#it's just not NEW to him that Macaque is alive

[lunar-wandering]

Personally, I think the reason for that is because Macaque has actually shown up again after being killed, but before episode 9.

Especially since there's no surprise from Wukong at all- he instantly knows who it is when he sees the symbol on MK's back, but he, for some reason, doesn't actually interfere until Macaque takes MK's powers (and it's kinda implied that he'd been watching, why else would his first sentence be "Enough"? I personally like to hc that it was Wukong giving Macaque a brief benefit of the doubt, but y'know.)

Some of this could just be because all the details about Macaque and Wukong's past weren't entirely planned out at that point, but still.

To be honest, as interested as I am in seeing the fight that took Macaque's life, I am also interested, if not more so, in seeing what their actual first meeting post-Macaque's death was like.

Not sure if I’m over-analyzing but

I jut realized that while SWK expresses genuine surprise that Azure Lion is there in front of him, openly saying “I [killed you] myself, how are you here?”… he never expresses such a thing with Macaque.

Sure, it did take him a few episodes to go “Hey wait a sec” with Azure, but it literally is never brought up with Macaque… There’s only anger and taunting.

….seriously, what actually happened, and did he actually kill him or not?

[quitealotofsodapop]

Sun Wukong has been a lot of things over the many, many years he's been alive. King, pilgrim, rebel leader to name a few, but being a father was new. MK is a great cub, sweet, caring, and always happy. But he's also inherited Wukong's proclivity for getting into trouble and stubbornness. From what Tieshan and Ao Yo tell him, he's doing a great job.

Then MK went and got himself kidnapped again.

Wukong groaned, stomping up the steps to the dojo, tail lashing irritably. Perhaps saying MK was kidnapped is an overstatement, since he knows full well that MK more than likely went with the person holding hin very willingly and that his 'kidnappper' would never lay so much as a paw on his son, but it felt better for him to think MK was simply kidnapped. It's better than having to admit the alternative. Pigsy and Tang flanked him, equally concerned and furious, while the Stalwarts brought up the rear, the whole lot of them amused.

Trying to ignore the snickering of Ba, Wukong pounded on the door of the dojo, crossing his arms and tapping his foot in impatience. When the door opened, the cub thief himself lounged against the doorframe like an overly smug cat, grinning wide as he not so subtly checked Wukong out.

"Well, if it isn't the Great Sage! To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this fair day?" The Six Eared Macaque was practically purring, forcing Wukong to suppress a shiver as his voice rolled over him.

"Cut the crap, Macaque!" Wukong growled, "Where is MK?"

Seeing the crowd behind him, Macaque raised a brow before snorting out a laugh.

"I only just got him down for a nap, come on in. Please don't mind the mess, I haven't had a chance to clean up yet."

Wukong did just that, strutting forth angrily, making sure to slap Macaque in the face with his tail along the way. The inside of the dojo was, as Wukong suspected, trashed but otherwise looked to be in good condition. Well, as good condition a place can be if they had a toddler with the power of a god running about it for the afternoon. In a cleaner corner of the room was a small, Westlake bundle of blankets and cushions with a familiar chestnut brown tail sticking out of it. Wukong immediately went over to check on his son, noting that as he suspected MK was simply tuckered out and there was no injury to speak of on him. In fact, the moment he was in his father's arms, he let out a sleepy chirp and nuzzled closer.

"See? Kid's safe, just like I said." Macaque's voice purred far too close for comfort, his breath agaisnt Wukong's neck as he leaned over his shoulder. Wukong immediately whirled about, fur bristling, as he hissed.

"Don't do that! Sneaking up like some shadow!"

"What!?" Now Macaque looked less amused, "Here I am looking after the kid you lost track of, and you come barging into my home and insult me!?"

"And I thank you for caring for MK." Wukong practically spat the words, carefully handing the child off to Pigsy as he turned to properly confront , "But that's no reason for you to be leaning over me like that!"

"You mean like this!?"

Suddenly Wukong was forced to back up, mouth dry as he was very suddenly reminded that Macaque was taller than him, eyes wide as he stared up at the towering monkey as he stepped into Wukong's space again to lean over him. It was as if an electrical current was connecting the two as he tried to open his mouth, say anything, but so.ply couldn't find the words. Macaque too seemed to feel it as the amusement in his eyes seemed to fade into something softer. Ma let out a cough, suddenly reminding them of the audience.

"Okay!" Wukong shoved Macaque's face, forcing him to back up, "You made you're point! Just stay out of my space!"

"Whatever you say, You're Majesty."

Wukong growled to himself, his fur puffing up in irritation as the smug bastard's grin returned to its annoying sharp point, clearly mocking him. Macaque's eyes left his for the first time since his arrival as he turned to greet the Stalwarts, who happily greeted him back. The traitors.

Hehehe X3

For those not knowing; irl macaques will "kidnap" babies of their mates/romantic partners to babysit as a form of flirtation. Its them telling the parent; "Look how good a parent I am! Can I hang around some more?"

Just had the imagery of Macaque trying to take care "power of a god" cub MK for the afternoon. He quickly decides; "Oh well, any kid of Wukong's is gonna be like this. Come here ya little scamp!" cus now he's thinking of an island overrun with excitable cubs.

I love how Wukong is so mad/frustrated at Macaque that he silently hands MK over to Pigsy. Like "Bro, hold my baby." (ง •̀_•́)ง

But you *know* if they had been alone, that pull-into-my-arms would have led to something else. <3

Macaque cannot help being a flirtly lil shit towards Wukong, and the Stalwarts know it to see it. XD

[szynkaaa]

Black Myth: Wukong Journal Entries Part 1

Summarizing some of the journal entries that I found interesting because why not fanfic research?? who knows not me

All the journal entires can also be read on the fandom wiki page

Starting with the Mount Huaguo monkeys because I too, am wondering how they were faring after SWK died.

Circus Monkey (chapter 3 New West)

After Mt. Huaguo was destroyed, the Macaque Chief (flying monkey we fight three times in Chapter 3) led a bunch of monkeys away

arrived at Flaming Mountain (chapter 5) but a plague broke out and Macaque Chief asked for the sick monkes to be tossed into a called

This did not like that, so they decided to stop following the Macaque Chief and they wandered around

lived among humans, pretended to be monkey performers, did not make good money, so they decided to rob the audience while performing.

they killed them, stole their things and moved to the next city

The moved tot he New West, heard Macaque Chief is there too but avoiding them because he feels guilty

circus monkey became circus monks

Tenner (chapter 5 Flaming Mountain)

Centuries ago, Court razed Mt Huago once more

lots of monkey left the home after they heard of SWK death, and because SWK was buddy buddy with the Bull King they decided to go to Mt. Huago

Bull King hated monkeys because of SWK betrayal LOL, but he still gave them shelter and the monkeys were often bullied by other yaoguais

The Flaming Mountain Keeper (dude who had the hots for Princess Iron Fan) treated them with kindness and gave them food and support

Plague struck, monkeys fur fell out and they had sores and boils all over their skin spreading across their back

Macaque Chief casted the infected into the Furnace Valley. Dude said not my circus not my monkeys lol

Keeper came and saved them and cured them. Wings spread from the boils off their back

Keeper taught them how to fly and enlisted them as his minions

first thing they did was purge the Macaque Chief's camp, killed all the other monkeys, only leaving the Chief alive, who then fled to the New West

Macaque Chief (Chapter 3 New West)

Yellobrow helped Macacque Chief retracting his black wings

Macaque was a Chief under SWK

Yellowbrow offers the Macaque Chief to stay and help him rebuild the Thunderclap Temple

"If you had the abilities of that monkey who wreaked such havod in the Celestial Palace, it would have been others who would have suffered." - Yellowbrow

My personal thoughts and musings:

based on the entries from Tenner, I guess it's been more than 100 years since SWK died, I recall reading somewhere it was 270 years but I don't remember where I got that number, so if anyone knows let me know. I like that they added information on what happened to the monkeys at Mt. Huaguo. Chapter 6 felt very Unfinished (fitting title) in terms of also environment - there weren't much enemies around beside the court soldiers and bosses to fight. And when I first walked into the waterfalls cave, my first thought was how empty and abandoned it look like. There are stone tables and chairs and peaches scattered around, but it looks very much like no one has been there for a very long time.

