Heading East
There was silence in the group as they headed back towards Chang'an.
It was possibly the hardest thing any of them had to do. The silence was a thick, unwelcoming presence between them. They had journeyed to the west; they had fought Gyomoah and restored peace to Shangri-La. All that was left was to go home. Yet, there was emptiness among the group unlike ever they had ever felt. Going home meant the end. It meant the end of their closeness, the end of their journey, and it meant the chapter of something no one wanted to tread upon. No one wanted to go home. The journey took five years and—call them children—but none of them wanted to go back to a life they had no attachment to.
Gojyo had been lazily smoking a cigarette, staring up at the sky as the jeep drove over many bumps. He was used to it by that point. He took the half-smoked cigarette from his lips with a sigh and tossed it away. He glanced to his left, where Goku sat slumped against the seat. He was either pretending to be asleep or trying. Gojyo didn't know or care. Sanzo sat motionless in the front seat, staring out over the unchanging landscape. The monk had been rather quiet, and over the last year he hadn't risen to any of Gojyo's taunts. The man was a lot calmer than he used to be; the journey had done him a shitload of good. That wasn't to say they still had their fights.
Hakkai continued to drive, a simple, blank smile plastered on his face. He was humming quietly to himself, as though trying to ignore the fact that soon his busy hands would have nothing to entertain themselves with.
Nobody wanted to go home. They all wanted to keep traveling, but there was no longer a purpose, no reason. No point.
"Hey Hakkai," Gojyo drawled from the back seat, sitting up and looking over the smiling green-eyed man.
"What is it, Gojyo?" Hakkai asked him. Cheerful, far too fucking cheerful.
"What direction are we going again?" he asked, slumping an arm around his friend's shoulder.
"East, Gojyo," Hakkai replied, confusion seeping into his tone.
"Doesn't look like it," Gojyo mumbled, a smile crawling over his lips.
Sanzo's head turned to face him, and Goku's eyes suddenly opened. Gojyo met Goku's gaze and grinned. The monkey blinked once, twice, then grinned.
"Yeah Hakkai," Goku chimed in, leaning forwards. "I think we're lost."
"We're not lost," Hakkai assured them, confused with the pair's behaviour. "I checked this morning. It's right there, on the—"
Sanzo suddenly grabbed the map sitting on the dashboard, hurling it over his shoulder.
"No Hakkai," Sanzo drawled lazily, as though he hadn't just thrown he map out of the jeep, lost as they continued to drive on. "You're lost."
It apparently dawned on Hakkai. The man's face lit up, and a true smile began to crawl over his lips. "What a shame," Hakkai said, chuckling. "It appears I am lost." He suddenly turned the steering wheel, causing the car to flip around. Gojyo and Goku screamed, and even Sanzo grabbed the dashboard before he was thrown from the vehicle. When the car finally stopped it was facing north, and Hakkai smiled brightly.
"This is east, am I correct?' he asked simply.
Goku began to laugh, and Gojyo grinned, grabbing his best friend around the shoulders. "There you have it, Hakkai," he said, grinning like mad. "Now c'mon! East!"
Hakkai put the jeep in gear and began to drive away from the rising sun. "I'm afraid that was my last map Sanzo," Hakkai added when they continued to drive along. "What should we do?"
Sanzo shrugged his shoulders, looking out over the landscape once again. "This is east, right?" he asked impassively. "We'll get there eventually."