Small note: Get ready, because this chapter will have strong emotions, trigger warning for panic attacks and this is also the biggest chapter in this story, keke! (about 3180 words, not counting this warning) Please don't hunt me after this chapter.
~•Previously on Monkey Queen•~
I think I forgot to mention, but I'm now temporarily living with Monkey King since the training started...
"So... do you have something on your mind?" King asked after a silence. I hummed and just shrugged.
"I don't know, I think it's up to you" I said tiredly. He got up and started rambling about his entire collection of his own film saga, but that wasn't exactly absorbed by me, because when I realized it, I was already falling asleep...
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"Hello, Monkey Queen"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
That voice gave me horrifying chills, which made me open my eyes. Instead of being on the couch, the place where I originally fell asleep, I found myself on the cold floor of a huge cave. Chains hung from the ceiling, and wrapped around the columns that supported the cave. Despite the structure having much more detail, my attention was caught in front of me, where there was a figure, sitting on what appeared to be a throne, behind the throne, there was a large banner. I felt my blood run cold when I saw that the painting on the banner showed- well... in the painting were three things: the golden jade scroll, a jade urn... and me. I felt my entire fur stand on end as the individual on the throne laughed slowly.
"Who are you?..." I asked shakily, taking a step back when I saw the figure rising from the throne, and slowly walking around me.
"Oh, come on, don't tell me that all these years, you've forgotten the face that brought your downfall?" he questioned, and I felt the feeling of dread and terror come over me as soon as I realized it was Zhong Kui, he laughed at my reaction. "You've changed, Monkey Queen, and I can't say it's for the better."
"What do you want from me?" I asked, and he stopped.
"What do I want? ... You know very well what I want." he replied, staring at me with sickly green eyes, making me cringe in place, he raised his eyebrow at my posture before laughing again. "It seems that the years trapped in that Urn have made you soft Queen! Where is that queen who made the sky tremble, when she faced me?! Hahahaha!! I can imagine the Jade Emperor's reactions of disappointment!!" he laughed, and for some reason the dread and terror began to slowly be replaced by anger. "One of your most skilled and loyal warriors, trembling even from her own shadow! I can even imagine when I truly meet you-" I didn't let him finish, and I jumped towards him with my fist raised, covered in electricity at inhumanly deadly voltages. .
CRACKACK!!!!
As soon as I hit him, there was a great crash of thunder, mixed with a sound of metal, as well as a great smoke that prevented me from seeing whether I had hit him or not; but his laughter showed me that I didn't hit him, or the punch had no effect on him. "Oh, Monkey Queen, as always, no patience for civilized conversation. I'm glad I got a little help~"
As the smoke began to clear, I saw what I hit and what I saw made my heart stop for a second... the monkey king's staff. I widened my eyes, seeing emotionless green eyes staring at me.
"M... Mk...?" I whispered shakily, before being kicked by someone else, I grunted, as I hit the ground, before standing up and gasping in horror when I saw Mei too, both of their skin and hair seemed to be made of pure jade, their clothes changed to a armor with shades of dark green and black. "No..." I whispered shakily.
"Did you like what I did to your little friends?" Zhong Kui asked amusedly, as he patted Mei's head who remained motionless, while still staring at me with an expressionless look. "And they weren't the only ones~" suddenly, I'm surrounded by, Tang, Pigsy, Macaque, Red Son, Jin and Yin, Jin Mori, Jin Taejin, even the three baby monkeys were there, all transformed into soldiers of jades... I suddenly shuddered as a loud thud sounded behind me, I turn around, back to the direction where Zhong Kui, Mk and Mei were and I freeze in horror as I see... Monkey King, also in a black and green armor, transformed into a Jade zombie....
"What did you do with them?" I whispered, before glaring at Zhong Kui angrily "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!?" I screamed, feeling a horrible sense of deja-vu.
"I did the same thing as years ago, remember? I took the people dearest to you, remember your generals?" he laughed, as I felt my body shake, tears began to run down my cheeks. "That's just one of the things I'm going to do, Monkey Queen, if you don't hand over my scroll... I'll come after of every person you get attached to, every person you get close to, I will catch them, I will torture them, until you give me what is mine!!" he said slowly, before approaching me, I tried to move away , but then Monkey King grabbed me and forced me to my knees. "Then I hope you'll cooperate."
I struggled, but regretted it, when I felt Monkey King's grip on my wrists tighten drastically. I stared at Zhong Kui, silently.
"...So it's going to be like this? Very well, you just sealed your fate." he spoke, moving away, before advancing towards me with a huge blade of shining Jade, before the blade could touch me, everything was suddenly swallowed by a golden Light...
~•~
"(Y/n) wake up!!" I opened my eyes and let out a frightened scream, as I stood up and moved away from Monkey King's hands, my breaths were short and quick, tears blurred my vision, as I hugged my shaking body, my fur was standing on end and static rays ran through my entire body. Monkey King, Macaque and Mk were in front of me, they were talking to me, but the fact that I only heard my heart beating uncontrollably and my sobs prevented me from understanding what they were saying.