Also the Macaque Chief is NOT the six-eared Macaque, he died in JTTW killed by SWK.

So we know that

SWK left the court and buddhahood behind to just chill with his homies

in retalition the Court started killing his monkey kind

SWK killed himself in order to be completely free

the court very likely continued to massacre and raze through Mt. Huaguo

which then led to Macaque Chief leading some other monkeys away to find a new home

When the Old Monkey is telling the stories of SWK and sending out monkeys to retrieve artifacts, we see a bunch of other monkeys holding staffs too (spot the anime protagonist lmfao)

we do not see or find any other monkeys when we arrive at Mt. Huaguo

My theories and headcanons:

Without Sun Wukong's protection, Yaoguai's run rampagne and the monkeys are not able to fully defend themselves

also when we arrive and on our way to the Stone, we get attacked by court soldiers

My theory is that because they know SWK will be reincarnated, and they want to prevent that, they have soldiers stationed there to attack whenever someone triest to obtain all armor parts and reach the Stone with SWK remains

hence also why the monkeys had to leave, because they would get attacked by court soldiers on sight

I don't think ALL of them left, we do still see monkeys at the beginning of the game

Overall when I played through Ch.6 there was a also a strong feeling of excitement of reaching the end of the journey soon, but also sad because it Mt Huaguo just felt so empty. it's supposed to be SWK's home and he wanted to leave buddhahood behind to be with his kin. To me, that already paints an image of mt Huaguo, being a lively and happy place.

I do wonder what is gonna happen next now that SWK is back. I suppose words will go out that the Monkey King is back, and that some of the monkeys will try to return again? I also wonder what the DO was thinking when traveling and having to fight his own kin. Does he know the history of his mountain? Hopefully the DLC will answer some more questions for us

And that's it about the monkeys! I'm still reading the Journal Entries, and will tackle the Tigers from Chapter 2 next!

[totallynotokguys]

Lego Monkie Kid Rewatch: Season 3

Episode 9, The King, the Prince, the Shadow Part 2/2

"Does anyone else feel like-" "We've been here before? Yeah. Its weird, right? But- I ah- know I haven't." "Me neither. And yet this place feels so familiar." "Nah. Not me, man. This is all new to me."

Remember when I said that a lot of characters keep wrongly comparing MK to Wukong, like MK is supposed to be the next Wukong. Well…. that wasn't just at the characters. That was at us the fans too. Up until this season, I too just thought of MK as the next Monkey King. It just felt right. Pigsy was Zhu Bajie, Tang Tang Sanzang, Mei as Ao Lie, and Sandy as Sha Wujing. Simplistically, I assumed MK was supposed to be this new version's Monkey King. But he's not. He's not like the rest. He's not part of their story- at least he wasn't supposed to be.

MK was never meant to be here... to experience this, or them. And this season is when the show really starts opening our eyes to it.

(Also… I think this proves pretty definitively that Sandy is not the still alive Sha Wujing. With his flashback in To Catch a Leaf, I was so sure. I mean, look at those old looking weaponry?!)

(But unless Sha Wujing has amnesia that conveniently lets him forget the Samadhi Fire incident, than he really is just the reincarnation instead of the original.)

"It is on brand for you to have a worse version of everyone elses powers."

Ouch. Also… is this a hint at Macaque having been a clone of Wukong once upon a time? Like, in Shadow Play, Macaque chooses to feature a lot of Wukong and his clones for some reason, especially when speaking of the Warrior and Hero being a team. Strangely, some of those clones look an awful lot like Macaque.

Or could this be a hint at season 5 where its revealed Macaque's shadow powers are more like certain other being who shall not be named for sake of spoilers?

Loud Annoying Wukong: "What? You got what you wanted, didn't you? Not going to gloat, monologue a little bit before scurrying off to your master?"

Inner Panicking Wukong: "Ah drat! He's totally gonna know those are fake. Quick! I gotta distract him into wasting more time!"

"Wukong!"

I'm pretty sure that's Ne Zha's favourite word. He says it almost every second. Might even be his catch phrase.

"Oh, so the piece of paper just magically made a bunch of light!" "That's exactly what happened and you know it!"

Ah, I love these two.

"Stop! If you hurt that kid I'll-" "What. Make things worse for MK?"

Like I said last time, bad hero, good mentor. He cares about MK more than anything else right now. This same kind of protective passion has happened before, back in the Journey to the West. Wukong is good at devoting himself to one person, and tolerating everyone else for the sake of that person.

"Glowy mystic symbol thingies are always never good!"

Proceeds to touch said glowy mystic symbol thingies.

AWWWW! Tang trying to protect Mei!

I love the majority of the adults in this show. They do their best to help the kiddos and protect them, even when those kiddo's are typically more powerful than them. Tang, Pigsy, and Sandy understand that young one's always need to be cared for.

THIS SHOT THIS SHOT THIS SHOT!

I totally missed this shot the first time around! OH MY GOSHNESS SANDY I LOvE YOU!

Once again Macaque forgets about Mei.

I'm starting to see why she and Macaque were put in a team together in season 4. She is, strangely enough, his blind spot.

And once again I am shaking my head at the way the show treated Macaque's supposed redemption arc. Look at the way he's treating her, the way he's treating them all! The fear and pain he causes them!

Bashes MK repeatedly into the ground until he is unconscious.

Threatens Mei's life while holding her by the throat.

Forces the parental figures to watch their kids get ruined.

Forces Tang to choose the life of his friends over the sake of the world.

The trauma this guy is causing them- and they just never bring it up? Mei should have held the largest grudge Katara style until Macaque made it up to her! Tang should be absolutely afraid to go near Macaque after the moral trauma the simian caused him. Pigsy should throw a spoon at him every time he darkens his door way with all his ping pong master might. Sandy should constantly keep Macaque between himself and the kids as a protective barrier everytime the shadow comes around.

Until Macaque makes it up to them, apologizes and tries to do right by them all... they should have continued to treat him with fear, anger, and wariness.

"But he was under LBD control' you say. 'He had no choice."

No he wasn't. This threatening, this danger he puts them in? That was for his own gain. Macaque wanted the Samadhi Fire to escape LBD. He was in control of his actions here. He was going to take the power needed to break her control over him and then dip, leaving the mortals to parish under LDB's rule. Sure, he was probably in pain and obviously scared for his life- but that doesn't excuse the choices he made and the trauma he caused.

It's like Macaque said last episode. You have to look out for yourself, no one else.

[winterpower98]

After watching season 5, I've made some adjustment to the Cursed AU. None of these are final and I'll probably have to change something else down the line, but for now, this is all I could come up with.

- How is Ao Lie in the AU

Ao Lie is still in the AU and his body is still made out of the Samadhi Fire. But much like Red pointed out during Season 5, Mei does still have some leftover power after having the fire for her entire life. So after helping Red deal with his little experiment, she gets trained by both Ao Lie and Red to try and fan the flames of her new powers while also making sure to keep it under control.

