Seeing Through the Trauma

Mortality's Price (43)

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try."

It was Wukong, predictably, who rose to the bait, grinning and cracking his knuckles in front of himself.

"Gladly." MK only had a second to reach a hand out to stop him before Wukong was darting forward, power glowing brightly as he collided with the celestial, the man swiping his spear at him to shove him off.

Erlang's dog, whose name MK still didn't know, jumped forward with a snarl in defence of its master, and MK let out a yell as it went to bite Wukong's leg only for Macaque to slip out of his Baba's shadow and kick the thing back, rolling his eyes at Wukong's grateful look. 

"You're lucky I'm here." He muttered but MK still caught it.

Erlang huffed, slamming his spear onto the ground and light sprung upward into the air. MK watched it uneasily until portals appeared in the sky around them, guards appearing from those portals in seconds. 

While MK and Nezha stepped backwards instinctively at the sight of the backup Wukong only grinned wider, Macaque a silent, steady presence next to him.

"Oh ho, round two, huh?" Wukong sang, and Erlang huffed, his dog stalking around the group and watching them with narrowed eyes, waiting for its owner's command. 

"You won't be so lucky to escape this time." He sneered, and he and his dog moved at the same time, Wukong and Macaque meeting them like an unmovable force until the guards swung down too, spears and weapons swinging. 

"We have to help them!" MK yelled over the sounds to Nezha, who was watching with conflicted eyes. He softened, stepping toward the prince and grabbing his hands gently, getting him to look MK in the eyes. 

"Hey, you can do this. We need your help." He said firmly, tightening his grip on the other's hands and smiling, reminded of how the roles now had been reversed when they'd first met. MK hadn't wanted to fight then and now neither did Nezha, but Nezha had convinced MK to fight for what was right so now it was MK's turn to do the same. 

"We could use someone like you on the battlefield," MK said, parroting back Nezha's own words to him when they'd met and Nezha must have recognised them because his mouth opened in surprise, eyes widening, and then flooding with friendly affection as he squeezed MK's hands back gratefully. 

"You're right. Thank you, MK."

"Anytime." Stealing himself for a fight MK let Nezha take the lead as he started fighting the guards that had come to assist Erlang. MK worked with him, pride loud in his chest as they fought together through the small army while also keeping an ear out for Wukong and Macaque, who were fighting Erlang and his dog. 

Nearby MK could hear little whispers and gasps, turning slightly to see a few people standing in the street at the sight of the portals in the sky. Some had their phones out, mouths wide open as they presumably filmed whatever was happening. MK cringed at the sight of them, knowing they weren't safe here and wishing they would leave. But he didn't have time to do anything about it now.   

Keeping guards off their backs as well, they were at a bit of a standstill since they didn't want to completely wreck the city around them so MK ducked under the next spear swung his way and backed into Nezha, who was doing fine. 

"I'm going to help my dads. You got things covered here?" He asked and Nezha nodded, body poised for battle and ready. 

"Go ahead. I'll deal with these guys." MK nodded, trusting him as he dropped down into Nezha's shadow, popping up in Macaque's and fighting down a small laugh at the way Macaque's ears twitched at his arrival, glancing at MK from the corner of his eye.