Monkie Kid: Mommy Dearest

It All Became Clear

Harvest King with his long hair covering half of his face silently glared at Macaque with disgust and hatred. Macaque knew why Harvest King hated him; Macaque was a demon, who not only married his youngest daughter but got a high-ranking title in the Celestial Realm, regardless of him being a demon. Harvest King's hate never affected Macaque, he found it amusing.

"Why would I help you?" Harvest King spat out, "you're why I'm in here!"

"True," Macaque shrugged, "but you're here because your daughter didn't want to see you die."

"She's no daughter of mine!" Harvest King roared. "The moment you laid hands on Chyou, she became a vile--"

Several of Macaque's shadow clones surrounded him, Macaque's amused expression became a cold glare as his eyes flashed purple.

"It would be in your best interest if you didn't continue that sentence," Macaque threw the thorn inside the cell, "make yourself less useless and read what it says."

Chyou sat silently across the table from Ai as tea was being served to them by another one of Yue Lao's servants.

"How are things in the Mortal Realm?" Ai took a sip of his tea. "Did you and that Six-Eared Macaque become an item?"

"That is not important." Chyou remark.

"Of course, what a foolish question," Ai chuckled. "Everyone in the Celestial Realm has heard the story of how a no-name princess married the Six-Eared Macaque, one of the lackeys that joined Sun Wukong in their attempt to tack down the Jade Emperor."

Chyou sat silently as Ai continued his nonsense rambling about what she chose to do with her life.

"And where is she now?" Ai rhetorically asked. "Well, after she ruined my and her own sister's life, she got to live happily ever after in the Mortal Realm with her new family and have a child."

"If you're done," Chyou took a sip of her tea, "I would like to continue."

"Fine," Ai slumped in his chair with a scoff, "how can I be of service?"

Before Chyou responded to him, she turned her attention to Mei and Chenguang who were still silently glaring at Ai. "I can handle him myself; you go join the others."

Mei was getting ready to speak up when Chenguang stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder, leading her out of the room.

"You used to be the biggest socialite in the Celestial Realm, and knew almost everyone," Chyou placed a piece of paper on the table between them. "Can you please tell us who wrote this?"

Ai looked at the paper before placing it back down and slowly shaking his head.

"I can't tell you who wrote this," Ai sighed. "This celestial language is something I'm able to translate but a unique thing about it is that it leaves a remnant type substance on the item the language was originally one."

"So, the piece of paper is useless?" Chyou crossed her arms.

"For tracking? Yes." Ai nodded, "I can translate it?"

"Please," Chyou let out a desperate and tired sigh, "maybe that can give us a lead. What does it say?"

"The sun will bring in a storm of thorns?" MK tilted his head confused.

Harvest King translated the language. "Yes, that's what it says, unfortunately, I don't know who wrote it or how to find out who wrote it."

"So, we're back to square one?" Wukong sighed.

"It looks like it." Macaque turned his back to Harvest King. "We should head back and catch up with the others."

The three began to walk away from Harvest King, who went back to hanging his head low. 

"How is she?" Harvest King's voice was above a whisper. "Word has it, that you've had a child. Is it true?"

Macaque turned back when Harvest King had spoken. When they first arrived at the prison seeing Harvest King bound by chains and unable to escape brought Macaque was twinge of joy, especially after what he did to Chyou; but looking at him again, Macaque felt bad for him.

He approached the cell and kneeled. "Your daughter is doing well, and what you've heard is true. We have a little girl, and every day she's growing into a beautiful and smart young lady, just like her mother."

Macaque didn't let Harvest King get a chance to speak, he stood up and silently walked away without another word.

By the time everyone returned to the ship it was nightfall. Daiyu and Mo had fallen asleep in her room, with Chyou leaning against the open doorframe smiling at them, before quietly turning off the bedside lamp.

"Goodnight my sweet girl," Chyou whispered to her daughter, "I promise we'll return home as soon as possible."

After Chyou placed a kiss on top of her daughter's head, she returned to her room. Everyone had gone to bed for the night, getting some sleep and waking up with clear heads would help. Wukong was sleeping in his room, tossing and turning. He was having a nightmare, a memory from the past.

Wukong was high in the clouds during a violent storm, the rain had soaked him and his cloak. Lightning flashed inside the dark clouds; he could barely hear the echoing low chucking of a woman over the wind and thunder in my ears.

"Sun Wukong," the female voice. "The Great Fool, Equal to Nothing, did you think you could persuade me?"

When Wukong turned around, a hand landed on his throat. All Wukong could focus on was the twisted smile on her lips.

"Let this be a warning," her smile turned into a sneer. "When the time comes, I will find the child and use it against you. This will be the calm before a storm of thorns."

Wukong jolted awake with a cold sweat and heavy breathing.

"How did I not see it was her?" Wukong muttered with his mind still racing.

He sat up in bed, face in his hands trying to calm himself down, when he realized what he said had finally clicked. He jumped out of bed and ran to wake up the others.

The adults had gathered back in Red Son's lab, still in their pajamas and still waking up from Wukong's sudden burst into their rooms.

"This couldn't have waited until morning?" Red Son yawned.

"I feared we may have been too late if I waited." Wukong responded. "I figured out what the scroll meant."

"Y-You did!?" Red Son exclaimed. "W-What is it!?"

"We had misunderstood the phrase." Wukong explained. "It was never 'The sun will bring a storm of thorns', it was 'The son will bring a storm of thorns'. Whoever this person is, they plan on using Tao."

"But we still don't know who took Tao." MK pointed out.

"Actually," Wukong sighed, "I think I do, and I thought I would never have to see her again."

"Who?" MK started to get worried.

"The Lady Thorn Rose, she was one of the greatest alchemists in the Celestial Realm before she vanished," Wukong turned away from the others, "she's also Tao's mother."