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It was a nice day out in Megapolis. As it usually is. Sun shining on the eye blindingly-colorful super market. Macaque usually doesn’t go out this much due to… Risks that he’d prefer not to run into. But he had been perfecting his human form as of late and needed food. Stolen or not. He was hungry for once in his life. He just had to be careful. He had managed to grab one bag of fresh produce. Taking a short cut on the way home because he’d rather not be out in the open much longer without his back to a wall, he would shadow portal home but the shadows tend to rip up whatever produce or any type of food he buys. He’s made that mistake before. He’s not cleaning ALL of that up again. Whether he get’s in a fight or not. Macaque pauses when he smells blood. He should’ve expected this. Just because it’s a technological advanced and ‘happy we all go through it together’ city, doesn’t mean there isn’t thief’s and gangs lurking around. Okay… He just needs to be wary around the corners. His ears twitch under refining glamours. Listening ahead, just to make sure no ones hiding to attack him before continuing down the concrete. Wary.
His foot slams into something in the way you accidently slam your toes into the corner of a wall. He jerks back, gripping his bag of food tighter. There’s someone on the ground. Young-adult. Black hair with green highlights in it’s hair. Blood dripping from their eye and sinking back into the earth. Rotting and alone. Shit. This reminds him of… No. No. It’s not that. He just needs to leave. Someone will find her. …Right? Right. Why is he even… Not worried. Just… Disturbed. If someone hurt them and she ran. Then no ones looking for them. But it’s not his thing to deal with. He doesn’t need this right now. Not while he’s planning his get back at Wukong. Taking care of some random kid? And a dragon for hells sake? Those things are a ruckus. What use would it even be to help them? Having to collect more food and use up his medical supplies, to have another life in his house in general that’s not g- a groan of pain “M…” breathless. She twitches. Fuck. Fuck, this is stupid. He steps around them. Going to walk down the alley. But a hand grabs his leg and he jerks, snarling and whipping around with bared fangs. There are now open dazed emerald eyes that are now locked on him. Breathing heavy from the limp dragons body. …Curse Buddha. Why does this kind of stuff have to happen to him?
~
Her eye flutters open and she groans. Her head throbbing. Colors blurring together in bright lights. Fuck… Why does her head hurt so much…? What… What happened… She has to take deep shuddering breaths to even somewhat gain consciousness of her surroundings. Wood support beams hold up the black roof. She’s in a room, propped up against a couch. There’s a bed across the room, books, papers and pens scattered across a desk. A med-kit laying close to the couch she’s on. Open. A water bottle and a apple there too. The place looks a bit raggedy, but it works. There are some exposed logs in the walls from which look cracked as if someone had roughed it up. There’s stich seams in the couch. …Who took her anyways? Do they have proper money? …Whatever. She sits up and everything blurs together again. She rubs her forehead with a shaky huff. Then pausing when her fingers brush the bandages on her head. And everything floods back. The fight with her best friend. The stab at her eye. Her eye. …She couldn’t see out of her left eye after that. God Mk… …She shouldn’t feel this mad. Right? Sure, he hurt her, but… In the end, it isn’t entirely his fault. It was… Wukongs. For somehow messing up his memories. But a rage in her still burns for Mk. For the whole group. They could’ve run over. To stop the fight earlier. To help her get back home. But no one followed her. Not one of her friends she’s known and that took her in sense she was ten. There’s a way she can still try to fix this. But how? It’s clear Mk has forgot her. He attacked her for hells sake. Is there any way to get her friend back? …She’s not sure. She has to try again though. Right?
~
She doesn’t know how long she sits there for. Thinking over plans that get scratched out eventually due to the reminders. She’s tried… Everything. To get his memories back. To talk to him. We all know how that ended. So what is she going to do now. Half of her… Life. Her memories revolved around Mk. Exploring, having fun, sparring, helping each other. Now that all of that is ruined. Scrapped. What will she do? …Did the room get darker or is it just her- She jolts, jerking back when someone appears in front of her. Hitting her head against the wall and she groans. “Don’t do that” they say, crouching “Oh thanks I appreciate that” She hisses, they roll their eyes. They have ebony fur, a long tail that keeps twitching back and forth. A red marking on their face. Gold, black and red outfit with a red scarf. Two yellow eyes with the right eye having a purple sclera. …Is this a monkey? Like Wukong. She leans away. Staring warily. “Please, if I wanted you dead I would have left you in that alley” it mutters. Tossing the water to her “Drink” He orders as he walks away to grab some papers. She stares at the water. “Why should I trust you” Mei mutters “You shouldn’t” He shrugs “I don’t think that’s what you should say to someone when you try to reassure them” Mei mumbles “I’m not trying to reassure you” Simple, sitting on the bed. Mei frowns before sipping the water, before starting to chug it. God she didn’t know her throat was so dry. The water tastes heavenly for it just being water. She puts the water bottle down after she finishes the whole thing. Panting. The monkey grimaces “Don’t throw up on my floor please” He says. Mei rolls her eyes. “ ‘m not going to throw up” she sighs, leaning back. Her head feels better after that. She takes a minute to herself before opening her eye again, peering at him “Who are you anyways” He glances up, ear twitching. “Macaque. Or, you know, the Six-Eared Macaque is my full name” He answers. “…What about you, dragon girl” “Mei Dragon” Mei nods. Reaching for the apple. “Well, thanks for… Helping me, Macaque. Even if you don’t seem the nicest” Mei hums. Tail hitting the floor as she stretches “I’m not here to be nice, I’m here to keep you alive” He states. “…That… Isn’t… You know what, I can’t even argue, you don’t know me” she huffs and he just nods. Writing as she bites into the apple. Tail thumping the couch. It’s deathly silent for a minute.
