AN: For those of you who may not have already guessed, this story borrows a lot from both Chinese mythology and the original Journey to the West fable.
It was as if the rest of the world didn't matter, with Monkey kneeling beside her.
He was alive. Real. Alive and real and by her side, and she couldn't stop the wide grin from splitting her face. "Monkey! You're…"
Trying to speak sent her into another coughing fit, and she turned away from him with her hand covering her mouth. When she tried to take deep breaths, the air hurt her throat and it felt like she wasn't getting enough in her lungs. What had once been a natural action was turning into a chore.
Monkey's hand gently rubbed her back. "Easy, little monk."
She wanted to curl against him and block out the rest of the world. Before she could, she heard footsteps approaching them. Monkey moved closer to her and growled – actually growled – at whoever it was. Tripitaka looked up to see the Head Monk standing over them, warily watching Monkey. "I can help. The smoke will poison her."
Tripitaka watched as Monkey considered the monk's words, before he backed away and rose to his feet. She wanted to reach for his hand and ask him to stay by her side, but she didn't have the energy to.
The Head Monk knelt down beside her and presented her with some kind of pill. "Swallow this."
With shaking hands, Tripitaka took the pill from him and slipped it into her mouth. The Head Monk then gave her a cup of water – where he got the water from was anyone's guess, he probably used some kind of monk magic – which she drank from to help her swallow the pill. The moment it disappeared down her throat, she felt the pill explode into a cold sensation that spread throughout her body. The burning at the back of her throat stopped, and the pain in her lungs evaporated.
The urge to open her mouth overcame her, and when she did, black smoke fled from her body. She wondered if this was what being a fire-breathing dragon felt like.
Monkey's hands were on her again, and Tripitaka leaned into his touch as she took in several deep breaths. "Tripitaka, are you alright?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I am now. Thanks for saving me."
"I thought you said you didn't need me to save you."
He was smirking at her when she looked back up at him. She wanted to smile back, but his eyes concerned her. They were still red. "Monkey, your eyes."
"They're fine," he assured her. "Smoke turns them red."
The fact that he knew that and wasn't concerned meant he'd spent way too much time running into fires, but that was a conversation for another time. She turned back to the Head Monk and asked, "What happened? Was it demons? Where are the scrolls?"
"The scrolls are safe, and it wasn't demons," said the monk. "I'm afraid it was a member of our own order: my Disciple. Ever since he laid eyes on the Scroll of Spirits, he has been trying to decipher the ancient language so he can learn the secrets for himself. I thought he would no longer be a problem once you collected the scroll, but I was wrong. He started a fire in order to cover his escape, and attempted to make off with not just our scroll, but the other three you have already collected, as well. Luckily, your friends stopped him."
He pointed back towards the burning monastery. Close by, Pigsy was standing guard over the kneeling Disciple, his rake pointed at the man's head. The other monks were scattered about, some in prayer while others helped those who had been injured in the fire. In the background, Sandy was squirting water over the flames, putting the fire out. Tripitaka wondered if the River Goddess ever ran out of water.
"Tripitaka." Monkey placed his hand over hers. "Do you have my staff?"
She nodded, and from her sleeve she pulled out the miniaturised staff he had given to her before his sacrifice. Looking him up and down, she noticed that while he still wore his crown, his leather armour was slightly different; brown instead of black, and lacking any bits of gold. "I kept it safe for you."
"Thank you, monk." He smiled at her, before resizing his staff and stalking towards the Disciple with a murderous look in his eyes. Which looked even worse, thanks to said eyes still being red.
The Disciple saw him coming, and was overcome with terror. Even Pigsy looked like he wanted to get out of the way of the enraged Monkey King.
"Monkey, wait!" Tripitaka leapt to her feet. "You can't hurt him!"
"He nearly killed you!" Monkey stopped and spun back to face her. It wasn't just rage she saw morphed across his face; it was pain. She'd nearly died, and that frightened him. "He deserves it!" And he continued to stalk towards the cowering Disciple.
