Forgot to upload these ones, sorry guys 😭

~~~~

"What do you mean it's gone?!"

You pinch the bridge of your nose. A sigh fills the air after the extremely apologetic monks deliver the news of the stolen cassock, but not before ogling over the fact that everyone they had been instructed to kill survived. You might have to acknowledge that Monkey King did something good, saving them from the fire. If only his bragging on his master's behalf wasn't also the reason the old monk tried burning down the monastery in the first place!

You glare at the monkey from the corner of your eye. After calming Tripitaka down– who you eventually found in the midst of the ashy remains of the monastery– he had sent the two of you to retrieve the cassock from the survivors. Unfortunately, it seems as though someone has already beaten you to it. "Why would you even let the man take it to his room in the first place?"

Sun Wukong scoffs, his gaze sharply turning to the sky while he crosses his arms. "I didn't think he would actually steal it! It doesn't matter anyway, I think I already know who has it." You raise a brow as he continues. "There was someone else at the fire last night. It could have been a demon, I nearly mistook it for some wild animal. Whatever it was, they must've taken it."

"Why didn't you follow them?" You frown, making the sage laugh dryly.

"Believe me, I wanted to." He leans forward, a pointed stare digging into your head. "I would have if not for a certain someone clinging to me in their sleep. Or did you forget?"

"Raaasgggh!" You shout, clenching your fists as they raise up to the sky in exasperation. "That cassock was a gift from the Buddha!"

Monkey King scoffs, his arms crossing. "I'll get it back, okay?"

You shake your head, frustration evident. "You have to, the Tang Monk is stressed enough as it already is." Turning away from your demon companion, you continue to question the monks. "Can any of you tell me of any demons living nearby?"

One of the monks steps forward with a nod. "There is one that lives on the mountain, there is a cave that is only half a day away on foot where some reside..."

The monk begins to give you directions on where to find the home of the local demon while Sun Wukong goes back to deliver the news to his master. When you have everything you need from your hospitable arsonists, you bid them farewell before going back to your travelling companions.

By the frown on the young Tang Monk's face, anyone could tell he was not taking the news well. "It's gone?!"

"Just temporarily." The King laughs, albeit slightly awkward. Even he has enough awareness to recognise this doesn't look good.

The Great Monk shakes his head. "Sun Wukong, I warned you this would happen! Why couldn't you have listened to me?"

"Hey, it's not like I made you give the old man your clothes."

"That's exactly what you did!" Tripitaka shouts, surprising you with the passion in his voice. It's rare to see him this upset, witnessing the man raise his voice at all is an uncommon sight. Even Sun Wukong widens his eyes slightly, the end of his tail flicking for just a moment.

Quickly, before his disciple can aggravate him further, you step in with an exasperated sigh. "Do not worry, Great Monk. Wukong already knows who has the cassock, and they live only half a day's journey from here." You explain to the man, his frown shifting slightly at the news.

Wukong furrows his brows as you continue. "It was taken by a demon, the monks of this monastery know where he lives and have already given me directions to the cave he resides in."

"So now we must take a detour from our journey because of my stolen garments?" Tripitaka frowns, glancing over to his disciple with an annoyed look.

You shake your head with a courteous smile. "Sun Wukong won't take long on his own to retrieve it, I'm sure. Let him find the demon and before tomorrow, we will be able to continue on our journey. He is the one who lost the cassock, after all."

Tripitaka takes a moment to sit with your words, looking between both you and his disciple before sighing. "Very well. Sun Wukong, will you be able to retrieve my cassock?"

"Please, don't offend me, Master. Of course I'll get your clothes back." He grins. "Let Ol' Monkey take care of things while you wait here. The monks can keep you company."

"The same ones who tried to burn him alive?" You frown, crossing your arms.

"Trust me, I'll make sure they know to be good to him." Monkey King smiles, though it feels more threatening than anything else.

With that, your group rejoins the monks, who are quick to promise that no harm would come to the Great Monk. You would be surprised that they were so quick to pledge his safety if not for his terrifying disciple eyeing them down as they did.

It only takes a few moments for Monkey King to get ready for his detour when he turns to you. "Do you plan to waste all our time standing around, or are you ready?"

You frown at the question, confused. "What?"

The hair on his arms look almost like they're bristled. "Are you coming or not, woman?" He huffs, though you almost feel the need to ask him to repeat. Is he being serious?

You frown, looking back to the Tang Monk before returning your gaze to the Great Sage, a sense of confusion settling in you. He's asking you to help him? It isn't as though you don't want to go and find the demon that has stolen from your group, but you just assumed Sun Wukong would fly off on his own. After all, he's always preferred to go solo. He rushes off on his own so much, it's frustrating. Having him ask you at all sends an unwelcome chill down your back.

