A Son Of Two Dad's

Monkey in the Middle

Macaque hadn't known what Wukong was suddenly interested in until he'd asked for the gourd and then he understood. 

"W-what?" MK stuttered out, confused, and it was enough. One moment he was there and then the next he wasn't, leaving behind only her. 

In her own form was just the Lady Bone Demon, sitting where MK had been moments before, and relief made Macaque breathe out, chest untightening.

At the sight of her, Wukong flinched back, clutching the gourd close to his chest protectively, his arms wrapped around it like he was hiding it from sight. 

"No." She uttered, toneless as she stared down at her hands. Then she snapped her gaze up, eyes blazing with fury as she clenched her hands into fists. 

"You think you're so clever. You think you've won." She sneered, still kneeling on the floor, everyone watching her life she was a cobra about to pounce.

"You're wrong." 

She didn't give them a second to react, lunging to her feet and at Wukong, ice careening around them. 

A mess of ice broke out, Wukong dodging backward with a yelp, the gourd still tucked protectively in his arms. 

She spun at him, an ice spear in each hand as he ducked away, wishing he had the use of his hands when he backed up into a wall of ice and ran out of room to move away.

"I will break you." She promised with a hissed whisper, pressing close to him before her eyes flickered down to the gourd in his hand, a grin stretching across her face. 

"Over my dead body." Surprisingly it had been Macaque, who'd gotten over and pushed her back from Wukong with a shove, standing in between the two with his staff in his hands. 

"That can be arranged." She chuckled gleefully, the sound cold and grating and Macaque winced at it, hated the way it sounded as his eyes narrowed. 

"Get out of here!" He yelled back at Wukong, not taking his eyes off the Bone Demon for even a second. 

They had MK. They could just go. He needed them to go.

"But... what about you?" Though something in his chest warmed at the concern, he didn't have time for Wukong to worry about him now. 

"Just get the others and leave. I'll be right behind you." He promised but the words sounded like lies on his tongue and he thought Wukong heard it too. 

There wasn't time for any more negotiation as the Bone Demon used the distraction to swing at Macaque, laughing creepily as Macaque blocked. She twisted her weapon to move Macaque's staff to the side, swinging with her other arm at the opening she'd provided that Macaque dodged away from only to have to spin away from the ice shooting at him from the ground.

The air was cold as he moved backward, breaths heavy as he ducked under her next swing, kicking his leg up to knock her over only to flinch away from the cold she was producing the moment his leg made contact. 

She did stumble from the contact and Macaque drew back with a hiss, wanting to rub the goosebumps off his leg but knowing better than to leave himself open. 

She struck at him again and he blocked with his staff, the sound of ice grinding against his weapon filling the air, the temperature dropping further. 

"Look out!" Macaque heard the cry of warning, letting his instincts guide him as he dove to the side, narrowly missing a spike coming at him from behind. 

It still hit him though, just grazing his side enough to draw blood and he scowled at her. 

"That's cheap." He complained, knowing she wouldn't care and she grinned wider, eyes chilling. 

"So is this." He braced himself as ice came at him from the side, feet moving as it covered the ground until it caught him, trapping one of his feet. 

"Shit." He couldn't help the swear as it fell from his mouth, feeling the burn of the freezing ice on his foot as he raised his staff and swung it down without hesitation. 

It cracked on the first swing and broke on the second, freeing him, but the delay had been enough time for the Bone Demon to get in close. He just had time to look up at her when she was tackled to the side, Macaque's eyes immediately widening in surprise as he watched her fall to the floor, Wukong on top of her with snarling teeth and a growl. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Macaque shouted as Wukong wrestled the Demon, getting flung off before he landed in a crouch, tail lashing about behind him wildly as the Bone Demon got to her feet. 

"You're supposed to be-" Protecting MK he'd thought but Wukong interrupted him, jumping away from ice aimed at him. 

"It's safe." It wasn't enough to placate Macaque but perhaps it was a good thing Wukong hadn't blurted out what he'd done with their son in front of the monster that wanted to hurt him. 

How he'd had the time to put it somewhere safe before helping Macaque he didn't know-

A quick glance behind him showed that Wukong had left it on the ground only a few meters away from them and Macaque wanted to scream. 

"You absolute reckless idiot." He couldn't help but grit out, fury scorching in his chest and Wukong grinned sheepishly.

The Bone Demon noticed it too, making eye contact with Wukong before moving towards it with purposeful casualness. 

Immediately Wukong and Macaque were jumping into action, adrenalin bursting through their veins as they fought together to keep her away from the gourd, spinning around and protecting each other like it was second nature.

Red Son meanwhile was moving towards the unattended gourd, intent on helping keep his friend safe while chaos unfolded around him. 

He was reaching out for it when his ice came at his hand, making him move back to avoid being hit. He snapped his gaze over to the fight where the Bone Demon was multitasking between keeping Macaque and Wukong engaged while watching Red Son in her peripheral. 

He huffed as Wukong tried to punch her, fire burning from his hands as he melted the ice in front of him, careful not to go near the gourd with it before grabbing the gourd and moving away, ignoring his instinct to get into the fight himself. 

His parents would kill him if he got hurt. 

"Now you're annoying me." The Bone Demon told Macaque as he'd blocked her from striking Wukong for the fifth time and the fact that both of them were working together was really getting on her nerves because she started picking up the pace after that, getting faster. 

As his breathing got heavier with the effort of pushing back against her ice spears he couldn't help but mentally hope Mei would get back soon, his injuries from before aching and muscles burning with cold the longer he kept going. 

In the caves, Mei moved around, horridly lost in the dim lighting that was just her lightning bouncing off the walls.

(Hey! I know it's been way longer than I meant it to be! Turns out, the first few weeks of uni are super chaotic and stressful, but it's calmed down a bit now. I actually only had time today because I fainted earlier and don't feel comfortable going anywhere since I still feel dizzy but still wanted to be productive. 

And yeah I could have done some more of my reading but who wants to do that? Not me, that's for sure. Homework sucks. 

I hope you've all been doing well, and I'll be back to updating every other day!)