Pov. Monkey King
Whatever she was dreaming about caused her to have this panic attack. She couldn't seem to hear us, she huddled in the corner of my bed while she was crying and breathing erratically. I turned to Macaque and Mk. "There's chamomile tea on one of my shelves, I need you to make it for me, I'll try to calm her down" I say to Macaque who nodded before leaving the room.
"W-what about me?" Mk asked, extremely worried.
"Can you try to calm the trio down?" I asked, pointing to the three little baby monkeys that were at the door, extremely scared, after all, as soon as I brought Monkey Queen to my bed, they decided to join her, and they were the ones who told me that she was having a nightmare. Mk looked at them, and nodded at me.
I look back at (Y/n) who was staring at me, with panic and fear evident in her eyes... It hurt to see her in that state, I felt like I needed to calm her down at that moment. I knelt on the bed, as I slowly approached her. "(Y/n)? Can you hear me?" I asked softly, and I could see she had a small reaction to my voice. "It's me, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King." I continued to speak softly, as I approached her, before slowly offering my hand to her, who looked at me in a frightened manner. "Can you take my hand? I don't want to hurt you, I wouldn't be able to..." I whispered, still reaching out my hand, for a moment, she hesitated, before reaching out and touching mine gently, I felt a slight static go through my body, and make my fur stand up slightly, but at the moment I didn't care about it, I lightly pulled her closer to me, and not a second later she had her legs around me. around my waist and her arms were around my neck, while her face was nestled in the crook of my neck, her sobs were painful, but I silenced her, as I ran my fingers through her locks gently, and rocked back and forth. behind, whispering words that I know would calm her.
After a few minutes, her sobs became less violent, and I felt her heartbeat slow to a normal rate, but she didn't bother to let me go, and I didn't care. I picked up the blanket she dropped on the floor with my tail and covered her gently, before wiping away her tears.
"All good?" I asked softly, earning a nod from her, I sighed in relief as she rested my cheek on her head. I looked at the door, as soon as I heard footsteps approaching and saw Macaque with a cup in his hands, he sat down and looked at (Y/n)'s covered form, I nudged her to get her attention, she turned around and at the Seeing Macaque offering the cup, she carefully took the cup and thanked him quietly, before taking a sip of tea. Soon Mk and the trio of monkeys entered the room.
"Hey, how is she?" he asked, approaching and sitting on the floor, while the little monkeys climbed onto the bed and looked at (Y/n).
"I'm better now..." she murmured, smiling weakly at Mk, before sniffling a little and taking another sip of tea.
"You know, you gave us quite a scare, Queen" Macaque said, getting her attention. "We were talking, when these three came screaming scared, warning us about you" he explained, before crossing his arms "What did you dream about anyway?" he asked, looking at her questioningly.
"It wasn't a dream" she said darkly, before looking at Macaque, who, like me and Mk, was surprised by her change in attitude. "Zhong Kui spoke to me" that shocked us, I looked at her shocked, as she left my lap and sat next to me.
"Z-Zhong Kui!?" Mk asked shocked "B-but how?!"
"I don't know, he m-" she stopped, as she swallowed hard "He showed me something that really scared me..." she said, before taking a sip of tea "He showed you, Mei, Pigsy, Red Son, even the old man from the ancient library and his grandson... all of you... had become jade soldiers." she explained. Macaque and I looked at each other in surprise. "He said... said that if I don't hand over the scroll... he would turn all of you into his puppets... just like he did with... with..." she couldn't finish, she just turned her head, away from our gaze.
"Well, one thing is for sure: we won't let him use us as his puppets, or even take that scroll" Mk said standing up, with a smile "I can guarantee that for you, Monkey Queen!!" he said, with one of his fists raised. I looked at her who was looking at him in surprise.
"Mk is right, if he thinks he can catch me, he's wrong, after all I laugh in the face of danger!" I said crossing my arms.
"That wasn't what happened with Lady Bone Demon" Macaque teased me, making me look at him.
"Will you shut up? I'm trying to cheer her up!" I said, before we started arguing, but we stopped when we heard laughter, I instinctively looked at (Y/n) and smiled when I saw it was her.
"Hehehe!! Well... I also trust that you won't let him catch you." she spoke with a sweet smile.
~•~
Pov. 3rd Person
Weeks passed after that incident, and Monkey King clearly noticed the change in (Y/n)'s behavior, she was much more focused on training, especially during meditation, she was doing it more frequently, and whenever they stopped for lunch , she always had a distant look on her face. He also noticed that she was spending a lot of time in Jin Taejin's library.
...
After that... dreamlike 'contact' with Zhong Kui, (Y/n) made a decision that she needed to recover her memory as quickly as possible, and maybe, that way, she would be able to find her temple and maybe, she would get her memories of back, and who knows, with her memories back, she could discover a way to defeat Zhong Kui. During that time, she used the time she wasn't training to study in Jin Taejin's library, but a week later...
~•~
"Are you going to travel?" she asked confused.
"Yes! It's an annual tradition, we'll be gone until the end of next month." Jin Mori, spoke, earning a hum from the furry (f/c) monkey.
