Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello, everyone! Been a while since you've probably seen a story from me.


I just wanna take a second to say that I'm really sorry for not having posted anything since February. Just been dealing with a lot of up and down days as well as projects and just spending time with friends and family. But I'm back and I'm ready to write another tale for y'all ^^!

Now, those of you who are wondering, yes, there was a story called 'Little Wolf' before but I wanted to rewrite it since I felt the first one needed a bit of fixing up. So, I decided to start over from scratch and work on this story again! 

A few things I wanna point out:

1. There will be swearing in this. As well as some mild gore. I'm having it set for Teens and Up. I don't wanna see any comments or anything like that from any Minors, okay? Minors, stay off my page. Okay? Okay.

2.There will also be Smut in this. But those parts will be in another story. I saw this done on here once and I got inspired to do that for this. So, again, Minors, stay off my page. No Minors Allowed. 

3. A couple of characters that are in this story don't belong to me. RJ, Zhen, RJ's siblings, his grandparents, and Qiang all belong to Echo. Echo's a really good friend of mine and she let me put these characters in the story. Thanks, Echo ^^!

I also just wanna say that writing the chapters may take a bit so please be patient with me. I will try and get them out as soon as possible.

That's all I have to say (If there's more, I'll add it later on). So, without further ado, on with the show ^^!

Chapter Text

Long ago, the Earth was riddled with Demons and monsters.

For miles on end, countless horrors rose from the Underworld, causing mischief in every waking moment. Many villages resorted to rubble and ash, families slain and scattered across the valleys, the darkest of nights closing over the world.

It was not until a ray of light pierced into the Earth’s crust from the heavens above, a small brotherhood of celestial and powerful beings forged together in honor and justice to restore peace and order to the lands.

Centuries passed, the small poison of greed welled deep within a few members of the Brotherhood, darkening their hearts and tainting their souls. Greed, Power, Envy, Hate, Jealousy, Betrayal…all six key components that slowly began to sprout deep in the recesses of their bodies, growing stronger and stronger as time went on.

With the Brotherhood long disbanded, many of its members went off on their own journeys, seeing where the road took them. Few unfortunately passed on, leaving only legends to be lost to time and history. One former brotherhood member eventually settled down with a loving wife and a beautiful daughter, who was considered to be their own little miracle. For one moment, the world stood still and everything was perfect.

If only that were the case.

The constant reminder of failure and the dream slowly slipping away from their grasps as years stretched into centuries, the darkened hearts of the bitter former members corrupted them more and more, growing non stop like a parasite that continuously fed their power with negative energy and emotions. Only for one in particular to act out, his rage and bitter hatred thundering in the form of unstable ice magic. In fear of their newborn’s life, his wife traded her life for their baby’s, sending the little one off before meeting her icy demise. To this day, the people have no whereabouts of the little one, nor know if she made it out of the catastrophe. All they could truly hope for was that the little one received a miracle of her own.


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     The crisp cool wind of the steadily descending nighttime sky swooped a couple of fallen leaves up from the smooth yet jagged rock pathway, the only other sounds being the silent sleepy chittering and chirping of baby monkeys resting up in branches of the nearby trees, the slow and inaudible splashing of the salty shore and the dull hum of a shadow portal opening nearby. The shadows gracefully revealed the Six Eared Macaque, his tired glamoured golden eyes slowly opening, as if he was almost hesitant to do so.

Who was he kidding?

Why feel the need to make such a grand entrance if nobody was there to see it? Especially if it wasn’t…him. Furrowed brows upturned to the mountain before him, the shadow demon feeling small in comparison to the mountain. His home. Their home. A pained sigh escaped him, leaving in the form of a frosted breath, his foot gently brushing along the cold sand underneath his shoe, his fluffy tail swishing up and down in thought.
It felt wrong to be here. It felt like a sin, a sin that would most definitely keep him out of Heaven if he were caught. Even if this had been his home at one point, the walls built up over time continued to grow and encapsulate his heart and mind.

Plopping down on his butt and being mindful of the waves and the wet sand (the texture is very unpleasant, especially if it’s in his fur), Macaque pressed his knees up into his chest, his fluffy tail curling around his feet, the tip barely touching the coarse ground underneath. A shiver racked through his body, his arms instinctively wrapping around himself as a pathetic excuse to keep warm.
Glamoured eyes hesitantly glanced back at the mountain, expecting his King to be watching him with nothing but hurt and disdain. The very image pained Macaque, his bottom lip trembling as he bit down on it.

The hot tears were furiously blinked back, the heavy feeling weighing down in his chest as his damaged heart burned with the ache. Sniffling quietly, Macaque tried using his shadows to conjure up a shadow of his own- but in Wukong’s form. The shadow looked at him with empty eyes, no life, no warmth, no color. Just glassy ponds that could swallow up anybody if they stared into them for too long. Scooting closer to his Wukong clone, Macaque fell face first into its lap. Feeling the ghostly brushing of the clone's fingers resting atop his fluffy mane left Macaque feeling empty with a somber bitterness dripping out of his heart.

“It’s not the same…”

     Those strong arms that would always greet him with the biggest bear hugs he could muster were cold and nonexistent. The warmth that came from said arms was nonexistent. With a flick of his wrist, the clone melted back into the shadows, the puddle fading away almost immediately. Huffing under his breath, Macaque rose to his feet, brushing his clothing off of any lingering sand particles that were desperate to cling onto him.

"Why the hell should I care so much?? This is MY home too! I'm not gonna be scared off just because of- Rrrgh! If he has a problem with it, then he should just-!" 

Stopping there, Macaque felt the words die in his throat. No...don't let your emotions get to you. This is your home too. And no 'Great Sage, Equal to Heaven' is gonna change that. No matter how much it hurts..

Macaque frantically shook his head with a quiet grunt, refusing to let those buried feelings resurface. With a slow exhale, his glamours melted away into the ground before a noise cut through his unraveled six ears.

It was faint but he could hear it, clear as day.

It was the sound of crying.

    Glamoured golden pools quickly looked around, trying to pinpoint where exactly the noise was coming from. Honing in the best he could, the shadow warrior immediately put the glamours over his ears back up before he melted into one of his shadow portals underneath his feet, the portal gracefully pushing him up to the noise. It was louder now, very close. The noise did ring a little bit in his sensitive appendages but he pushed past it the best he could (no doubt there might still be a little ringing later). Looking up to the calm shoreline, his eyes locked in on the small decorative basket that sat in the wet sand and receding waves.
His brow raised in confusion. How in the literal hell did a basket get all the way out here? Stepping closer, his shadow stretched over the basket as he peeked inside.

The crying had long since been reduced to whimpers and silent sobs but the moment he looked inside, he almost jumped back in surprise.

    A small baby laid comfortably underneath the lilac baby blanket that was neatly draped over. Her chubby little fingers had stretched out, reaching for something, anything, to come and get her. The large, clear tears slowly rolled down her red face. From what he could see, she wore a matching lilac onesie that had the design of a silhouetted wolf howling to the giant moon smack dab in the middle.

What stood out the most to Macaque were the ears and the tail that didn’t escape his watchful gaze. The ears and tail looked so soft and so damn fluffy, speckles of light blue color graced the tips of the ears and tail. The shadow simian was two seconds away from dying again, only this time due to cardiac arrest because of how cute this little one was!

Okay, now he was getting distracted.

“Hey hey hey, shhh sh sh sh…It’s okay…Awww, c’mere…”

   Whispering in a soothing tone, Macaque’s hands cradled the baby’s head and legs, the whimpering little one slot right up against his robed chest. Warm, half lidded disguised suns looked over the infant resting in his arms as her sobs quieted down, her large tears rubbed away by the back of her tiny hands. Her eyelids rose open little by little, as icy sapphire blue locked with disguised molten droplets of gold.

“Hi there, little one…It’s okay, you’re safe now…”

Those mesmerizing eyes of hers took in all of him: His ebony mane that was given an ethereal glow from the rays of silvery moonlight, those warm pools of molten gold that show a burning flame of kindness and adoration but most of all, that tender little smile that stretched onto his face.

A brow was quirked upwards at what her sudden fascination was. Moving his hands so they were now underneath her arms, Macaque was now at eye level with the little one in his arms, who was currently enthralled by…something.

“What? Something on my face?”

    Not like she was gonna be able to answer him or anything but it did make her giggle and coo. God, that giggle of hers was so adorable, Macaque’s heart melted upon hearing it. It wasn’t until he felt soft, tiny fingers brush against his ear, a quiet chirp escaped his throat before he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth in surprise. The little one was also surprised but that sweet giggle added with a few claps of her hand made a small smile across his face.

Thank God he put the glamours back up. His real ears were super sensitive to touch.

“Sorry, kiddo, but this is all you get for now.”

Macaque chuckled, gently tickling the little one’s stomach, getting more of those adorable little giggles from her. Remembering the basket, the shadow simian turned his head over to the sand where the object laid, being left untouched. Being mindful of the baby, Macaque shifted her into his other arm, bending down and sticking his hand underneath the blanket, his tongue peeking out as he felt around.

“Ow!”

   Reeling his hand away, he glared at the little crab that had snuck into the basket and made it its home. Shaking his hand frantically, the little crab was flung off to the side with a quiet noise. The tiny crustacean scurried away, snapping its pinchers at the shadow monkey, threatening to pinch him hard if they ever crossed paths again. A deep, low growl rumbled from his throat before ending with a huff through his nose. The warmth and cloud-like softness of the tail from the little one brushed against his arm, curious babbles and coos made Macaque look down, seeing the tiny fingers of the baby holding onto his index finger.

“Heh, you’re really fascinated by me, aren’t you. Well, I’m really fascinated by you too.”

 In a way, this baby was a miracle. Not just Macaque’s but soon enough, she’ll be... However, right now might be the worst time to bring her up to see the retired Monkey King. As much as he wanted to, the thought of bringing her up to the shack where Wukong and, once upon a time, Macaque lived, was quickly drowned out. One step and he'd be immediately chased all the way into the city by a territorial and angry Great Sage if he were caught, not to mention the fact that he and Wukong’s marriage crumbled many centuries ago.
   The Sun and the Moon completed each other, fought alongside each other, protected each other. Their bond should've been impossible to break!


But it wasn't...not anymore.

Ever since their first moments together up until his death, Macaque honestly thought that he and Wukong would be an unstoppable duo together. That nothing could ever tear them apart or destroy what they had. But all of that changed after his death at the hands of his beloved King, his last moments reaching out to Wukong's form as he walked further and further away, the blood that was caked into his signature staff leaving a trail in his wake. The PTSD quickly burning his mind and body with the memories.

   His hidden scarred eye began to throb from a ghostly ache at just the thoughts clawing into his memory bank. No. He didn’t wanna think about it right now. He can’t think about it right now! The cooling press of a small palm against his cheek brought the shadow monkey back to his senses for the second time, seeing those icy blue sapphires looking at him with a worried blue flame sparking inside. He didn’t even realize it but his hands began to shake, his knees began to quiver.
With a reassuring smile, he gently took the baby’s hand and held it in his much larger palm.

“I’m alright, Sweetness. I’m alright.”

Turning to the basket, he decided to wait until he returned to his dojo to look over the contents of what was inside. Looking back once more at the mountain behind him, a quiet sigh pushed past his lips as the little one in his arms cooed silently and played with her fingers before looking up at him. A small smile stretched onto the shadow warrior’s face once more before he looked in front of him, using his magic to cast a swirling vortex of black and purple in the sand. The dull hum of said vortex caught the baby’s attention, who turned with wonder filled eyes.

“Alright, little one, let’s get you someplace warm and get you fed. Probably really tired and hungry after your long journey.”

   His fluffy tail reached down and curled around the edge of the basket, picking the wooden item effortlessly but also holding onto it as tightly as his tail could so nothing fell out and was left behind. Stepping forward, the vortex swallowed them whole, slowly dissipating, with not a soul around to witness the magic disperse.

Chapter Text

   Spotlights of descending silver moon light gave the dojo an ethereal glow. Or at least, some parts of it. A shadow portal suddenly appeared, Macaque and the baby gracefully dropped out onto the floor, a little bag of baby items hitting the mat with a quiet plop. The basket that was pulled by the fluffy tip of his tail gave a quiet tap upon contact. Glamoured molten gold side glanced back to the mystical black and purple vortex that continuously swirled and spun, almost in a hypnotizing state. With a flick of his wrist, the portal once again melted into the floor before evaporating.

Noticing how dark the dojo was, save for the few spots of stretched spotlights of the moon shining through the windows, the warrior felt around for the light switch. All the while being careful not to drop the little one in his arms.

“C’mon….Ah!”