- Ba and Beng return and Ma and Zan’s backstory

- Ba, Beng and Bai He

Season 5 happens after this point

- Inky in the AU

During the events of Season 5, Macaque and Wukong have reconciled a bit and are still together, but after what happened with Azure Lion and what they both saw in the scroll things become tense again between the two immortals so they start bickering and fighting again.

Macaque looks into who could have manipulated Azure into overthrowing the Jade Emperor while Wukong keeps training and (failing) to talk to MK. But he also uses Inky to help figure out what memories he's missing since he got 'brought back' by the Lady Bone Demon. Neither of them is happy about the arrangement, and Wukong doesn't even know about Inky's involvement until they are captured by the 10 kings and Inky freaks out about being trapped in Diyu (Macaque had kept them in a jar hidden in his hanfu).

- The arrival of the Eclipse

The Eclipse Twins will still be part of the AU but their arrival will be different.

They were inside Li Jing's pagoda, the celestial had captured them when he was moved to power to make sure that none of Lady Bone Demon's "loose threads" would cause problems.

Macaque met them while he was trapped and the three stayed together to better survive against the 100 Eyes Demon.

After they were all freed from the pagoda, the twins ran away from the group and hid away for some time.

Nuwa in the AU

After the stones get shattered and the power to hold the pillar gets shared, the Goddess is free from her confines and she goes out in the world. She's worried at first that everything is going to collapse again, but after a few weeks spent in the human realm, she slowly accepts how things have settled and even starts to enjoy walking around the mortals disguised as a human.

She wasn't originally going to look for MK since her main worry was the existence of everything she had created, but after watching him fight the demon of the week he decided to go talk to him. Mostly to let him know she was in the real world now and to compliment him (in an unidentifiable way) about how he handled the situation.

She was going to just leave after that, see what else she had missed in the eons she wasn't alive, but MK was the one to suggest she stay Wan Qian Cheng (part of it was the kid's good heart, but part of it was also his desire to connect with the being that had created him).

Obviously enough, the rest of MK's friends weren't too excited about that, but it's not like they were going to argue against the Goddess of Creation.

[semisolidmind]

(wanted to make a mac-centric au)

New Companion au

-everything about the ittw au, except macaque joins as a new companion and gets attached to reader cause she's kinda nice to him

-wukong is suitably spiced about it

-it's one of those "i can clearly see he's still not a good guy, why aren't you believing me, what do you mean our circumstances are basically the same" type of monologues for swk. bro doesn't understand why this guy who tried to kill them a lil while ago is all buddy-buddy with his human now

-this is kinda an excuse to have a white-furred version of mac who's less of a snarky bastard and more....nice is NOT the right word, but he wants to help. like, help reader and the monk exclusively. he doesn't really care about the other four but can play nice if he has to

-reader vouched for him after the impersonation incident, which, along with the buddha's assistance, saved him from swk's wrath. reader's argument was something along the lines of, "he's endangered, AND we just so happen to be on a quest for redemption so he'll fit right in!"

-as lonely and grateful to be alive as he was, the six-eared macaque begged to join his savior on the quest. the pilgrims could do with another powerful demon companion, couldn't they? (and just to save some grief, im gonna say they catch him before he can cannibalize any of the ffm monkeys. i ain't messing with that.)

-all the pilgrims but sun have accepted him into the group

-mac latches onto reader pretty hard. she's nice, she doesn't judge him too hard (but she still judges him, like he deserves), she helps remind him to be kind, she remembers to keep her voice down when speaking to him...he's getting gradually more and more smitten.

-of course, swk HATES this. that's his human!! this is his journey!! why does this asshole get to tag along and continue his attempts to steal both!? wukong knows six-ears is just trying to get a rise out of him, just trying to get him to attack so he can play the victim.

- macaque is only sorta trying to do that. what he wants is reader's attention. and an easy way to get it is by being hurt or upset. he clocked reader as the bleeding heart type the moment he laid ears on her, so any chance he gets; he's hurt~ monkey king's being mean to him~ he's only trying to help~

[foresthouseowo]

And here is a small part from the past of these two ":D

Here are the events on behalf of the Macaque, perhaps soon I will do it on behalf of Wukong

Their full design is here: 🍑

A comic with Mk from this AU: 🍜

In fact, Wukong is alive, just now few people know about it ;>

However, it is very difficult for him to hide in the shadows now, since his new personal student pokes his curious nose everywhere..

[swkbiggestdefender]

Some wholesome shadowpeach headcannons bc they deserve some happiness:

-wukong love hugging macaque from behind whenever macaque is focusing on something

-wukong is okay flirting with macaque but the moment macaque flirt back he get flustered

-wukong forced macaque to get new clothes for himself bc he only have one outfit

-mk was happy when they started getting along but now he annoyed by them (he's happy for them but damn)

-wukong used to be a morning person in the past but not anymore macaque is the opposite

-macaque force wukong to go out sometime and make him eat something that isn't his hair or peaches for once

-wukong cover macaque ears whenever macaque feels overwhelmed in loud places

-wukong sometimes put his head on macaque chest when they cuddle to remind himself that macaque is alive and here with him

-macaque massage wukong head whenever he get a headache or just feeling awful

-macaque doesn't leave wukong alone after any big fight bc he doesn't want wukong to think that he's leaving him like before

-when they cuddle at night before they sleep they became the sappyest people alive

[tuturthecarvroom]

Ninjago OC

New ninjago oc just dropped

I present yall Shoi-Ming⭐

First of all he lost his family

No theyre not ded but not alive either, we actually don't know

He just lost them when he was a lil kid and since now trying to find them

Hes really grumpy and dont know how to controle his feelings, emotions and all that stuffs, after all he didn't get able to be educated enough

But hes the most sweet guy inside u can believe it

He love pudding and peach

He hate water and very loud sound and also the big public place where theres to much people around

Hes a solo guy, he never really had friends before and don't really know how to make some anyways so he just keep walking, fiding his family it's his first priority so he kinda don't think much bout making friends

Hes supposed to be at first a lmk oc so I take monkey specie as ref

And because my Chinese zodiac sign is the monkey so I just really really LOVE monkeys

Hes fav color is mostly green but he also like yellow and red

We could say he have the same power as macaque from lmk so he can controle shadows and making clones with it

Thats all I can say bout him, I Hope yall will like him and maybe wanna seing more from him in the future?

[centuryberry]

Shadowiceflower Adventures

Otherwise known as "Macaque's Extended Bachelor Party" or "What Happened While Wukong and Yue Were Away"

A Brief Summary: For once, Macaque doesn't just sit and wait for Wukong to come back home. Instead, he goes out with Shanzha and RinRin to make some memories and maybe leave a mark on the world.

Macaque, Shanzha, and RinRin last about one (1) week without Wukong and Yue before they break down and cry. They just miss them so much.

After a night of getting completely hammered together, RinRin gets the bright idea of going on an adventure - just the three of them. Macaque is reluctant to leave FFM but eventually agrees.

The three start small: They visit the Demon Bull Family first.

Everything is pretty chill until Red Son starts to lose control of his Samahdi Fire. Shanzha manages to ease the flames with her ice powers and buy Macaque and RinRin some time as they search for a specific flower known to help manage and repress demon powers.

Red Son is (temporarily) saved though the event makes PIF and DBK consider asking for celestial help since their son's abilities mostly come from the celestial side of the family.

The trio move on. They stop by a Demon Night Market so they can buy rare wares and trinkets for Yue and themselves.

