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ninja-knox-ur-sox-off · 1 year

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Day 3: Patience/Focus

Prompt List

Pt. 3 of The Empire of Samadhi AU

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 (you are here) | Pt. 4

Wordcount: 3k

Summary: Red Son is the son of an old empire, Mei is the daughter of a new one. Red Son, consumed by fire, was put into an induced stasis sleep to stop the world from burning until his family can find a way to safely remove the fire. They find a way but he never wakes up. Hundreds of years later he awakes to discover his power resides within another as she stares at him with wide eyes on fire.

To wield the fire of Samadhi requires focus. To survive around such idiocy, Red Son requires more patience than he practised whilst creating said fire of Samadhi. But before that, Mk wakes up with a spider on his nose.

Mk woke up warm.

He hadn’t been warm in a long time.

Well, honestly he hadn’t really woken up in a long time. It was all muffled sounds, freezing cold and blurry bits of scenes unfolding in front of him here and there while he was unable to move or think clearly. It was… weird to be warm and be able to twitch his fingers without first being told to. But… nice. He really thought it was a dream at first.

He could hear muffled voices, two of them. One familiar and one not. His body ached despite the warmth as he slowly gained consciousness. His vision started out a little blurry when he opened his eyes, then adjusted after a few moments and he was greeted with a small black spider sitting on his nose.

Mk screamed.

He was already halfway up the cave wall, cramming himself into a space he could fit by the time Someone came running in, fire flickering around them. They looked around wildly, alarmed, fists clenched and guard up.

“Mk!”

The voice was loud and panicked and Mk would recognize it anywhere.

“Mei!”

He didn’t really think before he was practically launching himself off the cavern wall and at his best friend. He realized maybe it wasn’t the best course of action when he noticed how high up he’d been--and when he processed the fact she was on fire--but by then it was too late.

Mei yelped as he slammed into her from above and they both went crashing to the ground in a tangle of limbs, rings and fire.

Fire filled the cavern in a small, startled explosion. Mk’s skin burned with a distant memory of pain he couldn’t place the origin of, but before long it was clear the flames weren’t actually touching him. Despite the realization his breathing still came more shallowly than usual for some reason.

Mei grabbed his hand and pulled him through the smoke and flames to the mouth of the cavern. Mk shielded his eyes and gripped back tightly, the warmth of her hand seeping into his fingers and even up his arm. She was really there.

They stumbled out coughing.

“What is wrong with you people?” came an incredulous voice, one Mk didn’t recognize.

He glanced up, coughing and waving away smoke to try and see who it was coming from.

“Oh!” Mk said when he saw him. “Hello! You’re really scary looking!”

And he was pretty scary looking. With hair about as red as it could get, like, ripe tomato red, or maybe hot pepper red. It was reminiscent of many of the vegetables and different fruits he had seen in Pigsy’s kitchen over the years. He was dressed like Mk remembered his Shifu’s distant ancestor dressing in paintings and books. The clothes of a king, or maybe a prince or emperor, unmarred and pristine aside from it being a little dusty with streaks of ash and soot. His scowl was probably the scariest thing. That and his eyes, dark enough to be compared to coal, with just as little life in them. Honestly he looked like he was missing something very important, though Mk couldn’t begin to tell what it was. A smile maybe?

The man before him puffed out his chest a bit, looking almost proud. “Well at least someone knows I-”

“Don’t mind him,” Mei said to him dismissively, “he’s a big ol softie. He’d faint if we held hands in front of him.”

He spluttered. “I would not-”

“Oh,” said Mk, beaming. “Well, that’s a relief! It’s nice to meet you then, mister.”

The man spluttered.

Mei held up their intertwined hands for the man to see, grinning widely. “Look, grandpa. Holding hands.”

The man's entire face went nearly as red as his hair. He spat curses at them as he turned around and stomped away, kicking up ash as he went.

“Um…” said Mk. “He seems nice.”

“You get used to him,” Mei shrugged. She squeezed his hand lightly and glanced at him. “You okay?”

Mk blinked. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m good. Uh… how are you?”

Mei laughed.

At first, Mk was going to start laughing along with her, despite his confusion. But then he realized it was different from her normal laugh. It wasn’t light or giggly. It lacked that unrestrained joy that always erupted from her when she laughed. It was drenched in heavy, heavy relief. The shaky kind of relief that Mk had felt after a close brush with death during training.

