When it was getting late, Monkey gave (Y/n) his personal room to sleep in.
"While I'm gone, no one is allowed in here." he explained as he opened the door for her. "So it might be a bit dusty but- Oh god dammit!" he exclaimed when he saw the birds, which came in through the windows and have made nests on his giant bed. "Get outta here! Shoo, shoo!" he came in and waved his staff around to make them go away.
Thankfully, since the room has been occupied, there were no dust. Monkey huffed as he removed the various sticks, hay, and leaves on his bed.
"Sorry about that, didn't know they kept doing that."
(Y/n) couldn't help but let out a sleepy chuckle.
"It's okay." she yawned. "Are you sure it's okay for me to take your room though? You haven't been there in centuries."
"It's fine~." he waved a hand. "Besides, I want your stay here to be as luxurious as possible!"
'There were birds everywhere a minute ago!' she chuckled again. "Thanks, I'll make the most of it."
"You have a good night okay?"
She nodded and walked passed him to set her things down. He stood in the doorway for a moment, enjoying the sight of having her in his room. After a moment, she looked back and tilted her head. The eye contact snapped him out of his thought.
"Good night Monkey."
"Right, 'night~!" he waved as he closed the door.
"Huh, strange." she mumbled to herself as she carefully took off the outfit given to her and neatly folding it. "Kind of expected him to ask if we could sleep together."
She became tense as she realized what she just said.
"N-not like that!" she argued with herself before rubbing her red face. "I spend so much time with him, I'm picking up his bad habit."
Truth was, Monkey had another reason to not sleep in his own bed tonight. As soon as he closed the door, he rushed down the hallways while changing, tossing away the shiny ornaments without much care. He entered a large room where a lot of his monkeys were in the middle of laying down. The nap room.
"It's sleep time!" he exclaimed with a big smile. "Lights out!"
While those closest to the lanterns blew the little flames out, Monkey jumped to be in the middle of the room as the monkeys all grouped together to get into one big cuddling mass, some even piled up on top of each-other. It was a commun thing, open to any monkey who didn't want to sleep alone. Monkey had stopped doing this once he became King and had his own room, so this brought him a nostalgic warmth. It was like being a kid again. Baby monkeys snuggled up to him and he held them in his arms, one of them laid on his forehead, chewing his crown in its sleep as its tail tickled his nose. Meanwhile, (Y/n) got into bed, which was really comfortable (despite being used as a nest), and she was about to go to sleep when she raised her head.
"...Why do I feel like I'm missing out on something?"
Having no answer, she shrugged and went to sleep.
.
The next morning, bit of a bad news: our two protagonists slept so well that when they finally woke up, the mainland was too far away.
"I mean, I can still see it." Monkey said as he watched the horizon with narrowed eyes.
"I can see it too, kind of," (Y/n) said as she watched this tiny dot of land. "but going back will take a long time."
"You're right, and I said we'd be there first thing in the morning, so we're already late."
Monkey thought for a moment, humming to himself as he walked in circle. (Y/n) and a crowd of monkeys watched in patient silence. Eventually, he smiled and snapped his fingers.
"Got it. You can create a shield bubble with no problem now, right?"
She nodded.
"Then here's what we'll do." he went up to her. "I'll launch you there."
"What?!"
"In your bubble, you won't get hurt, plus the sand will break your fall."
"Why not just... Turn into a big fish or something and we can go together?"
"'Cause this is the fastest way to go, I'll be quicker by myself- no offense."
"None taken."
"It'll still take a while for me to get there. Turning into a fish might make swimming easier, but I still don't know how to swim. Would've taken me an instant with my somersault cloud." he mumbled that part. "But at least you'd just have to wait for me. It'd only take me like..." his gaze wandered for a moment. "A couple of hours."
"Is this really okay?"
"The beach is safe don't worry." he looked towards the mainland again. "There's just one weirdo there, a weak harmless demon, you'll be fine. Don't try to talk to them though."
"A weirdo...? You can really tell all the way over here?"
"'Course I can, now!" he clapped his hands together and stretched his arms. "Get in a bubble."
(Y/n) fiddled with her bag, hesitant.
"Don't worry~ I'm a good thrower!" he pointed at himself with his thumb. "You witnessed it yesterday when I killed that demon."
"Right...You're right."
She took a deep breath, to prepare herself mentally, then created a bubble around herself. He rubbed his hands together before picking it up.
"You're ready?" he asked as he stepped back.
"Uh-"
"Great! Hang on tight!"
"To what?!"
"Here we go!"
He ran towards the water while spinning a couple of times to get some momentum, then he let go and (Y/n) went flying, screaming. She looked back, seeing Monkey and his monkeys waving at her and cheering while them, along with Flower Fruit Mountain, were rapidly getting smaller by the second.
"My turn! Bye guys!" he waved at his monkeys before jumping into the water, turning himself into a fish.
(Y/n) screamed for a while, mid-way through however, she stopped and silently admired the scenery. Being in a bubble, the wind wasn't affecting her, it was as if the world itself was moving and not herself. Once she got closer to the mainland, she gripped the straps of her bag, getting nervous about how the landing will go (or crashing, indeed depending on how it will go). But instead of touching the land first, the bubble ricocheted on the water a couple of times before sliding onto the sand. She sat there, surprised of the smoothness of this landing before making the bubble disappear.
'Did Monkey knew this would happen?' she smiled to herself, knowing the answer.
She stood up and patted herself to get the sand off her clothes.
'Now I just have to wait for him.'
She looked around for a good spot to sit when she spotted something...unusual. Not far from where she was standing, someone was digging a hole into the sand like their life depended on it. A human girl, with round glasses and wearing a coat that was too big for her. The hole was deep enough for her lower half to be out of sight, and it was clear she was struggling with her task. She was mumbling to herself, she sounded panicked. (Y/n) figured this was the 'weirdo' Monkey was talking about.
'Either the demon left and she came in, or this is a demon in disguise.'
With that in mind, she turned away, with the intension of leaving without being seen. But then she heard whining and looked back. The young lady looked like she was about to cry.
"Hey, are you oka-?"
"Waaah!!!" she jumped and looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. And I don't mean to be noisy but, what are you doing?"
"I'm digging, duh!" she glared, suspicious of her.
"Yes I can see that but," she scratched her head, perplexed. "why?"
"It's for work!" she kept digging.
