The stranger in front of him laughed.
It wasn't a mirthful or malicious laugh. Rather, it was one of pure and utter disbelief. As if Tang had said something truly unbelievable.
"You... You're joking, right?" the pig demon said as he gestured towards Tang. He sounded… confused? Shocked? "You know me. We were just watching a movie together. We've had lunch together almost every day for years, Tang."
A chill ran up Tang's spine when the stranger said his name. "I don't know who you think I am," Tang said, heart racing. "B-But you have the wrong Tang!"
" I— !" The man stopped, interrupting himself with a deep breath. He held a hand up to his face as if in deep thought for a moment. "Tang, if you just —" the pig started, taking a step forward.
That was all it took.
As soon as the stranger moved, Tang bolted. With the intruder blocking the front door and already in his burrow, he couldn't run outside. But he needed to get away, find somewhere to hide, need to run, run, run! As soon as he was safe he could call Mei and she could get this scary person out of his burrow!
Hiding space, hiding space, hiding space!
There!
"Tang, wait!"
The bedroom door shuts with a slam. A click, and it is immediately locked. Just in time, as the stranger runs into it. The knob jiggles. Loudly.
It's locked, he locked it, it's locked.
Tang jams a nearby chair under the knob, and dives under the bed. His chest feels a little less jittery after that. Closed door. Right. Safe. Good. His room was safe, he would be safe there, it was his burrow and he would be safe there.
It was still too close.
The soft knocking on the door was more chilling than any hard pounding on the thin wood ever could have been.
"Tang," the stranger said, and the scholar's heart pounded. "I know you're scared. I'm not going to barge in, I promise. My name is Pigsy."
Pigsy...?
A bang rang through his head, as if he had just been hit in the temple with a tire iron. It was so sudden and painful that Tang almost dropped his phone when he pulled it from his pocket, almost couldn't look at the screen because the bright light made his eyes ache. His ears hurt so much that he worried that wouldn't be able to hear the ringing on the other end when he dialed his contact. He grimaced, even as the pain lessened to a dull thump.
"Mei Long speaking, what up?" His niece's loud and cheery voice rang through the phone. Despite the volume hurting his ears, he kept his phone pressed tight to his face. "Mr. Tang? ...Uncle Tang? Hel—"
"Mei, I need you to come here as fast as you can." Tang whispered as quietly as he could. He cupped his mouth and the end of his phone, hoping to muffle any sound. "There's… someone in my apartment."
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Mei said quickly. "What do you mean someone? "
"I'm in my room under my bed," Tang explained as quickly as he could, free ear rising to listen for anything outside the room. "There's a man here that just... He just showed up in my house! I don't know how he got in but he acts like he knows me and I-I just—Please! I don't know who this Pigsy guy is and I don't know what he wants but you're the only person I can call for help while MK is gone a—"
"I'll be right there," Mei said. There was something off in her voice. Like she was afraid but not in the way that she should be for this situation. "You're going to be fine. I'll stay on the line, I'm getting on my bike. I'm heading to you right now."
Her tone wasn't right.
She sounded reassuring, yes, but he'd known Mei since she was a child. Had been colleagues with her parents, and became her uncle by their friendship. He knew her tones of speaking. She should have sounded at least a bit angry.
Mei sounded frightened.
"O-Okay..." Tang replied quietly. He set the phone down, pulling out one plug from his ear so that he could hear the phone without holding it to his ear. Despite her underreaction, he felt safer knowing Mei was coming.
"Tang?" the stranger, Pigsy, spoke up again. Tang's breath hitched. "Is there anything I can say to make you believe me? Anything I can talk about that will make you remember? Me? My restaurant?"
Of course there wasn't! Tang would more readily believe that Sun Wukong was actually an armadillo than anything this man sa-
"Your Golden Cicada powers?"
He couldn't help it.
He said it before he could even think about it, another painful thump ringing in his head.
"How in the world do you know about that?"
Jackpot.
"I know you don't believe me about us knowing each other," Pigsy whispered through the door. There was rustling and he took in another deep breath. "But you DO know me. Look at your nightstand. Please?"
He had to hope it was still there. He'd only seen it in passing, wanting to protect the scholar's privacy, but he knew it was there once. If it wasn't there now…
"Wh... Why is there..." He heard Tang say shakily behind the door. "Why is there a picture of us here? Why is MK with us?"
"We took that picture when I reopened my restaurant," Pigsy answered. "We had to renovate it after what happened with the Lady Bone Demon. MK lives in the apartment above it. You remember MK, right?"
He tried to keep his tone as even and non-confrontational as he could. Just enough to make it sound encouraging and not as terrified as he felt in that moment.
"I... I-I think so? He lives above a noodle shop and I..." Tang paused for a moment. "Are you the same Pigsy as the Pigsy's Noodles person? You're... MK's boss?"
"Yes!" Pigsy breathed, his tone flooded with relief. At least Tang hadn't forgotten everything! "Yes, I own Pigsy's Noodles. MK lives in the apartment above it and he works as my main employee. He does deliveries. He and Mei hang out in the shop with Bai He all the time. You do too."
"I... do," Tang slowly agreed. Not as if his memories were coming back, but like he was realizing something he had been unaware of before. At least that's what Pigsy hoped. "Okay. If you're telling the truth... tell me how I'm related to Mei."
"You're her uncle," the chef replied without missing a beat. "In name, anyway. You're not related but her parents think of you as family so they made you her uncle."
