Seeing Through the Trauma

Cover Me (29)

Macaque didn't waste time. Once he left the room, he walked into the kitchen just in case MK was listening and then fell back into a shadow portal, feeling gravity pull him down through it. He had very little time to do this before any of them noticed he was missing, so he took himself right to the celestial realm in the throne room where he knew Nezha to be. 

He could hear him, after all, talking to someone else. 

He pulled out of his shadows behind the stranger Nezha was talking to, who looked like part of the celestial army, maybe a commander of some sort, and grinned widely at the surprised look on the guy's face and the shocked, then exasperated look on Nezha's face. 

"Hey, buddy, long time no see." He said, completely ignoring the other guy in the room and Nezha sighed. 

"This had better be important, Macaque." He huffed, and Macaque's grin faded, seriousness crossing his face for a split second. Just long enough to let the prince know he wasn't just here for fun. 

"Oh, it is." Nezha looked like he was four seconds away from a migraine at Macaque's words but straightened up quickly, turning to the guy Macaque hadn't even thought about. 

"You're dismissed for now." He said to the guy, and the guard bowed before leaving, his steps loud in the big room. The walls that had once been destroyed and obliterated had been repaired, though it looked more like a quick fix if anything and when Macaque flicked his ears he could hear the sounds of work going on outside in the courtyard and people rushing around. 

It sounded busy up here, and Macaque couldn't blame them. There had been a lot of chaos and a lot of destruction and without an Emperor, it was no wonder everyone was busy.

"Surprised to see you in here," Macaque said, looking around the throne room and Nezha sighed, waving a hand. 

"Yes well while Earling is busy with the army I've been busy overseeing a lot of the construction, and, since I was the one to seal it, looking after the Emperor's power, taken from the ice witch's corpse until a new Emperor is elected. It's been tiring work, and the spirits are in chaos. Everyone's nervous about heaven's authority right now when there's no Emperor." He explained, sounding burdened and tired and Macaque winced, hating that he was going to be adding to that stress. 

"Yeah, I can hear that. Sounds like everyone's busy. Hopefully too busy to think about stealing that power for themselves." He said, caution in his tone and Nezha nodded, looking exhausted even as he stood straight. 

"Hopefully. That's why I'm here protecting it just in case though." It was almost sad, thinking about how Nezha had spent so long protecting a map and once he was finally freed of that duty now he was protecting a different power, instead. 

"Anyway, I assume you're here for a reason?" Nezha asked and if it had been anyone else it would have sounded rude, but Nezha had always been that to the point so Macaque just nodded. 

"Right. I know you've got a lot going on already but I thought I should let you in on a little problem I've heard." He said, and Nezha waited for him to continue with a 'go on' gesture. 

"Peng. I'm not sure exactly where they are right now but I think they'll cause trouble pretty soon. Just wanted to give you a heads up in case they think to come here." He told him and Nezha's face tightened. 

"That's... right. We should have thought of that sooner. Don't worry about us here, I'll keep my guard up for them. If you hear any more news then do let me know though." He said and Macaque nodded. 

"I would send some men to look for them, but at the moment everyone's busy, and unfortunately I don't think we can spare anyone. Perhaps I should ask Earling to spare a group to look for Peng before they do become a problem." Nezha said, thinking out loud as he brought a hand to his chin and Macaque couldn't help the way he cringed at the second mention of Earling. He hated that guy.