Seeing Through the Trauma

Golden Memories (7)

"...I'm sorry." 

All those feelings stopped at the sound of the whispered words and MK swung his head around, eyes finding his dad in the doorway, watching him with a deep frown and MK blinked, wiping away at his tears in confusion. 

"Dad?" He stood up suddenly, realizing as he scanned the other up and down that this was actually Macaque, not just a memory, and relief flooded him so quickly that he gasped out and rushed forward, almost tripping on his tail as he almost knocked the demon over in a hug, his anger easily shoved away.

"DAD!" He buried his face into his fur, clutching on tight as his tail immediately wrapped around the other's leg, holding on just as tight and just as close as though he'd disappear again if he didn't.

"What?" Macaque sounded confused, his hands hovering over MK's back but not hugging him back even as MK looked up at him with a wobbly smile on his face that contradicted his puffy, red eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Why are you..." He trailed off and MK tilted his head, sniffing as his hands clung on tight while he waited for Macaque to finish his thought.

"Why don't you hate me?" MK froze at the question, leaning back just to scan his dad's confused, self-loathing expression and just how wrecked he looked and all four ears dropped back in puzzlement.

"What? Why would I-" But he didn't finish, cutting himself off because he already knew the answer. Macaque still answered it for him though.

"You saw what I did! All of this is- it's my fault! All of it! I was- You should hate me. Everything I've done to you it's just too much! How could you possibly look at me without thinking about what I did? I ruined your life! I hurt you! I hurt you and Wukong and-"

"Dad." MK's voice was firm as he interrupted. He understood what was going on. Macaque had been here, stuck watching the worst parts of his life play out and showing him every mistake he'd made so it was no wonder he was so frantic. MK had only seen a few of those memories and it had already made him feel things he didn't want to feel.

"It's... it's not okay but I forgave you, okay? Let's just... let's just go home. I'm so tired of being here." He wanted to leave and he certainly didn't want to see anymore.

Dad stared at him for a long moment before chuckling, a small smile crossing his face as he tucked MK's head under his chin, letting himself finally hold him and MK melted into the embrace. 

"...You really are a good kid." He mumbled out, fond and MK forced himself not to flinch, his heartbeat quickening at the lie. He wasn't. MK was... He wasn't good. He was destructive and no matter what he did he got people hurt. But Macaque didn't know about what he'd done yet. He didn't know that MK was likely to accidentally hurt any of his friends just because he couldn't control himself and that he actually had already done so.

So he kept quiet, smothering his self-hatred down so he could hold out his hand to Macaque. 

"You ready to get out of here?" He asked and Macaque nodded, a small smile on his face as he took MK's hand. 

"Ready as I'll ever be." A flash of light appeared from around them, almost blinding as MK quickly closed his eyes, bringing his hand up to cover them when he stumbled and suddenly he was blinking them open again, feeling dizzy as he looked around him at Red's house, both his friends nearby.

"MK!" Mei rushed over quickly, tugging him into a crushing hug and he let her even though the touch made him anxious with thoughts and out of the corner of his eye he saw Princess Iron Fan approach Macaque, saying something he tried not to listen in at. 

"I'm so glad you're okay. You are okay, right?" Mei asked worriedly, her eyes flittering over him like she'd find some wound he hadn't mentioned at any moment and he nodded his head, a soft expression breaking onto his face at the reminder of what a good friend she was.