Nonetheless, you nod. You would appreciate being part of the action, and after nearly dying in a fire again, you feel yourself itching for some form of retribution. "Yes, I'm ready." With a short exhale, you glance back to the Tang Monk. "Make sure you stay with the monks, we wouldn't want any other wild animals or other demons trying to grab you while we're away."

The man nods. "Please, be safe." With his final words, you shift into your avian form and shoot into the sky, Monkey King quickly surpassing you on his cloud as you each soar towards the mountain.

It is a bit of a struggle to keep up with the demon. Doves may not exactly be the fastest of creatures, but with that cloud of his, it's near-impossible to keep the Monkey King in sight. Nonetheless, the differences in speed doesn't stop you from following the monk's directions to the demon's home on the mountain.

"Having trouble, Dove?" Wukong falls back enough that you can hear his chuckle, and it pushes you enough to go even faster. Maybe he just wanted you to come along so he could have someone to listen to his voice, how annoying.

The harsh winds of the thin air surrounding the mountains blow past you with force the higher you ascend. Your eyes water on occasion, flying at such a high altitude. The wind stings, but it's barely noticeable as you grow closer to your destination.

About halfway up the mountain is where you and Wukong land, the trees surrounding the area are too dense for either of you to see anything from above. Besides the flora that covers the ground, a narrow and winding dirt path leads the two of you further up where you continue the trek.

While neither one of you speaks as you hike, it's difficult to move past this weird tension in the air. Though, it isn't quite as intense as it has been in the previous days. Perhaps it's because he asked you to come along to retrieve the cassock. Between Sun Wukong jumping into action to kill those bandits and practically leaving you on your own to carry off his master when you were all attacked by Ao Lie, this didn't quite feel like him. So why ask in the first place? Maybe he plans to kill you here and blame whatever demon was at the monastery last night.

You admit, it would be clever of him to do so. When you glance over at the sage, his face seems focused, eyes darting occasionally to the trees that press in on you from both sides. It isn't until his gaze catches your own that you focus again on the path ahead.

Now it's his eyes that you feel on yourself, though it's not burning as it usually is. That's it, the hostility! There was barely a trace of it. Is that why this feels different? The movement from that tail of his is slower now, less sharp as it sways behind him. Maybe he doesn't wish for your death anymore?

Hah, what a thought.

"Why did you do that?" His voice puts a pin in your thoughts, and you finally turn to meet the eyes of gold that have been watching for quite some time now. Again, you feel less of that hostility that is usually there, but something replaces it. His eyes are narrowed, though not in aggression. It feels more... questioning?

With a hint of confusion, you frown. "Could you specify?"

"I don't need you defending me in front of Master, I can explain my own actions." A heavy breath escapes through his nose, and you have to hold back a snort as your mind catches up to the conversation.

"Aw, don't tell me I hurt your pride." You snicker, adjusting your pace just enough to be ahead of him. "I can't have one of Tripitaka's disciples giving him heart failure, we're not even a quarter of the way to retrieving those scrolls. It's not like you were doing all that well giving him the bad news on your own."

Sun Wukong scoffs. "You think I don't know how to explain myself?"

"You seem plenty good at defending yourself." Your laugh is breathy as you glance back at the demon sapien. His brows are now furrowed, that sliver of murderous intent returning to his eyes as you continue.

"Anymore out of your mouth, I'm sure the monk would have you on the ground writhing from that spell, and–" You pause in your tracks, Monkey King doing the same as you cut yourself off. Eyes slightly wider, you turn to face the path once more. "And... I'd rather not see that again."

You didn't want him to know how uncomfortable that had been, bearing witness to this monstrous demon in such a pathetic state. Originally, you thought seeing the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven at his knees would be a satisfying moment, but it only managed to make your skin crawl just at the thought of the memory. Seeing anyone the way you had seen him just felt wrong.

But he doesn't have to know that. "So you're welcome, for sparing you the headache."

Expecting a witty remark in return, you're given nothing but silence as your hike continues without further conversation.

It's about an hour or so more when Monkey King stops, grabbing your wrist only for a moment before you snatch it away. With a scornful expression, you barely manage to hiss out a word before he gestures for your silence. You frown, waiting for some sort of explanation that never comes. Sun Wukong bounds ahead of you, climbing up one of the nearby trees and leaving you to follow after.