RinRin meets an unpleasant Owl yaoguai and decides to steal their lantern so she can gift it to Macaque. This sets off a chain of events that gets the trio into trouble. They somehow get out of the ordeal intact and alive. Shanzha is upset at RinRin's riskiness but Macaque is moved by the gift.

From there, the trio decides to visit Macaque's homeland. The lands were ruined and ransacked and were a sad sight to see.

Macaque, Shanzha, and RinRin stay in the Macaque Spirit Clan's castle overnight and discover that it's haunted. Or, more like, RinRin is painfully aware that it's haunted while Macaque (part of the bloodline) and Shanzha (a shrine maiden) are oblivious until RinRin decides to deal with the ghosts.

Instead of putting them to rest, Macaque uses his new lantern to give the ghosts shadow forms. They now guard the lands, keeping outsiders out. They also acknowledge him as the current Macaque Spirit King.

Since the Spirit Macaque Clan territory is located between FFM and LoES, they use the land to gather all of the FFM soldiers and generals willing to throw down with some snow monkeys for sending a child bride.

Macaque, RinRin, and Shanzha enter the territory first to gather information and stir up some shit. RinRin and Shanzha give Macaque a makeover and sit back and laugh as LoES falls over themselves to impress and court Macaque.

Macaque gets the ego boost of his life. While he really doesn't have to do anything, he takes the initiative to learn from RinRin how to flirt and seduce. He also learns from Shanzha all the underhanded tricks that the residents of LoES might pull on him. He flourishes during his time there.

Though, in their information-gathering, the trio slowly realizes that there's a conspiracy afoot. They dig a bit too deep and are imprisoned by a clan leader who isn't as moved by Macaque's looks (unfortunately).

Enter: Nezha, who had been scouring everywhere to find the three so he could bring them up to Heaven. He breaks them out of jail and ends up getting tangled as the monkeys continue to unravel a concerning thread of thralls and followers of a Bone Demon.

Nezha was insistent that they come with him at first but then he saw the state of LoES firsthand and witnessed children's lives being threatened daily.

LoES child: "There's a God that Protects Children?"

Nezha: (devastated at their disbelief)

Nezha was onboard with helping after that. He was the one who would evacuate the children whenever the scheming trio upended a clan and dethroned its thralled leaders. Eventually, he was the one who led the charge against the Zodiac Monkey Clan when civil war broke out.

There's this one moment when Macaque enters the compound and finds the room Yue used to live in with Shanzha and RinRin. It was so small and bare and it broke his heart seeing it.

LBD's influence over the clan made it more hellish than it already was. Many of the clan members were all too happy to back Shanzha as the new heir and leader. Anything to escape LBD and Yishan's rule.

Shanzha and Yishan (the Thrall) engage in a one-on-one inheritance battle. Shanzha nearly takes his arm off with her arrows. Yishan nearly takes an eye out but scars her instead. The fight ends up as a draw because of Erlang Shen's entrance, forcing Yishan and LBD to flee.

Erlang Shen takes an exhausted Nezha and the Scheming Trio up to Heaven where they are reunited with Yue and Wukong.

[lint-beetle4]

Fleeting Memories (ShadowPeach Angst & Fluff)

I've been waiting for so long to write this! Thank you for the request!!

Fun Fact: I have class in 4 minutes

Also, Mild Gore Warning

The journey was long, arduous, and even painful, if Wukong was being honest.

Yet, despite it all, Wukong had grown more through the short time they spent together. Trial after trial, Wukong slowly learned to be more compassionate, more considerate, and more patient. He was growing to fit the title he'd made for himself, and to that, as their journey approached an end, a bittersweet feeling had crawled into Wukong's chest and decided the settle there.

It was the bitterness that flowed through his blood as Wukong fought against his greatest friend, his brother, his second-in-command.

The Great Sage had never seen his friend so upset...so hateful.

It was a sorrowful sight, something Wukong never wished upon the person who he tried to keep close to. After the war, Wukong never saw Macaque, not when he was cast from the monk's group, nor when he regrouped his fallen soldiers and subjects and rebuilt his kingdom. His subjects spoke of the shadow demon, how he was fueled with rage and grief.

Oh, how it hurt to Sage to hear how his comrade tried so hard to save the immortal monkeys from the trappers and hunters who tormented the fallen kingdom, how Macaque continued to fight battle after battle, protecting the fragile island from the devastating fires of Erlang Shen.

Yet, the past was washed away, Wukong and Macaque's final parting words had created a divide, only for them to be united in a battle that breathed finality.

"Macaque, don't make me do this!"

The darker simian didn't respond, his cackling ringing through Wukong's ears as the sage threw blow after blow, defending the monk and his new brothers. Macaque's laughter turned into pained yelps and shouts, he was losing, but the shadow demon refused to stop, and Wukong felt his heart steal itself for the final blow.

Macaque laid on the ground, bleeding profusely and limp. His pained breaths inhaled with a final shout, a final plead for Wukong to just listen. Yet, Wukong couldn't hear him anymore, Macaque's voice turning sour in his ears as he lifted his staff.

"Wait, Wukong, stop--"

Crunch.

Ringing filled the air, Wukong's blood pumped through his body, deafening him as Macaque went limp with a resounding gurgle ending into a wet sigh.

He was dead.

But, his eye looked directly at him. His mouth kept moving. Wukong could hear everyone in the distance, but Macaque's voice stood in front of him.

"...Wukong."

'Forgive me.'

"Wukong--!"

'Please close your eyes. Rest.'

"Wukong!"

'The battle is over. It's done. Let him rest.'

"Oh, to all the gods, Wukong. Wake up!"

Wukong sat up with a gasp, air running through him as if nothing more but a fleeting memory. It hurt.

Wukong's eyes flickered through his sleeping quarters, tidy yet clearly loved. Shadows flickered through the corners as Wukong snapped his head to his side, seeing Macaque--alive, finally alive.

Macaque was disheveled in front of Wukong, his mane tussled with what seemed like sleep and high winds.

Wukong couldn't focus on it much, his eyes tightly shut as his nightmares gripped at his mind with a strength he hadn't felt in centuries.

The darker simian seemed concerned, his voice whispering too low to reach through the growing trembles and pounding of Wukong's heart. Yet, the sight of him was heavenly enough, honey pouring through air, warming the way it stabbed in his chest.

In the back of his mind, Wukong heard sobs-- pitiful, heavy sobs--in the air as Macaque's voice continued to futilely speak.

Couldn't the fool see Wukong was currently too occupied to listen properly?

His chest clenched painfully, Wukong curling into himself with a whimper that ran like grease through his body. He felt ashamed to be in such a state, to be shaking and crying out for a past like an abandoned cub in fire-scorched forests. Macaque's hands hovered above him, and despite everything, Wukong flinched hard.

Macaque pulled away, his mouth shutting as his eyes merely softened at the sight of the King.

"Wukong."

Macaque's voice was clear, and by the gods, Wukong heard every ounce of love in it. He missed it so much; he missed him so much. Wukong sobbed again, tears dampening his fur as the sage grit his teeth, trying to quiet the noises that bothered him so.

"Wukong--Look at me."

Desperation, only pure desperation in that honey-filled voice, deep and clinging to Wukong's ears like a lifeline. Wukong obeyed blindly, Macaque's eyes examining Wukong carefully.

"You're in your house right now--it's empty, despite the fact that you have hoard stashes in your closet. But, you're not there anymore, and I'm here."

Wukong still felt tears pouring down his face, the air stinging his cheeks. He felt Macaque get closer, arms now confidently around Wukong's shoulders in a hug that Wukong swore he forgot the feeling of.

"I'm here now. I'm not leaving."

