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morfanerina · 2 years

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Lost and Found (and Lost again)

Six-eared Macaque was always a wanderer, never managing to quite keep to one place. There was too much to see from what he could hear and staying for too long kept him antsy. He needed to move, as the wind from which he was born did. Then he meets a little Stone Monkey. –.----.-- A life when Macaque becomes the main caretaker of a stubborn stone born Monkey. From their first meeting to the beginning of the Journey to the West.

CW: Some blood and (not really descriptive but to be safe) gore, Animal Death.

Chapter 1 of 3

Chapter 2/Chapter 3

Also on AO3

Macaque sighed, ears fluttering while he tried to discern if there was any danger around. He could hear a monkey tribe nearby, the aura of yaoguai faint but already present even as far away as he was. He played with the idea of asking the yaoguai for shelter, they were probably even monkeys considering the area, but dismissed the idea. Rarely were kingdoms this isolated kind to travelers like him. The normal monkey tribes, however, usually didn’t care, even if they were wary, they tended to just stare at the intruder, maybe even greet him, so they were always good to bunk down. Also, wild monkeys always knew where the best fruit was.

He was surprised to notice they weren’t quite normal monkeys. A bit more intelligence in their eyes while studying him, though not to an yaoguai level. Maybe.

Seemed FlowerFruit Mountain was as special as the rumors said.

The spiritual monkey wondered if the rising risk of being attacked was worth staying in a place with food and fresh water in abundance, as he passed by a group who went silent and was staring at him going through.

His stomach growled, a couple of the closest monkeys turning to stare at him.

Yeah, he needed to refuel. He just had to pay a bit more attention than usual. No problem.

Just as he decided that, a small hand tugged at his fur and he did his best to hide his flinch before looking down to his side to see a small monkey, with gold fur and golden eyes, staring curiously, and fearlessly, up at him.

Bending down to look closer at the cub, his ears fluttered trying to catch any suspicious sounds around besides the movement of leaves and bird calls, and he saw as the little monkey’s eyes widened in delight. Not the usual reaction Macaque got when anyone noticed his ears, but he wasn’t going to complain about it.

The cub chirped and Macaque blinked, taking a moment to think about what the cub said. His monkey speak was a bit rusty but he eventually picked the cub at a distance, arms outstretched and leaving the cub dangling awkwardly. He picked up a snort from his until then unnoticed audience.

There goes the extra attention to his surroundings.

The little monkey gave him an unimpressed grunt and then tried to reach his ears “Yeah, not going to let you reach them kid,” he said, and the audience started to mutter around. The kid looked at him with a squint and he awkwardly tried to use his, admittedly very rusty, monkey dialect.

The cub wasn’t the only one snickering in response to his attempt which, ok, was just rude. Then the kid unexpectedly twisted and fell with a disgruntled huff, a pouting look thrown to someone behind Macaque. Quickly he turned, expecting to have to deal with a protective member of the tribe ready to (attempt to) pummel him to the ground. Instead, an elderly gibbon approached, a couple handfuls of monkeys scattered near the closest trees but far enough to immediately hide if they needed to, leaning forwards to watch the interaction. He honestly couldn’t tell which were yaoguai and which were just normal monkeys.

The gibbon cooed at the cub next to him and the kid huffed. Instead of obeying the older primate, the cub plastered himself to his leg, refusing to go to her side.

Well then. This was happening.

Instead of starting to accuse him of something, the gibbon didn’t look surprised and looked at him, dark eyes studying the six ears he was named after. He tried to look as benign as he could. He really didn’t want to get attacked by overprotective monkeys.

“Who are you?” Macaque blinked. That. Was Chinese, accented and a bit old fashioned, but still recognizable. He introduced himself, affirming his interest in just passing through and to rest, if possible. Emboldened by the non-aggressiveness towards herself and the cub, the gibbon pressed her questions, relaxing as he answered glibly.

As the cub started to yawn and the audience dispersed, the gibbon eventually seemed satisfied with her questioning and invited him to share some fruit. This reminded his stomach that he was starving and the growl actually startled the sleepy little monkey leaning on his leg, who looked up at him in disgruntlement.

