LOVE STORY

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Chapter Fifteen
The Samadhi Fire
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❝Forever's a long time, bud. Trust me.❞

YOU AND NE ZHA WERE still trapped in the ice created by Macaque. You used your gold vision and saw what was happening in the mountain. Unfortunately, Macaque was able to get to Mk and the other. What was bad was that the ritual was about to start with the three rings and Mei present.

You growled in frustration, "No! They were supposed to wait!" You exclaimed with anger, feeling disappointed in Macaque and his selfish deeds. Ne Zha looked at you, "Are you absolutely sure the Samadhi Fire is the only way to stop the Lady Bone Demon?" He asked you in hopes you would confirm his theory.

"Only if we move right now!"

"You better be right."

Ne Zha's spear started to light up before transforming into lotus petals that floated gently in the air, "Let's hope my aim is as good as it used to be." As he said that, the soft petals became sharp and fly all over the ice. A big pink symbol appeared behind you and Ne Zha before the ice broke. Without wasting time, you summoned your cloud and raced to the mountain in order to stop the ritual before it was too late. You could see another bright light when you reached there and saw Macaque holding Mei in the middle.

"Stop!"

You were about to reach them, but you were too late as fire surrounded the girl's body, "No!" You exclaimed, getting send back. A big explosion happened and Mei was trapped in a ball of flames. Macaque stood up and looked at his hands, seeing them no longer covered in ice, "It worked!" He said with relief, feeling glad that he no longer had to work for the Lady Bone Demon.

You groaned and stood up, "I'm too late. Kid!" You mumbled then looked around for Mk. The boy looked at you then at Mei, "What? Mei?! What's happening?! Don't worry, I'm coming for ya! Someone get some water. Stop, drop, and roll, Mei!" Your successor was going to reach out to Mei, but you quickly pulled him back before he could get hurt. Suddenly, Ne Zha joined you all at the mountain, "Mere water cannot extinguish the Samadhi Fire. Nothing can. The fire will destroy this girl and burn everything in its path." He explained, freeing both Pigsy and Sandy who were trapped in the ice with his powers.

"What?" Mei exclaimed.

"Yeah, what?!" Mk agreed with her.

You growled in anger and looked at Macaque. He saw you dash at him and tried to escape via shadow portal, but you grabbed him before he could run away, "You! You ruined everything!" You scolded, bearing your fangs at him in anger.

"I didn't do this!" Macaque defended himself.

You pulled your fist back to punch him, "Well, you weren't not involved!" You said and were about to punch him, but you stop when you saw him close his eyes, bracing himself for the attack, "Why do you always ruin everything? Why do you force me to hate you?" Macaque could see how much you were disappointed in him but there was something else in your eyes. You were... hurt. It was the first time he saw you look so hurt when you two meet eyes. He couldn't understand why you were feeling that.

Before anything could happen, Tang stopped you, "Stop! It was me! I mean, yeah Macaque forced me to do it, and I'm definitely starting to have second thoughts on the whole thing now but... I don't know how and I don't know why, I just felt like I had too... like it was... destiny."

Destiny cannot be undone, Y/N...

You gritted your teeth as the words of LBD rang in your head. You let go of Macaque and clenched your fists tightly, "I hate to interrupt but can someone explain what is going on?! What's happening to Mei?" Mk asked as he looked at you with clear confusion, pointing at his friend. You looked at Mei with fear and panic.

"Okay, this is going to sound really bad, but hear me out."

"Y/N, what have you done?" Ne Zha asked you, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"I made a mistake. During the ritual, a piece of the Samadhi Fire got away from me. I don't know what happened, but I guess, part of it was sealed away in the closest vessel that could contain it. My loyal companion, the White Horse Dragon, Ao Lie."

"Mei's great, great, great, times a thousand great-grandfather!" Sandy pointed out.

"Making Mei the fourth ring!" Mk finished.

The fire around Mei got worse upon hearing your explanation, "You knew! All along you knew I had this thing inside of me!" She exclaimed, directing her speech to you. Mk tried to calm her down, but it didn't work, Mei was furious, "And you hid it from all of us! Why?! What were you afraid of?! That you were going to have to tear me apart to get your precious Samadhi Fire?!" She added as the fire got stronger. You quickly pulled Mk behind you to protect him from the flames.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! I thought if I could get the Samadhi fire out of you, without hurting you of course. Then I could put it inside myself. Then I don't know, use it to burn up the Lady Bone Demon or something? I was kinda making this up as I went—"

"That was your plan?!" Ne Zha asked with shock.

"That's not a good plan!" Mk exclaimed.

"Yeah, to be honest this is the first time I've said it out loud, so..." You trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"We trusted you! All of us! How could you lead us into this fight without a real plan?! Time and time again, I've watched you put MK in danger, leaving him to figure everything on his own! Don't you realize you're hurting the people who care about you the most?!"

You stood there, listening to her lash out on you. She was right and you couldn't deny this, this was partly your fault to go without an actual plan or think of the consequences of your ideas. This made you feel so guilty about everything that you didn't listen to what was going. The only thing you did was looking back at Macaque with the same hurt glimpse in your eyes. The last thing you knew was Mk running past you to Mei, "No! Kid!" You called him out, but he didn't listen.

"Mei! You have to stop! I know you're upset, and that's okay! I know what it's like to have a power you don't know how to control. To feel like the fate of the world is in your hands and you have no idea what to do! But you always have my back and helped me through it. We... will figure this out... together!"

Suddenly, the fire stopped when Mk hugged Mei. You stood there, looking at the two friends hugging each other. However, Mei pulled away and blasted in the air since she didn't want to hurt anyone. Mk tried to stop her, but he couldn't as he was too exhausted. As you stood there, you could hear them talk about how the fire didn't burn Mei or hurt her which gave hope to use it in order to defeat the Lady Bone Demon, "So all we gotta do is get Mei some fire training? That's easy! All the more reason to go after her!" Mk said with hopeful spark in his eyes.

"There's no time for that. Now that the Samadhi Fire is forged, the Lady Bone Demon will stop at nothing to obtain it! If we show up unprepared, we might as well hand Mei over to her right now! No, I'm gonna do what I should've done originally. Stop the Lady Bone Demon... alone."

"What?! But you said the Samadhi Fire was the only way that could stop her."

"I know what I said, but I've beaten her before I'll... I'll do it again! Mei was right, I need to stop dragging you into my fights. All of you. I'm sorry, bud, I need you to sit this one out."

With that being said, you summoned your cloud and flew away from the mountain. Now that you had made up your mind, you were going to deal the Lady Bone Demon and alone.