Shaking her head, Tripitaka placed two fingers to her lips and recited the familiar sutra, ignoring the memories of the last time she had done so. Monkey yelled in pain and collapsed to the ground, dropping his staff and holding a hand to his head. Tripitaka flinched; she didn't want to hurt him, especially after what he did to save them all, but he couldn't kill the monk. The man was unarmed.
When it was done, she immediately hurried over to Monkey and collapsed to her knees by his side. "I'm sorry, Monkey. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do that, but I had to stop you."
He looked up at her, but she couldn't see a single trace of anger. Not only did he appear calmer, but his eyes were no longer red. The God patted her arm and said, "Thank you."
Not caring that he wasn't a hugging person, she threw herself at him, arms upon. To her surprise, not only did he accept the hug but he also hugged her back, and tight enough for it to be wholly sincere. She felt him press his nose against her neck and take a deep breath, like he was familiarising himself with her scent.
The Head Monk walked over to his Disciple and swapped places with Pigsy, who wasted no time in hurrying over to the still hugging duo. He was joined by Sandy, who smiled brightly at the return of their companion. "Look who's back!"
Monkey pulled away from Tripitaka and winked at her.
Pigsy sighed. "Shame. I was getting used to not being made fun of all the time."
"She has been with you all along."
Gwen's words echoed in his mind as Monkey watched the sunrise from the branch of a tree. Behind him, smoke had stopped rising from the ruins of the monastery and his companions were speaking with the Head Monk. He could hear Tripitaka offering her apologies for the trouble they'd caused.
Monkey smiled. Only Tripitaka would apologise for actions beyond her control.
Being close to her again was… comforting. He hadn't realised it before, but her presence banished the feeling of emptiness that had been left being after the death of…
He closed his eyes. It was a blessing, the quest; it distracted him from thinking about her. But after his brief time in Heaven and seeing that she wasn't there… His thoughts couldn't help but linger on her.
Gwen's words repeated themselves again, and Monkey dismissed them. That couldn't be true. The only Goddess he'd travelled with was Sandy.
There had to be more to it. Monkey wanted to kick himself for skipping classes with the Master. Perhaps if he hadn't, he could have learned more…
"Monkey! It's time to go!"
The God looked down and saw Tripitaka standing beneath him. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement before leaping from the branch and landing perfectly on the ground beside her.
Pigsy and Sandy walked over to join them, and the former asked, "Where to now?"
"The Kingdom of a Hundred Flowers is a two days' walk from here," said Monkey. "The King's palace is one of the most secure in all of the Seven Continents. If all is as it should be, then the Royal Family still protects the next scroll."
"And which scroll is that?" asked Sandy.
"The Scroll of Love." Tripitaka was reading from the Scroll of Knowledge. "You're right, Monkey. The family still protects it, according to this. I'm surprised they're still in power, with the demons controlling most of everything."
"Some Kings and Queens were able to keep their power so long as they cooperated with whatever demon lord settled in their Kingdom," said Pigsy. "Which means that either the family kept the scroll a secret…"
"…Or the Kingdom's local demon lord knows about the scroll." Sandy looked worried.
Tripitaka sent the Goddess a reassuring look. "I'm sure the Scroll of Knowledge would have warned us if that was the case."
Monkey couldn't help but smile at her. While her enthusiasm and optimism could seem hopeless naïve in the face of unfair odds, it was still completely adorable.
"What does the Scroll of Love even do?" Pigsy asked.
"From what I've read," Tripitaka explained, "it has something to do with the Red Thread of Fate."
Flashes from times long passed hit Monkey like a wrecking-ball, and at the centre of them all was a beautiful golden smile.
He hit his staff into the ground. "It doesn't matter what it does. Let's just go get it before the local demon lords take an interest."
Ignoring the puzzled looks his friends gave him, he stalked away down the road.