Chuckling, the old gibbon finally approached the two and picked the golden cub, who immediately clung sleepily to her back. With a gesture to follow her, she started to walk. Macaque followed her to a mango tree that she climbed nimbly, throwing a couple of them to him still on the ground.

“I can climb,” he muttered and then scarfed down the mangoes in such a speed he almost choked. The gibbon snorted, somehow having heard him, and turned her attention to the cub, cajoling the child into eating the fruit before he fell asleep. With more energy in his body, Macaque climbed next to the gibbon and tried to not to flinch as the cub immediately turned his attention to him. With another snort, the six eared macaque suddenly had a lap full with a bemused young monkey, and a half peeled mango in his hand. The gibbon’s lips twitched and then she went to pick more fruit, gesturing to both of them to stay put.

Golden eyes looked up into yellow ones “Guess I’ll be feeding you now,” the older monkey said, bemusedly.

When the gibbon returned with a cloth full of different fruits, she looked unimpressed at the two monkeys as Macaque was grumbling and straining to keep the cub at arms length so as to stop him from reaching his ears. She huffed and they both looked at her with wide, startled eyes, the mango’s pulp somewhere between Macaque’s and the cub’s fur. She offered the fruits she had gathered in a cloth, the child squealing in delight at the peaches he could glance at, immediately forgetting about the ears again.

Macaque did not have the privilege of forgetting his namesake and winced at the noise, releasing the cub to rub his pained ears. He barely had time to consider if maybe he could find another tree before he was being tugged again by the child, who offered him a couple of peaches. He muttered a thanks and settled, the cub deciding to snuggle on his fur for his meal, and he nibbled at the biggest peach, feeling awkward by being observed by the gibbon, who seemed content to nibble on mango.

“So, your cub is energetic,” Macaque commented, still feeling the stickiness from the mango juices he had attempted to get the child to eat clumping parts of his fur. As if his fur wasn’t in need of a good cleaning before this. “Unusual to let them get close to strangers.”

“I’m too old for a cub. That’s Stone Monkey,” she added and he blinked. A name? For a cub? Stone Monkey? At his surprised look she nodded “Born from the FlowerFruit Mountain’s own stone egg.”

Macaque could only look down at the sleepy cub in surprise “Ah,” he uttered, and tentatively used his own magic to check what he could now guess from that story. He was careful to not manifest any actual shadows, even though the dim light would hide them, and he could feel that the little monkey’s aura wasn’t yaoguai or really any of the animals but other .

A spiritual monkey. Like himself.

The old gibbon huffed and he turned his attention to her “He’s like you yes, Six-ear,”

We are the only ones around Six-Ears.

“That why you didn’t stop him from getting close?”

“Oh no, I only noticed after you picked him up, I thought he had been playing in the stream with the rest of the cubs,” she said, sighing in exasperation. With that, they moved onto other casual topics, Macaque kindly not mentioning the suspicious mutterings of the monkey yaoguai surrounding the area around him (getting worse ever since he had climbed the tree), just as she did not mention that she knew he knew about them. Allowing him to have the cub pressed against him was both a sign of trust and protection against more territorial beings after all.

-:::-:::-:::-

Macaque should have expected to be put into babysitting duty the next morning. The gibbon, introducing herself as a yaoguai who just preferred being alongside the still organized but wilder monkeys of this mountain, had asked him for the favor in return of helping mend his cape and getting more traveling supplies.

“Mostly dried fruit,” she admitted when he asked what she could offer him “Maybe a few dried nuts with luck,” she then explained she asked because she had to deal with political stuff from the yaoguai side due to being one of the elders of one of the factions. With Stone Monkey’s attachment to him maybe he wouldn’t wander off into trouble. Or, hopefully, not as much trouble.

That it also assured his own safety against the more aggressive and suspicious yaoguai and monkeys during his stay was strongly implied in the conversation. Seemed the mountain wasn’t as peaceful as it looked and tensions were climbing between several factions, and a stranger around wasn’t going to help things.

