Our Ball of Tangled Yarn

Chapter 7: Secrets Unfold

Well that was quick of me-

This is gonna be short because I wanted to end off this way. Enjoy! (Also grab your tissues because I'm not giving you any-)

TW!!! There are descriptions of panic attacks in here

Loud chattering and chirps filled Wukong's ears as he froze and stared at his successor in shock. He looked down to see all of his subjects pushing him back from the boy, all of them pleading for the king to forgive the child.

"What-?" Wukong lowered his hand, before stiffening immediately looking at it.

His hand was clenched into a tight fist, raised high in the air and ready to come down. The king turned back to Mk, and his eyes widened when he saw the fear struck on his successor's face.

Oh shit.

"I-" Wukong backed up and lowered his hand. Mk seemed to relax a bit, although he still seemed tense. The golden monkey jumped onto his somersault cloud and turned his back towards the boy. "Training's over. I'll see you later, bud." He mumbled. Without waiting for a response, he flew out of there. Where, he wasn't sure yet, but right now he needed to keep his distance from Mk.

Or anyone, for a while.

Mk blinked, and realized his mentor left. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and fell down. He looked at his hands, and frowned when he noticed they were still shaking. The monkeys around him surrounded the boy and cooed, none of it making sense to Mk.

"Why did he . . . ?" Mk whispered, still confused and terrified what happened to force the Monkey king to act like that. "Are those trees really important?"

Suddenly his phone rang, scaring the primates away. Mk fumbled for his phone and glanced at the name on the screen. Mei. He picked up the phone and stood up carefully.

"H-hey Mei!" Mk smiled nervously and tried to sound cheerful. "What's going on?"

"Mk, you have to get here quick!" Mei screamed through the phone and showed her panicked face through the screen. "We've got some weird demon attacking the city!" She shifted the phone to show a shadowy figure standing over a large building, similar to the one that Mk saw before in the cave. He grabbed his staff and plunged it into the ground. "It's already gotten rid of Pigsy! And it wasn't even paying attention to him!"

Mk shot up to the sky. "I'm on my way! Make sure no one else gets caught by that thing!" He hung up and pursed his lips. If this was the same monster, maybe it might have an answer for Wukong's behavior.

~~~~~

Macaque growled as he threw the finely-dressed stranger through his portal to the roof of a random building. He summoned his staff and pointed at the man. "Who are you? Why the hell do you know my name?"

The man simply stood up and dusted himself off. He fixed his suit and showed the shadow monkey the same, disturbed smile. "My name has been long forgotten, sorry. But you can call me Jǐngwèi." His grin widened. "I was told by my lady that many knew me by that name."

Macaque's eyes widened, and he growled louder. "So you're that old guard . . ." He could feel his magic swirl in his body, ready to thrash about the moment a hit was blown. "I thought you died because of your traitorous actions. How are you still alive?"

Jǐngwèi chuckled and walked towards Macaque. "That doesn't matter right now. I suppose we're fighting now, yes?" He stopped walking and closed his eyes while keeping his smile.

Macaque froze when the man disappeared in front of him, and felt his presence behind him.

"Might I ask, how did you survive that day?" Jǐngwèi looked down at the shadow monkey.

Macaque didn't answer. He swiped his staff at the man and watched as the former guard flew across the city. His hands were shaking, but that wasn't important. He dropped the glamor on his ears and listened where the thrall had fallen. Once he got a location, he formed a shadow portal and fell through it.

Macaque loomed over the man and pointed his staff at him. "I'll ask again. How are you still alive?" He grit his teeth. "I was told you died after your master was caught and sealed away."

The thrall only laughed, his grin never once leaving his face. "There were rumors that Erlang visited the mountain." He watched as the shadow monkey froze at those words. "Tell me, were they true?"

Macaque tightened his grip against his staff as his hands trembled at those words. He could start to hear a faint buzz grow in his ears, growing louder with every second. His vision blurred for a second, and the magic he hid quietly in his body burst like a bubble. The shadow monkey didn't notice as Jǐngwèi dodged random attacks while laughing.

"My my, did I touch something sensitive?" He stared at Macaque while running past a stray scarf blade that the monster behind the shadow monkey threw. "Or is it you forgot what happened that day?"

The shadow monkey could barely hear him. Even with his six-ears, all he could hear was this awful buzzing noise, grating his ears as if it were static. Old memories seemed to flash against his eyes.

Burning trees across the mountain.

Blood trailing across the once beautiful grass - whose blood was it? Why was there so much-?

Garbled voices, screams for a name - what name? Who was missing-?

A body covered in silver armor, barely breathing with her wounds and the smokey air surrounding her - was it a her? What happened? Why didn't he save her-?

You did this

You did this

You did this

You did this-

Macaque dropped his staff and fell to his knees. A nauseating pain seared through his stomach and the buzzing rang in his ears like a siren. He couldn't even hear his own sharp, quick breathing at that point.

Why was it so hard to breathe?

His hands were clammy with sweat, and his body felt oddly cold. Something warm was falling down his cheeks, but the shadow monkey couldn't tell what. His head was pounding like a drum, filling his head with its thunderous pain.

Like how he pounded his head into the ground centuries ago.

The thrall noticed how erratic the monster's attacks became as its creator became more dissociated to his surrounding world. He smiled and decided to bite a bit more. "Did you ever tell Wukong it was your fault she died that day?"

Wukong.

Macaque covered his ears and screamed.

The monster only growled and grabbed the thrall, its eyes narrowed in pure rage.

Jǐngwèi only laughed as the scarf around his body tighten. "My lady was right! You truly are the-"

He didn't finish as the shadow monster threw the man across the city. It looked down to see Macaque crying and cooed, rubbing its large head against the monkey's back. It did Macaque no good, as tears kept slipping out, along with messy and jumbled nonsense that slipped out of his mouth.

He didn't notice the human figure standing before him. He didn't notice them coming closer. He didn't notice them sitting in front of him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Macaque snapped his eyes up, and gasped.

". . . Macaque?" Mk whispered. 

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