"Your work is to...dig holes in the sand?"
"What no! I don't have time for this!" she shook her head.
(Y/n) tilted her head in confusion. Whatever she was doing, it seemed important to this girl. Who paused in her work to wipe some sweat off her forehead.
"If I may make a suggestion: it'd be easier without the coat."
"The coat stays on!" she said, louder than before.
"Okay, okay." she raised her hands. "For someone so dedicated to her work, you don't seem to like it very much."
"Because it's not *my* work!"
"Huh?"
"I'm not supposed to do this! I told the others it'd be easier, but they all said no because digging in the sand is lame, and they were right!"
(Y/n) slowly nodded, glad to have a bit of context clues to this weird situation.
"If you volunteered to do this, then it must be really important to you."
"Ha!" she rolled her head back before looking at her, she was smiling, but she didn't look happy. "To my boss yeah!"
"Your boss?" she approached her.
To be honest, (Y/n) didn't really know why she started to talk to this strange maybe-demon, but she figured it'd be a good way to pass the time. Watching as the girl continued her work that's not really her work.
"I can't let him think my theory's stupid forever! I gotta prove that I'm right!"
"Theory...? What are you looking for?"
"A-" she suddenly looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"A secret, got it." she raised her hands again. "Your boss must be someone you admire if you want to prove yourself to him."
"Admire...?" she paused in her work and looked down. "I don't think anyone admires him."
"Really? How is he?"
"He's a real jerk!" she faced her. "Never says please or thank you, he always thinks everything is a battle of ego. And when there is *one* small tiny detail he doesn't like, he'll say 'scratch that' and he'll make me start all over again! And also, he's super scary!"
"Geez, why do you want to impress this guy if he's a jerk?"
"Because he's my boss, I have to! Or else I could lose my job!"
"Do you even...like your job?"
"Why does that matter? Do you know how hard it is for people like me to find a job and keep it?! In this day and age?!"
"People like you... Dem-?"
"Young adults."
"Right..." she glanced to the side. "I can relate to your situation. I was once in a prestigious school where the classes were hard and the people weren't nice."
"Really?" she looked up at her.
"But I pushed through because I had someone who supported me until the very end."
With these words, the young girl looked down.
"And I learned a lot of useful things there, I got something out of it. What do you get out of doing this?" she asked, genuinely curious.
For a moment, she didn't move, her face hidden from (Y/n). Then she looked back at her, scratching her head.
"I mean, it looks good on my resume, and it includes housing and food so that's neat. Uh..."
"What about the pay?"
"Pfff, what pay? It's more like an unpaid internship, that's what happens when you don't sign a contract!"
"Oww," her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry about that."
She seemed taken aback, surprised that someone was even caring, like she just realized that she's been listening to what she was saying. She glanced away.
"Umh, it's fine."
"Is it?"
"It's-" she looked back at her, once again taken aback by her question. "It's fine! I need this job. What else am I supposed to do?"
"Something that makes you happy?" she slowly asked with a shrug.
"...You know, for someone who's, what, a few years older than me, you sure talk like a retired old man."
"Wha- Old *man*?!"
"When you enter the adult world, you have to do things you don't like if you want to become someone." she kept digging. "You have to impress your jerk of a boss to climb the ladder and *then* you can get *something* out of it. And it'll make all the things you did worth it."
(Y/n) furrowed her eyebrows. She felt bad for this girl, but she at the same time admired her too.
"...Do you have another shovel?"
"Several." she opened one side of her coat to reveal a bunch of inside pockets, the biggest one had three shovels inside. "In case the one I have breaks."
"Great." she put down her bag and stepped into the hole, extending a hand. "Give me one, I'll help you."
"...what?" she asked in a little voice.
"It'll be faster if we do it together." she smiled. "Don't worry, I won't take credit if I find whatever you're looking for first."
The young girl stared at her for a moment, touched. Then she took out a shovel and handed it to her.
"My name is (Y/n) by the way." she said as she took it.
"N...Nian Zhen."
"It's nice you meet you." she extended her other hand.
"Yeah, likewise!" she said, louder than she wanted to be, and they shook hands.
The new duo began to dig again, a much faster process now now that (Y/n), a village girl used to everyday labor, was helping. In less than an hour, the hole was deep enough that only their heads could be seen.
"So what are we looking for exactly?"
"A piece of rock."
"Really?" she frowned slightly.
"Yeah. You see, a long long time ago, this rock exploded in such a powerful manner that its fragments scattered all around the country. I crushed the numbers: one of them should be on this beach. Right here!" she pointed down.
(Y/n) thought for a moment, wondering how 'crushing the numbers' would lead someone to that conclusion.
"How am I going to know it's...it if I find it?"
"Just tell me if you find a big piece of rock, I'll know if that's it."
"How though? Is it a weird color?"
"No it's-" she stopped digging and they faced each-other. "It's was made from the energy of Heaven and Earth, combined together and concentrating into this one place and this one time. That's how it was made."
"Ah, I see. And what can you do with just a piece of it?"
"My boss wants to use it for a weapon, but can you imagine what you could do if you could extract the energy used to create it?!"
(Y/n) hummed and nodded, not a lot came to her mind. They kept digging. After a while - the hole now two and a half meters deep - she hit something hard. She let go of the shovel and dug around the object. With a bit of force, she got out a large flat rock, it had sharp and irregular corners, and it was bent very slightly. It indeed looked like the piece of something bigger, round and probably hollow.
"Nian Zhen." she turned towards her. "Is this it?"
Said girl suddenly turned around and looked at it. Her face slowly lit up. She took it and happily spun around.
"There it is~! There it is~!"
Seeing her this happy now compared to when they met, (Y/n) couldn't help but smile.
"Congratulations." she clapped lightly.
"Huh? No, *you* found it." she handed it to her.
"It's not my job to find it." she gently pushed it back towards her. "I hope you get to use it for something other than a weapon."
Nian Zhen pursued her lips, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes grew glassy.
"Thank you (Y/n)."
"Don't mention it." she intertwined her fingers and bent her knees. "Now come on, let's get out of this hole."
"Okay!" she exclaimed, louder than she wanted to be, and nodded.
She placed her foot on her hands and was able to climb back up. Then she grabbed (Y/n)'s hands and pulled her up. After that, the two women filled the hole. Once they were done, they looked at each-other and nodded, mutually feeling the satisfaction of a job well done.