"She and MK have an older friend, who is it?"
"You're either talking about Sandy or Nezha," he again answered without hesitation. "Nezha is, well, you know all that mythology stuff better than I do. He acts younger than Sandy. Sandy was a college friend we both fell out of touch with who treats Mei and MK like his younger siblings."
"Why did we fall out of touch?"
"I..." Pigsy paused for a moment. "We drifted apart, I guess. Sandy had a nasty temper and he said he wanted to work on himself for a while. I dunno about you, but I tried keeping in touch with letters. They just got less frequent as we got busier."
There was a long, almost dead silence between them.
"I..." Tang's voice was shaking, as if he was on the verge of tears. "...There was... a few years ago I came back from a long study trip. I was in a noodle restaurant and I remember... I remember talking to someone about something that upset me. What was it?"
"...Your date never showed up. You tried to tell me that it wasn't a big deal, but it was obvious you were upset. I gave you some free noodles that day, and you've been a regular freeloader in my shop ever since."
That shouldn't have been possible.
There was no way that this man could have known all of that.
Even a stalker couldn't have known everything he talked about. Nezha was a deity of legend to everyone except those who helped fight Lady Bone Demon. This Pigsy person had to have been telling the truth.
But how? How could he have forgotten Pigsy and remembered... remembered…
…
"No..." he breathed. "No... No, no, no, no, we just talked about him! I said his name! I... I knew him a minute ago!"
"Tang!?" Pigsy shouted through the door. "What happened?"
"The boy in the picture, what's his name!? You just said his name, what is it!?"
"SHIT." There was a bang against the wall, most likely Pigsy punching it.
Tang's heart pounded in his chest as he looked at two people in the picture with absolutely no recollection of who they could be.
"Is this the curse?" he whispered, hands shaking as he forced himself to stand. He made his way to the door, tossing away the chair before throwing the door open. There a bang as the chair crashed against the wall but he did not care. He had to know. "Mr. Pigsy, please. Please , if you do know me, help me."
The shorter man froze, looking up at the other as a stern look set upon his face. He held out his hands.
At first, Tang didn't know what to do. But after a moment, it was as if muscle memory took over. Taking the other's hands, he followed Pigsy as they both sat on the floor. Like he'd done this with him a hundred times before.
"Breathe in time with me," Pigsy said softly. "Close your eyes and focus on breathing. Think you can do that?"
Tang didn't trust himself to speak so he nodded.
They sat there for... he didn't know how long. Just breathing, in and out slowly. It couldn't have been more than a minute or two as Mei hadn't arrived yet. He could only thank whoever was listening for the mercy of not taking anyone else from his memory yet. Slowly and surely, Tang felt his heartbeat slow and his hands stop shaking. Pigsy gently moved his thumb down the back of his hand, smoothing down the fur that was there. It was... nice.
"Can I ask you a few questions?" Pigsy asked after a moment.
"I-I don't know if I can answer them," Tang replied. It was the truth.
"That's fine. What's something that you can feel right now?"
"Your hands."
"Okay, what are two things you can hear right now?"
"There are cars outside. And I can hear something from my phone." There was no talking, but he knew Mei was still quietly on the line.
"Who are three people you can remember?"
"Mei, Sandy, and Sun Wukong."
"Good." Pigsy squeezed his hands. "Okay. Do you remember what we've been talking about for the last few minutes?"
"Yes, but..." Tang paused. "It's like the details, everything in the past that had context, is gone..."
"So you know I'm Pigsy, but you don't know who Pigsy is," the other man confirmed with a hum. "So it's not short term memory loss at least."
"Who is he?" Tang asked. "The boy in the picture."
Pigsy paused. "The best way to put it is... We ain't together and he's not actually related to us, but... he's our kid."
It felt like Tang was slammed in the head again, but this time it was harder. Not by something blunt, but by something sharp that dug into his very being and threatened to do so again. He didn't know when he let go of Pigsy's hands but he was clutching his head so tight he feared he would break the skin. His chin digging into his chest as he tried to curl in on himself to get away from it.
It wasn't for another few seconds that he realized someone was screaming, and another few before he realized that it was him. Not a human scream, but a scream not unlike a terrified dying rabbit caught in a trap.
And then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The pain didn't leave entirely but it diminished to an almost disorienting degree.
"...Tang?" Pigsy whispered, so soft even his rabbit ears almost didn't pick it up.
Tang blinked slowly, lifting his head up to look at the chef.
"Pigsy?" he asked. "Pigsy, what... what just happened? "
Pigsy didn't answer at first. Instead, he launched at Tang, pulling him into as tight of a hug as he could. "I-I don't know," he admitted.
"That... That was... terrifying."
"UNCLE TANG!"
The two men jolted, looking up in shock to see Mei standing in the doorway. Her biker outfit was on and she looked ragged.
"...You haven't called me that in years," he said with an awkward chuckle.
Mei looked between the two of them, a frown on her face before she finally let go of that tension with a sigh of relief.
"Are you okay?" she asked, taking a tentative step forward. " Both of you."
"I..." Tang bit his lip as he took in a shaky breath. "I'm better than I was when I called you. I think."
"You are," Pigsy agreed with much more certainty than Tang. "You remembered me, and I'm going to count that as better."
Tang tried not to bite down on his lip, knowing that his sharp teeth could easily reopen the wound that was already there.