"You won't leave..? Promise me--please--that you won't leave me here like this." Wukong sobbed, sinking his head into Macaque's soft fur, the scent of fruit still surrounding him with bitter nostalgia.

Macaque shook his head, arms tightening around Wukong as the shadow demon spoke with a thick, broken voice. "I promise. I'll be right here."

Wukong's trembling increased as his sobs jolted through his body. He half felt bad about ruining Macaque's fur like this--the ginger monkey knew how pridefully Macaque took his appearance. Yet, the night continued on, Wukong's tears eventually drying as his trembling settled into a fatigued weakness. Macaque never left, only whispering words that covered Wukong like a silk blanket in the cool night.

"Thank you," Wukong shuddered, lifting his head to look at the strangely calm Macaque. "Thank you so much."

"Go to sleep, Peaches. You look terrible."

Macaque shook his head, a fond smile that Wukong reciprocated.

The two laid down, Macaque never letting go of Wukong as the latter buried his head into Macaque's chest with a weak grin.

"Goodnight, Peaches. I love you."

Wukong fell asleep with warmth through his body, the past drifting away as nothing more than a bad nightmare.

The sun rose, burning Wukong's eyelids as it forced the king to rise. He could always count on its light to pierce through any dream he could've had. The warmth around Wukong had left, it seems, leaving him chilled.

Macaque left, Wukong sighed to himself, looking away from the blinding light that cast away the shadows of the night.

The house felt cold despite the warm glow of the sun.

[lucagray813]

Progress

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 2,944

Characters: MK, Macaque, Mentioned Wukong

Relationships: MK & Macaque

Summary: MK is trying his best to power through the difficulties he's facing with his new monkey form but maybe there's a better way.

Additional Tags: Sensory Issues

CW: None

Link to AO3 Version

----

MK's new monkey form was overwhelming.

And not just in the "I'm some kind of crazy powerful monkey demon thing" sort of identity crisis overwhelming although that definitely was something he was still trying to process. But honestly, the less he thought about that the better.

Right now, his most pressing concern was that the form itself was overwhelming because it made his senses so much stronger.

He could smell things he hadn't even known had smells, he could hear the tiniest little cacophonies all around him and hell, he was even sure he could taste the air! And don't get him started on the fur or the tail adding to the sensory overload!

It was just so much to process at once - even just thinking about it was enough to start stressing him out!

But it wasn't something he could just ignore, not when Monkey King was so adamant that he needed to train in his new form. And complicated feelings about everything aside, he did understand why it was important but it felt impossible to do when Flower Fruit Mountain was just alive with sounds and smells that threatened to reduce him to tears.

Monkey King just didn't seem to get what the problem was and his best advice was, "New things just take time to get used to, Bud! And you're never going to get used to it if you don't keep at it!"

Which was easy for him to say!

But while he was feeling increasingly sour about the whole thing, he knew it wasn't out of badness that Monkey King was pushing him - this whole thing was unprecedented and stressful and they were both doing their best to muddle through it.

But perhaps out of spite, it had been Macaque that had finally come to his aid.

Although, of course, in typical Macaque fashion, his help had to be unsolicited and needlessly frustrating.

Sat in a tense parody of Monkey King's meditation pose, MK had decided to go hard on the exposure therapy. With gritted teeth and tightly shut eyes, he tried to process the hundreds of sounds and smells that attacked his senses in this busy little clearing he'd found not far from the waterfall.

But his fur felt like it was standing on end and the uncontrollable flicks of his tail against the ground behind him only added to his frustration. His hands came to grasp at his ears as he angrily muttered, "I can do this. I can do this. I can-"

He was entirely unprepared for the shadow portal that opened beneath him and he barely had time to scream before it dropped him in an undignified pile of limbs next to an annoyingly laid back Macaque who was lounging on the edge of this random cliff.

Pulling himself up he asked indignantly, "Why are you like this?! You could have at least warned me! And god forbid you just walk up and talk to me like a normal person!"

Macaque smirked, "Where's the fun in that, kiddo?"

Oh, of course, there was just so much fun to be had at his expense.

He felt his eye twitch as he resisted the urge to strangle him.

Macaque gestured to his left side, as he drawled, "Alright, sit down before you hurt yourself. You look like you're about to burst a blood vessel there, bud."

Knowing that the fastest way to get out of this situation was just to go along with it, he huffed and took a seat next to him but he made sure his face was the picture of displeasure as he waited for Macaque to get on with it.

Macaque however seemed more than content to ignore him and peacefully take in the view.

MK thought he might have managed a whole minute before his impatience got the better of him. He groaned loudly as he dragged his hands down his face and asked, "Why did you bring me here, Macaque?"

Macaque didn't even so much as glance over at him as he responded airily, "It's a nice night, don't you think?"

Laughing at the holes MK's trying to glare into the side of his head, he waved at whatever he was looking at and added, "C'mon kid, you've not even taken in the sights yet. What's your hurry?"

Summoning all of his patience, he took a breath and played Macaque's game.

Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself it is a nice view - mountains stretched out for miles before him, the setting sun painting the sky stunning shades of gold and pink.

Entirely against his will he felt his shoulders relax slightly. Macaque wanted him to take in the view? Fine. But he wasn't letting his guard down for a second! Who knew what he was really up to?

But as time went on, and his suspicious glances revealed nothing, he eventually did let himself fully appreciate the quiet beauty before them. And as the night took hold, he became enraptured by the stars.

So caught up in remembering the stories Mr. Tang used to tell him about the constellations, he startled when Macaque finally asked, "How do you feel, MK?"

Immediately wary of his intentions, he responded cautiously, "I feel...fine?"

Macaque scoffed quietly before replying, "You asking or telling me? While I appreciate a healthy level of skepticism. I don't think answering "How do you feel?" is going to do you much harm."

MK crossed his arms and glared at him, "You would think! But I'm not taking any chances! Who knows how you'll twist around whatever I say!"

But despite how justifiably suspicious he felt, he did take a moment to reconsider his answer.

Because while almost every interaction with Macaque was frustrating at best and traumatic at worst, more often than not it did still result in him learning something important or, at the very least, offering him a new perspective to consider.

So somewhat reluctant but honest, he responded, "I feel... relaxed. This was actually pretty nice - watching the sunset somewhere quiet isn't something I get to do a lot."

Macaque glanced at him, "No kidding?" He glanced away again and then hummed thoughtfully, "Y'know, I'm feeling pretty generous tonight. So generous, I'm not even going to make you guess what tonight's lesson was."

MK's suspicion quickly turned to bewilderment, "You mean you're actually just going to tell me why I'm here? Wait... was? The lesson's over? But we haven't done anything!"

Agreeably, Macaque replied, "Before I tell you what's going on look down at your hands."

He muttered to himself, "My hands...?"

His initial fear that Macaque had pulled one over on him while he was distracted was seemingly unfounded as his hands looked totally normal. He turned them over and looked at them from a different angle - yup, definitely still his hands.

He shot Macaque a puzzled look, who in return looked a little strained as he responded, "C'mon, bud. You can do it. Just think a little bit harder?"

Offended, he glared at him and then glared at his hands, and in his irritation his tail twitched into his line of sight.

He blinked down at it for a moment before the answer struck him right between the eyes.

He jumped to his feet, and squawked in surprise, "I'm a monkey!"

Macaque raised an unimpressed eyebrow and, embarrassed by his outburst, he rushed to explain, "No! I mean, I've been in my monkey form since I got here! Usually when I'm like this I-"

Macaque interrupted, "Feel like tearing off your ears and ripping out your fur?"

