LOVE STORY

╔════•| ✿ |•════╗
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Strings That Bind
╚════•| ✿ |•════╝

❝Forever's a long time, bud. Trust me.❞

IT WAS ANOTHER beautiful day at Flower Fruit Mountain. So, you decided to take this opportunity to train Mk a little bit more and encourage him to control his monkey form and use it more often.

You held the staff with a small flag that had a monkey logo on it, "Okay, Monkey Class is back in session." You spoke up in a cheerful way. However, Mk who was sitting on a rock was half asleep, "Hmm, what?" Mk mumbled as he woke up from his sleep. You sighed yet still smiled in order to motive him, "You plant this Monkey Flag on your Monkey Mountain and you win. I plant it on my "Way Better Monkey Mountain" and I win! Ready?" You explained the training procedure, pointing at the two mountains that you and Mk decorated.

Mk seemed a bit more excited now to train with you, "Ohohoho, I've never been ready-er. No holding back, LE'GO!" He stated as he stood up, but he still looked exhausted. You raised an eyebrow, not trusting that he was in the shape to train, "You sure? Cause, you're looking a little..." You trailed off because you didn't know how to describe how Mk looked at the moment. Your successor shook his head to wake up fully, "Less talky, more trainy, Monkey Queen. I already set the bait!" Mk exclaimed and jumped on his cloud.

You chuckled and threw the flag staff at him, "What?! Hey! I thought it was "Keep-Aways", not "Throws-at-mes"! Well if you wanna play hard-ball, get ready to play har-" Mk held the staff and was going to attack you. However, you appeared behind him and grabbed the staff. Mk quickly moved and kicked you to a mountain before flying away. You smirked and chased after him on your cloud, "Woah, bud. You're getting so much faster." You complimented him, boosting his ego.

"Yeah, I-"

"But not fast enough!"

And just like that, you and Mk proceeded to fight to win, slamming into many mountains. Finally, Mk grabbed the staff and was going to put it on his mountain, "You were saying? Here... comes... Monkie-" Before he could finish, you appeared in front of him.

"Queen!" You exclaimed and grabbed the staff, throwing it with Mk to your mountain. The staff was planted on your mountain which meant that you had won this round, "Hey, no fair!" Mk exclaimed with a frown as you chuckled and helped him stand up, "We said "no holding back", but you were holding back the whole time when I was right about to win." He complained with his arms crossed over his chest and pout on his face. You found his face so adorable and you couldn't help but tease him, "Wow, bud. I was only holding back a teensy bit. We gotta keep something for you to look up to. Besides, I'm not the only one holding back. Maybe if you tapped into your full power, you'd have won!" You explained to him, trying to motivate him to use his monkey form. However, you noticed that he looked uncomfortable to talk about this topic.

"Kid?" You said with concern.

"I'm fine, i-it's fine. I-"

Mk's gaze went to the broken stone that was a few feet away. You followed his gaze and sighed, "Oh, huh. A stone. I mean... our stone. You know it's not something we can outrun, right? Your monkey form, what it means?" You pointed out, hoping to knock some sense into his head. You were worried about Mk so much and you wanted him to talk to you about what was bothering him.

"Uh, can we-can we just not?"

"Do you uh— You sleeping okay, bud?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah! Yeah, I just got-I just got-I just gotta keep moving, is all."

Yup, he wasn't alright.

"Kid, it's okay to take a minute."

Mk ignored you and continued to do some light excises, "Nope! I'm a monkey now. If I stop, I die." As he said that, MK's ghost soul goofily popped out of his mouth, "I'm compartmentalizing!" This actually creeped you out a bit, but you still didn't really show him that.

"Pretty sure that's sharks, bud."

"Nope! Definitely monkeys. Oh! Oh, oh, oh! I just remembered! Uh, we uh-we uh, we got a surprise for you."

Your eyes sparkled in excitement upon hearing that he had a surprise for you, "A surprise? Wait, no, we should-" You quickly snapped from your distraction as you really needed to help Mk out. However, Mk didn't listen and jumped on the cloud, "Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, you're gonna love it! Just, just wait here!" Before you could say anything, Mk flew away and left you alone.

"Kid, we need to..."

"Well... that went well, Plums."

Macaque appeared behind you from the shadows which made you groan in annoyance, "Ugh. Are you actually lurking here?" You asked while pointing your finger at him. The shadow monkey smirked teasingly at you, "Hey, this mountain's been my home just as long as yours. Also, you told me that I can return here." He reminded you which made you mentally facepalm.

Just how did you forget about this?

You didn't press on this topic any longer and went straight to the point, "You find anything?" You questioned with a serious expression.

"No, but... with the Jade Emperor gone, the Celestial Realm's... things aren't looking good. Y/N... the kid."

"I know." You gritted your teeth and looked away just as Macaque turned to face you.

"You need to talk to him."

"I know! But... he's not ready."

"You mean you're not ready. You really are the worst mentor." Macaque mocked you which made you frown. He then turned serious, "He need— we need to know everything we can." The dark furred monkey insisted. Macaque didn't seem to understand your point that Mk was just a kid to know what was going on around him, "He's just a kid. Can't he just—" You were cut off before even finishing.

"He's not just a kid! Why him, Y/N? Did you know about— when you chose him?"

You were surprised by what he said and then looked down, "No, I didn't know. It just felt... right."

"And that doesn't bother you!? This kid that just happens to have all your powers, that's at the center of all of these battles... and you never questioned why? None of us even knew he existed. How?! We have no idea who freed Azure from the scroll. All your old companions are just... here again? And you just—"

"What about YOU? You just... come back! You just—" You quickly stopped yourself when Macaque groaned in frustration. You knew what you said was something sensitive to you two to talk about, "Look, there's someone pulling all of our strings, ESPECIALLY the kid's. And they're not finished." Macaque stated after letting out a deep sigh. You rolled your eyes and put your hands on your hips, "Are you, Bud?" You questioned him, still not fully trusting him.

"Do you want my help or not? You're such a di—"

"You were a villain five minutes ago and now you're showing me how to-"

You two shouted at each other in unison, glaring daggers. However you stopped when Mk called you out, "It's ready! Monkey Queen?" The boy called out. Macaque took in a deep breath and walked past you, "Look, that kid idolizes you. You're his literal hero and you just..." He trailed off as if he didn't want to hurt your feeling. You were already frustrated by what he told you, "I just what?" You ticked off, waiting for him to throw his next insult.

"He needs to know it's not all on him. You need to do better." And just like that, Macaque disappeared into a shadow portal.

"Ohhh, Monkey Queen? Where are you, dude?"

"I'm coming. Be right there!"

You sighed deeply and hopped on your cloud. You knew that Macaque was right and that you needed to confront the kid about a few things related to his powers and full potential. As you went to meet Mk, you didn't see the universe crack appeared next to the stone. It seems that more problems were coming to you again.