♡Innocence♡

62: The Brotherhood Pt 1

The Monkie Kid have found themselves in a new place while Y/n still clutched her chest. MK looked at Azure Lion in confusion, "Azure? Where's Monkey King?" Azure Lion just grips the Scroll of Memory as Mei shouts, "Explain yourself, Azure!" MK turns even more confused, "What are you-" "Azure has been lying to us, MK..." interrupted Y/n as Sandy still carried her.

Sandy says, "Um, Maybe we should give Mr. Lion a chance to explain." Tang retorted, "I saw it! Here. Whatever this place is. Him!" Tang explains, "Plotting to take down the Monkey King. That was his plan all along, to trap Monkey King inside that scroll and do something sinister, something bad, probably." Y/n just blinks as she leans her back against Sandy's chest while wincing. MK looked at her in concern as Azure Lion stared at Tang in surprise, before looking away with a hum.

Mei points at Azure Lion, "See?! He's basically admitting it!" She huffs, "And to think I modeled my brand new sword after yours! Gross!" Azure Lion looks back and shakes his head, "It wasn't my intention to deceive you, but I knew you wouldn't understand. Sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness, not permission." Y/n removes herself from Sandy's arms as she stumbled a bit, but stood on her feet.

Mei sarcastically says, "Ooh, okay." She huffs, "Then I hope you won't be upset when I don't ask permission for this!" Y/n was about to say something, however Mei lunges forward with her blade out in front of her. Azure Lion remains unfazed as he steps away and around, unleashing a volley of ink from the scroll. Mei leaps up and brings down her sword through an opening but a hand reaches out from the scroll and brilliant flash of light explodes. She finds her blow blocked by a pair of golden wings.

Y/n widened her eyes in surprise as the bird spoke, "Greetings, little girl." He then opens them, throwing off her balance as she slams into a pillar. Y/n shouts in worry, "Mei!" However, Y/n winces as she crouched down onto her knees while clutching her chest, 'O-ow...'

MK looked at Mei then Y/n in even more concern. "Hold on," said a concerned Azure Lion.

The rest of the Monkie Kids minus Y/n leap at the bird and Azure Lion, but Sandy pushes Tang out if the way at the sight of another weapon coming at them. Pigsy crashes to the ground while Sandy tries to hold it off but he is defeated by a giant elephant. Mei looks up to see a ji pointed at her by the bird, who also has a claw on Tang. Meanwhile MK was with Y/n, "No! Please, Azure..." Y/n winces when she notices MK's Monkey form flickering.

The bird stares at Tang, "If it isn't the Great Monk Tang Sanzang. You cannot imagine how I've longed for this moment." Azure Lion stopped him, "Peng, Stop! This man isn't who you think." Peng laughs and puts away his wings, "Took you long enough, brother." MK and Y/n looked at each other then back to the scene as Peng continued, "I feel as though I've been trapped in that cursed thing for 10,000 years."

The Elephant questioned, "How long has it been?" Azure Lion answered, "Oh, I don't know, truth be told." He sighed, "Yellowtusk, bring it in, old friend." Yellowtusk and Azure Lion hugged each other. "Azure."

Azure Lion and Yellowtusk stopped hugging as Azure Lion turns to MK and Y/n. He apologized, "MK, Y/n, I'm sorry things got so out of hand. Let me introduce you to my brothers, The Golden Peng and Yellowtusk the Wise." Tang questioned, "So, this was all just some elaborate plot to break your friends out of prison or whatever that scroll is?" MK shouts, "But why not just tell us?!"

Mei frowns, "He's a Villain, MK. We never should have trusted him." Azure Lion sighed, "Okay, okay. An explanation." Y/n just frowns as Azure Lion looked at MK and Y/n, "I owe you two that at least. If you will allow me." He then unrolls the scroll and opens a memory for the three of them (MK, Y/n, and Azure Lion).

Y/n blinks as she saw past Azure Lion, "Is that you?" Azure Lion nods, "Yes. Oh, I was a strapping lad back then. I was once a Celestial Warrior, fighting to protect the weak. Or so I thought. [Y/n frowns] Over time, it became clear to me that the Jade Emperor's only concern was keeping his subjects under his foot. He cared not for the plight of those he ruled. And then I learned of the Monkey King, whose only allegiance was to his people. He'd made his land a paradise. I knew here was a warrior with my ideals. A brother. A king." MK frowns, "You all seem so happy."

Azure Lion sighed, "We were. We were going to change everything. It was glorious." MK and Y/n looked at each other then back at Azure Lion. Y/n asked, "What happened, Azure?"

Azure Lion then pulls up another memory, "We followed our King into glorious rebellion. Though the might of the Celestial Host stood against us, victory was in sight. But in the final moment, the Monkey King failed. He wasn't strong enough to defeat the Jade Emperor. The battle was lost. Our cause destroyed and our King struck down. However, fate had one last cruel twist for us. Sun Wukong now yielded to an agent of the Celestial Host, another warrior for the oppressors. Even so, our cause still burned strong in our hearts. While Sun Wukong cut down our kinsmen, we set ourselves on a greater path. If the Monkey King had it in his power to create a paradise on earth, so, too, could we. Here at Camel Ridge. But the Celestial Realm did not abide the competition. My former brother was sent to destroy us and all we had built. It was with their combined power that we were cut down, imprisoned within this scroll, left at the mercy of the Celestial Court."

He then takes them out of the scroll, as MK quickly catches Y/n while making sure she's okay. MK looked at Azure, "That can't be true. Monkey King's a hero. He wouldn't just-" "You two saw it with your own eyes," said Azure Lion. Peng huffed, "Save your breath, Azure."

Azure Lion however continued, "His betrayal, his brutality. He took the only friends I had from me. I would have doen anything in my power to bring them back. But it wasn't in my power, [he looks at MK] it was in yours. You saved my friends. You returned them to me. And for that, I am eternity grateful."