   Immediate light brightened up every corner it could reach, the shadows immediately shrinking away with tiny shrieks. Macaque rolled his eyes at those noises the shadows made before moving to set the baby in his arms down onto a pillow that just so happened to be in front of him. Quiet coos and babbles graced his ears, the vibrant glow now dimmed down underneath the overhead lighting. Seeing those tiny little fingers stretch outwards to him, Macaque felt his heart flutter before carefully pressing his palm to hers.

Her hand was practically swallowed by his. Icy blue eyes turned and sparkled with that innocent wonder and dreamy awe, an adorable coo quietly danced off of her lips. 

“Okay, kiddo. Let's get you fed." 

Thank God he went to the store and got a few items because he's NEVER taken care of a baby before! 

    Heating the milk up before pouring it into the bottle (as carefully as he can), Macaque made sure that the nipple wasn't in too far so she wouldn't choke as she began feeding. 

"There we go...Don't drink too fast, okay? Don't want you choking." 

Macaque chuckled quietly before seeing her pull away, indicating that she was full. Placing a rag on his shoulder, Macaque began gently patting her back before hearing a little burp. Hearing a little coo, Macaque hummed in confusion.

   Turning his upper body to follow where her attention was currently, the first thing that grabbed his was the long cylinder. It was about as long as his left arm, the shimmering sapphire colored container hugged by warm, melted sunlight around the middle. Sitting down with the little one still in his arms, he carefully sat her back down onto the pillow before reaching over and grabbing it. The cap was unscrewed and dropped onto the training mat with a dull plop! Sticking his hand into the opening, Macaque shivered at the sudden chill.
Pulling his hand out, his eyes widened in surprise upon looking at his palm and fingertips. Tiny crystals of frost clung to him as blue sparkles and white snowflakes swirled and looped around his whole hand, rapidly moving up his arm before dispersing right before his eyes.

“Ice Magic?”

The question barely left his tongue before looking over at the baby. Her tiny hands were closed into fists but her wonder filled eyes looked in between them as the same magic began to form between them. Macaque looked back down at his hand, stretching his fingers out and noticing how the frost was quickly melting from the heat of the lights. Wrapping his hand around the cylinder once more and tipping it, facing it down towards the mat, one large item clattered before falling flat while a smaller item fell right on top of it.

   The shadow king reached over and picked up both items. In his left hand was a small silver envelope, the same molten gold fused the envelope closed in the form of a wax stamp. In his right, was a dagger. The dagger itself was an icy blue, small icicles practically embedded into the blade with small white snowflakes dotted around the hilt. Just like the cylinder, the weapon felt frigid on his fingers, the Shadow King having to slide the item back into the cylinder before frost bite nipped at his hands. Sticking his tongue out once more in concentration, Macaque carefully opened the envelope flap without ripping the contents within. Throwing the envelope aside, his fingers worked to get the neatly folded piece of paper open. The handwriting looked a tiny bit rushed, almost as if whoever wrote this was in a slight panic. The purple ink read as followed:

“There isn’t much time left for me.

As I’m writing this, I can hear the thunderous rage of my husband's wrath on our village.

The screams are still going, the harsh winds and snow slowly freeze over everything and everyone in its path.

There’s only so much time that I have to get my daughter to safety.

All I can really hope is that whoever finds this letter has found my daughter along with it. Please take care of my little Min. Please be sure that she is never found by him or anyone who is sent by him. I fear that nothing but trouble will follow her down her path if she ever were to come in contact with him.

She’s the brightest star in my sky and she will be the brightest star in your sky too, if only given the love she needs. Min, if one day you ever do read this letter, just know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there to see you grow up. But just know that no matter what, I love you and I’m very proud of you.

I know that you’ll accomplish great things in your life.

And I’ll be watching over you with a happy smile.

Stay safe, my little Princess.

Your loving mother,

Always.”

The paper crinkled underneath Macaque’s thumb, the letters dipping underneath. His heart turned heavy, the golden pools now darkened while holding a somber flame to them. Hearing a quiet little sleepy coo behind him, his head turned to see little Min yawning, her eyelids struggling to keep open for much longer. The warming smile returned to his face before he leaned over and picked the little girl up, carefully resting her against his shoulder. Looking down, he noticed Min slotting her head in between his neck and shoulder, her tiny little fist resting right beside her face.

   His voice toned down into a low hum, the melody a song he couldn’t remember the name of but the tune itself was remembered clear as day. Macaque rubbed slow, soothing circles on Min’s tiny back, feeling her visibly relax in his arms before she was drifted off to dreamland, her fluffy wolf tail and ears vanishing and the chilly ice and snow created by the magic from her hands poofed away in a cloud of blue smoke.

“Good night...little Princess.”

Laying back on the mat, Macaque’s arm propped up his head while his other arm kept Min from sliding off of him. Half lidded golden embers watched this little baby sleep without a care in the world, not worrying about anything coming after her or hunting her down. Her dreams acting as her shield and sword. The warmth from the shadow simian’s body wrapped around little Min like a soothing cocoon.

   His eyes darted back and forth around the dojo a few times, making sure that there were no hidden eyes anywhere (not that anybody could sneak in and watch without him noticing via the shadows) before he carefully pressed a small kiss to the top of her head. Macaque turned his head to the window, the sky turning lighter and lighter. His eyelids started to grow heavy, not realizing that the whole night had practically passed in the blink of an eye. Turning his attention back to the little one fast asleep in his arms, Macaque began mumbling to himself.

“I can’t imagine what she went through…At most, she's gotta be close to a few months, maybe even a year old.”

Being sure to stay quiet, Macaque lovingly nuzzled against Min, who sleepily yet gently pushed her head against his cheek in response. A low chuckle skated off his lips before he carefully rose to his feet while making sure that he didn’t drop Min or wake her up. His tail latched onto her basket, the light weight wooden object picked up by the end of his fluffy ebony tail, before a whistle echoed out the window. Soaring at the speed of light, Nimbus showed its fluffy cloud self, slowly halting by the edge of the window.

“Long time no see, Nimbus. You think you can do me a little favor?”

   If the wispy puff of softness could speak, it would voice its confusion. But when feeling the basket being carefully placed on top, the cloud slowly moved forward to try and steady the wooden object so the sleeping angel inside wouldn’t wake up and get scared.

“Can you take her back to the Mountain with you? I’d do it myself but…"

Feeling the soft bump of Nimbus against his arm, Macaque looked down to see the soft cloud pressing against his robed chest, as if trying to give him a hug. Warmly smiling, Macaque placed his palm on the soft wisps, his palm falling through the top layer before slowly pulling away. Looking up, warm droplets of golden ember squinted at the beautiful and slow rise of the sun over the houses and rooftops.

“I’ll come back to the Mountain. When it’s safe. I promise. Until I do, both of you take good care of her. Okay?”

Her and yourselves.

   With that, Macaque stepped back so Nimbus could take off. Giving the Shadow King its word (even though it’s silent), the promise was made and being sure not to go too fast or make so much noise, Nimbus was off, with Min safely tucked away in her basket and in her dreams. Macaque moved back to the window, watching the soft, wispy, flying companion take off into the sky, heading back to the Mountain. Pulling out his phone, his screen lit up as he double tapped the screen, his eyes drooping to a half lid. 

     A photo of little Min, curled up against his chest snoozing away while his eyes were covered because of the angle, was set as his background photo. 
A silent whisper left his lips before he slowly closed the window.

“I’ll see you soon.”

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Approaching the cave at a high speed but not going Speed Racer fast, Nimbus arrived back at the Mountain, passing by all of the monkeys, who were now awake and either playing, eating or chatting amongst each other. Not paying attention to the many eyes of wonder and awe as Nimbus flew along to the waterfall, the magical seal glowing with a low hum as the water spread apart, granting the cloud and its passenger access inside.

   A few of the monkeys jumped forward onto some rocks, looking down at the sleeping baby girl who was getting a ride on their King’s cloud. Quiet chirps and chitters were whispered among the residents, watching as the two of them disappeared inside, the waterfall coming together once more.
Inside, the sunlight beamed down through the many gaps and holes that punctured through the looming mountain. Getting as close as it could, Nimbus positioned itself in front of the glassless window, squeezing through as best it could without bringing any harm or abruptness of little Min that would startle her awake.

If that wouldn’t be what woke her up, Wukong’s snoring might. His snoring was, just like him, very loud. The Monkey King was sprawled out in his bed, comforter half kicked off while he laid there with his limbs sticking out, a line of drool dripping onto his pillow as his mouth laid slackened, those pearly white fangs peeking through just a tad bit. The wispy cloud tried everything, from tapping to nudging to just straight head butting against Wukong’s feet and hands, only to be met with more snoring and sleepy murmurs.

Okay, this is getting nowhere.

   Using one last idea, even though Nimbus didn’t really know or like how this might end, the wispy cloud got really close to Wukong’s snoozing face and flipped upside down. Little Min was dumped onto the King’s head, his face covered by her small, onesie clothed body. The little one in question made a cute noise as she finally began to stir. Unbeknownst to her, the Simian underneath her began to wake as well. Summer suns slowly opened only to be greeted by a lilac onesie and-

Wait. Lilac onesie???

Wukong’s eyes shot wide open in confusion. Blinking the remaining sleepiness away, his fingers carefully grabbed the sides of the onesie, feeling soft skin underneath. Confusion continued to cloud over the Monkey King before moved his hands up, feeling what might be armpits and stretching his arms out away from his face. Before him was a little baby, who was currently rubbing her eyes with the back of her tiny palms, icy sapphire blue pools looking down at him. It took a few minutes of eye contact between the two before an innocent smile and quiet coo came from the baby girl in his hands.

“Oh. My. Great Sage.”

   After finally finding his voice, Wukong spoke as he sat up, looking down at the baby girl in his arms. He was about to double over from how cute she was, as she reached her little hands out towards him, cooing with curiosity. An internal scream was muffled behind his lips as he brought her close, trying so hard not to go into cardiac arrest from the cuteness overload he was experiencing this morning.

“Hello, little one! Oh my god, you’re soooo cute and I don't care if it's only been a few minutes, I love you sooooo much!”

The only noises he got were babbles and coos, as she couldn’t speak just yet. Her tiny palms rested against his face, the cooling touch and feeling of small fingers melted his heart even more. Any more cuteness from her and he’ll melt right into the mattress! Wukong’s larger hands held hers, that innocent smile stretching higher and higher on her precious face.

“You are so precious. But where did you come from, little one? Where are your parents?"

   Carefully resting on his back with her on his chest, their foreheads pressed against one another lightly. Wukong remembered that she was still a baby and she wasn't able to form words just yet. Humming quietly in thought, Wukong noticed that she was readjusting herself before her head rested right against the heart shaped patch of fur on his chest. As if his heart hadn't melted already...

"You were sent here to kill me, weren't you? Kill me with cuteness, that is." 

Wukong chuckled, pressing a light kiss on the top of her head. I'm sure the Monkeys will love having a new addition to the Mountain...

     Unbeknownst to either of them, an ebony feathered bird gazed upon the adorable scene, a small loving gaze burning brightly in the bird’s eyes before silently taking off into the sky.

Chapter Text

Another beautiful day graced Flower Fruit Mountain with the warm rays of the sun rising over the clear blue sea and fall water. The monkeys slowly began to rouse from their slumber, a handful opting to stay asleep for another few minutes (or hours). Rays of rising sunlight peeked in through the cracks of the mountain, aiming right in through the shack that has actually expanded. A tired, gravelly grumble quietly clawed its way from Wukong, the sun shooting its rays right into his face and disrupting his beauty sleep.

“Mornings would be a lot better if they happened in the afternoon.”

   Stretching his arms above his head, a few cracks reaching his ears and a sound little hum danced off his lips. Looking over at the clock on his bedside table, the bright red digital numbers read 9:05 a.m. Another tired groan rumbled from the Monkey King, his hands running over his face before flopping onto his comforter. As much as he wanted to stay in bed and sleep the day away, that unfortunately wasn’t an option. A deep, lion-like yawn escaped his mouth, accompanied by the shining of his pearly white fangs.

Scratching the itch out of his side above his pajama pants, the Great Sage pulled himself out of the warm confines of his bed, his fluffy Monkey King branded slippers immediately accepting his growing frigid toes. Not wanting to feel or look like he hasn’t showered in days, Wukong grabbed his coral pink and sunset orange robe off of the hanger plastered to the bathroom door, pulling the piece inside with him as he locked the door. The sound of running water and melodic whistling was locked inside with the Simian King. Getting dressed was also done in record timing, when or wherever he picked that habit up, would always remain a mystery. Fresh out of the shower and feeling clean from head to toe, Wukong whistled under his breath as he made his way up the steps to the second floor.