It annoyed him that she was treating him like he wasn’t fully capable of killing most, if not all, of the beings in this mountain, but he couldn’t deny being grateful for the chance of rest he was being offered with the job.

Macaque agreed to be a babysitter for the day.

So he was dragged by Stone Monkey to a more isolated stream once the other realized what a mess his fur was, chirping he was going to help him groom. Unsurprisingly, the cub got distracted by a couple of other monkeys nearby, who gave curious looks to Macaque but didn’t approach him. Taking advantage of the alone time, he took out his travel pants and quickly washed the worst of the grime, wincing as a couple of still not healed wounds stung. The clothes and dark fur hid the worst of them but the largest ones in his right calf, from not managing to dodge a hunter fast enough, still ached and stung. Maybe he would have enough time to let the worst of them heal during his stay. At least neither opened yet.

The cub returned to his side soon with a couple of fruits in his hands, cooing happily, his fur wet and clean. A swift glance showed the other monkeys had dispersed and they were alone. He tried to hear around and, though the stream muffled some other noises, he should have been able to hear other monkeys nearby rustling the leaves and picking up fruit. Odd…

Soon, they were both drying their fur next to the water, Macaque wincing at the occasional pull at his fur as Stone Monkey groomed him to the best of his abilities, which were debatable however not surprising for his age.

Macaque heard a twig snap nearby and swiveled his head in that direction, alert. The cub stopped grooming at the movement and moved to his side, either in curiosity or recognizing the body language.

Another snap. And a low growl from a predator on the other side of the stream.

Quickly, he picked the child up and moved, just in time to dodge the pounce from one of the biggest tigers he had seen. Cursing his inattentiveness, he secured the hold on his charge and ran up the stream, recognizing that dragging the tiger near the tribe would not be the best idea, not when he did not know if there were any fighters around or just the more vulnerable at this time of the day.

His wounds smarted from his movements and he cursed again, realizing he couldn’t outrun the probably mystic infused tiger for long, not if he was carrying the child too while in the sun. The trees weren’t dense enough where he was for the shadows he needed so he took a chance and slipped deeper into the treeline, hoping to find a denser patch of shadows.

Instead, he found a cave.

‘Perfect.’

Macaque entered just enough to blend into the shadows and turned to the entrance, unsurprised to see the tiger prowling slowly in his direction. The cub didn’t huff in fear as he suspected most others would in his situation and he resisted the urge to check on him, though the older monkey did adjust the hold so he wasn’t gripping the cub as tight, still ready to immediately tighten the hold the moment the other tried to squirm out of his hold.

The older monkey had two choices: flight through the shadows or fight. Logically, flight would be the safer option, he had no real stakes to whatever would happen if he let the tiger roam so near the troupe’s nests. His pride was not that logical however, so he moved deeper into the shadows and waited. Stone Monkey seemed eerily still, though when the tiger was at the cave’s entrance ready to leap, he gripped the darker fur tighter and shoved his face on the other’s neck, not managing to stop his shivers.

The tiger didn’t have a chance.

Macaque melted in the shadow with his charge, as shadowy tendrils lashed at the tiger mid-leap, dragging the thrashing animal deeper. Both monkeys popped up at the entrance of the cave and the older one quickly stepped back into the sun, staring blankly as the shadows ripped the tiger apart. Belatedly, he realized the cub didn’t have his face hidden in his fur anymore and a quick glance confirmed Stone Monkey was staring wide eyed at the scene, ears folded down on his skull even as the agonized yowls tapered off.

The dark monkey walked farther from the cave, barely dodging a shadow trying to grip onto his leg. Both looked warily as the writhing mass of shadows seemed to expand before collapsing from the sun exposure into normal shadows, a torn apart carcass the only hint of what happened right at the entrance of the cave.

Maybe he needed more practice controlling the shadows before repeating the act.