"Fantastic job Nian Zhen!"
(Y/n)'s heart dropped as the two of them looked back. The Three Horned Demon Lord stepped out of the forest, followed by the rest of his generals. She was about to stand in front of Nian Zhen to protect her, but then she spoke:
"My Lord! Wh-what are you doing here?"
"I heard no news from the under-covered agent in Flower Fruit Mountain, and that you went rogue, so I came to set things straight." he said as he made the rock fly to his grasp, using his wind powers. "But it seems like I was worried for nothing. The last piece of the weapon, finally mine."
"Yes! I found it!" she beamed. "With the help of-"
"You work for him?!" (Y/n) exclaimed.
Nian Zhen was taken aback by her tone and the look on her face.
"What *is* this rock?!" she sent daggers to the demon lord. "Answer me!"
He laughed.
"This," he raised his hand, holding the stone fragment. "is a piece of the stone egg that birthed the Monkey King! The essence of Heaven and Earth, combined together into ont single point, to create his soul. And now that I've acquired it, I will be able to use that same power to destroy him!"
He laughed even louder. (Y/n) clenched her fists, Nian Zhen was confused by her reaction.
"I have to say, I greatly underestimated you Nian Zhen," he spoke again, as his generals began to circle them. "not only did you found the last piece of the puzzle, but you are handing me Golden Cicada on a silver platter." he gestured towards (Y/n).
She gasped and looked at her.
"*You're* Golden Cicada!"
(Y/n) quickly got behind her and pressed her shovel against her neck, making her gasp, preventing her from escaping.
"Aww~ how cute. The righteous hero is trying to look tough."
"Give it back and let me go!" she tugged on the shovel. "Or else..."
"Or else what? You'll kill her."
"Or else you'll never see her again." she said in a grave voice, sounding dead serious.
Nian Zhen panicked while the three-horned demon chuckled.
"You won't. You couldn't, even if you wanted to. Not when you just helped her. But go ahead." he waved a hand.
(Y/n) clenched her teeth, feeling a drop of swear rolling down her forehead. Before she could do anything however, she let go of the shovel and fell limp on the sand. She recognized this feeling and looked down to see a paper seal on her thigh. She hasn't seen one of these in a while. She looked at Nian Zhen, who looked at her, shocked and agitated. She must have some in one of her many pockets, in fact, she might have been the one to create them in the first place.
"Come now," the demon lord picked up her bag and looked through it. "let's bring her back. And all we'll have to do is wait for Sun Wukong to come rescue her." he laughed. "Oh this is too easy!"
One of the soldiers held her up and knocked her out with one clean hit before she could cry for help. Not far from here, Macaque's been listening closely. He turned himself into a bug and decided to follow them, and wait for the perfect moment to strike.
.
.
Imagine Monkey's panic when he found (Y/n)'s bag with no (Y/n) in sight. When he looked inside, he noticed one of the pages of Tripitaka's book was cleanly bent on one corner. He opened it. 'Save her, choose death' was written in ink, covering the whole page. Monkey ripped it off and screamed so loudly, the ocean's waves and the forest were pushed back. He ran and jumped back into the ocean, to Guan Yin's island. It was much closer, so he reached it in an instant. Usually, there was an invisible shield around it to prevent any unwelcome guests from coming in. Monkey came across this shield, and broke it with one punch. Ignoring his drenched fur, he walked on the island and towards the castle. Her disciples saw him and tried to talk to him, or block his path. He would ignore them all and push anyone who was in his way. He kicked the door open and walked into a room where Guan Yin was in the middle of a chaotic meeting, and she looked tired from it. She noticed him walking up to her and her face lit up.
"Wukong old friend. You've reached me at las-"
"No time for any feelings except rage Guan Yin! Didn't you see what happened?!"
"Huh? No," her shoulders dropped a little bit. "after Tripitaka's death, Buddha punished me for not being able to prevent it, told me I had to take responsibility and prioritize helping the people impacted by this demon lord. But there is a lot more chaos than I thought." she held her temple. "So many innocent lives impacted by this tragedy, by this demon, I'm trying my best to help them all right now but..."
"Cool cool you're so great!" he shouted. "He took (Y/n)!"
She gasped.
"Right under my nose...?" she looked down.
"Now's not the time to feel bad! Where's his lair?! Tell me!"
She told him.
"Now," he turned his back to her and ripped off the upper part of his tunic. "Take this off my back!"
"Of course, of course! But removing a complex seal like this one, it will take a while, an hour or so-"
"Then don't bother!" he walked away, after tossing (Y/n)'s bag to one of the servants. "We'll take care of that once I'll be back, with (Y/n)!"
"W-wait! Let me take you there at least!"
"No! You keep doing your job, people need you!" he glanced back at her before looking ahead. "This is between him and me. It's time to end it once and for all!"
Once outside, he turned into a falcon and flew as fast as he could.
.
.
.
Back in her workshop, Nian Zhen wrote the special sutra she came up with into her work table, in the shape of a circle. She then placed the stone fragment in the center, and on top of it she placed a blank crystal, as big as an apple. Usually, she'd be so focused that the world around her would be blocked out. But this time, she kept glancing back to check if anything changed, and every time, (Y/n) would still glare at her like...either a disappointed mom, or a child that wasn't allowed to go play with her friends. It all contrasted with the fact that she was tied up and locked inside a cage, suspended above a pit of lava.
"Would you stop staring at me like that?!" she couldn't take it anymore and finally faced her.
"You lied to me."
"No! I just hid the truth from you," this only made (Y/n) slowly shake her head. "that's different!"
"I thought we were getting along."
"We were! But then you had to mess it all up by being Golden Cicada!"
"Oh so it's *my* fault now."
"Yes- well, no- You-!" she ruffled her hair with a small grunt. "You threatened to kill me!"
"I obviously wasn't going to do it!"
"You said they'd never see me again!"
"Yes, because I was planning on taking you away!" she shifted so as to turn away from her. "It would've been a good opportunity for you to quit your job."
"I told you, I don't *want* to quit my job!"
"Well maybe you should!" she looked back at her. "Because you're working for the guy who's trying to kill me and my friend! He's caused havoc everywhere on Earth *and* Heaven! And who knows what else he's planning to do next!" she paused. "You said you wanted to become someone, is this what you want to be?! Is this the legacy you want to leave?!"