Then it stuttered.

His best friend in the whole world sucked in a shuddering breath, and suddenly she was crying. Her voice was shaking between a laugh and a sob as she pulled him into a hug and held on so tightly and crushing that it made it hard to breathe.

“Mei?” He choked out. “Are you okay?” His voice was muffled by her shoulder and a piece of her hair got in his mouth. He half-spat half-blew it out of his mouth. He made a mildly grossed out noise. “Ew, ew, hair in my mouth-”

Her next laugh was torn from her like a sob and he could feel it through his entire body.

She gripped him tighter.

Something wasn’t right here.

“Mei?”

She only buried her face in his shoulder, her entire frame trembling. Mk could feel the heat from her and from the rings hovering above them. They were heavy. It almost felt like massive weights hovering over them, threatening to crash down and crush them.

With her hair out of the way Mk glanced up to look at the angry red-haired man questioningly, but whatever he was going to ask died in his throat before he could even lay eyes on him. For the first time, he saw beyond the cavern and the people in front of him.

And there was nothing but black.

Nothing but a desolate wasteland of ashes as far as he could see.

Mk gripped Mei back tightly, knees suddenly feeling like jello.

“What… What happened?”

Mei held him tighter still and all Mk could do was glance at the angry man with a lost look.

The man rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t look at me, peasant. I’m not the one with the fire.”

Mk glanced at his best friend in his arms and startled as he saw his hands for the first time.

Burns stretched over his fingers, his hands, small ones, and bad ones that looked like they would never ever go away.

Mk let out a small choked sound.

“What-?”

“I’m sorry, Mk,” Mei choked out between sobs. “I’m sorry-”

Mk wasn't sure what was happening, what had happened. He didn’t know where they were or who they were with or why his hands and everything around them was burned, or why he was afraid to look at the rest of himself, or why the clothes he was wearing felt scratchy and uncomfortable and unfamiliar. He didn’t know what the rings were floating over their head or why the fire in the cave hadn’t burned him. He didn’t know why he could only remember being cold for so long, or why now he felt warmer than ever. He didn’t know why a tiny part of him buried away in his chest felt nervous near his best friend.

Mk didn’t know what was happening, but the one thing he did know is that his best friend was crying. His best friend was crying and needed him right now. That was something he could understand just fine.

He hugged her back just as tight, squeezing until she could feel like her shaking sobs were steadied by his arms. “It's okay,” he said. “It's okay, Mei, I’m here.”

He held her tightly and Mei fell apart in his arms.

Mei and her friend talked just outside the mouth of the cave for a long time. Far too long in Red Son’s opinion. They had places to be. But when he’d attempted to tell the Dragon girl that, she’d actually snarled at him. Her friend’s hand on hers seemed to be the only thing that stopped her from actually trying to barbeque him.

The amount of patience he required just being around the two of them was already exhausting. He missed the days he could simply incinerate annoying people like them.

Eventually they stopped talking. After Mei had stopped crying. After Mk had stopped crying. After they had both stopped clinging to each other like children and crying, they finally approached him, still holding hands in a disgusting display of affection.

“Teach me,” Mei said.

“No,” Red Son said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Please?” Mk said, shuffling in place. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his free hand so he tapped it on the side of his leg awkwardly, arm swinging out away from him a bit after every tap. He was such a strange one. There was something about him, Red Son couldn’t put his finger on it, but it made him suspicious.

“No,” Red Son snarled again, this time with more venom. It was highly entertaining to watch Mk flinch, up until he glanced at Mei and saw absolute murder in her eyes. Red Son cleared his throat and looked away. “I’m not teaching you anything.”

“You taught me how to use the fire to save Mk,” Mei pointed out, infuriatingly correct.

“That’s different,” Red Son hissed out. “You weren’t fighting, so I did what I had to.”

“Well,” said Mk, chiming in in the most annoying way possible. “Wouldn't it be easier to get places if Mei knew how to use the…” he faltered a bit, glancing up at the rings hovering above Mei’s head. One of them was nearly directly over his head. Red Son narrowed his eyes and watched how Mk’s grip on Mei’s hand tightened. She squeezed back which seemed to give Mk enough steadiness to continue. “I just mean if we run into any other problems it would be better if one of us with big ol’ world-destroying power knew how to use it.”

