Chapter Text
You were wandering among several different stalls. There were less crowds in this area, and you had hoped that would help your search. You didn't want to keep Pigsy and the others waiting.
"C'mon, where's that sugar paint stuff?!"
It was called táng huà, and it was some sort of honey-colored liquid. You saw it in videos. They melt it down and pour it from a spoon. Creating a picture, like pancake art, and put it on a stick. It was usually something like a dragon or a bunny or a peacock. You'd always wanted to try it.
You ignored the muscles in your legs and their protests. This was Chinese new year! You'd never experienced a Chinese one before, and you weren't doing to let some sore muscles stop you.
It was especially pathetic when you considered the fact that you hadn't even begin to work on cleaning your apartment. Instead just staying in Pigsy's place. You'd have to go back eventually, but not until you felt like you could attempt moving huge chunks of drywall out. Maybe MK could help you...
Besides, you hadn't done much celebrating yet, you wandered around for a few minutes, looking at stuff, and then you sat inside Pigsy's food truck for the rest of the time. There's no excuse for something so mundane and small to kill you this bad, so you were going to ignore it. (But man, you really need to remember to keep pain meds on you at all times. There wasn't even anything warm around that you could use to lessen the pain.)
With most of the city all at the parade, you figured it would be smart to go get that hua tang stuff now. Something very serious would need to happen in order to get you to stop. Pain was too mundane.
That was when you were hit with an extremely unpleasant feeling. And, unfortunately, you recognized it immediately as the same feeling you got with the bull clones, back when you were in Red Son's labyrinth of a house.
You looked around to find what demon or idiot was setting off alarm bells in your head and genuinely screamed. Full on petrified scream. For some reason, no one around seemed bothered. They were all preoccupied.
You had to force yourself to step backwards to get away from it. Before you froze up from fear. A few rocks crunched beneath your feet and you cringed at the noise.
It didn't move, but your heart pounded through your body and your throat was tightening nonetheless.
You took a deep breath. You can't let yourself freak out. You need a level head. You felt a wave of icy coldness sweep through your body. Chilling your veins. Just from fear. Your stomach churned uncomfortably as well.
Pretend you're not alone. Pretend Red is here or something. Your mind supplied a rather useless coping mechanism.
It looked like some sort of robotic spider. Which you preferred to a normal spider. Though something told you this one was probably worse.
NOt a Spider, it's not a spider, c'mon, don't freak out, it's not a spider oh plEASE DON'T ACT LIKE ONE.
It twitched and you screamed again. Which caught its attention. Your jaw tightened and you took one step back.
It launched at you and you screamed again. Shuffling backwards.
You backed up far enough that it didn't go for you. It landed on someone else's shoulder. You could've seen it wrong but you swore you watched it bite the man. He screamed and you watched a truly horrific display.
He went from human to spider-cyborg fast. his eyes changed color to a sickening glowing green and he made eye contact with you.
With no more time to waste, you whipped around and "ran" in the other direction. It still resembled a speed-walk more than a run, however, and it make you uneasy.
Leave. leave leave leave-
Another blood-curtling scream sounded and you glanced back in time to watch it spread. The crowd went from human to spider in seconds. It was spreading like a zombie plague. Then, they Immediately got to attacking the remaining people.
Four different robo-people looked at you, and shot towards you with an awful hiss. They were fast. Fast, fast.
You squeaked and sprinted in the other direction. Too fast! Run, RUN!
The impact of your feet hitting the ground immediately stung and cascaded up through your legs. Ankles, knees, hips, It all held an uncomfortable hot pain.
I have to get out of here!
What little distance running gave you from them was cut short when a stabbing pain hit your right ankle as you stepped on it.
A sickening crunch sounded and you tumbled to the ground. It scraped your hands and knees. With your ankle still throbbing.
You gasped for air and looked behind you. They were aproaching fast!
"PLEASE! SOMEONE! HELP ME!"
}{}{}{
"Oh-oh oh! Dear customer! The spice level was no mistake!" He pointed to himself. "I, Red Son have devised the perfect culinary masterpiece!"
The man didn't look amused. Red Son pulled down the menu.
"If you'll direct your attention over to this chart here, it clearly ranks the spice level from 'Very Hot' to 'INFERNO!'" He couldn't help but add some firey flair as punctuation. Inferno was his favorite, after all.
"You chose 'Very Hot'. So-"
"But it's the lowest one!"
"OH! So I guess I'm supposed to make barbeque for PEASANTS! With little unworthy, disappointing taste buds that shame their fathers! IS THAT IT? HUH!?"
The guy grabbed him by his collar. THE LITTLE P-
"Look, I wanna speak to your manager."
Oh, no... Red Son scoffed. "Fine! Fine!" He pointed to his father behind him. Who was already growling. "It's your funeral!"
His father was clearly ready to tear him apart. The guy let go of his collar.