“What happened to you anyways kid” Macaque asks. Mei pauses. Swallowing. “…I… Had a fight. With my best friend. And uh… His memories we’re fucked up. …And he attacked me. When I tried to talk to him. And I snapped back because I had been trying to help him get his memories back but they had been warped, I-“ Mei sighs. Glancing away. “It’s stupid. I should have expected it with the way he was acting as of late, I just… Didn’t want to believe it I guess” She frowns. A pause “Yeah, I get it” Mei freezes, looking up at him “What? Look, don’t expect me to comfort you, okay. Because I can’t. But I do get what your saying, same thing happened to me with different circumstances kid. You just have to get healing and plan” Macaque mutters “Plan… What exactly?” Mei asks, eyes narrowing. “Revenge” he says simply, crossing his legs with a light smile. She stares “You’re an enemy of Sun Wukong” Mei mutters “Took that long for you to realize?” He hums. Getting up. “So, the question is, are you with me and you can take your own revenge on Mk while I get mine on Wukong. Or are you out” He says, walking over and offering a sharp-clawed paw. She stares at the hand for a minute. Going over everything she can in her head. She would…. She likes the idea of revenge on both of them. For an odd reason. She doesn’t like feeling like this. But she tried. Over and over. To help Mk. To make Wukong help her. But it never worked out. He never worked out. In some part of her mind. She knows this was bound to happen after he started to give her glaring looks. But she didn’t know it’d escalate to this degree. Macaque walks away before turning back around. Eye scar on view. She falters. Eye wide. Staring. That… When did that show up…? God that looks nasty. “Just think about it. I’ll give you some time. But, if what I’m hearing is true. Cursed or not. He still almost gouged out your eye. He still took your trust and used it against you. We’ve both been hurt by our friends, Mei. We could work together to get back at them” He says, grinning. Her brows furrow. Staring at the ground. Part of her knows it’s wrong. Knows she shouldn’t do any of this. But… She knows what Mk did was wrong. Memory alteration or not. And a huge part of her wants to get back at him. It sprouts in her mind and grows through her body. And suddenly, she has a urge that she needs to do this. That it’s been boiling in the back of her mind for the months it’s gone wrong, waiting to overflow. “Fine. I’ll work with you. BUT. Only if you help me first. I come first before this revenge. When I’m better. I’m getting my sword back, unless you have it? I remember carrying it with me” Mei complies stubbornly. “Oh this thing?” Macaque dangles her sword in the air. “Don’t break it” She growls and Macaque rolls his eyes. “Please, this thing could be dropped into lava and not break” He mutters. “So. We have a deal?” He hums, paw offered again. Claws glinting. Palm up. She takes a breath before shaking his paw with her scaled hand. “Yes. We have a deal.” Mei says. Staring him right in the eye. He smirks. “Good. Good.” He finally gives her the Dragon sword back. She grips it tightly. Not taking her eyes off of him “This is going to be interesting” he muses. “You know, I didn’t expect to have a whole dragon on my side when I was about to go against Wukong” He admits “Yeah well, now you do, and the best dragon in the city” Mei puffs proudly. He cocks an eyebrow, an amused glint in his eye. “Sure kid, we’ll see about that” Macaque says, ebony tail swishing and she glares at him “God you are annoying” Mei points the sword at his face and he chuckles. She frowns. Staring at his eyes. “..I’m going to be half-blind, aren’t I?” Mei then asks. “Probably, that staff got ya good, you can look at it later when I eventually have to change bandages, if you’d like?” He offers with a shrug “…Yeah, sure…” She sighs. “Hey, uh uh, don’t go moping around in my house. Do that outside.” He winces “Oh so helpful” she snaps and he rolls his eyes “Listen, if your sad about the sight. Just because I lost my eye doesn’t mean I’m not fighting. You just have to learn to adapt and hide it” He explains, waving his paw in a circle, off-hand motion. “…Hide… You didn’t let that scar show till it came up, how?” Mei prompts, finally letting the sword lower from aiming at his face “Magic. Something called glamours. It can hide any flaw. I can teach you, if you’d like.” He smirks. She’s already starting to hate that smirk. “…There’s a catch to this, isn’t there?” Mei asks. He shrugs “I could teach you glamours, show you how to fight better with only half sight. I’m just saying. People call my teaching methods harsh, but that shouldn’t be much of a challenge for the ‘Best dragon in the city’, right?” he says. Cocky. “I’d prefer harsh over then someone not training me properly just because I’m a female” Mei answers. He stares before smiling “Fair enough, now finish that apple before it goes bad. We start tomorrow” He says, turning back to his papers “What about my eye-?” Mei counters, grabbing the apple again “Push through it” He suggests. Mei sighs. This is going to be a long year…