   It felt like time just melted away. His once small shack had been upgraded into a two story house, kids toys and photos of him and Min, who was now a toddler, sprinkled around the walls of the home. It felt like just yesterday, Min was just a baby, who had been brought right into his arms. Now, she was a happy little four year old who had no worry in the world. It was safe to say that his daughter was his Kryptonite, his weakness. Or…one of his weaknesses. Shaking his head gently from side to side, Wukong found himself in front of Min’s door. Carefully, the door slowly creaked open as he tiptoed over to her bed.

Min was curled up underneath her sheets, her bob cut snow white hair splayed out onto her pillow underneath her, like a wave of snow that was pushed around by a strong gust of wind. In her arms was an official Monkey King plushie, the closed eye smiling plushie her number one favorite toy out of all the toys in her room and toy chest in the far corner. The rust colored Monkey onesie hugged her small body perfectly, her fluffy snow white wolf slippers neatly settled in front of her bed. The sight before him melted Wukong’s heart into the floor.

“I really wanna let her keep sleeping. But..unfortunately, that’s not gonna swing today. Miiiiinnn~”

   To the Great Sage, it felt cruel to wake her up and spoil a beautiful dream she might be having. But sadly, those dreams were gonna have to be picked up again some other time. His large palm cupped her small shoulder, giving her small shakes to stir her awake. It took a few good shakes before those bedazzling icy blue pools slowly revealed themselves to his warm, golden suns.

“There’s my sweet girl. Good Morning, Princess. C’mon, up and at ‘em. Got a big day ahead!”



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Beautiful blends of orange, red, purple and yellow painted the morning sky, the cool air whipping fur, cloth and hair back as Nimbus soared and rode through the waves of air, the shimmers of gold and pristine quartz sparkled from afar. Icy blue ponds widened in awe and wonder at the large, heavenly kingdom before her. If she weren’t in her dad’s lap, she’d definitely shoot right up and take in everything as far as her eyes could see. Of course, the strong arms around her tiny waist prevented her from doing so, much to her dismay.

“Daddy, when you went on that Journey you were telling me about, did Nezha go with you?”

“Not exactly, Sweetheart. He did help us with a little...something, that totally wouldn't have destroyed the world if things went south, but it was still a thrilling adventure! Who knows, maybe when you get older, you can go on adventures of your own with Nezha.”

   Seeing her eyes light up with that fascinated little smile that stretched higher and higher on her precious face melted Wukong’s heart. Thankfully, the muttering about the whole 'earth getting destroyed if things went south' was too quiet for her to hear him. Warm summer suns turned their gaze to the large palace before them, lighting up as Nimbus slowed to a landing. Jumping off and scooping up Min in his arms, who squealed and laughed before she was settled close to him. His hand gripped the giant, golden door handle before giving it a good yank. Only to find it wasn’t budging.

“Seems like our dear Lotus Prince really upped the locks on the door. He always was a strict guy and a tough nut to crack.”

Setting Min down beside him, Wukong hopped up and continued to yank on the door, his teeth clenched together before he felt his energy escape him. Heavy pants rattled through his bones as he tried once more before puffing out a breath and grumbling with a ‘hmpf’.

“Like some giant door is gonna stop me. Nothing stops the Monkey King if I have anything to say about it!”

   A loud BAM! and the large, heavy wooden doors were kicked open, most definitely leaving giant cracks in the walls behind them. With a satisfied and triumphant smile, the Monkey King scooped up his precious princess before barely taking two steps in, only to feel the wind of a very familiar Fire Tipped Spear whirl by him. Missing him by an inch or two.

“Whoa! Dangerous.”

“The only thing that you need to worry about being dangerous is the very wielder of that weapon, Sun Wukong.”

Whipping his head from the Spear lodged into the wall by him to the very voice of the Spear’s owner who stood before him, Wukong was face to face, inches apart, with the Lotus Prince. Nezha held a spiteful expression of annoyance, clearly not in the mood for small talk or games. Looks like he was in the middle of just enjoying his morning of peace and quiet before the Simian God barged in without permission. And most likely created craters in the walls where the doors were now most definitely embedded into the concrete.

“Nezha! Long time no-”

“You’ve got exactly five seconds to give me one good reason not to drop kick you all the way back to the Mountain.”

   Okaaay, definitely not in the mood to catch up.

“Oh, c’mon, Nezha! It’s been like, what, hundreds of years since you and I have last seen each other and the first thing you do is pull your giant sharp toothpick on me?”

A low growl reverberated from the Prince’s throat, the murderous aura that radiated around the warrior making the air immediately grow ten times colder. If Wukong wasn’t trying to mask his uncontrollable snickers at the silent temper tantrum the God before him was pulling, he’d be absolutely terrified. Said ‘toothpick’ was spun in between his fingers flawlessly, having practiced this thousands of times before Nezha took off with a low grunt, a trail of flames left in his wake.

   Scratch that, now might be the appropriate time to start running.

But before even a single hit knocked Wukong out of the sky and head first into the rocky sides of his island home, his arms quickly shot up with little Min held up by his hands underneath her arms. A record scratch could almost definitely be heard as Nezha was halted, his eyes almost bugged out of his skull. The whole room stood still as Nezha quickly fell to his feet, his expression still in shock as many questions rattled his brain. The quiet claps and innocent giggles from the little girl in the Simian King’s arms snapped him back to reality.

“Wukong.”

“Nezha.”

   Looking back and forth between Wukong and Min, Nezha just didn’t understand. The math wasn’t mathing for him. After a long minute of gathering his thoughts, he opened his mouth once more.

“Who is this?”

“I’m glad you asked. Nezha, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Min!”

Oh, if only he could take a picture at Nezha’s expression before the birds nearby flew away from the boom of what came out of the Lotus Prince next.

“WHAT?!”


___________________________________



   Min giggled and squealed quietly as she played outside among the peach tree nearby, her little feet carried her around and around the giant tree as the warmth of the sun beamed down on her. Her laughs and squeals were a distance away from the door she had been led out just minutes prior. Wukong sat in a chair with his leg crossed over his knee, an adoring smile gracing his features while sipping some tea. Across from him, Nezha was pinching the bridge of his nose while holding his own cup.

“Just so I’m clear about all of this, you mean to tell me that that little girl out there,”

He started, pointing a finger to the adjacent door that led out to the vast garden Min was currently playing in.

“Is your daughter??”

   Seeing a warm summer sun peak out from under thick eyelashes, a happy little ‘Mhm!’ was hummed as Wukong sipped some more of his tea, the drink warming his throat and stomach with a burst of peach and citrus mixing together in a delicious combo.

“Yep! I’ve been telling her a lot of stories from the past and she got really excited when I told her about you. Soooo, I promised I’d take her up here so she could meet you!”

The Lotus Prince held a blank expression, his elbow resting on the smooth, polished finish of the long dining table they were both seated at. Just seconds prior, he had been so close to drilling his Fire Spear into Wukong’s empty head, demanding answers to the many growing questions that came up in his thoughts.
Of course, while Wukong was running away from the steaming God nipping at his heels with his daughter dangling in his arms, obviously having fun, Nezha had her go outside to play in the large garden in the middle of the Palace so he could have a nice interrogation chat with the Great Sage.

“You didn’t tell her everything, did you?”

   Upon hearing that question, Wukong immediately choked while he was sipping his tea. His guilty expression with the endless amount of sweat bullets dripping down the sides of his face was clear as day.

“Naaaaahhh.”

“Wukong!”

“What! She’s a curious toddler, I have no control over that! Besides, what’s it gonna hurt? It’s all in the past.”

Nezha sighed quietly in frustration, rubbing his temples a few times to try and resist the urge to cause the Idiot King any bodily harm. Not like it’ll do him any good, but it was still an urge he thought of from time to time.

“Not everything stays in the past, Wukong. The past can be brought up anytime. And trust me, I’m sure that’s the last thing that should be brought up, given what happened. Or almost happened.”

   Not being able to open his mouth with the retort lingering on his tongue, approaching footsteps came from the doorway. Min appeared from behind one of the many pillars, slowing to a light walk. Approaching her father’s chair, she reached her hands out towards him. Wukong smiled warmly before reaching down and scooping her into his arms, an affectionate hum rumbled through his closed mouth in a low purr.

“Did you have fun outside, Princess?”

Wukong asked in a quiet voice, getting a light head nod in return. Nezha won’t lie but seeing how tuckered out she was was absolutely precious. Of course, he didn’t want Wukong teasing him for the face he was making, so it vanished just as quickly as it showed up.

“Uh huh. Thanks for letting me play in the garden, Big Brother.”

   Big Brother. If the cute sleepy state of Min wasn’t enough to melt Nezha’s protective heart, then those two little words certainly were. His happy expression that he had desperately tried so hard to hide melted through the front he was putting up. Of course, as soon as he saw the mischievous snaggle tooth smirk slowly stretch upwards onto Wukong’s face, Nezha’s expression dropped.

“Awww, Big Brother! Well, Nezha,”

“Don’t-”

“I guess that means that this-”

“Don’t you say it-”

“Makes you-”

“Wukong, I swear to God!-”

“My son!”

The beat down that Wukong received after Nezha had Min go back outside before finding a few friendly celestial animals outside to chase and play with was in Nezha’s eyes, the sweetest of victories.

Chapter Text

“Really wish that guy would learn not to be so uptight.”

    As Nimbus steadily soared back to Flower Fruit Mountain, the heavily bruised and battered Monkey King grumbled while rubbing one of the many blooming purple bruises on his body, particularly the giant bruise on his cheek. But was it worth it? Totally. Any chance he’d get to mess with Nezha was an opportunity that Wukong could never pass up. Even if it meant getting his ass kicked into several years from now. His whole body hurt but his heart was happy because his little girl was seated comfortably in his lap, playing with her little Monkey plushie and giggling quietly.

Again, totally worth it.

    When Nimbus finally descended gracefully into the vast inside of the mountain, Min was the first to hop off like a happy little kangaroo off on her next adventure. Wukong would’ve hopped off with her, if his body wasn’t being attacked with a thousand aches and pains with the lingering remnants of the Fire Spear flames. So, instead, he just simply walked off, caring to a bruise on the back of his shoulder.

“‘M probably gonna be sore for a few days… Now, where’d I put that first aid kit?”

Disappearing inside, Min was left to her own devices outside. Her happy laughter echoed outside the door as she ran around, holding her little Monkey King plushie in hand. That is until she skidded to a stop, her icy blue eyes immediately locking onto something. In front of the house was a rock. Now, normally, she wouldn’t get intrigued over something like a giant rock but this one…this one was different. The drawings on it looked smudged and faded with time, but were still visible enough for her to see. It was a picture of two monkeys, one she could clearly tell to be her Dad. And the other she had to assume was her Mom.

    Tiny fingers carefully brushed against the rock, being careful not to smudge the drawings any further. Icy blue eyes soon crawled up to the far wall in the corner of the mountain. Standing up and picking up her plushie, Min slowly walked over to it. Stopping right in front of it, her head craned back a little so she could see everything. From what she could see, there were five warriors on what appeared to be a cloud, Wukong being at the top with a crown and that signature smile of his. And the other four, she had to guess, were the people he went on the Journey with all those years ago. But the more she looked, one giant question stood out to her.

Why wasn’t her Mom anywhere on here?

    Before she could actually ask her Dad this question, she was scooped up by said Monkey King who had snuck up behind her in the process. A squealing fit of laughter came from her throat, Wukong’s own low chuckles almost tuned out before the laughter died down between the two. Warm, summer suns looked up at the mural before them, the memories flowing through his brain, seeming like only yesterday he was on that journey, beating up demons left and right before finally reaching the end and living out his days on the mountain in peace.

“Daddy? How come Mommy isn’t on here?”

Ahh, he had a feeling this would come up eventually.

    A somber expression crossed Wukong’s face before he quickly masked it. The last thing he wanted was to worry his daughter.

“It's...hard to explain, Princess.”

He said that but a huge chunk of him felt awful. He hated keeping things from her, but he wasn't ready to let the truth out just yet. 
   
  Especially about what happened...


_____________________________________
 

Sleep that night was very fleeting, that was for sure. Wukong tossed and turned in the warm sanctity of his bed, this becoming a ritual that happened more times than he could count. Each night, it was the same. He’d go to bed and end up having a horrible dream…

"Looks like you finally had your wish come true, Wukong."

    That deep timber of a voice, expecting a cold harshness, was actually warm and gentle. His back turned to the distraught Monkey King, who tried fighting the trembling of his fists and the wobble of his voice and lower lip. 

"I never wanted this..."

His voice came out low and broken, unveiling the ghostly chains of trauma and PTSD of his sin all those years ago. Wukong's head lowered, the salty tears no longer able to be held back. His voice cracked as sniffles and whimpers brushed through his lips, his trembling hands desperately trying to wipe his eyes free of any leakage. 

