Pretentious Faces (Masquerade Au)

Moon Dust and Bunnies

The TV blared, colorful colors filling the screen. Pigsy was sitting before it, excitement shining on his face as he mimicked the woman, "And cooking is life!" He clasped his hands together, awed by the goddess.

Wukong glanced over and hummed, "It's nice that she got a hobby. Must be lonely up there." And he knew loneliness.

MK suddenly sputtered, shoving the chef to the side, "The second ring! It's there!" He pointed at the wall behind Chang'e, and true to his word, the second ring hung innocently before their eyes. Wukong made a small, pained noise, as a flash of a memory ran through his skull.

A confession, tears, and screams.

A cool hand pressed against his arm, "Wukong?" Macaque scanned the king over with his eye, and the ginger huffed lightly, "Headache. Nevermind that, we need to go to the moon!" He cleared his throat, "Macaque, could you make a shadow portal? Take MK and Pigsy, I bet they'll have fun." The warrior frowned, "You could come, too."

The king shook his head, waving a hand, "No, uh, I'm fine." He didn't want to be somewhere so lonely. He wouldn't bear it, not with flashes of past words pressing against his mind.

Macaque finally nodded, pulling away to announce what Wukong had said. The sage sighed, sitting down slowly before the campfire. Heat made his fur bristle, but the cold made him think of heavy stone and sleepless nights. So he stayed near the blinding light, burning whatever was placed into it.

Another throb of pain slammed against his skull, making the monkey groan. Tang shot him a worried look before sitting down beside the monkey, keeping a close eye on him.

---

"We're on the moon!" Pigsy squealed in delight, looking around at each garden around them. The brunette flashed the warrior a strange look, "Uh, I thought we needed helmets?" Macaque huffed out a snicker, "Nah. Moon's safe as long as we stay in Chang'e's territory."

MK snorted, "Cool! But, uh, where's the kitchen?" Macaque leaned over, ear twitching, "We better go, Chang'e's got security of some sort." Shadows opened once more, and they ended up somewhere new. There was glass in front of them, and below there were machines of all kinds. Macaque eyed the robot bunnies and snorted, "Wukong loved rabbits, you should take a picture for him, bud." MK beamed, taking out the device and snapping a few pictures.

A beeping sound suddenly whirred to life, and the trio turned to face another mechanical bunny. Macaque grimaced, "Hey, bud? Now would be a good time to use your powers and get rid of it." MK yelped, "What?! But I--" Everyone suddenly scrambled as a beam of light flashed out, threatening to hurt them.

MK held his hands out, trembling as he tried to muster up something. Golden light flashed out, and the brunette yelled out as he strained his body. The machine rose up, twisting and turning until shrinking.

Macaque snorted, nudging the young hero, "Pictures, bud." MK fumbled with his phone, grinning sheepishly, "I, uh, meant to do something cooler." Pigsy patted the boy, "You did fine, kid. Better than havin' the thing blasting us into dust."

"Well, look who's here!" A woman appeared before them, having skated towards the intruders. She suddenly beamed before anyone could respond, her glare disappearing, "I'm a big fan!" She squeezed against them, taking selfies, "The Monkie Kid and his friends! Wow, hi! What can I do for you?" Chang'e smiled sweetly, waving an arm for them to follow her along the halls.

Macaque cleared his throat, "We're looking for a ring." MK parted his hand, making a shape, "Golden, this big, round with small symbol things inside?" Pigsy simply stared, cheeks flushed in excitement as Chang'e nodded, "Oh, that old thing? It crashed here years ago, so I've been holding on to it."