||To Change a Destiny||

{~Chapter 17: Beginning of a Journey~}

Did an hour pass? Mere minutes? Red Son didn't know anymore. One moment, they were confronting the Lady Bone Demon, and the next they were on Sandy's flying... vehicle thing. He still had to ask what it was called.

The first bit of the ride was filled with silence that carried so much tension that Red Son could cut through it with a knife if they could. Everyone had yet to truly process what they saw back there in the city.

And MK...

Red Son gritted his teeth, hands tightening on his sleeves. Let's just say that when they managed to separate the Noodle Boy and the demon, Red Son wasn't planning on making her death quick.

A sob cut through the air.

Everyone whipped their heads around to see Bai He's shoulders shaking, her back turned to them all as she leaned against the red metal of the machine. Her face was buried in her arms.

"Bai He...?" Mei placed a soft hand on the young girl's shoulder. The girl quickly shook her arm off and stepped away, tears streaming down her face.

"Why— Why don't you ha-hate me...?" Bai He choked.

"What—?"

"If I had been more c-careful... If I wasn't so stupid and ha—hadn't left your friend in the alley... he would still BE here...! He would still be here a—and you all wouldn't be sad and—!"

"And you would've become her puppet instead." Red Son finished, pushing off the wall. "That witch was like a lion waiting to pounce in that alley. And if not you or MK, than definitely somebody else. Her possessing some innocent person was unavoidable. So, don't beat yourself up over it. You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

Mei nodded. "For once, Red Boy's right. Don't you dare blame yourself! None of this is your fault. We can still save MK and beat that demon's a— behind!"

"...But how?" Bai He whispered, looking at the floor. There was a brief moment of silence before Wukong spoke up.

"With this," he said, pulling a map out of his shirt. "We can definitely defeat the Lady Bone Demon."

Everyone turned to the simian.

"Hey, don't think we forgot about the whole MK thing, buster!" Mei started, glaring. "How could you not tell any of us what had happened to MK?! You clearly knew this whole time, but didn't tell us!"

"Yeah, explain yourself! 'Cause it's pretty clear to us that you weren't on some vacation or whatever!" Pigsy added, crossing his arms.

Wukong sighed. "Okay, okay, it's true. I left for a reason. As you know, the Lady Bone Demon is bad news. So I left to find a way to defeat her once and for all. This map right here if going to lead us to a powerful weapon. It's called the Samadhi F—"

"THE SAMADHI FIRE?!!" Tang shouted, eyes sparkling as his inner fanboy came spiraling out. "You mean the legendary flame so powerful that nothing could put it out?!"

Red Son tensed up, while Wukong cleared his throat and nodded.

"Ah, yes. That. It burned out of control, so it had to be contained by splitting it into three rings and scattering them so that their flames could never be reforged."

"Hey, Red Boy? You good? You're little kind of pale." Mei pointed out, a comforting arm around Bai He. Red Son looked up to see all eyes were suddenly on him.

"I'm fine," he said a little too quickly. "It's just... when that demon was talking with me... she also mentioned the Samadhi Fire. She was saying all kinds of things about it. But... then that witch kept implying that... that the fire originated from me somehow. And that it was extracted from me at some point."

Seeing their concerns and shocked expressions, Red Son hurriedly said, "but! That could've all been just a tactic to get into my head. I doubt that the fire came from me, considering I have absolutely no—"

"It's true."

"WHAT?!" Everyone snapped their heads back to the great sage. He simply just nodded grimly.

"He was born with the fire. However, it was too powerful. It was almost uncontrollable. So, we were forced to remove it."

Red Son was left shocked and speechless, before it boiled into anger. "And when, pray tell, were you going to tell us this?!! Were you just planning to hide it as long as possible?! Just like with MK?!"

"No! Of course not! I just had a bit of hard time trying to find the right time to say 'oh, by the way, you were born with a super destructive flame that can't be put out that we had to remove, and now we have to go find it and reforge it again!' Those kind of things are just a little hard to bring up." Wukong muttered, agitated. He was already stressed enough with his student being possessed and all. Their current situation wasn't doing anything to ease it.

"Okay, let's all calm down! I'm sure Mr. Monkey King has a plan in mind." Sandy said, trying to defuse the growing tension.

Red Son scoffed, but shut his mouth anyway.

"I do. But first we find the rings and reforge the fire. That needs to come first. And we have to hurry. It's only a matter of time before that demon catches on to us."

Everyone silently agreed, sure that once they reforged the fire, they could save MK. They had to.

Bai He turned her gaze to the ruins of the city, which was growing smaller and smaller. Shuddering, she leaned closer to Mei, finding warmth and comfort. She tried to convince herself that they could win this once they gathered all three rings.

And yet she couldn't get rid of the uneasiness and fear in her heart, no matter how hard she tried.

These feelings still stubbornly stuck with her, even as they flew off into the horizon, and starting the path on the journey of a lifetime.

<***>

MK was beginning to feel numb. Maybe it was because of the frigid temperature. 

He'd heard his friends' voices. MK had almost choked on his tears. They had come for him.

No, no, no. They were going to get hurt. MK tried to shout, tried to warn them, but the demoness seemed to have gotten even stronger or perhaps him weaker, and he couldn't even get a bit of control back.

She almost killed them. His friends. No amount of screaming, crying, or struggling made her falter. In fact, she seemed to have found his despair amusing.

MK was so grateful when Monkey King came. He managed to save his friends and, thank the gods, get them away from her. MK felt actual happiness for the first time in what felt like forever.

His friends were safe. Hopefully it would stay that way for a while.

As long as they were safe, they had the chance of escape that he didn't have anymore.

And perhaps destiny had intended it to be that way.