"I'm sorry, Mac...I'm sorry....I shouldn't have....If I hadn't been so foolish, you'd still be alive!"

    His knees crumbled underneath him, the weight of the emotional storm rocking so hard inside of his fragile mind. He didn't bother to hide any more of his sobs or sniffles, the sounds growing louder and louder as he let out scream after broken scream. 

You'd still be here with me! If I could go back in time, I'd take it all back! I-!"

Not hearing the calming footsteps approach him, Wukong startled to feel that warmth that his Moonlight always had just for him. His arms slowly looped around his shaking back, pulling the distraught warrior close, light streams of caresses swam through his rust colored mane. 

"Monkey King, Monkey King. Don't cry."

    Hot waterfalls of salty tears continued to warm his cheeks as Wukong sniffled and whimpered under his breath, shaky arms wrapping around his Moonlight's back. How he wished that time stood still, so he wouldn't have to lose his Moon.

Slow caresses of claws against his wet cheeks, Wukong was soon eye to eye with Macaque. A small warm smile stretched onto his face before their lips pressed together. Warm summer suns widened as even more tears bubbled in his eyes.

   The distant sound of a bell chimed, causing Macaque to slowly pull away, colorful ears flicking ever so slightly. Wukong reached out to try and pull him back in but Macaque just slipped through his hands like water. 

"Ahh...The hour of my execution is at hand."

Looking up at the rotating guillotine that was in the shape of Wukong's trusty staff, Macaque's eyes slowly closed. His head lowered before a sad smile graced his scarred features.

"I know I might not sound it but...faced with Death, I find myself a little afraid."

   Inhaling through his nose quietly, Macaque turned back to Wukong fully, his sad smile still lingering on his face even in these last few moments of life. 

"Farewell, Wukong. I hope you enjoyed the part you played those thousand years."

With a tilt of his head and a closed eye smile, the rotating staff stops. 

   It hurls down fast. 

A tear of his own rolls down Macaque's cheek. 

   Wukong's eyes widened in horror as his voice left him, his hand stretched out.

________________________________________


Wukong sat up with a start. Heavy puffs of air pounded through his chest as the cold coils of sweat clung to his brow and body. His darting summer eyes frantically scoured around the surrounding area, reality slowly seeping back in. The shadows cleared away, revealing the safety of his bedroom with the calming silver moon shining its way in through the cracks of the blinds.

“Another bad dream…”

     His voice came out in a choppy whisper. But nothing could stop the salty, hot tears from pooling into his eyes. Shaky hands gripped the red cape beside him, a faint scent of plums lingered. Curling up on his side facing the window, the distraught King sobbed and sniffled, tiny whimpers following as a result. He held the cape closer to his heart, afraid that if he let it go, it would evaporate before his eyes.

“Why… Why…”

That word was quietly chanted in a broken tune of sadness and sorrow. How he so desperately wished for this to be just another nightmare, one where he could wake up and see Macaque, next to him underneath the sheets, peacefully sleeping. But no amount of wishful thinking could make that dream into a reality. The muffled sobbing and hiccupping stopped right at the door, the quiet stillness of the house carrying only the ticking of the living room clock, the creaking of the old wooden floorboards and settling of the house itself.

    Tonight, the dreams were anything but sweet or pleasant. Instead of soft, sugar puffs of dreamland, darkened claws of nightmares scraped through the veil of darkness, soaking its rotten cesspool of toxic negative goo into both Wukong and Min’s minds. Icy blue eyes peered out from underneath the pastel blue comforter, darting left and right over the darkened space. She could feel the ghostly drag of chills slowly inch their way up and down her spine, even from the safety of her comforter.

“Mmnnn…”

A squeak of a frightened whimper past through her lips as she immediately bolted from her bed, ripping her door open and quickly (but quietly) rushing down the stairs, afraid that the shadows of nightmares might be hot on her heels, ready to nip at her feet and drag her into the darkness. Bare feet skidded along the polished floor, reaching close to her father’s bedroom door. Tiny fingers grabbed a hold of the silver doorknob, ready to push it open and lock out whatever monster her imagination brewed out.

    However, Min stopped. Pressing her ear to the wood, she could hear her father crying quietly. The noise was muffled but she could make out the sobs and sniffles and hiccups as best as she could. Chewing on her lower lip, Min was at an impasse. She wanted to be in the safety of her father’s arms, hoping that could help get her back to sleep but…at the same time, she felt bad for waking him up over a nightmare. Min knew she couldn’t run to him whenever something frightened her forever.

“I need to be a big girl…But I’m still scared…”

Slowly backing away from the door, Min felt the silver moonlight bathe her in an ethereal glow. Turning fully towards the window, the cool air swirled around her, almost lifting her up off the ground, like a tiny little bird ready to fly from the nest. Tossing her Monkey King plushie up on the windowsill, the three year old girl struggled to get her small body up onto the seat. Grabbing onto the fluffy white throw blanket as if it was her rope, Min’s tiny palms gripped the wooden finish, wonder filled icy blue orbs taking in the starry night sky.

“Chirp!”

   Her attention was ripped from the stars to the vacant terrain of the mountain. A baby monkey locked eyes with her, inky pools filled with awe and wonder. The infant simian grabbed a hold of a nearby tree stump, climbing up before jumping onto the windowsill. Little guy almost slipped and fell, which caused a flash of panic to cross Min’s expression before she relaxed upon seeing her tiny hands grab a hold of his body, carefully helping him up.

“That was super close…Are you okay? Where’s your mama?”

She sincerely hoped that the little monkey understood her questions. Thankfully, the happy yet quiet chitters and chirps were her answer. A silent giggle escaped her as she began to gently pet the little one, her tiny fingers going through cream colored fur. The small simian began to purr, leaning into her palm before noticing the Monkey King plushie. And without a second thought, the plushie was snatched, the little thief hopping out the window and running out into the blanket of night.

“Hey! Come back here!”

    No time for getting her shoes on, she had a little monkey to catch! Opening the window up a little bit more and carefully climbing out, little feet dangling and all, Min hopped down and took off in a mad dash after the plushie snatcher. Skidding along the smooth, grass covered patches of rock, snow white tufts of hair whipped back and forth as she scanned the area for the little monkey. A tail disappeared down the path before she gave chase.

“Wait up, little monkey!”

She called out but the snickering little ninja wasn’t planning on slowing down, far from it actually. Min began to pick up speed, hearing an alarmed chitter in front of her before the little monkey rounded the corner. She too rounded the corner, a little bit too harshly as her balance teetered on the edge of the mountain. Flailing her arms did very little as she began to fall backwards.

“AAH!”

   Desperately trying to reach out and grab onto something, Min was running out of time as the rocks down below were coming up fast. Fear filled icy blue pools slammed shut immediately, waiting for impact. Everything stopped but the hard ground never touched her. Peeking an icy blue pond open, she was practically floating off the ground, her tiny body not touching anything. A low voice graced her ears.

“Close call that was. Glad I made it.”

Min looked behind her, expecting to see whoever it was that caught her standing there, but all she was staring at was a blank, rocky wall. Floating in mid air both fascinated her but also terrified her to no end, the lack of ground underneath her was starting to freak her out a tiny bit. Part of her wanted to believe that she was just dreaming- still up in her room, in her warm bed, having finally calmed down from that nightmare of hers.
   Only thing is, no matter how many times she pinched herself, she was faced with the facts that this was really happening. As if sensing her desperate want to feel the ground underneath her again, she was slowly lowered onto the rock below. Clutching the fabric of her pajama top where her beating heart was, her eyes widened as her sweet little smile stretched onto her face, seeing her Monkey King plushie held out in front of her.

“My plushie!”

“I found the little monkey who took it and sent him back to his Mama.”

Carefully taking the plush toy back into her hands, she giggled quietly as her plushie was held tightly in her arms. But a part of her was still slightly confused. Her head whipped back and forth, front and back, over and under.

“I can’t see you. Where are you?”

   Her shadow stretched along the rocky wall. Only thing is, the shadow waved to her, startling her a tiny bit. But the one thing that startled her even more was when a pair of violet irises and a matching violet smile stretched onto her shadow’s face. Scrambling backwards with a tiny yelp, Min heard the low chuckle grace her ears as she watched her shadow morph. Instead of the inky outline of her tiny, startled form, the shadow formed into the shape of a monkey. Her startled expression immediately melted into an enchanted smile, seeing the inky monkey melt into the sand, stretching over the rocks, trees, and up over to a wall closer to her.

“How are you doing that?”

“Ohh, you mean all of this? Part of my powers.”

Icy blue pools immediately lit up at the mention of powers. Without really thinking, she moved closer to the wall, giant icy blue puppy eyes on display and everything.

“Can you teach me? Pleeease?”

   Oh no. One of his many weaknesses.

No.

   No, he couldn’t give in. Not yet anyway. As much as he desperately wanted to, and he really wanted to, he couldn’t let himself fall into the hands of temptation. A shadow portal opened, only his arm coming out and resting atop her soft, snow white tufts of hair before giving her loving head rubs, finishing off with a little boop to the nose. A quiet giggle melted his heart.

“Sorry, Kiddo, but now’s not really a good time. Besides, this little Princess’s gotta get back up there and back into bed.”

Pointing back up to the top of the mountain where the house was secured away from any prying eyes, the little pout on her face didn’t go unnoticed. He really hated having to tell her ‘No’, but it was late and the last thing he wanted was to be caught by the unknowing Great Sage.

“But-”

“No buts. I’ll teach you another time. Right now, mouth closed, eyes closed.”

   Without much of a warning, aside from a snap of his fingers, a shadow void opened up underneath her feet, dropping her in and cutting her off mid scream. The void gracelessly dropped her smack dab in the middle of her bed, her Monkey King plushie bouncing right beside her and falling into her lap. The portal closed just as quickly as it had opened. About to go run back downstairs and down to the bottom of the island, Min stopped upon seeing the inky monkey stretch along her wall near her bedside table. Almost as if he was looming over her.

“Will I ever see you again?”

Hearing that little flame of hopeful innocence almost did the shadow warrior in immediately. Once again, his heart melted like a popsicle on a hot, summer day. That violet smile rose up into a tender expression, his arm once again coming through another portal to give her a few head rubs, this time sliding down to her soft, warm cheek and brushing his thumb against her skin. Min tilted her cheek into his palm, the amount of restraint he had to give himself not to let out the loudest ‘AWWWW!’ ever was rapidly starting to crumble.

“Of course you will! You’ll only be able to see me at night since I’ve got some things going on during the day. But, I’ll come back. I promise.”

   Upon hearing that, a little relieved smile stretched onto Min’s face. She then lowered herself onto her mattress, her pillows and comforter embracing her into a warm snuggle. Turning to leave, her next three words stopped him in his tracks.

“Good night, Yīnyǐng.”

Looking back, he was about to ask where the name ‘Yīnyǐng’ came from, only to find that she was fast asleep. Deciding to wait until next time, that same tender smile stretched onto his face, accompanied by a low, soothing voice.

“Good night, Princess.”

   With that, the shadow warrior fell through another shadow portal that took him back to his dojo…and began pounding his fist on the wall next to him while inwardly screaming from all of the cuteness.

Chapter Text

The night quickly melted into day, melodic whistling and chirping of birds flying by sang their tune in through the closed windows and walls of the house. Sneaky rays of sunlight shone in through the cracks of the mountain, beaming into the house through the tightly closed blinds.

“Miiiinnnn! Come downstairs! We gotta leave soon!”

    Wukong hollered from downstairs, waiting by the door. Today was Min’s first day of school! After spending countless hours researching and scouring every corner of the internet, he finally found a good school to send Min to. While waiting for his little girl to come downstairs, the Great Sage began fixing his casual attire. While doing so, an amethyst colored light flickered in his eyes.

Right.

Somber, half lidded summer suns examined the amethyst moon crystal that dangled from a chain around his neck. Biting down on his lower lip, a calloused thumb carefully brushed over it. Things had been so easy back then all because he had…

No.

   He can’t think about him. It should be a sin for Wukong to think about him after what he did. The guilt was still eating away at him, bubbling up and souring over into a toxic, green cesspool that burned his heart. Wukong knew that he couldn’t keep living in the past forever, he was foolish enough to continue wanting a dream he knew that would probably never happen. He didn’t deserve it, not after what happened. Still, his heart ached and cried for his love. Wanting nothing more than to go back in time and-

“I’m here!”

Beating himself up will have to wait.  

Quickly hiding his necklace underneath his hoodie, Wukong smiled warmly upon seeing his precious little princess, dressed in her favorite light blue t-shirt, little white stars here and there, her dark blue pants and white slip on sneakers.

“There’s my little angel~!”