"I-I actually didn't need tastebuds anyway so thank you for yer service and have a prosperousandfullfulingnewyear!" He scurried off towards the rest of the cowering humans.
Red Son sighed. "Father, you can't just scare away every customer that complains! This is our chance at something great!"
"Great!?" Red flinched. Sure, barbeque wasn't world domination, but he had hoped his father would be more willing to try it. Maybe that was foolish. He had no idea where to start with his father.
"I am the Demon Bull KING! What would you have me be? The king of street food!?"
"Well, yes?" Nope! Different approach! "I-I mean, after your recent humiliating defeat I thought a fresh start was exactly what we needed!" Besides, he was under the mountain for so long that they barely knew each other. This all would he easier if he knew his father like his mother did.
"Just you and me!" He exclaimed. "Working together! Father and Son! No evil plans! No...talking bones..." The King growled and Red Son backed off. "Sorry, fresh wound..."
"Enough! I may have failed as a conquerer, but I will not be made a fool!"
Without warning the entire top of the stand was ripped away. Revealing a giant mechanical mess.
Red Son gasped. So that's why all the humans were cowering... It looked like a giant Spider.
"UhM, Father?" His father turned around just in time for tons of thick webbing to shoot towards him and bind him up. No no no NO!
It all happened so fast, His father was gone in an instant! He didn't even have a chance to help! What on earth could take down the Demon Bull King? Much less that fast!?
I-I just got him back! I can't lose him again! "Father!"
Something small knocked him to the floor. He immediately got on the defensive and tried to push it away. It looked like a spider. With sharp legs and a huge red camera lense in the center. After a few seconds of wrestling with it, he growled and let out a huge explosion of fire. Which thankfully blew the robot to smithereens. All that was left was a small vial of green liquid.
He barely gave it a passing thought, instead jumping to his feet and running to the most portable of his aircrafts. He threw off the tarp and booted it up.
He looked behind him at the ruined barbeque stand. It wasn't perfect but he felt like he was finally getting to know him! Or at least a chance to! Now he was all alone. Against something strong enough to take his father away in one fell swoop! How would he even attempt that?
He didn't have a choice in the matter. He had to try.
"Sorry father, I will come back!" He revved up the engine and flew off to investigate that machine.
He wasn't airborne very long before a sickening thought occurred to him.
Everyone within a thousand miles showed up to this thing. The Smoothie Girl had to be here as well. Which meant she was in danger. But how could he begin to find her?
His father, his- the Smoothie Girl, everything was piling up in a way that made a pit form in his stomach. He was starting to really feel in over his head.
He flew around the machine from a distance. Some sort of spider demon. That's for sure. But where would they get enough power for that? He glanced up. The sky was a misty green. He couldn't find the sun in it all. It wasn't solar-powered. It couldn't be with how big it was and how little sun there was. Whatever it had, it was much more powerful.
The screen of his hovercraft lit up with a "WARNING" screen. He glanced to his left and saw green missiles going right for him. He made a sudden but swift barrel roll in the air, narrowly missing them. He laughed and looked ahead. One last missile hadn't followed the rest. It swerved next to him and he gasped as it made a noise of ignition.
He barely made it out of the explosion, he wasn't quite sure how he'd managed it but he'd take whatever he can get.
He flew as far and as high as he could get. His hovercraft probably couldn't take anymore hits. For a moment, the cold misty air stilled slightly and he left the spider machine in the dust. He was high up and his speed stabilized. And his thoughts came back.
If only he had finished it sooner, maybe he'd have a clue where she was!
He supposed that the Noodle Boy and the others would do their best to protect her, but frankly he didn't trust them at all with such a task.
And then there was his father. Where to begin with his father? He still couldn't believe it. In an instant. Gone. Just like that. Along with his chance to bond with him. Or what about-
He felt the green vial in his pocket. It must be some kind of venom. After all, every spider-bot that attacked the civilians ended up turning them into mindless servants for that Spider demon. Though it could help. He briefly pulled it out. Making sure to keep a tight grip on it. If it was made how he thought it was, then maybe...
Another warning popped up on the holographic screen. He shoved it back into his pocket and looked at the screen. Hull damage. That wasn't good. He needed to land sooner or later–hopefully later, he didn't know how severe the damage was–in order to repair it.
The next few minutes of riding were tense. With him looking at the screen every thirty seconds to see how severe the damage was, and it never gave him a solid answer. At least, not until another warning popped up. And another. And another. That's not good.
The engine started to rumble and he really started to stress himself out. He had nowhere to land, he had flown above the ocean when he wasn't paying proper attention, and he didn't think he could pyro-port out of the situation in time. He wasn't that precise.
The engine sputtered and he squeezed the handles tighter.
But then he saw what looked like a giant landing pad floating in the sky. He blinked, as if it would disappear. When it didn't he decided that it must be some type of airship. And he immediately steered the poor thing towards it. Something blew, and the hovercraft started drifting to the right.
