#this was also me doing some interpretation of PIF’s lmk character

[rayalltheway]

“Why did she choose you?”

I am not a fanfic writer (no really I swear) but I was inspired to write this short little fic as a continuation to a short thing @starsfic wrote based on my “Red Son is Red Boy but his mom wiped his memories” art piece. So yeah enjoy your Macaque and Red Son uncle/nephew crumbs and a heaping helping of angst to go with it:)))

———————

“Congrats, calf. You got it.” Macaque said with his usual flippant smirk, though his words weren’t exactly biting as they normally would be. Maybe he was too tired.

Red Son looked tired too, only casting an annoyed look at the dark furred monkey as they both sat together in an isolated part of the ship, Macaque lying on the rail and Red Son sitting next to him on the deck.

The demon boy took one more long look at his family necklace, before putting it back in his pocket, standing up to lean against the rail.

“That spell really had to display everything when it broke didn’t it?” He said dryly, referring to the magic that previously enchanted the necklace.

“It was either that or you’d stay in blissful ignorance. And it’s too late to go back now, kiddo.” Macaque looked at Red Son with a toothy grin.

“I mean sure, there’s the memory of you being put into time out over a metric ton of swords, but I’d say the horns are worth keeping for it.”

Red Son glared in annoyance again. “Is this some attempt to try and make me feel better? Because it’s not working.”

Macaque shrugged. Maybe it was. “Well, I dunno what else you want me to tell you, calf.”

That made Red Son uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, but just when Macaque thought he was going to get to sit in wonderful silence-

“Why did she choose you?”

“Huh?” Macaque cracked open an eye, confused by the question.

“Why did my mother choose you to be my guardian?” Red Son continued, on the verge of a grimace. “That’s one thing I still don’t get. Even after everything that happened with Sun Wukong, somehow she was fine with you being around me. Protecting me.” His frown deepened bitterly. “Making sure I never caught onto the truth. Why?”

Macaque blinked, before scoffing. “…That’s what you’re racking your overstuffed head about?” He said as he quickly put up a casual front, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back against the rail. “You’re gonna hurt your brain by this point, calf-“

“You were a part of this lie that has been my entire life up to this point.” Red Son interrupted. He could tell the boy’s already low sense of patience had become an even shorter fuse with the recent events. “You owe me whatever answer I want to know.”

Macaque’s smirk dropped, actually meeting Red Son’s glare. It was true, and Red Son had already learned too much for there to be any point hiding things from him anymore, though Macaque still felt his stomach turn at the feeling of obligation. He did his best to ignore it as he sighed and sat up, thinking over his next words.

“Our history played a part in it. But as you’ve recently learned, family only goes so far.”

“Why then?”

Macaque sighed again in resignation at the continued prodding. He really was in it for the long haul on this one.

“Back in those days, defeat at the hands of the Sun Wukong didn’t just leave you scarred - “

Macaque unconsciously scratched at his right brow as he spoke.

“ - For some, it knocked you down to rock bottom. Her husband was gone. Her son had already been taken from her once. And getting you back was a stupid risk that put her in an even more vulnerable position. She had the intelligence and the patience, but not enough power or influence. Not anymore. But you know her - she wasn’t just going to sit around playing a desperate grieving widow.”

“Not a widow.” Red Son interjected. 


“You get what I mean, kid. Everyone she was formerly allied with back then had either not enough to gain or too much to lose from helping her, or would sell her out for a shot up in the clouds in a heartbeat.”

Macaque found his tone becoming bitter at that last part. He let it hang in the air, looking at Red Son for the first time since he started talking. The young demon was looking at the ground, contemplating, but a soft change in his expression and his eyes flicking back up to meet Macaque’s made it clear that he was getting it.

“Everyone…except for you.”

Macaque didn’t respond to that, shifting his position, leaning an elbow on his knee. Talking about this was serving to remind him of just how old he really was.

Even Macaque recognized this was a terrible time to try and tell Red Son this, but in many ways, he was just like his mother. At least, from when she was young. While not constantly as tightly strung up as her son ended up being, she was utterly ambitious and determined. She was always ready with another plan, always fighting to earn her place, always with something to prove. Nothing had ever come easy for her. She had told him that once, centuries ago. It was something they understood each other for.

Maybe that’s why he agreed all those years ago, when she gave him the assignment of keeping her son safe and in the dark. She was tired and sad and with no real idea of what she’d do next, other than she’d need to make do with whatever she could from now on.

Because he understood.

“If she felt she had any other option, she would have taken it. But when you don’t trust anything anymore…” Macaque turned his gaze to the horizon. “…It helps to take the option where you don’t have to.”

Red Son didn’t answer. He was still, as if in shock. But Macaque could hear his heartbeat racing, his breaths came in and out shakily, like he was attempting to calm himself.