He had forgotten Pigsy. Completely and wholly forgotten him. There was no trace of him left in his memories, only a blank where he was supposed to be. He had remembered everyone else until MK suddenly, slowly, had vanished from his memory as well.
He hadn't even realized it was happening. It was so gradual and slow and unassuming. Completely detached from what else had happened to him under this curse. The rest had been quick, painful, too clear to miss. But this?
It was the direct opposite and it terrified him.
But there was something else. He couldn't be entirely sure of course, but…
"I think it was the Monkey King's seal," he said after a bit more thought.
"What do you mean?" Mei asked, kneeling down to be at eye level with the elder adults.
"Pigsy said something that I think triggered the seal Sun Wukong put on me before he left." Tang held a hand to his head as he remembered the pain of whatever had happened. "Maybe the seal pushed back against whatever part of this curse affected my memories, and set me back to before it started."
"If that was the seal then why didn't it stop it in the first place?" Pigsy scowled. "And why'd it make you scream like you were... you know?"
"I have no idea," Tang admitted with a shake of his head. "I know a lot, but these kinds of things are not my area of expertise."
"We should tell them," Mei said firmly. "The Monkey King and MK have to know what happened."
The idea of telling them this, of admitting that he had let this go so far made shame build up inside. He wanted to hide somewhere small and secluded and safe. But they should know. They had to know. Without knowing everything that happened, they wouldn't be able to help as much.
"I'll tell them," Tang promised. "But..." he frowned, moving to stand. Pigsy gripped his hands, helping to steady him as he stood and earning a shaky smile in turn. "I need some time alone for a moment."
"But you just—!"
"I know, Mei," Tang said softly, putting his hands on her shoulders as she stepped closer. "But I need time to think. If anything happens again, I'll be right on the other side of the door. You have full permission to break it open if you need to."
"But wouldn't it be better if you—"
"Pigsy, stop. Please just..."
Leave? Did Tang actually want him to leave? Was he pushing too hard? Did he want to be alone in this apartment, with only himself and his thoughts and the worries of what all of this meant in the back of his mind until morning?
"...Let me stay in here by myself for a while... okay?"
Mei looked at Pigsy as if wordlessly asking for his guidance. She looked as lost as she did when they'd flown away from their home after the Lady Bone Demon had taken it over, that same kind of lost that was tinged with a determination to follow whatever plan was laid out to tackle the situation.
"Okay," Pigsy gave in. "But I ain't leaving you alone. I'm staying right outside."
The scholar couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"I had a feeling."
The door closed between the three of them.
Pigsy sighed, moving to sit beside the door so that Tang could open it if he needed to.
It felt like they were back at square one. At least Tang had his memories intact for the moment. And Pigsy knew Tang enough to know that the scholar was not lying about telling MK what happened.
Whatever was happening was making him feel almost as scared as when they thought MK was gone back at the start of this Monkie Kid business. His hands were still shaking the same way they shook back then, but he was better at hiding it now. He didn't want to scare Tang or Mei, didn't want them to know how much it was scaring him that Tang was going through this. And for what? What were those metal brothers even hoping to accomplish with this?
All he knew was that, if something didn't change soon with what just happened, Tang might never remember any of them.
Maybe he should tell Tang the truth.
He just hoped that he could handle it.
Tang breathed a sigh of relief once he pressed send. At least he was able to be honest about something, if not his feelings toward Pigsy.
His phone fell from his hand and landed safely into his lap, all tension draining from his body. He felt like he needed days of sleep, but he knew that he didn't have that long. He just needed... a few hours, perhaps. Just some time alone with his thoughts, knowing that he knew the people on the other side of the door but not looking at them.
Because if he looked at them again and didn't know who they were…
He didn't know if he could go through that a second time.
"Tang?" Mei's voice suddenly sounded from outside the door.
Tang froze for a moment, seeking his memories in fear.
Mei Long, his niece by association with her family. They were a Dragon Clan, old and powerful and connected to Prince Ao Lie himself. Her best friends were MK, Red Son, Sandy, Bai He, and Nezha. She was still on shaky ground with Sun Wukong and Macaque after everything they went through, but she was on better terms with the king than the other. She liked to hang out at Pigsy's Noodles, and ride her bike.
He breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing against the wall once again. He remembered her.
"Tangy?" Mei inquired again, voice growing softer from behind the door. "You don't have to open the door. Just... I'm going to leave you something out here! You don't have to take it if you don't want to, but I thought it might help?"
"You didn't have to—"
"I wanted to, Unc. Really."
Tang frowned for a split second before a sad smile overtook his features.
"You haven't called me that in a while."
"I know. I uh... got told I needed to address you more appropriately, and Unc didn't cut it."
"But Tangy does?"
"They never have to know about me calling you Uncle Tangy. I would rather eat slime."
Tang couldn't help but laugh. He could vaguely hear Pigsy snorting from beside the door as well.
"What your parents don't know won't hurt in this case," he said. "But please don't actually eat slime."
The two of them bantered on for a while, talking through the door until well past sundown. He never heard either of them attempting to open the door or leave his apartment, not even once he found himself moving to scoot back under the bed.
The last thing he heard before telling them that he thought he would fall asleep was them telling him to rest well.
"If anything happens to him, I will personally drag you both back to the Celestial Realm and throw you at Lao Tzu," Sun Wukong growled.