A coo distracted him from the what ifs and the smaller mystical monkey adjusted himself into sitting at the older’s shoulder, a simple question that made him nod stiffly, recognizing that having shown his powers to the cub he wouldn’t have much of a chance to pretend to be harmless to the rest of the tribe if he did not collaborate.

Stone Monkey hummed before asking “Would you teach me?”

Macaque, who had been expecting something more along screeches or fearful silence after admitting he had been the one to summon the shadows, took a moment to think about the cub. More specifically, about the cub’s aura. “No,” he decided, and continued before the inevitable complaints, hoping he was saying it correctly in the monkey’s language “Your aura is too bright, like the sun. The shadows would devour you if you tried to do what I did.”

The child huffed and tugged at one of his ears, making Macaque hiss, but didn’t whine against the decision. For now. “We should go back,” the golden cub said, glancing at the sun’s position “Should we take the tiger?” even a child knew they could make materials out of the carcass, even if they did not eat the flesh.

Macaque looked at the scene and then felt with his magic, unsurprised to find it to be a trap with ravenous shadows ready to do an encore performance “Maybe it’s best to leave it be. For a few days.” a beat of silence and he corrected himself “Weeks.” a tendril from deeper in the cave picked what was once a powerful and deadly paw and threw it at them. It plopped right in front of them with a bloody squelch “Better to make a sign of warning for the next year maybe.”

The child eeked in agreement, his grip on Macaque’s fur tightening as he looked rapidly between the cave and the paw.

Both monkeys kept their place for a few minutes before Macaque finally turned his back to his accidental semi-permanent death trap and walked back to the stream, the cub relaxing the farther away from the cave they were. Despite the opportunity, no more tugs on his ears were made, which worried Macaque a bit. Maybe the kid was actually scared of him…

The Six-eared Macaque changed course to the old gibbon’s tree, ignoring the burn of the calf injury. It was lunch time anyway.

-:::-:::-

The gibbon didn’t return to the tree or the nests around yet. The rest of the troupe didn’t seem surprised by it and Stone Monkey was still oddly quiet, choosing to not join the other cubs in playing but deciding to drag Macaque to other fruit trees, farther away from the nests. The older monkey wondered if it was to get him away from the troupe for their safety.

Eventually, they arrived at what seemed to be the younger one’s destination and he pointed at a specific tree. An old peach tree that blended suspiciously well in between the rest. The kid didn’t say anything at the older’s questioning glance and sat down under its shadow. When Macaque sat next to him, the cub tugged on his leg. His right leg specifically, that he then yanked up and prodded at the slightly opened wounds with enough strength to hurt. Macaque hissed and tugged his leg out of the others’ grasp, a growl ready on his throat when the cub whined in worry, looking at the blood on his finger.

Macaque frowned and then it clicked. He was bleeding. He was bleeding enough the child had noticed even with his pants covering his legs and he had been in the middle of an unknown troupe, without any safe member nearby. Any of the elements, including any yaoguai hidden, could have tried to take advantage of his wounds to attack and stir up the rest to do it too. Stone Monkey took him farther away for his safety, before any other could truly take notice of the perceived weakness.

A perceptive one, wasn’t he?

“I’m fine,” he assured the cub “I just need to stop a bit, let it start healing.” at the unconvinced look the other monkey gave him, he added, amused “I won’t move until you say I can.”

The choice of that peach tree made sense when Stone Monkey forced him to stay there, only allowing enough movement to move up to the lower branches when night fell. They feasted on the easily accessible fruit. When sleeping, he clung to him, refusing to let go so he could move around without him knowing. When Macaque woke up, it was to a smug golden monkey prodding the partially healed injuries. Far more than it was supposed to be.

Macaque gave a suspicious look at the cub who just looked even more smug, biting down on another peach.

-:::-:::-

The old gibbon wasn’t there the next day again, though his cloak was mended and folded on top of ‘her’ tree. With his calf no longer bleeding or smarting as much, the cub happily dragged him to another stream, this one full of cubs and a few supervising adults, to whom he stiffly nodded when approaching. One of them, obviously a yaoguai from wearing a gray cloak, offered the place next to her for him to sit. He barely hesitated before accepting, the cub immediately running to his peers once he saw his babysitter going to the other adults.