He made a good point. A horrible good one. Good enough that it made Red Son grind his teeth and dig his nails into his arms until it hurt.

“It’s my fire,” Red Son said through gritted teeth. He missed the way his hair would flame up when he felt this way. He missed how his eyes would spark and people would stumble away, terrified of his power. As it was, the two in front of him simply stood, unphased. Mk was the only one looking even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

“Duh,” Mei said, rolling her eyes at him. “But if any of us die you won’t be getting your fire back-”

“The only one here capable of dying,” said Red Son, “is your friend here.” Mk flinched. Red Son pretended not to feel satisfied by it.

“Alright, your highness,” Mei said suddenly, releasing Mk’s hand and stepping forward. Although he’d suggested she call him your highness on several different occasions, the way she said it was devoid of any real respect. The rings above her got hotter and brighter, the fire lashing and reflecting in her eyes from within. “You shut up and listen. If you die, you won’t get your fire cause you’ll be dead. If I die, you won’t get your fire because everything will probably burn to nothing. And if Mk dies you can kiss your sweet fire goodbye because I will burn you and everything else myself if anything happens to my best friend, got it?”

Truly, her tone was something reminiscent of Red Son’s mothers. Threatening, scolding and terrifying all at once.

Red Son very nearly took a step back.

He cleared his throat. “Well… I suppose things would go… faster if you were not quite so useless.”

“Right,” Mei said, crossing her arms, unamused.

Red Son straightened up, keeping his chin tilted up. “I am not doing this because you tried to threaten me.”

“Of course not,” Mei said dryly.

Red Son bristled. “Whatever, dragon girl. Pull yourself away from your friend and I’ll show you how not to be a useless sack.”

“Thanks, grandpa!” Mei chirped, quite suddenly smiling brightly. She skipped back to Mk and took his hand in hers once again, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Red Son scoffed.

“Um, yes, thank you Mister uh… Mister…” Mk trailed off, looking a little lost.

Red Son groaned. He tilted his head back for just a moment to pray for the long-suffering patience required to hold a conversation with these uncultured peasants. “The Demon of Samdhi. Or at least I’m told by your friend that it is now my title.”

Mk jolted. His head snapped up and he gaped at Red Son.

“Wait- you’re… you’re-”

Mei patted his shoulder. “Oooo… Yeah… I forgot to mention. Um. Mk…this is… well, the Demon of Samadhi!” She paused then waved her free hand back and forth. “Surprise…aha….”

Mk made a small choking sound. He looked quite pale. “M…Mei are you sure um… are you sure traveling with the… him is a good idea…?” He nervously glanced back at him.

Red Son bared his teeth at him in a wide grin. Mk took a step back.

It was horribly satisfying.

At least until Mei shoved her hand into his face to cover it and shoved him down out of Mk’s sight, completely ignoring his indignant cursing and outrage. “Ah, don’t worry about him. He’s a big softie.”

“I will kill you,” Red Son hissed.

“See?” Mei said. “Softie.”

“Oh,” said Mk, like he had complete faith in Mei’s judgment of character. “Phew, that’s a relief. Glad to have you on our side Mr. Demon of Samadhi!”

“I am not on your side-” Red Son attempted to choke out to no avail. They completely ignored him.

“Well, Sifu,” Mei said. “When do we start?” “When you get your hand off my face.”

“Samadhi is a meditation and a form of concentrated focus. Its meaning is a form of… bringing things together. I harnessed it to create the most concentrated form of fire that exists in this world.”

Mei sat cross legged on the ground in front of Red Son as he paced before her, his arms held behind his back loosely. She had a bored look on her face, one elbow resting on her knee and her chin in her hand. He ignored her blatant disrespect and continued.

“A true wielder of my fire, should be able to become one with it, to make it their own and wield it through the practice of meditation and focus.” His lip curled as he watched Mei glance at where a gust of wind was blowing up some loose ash. “Though I doubt you will be able to do such a thing.”

“Ehhhh… what was that?” Mei glanced back at him.

Red Son sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If you want to learn you are going to have to listen.”

“I’m listening!” Mei said, rocking back and forth. “I’m listening real good.”

“If I could kill you right now, I would,” Red Son said.

“But you can’t,” Mei sing-songed. She giggled and winked at him.

“I hate you so much. You are a disrespect to my fire.” He turned to Mk and barked. “You there!”