Nian Zhen didn't say anything, turning away from her. (Y/n) huffed.
"Whatever. Because I am getting out of here, with or without your help."
She scoffed.
"How? How exactly? You're tied up with special handcuffs that block your powers, you woke up here so you have no idea of the layout of the place, place which is the enemy's lair! Not to mention that the weapon is almost complete!" she gestured towards the table. "You have no clue, and no chance of getting out of here! Not alive!"
"Watch me."
They glared at each-other.
"Okay, go ahead! Work yourself to death trying!"
She turned back to her work, trying to focus, she joined her hands together and recited her sutra. The stone began to glow an orange light, and like a reverse hourglass, the light slowly went up and into the crystal. Meanwhile, (Y/n) looked around. The only exit in this room was the door on top of the stairs. She looked down at her hands.
'First, to get out of these handcuffs...'
They were made of steel, and even though they were closed all the way, they weren't that tight on her. She figured they may have been made for someone with bigger wrists. She tried to make her hand slip away, pressing her fingers together, but it wasn't enough. She thought for a moment and then came up with an idea that made her eyebrows furrowed. She hesitated, but then she noticed that Nian Zhen was charging the crystal with the stone's energy.
'It's the only option I can think of...'
Contorting her arms a little bit, she hit a few specific points on her arm. Her hand went limp. To check if that worked, she tapped her hand, and nodded to herself. She held her thumb, shaking nervously, and took a few deep breaths before-
Crack!
"What the- Oh my Lord!!!" Nina Zhen quickly turned around and covered her mouth at what she saw.
She watched as (Y/n) slipped her hand out of the handcuff. She was able to do that easily, thanks to her thumb that was cracked out of place.
"What did you do?!"
"I numbed my hand so that I could do this painlessly," she explained as she tried to put it back in place. "something I learned in school. The thumb thing however, learned it from watching my village's doctor, who used to pop my bones back in all the time in my childhood, when I learned how to climb by myself, along with all the mischief I'd get myself into with the others." she smiled remembering these nostalgic memories.
Finally, she successfully put her thumb back into place. Nina Zhen was dumbfounded.
"...Who *are* you?!"
"I'm the one who's going to get out of here!"
"You're crazy!"
"I am *insane*!" she leaned closer. "That's what happens when all the odds are stacked against you and you're very likely to fail and there's no one to help you! You chose the crazy option!" she said, mostly to pump herself up, channeling some of Monkey's spirit.
She shook her limp hand.
"Still can't feel it."
"Yeah obviously! Want me to bandage it?"
"Why thank you Nian Zhen. I'll make good use of it when I'll be *eaten alive* by your boss!"
"What happened to 'I'm getting out of here'?!"
"It's still on the table!" she pointed at her. "That was only step one!"
"Okay, and now what? Because, I don't know if you noticed, but you are above a pit of lava! And now you have only one good hand!"
"That is true..." she looked down. "Being in a bubble did help me float on water, but I don't want to risk floating on lava."
"Exactly. You're stuck."
"It would be easier with the help of a friend." she stared at her.
"Oh wow, what a hero." she frowned and folded her arms. "Using people and calling it friendship."
"Not at all, I'm just saying that I helped you, and this could be a way of repaying the favor." she turned away. "But fine. I'll find a way out myself."
She looked up and noticed that a single thick chain was holding the cage. She thought for a moment.
'I have an idea but...' she looked at her limp hand. 'Right now, I can barely move it.' then, something clicked. 'If I can move it just slightly then...'
She concentrated as much as she could. Her hand glowed a weak and flickering blue light.
"Good enough, I think." she whispered and looked up. "Only one way to find out."
With narrowed eyes, she stood up and reached for the chain with her limp hand. The palm came into contact and stuck to it, (Y/n) then pulled herself and the cage up. But her "grip" was easily slipping so she quickly grabbed the chain with her other hand.
"What are you doing?!" she heard Nian Zhen exclaimed.
She ignored her and steadily climbed up the chain. Since the ceiling was really tall, she didn't go all the way up, which was okay. Eventually, she stopped and let go. The chain didn't break of course, but when she looked up, she noticed how its hinges on the ceiling moves slightly. She tapped her hand and was happy to be able to move it a bit better now.
"You're right, you've gone insane."
"You know," she looked at her. "for someone who supposedly voluntarily works here, you sure sounds like you're also a prisoner here. The different between us being: I'm not giving up!"
She was taken aback by that. (Y/n) repeated the process a few more times, during which she eventually gained back full control of her hand. Once she felt the cage slowly lowering, she grabbed the bars and shifted her weight back-and-forth, making the cage swing across the room. There was the sound of metal bending as the weakened hinges on the ceiling bent, and eventually broke. Nian Zhen gasped as the cage went flying and crashed onto the room's floor, unfortunately not on the table.
"Are you okay?!"
"I'll be better when I get out of here!" she exclaimed, feeling a bump forming somewhere on her head.
With the crashing weakening the cage's structure, (Y/n) leaned back and, with her ankles still tied up, she began kicking the bars until two of them bent. With her one glowing hand, she finished the job and ripped them off, allowing her to clumsily get out of the cage. Once she stood up, she waddled to face Nian Zhen.
"Now get these off of me!" she pointed at the shackles on her ankles. "Or do you want to see me break my ankles too?"
"Oh sweet Buddha, fine! Fine!" she took out a key from her coat, which she then used to open them. "Your determination is stressing me out! Just leave already!"
"I'm not going anywhere until this is destroyed!" she pointed at the table.
"What?!" she looked back at it, then at her.
She quickly took her hand and handcuffed her again. (Y/n) gasped, frowning.
"I'm sorry," she stepped back. "I can't let you do that."
"And I don't want to hurt you."
"Can't you just leave?!"
"Can't you just let me pass!"
"No! My boss would kill me if I let you do this!"
"Is your job really *that* important to you!"
"...yes!"
"That sounded forced!" she pointed at her.
"Just fight me already!"
Nian Zhen jumped on her and the two of them began to partake in an intense, but not at all violent fight. A lot of rolling around and pushing, with the occasionally annoyed 'stop it'. The biggest injury they'll get out of this will be a bloody nose or a bruise. Macaque watched, amused.
.