"I hate that monkey." With a grumble, you take on your dove form to fly after him. He dodges and weaves through the branches, surprisingly silent as he moves. As you move further around and between the trunks of trees, voices make their presence known, though they're too far to make any distinct words out.

A few more trees ahead, Monkey King finally stops, perching himself on a branch while you strain to make out whatever is being said. Returning to your human form, you take notice of how high the two of you are as Monkey King points to something obscured by the branches ahead of you, his voice only just a whisper. "There's a clearing further ahead. Three demons are gathered, including your thief."

You nod, recognising that there seems to be three distinct voices in that area. "Alright, do you have a– Wukong!" Your whisper risks becoming a shout when you see your travelling companion brandishing his signature weapon, prepared to jump out of your place of hiding.

The demon glares as you grab his shoulder, annoyance seeping from his person. "Do you want to give me away?"

"Do you want to give us away?" You hiss back with a frown. "Does the demon even have the clothes with him? We should focus on finding his home first, otherwise we'll be left with a corpse and no cassock."

The monkey's glare refuses to soften, but that doesn't stop the hints of a smirk surfacing as you speak. "Let him lead us back to his home and... why are you looking at me like that?"

The halfhearted pat on your shoulder should have been a warning. "No, no, this is good. Very good. I just remembered why I thought it was important to have brought you along." With his grip tightening, your body moves without your stomach. In an instant, the force of his push combined with gravity sends you tumbling through the trees and towards the ever-so-quickly approaching ground while you hear his final word.

"Bait."

You spin through the air, colliding with several branches before landing harshly on your side, your arm taking the brunt of your fall when you land on it. The ground thuds as you let out a grunt, wincing only for a moment at the pain before glaring up where the monkey silently cackles. "Sun Wukong, you brash–!"

"Did you hear that?" Shit.

Your head swivels behind, to where the voices once loud and obnoxious become hushed. "Do you feel that?" With one last glare up at the branches above, you see only leaves where Sun Wukong once was, that brutish little bastard!

"Over there." Getting up to your feet, you run. Weaving between trees, avoiding the path to stay hidden, you sprint down the mountain as fast as your legs can take you. With a quick turn you reach for a weapon, clutching a small blade tightly in your grasp, wrist now slightly aching.

A hiss too close for comfort makes you turn to see the head of a white-spotted snake, far too large to be a simple creature, springing towards your person. You barely duck out of the way in time, losing your balance and tripping over your feet. It takes you a moment to cease your rolling before the snake demon leaps into action once more and you dodge yet again, this time cutting into its side before continuing your mad dash. That damned monkey will pay for this.

Now farther ahead, you look back to see the distance you've managed to put between you and your pursuers. Did you lose them?

The question is quickly answered by something tackling your side. You and your assailant tumble further down the mountain terrain, with you landing on your back as the demon wolf above snarled. Its grey fur stands on end, eyes narrowing as you move to stab at the monster. It quickly catches your hand but is unable to react further before you slam your head into its snout. The demon quickly reels back in pain and gives you the moment you need to get back up and get deeper into the forest.

Without pause, you run further and further until you have no clue where you are anymore. You only stop when there is no more ground left to run on, the earthy floor giving out just up ahead where a cliff runs across a small clearing.

"This way!" A voice booms from behind, making you face your only escape. The bottom wasn't too far down, not that you planned on falling. Tucking your dagger away, you get a running start.

A few quick breaths are all you need before sprinting towards the cliff's edge and leaping into the air. As a dove, you fly down to the trees below, finding yourself in a surprising amount of pain as you do so. Your wing cries out in rebuke, making you off-balance and miss the branch you initially aim for. Instead, you turn back and hit another branch a little lower down. You can just barely get a decent grip before slipping, falling a little further with a yelp before hitting the ground with a semi-graceful landing. More graceful than your last fall, at least.

You get up to your feet, head turned to the top of the cliff as you wait for confirmation of your escape. After a few moments of silence pass, you allow yourself to lean against the tree to rest. The sting of your wrist intensifies, and you quickly inspect it in annoyance. Of course, that blasted ape! This is exactly what you don't need.

What else could you expect from such a conniving little imp?! To think he actually wanted your help? Ha, as if! You should have known better than that. When you find him, it'll be his end.