He pulled a face as he sat back down, "Ew! No? I was going to say I feel like I'm going crazy! There's just so much happening all at once - the sounds, the smells, the tail! You know what it's like though...? For everything just to be... Too much?"

Seemingly ignoring his questions, Macaque answered, "One of the many, many reasons Wukong makes for a terrible mentor-"

Indignant, he interjected, "Hey!"

But he was promptly ignored as Macaque continued seamlessly, "-is that he can't see things from anyone's perspective but his own. Unless he experiences something first hand he doesn't understand it. And so he doesn't know how to adjust his teaching style to suit anyone but him."

Hand on his chin, MK gave that some thought, before responding somewhat absentmindedly, "That actually makes a lot of sense..."

But remembering himself he passionately tacked on, "But he's not a terrible mentor!"

Macaque sighed, "Let's agree to disagree for the sake of the lesson, hm?"

It was the best MK was going to get, so he silently agreed.

He then prompted, "And the lesson here was...?"

Clearly a little disappointed that he even needed to, Macaque explained, "You need to acclimatise yourself to your new form. Flower Fruit Mountain may be a more appropriate choice compared to the city but there are still better options."

He gestured to the area around them, "Look around, kid. Less flora and fauna means less sounds and smells. In an environment like this you can take the time to explore what your new senses are capable of. You'll find that it's a lot easier to focus on how to control your tail when it's not lashing out of your control because you're overstimulated by everything going on around you. Anyone with any sense should have been able to figure that out."

A mix of embarrassed and offended, he crossed his arms defensively and looked away, "Yeah well, we already knew I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shop."

Macaque made a frustrated sound, "That wasn't aimed at you. If the person you trust to teach you is telling you to power through it then why would you question it? He's supposed to know better, right? But the truth is he doesn't. Because he has no idea what he's doing."

He paused his increasingly irate rant and seemed to think on his next words, "You want my honest opinion, MK? The fact is, you've come as far as you have in spite of your training with Wukong not because of it. You've basically had to learn everything backwards. I mean, has he even tried to teach you how to meditate yet?"

Macaque looked at him expectantly but he was still reeling from the fact there might have been a genuine compliment directed towards him amongst the Monkey King slander.

Conflicted pride at the praise aside though, he couldn't actually dispute a lot of what Macaque had said.

But it wasn't all Monkey King's fault! He had begged and pushed to learn the fighting stuff and little else! He had wanted to learn the flashy moves and how to pull off the daring stunts. He had thought that was what being a hero was all about!

And it's not like Monkey King had never tried to get it through his head that that wasn't all there was to it!

But then again it's not like he had really offered to teach him much other than fighting... And he had left him to figure out so much on his own...

He wanted to defend his mentor but admittedly he was finding it a little difficult right at that moment. So he focused on answering Macaque honestly instead, "No. I don't think we've properly meditated together. I did try and copy him when he was recovering his powers when- I mean, that one time! But... I didn't get anywhere with it."

His feelings of inadequacy were not helped by Macaque's deep sigh but his advice was actually surprisingly reasonable, "That's your plan of action then, kid. Get Wukong to train you somewhere like this while you get a handle on your new form and then get him to start teaching you how to meditate... Or on second thought maybe the big blue guy can teach you? He'd actually probably be a better teacher for that sort of thing."

It was a solid plan and honestly, Sandy would probably be delighted to hear he was interested in learning to meditate. Well, interested was probably too strong a word but it seemed to be a skill everyone thought was worth having.

He responded, "First of all, I know you know his name is Sandy but asking him for help might not be a bad idea. But as for the monkey form... Well, since you keep ragging on Monkey King... Maybe you could help me out with it too?"

He was deeply unsure about the wisdom of such a request but so far Macaque had been making a lot of sense and, y'know, he didn't seem to be up to anything nefarious...?

He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when Macaque laughed, "Ha! You can survive the odd lesson from me but I don't think either of us are cut out for more than that. Not to mention, I really don't feel like having "the world's greatest mentor" on my tail for stealing his precious student."

He didn't respond straight away, there was a part of him that fully agreed - what kind of crazy must he be to willingly train with Macaque?

But something deep down compelled him.

So despite his better judgement, he argued, "Look, I know you're a tough mentor and I know Monkey King won't be happy but... it's just the three of us, right?"

Looking a little wary, Macaque asked, "What?

MK powered on, "We don't one hundred percent know what I am yet but I've got to be related to Monkey King in some way, right? I mean, I must be, right? And you two are the same kind of demon, so that means I've probably got a connection to you too? Or... Am I wrong? Are there more monkey demons like you and Monkey King out there?"

Macaque hesitated over his answer for a long moment, before answering, "If there are others, I've never met them, but I'd be willing to bet there's not many of us if there are more."

For some reason he'd been sure that would be the answer, but he was equally unsure why that felt so significant. Clumsily, he tried to explain, "Doesn't that feel like a big deal? Like, if it is just the three of us... Shouldn't we stick together?"

While Macaque seemed to mull this over, another important point suddenly came to mind, "I know we don't know what I am but... Do you and Monkey King know what you are? Like, everyone knows Monkey King just popped out of a stone egg one day but did you? How did you two even meet? Have you always known each other?"

He was, of course, generally just curious about Macaque's story and how it played into Monkey King's but now that he was thinking about it in terms of whatever the connection between the three of them was...

He opened his mouth in order to continue his interrogation but was stopped short by Macaque holding up a hand, "I think this is a little beyond the scope of today's lesson, don't you?"

A little indignant, he argued, "Wh-? Macaque! This could be important!"

Macaque shook his head, "It's not. Not to you anyway, not right now. I'll admit though your "birds of a feather" argument was pretty cute."

Aggravated, he responded, "Cute? I was being serious! Don't you-"

Macaque cut him off, "But, regardless of whether there's a "connection" between us or not, I don't plan to leave you wholly at the mercy of Wukong's tutelage. That's just asking for trouble."

Suffering a little from whiplash, he tried to clarify, "Wait... So are you saying you'll train me?"

"I'm saying that I'll keep an eye on things and step in when I think it's needed."

He sagged slightly. Well, he supposed that was better than nothing.

Amused, Macaque commented, "You're really stroking my ego here, kid. You're that disappointed I won't train you?"

He was conflicted about it honestly.

Macaque still wasn't someone he fully trusted and he could be downright cruel as a teacher but there was no denying that his knowledge and experience could be invaluable. And he had a feeling he was going to need every advantage he could get to face up against whatever was coming next.

But things changed.

Just because Macaque wasn't sold on training him right now didn't mean that MK couldn't win him over.

So with a small huff, he grinned, "Well, I've heard you can never have too many mentors, right?"

He had just a moment to relish in the fact he'd caught Macaque off guard before his laughter followed him through the shadow portal that opened beneath him without warning.

He cursed Macaque's name as he fell but at least this time he managed to catch himself before sprawling gracelessly on the ground.

Macaque's voice echoed around him, "Not bad, kid. Prove you can recognise good advice when you hear it and maybe I'll be tempted to give being your mentor another shot. In the meantime, talk to Wukong about what we discussed. It's time he got his act together."

His voice faded and MK knew the conversation was over.

Back in the woods where he started, he took a deep breath before lying down and letting his monkey form fade away. Staring up at the stars through the gaps in the trees, he huffed, bizarrely fond despite all the reasons he shouldn't be.

Did he always have to get the last word in like that?

Regardless, he had a plan and plenty to think about and that was enough for now.

