A Son Of Two Dad's

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Red Son's workshop was a mess of blueprints and metal and tools MK had never seen before. The demon went straight to his chair while MK looked around at everything, taking out a tablet before gesturing to the seat in front of him and waiting till MK had hurried over and sat down. 

"Okay, first things first, do you know where he was heading to last? That might give us a good place to start." MK nodded, putting a finger on his chin. 

"He was looking for a map to find a weapon to defeat the Lady Bone Demon." 

"You're trying to defeat her?" Red Son immediately asked, his voice loud in surprise and MK nodded vigorously. 

"Yeah!" 

"Good! That demon deserves to be punished after what she did to my father." He sounded bitter and MK nodded, agreeing even though he didn't have all the context Red Son seemed to. 

"She's in some sort of cave system somewhere at the moment. I saw Monkey King there, he was tied up. Macaque went after him, and he's with her right now." He looked down, fiddling with his claws as he winced. 

"I hope he's okay." At his clearly upset tone, Red Son waved him off, scoffing. 

"The six-eared Macaque is known for being able to literally shift into shadows. There's no way she could catch him, he can pretty much escape anything. He's probably already done the sensible thing and left already." MK wasn't sure if the demon was trying to be comforting in his own way or was just saying things how they were but either way it made MK feel better knowing that his dad could handle himself.  

I mean, he already knew he could but hearing it from someone who didn't care much for him made it feel more real. 

Red Son suddenly held up a hand, blinking before staring uncomfortably seriously into MK's eyes. It was a little intense. 

"Wait. Hold on. Go back. You saw Monkey King there? How?" MK blinked, confused because he hadn't realized it wasn't obvious.  

"Uh, telepathic communication?" He drawled out, making a 'duh' motion with his eyes and Red Son facepalmed, rolling his eyes with a heavy sigh. 

"You do know that telepathic communication can only be done with someone you have a link with, right?" He explained, equally sarcastic and MK, who didn't and felt stupid. So he lied. 

"Uh pfft, yeah. Of course, I did." Badly. He lied badly. Then he paused. 

"What's a link?" Red Son immediately groaned loudly, mumbling about idiots and such before responding. 

"Seriously? A link is a tether of sorts. Most people only have them with family. It's a way to be connected to someone." MK listened but shrugged, still not understanding where Red Son was going with this. 

"It means you can always find them." He said, saying the words very slowly like MK was hard of hearing or something. 

"Oh!" MK grinned.

"Oh! That's convenient! This is great news." He was excitedly sitting forwards in his chair, leaning towards Red Son with his tail swishing about behind him. 

"How does it work?" Red Son shoved him away, the palm of his hand squishing straight into MK's face as he pushed him out of his personal space that MK had gotten into. 

"Really? It's quite simple. You just have to channel the link you have using your power." MK blinked, face blank.

"The... what?" Red Son sighed loudly again, dragging his chair so he was a little closer and grabbing Mk's arm.

"Honestly you are so- look, feel this?" His hand wrapped around MK's wrist, a tight pressure as he pushed his own magic into him, channeling it through MK. It was warm and fuzzy and a deep red and almost immediately MK could feel the direction that both Red Son's parents were in like being directed by a compass. 

"There. That's how it's done. Now you do it." He'd intended for MK to be satisfied with the demonstration but MK was more confused than ever, questions making him loud. 

"Wait, wait, wait, you can show other people too?" He asked, rubbing his wrist that still felt tingly. Red Son rolled his eyes. 

"Yes!  Of course! You can even grab someone else's tether. It's not polite though so you shouldn't do that." MK shook his head, tilting it to the side. 

"Grab someone else's?" He repeated, looking lost and Red Son once again sighed.

"Yes, you peasant! Only cowards use that method to find an enemy." He scoffed at the end, looking disgusted but MK was still caught up on what he'd said before. 

"Wait, so why don't you just do that?" From what he was understanding it sounded like Red Son was saying he could pull on MK's link and find Monkey King himself. 

"Because you shouldn't, okay! Just try it yourself." MK slunk back at that, biting his lip as he closed his eyes and tried to recreate that same feeling Red son had shown him. He put on hand on his own wrist to help but found it hard and near impossible to concentrate with someone watching him. After a few minutes of nothing happening, Red Son complained loudly. 

"Are you serious? It's not even that hard!" He huffed and MK snapped his eyes open, pouting. 

"Hey! I'm trying my best!" He huffed, crossing his arms and feeling self-conscious.

"Well, this is just painful to watch!" Red Son sounded frustrated and MK also grew frustrated, feeling pathetic. 

"Well, I'm sorry! I've never had to do this before!" He tried to justify but Red Son didn't seem to care. 

"Demons can do this easily, even children can." He scoffed and MK growled. 

"Well, I've been human for most of my life with NO parents so excuse me for finding it a little hard!" Somehow that cut any annoyance Red Son had in him, the prince falling silent with a quiet, 

"Oh." He'd never considered it. He knew what it was like to miss a parent but he still had them, he still grew up with them. He wondered how it must have felt to not have that, then felt bad for insulting him. 

MK turned his head away, feeling like maybe he'd said too much while his mind also reminisced on his life before. On the years spent alone and abandoned. He wanted to leave. 

"We... we can try again later. I'm sure you'll get it in your own time." Red Son said eventually, his tone unusually careful and considerate and MK nodded, voice soft. 

"Okay."