What was also intense but very much more violent was Monkey raiding the Lord's lair and going rampage. The lair was inside a mountain, laid out like a labyrinth and going so deep underground, it reached magma level. Monkey did not care however. He started on the top of the mountain and crashed the ceiling. Any room that didn't have (Y/n) in it would be destroyed. Progressively, the mountain was collapsing floor by floor. No sign of her, nor of the Demon Lord.
"(Y/n)!!!"
On the lowest floor, the two young women stopped their fighting and gasped.
"Monkey!" she looked at her with a grave expression, tightening the grip she had on her shoulders. "Nian Zhen, listen to me. You have one last chance to change your mind. You can come with me willingly, or I'm dragging you out of here."
"You..." she scoffed. "Why are you so nice to me?! I'm with the enemy!"
"Because you clearly don't want to be! You clearly don't want this! Now's your chance to finally stand up for yourself." her expression softened, her eyebrows furrowed. "Please... I can't do it without your help."
She pursued her lips and looked back at the table. The stone's light was now dim, and the crystal glowed a lot brighter.
"Dammit!" she took out the key and removed the handcuffed.
Before (Y/n) could say thank you, Nian Zhen rushed to the bookshelf and grabbed a bunch of bottles of different liquid.
"It's almost fully charged. We can't break it by ourselves at this point, we have to create something big." she explained as she began to pour them all into the lava pit. "This will overheat the magma and create an explosion powerful enough to blow up the place, but we'll have to get out of here fast!"
"Got it!" she said as she took some of the bottles off of her hands and poured their content in too.
"Okay!" she said once they were done, bubbles beginning to form in the pit. "Let's hurry, come on!"
And with that, the two of them ran out of the room. They could feel the whole place shaking. It was only slightly, but they figured that, the higher they'd go, the more intense it would become. In the hallways, there was a lot of panic going on: soldiers of all ranks were running around, trying to either hide or escape, and some fools went to try and defeat the monkey. It was easy for the duo to pass by undetected, still they were being careful. Nina Zhen led her to an elevator and pressed a button.
"Wouldn't it be quicker to take the stairs?"
"On the contrary, this is the only direct route to the other floors."
A short while later, the elevator slowly came into view. The door had paper panels, so they could see that someone was inside, and they both had an idea of who it was, with how massive the silhouette was.
"Nevermind stairs it is!" she whispered harshly as she grabbed (Y/n)'s arm and pulled her away.
As they ran for the stairs, they only had enough time to look back and see the elevator's door being ripped away by a powerful gust of wind.
.
At this point, calling this place a mountain wouldn't be geographically correct anymore. Monkey was panting, from the physical effort, but also mostly from rage.
"So you've chosen death."
He turned his head to see the Three Horned Demon Lord, flying out an elevator shaft that was in a barely-standing wall. He was wearing a new armor and a sword to match, with a pretty shiny crystal. But Monkey did not care or even took notice of any of the details. He charged towards him and tried to hit him on the head with his staff, but the demon blocked his attack.
"Where is she?!"
"Worry not!" he kicked him away. "I'm sure she'll get here in time to watch you die!"
"So she's escaped?" he smirked like a maniac. "Now nothing's preventing me from killing you!!!"
"Go ahead! Show me the power of Sun Wukong!"
And so, the two opponents fought. Though it was more Monkey attacking and the demon lord surviving. He knew he only needed one clean hit to end this, but a rage-driven Wukong, as he previously experienced, was a... difficult thing to deal with. But this time, he was ready, and was able to hold his own. Fortunately, whenever Monkey landed a hit, it messed him up pretty badly, but as long as he could still stand, it was fine by him. Neither of them cared about the damages they were doing to the place, their fight creating a giant hole into the ground, going further down the underground lair. At some point, Monkey swung his staff downward, and not only did his opponent moved out of the way in time, his staff crashed into a hallway, cutting into it like cake.
"Monkey!"
He looked inside said hallway and saw (Y/n) - who, if she was a few seconds earlier, would've been hit, and would've died (but she wasn't, so it's fine) - accompanied by a snake demon disguised as a human. He didn't care about that last part though, his face lit up.
"(Y/n)! I'd kiss you if I wasn't fighting this assho-"
He was cut off by the demon lord's blade going through his chest. (Y/n) and Nian Zhen gasped, the latter looked the most horrified. Unfazed, he looked down then glared back at his opponent, who removed the blame as he stepped back, confused. Monkey swung his staff and sent him flying.
"Did you really think a *sword* would kill me?!" he asked, cackling as he slowly walked towards where he crashed. "Gods, you are so stup-"
He stopped in his track, his eyes wide open, and placed a hand on his chest. It wasn't painful, but it was very uneasy, and it was spreading throughout his entire being.
"Woah." he said under his breath.
He looked at the sword the three-horned demon was holding. Now he truly noticed the glowing crystal.
"What..." his balance swayed a little bit, his face paler. "What the hell is this?!"
Panting, the demon stood back up and clumsily walked towards him, as what remained of his army slowly came out of hiding to watch the scene.
"Come now Monkey King." he smiled, showing him his weapon. "Don't you recognize your own essence? The power used to create your very soul!"
His eyes widen. He let go of his staff and it rolled away as he fell to his knee and on the floor, with both of his hands clasping his chest.
"Monkey!!!" (Y/n) shouted before getting out of the rubbles and running towards him at full speed.
Nian Zhen called out for her to not go, but she didn't listen.
"Yes! Come!" the demon lord opened his arms. "Say your last goodbye!"
She ignored him as well. Once she reach Monkey, she fell to her knees. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She raised her hands, but they were shaking too much, and she didn't know what she could do to help, since she didn't know what was even going on with him.
"(Y/n)..." Monkey said, his voice slightly shaking, physically unable to even look at her. "I love you."
She couldn't see the look on his face when he said that, and maybe that was for the best. His colors became greyer, and then, slowly, a small orb of bright orange light came out of him and began to fly upwards just as slowly, never stopping. She looked at it with big eyes and her mouth agape. Tears filled her eyes, but she was too shocked to cry. The Three Horned Demon Lord laughed at the top of his lungs.
"Finally! Finally finally!" he shouted with joy as he quickly switched the crystal on his sword for another one. "I win!!!"
With that, he impaled himself with his own sword. He soon fell on the ground and a dark blue ball of light came out of his body. His remaining soldiers rushed over. Some restrained her, others took their Lord's soul before it could be out of reach (like Monkey's), and the rest dragged Monkey's body with them.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a weak voice, struggling, but drained of all strength. "Let him go."