He'd been angry the entire evening. It was obvious to everyone packed into the library that he had been quietly seething. Like a kettle left on the stove just under the boiling point but never quite reaching it.
The twins knew they'd messed up. But not this badly. The Monkey King's temper had cooled over the centuries, but now?
He looked angrier than he did anytime during their encounter during his westward journey.
"I'd say we could fix it here, but uh..." Jin rubbed the back of his neck as he looked over the recreation of the curse. "I-I think we did enough damage doing this without supervision."
"At least you're honest," Nezha sighed.
Yin looked at Jin, scrambling for something that would make this look less bad than it undeniably was. He couldn't come up with anything better than "at least he ain't dead" so he decided, perhaps wisely, not to speak.
In their excitement of trying out this new plan they had really flubbed up the curses. Even they could see, when being forced to not be impulsive, that this curse was a disaster.
The text messages that MK just read out to everything was more than enough evidence of that.
Jin couldn't believe what he had heard. But it tracked with everything they had been going over.
The two of them had made something much more devastating than they had believed. Much more disastrous and dangerous than intended. It was only supposed to be a fun plan, almost a prank, but this?
He knew that if they didn't try to set this all right then there would be no coming back from this whatsoever.
If there was any coming back from it.
But they did what was needed. They had recreated the curse, verbatim, and now someone much more attuned with curses could use it to make a counter curse. At least, they hoped that she could.
Scorpion Demoness hadn't looked them in the eye since they started their work. Didn't look back at them now that it was done either.
But Jin could tell that Yin was picking up on how cold and closed off she was too.
They were her first friends…
How had they not even considered that?
Was it because they were always each other's first friend, being twins?
Scorpion Demoness, unaware of how the brothers were thinking of her, looked over the documents with a nod. "I think I can work with this," she said, looking toward the Monkey King. "If we try to work on this together, with Tang's curse in front of us, we should be able to make a counter curse. It won't be perfect, and we might have to warn him there could be some permanent changes, but it's the best we can do."
"Then let's go!" Sun Wukong exclaimed, grabbing MK and summoning his cloud. "MK, hold onto her while she holds onto me and we should—AGH!"
The Monkey King yelped, head whipping around to glare at the person behind him.
"WHAT THE HELL, NEZHA?"
"When was the last time you slept?" Nezha asked, gripping the king's tail in a tight grip.
"That's not important right now!" Sun Wukong said, pulling himself free with a wince. "I'll be fine flying back with or without any—"
"At least three days," MK interrupted.
"I've stayed awake longer than three days!"
"And I can drive you all there as a group just as fast as you can fly," Nezha continued. "You could take yourself and MK on your cloud alone, or yourself and Scorpion Demoness. Or you could have MK, who has had sleep, fly the cloud with her while I drive you and the Metal Brothers right behind them. The more people who come along, the more people who can keep these two under watch and help out if need be."
The king paused, scowling for a moment before crossing his arms.
"I hate it when you make sense," Sun Wukong said before gesturing to everyone in turn. "MK, take SD like Nezha said. I'll ride with him to keep the brothers in check. If we leave now and push a little more than we did when coming here we should be able to get back to the city by tomorrow evening. Any objections?"
No one said anything.
"Good. Grab what we need and let's get going. We have a curse to break."
Jin looked at Yin, both nodding as they followed Nezha to the very vehicle they had tried to steal.
They had to try to set this right somehow.
Even if they lost a friend in the process.
When Tang awoke he was on the floor.
More specifically, he was under his bed, curled up around the pillow and blanket he had brought down there with him at some point in the night. At the very least he remembered doing that this time. That was a relief, small as it may have been.
He felt... comfortable. He expected his back to ache in some way, but it didn't hurt at all. His side hurt a bit from laying on the floor without any padding, but other than that he slept as well as he always had.
It was a revelation that brought Tang both ease and worry. There was something about it that made him anxious with how quickly he was getting used to all of this. At the same time, he was relieved that he was able to adjust to all of these changes.
Although, he could do without accidentally thwacking his head on the box spring above him. Rubbing his throbbing head, Tang scooted his way out from under the bed and made his way to the bedroom door. He found himself surprised and a little disappointed to find that no one was there when he opened it.
There was, however, a note on the floor. Definitely some kind of paper belonging to Mei judging by the color and bright patterns he could see on it.
But it was Pigsy's handwriting that adorned it.
"Tang,
I'm sorry for leaving. I wanted to stay or wake you up before I left, but Mei insisted that I let you sleep and go work the shop like I usually do. That girl is stubborn. But she told me that not going to open the shop would only make you upset, and I know you well enough to know that she is right.
But we're still worried about you. You might be left alone for a little bit, but there will be someone to check on you throughout the day.
Pigsy.
P.S. MK sent me a text saying they were heading back, not sure if you looked at your phone by the time you read this.
P.P.S. You have some fruits in your fridge ready for you to eat."
Tang smiled, delicately tucking the paper into his pocket.
As much as he wished Pigsy was here right now, he would have been upset if the chef didn't open his shop because of him. And besides…
With his enhanced hearing, he could hear Mei's voice from even under his bed. The girl was knocking on the door and... Was that Sandy?
The scholar felt a twinge of guilt gnawing at his chest. He almost felt bad for what he was about to do to them, but he needed some time alone. He had some important choices to make.
When he saw Mei open the door, the human-turned-rabbit took his chance.