“I trusted her. Because I thought she was all I had.” He finally said, more to himself than to Macaque.

It was the other way round, calf.

Macaque thought it, but didn’t say it.

“I…I don’t even know how I’ll ever be able to look at her again.” Red Son’s voice quavered, but not with anger or bitterness but…sadness. Maybe even heartbreak.

He turned to Macaque again, his expression breaking as tears threatened to fill his eyes. Macaque could almost swear he knew that expression on Red Son’s face, from when the demon was 500 years younger.

“I don’t even know how I’m looking at you.”

That was all he could muster before he spun around and walked away quickly towards the cabins, wanting to hide himself before Macaque, or the world, saw his weakness.

Macaque watched his nephew leave, the same feeling from that meeting with Princess Iron Fan returning, forming like a lump in his throat.

“…Me neither, calf.”

[kai-keda]

how do you feel about s4 of lmk having a different showrunner and headwriter? it makes me concerned 😬😬

I’m not surprised because the Embrace Your Destiny specials had such a book-ending to them. Everything from the first season onward was tied up nicely at the end. To be perfectly honest, and friends from Discord can confirm this, I was Lowkey upset that the show was even CONTINUING after I saw that ending.

The series started with Tang having a narration about how “the story is never truly over” and it ends with Tang having a narration about how “the story is never truly over”. It’s beautiful. So it makes sense that the head writer and show runner have stepped down from the project. It’s a perfect point for it to either end or transition to something new.

Honestly, even if it was the same exact crew, my brain would be separating the first three seasons from whatever comes next because no matter what they do, it’s gonna feel disconnected from the previous stories due to that solid opening and ending.

Because that disconnect is already there for me, I’m not too worried about how future content will make me feel. That being said, there are some concerns I have based on previous experiences with fandoms and based on how I’ve seen this fandom act about “being right”.

Worst case scenario is we get another Dragon Ball Super situation. I don’t mean this in regards to the actual quality dropping, but more in how the atmosphere of the greater fandom will shift MASSIVELY.

Example Hypothetical:

DBK and PIF are shown in Season 4 to having not gotten their act together and continue treating Red Son like garbage which leads to a character arc of Red Son disconnecting himself from them entirely and fully joining the Monkie Kid Team.

Remember, whether this scenario sounds appealing or is well executed or not isn’t the point of this example.

Imagine this happens and you are left with half the fandom being excited because this is exactly what they wanted and have had all of their feelings on the subject validated by this. Meanwhile, the other half feels betrayed. There’s evidence of DBK and PIF doing better so why would they suddenly be so awful, right?

Now the part I’m concerned about is how these two halves would interact going forward.

The Dragon Ball fandom is a god dang WAR ZONE between people who don’t want to acknowledge DBS as a part of their personal canon of the series (cough cough - me) and the people who argue you HAVE to accept it (elitist dumbass assholes).

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Dragon Ball fandom is worse than the Monkie Kid fandom when it comes to forcing personal interpretations, analysis, headcanons and beliefs on other fans. But that doesn’t mean the LMK fandom doesn’t have those problems at all.

The LMK fandom ABSOLUTELY struggles with this.

See also “Wukong is canonically a father figure to MK” and “Red Son is canonically genderfluid” as only two examples. Both statements being objectively false because neither thing has EVER been stated in the canon of the show.

With the understanding that there’s a new show runner and head writer, there are - without a doubt - going to be fans who choose to say “I only go by the first part of the show”. Whether it has to do with relationship dynamics or characterization, there are going to be fans who have their current interpretations challenged by the new material and they’re going to blame the show runner/head writer rather than it just being something that filled in gaps they originally filled on their own.

Here’s my concern of how this is gonna turn out:

Rather than everyone coexisting, there’s going to be a shit show of a war between fans who don’t acknowledge anything post new crew and fans who think everyone HAS to accept everything from the show.

There’s going to be an overwhelming sense of who is “right” and “wrong” and the great LMK Civil Fandom Wank of 2023 - [whatever-year] is gonna pit brother against brother.

With the hypothetical I gave, we would see fans of the newer seasons putting the people who WANTED the Demon Bull Family to heal on blast with a sense of moral superiority via calls out stating “This user thinks you should never run away from abusive households!” (Which would not ACTUALLY be true of said user)

NOW

This isn’t GUARANTEED to happen, but I think it’s worth pointing out the possibility ahead of time. After all, being aware going in that there IS MOST DEFINITELY going to be people who don’t like what the new show runner and head writer have planned will be able to prevent us from going down a nasty path of proving why one side is “morally disgusting.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of a Civil Fandom Wank of this type, you may be entitled to financial compensation

If you know the term “Fandom Wank” without having to look it up, you may be entitled to financial compensation