--End--

LMK Fanfic Masterlist

[quitealotofsodapop]

the previous post got me thinking of my og Yuebei design for the slow-boiled au,and got thinking; what would she look like without LBD's influence?

immediately I got blasted with the mental image and had to draw her.

you've heard of Slow Boiled Yuebei, now get ready for Soft Boiled!

basically Yuebei was born sooner for whatever reason and therefore didn't consume LBD's dao. I like to think she was actually originally gonna be a lot like pre-during jttw Wukong; loud, bright, abrasive. But by consuming an entire demon's dao it influenced her overall being, making her more chilled out. so she's basically the opposite of her Slow Boiled counterpart.

there are some similarities. she still has her glow-y ears and black fur from Wukong's yearning for Macaque, and her mask is still a skull-shape, just not bleached white by LBD instead red so it looks like the mask the eclipse twins have. however, she relies more heavily on the fire-y imagery of the sun rather then the soft clouds and bones of Slow Boiled Yuebei.

now, lore.

she might also be able to be considered an "opposite au" as I like to think the catalyst for the changes between Soft and Slow Boiled is the Samadhi Fire ritual. everything up to that point is the same as in Slow Boiled, but during the ritual Yuebei, still just 'the egg' reacts badly to the fire, but this time, instead of just causing a potential miscarriage scare, it sends Wukong into premature labor.

this is not good. obviously. premature baby is not great, likely to have health issues and complications. the labor takes many, painful, stress filled hours, close to a full day! unlike her Slow Boiled counterpart, Soft Boiled takes hours after hatching to start crying. Wukong is understandably a mess during this time. for a lomg portion of it he's grappling with the possible consequences of the ritual, and if he made the right choice to participate. luckily he has the pilgrims to comfort him until Guanyin comes back with news.

this also has the side affect to tipping off previously unaware parties of his pregnancy. PIF is having words with her brother-in-law later. Ne Zha is a little horrified, DBK is just trying to figure out if everyone is still alive while trying to keep a baby Red Son entertained. he too will be having words with Wukong later tho.

I don't think Yuebei will have ended up being a ring in this au, as she rejected the fire after originally trying to consume its dao, having learned the hard way it was too much for her. might have freaked out a little to much tho. but its possible have taken at least a little nibble of the fire to taste test may have contributed to her fire-y personality in the end.

as for her childhood. I think she'd be like, pre-teen to 14 as of canon lmk.

I feel like her being premature + samadhi fire shenanigans means she was a little sickly as a baby. maybe even with some permanent, though not overly serious, damage. perhaps she fried some of her nerves trying to absorb the fire, resulting in a lack of feeling around her chest area? maybe her taste buds too, she likes DBK + Red Son's cooking because it's hot enough she can actually taste it.

for as long as they were around, she grew up around the pilgrims, with them acting as a support group for Wukong. then, one by one, they stop coming. she doesn't understand why, having been so young. and with as young as she still is when canon rolls around, she also doesn't really understand why they don't remember her, and why they stopped coming around so they could run a noodle shop, and why they seem to have moved on without a second thought of her to raising another kid. she just knows Baba looks sad when he sees them around.

she probably is very jalous of/very avoidant while glaring daggers at MK when he first becomes Wukong's student. he took her uncles from her, was he trying to her baba now too? probably comes to a head in an episode of its own. perhaps he takes her to the shadow play to try and connect with her, Yuebei having shown an interest in theater, but she's quiet and grumpy the whole time. the two unexpectedly do end up bonding over beating on Macaque when they realize he's present, MK having been let in on some stuff by his mentor early and Yuebei also knowing some things herself.

you see, she knows about Macaque, Wukong having tried to raise her with the knowledge of his mate/her other parent. but he also tried to be honest with her, so the second it comes time to learn the full truth of how she was born she can't help but resent him a little bit. even more so when Wukong explains how, when, and why he died. she knows of his hearing abilities, her baba loved how her ears looked like 'his special ones', he should have known about her. she wonders is she wasn't enough for Macaque, if she wasn't worth trying to salvage the relationship for, or, worse yet, if he hadn't wanted her altogether. Wukong tries to tell her that couldn't be farther from the truth, but she can only believe him so much. she also isn't pleased with him for abandoning her baba in the first place.

the first time she meets Macaque (the shadow play) and clues into who he is, she decks him in the face and tries to fight him. having not even registered her presence previously, Macaque's just confused about where this sassy child came from- and why are her ears like that? why does she look so familiar?

no answers arise before MK, a slightly bigger threat then the runt that somehow got the jump on him, joins the fray, just as pissed at the monkey.

season 3 is... complicated, to say the least. Macaque reacts about as well as you'd expect him to when LBD reveals the girl who punched him mere hours before is his ex-mates kid. who is now a wanted enemy to boot, LBD wanting her as leverage against the king.

this got super long, how do i keep doing this? anyway hope you enjoyed my tangent on this new little au of mine

Link to; Yuebei's Slow Boiled au design.

One; I ADORE EVERYTHING about Soft Boiled au Yuebei's design! The fiery sun imagery, the red and black clothing that makes her look ready to Fight, her orange eyes, the little red ribbon in her hair!!! And she has her own version of Macaque's scarf!!

Two; Wukong about to get a talking to the second his adoptive family gets a hold of him. Once the monkey recovers from the early labour, and has emotionally recovered from the rollercoaster that was Yuebei's birth ofc. It would be so cute if Yuebei first started crying over something completely normal - for some reason, I'm thinking it's something like Zhu Bajie trying to pull a funny face for her. Wukong is so relieved to hear his baby crying that he doesn't even scold his pilgrim brother for scaring her!

Three; Wukong would be so protective of his little Moon Comet Star. She was so sickly and weak as a baby, that he worries about ever letting her leave places he knows to be safe. But of course she is growing up...

Four; I feel like Yuebei's growth was severely stunted by the Fire, hence why she's seems much younger than Red Son despite being only a few years apart in age. That and I can imagine Wukong took her to stay with Guanyin on her unaging island for a while to help her health improve. She's ultimately a big kid.

Five; And oooough! Yuebei not understanding that her pilgrim uncles have passed on and reincarnated, but believes that they've "abandoned" her and her baba!! Thinking MK has "stolen" her family from her and is attempting the same with her dad. MK wanting to be Yuebei's friend since she seems so lonely, but not knowing why she's cold towards him! (｡•́︿•̀｡)

I bet even with Guanyin, "Cousin" Nezha, and the very rare corespondance with PIF and Red Son, Yuebei spends a lot of her childhood lonely.

Yuebei is gonna have a time when she starts understanding whats really going on with the Noodle Gang, and why her family "suddenly" can't remember her. Wukong blames himself for not explaining it better to her earlier, but hadn't wanted to dump so much loss on his babygirl all at once - it was a lose-lose situation.

I LOVE Macaque's first impression of Yuebei being "Who's sassy child is this??" He don't hate her, he's just a little confused why some little kid has beef with him specifically. Also confusion on why she looks like him and Wukong mixed together.

MK 🤝 Yuebei: beating up Macaque for being a doofus.

I imagine Macaque awkwardly trying to connect with Yuebei after S3, and reconnect with Wukong, especially since he hadn't even known she existed at the time of his and Wukong's big fight (or chose to believe so - Memory Scroll issue for later). Yuebei doesn't like Macaque, but she doesn't completely abhor the idea of him and her baba becoming close again. She just doesn't want either of them to get hurt again.

LBD likely gets destroyed closer to canon, since Yuebei doesn't eat her soul (I hope XD) like in the Slow Boiled au. Yuebei takes her skull tho. Trophy.

Azure Lion about to get decked in the face the second he comes around. When did the monkeys multiply? Why is he on fire?