It happened quicker than he expected, his new form shockingly faster. Before the others could react, Tang slammed the front door shut and locked it. He winced in no small amount of guilt as he felt someone immediately try to open the door.
"Tang!" Mei shouted, her voice a mixture of frustration and worry. "What are you—"
"I'll be fine!" the scholar yelled through the door. He surprised himself with how firm, almost certain he sounded. It was odd; he could almost feel something telling him that he would be, at least for now. "I don't think anything else will happen, not for a while. Just come and check on me through the door or call me. Please, I just... this will be the last day. I know it will."
There was some amount of not quite silence on the other side of the door. Mei and Sandy were clearly trying not to be loud enough for him to hear their conversation. It sort of worked.
"You're a stubborn old ass, you know that?" Mei finally said, just as frustrated as before. But there was understanding mixed into her tone now. "But I'll trust you this time. Only because Sandy is here, and because Pigsy said he noticed that every time a bad change happened you were around a lot of people. You better not do anything to make this worse!"
"I won't, I promise," Tang assured.
He felt bad not admitting to the burrowing incident. But if they knew something had happened when he was alone, they would never leave.
"Okay..." Mei said softly. "Don't make me regret listening to you, Unc."
And with that, the girl made her way down the hall and down the stairs. With his ears, Tang could easily hear the sound of her bike revving down the road. But the scholar could also easily hear how Sandy did not follow.
"You just gonna... stand there, big guy?"
"Oh!" Sandy explained, chuckling awkwardly through the door. "No, I uh... Here!"
There was the sound of the mail slot being pulled open before an envelope slipped through, wiggling just a bit until Tang grabbed it and pulled it through. Tang looked at the envelope, turning it over in his fuzzy hand.
"Did you just slip tea through my door?"
"Maybe, " Sandy answered. Tang swore he could hear the other's proud smile through his voice. "You coooould open it up and see... but it's tea. Strawberry tea! I thought, you know, you would like something different."
"Pigsy told you about the strawberries."
"Pigsy told me about the strawberries."
Tang couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I'll enjoy this tea along with the fruit slices Pigsy left for me," he stated. "You can... leave now, you know."
"I know!" Sandy said.
He did not move.
"Sandy."
There was a beat.
"Mei, uh, asked me to stay in the area. B-But I'm not gonna stay next to your door or anything! I'm going to the park nearby. You've got some stray cats that look like they could use some food! I'll be right back!"
There was a rush of heavy footsteps after that. Tang couldn't help but shake his head. Now... He had some tea to brew and fruit to munch on while he thought.
As the strawberry tea cooled, the scholar chewed on an apple slice. The fruit was sweet and crisp, his palate enjoying the flavor even more.
It was odd. That was the word of the day. Something had gone wrong and yet everything was normal at the same time. Not with his appearance, but with something else. It started when he regained his memories, when that terrible pain sprouted in his head.
It felt like something had... snapped? No, cracked, almost. He picked up the tea and gave it a sip before swallowing most of it down, perfectly flavored. He thought about it some more. Two somethings, perhaps. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly-
"Ya know, it's probably not a good idea to lock yourself away like this."
Tang didn't know he could scream the way he did. Or, at least, as loud as he did.
Apparently Macaque didn't either, as he flopped out of a shadow with a wince. His hands were pressed up against his ears.
"Holy SHIT, I am never going to scare you again!"
"What the fuck are you doing in my house!?" Tang shouted, jumping out of his kitchen with a start. Somehow, the cup he'd tossed in his terror landed on the counter instead of the floor.
"Okay, one, this isn't a house. And two, can't a guy drop by to visit a friend?" Macaque smirked. His grin vanished the moment Tang booked it back to his bedroom. "Hey, hold— okay, Mei told me to drop in and check on you!"
"I don't think she meant to break and enter my house!" Tang retorted, shutting the door in Macaque's face. He couldn't help but smirk when he heard a yelp of surprise from the other side. But his victory was short-lived when the immortal emerged from his shadow with a grin. "STOP THAT!"
"Technically I'm not breaking in when I pop out of a shadow," Macaque countered with a chuckle. "Now come on, w—"
"I'll scream again," Tang growled.
"...You wouldn't dare ," Macaque countered. But his ears were pulled back the tiniest degree and his hands were twitching.
"Get out of my room and maybe I'll consider not doing it," Tang challenged, punctuating the threat with a deep breath.
"Okay, okay, jeez !"
In an instant, the monkey melted back into the floor. This time, Tang could actually follow his movement through the shadows, watching him as he slid under the door.
"You can't stay locked up in there forever," Macaque stated, after a beat.
"I know ," Tang groaned. "That's why my front door was locked and NOT my bedroom door."
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."
"You're an ass."
"Monkey, actually," Macaque replied. "But uh... I actually wanted to come in to tell you something. Myself, not because Mei told me to. I could have just popped in for a sec or knocked on your door but this was kinda... important. "
Now that piqued Tang's interest. "Important how?" he asked, sitting down on the floor. Something in the other's tone made him concerned.
"You remember how I said I saw this kind of curse before?" Macaque began. "It was a long time ago. Way back. I was just traveling aimlessly back then, when I happened across a kingdom..."
It was a story that Tang had not heard and yet one he had heard a thousand times before. Macaque described a story of two lovers: a bee demon prince and a human girl. As a member of a prominent demon family, the prince had been pushed to marry someone of likewise status. But when a princess had been found, the prince had politely declined.