"But don't worry, it won't stop you from studying." Jin Taejin said, earning a nod from the monkey's head, he then handed the library door key to her. "I'll give you this spare key. That way, you'll have access to the library while we're gone." Taejin said, shocking (Y/n).
"W-what?! Are you sure about this!?" she asked, earning a nod from the old man, before he handed her the keys.
~•~
Since then, when she's not training, she's been meditating or in the library, studying. During her studies, she discovered some peculiar things about her Kanzashis.
...
Mk was very worried about (Y/n), he also noticed the change in her behavior, and also noticed that she was more serious during training and increasing her meditation time, in addition to being stuck in the library, barely having time to she goes out with him, Mei and the others. But that would change! That day, he had talked to Monkey King about her and that maybe they could use a day to try to get her to relax, which Monkey King agreed to.
...
Pov. (Y/n)
I blinked, confused to see that Pigsy, Sandy, Tang, Mk and Mei were at Flower Fruit Mountain, they were setting up what looked like a camp area, with tents and a campfire area.
"What's this all about?" I asked, moving closer.
"Oh, hi Queen! Well, Monkey King and I talked and realized that...uh...we've been training hard these past three weeks, so we decided we'll have a day off!" Mk said, as I felt someone wrap their arms around my shoulders.
"Well, you've been working hard on your transformations and meditation, so why not take a day off?" Monkey King said, before snatching the books from my hands.
"Hey!" I screamed trying to get the books back.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to be... uh, grounded! Yeah!" Monkey King said clumsily. "So no reading, meditating or training today!" he said pointing at me with a straight face before smiling. I rolled my eyes, before snorting.
"It's OK!!" I said, before heading towards the bonfire and greeting Tang, Mei and Pigsy.
"This big guy here is Sandy, by the way. Don't worry, he's a giant with a gentle heart!" Mei said, introducing Sady, and by Buddha, he's bigger than he looks in the drawing.
"Hello Miss Queen, Mk told me a lot about you" He greeted me, with a gentle smile, making me smile at him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sandy." I said greeting him back, before I felt something pressing against my shins, I looked down and saw a certain blue kitten, with an orange mohawk rubbing against my legs, he sat down and looked at me, letting out a meow. "That's my kitty, Mô." Sandy said, making me smile and crouch down to pet the cat, who happily accepted the affection. Suddenly, I felt three weights on my shoulders, I looked and saw the three little monkeys looking at me with a hint of jealousy.
"Hi, Fēng, Jingjing, Táohuā. Don't worry, I didn't forget about you!" I said before taking them off my back and hugging them, which they happily accepted.
"Sooooo..." I heard Tang's voice say, as he, along with Mk approached me, Mk with his notebook titled "Monkey King's Unauthorized Autobiography" in one hand and a pencil in the other. "Ahem, by any chance, haven't you remembered anything else during these weeks?" he asked, either not noticing or completely ignoring the fact that Monkey King glared at him irritably; Why was he angry? I also wanted to know...
~•~
The pajama party was great, there were some games, lots of jokes and stories and even some really delicious food.
It seemed like they knew what I was going to do today...
I petted the three little monkeys who were sleeping peacefully in the sleeping bag I was using earlier, I looked at them with pain in my heart, before covering them with the blanket. I then got up and grabbed my bag that I had prepared yesterday. I passed by the others who were sleeping peacefully, before stopping in front of Monkey King who was practically lying on the floor, he was snoring loudly, and I could clearly see a thread of saliva running down his cheek. I snorted softly, with a smile, before looking at Mk who was uncovered and trembling slightly. I walked over to him and covered him, before handing him his monkey doll, which he had released, I looked at him with a smile as they stroked his hair, before finally walking away from the camp and standing on the edge of a large cliff.
I took out my Kanzashis, and looked at the star-covered horizon, while taking a deep breath, deciding to do this.
This way, they will be safe...
I started spinning the Kanzashis, and I felt the sparks starting to run through my arms from the Kanzashis, I took a step forward and...
"Oh oh?" I jumped slightly, before looking back and seeing the three little monkeys staring at me sadly, they slowly approached me and looked at me, as if wondering what I was doing. I smiled sadly, before kneeling down to stroke their heads.
"I'm so sorry..." I whispered, as I felt tears sting my eyes. "But I have to go.." I said, making them look at me sad, they then jumped and hugged me, I sniffled softly, while I felt a tear run down my cheeks, before letting go of them, I looked towards the camp, before looking back at them. "Keep your wits about Monkey King for me, okay?" I said, before standing up and walking to the edge of the cliff, I looked at the camp one last time, before jumping down. .
The wind hit my face, as I felt gravity pulling my body down, I closed my eyes, as I concentrated, visualizing my glider, before slamming my Kanzashis together, causing them to be swallowed. in a blinding light before I felt my body no longer falling but gliding. I grabbed the glider, as I looked back, seeing the camp getting smaller and smaller, I let out a shaky sigh, looking down and seeing that the trees had become a big sea... that was it, there was no turning back... .I will be going alone to the Temple of the Lotus Warriors...
End...