   The Monkey King went over and scooped his daughter into his strong arms, who giggled and squealed lightheartedly, a loving hum rumbling from his throat as he hugged her close. Looking down at her, his smile grew as he carefully brushed some of her hair out of her face, hearing her giggle under her breath as her warm cheek pressed into his large palm.

“You excited for your first day of school, Sweetie?”

“Uh huh!”

Chuckling quietly upon his daughter’s enthusiasm, Wukong carefully set her back down onto the floor before he closed his eyes, the low hum of a glamor covering him from head to toe. His monkey features melted away, instead replacing them with human features to match Min’s. Opening his eyes, Wukong knelt down to gently rub Min’s fluffy, snow white hair before asking.

“Well, Princess, what’s your verdict? Does Daddy still look good or does he look a little weird?”

   He didn’t know why he was nervous. Monkey or human, Wukong always looked good! He wasn’t considered the ‘Handsome Monkey King’ for no reason after all! Probably just a tiny little voice somewhere deep in his brain, trying to get him to doubt himself. Seeing that wonder filled gleam in her pretty, icy sapphire blue eyes immediately relieved the glamoured Monkey King.

“Whether you’re a Monkey or not, Daddy is still Daddy. And Daddy always looks good, no matter what!”

Dammit. This kid was gonna kill him with how adorable she was being right now.

It took the Great Sage every fiber in his being and all of his willpower not to start pounding his fists rapidly into the floor from how precious her sentence was. His heart practically melted into a puddle on the floor beside them as he held his tongue to stop the high pitched squeal that threatened to spill forward along with the heavy buckets of salty tears from his eyes.

“Thank you, Baby. Now, c’mere!”

    Min squealed happily with laughter as she was lifted into the air by her father yet again, her tiny legs kicking lightly before she was hugged close to the disguised Monkey King once more. Grabbing her backpack off the hook near the door, a loud call for Nimbus was shouted into the air and off they were towards the city.


________________________________



Rousing a flock of peaceful birds from their slumber on an electrical line, Nimbus steadily soared over the top of Megapolis. The crisp, autumn wind whipped past them, a tingling chill frosting over the two passengers before Nimbus descended downwards into the nearest and darkest alley it could find. Triple checking to make sure that nobody had seen them, Wukong has Nimbus cloak into the darkness to avoid suspicion before he takes a hold of Min’s tiny palm, walking alongside her down the sidewalk to the school. Crossing the street, the two of them stand in front of the gate. Once again kneeling down in front of her, Wukong began fixing her clothes and hair so she looks presentable.

“Oop! Almost forgot.”

   Reaching into his sweatpants pocket, Min gasped quietly. In his hand was a beautiful necklace. Dangling from the white gold chain was a wolf made out of quartz, two small ice blue diamonds for the eyes. Hanging in the middle of the necklace was another ice blue diamond. Hindsight, it was just about as big as the wolf, but slightly bigger. The wolf seemed to wrap itself around the diamond, almost like it was protecting it from any malevolent danger.

“Take good care of this, Princess. Don’t lose it, no matter what, okay?”

Eagerly nodding, Min ducked her head for a quick second before feeling the cool chain touch her skin, the necklace hitting against her skin with a light tap. Chuckling quietly, Wukong placed his hand on her cheek, his thumb brushing against her skin before feeling her lean into his warmth.

“Now, remember: Follow the rules, make friends, respect your teachers and if you get bullied by some kids…You have my permission to defend yourself. I’ll pick you up after school, alright?”

   Wukong calmly explained before giving her one of his signature tender smiles. Seeing Min nod her head Yes once more made Wukong chuckle quietly before he kissed her forehead. His forehead carefully rested against hers before he whispered to her.

“Have fun, Princess. I love you.”

Pulling back slightly, the Great Sage held a surprised expression when Min hugged him. However, that surprise melted just as quickly as it came before he wrapped his strong arms around her, doing his absolute damndest not to break down crying and making a scene in front of everyone.

“I love you too, Daddy.”

Goddammit.

    Watching Min run inside after she pulled away, one last ‘Bye!’ was thrown over her shoulder back at him with a little wave before she disappeared inside, the Monkey King left the school grounds and snuck his way over to Nimbus, the cloud being quickly soaring off into the sky and racing back to the mountain before anybody could question who or what was in the air. His resolve to hold in the sniffles and tears was slowly crumbling down little by little. It was gonna be okay. This was good. Min needed to go to school, to learn and make new friends. Of course, this was something he and the other residents of the island needed to get used to but it was fine. This is fine.

There’s nothing to worry about.

____________________________________________


“Alright, children, settle down."


Clapping her hands twice, the tired kindergarten teacher directed the attention of her students up to the front, pausing their hushed conversations for the time being.


"I’d like to introduce a new girl joining us. This is Min Son. Say hello."


   With eyes on her from all over, Min felt herself shrink a tiny bit underneath everyone’s gaze. Her ears began to burn a cherry red as she tried to be calm and collected while everyone had different amounts of excitement in their greetings, all except one. Her nerves were suddenly getting to her a tiny bit.

“Hi.”

She squeaked, like a shy little mouse who was approached by a bunch of towering cats. Swallowing the dry lump in her throat, she noticed her teacher give her a warm smile as she looked down at her.

“There’s a spare seat over by RJ. That will be your seat, Min.”

   Looking to where her teacher pointed, she noticed RJ perk his head up before he quickly looked back down at the table. Min made her way to the back of the class, sliding into her seat. The teacher then shifted things over to the lesson, which was math, earning a sea of collective groans from the students. While she was getting her pencil and books out, Min took in RJ's features. He had short, fluffy white and light blue colored hair, his chocolate brown eyes practically burning a hole into the table, his notebook, anywhere other than her face. She noticed that he wore a white t-shirt underneath a fur lined dark blue jacket, light brown pants and white and blue sneakers. Resting on top of his head looked to be a pair of goggles. Noticing that he caught her gaze, she gave a soft wave with a friendly smile.

From what she could see, his hand lifted off the table slightly, hovering over it as he thought about what to do. But instead of waving back, his hand fell back to the table quietly as he turned his gaze away from her, instead burying his nose into his journal. Min felt her smile droop downwards a little bit but she didn’t wanna bother him. As she turned her attention to the front, she began writing in her own notebook, stealing secret glances to RJ. This was a bit tougher than she thought it’d be.


______________________________



   After a delicious lunch of pizza, cheesy breadsticks and a cookie to top it all of, recess had all of the kids rush outside, free for a short period to play around and digress after their lessons. Min ran out last, looking around. Swings, slides, a jungle gym, a little sand box, a merry go round and a small basketball court, all at her disposal! But the question was: What to pick first? As she was thinking, a distant commotion near the bathroom made her senses perk up.

“Huh?”

All of the other kids didn’t seem to notice and the teachers were justly standing idly, watching over the kids. Looking back and forth twice, Min began to sneak away from the other kids, pressing her back to the wall and shuffling closer and closer to the commotion. Quick glances over her shoulder were thrown a few times, making sure she didn’t get caught by the teacher. Peering over the wall while also doing her best to stay hidden, icy blue eyes widened to see the kid from earlier, RJ being cornered and picked on by a trio of second graders that the kindergarteners shared recess with. While one kid was being the lookout, one held up RJ’s notebook, laughing and the other held his backpack and dumped everything out.

“Haha! He can’t even reach this high!”

“Aww, look, he’s gonna cry! What a baby!”

    A quiet snarl rumbled from Min’s throat, her teeth clenching tightly as her free hand tightened into a hard fist. Deep within the shadows of her body, something took over her. A small voice began quietly chanting in her head as instincts took over her.

Protect. Protect. Protect.

“Hey!”

All of them turned their heads over to her in surprise, even little RJ who’s eyes were glossy with tears. Min stood before them, anger practically pulsating off of her tiny body. While the lookout shuffled back a tiny bit in fear, the other two stood their ground, but still had slightly startled expressions marring their faces.

“Leave him alone! What’s he ever done to you?”

“Nothing. It’s just fun to see the little baby cry!”

    Both the boy holding his upside down backpack and the boy holding RJ’s notebook cackled with laughter. The notebook was dropped as RJ quickly reached down to grab it, cradling it to his chest. His teary brown eyes looked up at Min, almost shrinking back as her eyes narrowed and her fists tightened even more, almost to the point her nails dug into her palms. Growling, she snapped out.

“How would you feel if someone did that to you? You three are pathetic!”

Min felt very territorial, almost like an alpha wolf guarding their pack. Both boys' laughter stopped and their smiles dropped into frowns immediately. The kid who threw RJ’s notebook took a step closer, almost challenging her to try something.

“Scram, kid! Unless you’d like to be next in line.”

   She wasn’t gonna scram. She wasn’t gonna run. And she definitely wasn’t gonna let these punks think they can pick on others without consequence. Her foot almost dug into the concrete from how hard she stepped, a challenging enragement oozing off and around her body like a deadly aura.

“Why don’t you scram, loser?”

All of this tension was getting to be too much for little RJ. He had to get out of here before things got physical! Before he could even take one step, a hand reached out and grabbed the back of his hair, yanking the tufts roughly and preventing him from getting away.

“Ahhhh!”

“Let go of him, you jerks!”

   Acting on her instincts, Min jumped up and punched the kid who had both RJ’s backpack and his hair hard, knocking him onto his back with a pained groan. The ringleader growled and charged at her, his fist raised. Taking one swing, Min quickly ducked underneath his arm, drilling her foot into his stomach and her fist into his cheek. His body slid across the ground, joining his friends while Min rushed over and stood in front of RJ protectively. All three bullies started to shake and whimper in fear at the crazed look in her icy blue eyes as she glared down at them.

“Get lost.”

Screaming like little girls, all three of them stumbled over their feet before running for their lives, their screams getting quieter the further they ran. Silence cast over the two kindergarteners for a moment. The only thing that rang in her ears now were the quiet sniffles and sobs of the terrified boy behind her, who was wiping his eyes free of the tears. Looking over her shoulder, her expression softened as she turned towards him, her hand stretched out.

“Hey…Are you okay?”

   The cold, scary tone from just seconds prior melted into a warm gentleness. RJ flinched a small bit before his small hand grabbed onto hers, letting her pull him up. His sobs had stopped, only now being reduced to soft sniffles as few lingering tears clung to his eyelashes.

“Yeah…thank you…”

His voice was soft but very sweet with a light of shyness mixed in. A warm, closed eye smile stretched onto Min’s face.

“You’re welcome.”

   Looking to her right, she noticed RJ’s backpack and all of his belongings dumped onto the concrete ground. Bending down, she picked everything up and put it back inside before handing the backpack back to him.

“Wanna walk back to class together?”

Nodding with a soft ‘Mhm’, RJ’s fingers gently took his backpack out of her grasp before his hand held onto hers, a small squeeze was given but he made no plans to move his hand. While the other children ran to catch up with their friends and get back into the classroom, Min and RJ walked back, sticking closer to one another. Even over the laughter and chatter of the other students, what RJ said next made her eyes go wide.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

    Looking over at RJ, who she noticed held a shy expression on his face while he looked at the ground, the tips of his ears burning a light pink, a happy little giggle danced off of her lips while her smile returned as her hand gave a squeeze back.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”


-----------------------

   That day going forward, those two kids were as thick as thieves. Practically inseparable. No matter what it would be, until the end of the school day, RJ and Min would always be together. And if any of the other kids tried to pick on them, they’d immediately be scared off if Min ever bared her teeth or fists to them, that territorial feeling always erupting over like an easily activated volcano. But then, she would go back to what they were doing before, like nothing had happened. Of course, after school was a different story. Min and RJ always had to separate and wait until the following morning to meet up again. See, there was one just thing that prevented him from playing or interacting with Min outside of school.

His mother.

Qiang was one of those parents who dumped their generational trauma onto their offspring and poor RJ unfortunately experienced that first hand. She had practically barred him from making friends, telling him to ‘keep his head down’ and ‘don’t interact with anybody’, almost brainwashing him at that point. So, upon learning that her boy was in fact excited for school now made the woman suspicious to say the least. When hearing that he had made a new friend, the alarms immediately set off in Qiang’s head. She couldn’t let their family’s secret be known. It can’t happen. She won’t let it come out. Qiang thought that it was time to meet this ‘friend’ of his.

“Um…Min?”

   Turning her head to him while her eyes adjusted to the veil of darkness that blocked out any fragments of sunlight that screamed to be let in behind the curtains, Min’s confused expression melted into one of concern when she saw the nervous gleam in RJ’s eyes. While their classmates were sound asleep in their comfortable mats around them, the small distance between their mats suddenly felt like a cliffside. Small fingers practically dug into his pillow as he worriedly chewed on his lower lip.

“My mother wants to meet your parents.”

