(This is for my own AU for LEGO; Monkie Kid. So if you don't like this chat you may change it if you so desire!)

The sky above the Ruined Peaks churned like a wounded beast, streaks of gold and crimson tearing across clouds warped by Chaos. The battlefield below was a graveyard of shattered stone and collapsed temples, leftover scars from the mistakes of a former Monkey King — scars MK had buried deep, swearing they would never resurface.

But they had.*

And now his successor — you — sprinted toward the rising Pillar of Chaos, its sickening light swallowing the horizon. The ground trembled with every pulse, like the world itself bracing for an ending.

This was it. The prophecy he prayed would never repeat. A sacrifice. Just like his.

MK felt the realization crush his chest, colder than any weapon, heavier than any curse. His successor’s destiny was folding into the same cruel shape as his own, the universe demanding repayment for a mistake he made long ago. He turned — frantic, desperate — toward the group behind him. Hào Dragon stood frozen, scales at her cheeks flickering with terrified light as she clutched her family's sword that was passed down from generation to generation with her grandmother Mei holding her back from chasing after you; her best friend. Sunn Wujing’s staff trembled in his massive hands, hopeless anger in his eyes as he watched in helplessness. Pei Baije clasped her prayer beads so tightly they cracked between her fingers hoping to Budda that you; her beloved adopted child would turn around and hug her tight. Lihua SanZang whispered frantic sutras that wouldn’t reach the heavens in time and she knew it, but she couldn't help but try as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, fogging up her glasses.

None of them could move. None of them could stop you.

MK inhaled a long, shaking breath — the way a person does when they already know they’ve lost something precious — and launched himself onto his golden Nimbus. The cloud roared beneath him, streaking forward in a trail of blazing light as he tore after you, heart pounding like war drums. The wind whipped harshly as he caught up, then surged past you just long enough for one of his three massive golden tails to coil around your waist. With a desperate yank, he pulled you down, the two of you crashing onto opposite ends of a fractured courtyard. Dust exploded upward, swallowing you both in a suffocating haze.

You scrambled to your feet. MK did too — towering, trembling, glowing — but his expression wasn’t fierce.

It was broken.

His voice cracked as he called out across the ruined battleground:

MK: “Bud!!! Please, listen to me—! You don’t have to do this, there has to be another way!!” His tail twitched behind him, frantically, terrified.

MK: “Please, bud!!! I don’t want to lose you!!” The wind stole his words, but not the sorrow behind them — that shook the ground harder than Chaos ever could.