~~~~

It takes only about an hour or so before you find him. You tried your best to fly back up the mountain, but the aching of your wrist hindered your flight. Not enough to stop you entirely, but to make it more effort than it's worth. Making the rest of the trek back on foot, you trudge through the trees before an obnoxious voice breaks through the silence of the trees surrounding you.

"Dove? Are you still alive?" You hear Monkey King calling out casually, which only serves to make your blood boil. He throws you to be killed and has the gall to so offhandedly call out for you like he did nothing?!

With rage providing you with new energy, you follow the sound of his calls to just a little ways further down the mountain. Inspired by this bubbling anger, you take your avian form just long enough to get a bird's eye view. It's not long before you spot him, carelessly wandering further down the mountain's dirt path with each call.

"Pig-headed scum!" You dive, reverting back just in time to tackle him from the sky. Sun Wukong barely has time to turn before you send him flying down to the ground. The two of you roll down the trail together, a fumbling mess of limbs until you slow to a stop. Glaring from on top of the demon, you slam his body into the ground as he laughs, his shirt clutched tightly in your grasp. "Bait? Bait?!"

Sun Wukong, hardly even stunned, lets out a chuckle. "Good bait at that, too." His comment makes you growl, and you slam him into the dirt beneath the two of you again.

His grunt masks your wince from the action, your wrist aching in protest. You're too pissed to care. "Relax, Dove, you served your purpose well enough. While those demons were distracted with their chase, I found the home of the one who took the cassock." He explains, much too smug for your liking. "Like you suggested before you fell."

"Before you threw me."

Before you can say anything else, Wukong takes hold of one arm by your elbow and the other by your shoulder. Kicking his legs out from under you, he pushes your shoulder back and your arm to the side. In the blink of an eye, the demon makes you slip, allowing himself to flip the two of you over and become the one on top. You can only stare up in surprise as he hums playfully.

"Who's to say what happened?" His light-hearted tone makes you want to rip him apart. "After you slipped and I found that thief's cave, I also stumbled upon one of his messengers. After killing him, I found this."

With his arms pinning you down, Wukong's tail reveals a letter– already opened– addressed to the patriarch of the monastery your group has been staying in. "It seems that the old arsonist was on quite good terms with the local demon population." Wukong remarks before letting you hold it yourself.

With a slight twitch of your eye, you try to ignore the increasing pain in your wrist and read the letter that details the events of the previous night from the demon's perspective. His writing shows what Monkey King has already said, that the old monk and the demon seem to be friends and that the demon– apparently called the Black Wind King– plans to have a celebration for the robes he acquired amidst the chaos. After finishing, you look up to find Wukong staring back down at you.

You look back up to him with a deadpan stare, the two of you waiting for a few moments more before Wukong finally speaks. "What?"

"Do you plan on letting me up?" You raise a singular brow, unamused as he lets out a soft chuckle.

"I don't know." He cocks his head slightly to the side, his smirk continuing to grow by the second. "This is starting to feel familiar, isn't it?"

With your good hand, you reach up and twist his ear.

"Owowow, fine!" He whines, finally getting off of you and allowing you a moment to sit up.

The sapien rubs his ear, now looking as annoyed as you felt while you dust yourself off. "Did you at least get Tripitaka's robes back?"

"Couldn't get past the door. I didn't think you or Master would want me alerting his entire army." Monkey King huffs, stretching as he does. "However, thanks to that little messenger of his, I already have a plan to get inside."

Your glare sharpens. "If it involves 'bait', I'm coming for your other ear."

Despite the threat, Monkey King laughs. "Fret not, little Dove. This time, we can both be the bait!"

"...What?"