The yaoguai made some small talk, carefully probing for information that he skillfully avoided giving. She seemed satisfied to know he was just a traveler that got babysitting duty for a couple of favors, even if he couldn’t say from which faction the yaoguai had asked the favor was.Macaque suspected she only saw a relatively normal teen yaoguai accidentally getting into something bigger than him.

Let her think that.

The weather took a turn to the worst, the sun disappearing as clouds ran in. The monkeys started to disperse as the wind started to pick up, the other yaoguai retiring with a couple other monkeys and a chirping cub. His own charge pouted as he was left alone in the stream, but the first rumble of thunder made him jump out of it and run to Macaque, hiding under his newly mended cloak.

Macaque hid his laugh, unsuccessfully if the annoyed kick at his leg was to go by.

Quickly they found an empty cave to hide in, just as the storm started to rage, thunder making the cub shudder. Macaque hummed, glamouring his ears in an attempt to muffle the sound from the thunder, and adjusted Stone Monkey so he was swaddled in the cloak.

As time passed, seeing no sign of the storm lifting, both monkeys made themselves comfortable, the cub fighting to be freed from the cloak now that he got more used to the thunder. Macaque let him, seeing the cave wasn’t deep, deciding to enjoy his own corner while the kid explored.

The growing darkness as the day passed made him a bit nervous, remembering the accidental shadow trap he had created the previous day.

He hoped no monkeys tried to enter that cave.

As Macaque distractedly thought about his shadow powers, Stone Monkey poked around the cave, just seeing a bit of moss at the back and a few crawleys on the ground. No snakes, at least he thought so until he saw something moving nearby. As lightning flashed, the cub realized that it was too sinewy and shadowy to be a snake. Hesitating, he glanced at his babysitter. Seeing him deep in thought, the small monkey decided to poke the shadowy tendril with his tail.

The shadow stopped. Then poked him back.

Well, it was more entertaining than the rock or the lizard at the back so he decided to sit down near it and play with it.

And that was how Macaque found the cub after he realized he hadn’t been bothered for the last couple of hours. Playing with an out of control shadow.

Macaque didn’t think he was ever as fast as he was when he yanked the cub away from the shadow, trying to put the shadow back into its own dimension. For a tendril with no face, it managed to display how unimpressed it felt at his attempts remarkably well. “Well. Screw you,” he snarled to it, and got closer to the cave opening, their only source of light, dragging the struggling cub with him “And what were you doing ? Remember the tiger?” he growled to the cub, who froze, startled. Not letting the cub answer, he continued “Didn’t I tell you would be taken apart by them?” Stone Monkey just looked at him, behind him , trembling.

Macaque heard the whispers and cursed, letting the cub fall to the ground and taking a few steps back into the cave. He closed his eyes and focused, this time taking charge of the shadows that had popped around him and forcing them in . Only one resisted and he snarled, until he forced it to dissipate until he summoned it again.

Calmer now, he opened his eyes and immediately locked onto the cub, whose eyes almost glowed as he warily stared at him. He was huddled near the entrance, tail gripping his leg in a self soothing gesture. Macaque sighed and stepped closer, stopping immediately when the cub hissed. He sat down instead “Stone Monkey?” he called lowly, making sure his voice was gentle. The cub didn’t say anything, but he could see him getting less tense “I’m sorry for scaring you.” he said, drooping his shoulders and making sure his body language was as sorrowful as he could make it “I was just worried.”

“... You were scary,” the cub said in the silence. “Shadows appeared behind you as you yelled,” there was a beat of hesitation before he continued “Those were not nice shadows.”

“I don’t think most shadows are nice,” Macaque remarked “But. It was an accident. None of them were supposed to be here,” my lack of control could have hurt us “I was just scared you could have been hurt. Like the tiger.”