Min couldn’t help but feel her brow quirk in confusion. Why would his mom wanna meet her Dad? A moment of silence reigned over them before she opened her mouth and whispered.

“I’ll let my Dad know when I get home. But why does she wanna meet me and my Dad?”

   Pulling her small, fuzzy, baby blue blanket with white wolves all over it up to her shirt collar while her Monkey King plushie was held practically in a death grip close to her heart, Min noticed the guilt that burned brightly in RJ’s chocolate swirls as he looked to the corner of the room for a second, chewing down on his lower lip before speaking.

“She…She wants to make sure that you’re safe to play with…To tell you the truth, I…”

Min’s brows furrowed as she noticed the glossiness coat RJ’s eyes as hot tears began to bubble inside them. She reached over and placed her tiny palm atop his shoulder, hearing the almost inaudible sniffles from her best friend. Her heart snapped in two upon seeing him like this. Taking a second to collect himself, RJ choked out the last sentence before feeling tears begin to roll down his face.

“I wasn’t supposed to make friends…”

   What kind of parent was his mother? The generation trauma was practically oozing out like toxic, black goo onto the floor. Deciding to hold off on her questions, Min’s hand slid down from his shoulder all the way to his hand, her palm wrapping around his whole hand and giving it a soft but reaffirming squeeze, offering a comforting smile in the process.

“Well, no matter what happens, you got me. Nothing’s gonna happen to our friendship, RJ. I promise. We’ll be friends forever. Okay?”

Those beautiful chocolate brown pools were glossed over with hot, salty tears as he gave a nod, a tiny whimper barely escaping before his hand squeezed her back with a small sniffle. His arm reached up to wipe the tears away, his eyes red and puffy as a result.

“Okay…I…I don’t know what I’d do without you…”

   Hearing that tiny crack in his voice broke Min’s heart even more as she heard more sniffles coming from him. Her thumb reached out and brushed away any of the lingering tears that refused to drop down his face. With him pushing his mat closer to hers, the little ones enveloped each other into a tight hug, feeling safe in their own little world at the moment. Time seemed to slow down for them during those seconds that ticked away. A soft sigh breathed off RJ’s lips, his eyes growing heavy before slowly sliding shut as he held onto Min, not wanting to let go.

“Thanks, Min…”

Feeling the corners of her lips pull up once more in a smile, a silent giggle tickled RJ’s ears as Min’s chin rested atop his shoulder ever so lightly.

“You’re welcome. That’s what best friends are for.”


___________________________


“C’mon, Daddy!”

   An excited hop and skip to her step, Min was practically jumping to the moon as her father slowly caught up with her. It was the weekend and she was having her first ever playdate over at RJ’s house! Almost rushing down the street once more, her hand was caught by Wukong’s much bigger one as he chuckled in a low tone.

“I know you’re excited but better save that excitement for when we get there, Princess.”

Wukong teased in a lighthearted manner. Hearing that little giggle that always managed to melt his heart beyond repair, he lifted her off the ground for a split second to avoid a puddle of water, causing another burst of laughter from his little Starlight.

“You ready to meet your friend’s mom, Princess?”

“Yeah!”

   Chuckling once more at her enthusiasm, Wukong pulled out the address that he had stuffed into the pocket of his pants. Walking a little further down the sidewalk hand in hand with his little one, the two of them passed by a whole bunch of shops that were paid no mind by either of them. Suddenly, the smell of sweets and heavenly goodness began to serenade them both, a sudden hunger attacking both of them as they let out an airy sigh in unison.

  The smell was wafting from a quaint bakery that just so happened to match the address! The door opened with a light jingle of the bell. A man with long, tied up gray hair and glasses perks up upon hearing them, his eyes squinting for a split second before his expression brightens with a delighted twinkle in his eyes.

“Ah, welcome! You must be the family that RJ has been talking about!”

   Turning his head, he calls out over his shoulder.

“Qiang! RJ’s playdate is here!”

It doesn’t take even a second for one of the doors, presumably to a storage room of some kind, to open. A woman with wavy light blue and white ombre colored hair and dressed to the nines in a lavender and white colored hanfu with an apron draped over stepped out, little RJ practically pressed into her hip before he peeks out from where his face was hiding in her shoulder. The atmosphere seemed to drop into a chilled tension all of a sudden the moment she made contact with either of them.

“Ah, yes I see. Welcome, good sir. I take it your wife couldn’t join you?”

   At the mention of his absent ‘wife’, Wukong sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, face feeling a bit flushed with slight embarrassment with a twang of painful guilt piercing through the middle of his heart. Quickly coming up with an excuse, the Great Sage cleared his throat a tiny bit to try and save face.

“Ahh, at the moment, things are a bit complicated between me and my spouse. Eheh, marital problems.”

How he really wanted to face palm for how much he screwed that up. Qiang’s eyes narrowed as her face pulled up into a scowl. Her hardened gaze drifts down to Min, who perks up in confusion, almost shrinking underneath the suffocating stare Qiang was shooting in her direction.

“...I see.”

   Her hands moved to place RJ down onto the floor beside her, moving his hands away from her apron as he tried to cling onto it before she spoke in an almost authoritative manner, like she was a sergeant in the military.

“Why don’t you show your room to your friend, RJ? But leave the door open. The adults will be getting well acquainted with one another.”

Leaving no room for argument, RJ nodded wordlessly while rubbing his arm. Min walked over to him, with a friendly wave and a warm smile. RJ’s hand immediately wrapped around hers before they walked up the stairs, the hole burning into the back of Min’s head by Qiang’s returning scowl almost made Min shrink right then and there. As the children hurried up the stairs, Qiang turned back to the masked Great Sage, the chill that swirled around her practically biting all over his body. Qiang gestured for Wukong to sit with her, not really taking ‘No’ for an answer.

“Let’s begin, shall we?”

   Swallowing the sand bag that formed in his throat while sweating a thousand bullets, summer suns quickly shot a look over to RJ’s stepfather, who gave him an apologetic smile. As if silently apologizing for his wife’s cold demeanor and venomous tone in her voice. The Great Sage couldn’t help but feel like he was in an interrogation right now, which made him begin to sweat even more. He prayed to any and all Deities out there that were listening for mercy.


_______________________



In the blink of an eye, the next two hours are practically blended together in a quick blur. The cawing of nearby crows echoed in the distance as the sun began to slowly but surely sink over the city. Standing at the door of the bakery, Zhen and Qiang stood next to each other, one hand resting on RJ’s shoulders. The scowl that Qiang held for a good portion of the time had finally relaxed and melted into a smile of warmth as she was content with the interrogation chat she had with the disguised King.

“It was a pleasure to meet the both of you. We hope to see you again soon. Goodbye.”

“Bye, Min! See you at school!”

   RJ’s arms rose as he gave her a happy wave, his own warm smile and gleeful twinkle in his eyes matching with Min’s, who happily waved back to him, her response almost distant as she hurried after her father. Her small hand was wrapped in his larger palm as the two of them walked down the sidewalk, their shadows stretched out on the sidewalk and wall beside them. That playdate tuckered little Min out, however, as she tried her best to fight back the yawn and growing sleepiness that was coiling around her body. Her yawn broke Wukong out of his own little headspace before he chuckled and scooped his little girl up into his arms.

“Aww, is my baby getting sweepy?”

He cooed, fingers tickling against her tummy and bringing out those cute yet tired little giggles of hers. Rubbing her drooping eyes to try and fight against the growing sleepiness, Min nodded and hummed a quiet ‘Mhm’. Snuggling up close to her father with her cheek resting against his shoulder, a small smile stretched onto her face as Wukong pressed soft kisses to her forehead while rubbing the small of her back.

“I had a lot of fun today, Daddy. Can RJ and I have another playdate soon?”

   Chuckling once more while cradling her back against his large palm as they stopped in a darkened alley, a whistle brushed past Wukong’s lips into the air, Nimbus zipping across the sky before swooping down and picking them both up, soaring its way back to the Mountain. Sitting down in the middle and placing Min into his open lap, the Monkey King let his glamour drop, his rust colored mane bleeding through the snow white hair and icy blue skies melting into summer suns once more.

“I’m glad you had fun today, Sweetie. I’ll have to talk it out with his parents but I’m sure we can make some arrangements. Your friend seems like a sweet boy.”

Min felt her lips pull up into a sleepy smile against his hoodie covered shoulder as her eyes drooped shut, letting the ride and faint thumping of her father’s heart lull her to sleep. Keeping his hand on her back before moving his free hand and running his fingers through the soft ocean of snowy hair a few times. Right then and there, a mental note was made. And that mental note was to never, under any circumstances, let RJ break his little girl’s heart.


________________________


   Days turned into months, months into years. RJ and Min spend the coming years practically attached at the hip. Soon, their childhood slowly morphed into adolescence and thus, puberty took its toll on the two of them, now at the current age of sixteen. While juggling school, homework, and looking forward to graduation, RJ had begun helping out around his family’s bakery, while also helping his mother and step father with his four newborn siblings.
Min, on the other hand, began learning all of her Dad’s techniques, training with him whenever she got the chance as well as beginning to write her own music. Honestly, either of those two sounded better than sitting in her room, working on math homework. To this day, she hated Math with a burning passion. Icy blue pools boredly moved along with the pencil as she worked, not paying a thought when a couple of the baby monkeys hopped onto her shoulders and began looking over her shoulder at what she was doing.

“🎶🎶🎶🎶~”

Icy blue eyes widened in surprise as her ringtone began to play. Reaching over, her brow quirked up as she saw RJ’s name pop up. A few of the baby monkeys chirped and chittered as she answered, almost leaning close to hear what was going on.

“Hello?”

   Immediately, RJ began speaking loudly, startling both the baby Monkeys and Min, who was trying to juggle her phone and not drop it. The little chimps quickly scurried off after getting startled from how loud her best friend was at the moment. Straightening up in her chair, Min took a breath before speaking.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! RJ, RJ, slow down, I can’t understand what you’re saying! What happened? Is everything okay?”

“SHE LEFT!!!”

The heavy breathing and loud sobbing was a dead giveaway as to who her best friend was referring to. Inhaling through her nose, a quiet exhale was pushed through, the urge to give his mother a piece of her mind was rapidly bubbling to the surface. Cooling her anger, Min closed her book and grabbed her jacket before heading over to her door.

“I’ll be right there.”

   Homework was the last thing she needed to worry about.

Practically sliding down the railing and over a pair of baby monkeys who were sitting in the hallway, Min did a hard slide around the corner, racing by her father, who was at the moment helping out a mother monkey with her newborn, the wind picking up the twin fluttery ends of his Phoenix Feather Cap. Blinking in surprise a few times, Wukong looked over his shoulder with a quirked brow before his confusion doubled as he saw her putting her shoes on.

“Wh-Princess, where are you going??”

“Sorry, Dad, but I need to head over to RJ’s! He called me, sobbing like crazy! His Mom left and I gotta check on him and the others! I’ll be back soon! Love ya!”

   Without giving him a second to ask any more questions, Min whistled, calling her own Nimbus to come and get her. In a mere two seconds, she was sped off towards the city.


________________________________


“RJ?”

Her voice was tiny as her Nimbus landed her right smack dab in the middle of his room. Whipping her head around, the sound of  muffled sobs and sniffles came from the closet door. Wrapping her hand around the knob, the door slowly pushed open, no reaction came from the curled up teenager as he hugged himself and fell onto his side with fresh, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. A pile of pillows, blankets, anything that was soft and comforting to him cushioned him, having preferred to sleep in the pile in his closet than his spacious bed that was just a few feet away. Kneeling down carefully, Min reached out a hand to him, not wanting to go too fast or she might upset him more.

“Hey, it’s okay…I’m right here…Deep breaths, RJ…It’s alright…”

   Reassuring him in a honey sweet voice, Min wrapped her arms around him and lightly pulled him to rest against her, shuffling her way inside the closet to be next to him. Her hand rubbed slow circles along his back, letting him cry into her shoulder while a sorrowful flame flickered between those icy blue eyes of hers. RJ’s fingers gripped onto the fabric of her t-shirt, the salty tears staining the fabric but she didn’t care.

“She... She said she was g-going to find a cure! That'd she'd only c-come back wh-when she found one!”

RJ hiccupped, more hot tears blooming in his eyes before he hugged onto Min tighter, his face practically buried into her shoulder while his whole body shivered from the intensity of his crying.

“She left my siblings... d-didn't even tell my stepdad! She left a NOTE!”

   Hearing that his mother just up and left without saying a word to his step dad and just leaving a note made Min’s teeth grit together as she thought of many different scenarios where she would track that horrible woman down and make her pay for what she put her family through. None of them deserved this. Continuing to soothe her best friend, Min heard his sobs grow quieter and quieter the more time passed.