The demons brought him to their Lord's soul and surrounded them. She couldn't see what was going on but a few moments later, she heard the demon lord's laughter again. His soldiers stepped back, as 'Monkey' stood up, laughing with a voice that wasn't his, his eyes dark blue, and his whole body glowing a similar color. (Y/n) watched in horror as he looked at himself. He noticed the staff on the ground and picked it up, examining it and rotating it a few times.
"As light as a feather....heh, I could get used to this." he looked at her. "How ironic. Killed by the body of the one who sworn to protect you."
Meanwhile, Macaque was ready to jump in. But someone has a similar idea earlier. Out of nowhere flew a small dragon, as big as a horse, but it looked more like a snake. With its head, it pushed the demons away and put (Y/n) on its back before flying away. She instinctively held on to the dragon's mane.
"The explosion will happen any minute!" it said. "We have to leave now!"
She recognized Nian Zhen's voice, she looked really different from the dragons she saw. And by the look on her face, this transformation was taking a lot of her energy. Thankfully, her intervention shook some senses back into (Y/n).
"We have to go back."
"What?! Are you serious?!"
"Go back!" she tugged on her mane. "I am *not* leaving him at their mercy!"
"It's too late! He's being possessed!"
"I'm not talking about his body! Go back!" she grabbed her head and turned it around.
"Okay okay! Fine!"
Nian Zhen turned around and flew towards Monkey's soul, (Y/n) leaned forward and extended a hand.
"Ohoho, nice try!" the demon lord flew towards them, ready to take them down with his new staff.
"Oh no you don't." Macaque said, jumping towards him.
In a fraction of a second, the three sides were in mid-air, each with their own target. But (Y/n) was solely focused on the small orb of light. As she wrapped her fingers around it, another ruthless battle would have started, if it wasn't for the explosion, blowing everyone away in different direction. It came from deep underground, still it was very powerful. Macaque crashed somewhere in the land and the Demon Lord, just protected his head. Since he was now fireproof, he was only a bit dizzy.
"So that's why the lava was bubbling." he said to himself.
He looked at his old body. The armor protected everything but his hand and head, which were completely burned. The sword was intact, but the two crystals have been cracked, and they stopped glowing.
"Unfortunately, you were too late." he smirked.
"My Lord!" the surviving demons rushed up to him. "She's escaped!"
"Go after her, but not everyone." he dusted off his arms. "She's weak and broken now, and it's only a matter of time before his soul is no more."
"B-but what if they find a way to-"
"Even if they did. No matter what happens next, one of them will die." he smirked. "By then, I'll have gotten the grip of this new body and I'll destroy whoever survived!" he laughed.
.
(Y/n) kept the soul close to her and did her best to hang on to Nian Zhen. Finally, the shock wave stopped and everyone else was out of sight. The small dragon serpent started to sway in a daze.
"H-hey." (Y/n) patted her head. "Are you okay?"
"I'm... I'm fine. I don't do this very often." she shook her head and kept flying. "But we have to hurry. Without a vessel, Wukong's soul won't have much time before it disappears forever."
She looked at the ball of light in her hand. It felt warm. Then, she looked ahead with a grave expression.
"Guan Yin, she could help us."
"My thoughts exactly."
The rest of the ride was silent. She grew more and more anxious as she felt the soul in her hands slowly lose its warmth and its glow. After what felt like an eternity, when the sun was setting, they reached the goddess' island. As soon as she was on ground, (Y/n) didn't wait for Nian Zhen and just walked in. Asking where the goddess was to the first person she saw.
"Mistress!" one of her disciples opened the door. "Golden Cicada, she's he-"
"Save him! I beg of you!" (Y/n) pushed passed him and ran up to her. "H-His body was... stolen! His soul's... Look!" she opened her hands, the soul slowly floating upwards.
"By Heavens." the goddess said under her breath, holding her hand above it so that it would stay in place. "How can this be?"
"It's my fault." Nian Zhen walked in, in her human form, panting from exhaustion. "The Three Horned Demon Lord's plan was to kill Wukong, and I figured that the only way to do this was to separate the soul from the body. That way we'd kill him and take his physical abilities." she looked down, overcome with guilt. "Thought it'd give me some points with him."
"Never mind that!" (Y/n) shook her head, desperate. "Is there anything you can do?!"
"I can't just create a body. But..." she thought for a moment.
She gently pushed the soul towards her, and placed it between her hands. She recited something and her aura glowed. Light enveloped the soul, concealing it into some sort of orb, which then took shape, and turned into a big peach, as big as a football.
"This will give you a bit more time, but you must make a decision quickly."
"Wha... What are you saying?"
Nian Zhen seemed to understand, her eyes widen as she finally caught up to (Y/n), standing beside her.
"You don't mean...?"
"(Y/n)." Guan Yin leaned a bit closer to her. "If you eat this, you will be possessed by Wukong's soul."
She looked at the fruit. A memory clicked in her mind.
"I've been possessed in a similar way before." she said. "I was unconscious the whole time, but from what I heard, there was a limited time before my own soul could disappear forever."
"Right, and with Sun Wukong's, you won't even last a minute!" Nian Zhen exclaimed. "You'll most certainly die!"
"However." Guan Yin said, raising a hand. "You have inherited the power of Golden Cicada, it could be powerful enough to stay conscious while you're being processed. And moreover, you could absorb his own power to increase yours."
"What?" she asked in a small voice.
"I'm not suggesting you do that of course." she shook her head. "But given the situation, you have two options: either you give your body to him; or he gives his powers to you. In both cases, you'd have a solid chance of defeating the Three Horned Demon, but only one of you could live."
"I... I don't even use Golden Cicada's power, not to its full potential." her eyebrows furrowed and her fists clenched. "I've yet to even figure out Tripitaka's, I gave up on that a while ago. How am I supposed to-"
Guan Yin laughed.
"Please don't make fun of me..." she said, more sad than angry.
"I'm not," she sighed. "I'm not making fun of you, I apologize." she smiled. "My dear, haven't you noticed that, despite being 'Golden' Cicada, your eyes are cyan? Well, originally."
(Y/n) let out a little 'ah' of realization.