The princess's parents were furious. In their anger, they cursed the prince, declaring that the spell would only be lifted if he confessed his love. For who could be better than their daughter? But the prince did not love the princess. No, it was someone else that had stolen his heart. A kind servant girl, who tended the palace gardens. While he yearned to confess his feelings to her, he did not wish to put her in harm's way. He was a prince and she was a poor peasant.
And so…
"What happened to the demon?" Tang inquired cautiously. But he already knew the answer.
"He turned into a regular old bee," Macaque revealed, pausing for a moment. Tang could hear him shuffle from behind the door. "The girl he liked didn't stick around for long after that. There was a war brewing between the two demon families after they learned who placed the curse, and she didn't have much time to look for a counter curse. You can guess the rest, I'm sure."
"...Do you think we could find one?"
"Dunno," Macaque responded, and it was the most truthful thing he'd ever heard the shadow monkey say. "At least rabbits live longer than bees."
There was a silence that fell between them, cavernously deep and yet not deep enough.
"What do I do if he hates me?" Tang asked softly. "What if this just... ruins our friendship entirely?"
There was no answer for a while. The only sound was the soft thumping of a tail on the floor. Then Macaque spoke in a quiet voice. If Tang hadn't been turning into a rabbit, he was certain he wouldn't be able to hear the other at all.
"He's too nice to hate you for having feelings," the shadow monkey stated. "He cares too much about you and MK for that to happen."
"You—"
"I know he won't hate you," Macaque declared, "He's too soft."
"You haven't seen him hit someone with a frying pan."
"I've seen the way he looks at you when you're not looking."
The door swung open in an instant at that. " What? " Tang gasped, staring with wide eyes.
Macaque looked up at him with a smirk.
"Think about it, won't ya? Don't want the kid being sad."
And with that he leaned back, falling into shadows again.
Tang looked around, making sure he didn't pop back up before moving to take a shower and change.
He couldn't help but think of Macaque's story the entire time.
The bee and the girl.
Would something like that really happen to him?
Could it, if MK and Sun Wukong didn't return in time with a counter curse?
He knew that there was no denying something was going wrong. He was fully transformed into a rabbit demon and yet things still happened. Maybe if he just stayed put until they got back he would be fine.
Sighing deeply, Tang stretched before rubbing his face in frustration.
Maybe he should just—
"You look a bit worse for wear."
In an instant, Tang found himself on the floor wedged between his furniture and the wall. At least he didn't scream this time.
"Mr. Jiang!?" he gaped after he climbed back up from behind the couch. There was an odd scent in the air, not quite electric but a similar energy. It felt familiar, somehow. "How did you get into my house!?"
"Well," Mr. Jiang sat down in a nearby chair. "I would have waited outside, but you left your door open and I wanted to come in and check in on you."
Tang blinked at that. The door was locked. He must have... left his door open when he was trying to burrow? That must have been it… or… "Well, as you can see I am doing just. Fine!" he declared, not at all nervous. "Perfectly fine! You can go now."
"I am afraid I cannot," the elderly man sighed. "Not until we have a talk, my disciple."
"...W-What did you just call me?"
Tang stood up straight, gaze narrowing at the man before him.
"I had hoped that I would be able to show myself to you in a less... hectic point in time," Mr. Jiang said with a soft sigh. "But I fear we may be coming to a point of no return, and I cannot delay any longer."
And then Mr. Jiang changed . The dock worker was enveloped in a golden, rippling glow. Tang squinted through the light to see wrinkles smooth and clothing turn white. And then, sitting before Tang in his own home…
Was another Tang.
Or more precisely…
"Tang Sanzang," the now disguiseless Mr. Jiang introduced with a soft smile. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, my disciple. Tang." The monk chuckled. "It is quite amusing that we have such similar names, is it not? Come now, sit. We have much to discuss."
" You-you-you !" Tang stuttered, leaping to his feet. He paced, chewing on a claw without thinking. "You're him! The great monk, Tang Sanzang! You've been here the ENTIRE TIME!?"
"I wanted to keep an eye on all of you," the newly revealed monk said, raising a hand with a soft smile.
"Wait, so..." Tang trailed off for a moment, biting his claws more as he marched over to the monk. "Does that mean all of your stories of sailing are fake?"
"No," Tang Sanzang replied as he reached forward. He gently pulled Tang's hand away, rubbing the now too short claws with a frown before Tang pulled his hand back. "I did sail a bit. I just did not have that long to acquire those stories."
"' Hadn't had long' ... The whole time!" Tang exclaimed with an unbelieving chuckle. "This whole time you were here, you... you were here! And!" He gasped, staring at the monk for a moment before scowling. "And you didn't SAY ANYTHING?" Tang snapped. There was a resounding thump that rang through his entire apartment, making him jump before he realized what had made the sound. "...Was that ME!?"
"Yes," Tang Sanzang answered without a hint of offense to the scholar's outburst. "Rabbits stomp when they are angered and, well... I can understand your frustration with this sudden revelation. After all, you were under the impression that I was still in possession of your powers."
"... My powers?"
"Well, I did give them to you. They are rightfully yours now."
Tang flopped backward onto the couch. It was too much, too fast. "But I haven't... I haven't been able to use them in months."
"Not consciously," the great monk confirmed, standing up. "But you have been using them. You were simply not aware, much like how you were not aware of it last night. That is what alerted me that I should check on you as myself."