Wukong is just watching Yuebei tear into their enemies like; "I love my strong little girl." <3

[fluffypotatey]

THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO THE STORY *evil grin* That's my favorite part of ShadowPeach angst :D because if LMK says Macky "thinks" it happened a certain way, and Wukong has been shown to think Macky just "suddenly came back" and NOT from the dead??? or he DOES know he came back from the dead, and the way he's been acting so far is hard core avoidance coping, but I doubt it bc it seems we're gearing up for ~ Macky was misinformed about his own death ~ but ever since the S4 special, I've figured he'd already gone to terms with it, with the whole "that's what I used to believe." At least, over their fight anyways. It's so delicious that for Wukong, those centuries of mourning Macaque were taken from him. Is it a blessing or an agony for all the times you cursed his name for hiding after what he did? There is nothing to mourn, he is alive and well right beside you, and yet the same gaping horror and emptiness claws through his stone heart. It'll polish it into a new form of grief. He can never say, "I missed you" to Macaque after this, has skipped right over knowing what he lost, all because those missing centuries were branded into bitterness, but y'know. That's a pill you swallow. The shadows never had the chance to respond to him no matter if Wukong ever tried to sniff him out.

“that's what I used to believe."

yeah :) hearing that in the s4 special just confirmed to me that there is more to the story in what happened between Wukong and Macky that led to his death. like i already had a feeling and that feeling increased thanks to one of the writers’ tweets (i think it was a David Breen?)

and so my personal theory is that Macky’s memory of their fight lines up a lot closer to what “technically” occurred in the jttw book. meanwhile the truth and what Wukong remembers is a lot different

[thefrenchydude]

Murderous Lust chap 4 (part 1)

(It's kinda very short for now, I got a new job and the hours of works are very complicated so sorry, gonna try and post the rest in part two and Halloween I hope :''(.)

The atmosphere changed.

Lex didn’t know why, but at the very moment Reader left the room, the atmosphere became more heavy. The two kings who were now watching him with fury in their eyes. Their hands seemed more contracted as the veins were getting more visible as time passed. And they looked like they were ready to jump at him at any moment. 

Lex felt like a sheep surrounded by a pack of hungry wolf.

He didn’t dare to talk, didn’t even dare to look at them in the eyes. They were not only very intimidating, but they were also extremely dangerous. Lex knew the stories about the two demon kings that had killed thousand of gods, demons and humans. He knew if they wanted to hurt him, they could obliterate him at that moment and nobody could have done something to help.

Wukong’s tail flipped violently, smacking the hard floor and making Lex jump.

Strangely, that’s when Lex felt like talking again. 

He began to talk about the city, the projects he had for it. The things he wanted to get rid of and the things he wanted to build.

The kings looked at him. Not listening at what he is saying at all.

Wukong wanted to get up and walk down to that little fraud. He imagined himself punching him in the face with all his strength, literally exploding his head into some kind of jelly.

Oh, god. He really REALLY wanted to just kill him right here and now - and truly nothing could stop him. But, Macaque was right about the whole “getting Reader on our side for him not to hate us for centuries”.

So instead, Wukong just exhale loudly, sitting back on his throne.

He frowned.

Lex’s voice was getting on his nerves.

…

o0o

Reader woke up slowly, feeling as if the world were spinning. His eyelids were heavy, and his body felt like lead. He could barely move, as if an invisible force was holding him down. His mind raced, trying to remember what had happened before he blacked out.

The tiger demon. The blood. And then—Macaque.

His heart pounded as he fully regained consciousness.

Reader tried to sit up, but his body protested.

— Don't strain yourself.

The voice came from a dark corner of the room. Macaque emerged from the shadows.

— You fainted, Macaque said, coming closer. You're not used to seeing things like that, are you?

— You… Reader's voice was shaky.

— Me ? I’m your husband.

— You’re just a psycho demon that keeps here against my will. (I don’t like this part ;-;)

Macaque's gaze didn’t leave him. 

— That’s one way to see it. But we’re keeping you safe. You’re important to us. Lex... he was never meant to be in your life. We were.

The room felt colder.

— Where is he ? asked Reader.

Macaque sighed, sitting at the edge of the bed. 

— He’s alive, as we told you. But, Reader, you need to understand... we are your past. Your real life. You and Lex—it’s an illusion. Something that never should have been.

— An illusion? Reader repeated with a contained rage. Lex is my husband. He’s my life. Whatever you’re saying doesn’t change that!

Macaque’s eyes flashed with something darker. He leaned closer, his voice low. 

— You don’t remember, do you? Not everything. Not yet.

— Remember what?

Macaque’s hand reached out, brushing a strand of hair away from Reader’s face. His touch was gentle, yet it felt bitter. 

— Your past with us. Your life before… this little worm. You weren’t just some mortal. You were... everything. To the both of us.

Reader moved away, his body finally cooperating enough to get away from the demon.

— I don’t know what you’re talking about.

— You will, Macaque said, standing up. In time. When you’re ready to face the truth. Wukong and I, we’ve waited for centuries. We can wait a little longer.

A loud knock echoed through the room, breaking the tension. The door swung open, and Wukong strode in, his golden eyes sharp and focused on Reader.

— Feeling better, Peaches? Wukong asked with a grin, though his tone had an edge that made Reader uneasy.

Reader glared at him, gathering the strength to push himself up further on the bed. 

— Don’t call me that. I’m leaving. NOW.

Wukong laughed. 

— Oh, you’re not going anywhere, Peaches. Not yet.

Macaque gave Wukong a warning look, but the Monkey King ignored it with a big smile, walking over to the bed and sitting down on the opposite side of Reader. He leaned in, so close that Reader could feel his breath against his skin.

— You don’t know how much I wanted to cuddle with you !

He took Reader in his arms.

Reader looked for his tail, if he could twist it again… But Wukong isn’t stupid and Reader couldn’t reach it. His embrace was too strong.

Wukong took his sweet time to enjoy the very angry Reader’s presence and just ignored all the insults that were launched at him.

(I'm not a big fan of this beginning for the chapter ;___;)

<previous-next part(on work)>

[lycorisketch]

LMK SEASON 5 SPOILERS!

New AU

King of the Underworld Macaque

After the events of season 5, the Underworld is left without anyone to run it. Macaque, while content to avoid the place altogether, somehow ends up taking up rule as the sole King of the Underworld.

(Yes I need to come up with a reason for him to take charge but shhhh)

Macaque, given he was not quite alive for some time, is well versed in the Underworld and how it functions. Additionally he has noticed that his usual purple colored powers have started to turn a chaotic orange since his massive attack against the Nine-Headed Demon (Xiangliu). But the color of his power isn't the only thing changing, as the chaos is taking a toll on his physical appearance...and perhaps his mental state.

This AU will be fleshed out more I swear. I'm going to be taking ALOT of creative liberties and I cannot guarantee a full fledged plot, but I can promise doodles of this idiot.

Feel free to send me asks about this guy!

Design is subject to change.

Notes on his design:

Right eye - Blind, scarred (Not shown in design. I forgot it in this one)

Long hair - I just like Mac with long hair

Orange tint to his hair - Effects of his power

Blue claws - Why not

Robes - Matches the robes of the old kings (Except the designs on the sleeves, I thought those just looked cool. And the yellow is from his original design)

Colors in his ears - Purple and orange to match his powers

White in hair - Unfortunate after effects of LBD power, the white grows the longer he's in Diyu

Red waist wrap - Its his scarf

Note: In this AU I am taking creative liberties with how the Underworld works. I am using headcanons and what little knowledge we have from Lego Monlie Kid NOT the proper Chinese mythos version. Though if you want cool info on that please refer to this post by @/ryin-silverfish