"That's because Tripitaka's powers are different from Cicada's, although they started the same. He was born with golden eyes, which then turned cyan during his monk training. Because his powers were shaped into something different. You weren't given anyone's powers. You simply inherited a great source of power, that you can use and shape however you want. And it will eventually present itself in a certain way depending on you and only you." she tatted the center of her chest. "Right now, these powers aren't Golden Cicada's anymore, nor are they Tripitaka's. This 'true potential' can only be accessed by you, you just have to open your soul, in your own way."
There was a moment of silence, to let this new information sink in.
"Now," she spoke again, more serious this time. "you must make a decision before it's too late. Fruits are not a good vessel for souls."
She handed her the peach, (Y/n) took it.
"(Y-Y/n)," Nian Zhen hesitated. "you don't even have to eat it, maybe... We could think of something else."
There was a moment of silence, before (Y/n) took a bite.
.
She opened her eyes. She was now in an empty space, she remembered this place. When she ate that moon cake, she ended up here too. Chang'e came up to her and thanked her for her body, but before she even had time to process, she was literally pulled into unconsciousness.
'Then...'
"(Y/n)!"
She turned around and her face lit up when she saw Monkey running up to her.
"Monkey..."
"What did you do?!"
"I'm being possessed by your soul."
"My soul?" he stopped once he was in front of her. "What about yours?!"
Her expression turned into a pained smile.
"I'm giving you my body." she placed a hand on her chest.
"What?" his shoulders dropped in shock.
"You can finally have your revenge. I refuse to take that, and your life away from you. So I'm giving you mine."
"I don't want it! Are you hearing yourself?!"
He tried to take her arm but they were both suddenly pulled back by an invisible force. She let it happen, but Monkey tried his hardest to get to her.
"Only one of us can make it Monkey!" she exclaimed when she saw him slowly advancing towards her. "It's the only way!"
"Screw that! Since when do we follow the rules?!" he shouted with great effort. "If we're doing this, we're doing it *together*!"
"That's impossible! How would we even-?!"
"We'll figure it out! Like we always do! Whatever you say, I am *not* giving up! Not on you, not on us! Never! I love you too much for that!"
A flow of emotions washed over her, tears filled her eyes.
"I love you too!"
His eyes widen. With this boost of energy, the two of them ran as hard as they could, going against the force that was pulling them appart. Slow heavy steps, but never stopping. The closer they got to each-other, the more their eyes and souls glowed, one orange, the other sky blue. Once they were close enough, they extended their hand as far as they could. Their fingers intertwined and they pulled themselves into each-other's arms.
Having eaten the peach, '(Y/n)' opened her eyes. Everyone in the room, Guan Yin included, gasped in shock.
"Well," the goddess said, a smile forming on her face. "this is new."
.
.
Back in the destroyed lair, the Three Horned Demon Lord had called every demon in the area, and with his new body, it was easy to force the local gods and spirits into working for him. With their powers, the mountain was regaining its shape, while the others were re-building the lair from the inside. He didn't allow them any break, not even when the night started to settle and it was getting dark.
"Be careful with that." he said, using the staff to point at the soldiers who were carrying his old body. "I know it's useless now, but I don't want to get rid of it just yet. Sentimental value and all."
Just as he began thinking about what he'll do next with this new body, he heard something that made him turn around. It was coming from behind the newly-built wall. It was faint at first, but as it became louder, everyone stopped what they were doing to look towards it. Something, someone what coming closer, fighting their way to get here. Finally, a hole was made into the wall, creating a doorway for (Y/n) to step in, a cloud of dust around her.
"It just got built up again." the demon lord mumbled, as his men and servants were silently panicking.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that her eyes here sky blue now, glaring at him. He smiled widely.
"Oh~ how interesting! Seems like the human was given a little power up from a friend!" he opened his arms. "But just so you know, the seal on his back only blocked *his* powers! Mine are still intact! So what will you do now?! Will you destroy his body?!
"I'll take it from you!"
"And what good will that do huh?! Sun Wukong is gone!" he ran towards her and jumped while rotating the staff. "Even if you have new powers, it's still you, a small fragile human, against me!"
Despite the dust, he could still see her glowing blue hands. Once above her, he swung the staff down, but he never touched the floor. In fact, he was stopped in mid-air. (Y/n) was holding the staff in her hand. His expression fell when he saw that her blue light turned a bright orange.
"I'm no human." she said, smirking, her eyes now the same color. "I'm a King."
Suddenly, the staff became as tiny as a chopstick, only to grow as big as a pillar the next second, hitting the demon in the stomach and making him crash against the opposite wall. In the middle of a crater, he watched as the staff returned to its normal size, with '(Y/n)' holding it. The staff's transformation also destroyed the wall behind her, so now he could see the bodies she left behind.
The thing was: apparently, when two souls are in harmony, they can both coexist in the same body. For her and Monkey, it wasn't perfect of course, so it was just a matter of time before one of them would start to slip away. To make this work, they agreed to share control of the body by regularly switching who was in control of it. That being said, since (Y/n)'s body didn't have any seals of any kind, Monkey's powers were all here, all functioning. So her body could lift the staff, even without having the strength for its weight.
"Gods I missed you so much." he rubbed his cheek on the staff with a big happy smile.
'Monkey please focus!' he heard (Y/n) say in his head.
"Right!"
He looked back up, just in time to see the demon lord coming at him. He grabbed the staff and tried to take it from him, but Monkey then head butted him and kicked him in the stomach. Panicked, the demon ordered everyone, demons and gods to attack.
"I don't wanna kill the gods." he mumbled.
'Me neither, give me control!'
(Y/n)'s eyes turned blue again and she used her chi-blocking to paralyze her opponents, regardless of who it was.
'There's too much of them, let me give you a hand!'
Her eyes turned orange and Monkey ripped a small handful of her hair. He then blew on it and the stands of hair turned into duplicates of themselves. (Y/n) gained control again.
'Now go ham!'
"Thanks!"
Her and her duplicates fought the small army. She noticed the demon lord's original body laying there in a corner. So she swung the staff and smashed his burnt head, reducing it to ashes.
'Nice! Now it's really unusable!'
The demon lord watched, motionless, shocked, speechless, as the human... Sun Wukong... This *being*, was taking down everyone who was standing in their way. In the darkness of the night, their glowing aura was clearly visible, moving quickly and swiftly, switching color every now and then. Eventually, it was just them and him, the duplicates disappeared in a 'poof'.
"Now," Monkey smirked. "it's time, finally, for a good ass-kicking revenge'!"