"Last night?" Tang breathed, ears perking in realization. "The thing, the head pain. Were those my Golden Cicada powers?"
"Partially." Tang Sanzang knelt before Tang. "It was those powers in tandem with Sun Wukong's own seal. They stopped the curse upon you for the moment, but they were not meant to work together the way they did. Now the seal is cracked."
"Oh..." Tang said, finally realizing what he had been feeling since he had got up. "OH... Oh, no ..." The scholar trembled, realizing what that meant. The seal was cracked and that meant, at any moment, it could break and then…
Something curled around him. He tensed, ready to jump at a moment's notice before he realized what was around him was simply the monk's arms.
"You will be alright," Tang Sanzang comforted. His arms gently held Tang in the hug, hands gently brushing his fur back as carefully as he could. It felt good.
As the monk continued to whisper, Tang slowly calmed. He hadn't realized how anxious he had been until the tension in his shoulders finally gave out.
"How do you know that?" he asked in a small voice, his body slumped against the other.
"Because I chose you for a reason," the monk stated firmly. "And you have proven that you are more than capable when the time comes."
"...How can you be sure?"
"My disciple," the immortal monk said with the barest undertone of frustration in his voice. "Only ONE of us is a dedicated monk with a vow of celibacy. If memory serves me correctly, it is NOT you. Please talk to Pigsy, you went to a university to learn how to speak with authority after all."
It was... such a bizarre statement to hear from THE Tang Sanzang. Tang never once thought in a million years that the Great Monk would be telling him, in the most polite way possible, "use your words, dumbass".
It was so bizarre that Tang couldn't help but chuckle mirthlessly.
"I... suppose I can't argue with an ancient immortal monk who somehow decided to give me his powers, can I?"
"You could," Tang Sanzang responded with a softer chuckle. "But I would advise against it in this instance. Now go. You must tell him before it is too late. The seal will break soon and even my powers will be unable to protect you."
"...Even if he—"
"Yes, " Tang Sanzang said firmly. "Even if he says he doesn't feel the same. I know the others are returning as fast as they can, but you must find the strength you had when you helped MK defeat the Lady Bone Demon. You still have it. I promise."
Tang nodded, finding himself unable to argue as he stood. There was a shout from Sandy as he opened the door and bolted.
Somewhere behind him, he could swear he heard the monk continue.
"I'm glad one of us can be brave."
Tang could only guess at what he meant by that.
But knowing that the monk had been there, in hiding, never showing his true face? Sometimes only feet away from Sun Wukong before he rushed away with his head bowed and gaze avoided? The same Sun Wukong whom Tang had witnessed gazing at depictions of the monk and people he considered his family with a great sadness and a wistful smile, the same one who let it slip that he and the monk had a rough falling out as master and disciple after the encounter that left the Lady Bone Demon locked away?
Well.
Hopefully Tang wouldn't have to give the great monk a pep talk about repairing burnt bridges with lost family.
But he should probably prepare for that.
Probably.
He didn't have the time to consider it for much longer, not with how he ran at top speed to the one place that he was certain where he would find Pigsy. All the way until he saw the green of Mei's hair peeking around the corner of where the entrance was. All the way until-
He slammed into the closed storefront, unable to stop himself from barreling into it…
Except his face never made contact like he feared. There was the barest flash of something, and he bounced off it, steadying himself with a shake of his head in surprise as the two figures to his right gasped in surprise and worry.
Tang looked at his hands, the fur on them bristled as he shook almost imperceptibly.
That was... No, it couldn't be. Could it?
"Mr. Tang?" Bai He (that was her name right? No, that was her nickname, she'd chosen that herself because she liked lilies, he remembered, he remembered her). "Are you okay?"
"I don't know anymore," he answered. No matter how much he wanted to hide the truth? He was too determined not to now. Not when he knew he didn't have much time left. "Please don't ask me again, I don't have time for answers right now."
Was that mean?
He didn't know anymore.
He didn't know a lot of things anymore, but what he did know was that he had to hurry.
"W-Where's Pigsy?" Tang asked, breathing hard as he leaned against the door and turned towards the others.
"He went home a few minutes a—WAIT!"
Mei didn't get to finish her sentence before he took off, running down the road like a homing shot fired.
He had to see him. No matter what, no matter how this ended and no matter what happened, he needed to see him.
Even if it was for the last time.
His thoughts raced, thinking of Pigsy and MK and everyone else. Of what Tang Sanzang and Macaque (Macaque, of all people!) had told him. He thought of the changes he went through, and all the fear and pain. But also the fear of possibly losing Pigsy over... over what? A crush ?
He let himself be THIS stubborn over not admitting a crush?
Because he felt Pigsy was too close to him as a friend to be understanding of that? Because he thought that Pigsy had done so much for him already and that asking him to return his feelings was selfish?
It felt so trivial now that he was facing down the end of whatever this curse truly was.
He thought of the story Macaque told him. Of the bee and the girl.
And one thought barreled through his mind at this moment.
"Perhaps you have made peace with your fate, but have you thought of the others? If you were to remain silent and transform into a normal rabbit, how would the others react? How would they react knowing that you were essentially gone? Could you do that to them? Could you do that to the people you love?"
No.
He couldn't do that.
He wouldn't.
Tang slammed into the front of Pigsy's apartment.
