped inside,” Tang said a bit breathlessly. The shopkeepers looked panicked. “He’s after me. I need to get my family to safety. Can you make sure this street is evacuated before he escapes?”

“Holy shit!”

“Y-yeah! We’ll take care of it! Just go get somewhere safe!”

“Thank you. You all might want to stay away for a while as well in case he tries to use you to get to me,” Tang said. They all paled a little at that and quickly left after wishing him good luck.

Tang took off at a sprint towards his apartment. He had left his phone in the back of the shop with his coat. Hopefully it was still early enough that neither Pigsy or Xiaotian had left yet.

The adrenaline was quickly wearing off, and he felt the powers he had used ebb away entirely. Tang would have normally been endlessly fascinated at this new development, but the threat of the Monkey King was still hanging over him. He would have to examine what had just happened later once they were all somewhere safe.

There was an explosion in the distance, followed by an enraged roar.

Tang grit his teeth as he ignored the stitch in his side and ran faster.

He really didn’t like this timeline.

----------

And here we have the second most popular AU by @winterpower98, the absolute angst-fest that is the Swap AU.

The scene where Wukong shows up is directly referencing this comic that got commissioned by @stylishbutdefinitelyillegal.

I’m not sure if I managed to capture Tang’s thoughts on this timeline clearly or if I just managed to give a brief, crappy summary of it instead. :/

And what’s up with those powers from past cycles showing up? That’s certainly never happened before.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Until next time!