“I don’t know what to do….Dad says we need to take care of the kids and the bakery on our own now, but I don’t know how to do either!”

RJ hiccupped once more, that expression that had anxiety and fear mixed together into a brewing storm made Min place her hand on his shoulder, giving his shoulder a little squeeze.

“Hey, hey, calm down. We’ll think of something, okay? You won’t be alone in this.”

   Softly brushing away his remaining tears, Min gave him a reassuring smile as she grabbed some tissues and handed them to him. Sniffling and taking a couple of them, RJ blew his nose into one before throwing it away, using the other to soak up the rest of the salty drops.

“I’m tired…Min, can you…can you stay?”

Sniffling with a whimper following, RJ softly slumped against his best friend. Min’s warm smile stretched upwards a tiny bit before she pulled her phone out. Seeing RJ notice it, Min gave him a shrug but kept her smile.

“I just gotta let my Dad know first. Y’know how he gets.”

   Scrolling through her contacts before finding her father’s, Min’s thumb pressed the call button as her phone was pressed to her ear yet again. Not having to wait more than two seconds, the Monkey King picked up.

“Dad?”

“Princess! Ohh, thank goodness! Are you okay?! Are you still at RJ’s?!”

Wukong’s worried jumbled mess of words practically yelled into her ear. This was apparently a common theme today. Having to rip the phone away from her ear before her eardrums burst, Min puffed out a breath.

“Dad, Dad! It’s alright, I’m fine. I’m still at RJ’s. But listen, umm…is it alright if I stay the night?”

   The other end was quiet for what felt like an eternity but was actually just a minute. A low sigh exhaled from her father on the other end, the image of him pinching the bridge of his nose from the gray hair that was most definitely going to show from the little scare he just had.

“Alright. Just remember to have fun and Min? Please, for the love of any Deity out there that’s listening, please be safe. If anything happens, you call me the second it does. Got it?”

Relaxing her shoulders with a relieved sigh, Min nodded her head to what her father said before she spoke once more.

“Got it. Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“I love you too, Princess.”

   The line disconnected, ending the conversation there. Looking back over at RJ about to tell him that the sleepover was officially on, she stopped upon seeing him fast asleep while resting up against her. Her warm smile once again stretched onto her face before she perked up, seeing Zhen coming up the stairs. The two made eye contact and the first thing she saw following his surprised expression was a tired smile and the words ‘Thank you’ being mouthed to her. Holding a face of reassurance, Min nodded softly before she curled up next to RJ. The warmth of the pile around slowly lulled her to sleep, following after RJ to Sleepytime Junction.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a sleek black fur cat lounged on the railing of the far rooftop that gave the kitty a good enough vantage point to see what was happening in the bakery’s second floor bedroom. Violet irises shone brightly before the feline trekked off, soon melting into the floor with a small storm of shadows engulfing the beautiful yet mysterious creature. 

Chapter Text

Hellooo, everyone!

It's your chaotic in the best way possible author here with a little update! So, I just wanted to start this off by saying that I'm truly truly TRULY sorry that this hasn't been updated since last August. These last seven to eight months have been all over the place for me. So, once again, I thoroughly apologize for the delay. But never fear, my dears! I will be getting back on track with this story as I have really missed writing this and I felt really bad for leaving you all in the dark. I also just wanted to take a second to say that I have made a few changes to the existing chapters. Echo and I have been going back and forth with ideas for the chapters that are already published and for the chapters in the future, so keep an eye out ;) . 

I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been super patient with me, I really do appreciate it! I also wanna say thank you to Echo for helping me out with this fic as well as being one of my best friends and someone I hold very dear as part of my online family ^^. Thanks again, Echo! 

Now then, sit back, relax, curl up with your favorite blanket, grab a snack or two and a drink and enjoy! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Years had passed since that day. In that length of time, RJ fell into life easy enough. His stepdad worked hard in their bakery as RJ and his siblings got older. Despite his father’s insistence, RJ decided he needed to help with the bakery when he turned twenty-three.

Many busy days came and went but even during that time, he and Min were still as thick as thieves, like they’ve always been. Min had also fallen into life pretty well. There were days when she would come by and help in the store or with his siblings if he or Zhen were too busy. Whenever RJ wasn’t swamped with work, she and him would find time to hang out. And today happened to be one of those days.

Quietly singing along to the blaring music on her headphones, Min made her way downtown with a beat in her step and her hands shoved into her jacket pockets. Reaching the crosswalk and looking both ways before hurrying over to the other side, her icy blue eyes scanned around so she could spot her best friend.

“Min! Over here!”

Pulling her headphones down and looking to the left, her eyes immediately sparkled as she saw RJ waving to her with that bright smile of his. Pausing the music on her headphones, she ran over to him, skidding to a slide right before she could knock into him like a bowling ball. Straightening up, her snow-white tufts, now dyed a lilac purple, fell in front of her eyes. Hearing that quiet snicker from her best friend, Min’s glare held no heat as she stuck her tongue out at him playfully and pulled her headphones off before whipping her hair away from her face and pulling him into a hug, hearing him yelp softly as she lifted him an inch off the ground before chuckling lightly.

“Sup, dude! Sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“Naah, you’re fine.”

Hearing that soft chuckle and feeling him squeeze her back, Min carefully set him back down on the ground before pulling away. Their smiles were mirrored with quiet giggles and snickers falling between the two. Pointing a thumb behind him, a twinkle shone in his chocolate pools.

“Ready to get this party started?”

Game face on. With glee in her tone and her fist pumped, the words were yelled into the sky.

“Hell Yeah!”

 
The doors were pushed open and inside was a video game paradise. Games, Machines, Prizes galore, and a sweet-looking DJ system in the far back with a flashy young man who was cranking up the music to the max! Both RJ and Min felt like little kids in a candy store every time they came to the arcade, this was no different. Scanning the area, Min spotted a Monkey Mech machine in the corner and she was gone in a flash. Occasionally humming, the gold coin was inserted as the machine lit up. And she was off! Buttons mashing frantically, icy blue eyes keeping an eye on her character, her tongue stuck out in concentration, Min was locked in. The bass-boosting, bone-rattling music was a little bit much for RJ, especially when the DJ made the already loud music louder but he did his best not to think about it too much and rested his hand on the back of his best friend’s shoulder. A female voice suddenly yelled over the loud music.

“Whoa! Hey, you’re really good!”

“Thanks!”

Upon saying that however, the words ‘Game Over!’ flash a few times on the screen, causing a small groan to pass through her lips. The sound is immediately replaced by a warm chuckle and a gentle shrug of her shoulders.

“Ahh well, I could always use some practice. Say, you wanna play?”

Turning her head, standing behind her was a girl with black hair and emerald green eyes. She wore a light and dark green jacket with a symbol of a fierce-looking golden dragon head on the back. Upon hearing Min’s questions, the girl was already grabbing the second joystick.

“Hell yeah! I’m Mei and that guy up there in the DJ booth is ma boi MK!”

Her thumb directed both Min’s and RJ’s attention over their shoulders to the DJ booth, where a boy with brown hair tied up with a red bandana continued cranking up the music, getting whoops and cheers as a result. Two more gold coins were pushed into the slots and off they went!

Buttons were mashed, eyes were focused, and the scores kept steadily reaching higher and higher. RJ peered over Min’s shoulder, his eyes twinkling at the new high score that flashed in bright colors, the pixelated sound effect chiming each time the numbers changed.

“Ohh, high score! High score!”

There’s practically smoke building from all the button mashing and rapid jostling of the joysticks. The both of them cheer loudly with a celebratory high five as the game is beaten in a matter of seconds.

“Awww, yeah, that was awesome, Min!”

“Hell yeah! Now, I wanna try my hand at something else.”

Scanning the arcade, her eyes lit up with a gasp. A giant, brand-new crane machine with plushies and prizes galore was just calling to her. Like the cherub's sweet voice whispering in her ears, Min was practically pulled against it. RJ went to follow his best friend, not wanting to separate but the sparkly-eyed Mei had other plans as she grabbed onto his arm.

“DINOSAUR SHOOTER!!!! COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!!! We can have two players!”

“Good luck, guys! You got this!”
Poor RJ was practically sped down to the game by a happy-go-lucky Mei, a quiet chuckle and smile on Min’s face as she watched them go. Turning back to the giant crane machine in front of her, a gold coin was quickly pushed in, the retro soundboard played a quick little jingle, a sparkle of determination behind those icy blue eyes.

“Aight, crane machine. Hit me with your best shot!”

Lost in concentration and button-mashing once more, a certain DJ MK shot a glance over her way from behind those pink-colored shutter glasses. It was mostly her back facing him with the exemption of a side glimpse of her face but it was enough for MK to feel his heart flutter.

“Yo, yo, yo, yohoHO! Who’s the beauty standing there at the claw machine!?”

Perking up from the exaggerated growl from behind her, Min’s brow quirked in confusion. Glancing back, she saw MK looking right at her with his shades down and his arm propped up on his mixing station, trying to look all cool. A light-hearted eye roll followed by a smile, Min sent a little wink right back at him before guiding her full attention back to the machine, not seeing the way he grasped his shirt tightly where his heart was, almost doubling over from that critical hit.

“Name’s Min. Heard a bit about you from your friend Mei.”

Furiously mashing the buttons while sticking her tongue out in concentration yet again, she bore little notice to MK as he quite literally slid up next to her, his elbow right on the edge of the machine while his shutter glasses hid the head to toe look over he was doing of her. Upon hearing his best bud’s name, MK’s head immediately perked up.

“Ohohoho! Really? Yeah, I am kind of a big deal right now. All good things, I’m guessing?”

  His headphones now looped around his neck and his glasses dropped while he gave her a quirked brow. Min could only side-glance at him since she was so close to winning a giant squishmallow that she had been eyeing like it was some kind of sugary sweet in a candy store but that smile of hers never left her face. That smile almost made MK melt like butter onto the floor from that smile of hers.

“All good things.”

Hearing the crane machine start to blare with a victory sign flashing atop the machine, Min’s icy blue eyes lit up as she let out a cheer with her hands in the air. Digging into the prize slot of the machine, the giant squishmallow stretched before wobbling back into shape in her arms. Her feet immediately skipped so many beats as she went over to where RJ and Mei were button-mashing on Dinosaur Shooter, trying their hardest to win.

“Yo! Check out this giant squishmallow I won! It’s soo squishy and soft. Here ya go, RJ. I know you’ve been building up a little collection. He’ll fit right at home!”

  Seeing that starry-eyed expression in her best friend’s eyes almost made Min giggle quietly. She knew of RJ’s love for anything soft and squishy. The giant mound at home that continued to grow each time he acquired a new plush could attest to that, practically overflowing with soft and squishy plushies and squishmallows. RJ immediately buried his face into the side of the squishmallow, reveling in its softness. Mei groaned loudly, the words ‘Game Over’ flashing up on the screen as their characters had lost due to RJ getting distracted by his new little addition. But that groan was quickly dissolved into light-hearted wisps of laughter.

“Aww well, that was fun! Say, random question but… are you two like a thing or something?”

Ah. This question.

Min giggled quietly at Mei’s innocent question before resting her elbow on RJ’s shoulder, who perked up and gave her a little side glance before stuffing his face further into the squishy soft plush, excited to get home and add this to his collection.

“Childhood friends actually. I’ve known RJ since we were in kindergarten. The two of us have been as thick as thieves ever since!”

“Ohhh, Sweet! Just like me and MK! I’ve known that giant dork for so long, we’ve gone on all sorts of crazy adventures together!”

Min began painting an image in her head, a collage of scenarios cooking up of MK and Mei going on thrilling adventures, busting up bad guys in their path, and coming out on top as the true victors. Quickly stopping her imagination before it ran rampant, Min giggled once more, her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets.

“Well, I will say that you two seem like a fun duo to hang with. Hey, after this party’s over, wanna hang out for a little bit?”

Min almost got knocked back from how quickly Mei got up in her face, having nothing but that happy expression on her face.

“Heck yeah! That sounds awesome! Only thing we gotta do is wait for MK to finish up so we can split. It shouldn’t take that long.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It shouldn’t take that long.

Fifteen. Full. Hours have passed since that moment and MK showed zero signs of getting tired or even slowing down. A lot of the Arcade attendees were either swaying on their feet or lying flat on their backs, sides, faces, or anywhere they could find that was somewhat comfortable for them while they crashed from exhaustion. Min toppled over onto the floor, letting out a muffled ‘Ow’. Lifting her head, her eyes blinked tiredly as she let out a soft yawn before standing up.

“I don’t know about you two but someone’s gotta put a hold on this party. Any more and I’m gonna crash!”