Stone Monkey stopped huddling, his tail releasing his grip, even as he gave the older monkey a look as if the other was being stupid “You would have noticed if I was hurt like the tiger,”

And maybe he deserved that look “I panicked,” Macaque said sheepishly.

“I was playing with the shadow. I was being careful.” Macaque didn’t hide his doubtful expression “You would have got me! You were close!” the cub insisted and Macaque wasn’t sure whether to be flattered that the cub thought him as a protector or wary of the attachment. He was only here temporarily after all.

The younger monkey shuddered, just as the wind picked up. The temperature had dropped with the shadows, and the storm outside, though less severe now, made the cave humid and cold “Can I get closer? For warmth?” Macaque asked, and he could tell the cub was hesitant from the way his eyes looked behind the older monkey. After another gust of wind however, he acquiesced, immediately burrowing himself as much as he could in the black fur. Macaque adjusted the cloak to cover both of them better.

They didn’t return to the nests that night either.

-:::-:::-

Macaque was fairly certain the gibbon would have thought he had kidnapped the cub at that point. Instead, when they got to the tree, a gray yaoguai gibbon, just old enough to be considered a very young adult, wearing light armor, was waiting for them.

“Six ears,” the yaoguai greeted severely. Then he turned to the cub next to him and smiled “Stone Monkey.” The cub seemed startled by the smile, fur puffing, before remembering that a smile in yaoguai culture wasn’t a threat. He hid behind Macaque’s cloak instead. The monkey blinked, surprised by the action. He looked at Macaque, who shrugged and then gestured for him to state his business.

“I come with the promised supplies from the elder.” Macaque straightened, a chill in his spine. The yaoguai did have a cloth bag dangled in a branch near them, within easy access “Several packets of dried fruit and a container of plum wine.” his confusion must have been obvious as the other continued, with a brief, amused smile “For the days life is a headache.” the smile withered then, and the gray gibbon looked at the confused cub “I am afraid she could not come today… or ever again. Hunters got to her.” he softened “I am sorry, Stone Monkey.”

Macaque closed his eyes. The death of the gibbon elder meant Stone Monkey would either have to live by himself in the troupe or his adoption by one of the yaoguai ‘He’s going to be fine’ he tried to assure himself, already guessing by the presence of the other yaoguai that it was probably the second option ‘He’s not fragile’

Spiritual monkeys live by attachments. Remember that Six-eared Macaque. If we have no attachment to this world, we cease to live.

He tried to ignore the memory.

The cub was disturbingly silent in his cries, but the shudders against his legs didn’t lie. Stone Monkey understood what had happened. Macaque scooped him in his arms, saying nothing but allowing the other to hide his face and cry on his neck. The other yaoguai looked with faint interest at the interaction.

The stress from the day before, along with the emotional shock from the gibbon’s passing was enough to tire the cub out fast. The yaoguai observed them and then nodded in understanding when Macaque made to give the sleeping cub to him.

Cradling the cub awkwardly, the yaoguai whispered “Are you leaving now?” Unsurprised by the stiff nod, he gestured with his head to the supplies, observing the darker monkey pick it up and then turn back, eyes locked on the cub, still sniffling even in his sleep “You may wait until he awakens again,” the yaoguai offered.

Macaque considered it for a moment “It was always temporary,” he muttered “It would be worse to go when he can follow.” The other looked like he wanted to disagree but stayed silent. The cub sniffled in his sleep again and adjusted himself, but the awkward hold almost made him fall. The other yaoguai looked alarmed and Macaque rolled his eyes and carefully adjusted the hold, brushing his hand for the last time on the gold fur of the Stone born monkey’s head.

Many that are born like us become mortal as they grow, until a point where it was as if they were never spiritual monkeys at all. These are fools, Macaque, and you should never get attached to any who isn’t immortal already, for you will lose them .

Macaque walked away, under the heavy, curious stares of the troupe, saying nothing else to anyone in the mountain.

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #lmk #lmk sun wukong #lmk macaque #pre jttw #fic #fanfiction #monkie kid fic #my fic #sun wukong #six eared macaque #aaaaaaah this fic went out of control

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