He knocked on Pigsy's door, doing his best to slow his rapid breathing and racing heart. But it was to no avail. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't stop the adrenaline from rushing.
Not even once Pigsy opened the door, eyes wide in surprise, could he calm down enough to stand still.
"Can I come inside?" he quickly asked. Pigsy barely had time to nod before Tang ran inside, rubbing his hands on his top and beginning to pace in the entryway. The scholar barely remembered to kick his shoes off, not wanting to be rude to Pigsy even with everything crumbling. "I'm sorry, I really am, but I-I had to see you and you weren't at the shop so I rushed here as quickly as I could, and-"
"It's okay," Pigsy assured before shutting the door. "But what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." The chef moved his arms, holding them out in a gesture of some sort before dropping them.
"C-Can I talk to you about something?" Tang stammered.
"Of course," Pigsy said. And his voice was so soft and understanding Tang was thrown to the day he had been stood up.
"I-I..."
He hesitated. Damn him, but he hesitated.
That was the split second where he felt something shatter. He didn't know if it was his pause or the time limit that triggered the curse. But he went from standing to on the ground faster than he could register that he even moved.
It felt like a sledgehammer had shattered his legs. All of his lower half was aflame with excruciating pain. A vice was clamped down on each of his lower legs, compressing the splintered bone. His thighs throbbed painfully.
He was vaguely aware of the sound of fabric ripping as his gaze moved backwards. His blood turned into ice when he saw.
Human legs did not look like that. They did not bend like that.
Tang shrieked as the arches in his feet were hammered out. A familiar but no less painful sensation stabbed through his toes as his nails sharpened into claws. His socks struggled to contain his lengthening feet, until with a loud rip, they gave up. Large rabbit feet burst forth from the shredded fabric, claws scratching across the floor.
" TANG! " Pigsy screamed, grabbing the other's shoulders. " What's going on !?"
" I'm out of time, " Tang breathed, a horrific realization dawning on him. " I'm out of time, Pigsy, I-I waited too long !"
"What are you-"
"I'm turning into a normal rabbit." The scholar paused, shocked at how plainly he said it. "Sun Wukong told me this might happen and I-I just... I didn't listen. I was too stubborn and I didn't LISTEN !"
Everything was too loud. Too loud and too bright and too much and too terrifying.
He could feel his rabbit instincts trying to take hold again. Telling him to kick, to run, to find a place to hide.
But Pigsy's grip was too strong and Tang felt something still holding the instincts back. Something old and weak but bright.
"Just tell me what I can do to fix this!" Pigsy begged, trying desperately to hold Tang upright. "The Monkey King didn't tell US about the curse, but he told YOU! He must have told you what we can do to break it, there's gotta be something I can -"
" N-NO! " Tang said, pushing himself up straighter. "I have to do it, it has to be me, I—ACK !"
The scholar let out a screech as his whole body flared with agony. He barely avoided landing face first on the floor, his arms bracing against Pigsy in an effort to catch himself. If it had been any other time, his heart would have fluttered. But instead, his heart was pounding.
Everything around him seemed to be getting bigger. The room, Pigsy, even the clothes he was wearing. But as Tang realized with icy dread, they didn't seem to , they were . And it wasn't his surroundings changing size. His hold on Pigsy's arms was loosening.
With growing horror, the scholar watched as his fingers shortened. Pressure and heat was building in his palms and he screamed when bone shattered yet again. Except this time, he didn't hear the cracks.
He couldn't hear anything right now. His mouth was agape in a wail that he couldn't hear as agony stabbed through the sides of his skull. For a few moments, Tang feared that his ears had been torn off before sound came rushing back deafeningly loud. Everything was too loud. His own voice was too loud.
"I don't wanna go! N-No, please! PLEASE!"
Pressure— Pigsy? —on his shoulders tightened.
"Tang! You HAVE to tell me how we can stop this!" the chef pleaded.
The tips of Tang's ears fell past his shoulders, longer than they had ever been. He couldn't bend his fingers anymore.
"I should have told you sooner but I was scared, I'm sorry, I don't wanna be a rabbit, I don't w anna—"
"TANG!" Pigsy yelled, yanking him back to the present. "You're scared, you blabber on when you are, but you need to focus! You helped stop the Lady Bone Demon! You helped save the world! You are strong enough to do this! Your story ain't over, remember!? Please! Just tell me! "
He was out of time.
"It's a truth curse!" Tang screamed. "You know that, I know, but we didn't tell you it was a love curse !"
Pigsy froze.
"A... love curse? " he repeated.
"I was too scared to say anything because I thought it would ruin everything! But look at me now!" Tang wailed, fighting to hold on to Pigsy's arms. "All because I was too stubborn, too scared to just say that I... I—!"
He clenched his eyes shut.
"I love you, Pigsy!"
In a split second, everything seemed to freeze. Even the pain coursing through him seemed to stop . No…
It stopped. The pain…
Stopped?
He looked up. Pigsy was staring at him. His eyes looked at him with a dazed and almost blank expression.
Blank.
He blinked. Breathed in.
There was weight on his shoulders. How long had it been there?
He looked up.
Pigsy was smiling. He laughed.
'At... me ?'
'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!'
'Stupidstupidhehatesyoulookwhatyou'vedonehe'snevergoingtospeaktoyouagainPigsy—'
Something pressed against his forehead.
He stopped.
"...You're really dumb sometimes... you know that?"
And then something was pressed against Tang's lips.