Dragging her hands down slowly, her face wobbled as they dropped down to her sides. Min did everything in her power not to fall asleep standing up or flat on her face, eating carpet. Shuffling up to MK’s DJ booth, purple-dyed tufts of hair suddenly poked out from behind his mixer.

“Hey, MK, this party’s been really fun and all but…we’re exhausted. We’d really like to head home and get some rest. You think you could cut the music so we can call it a day?”


Hoping that MK would look around and see that everyone else was either dragging their feet or out like lights before understanding and cutting the music, the snickering from said DJ was the exact opposite. Min’s expression perked up in surprised confusion as the DJ rested an elbow on his mixing table, the shutter glasses dropping down to reveal his eyes.

“Whaat? Pshh, naw Love! Ain’t nobody leavin’ this porty! Especially a good-looking girl like you~”

Pretending to ignore that little wink, Min was about to say something until her head dipped down from Mei coming over with a loud, tired groan. Min could practically see the luggage bag-sized dark circles underneath the dragon girl’s eyes.

“Yeah, but this ‘porty’ has been going on for FIFTEEN HOURS! We all need our beauty sleep before we go insane!”

Dragging her hands down her tired face and feeling it wobble after her hands fell, both Mei and Min held shocked expressions as MK scoffed at how exhausted they were before he began mimicking Mei in a high-pitched tone.

“Ohh, I’m so tiwed~ I need my beauty sweep~ Blah, Blah, Blah! That’s literally what you sound like!”

Snapping his fingers, two burly security guards suddenly overshadowed both Mei and Min. Distant cries from the entrance could be heard as another one ran and grabbed RJ before he could book it and call for help. All three of them felt backed into a corner as MK’s voice and eyes dropped to a more serious level.

“I said…Ain’t no one. Leavin’. This Porty.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The arcade was now dead silent. All of the other attendees bolted out the doors before they got caught by the guards. Min was currently thrashing and grunting underneath the tight confines of her ropes. While Mei and RJ were carried off, ‘MK’ had her right next to his DJ booth. Ready to freeze her ropes and hoping that the material would give way from how much she was thrashing around and how cold her ice was, the sound of the entrance doors bursting open caught her attention as yet another MK arrived, this time with a large portion of his hair missing.

“Alright, Party Clone. Where is she?”

Min’s eyes squinted as she looked between the two of them. But she kept her mouth shut as ‘Porty’ MK perked up with a little chuckle.

“Ohohoho! OG MK in da hooooouse, yooo!”

“I don’t even know what that means! Where’s Mei!”

Hearing that impish little chuckle and the doors behind Porty opening up, Min turned her head before her jaw dropped at the massive arcade machine that towered over all of them. Squinting her eyes, a quiet gasp escaped her throat upon seeing RJ and Mei tied together at the very top of the machine. An eight-bit start-up noise played with the words ‘GAME ON’ in the middle.

“Heey, MK. Mystic monkey business? You’re really bad at making clones, by the way.”

“RJ! Mei!”

MK shared a similar expression with Min before his brows furrowed while the staff spun in his hand.

“Hand ‘em over, you! …M Me. We?”

“Cool ya jets, OG. You wanna get to me? You gotta go through my boiiis!”

MK was immediately lifted off of the dance floor as a spotlight shone on the ocean of MK clones, all sinisterly chuckling with a wicked gleam in their eyes. Mei, Min, and RJ all shared an expression of shock mixed with horror at how many clones there were of him.

“Why did you make so many MK’s, MK?!”

“Oops! Ma finger slipped!”

Hearing a whirring, both Mei and RJ looked down to see a very bright light starting to warm up as the rope began to inch downwards toward it. Terrified screams ripped from both of them at the realization that death was getting rather close!

“Mei!” “RJ!”

A giant wave of MK clones got to it, doing whatever they could to take down MK. While MK was screaming and holding onto the staff for dear life, trying to get some distance between him and the clones following him, Min kept struggling against her bindings, hearing a couple of the ropes snap. With a loud yell, Min broke one arm free, ripping the rest of the ropes off. Getting up, she turned to see the rope holding onto both Mei and RJ dropping lower.

“MK! No!”

Another loud scream came from Mei while Min looked up to see MK still getting chased by an army of himself. Jumping up, Min drilled her foot into the face of one, doubled with a soccer kick to the head downwards.

“Hang on!”

Turning just in time to see MK close, her arm shot out and grabbed a hold of the staff, surprising the successor as he looked back.

“Need some help?”

Reeling her arm back, Min catapulted the staff right into the middle of the machine, glass shattering as the rope holding both of their friends fell but was thankfully tied around the staff. While Mei chuckled along with MK, RJ looked like he was about to faint. That is until a symphony of ‘Here Comes Monkie Kid!’ alerted all four of them of the tidal wave of MKs. Porty triumphantly chuckled before gasping when seeing the clones start to evaporate from the sigil that was used. Realizing that he was now outnumbered, Porty began to sweat.

“One to go!”

“No no no! Wait! Mei! How do you guys know I’m not the real MK? There’s two of us at this Porty!”

Porty immediately began to sweat more once he realized what he said, getting looks from all four of them before turning and berating himself. Yet another sigil was slapped onto his head as he left with a tearful last few words before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

“Everybody okay?”

Min asked while looking back at them, getting a few ‘Yeah’s in response before feeling a sleepy RJ resting his head against her shoulder. Smiling softly, she noticed Mei place a giant fistful of hair onto MK’s giant bald spot from all of the hair he yanked out. With a quiet snicker, Min turned towards the both of them fully, being sure to hold onto RJ so he didn’t fall and land on his face.

“Gotta say though, that was a lot of fun! Although, maybe next time? Tone it down on the clones, yeah?”

MK sheepishly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, a soft red flush on his cheeks, shooting Mei a light-hearted glare from her quiet snickering.

“Eheh, noted. Uhh…sorry, who are you?”

“I’m Min! And this is my buddy, RJ.”

Min introduced, doing a little wink with a peace sign and a quiet giggle while RJ just tiredly waved. While she had her eyes closed, she missed the slight increase of warmth on MK’s cheeks before he quietly cleared his throat and quickly hid the redness on his face. Min pointed her thumb to the exit, wanting to get out of there after being there for a good few days.

“Let’s uhh…let’s split and get something to eat, yeah?”


~~~~~~~ 

Loud slurping noises came from inside the shop as MK gulped down his third bowl of noodles. After getting over that arcade fiasco, the first thing that they did was get word to RJ’s dad as to where he was (they had to use Min’s phone since RJ’s unfortunately died). While RJ calmly explained to him that he’d be home shortly after he got something to eat, Min was scouting out the street to see where they could go. Eventually, they decided on a noodle shop nearby, too tired to think too much about the choices.

“Haaah, that hit the spot.”

MK hummed in delight, patting his stomach as he stacked his bowl atop the other two. Mei was currently sharing contact info with Min and RJ, a Ka-ching! Sound going off as their contacts were saved into her phone while she sipped her drink. RJ’s head lay on the table, his face down as he decided to get a few minutes of rest in. Reaching over, Min gave him soft back rubs as she sipped her soda, scrolling the plethora of notifications she got, a lot of them were from her Dad which she grimaced silently at.
“‘M so tired…”

RJ tiredly mumbled, his long, fluffy white, and light blue colored hair slipping in front of his eyes before being tiredly blown away. Another set of back rubs was given to him, along with a few head rubs, Min giggling quietly upon seeing her best friend lean into her hand, a pleasant smile stretching onto his face. MK looked at his phone and immediately began to panic.

“Awww man! I’m late for training! Ohhhh, Monkey King’s gonna kill me!”

“Need a lift? I’m headin’ in that direction anyway. First, I gotta get RJ home.”

MK blinked in confusion because of that sentence. But before he could ask, they were practically shuffled out the door. The sun was slowly starting to set beyond the horizon, a gorgeous view of red, orange, blue, purple, and pink catching the eye of anybody who bore witness to it. Min led the group to a local bakery, humming along the way. Taking one sniff of the air, Mei hummed in delight.

“Awww man, I know we just ate, but this place smells like pastry heaven~”

“Next time we hang, we’ll definitely have to bring you guys here. You’ll love it! Oop, hold up.”

Stopping the train of people, with MK’s nose hitting the back of Mei’s head lightly, the dragon descendent and successor of the Monkey King peered over from the side to see a middle-aged man who was currently sweeping outside before he looked up and stopped all movement. RJ stepped to the side and with a sheepish smile and tired rub of the back of his neck, a nervous chuckle came from the boy.

“Hi, Dad…I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days, got caught up in a bit of mystic monkey business.”

Hearing ‘my bad!’ from behind, RJ was pulled into a gentle embrace by his father. One that made both Mei and MK go all teary-eyed from how sugary sweet this moment was, while Min held a tender smile on her face.

“I’m just glad that you’re alright, Son. Thank you and your friends for bringing him home, Min.”

“Ahh, it’s never a problem, Pops! But yeah, sorry we didn’t give a warning. We’ll be sure this doesn’t happen again. Right, MK?”

Hearing the last few words through gritted teeth, the delivery boy nervously chuckled with an embarrassed head nod. RJ let out a quiet yawn, his head slumping against his Dad’s shoulder, so close to falling asleep on the ground. Before they went in, both RJ and Zhen gave a gentle wave to the trio.

“Ahhh, that moment was so wholesome! Brings a tear to my eye.”

MK sniffed before wiping his face clean of tears while Mei did the same, both holding tender smiles. It isn’t until he hears his name being called that he sees that Min is sitting atop a cloud in the nearby alley. Both Mei and MK look on with awe-filled eyes at the soft being that holds her up.

“C’mon, Monkey man! Training’s not gonna wait forever!”

MK felt his smile widen as he hopped onto the floating cloud before holding onto Min when the cloud started ascending. MK waved to Mei, who waved back with a ‘Bye, MK! Text me if anything crazy happens at training!’  It wasn’t until they were super high up before the celestial being zoomed off. An echoing ‘Woooooooooo!’ mixed with laughter faded into the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Sooo, question.”

Getting a hum in response, MK stepped off the cloud once they landed safely on the shores of Flower Fruit Mountain. A few of the baby monkeys hopped down, happily chittering before swarming Min. MK blinked in surprise before stepping around her, being careful of the tails down below.

“How exactly do you know Monkey King? It’s just…I’ve never seen you here on the mountain before.”

Ah.

    Honestly, she should’ve expected this question to pop up. The whole time, she could feel MK’s confused gaze burning a hole into the back of her head as she knew the way to the island perfectly.

“Why don’t we let Monkey King answer that?”

    Ohh, how she wished she could facepalm right now.

That didn’t really seem to curb MK’s curiosity as they both reached the waterfall. Hearing that low hum, the sigil swirled into sight as the water split open like a curtain, allowing them access. MK’s jaw dropped to the ground (or it tried to if you excluded the water that steadily rose into his mouth). Shaking his head frantically and spitting out said water, MK noticed Min was already inside.

“Hey, wait up!”

Min looked back over her shoulder and giggled quietly, a light pink blush splotching onto MK’s cheeks and the tips of his ears as he shyly rubbed the back of his neck and head. Walking into the mountain further, Min let out a soft breath from her lips.

“I’m home-”

Immediately, the wind was knocked out of her as a flash of amber-colored fur, yellow, red and gold zipped out of the hut, and tackle hugged her, spinning around in a frantic tornado form, with Min caught in an embrace as she shrieked loudly. MK got dizzy just from watching.

“My little angel’s back!! Ohhh my gosh, I was so worried about you! Daddy missed you soooo much!”

Min had swirls in her eyes from being spun around too much while she was crushed in a tight bear hug by her father, while he switched between kissing her cheek numerous times and nuzzling his cheek against hers with a happy purr. All the while, the wheels in MK’s head were turning as he stared wide eyed at the sight before him.

“MK?”

  Looking back and forth a few times between his successor and his daughter, who was still a bit dizzy from the intense spin cycle, Wukong mentally face palmed for not putting two and two together. Min nervously chuckled and yoinked one of her arms out of Wukong’s tight grip before rubbing the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

“Does uhh…does that answer your question, MK? ….MK?”


. . . . .


“WHAAAAAAAATTTTTTT??!!”

Chapter Text

Hellllo, everyone! 

I just wanna firstly say that I'm extremely sorry that it's been a few months since I've posted the next chapter for Little Wolf. I've just been super busy and caught up in other projects as well as having a mix of up and down days. 

BUT! I'm making this chapter saying that I plan on rewriting Little Wolf from scratch. *Gets beaten up by the audience* 

I'm really sorry if you guys were expecting the next chapter but with how the story is going at the moment, I've just got some fresh ideas that I wanna try out. But don't worry! You guys will love the rewrite ^^! 

I won't be deleting this version of the story until after I post the first chapter for the rewrite, so keep an eye out for that! 


Until next time!!