He ran towards him.
"N-no!" the demon lord shook his head. "This wasn't in the plan! Th-this is impossible! You're not supposed to be able to do that!"
He quickly flew high in the night sky, wanting to quickly create as much distance as possible.
"Well guess what?" a falcon suddenly appeared above him and turned back into '(Y/n)'. "We did it anyway!"
He swung the staff down. As the demon lord fell, (Y/n) took control and flew down. She hit him from every direction, in specific points.
"Get!" she said in between each hit. "Out! Of this! Body!"
And in this moment, both her and Monkey were so focused on the same goal, having this fire inside of them, that their hearts and soul combined and were in true harmony. So as they were delivering the final blow, right in the middle of his chest, they were in control at the same time, with one eye orange and the other sky blue.
"And go to hell!!!"
With that, they crashed into the ground, creating a big explosion of light. (Y/n) has used a chi-blocking technique that was normally used on people who were going through cardiac arrest (like a defibrillator). It would normally shake the patient's soul itself, but with Monkey's giving her powers a huge boost, she used that technique so that they could instead reach the demon's soul and get it out of the body. With a hand on his chest, they slowly raised it, his soul hovering beneath it. They kept raising it until it began slowly flying up. They watched it go for a good minute, then it dissipated in the wind, and disappeared. They looked at Monkey's empty body as (Y/n) gained control, both her eyes turning blue, and she began to panic a little bit.
"N-now what?"
'Put my soul back in my body.'
"How?!"
'I don't know! Try making contact with it!'
"Uh..."
She shifted to be on her knees and placed the staff aside. Hesitantly, she moved her hands back and forth before pressing them on his chest.
'...Nope, not good enough. Hurry up before I also disappear!'
"Well- I- Uh...!"
Her eyes darted around a little bit before she looked at his face and gulped. She leaned over and gently placed his upper body on her lap. She cupped his face in her hands and moved it towards hers. She took a deep breath, her face red, and closed her eyes as she kissed him. They gently glowed as Monkey's colors came back to normal.
.
.
.
Our two protagonists slept in Guan Yin's castle that night, they were given separate rooms but (Y/n) insisted on staying by Monkey's side. The goddess removed the seal on his back, but having his soul taken away from him, then put back in, has put him in a coma. Nothing serious, she was reassured, he just needed time to regain his energy. The two of them, and Nian Zhen, stayed in for the rest of the next day as well, to recover. After all, they've all gone above and beyond their normal physical and spiritual abilities. Once (Y/n) felt better, Guan Yin invited her to discuss while taking a stroll through her garden.
"I can't thank you enough for your help." she bowed.
"It's the least I can do to make up for my lack of agency throughout your journey here." she bowed too.
"N-no, it's okay!" she shook her head and waved her hands, flustered. "It was also rude of me to barge in without even a hello, I apologize!" she bowed again.
Guan Yin chuckled.
"I understand, it was an emergency."
"...How long do you think Monkey will stay asleep?"
"Well," she glanced to the side. "you know as well as I do that he has a lot of energy to recover."
They smiled at each-other.
"Do not worry," she continued. "you can wait for him for as long as you'd like."
(Y/n) thought for a moment.
"...I think I'll go." she eventually said. "I have some things to do in my birthplace, I put them on hold and I promised I'd attend to them once my journey is done. I'll be sure to come back as soon as it's all settled though."
"I understand." she nodded. "Speaking of journey, you understand that now, you must make your journey to the West, right?"
"Yes, I'll do it. Once Monkey is awake and better that is."
"Of course. Will this be another two-person journey then?"
(Y/n) took another moment to think. A smile formed on her face.
"Not necessarily."
.
Two disciples approached Monkey's room, one of them was dragging his feet a little bit.
"Man, can you believe that we have to watch over him?"
"Why are you complaining? This is a really important job."
"Sure, but we could've went with Golden Cicada on an adventure."
"Wait, she left?!"
"Yeah, said she had some family business to take care of, and that it'd bore Sun Wukong if he was awake."
"That's a good point." he laughed as he opened the door to his room. "I bet the warrior Monkey King would much rather stay in a coma instead of- He's gone."
"What?!" he pushed his fellow disciple aside to look.
Indeed, the bed was empty, his staff was gone and the window was wide open. The two young men looked at each-other, they figured that he must've heard them.
"...He loves her *so* much."
"He really does huh?"
The two of them hurried and told Guan Yin about it. She laughed and agreed that this was delightfully lovely.
"What do we do now Mistress?"
"I think... We should prepare ourselves. The pilgrims' journey to the West was already full of surprises, but this..." she looked out the window with a smile. "This is something new."
.
.
.
(Y/n) was on Nian Zhen's back as they flew across the sky. The poor snake demon would sway a little bit from time to time.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine as long as we take breaks regularly. This isn't my real form, so it takes a lot outta me."
"Well don't push yourself okay?"
"Don't worry about me, what about you?"
"It does feel weird to travel without Monkey. But it's okay, I'll come back." she looked down. "I do hope he wakes up soon."
And then, she heard it. It was far away, with a lot of echo, but it sounded clear to her.
"(Y/n)~!!!"
Her heart jumped, and she slowly turned around, her now permanently bright blue eyes wide open. In the middle of the endless sky, was just one dot, rapidly approaching, and she knew exactly who that was. Monkey was standing on his somersault cloud, with the biggest brightest smile on his face, flying towards her and pushing the clouds away with how fast he was going.
"Wait," Nian Zhen stopped and turned around. "is that Sun Wukon- Woah! What are you doing?!" she exclaimed when (Y/n) suddenly stood up.
"Thank you so much Nian Zhen you made mistakes but deep down you're a nice person don't try to catch me bye~!" she quickly spoke as she put her bag on her shoulders.
"Wawawawait! (Y/n)!"
But she ignored her and ran along her back before jumping. In the air, she spun around a few times before facing down. Despite the obvious danger of this move, she felt such a warm sparkling joy that she couldn't help but laugh, her laughter echoing throughout the sky. In less than a minute, Monkey was under her, his arms outstretched to her. She outstretched hers too and gently fell in his arms. They both laughed wholeheartedly as they held each-other, rejoicing in the other's presence. Then, they fell silent, their smile softened. She placed her hands on his cheeks before they kissed, as they rode on this little cloud, to their new journey together.