Mk nearly fell backwards where he was balancing on a blackened boulder. His arms windmilled and flailed until he got himself steady and he stood up ramrod straight, with his arms at his sides.”Yes! What? I’m listening!”

Red Son groaned into his hands. “Of course, of course I’m stuck with two of the biggest idiots-” He exhaled sharply and looked up at them. “If either of you want to understand my fire you are going to have to start paying attention-”

“But I’m hungyyy,” Mei complained, continuing her rocking back and forth. “There’s nothing to eat around here.”

“And thirsty,” Mk added.

Red Son squinted at them both. “Idiots.”

He bothered to glance around. He had to admit, there was some concern to be had for the lack of resources. Red Son, of course, could go a very long time without those types of substances. Mei as well if his fire sustained her the way it had always sustained him.

But Mk was another matter.

He was more mortal than either of them. Lack of sleep got to him quickly. Even more quickly in the form of eating away at his attention. Food and water were another thing he clearly could not do long without and there was no telling how long he’d been without it already under the white lady’s influence.

And as long as Mk was distracted Mei would likely also remain distracted due to her worry for him and they’d blame him for it because of course they would.

“Fine,” he said. He planted his feet firmly on the ground to get their attention before he started his declaration. “We will continue this lesson after you two get yourself some sort of substance to consume.”

Mei blinked. “Uh… Samadhi Sifu… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… there’s not really… anything here…”

She gestured to the wasteland stretching around them. Red Son could still feel the fire going on under his feet. The only thing for miles around were half-melted boulders and rocks in a pattern that made Red Son assume it had once been a stream or river of sorts. The fire had long since eaten up any water that had run through it previously.

Mk blinked slowly, one eye closing and opening sooner than the other, a little off-beat.

“I know that,” Red Son snapped. “That’s why we’re going somewhere else.”

“Uhhhh…” said Mei. “Where… exactly?”

“I don’t have time to explain,” Red Son threw up his hands. “Ugh. Just- stand up, fool.”

Mei rolled her eyes but she did as she was told.

“Give me some fire.”

Mei blinked. “Huh?”

“Fire. Just-” Red Son sighed. “Just light the rings.”

“Oooookay…” Mei said slowly. She closed her eyes and after a moment the rings above her flickered to life.

Without missing a beat, Red Son snatched a bit of flame from the rings. Mei made a little surprised sound, leaning forward curiously. He tried not to bask under her clear admiration. He may not have been able to create his own fire now that it had been stripped from him, but he could still wield it just fine.

…In small amounts at least.

“Cool…” Mei said as she watched him draw the circle of flame on the ground.

“This,” Red Son said, “is a gateway. It will take us outside of the range of the fire, but only for a temporary time. Then we will be transported back here.”

“So… it's like… yo-yo teleportation?” Mk asked, glancing over Mei’s shoulder to see the circle.

Red Son spluttered. “What? That-that is an offensively simple way to put it-”

“But he’s not wrong,” Mei interrupted with a grin.

Red Son contemplated throwing them both into the circle and then running away, but that would simply be foolish and separate him from his fire. Instead he cursed their ashes under his breath and finished drawing the spell out.

“Do you want food or not?” He gritted out.

That at least got them moving into the circle and shutting their mouths. At least temporarily.

“Let’s go, Sifu Samadhi,” Mei said.

“I hope the saying of mortals melting in these portals is true for you two,” he said before activating it.

“Wait,” Mk said. What-?”

The portal burst into flames.

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#KNOX WRITES (me)#Monkie Kid the Empire of Samadhi AU #LEGO Monkie Kid #Monkie Kid #Monkie Kid Red Son #Monkie Kid Mei #Monkie Kid Mk #Monkie Destiny Challenge (2023)#Wooooo #ALRIGHT THAT'S THAT #The last bit of this I was gonna put into the next prompt but eh i needed the focus bit here so if the cut seems awkward that's why #you know my plan wasn't to only write snippets from this au for this prompt month but at this rate we're just gonna get thirty days of THIS #*WHEEZING*#HG;LSKFJAWEOF #ANYWAY GOOD MORNING REMEMBER TO HYDRATE #i really didn't edit this one much but #NO BETA WE DIE LIKE LBD'S HOPE FOR THE WORLD #EAT A SNACK HUG UR FRIEND HAVE A GREAT DAY

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