He corrected it and squinted to try and see the airship more clearly. There were people on it, one in the corner, the others were huddled up in the center. Well, he couldn't steer the thing much anymore, hope they were willing to die for his sake.
He tried to slow down as he crashed but his broken ship had other plans, it was lucky that one of the people on the airship caught him. Well, 'caught' him. More or less. Unfortunately, they shattered his ship and he was left on the floor, trying to get his bearings.
"Red Son!?"
"Hi, Red!" Wait...
He looked up just in time to see the Noodle Boy and his peasant friends staring at him. Great. Where's the Smoothie-
"Get him!" Yelled the Dragon Girl. They all sprung into action.
"No!"
They tackled him in an instant. He growled.
"C'mon guys! He hasn't even done anything!" The Smoothie Girl chided.
"Ugh! Get off me you filthy PEASANTS!"
The Noodle Boy stepped in front of him. "What are you doing here, Red Son!?" He snapped angrily.
"Yeah, spill!" Said the Dragon Girl. "You one of the Spider Queen's henchmen, now? Huh?" Spider Queen.
"Why would-" _____ began.
"HENCHMEN!?" He was filled with rage at the mere thought of assisting in the capture of his father. He grit his teeth and broke free of their dog pile in a fury of fire. Once they were all blown back the fire disapated. And he stood up.
"Not that any of you would care," he said through gritted teeth. He was shaking from anger. "But my Father was captured by that eight-legged freak." Their fighting stances all loosened up.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw The Smoothie Girl give him a sad look. It wasn't pity, but genuine concern. He decided to unpack that later. Right now, he had an idea.
"So, if you'll excuse me, l'll just steal this ship and be on my way."
"Wait what!?" Exclaimed the Noodle Boy. Making things difficult as always. "That's not-"
"Ughhh! Fine. Will you let me steal your ship so I can go save my Father AND ALSO THE WORLD from this spider menace? Please." He bowed slightly, hoping that would sway their answer.
It didn't, as he got a chorus of outrage of "You can't steal the ship!" And angry noises.
Though in there, somewhere was the Smoothie Girl's voice. She was snickering. He glanced over at her leaning against the railing on the floor. The same place she'd been this whole time. She laughed quietly to herself and he did his best to pretend that the sudden jump his heart did in his chest, didn't happen at all.
Focus!
"Well I can't use mine!" He yelled. Gesturing to the wreckage around them. "It's busted!" He sighed. Their must be some way to get through to them. Like maybe... "But one thing I do have is this." He pulled out the green vial. What had they called her? "Spider Queen's venom. It's turned everyone into her slaves. But I can make an antidote!" He twirled it around for effect. "However, I'll need supplies. And the only place to get them is..." He pointed to the sky.
He glanced at the Smoothie Girl. Her eyes widened. He also heard the Noodle Boy gasp.
"Space?" He said dreamily. Red Son growled.
"No! You Noodle Brain! The Celestial Realm!"
"THE CELESTIAL REALM?" Yelled the one with glasses, approaching excitedly. "THE REALM OF HEAVENLY DEITIES AND IMMORTAL BEINGS?" The pig pulled him back.
Red Son wanted to shout some more but he glanced over to the Smoothie Girl, with her soft, kind expression and figured she was going to start objecting to his beratement pretty quickly.
So he just internally sighed. "... Sure."
"So if you get to spa- uh, the Celestial Realm," started the Noodle Boy. "You can fix... All of this?"
"Kid, you're not really considerin' this, are you?" Asked the Pig.
"Well..."
"WHAT!?" the pony girl and the pig both shouted.
"What do you mean 'what'?" Asked the Smoothie girl. "What's wrong with Red!?"
"Are you serious!?" The girl said. "It's Red-uh- Boy!" How do you mix up such a tiny word?
"He's literally a demon!" That bothered him. He grit his teeth and turned to them angrily.
"Oh! Pretty rich coming from Pig-Man and the blue thing!"
"How dare you!"
"Wh- what did I do!?" Asked the blue one.
"How dare you talk about my friends like that!
"Guys! Calm down!" Said _____. Though she never stood up.
"And I'm not even going to start on you Dragon Girl!" He spat.
"Red!" The Smoothie girl yelled.
The Pig just assumed he was cruel because he was a demon! I'll show him! Red thought as he basically pounced on them.
"Really, Red!?"
Before he got a chance to really attack, the Noodle Boy spoke up again.
"Let's help him." He blinked. Frozen. He'd expect that from the Smoothie Girl, but the Noodle Boy?
"HUH?"
"Yes!" The Smoothie Girl whispered to herself.
"What other choice do we have? Look, the Spider Queen won't see this coming. It's the best plan we've got." He set down his staff. "So I say, let's help a demon rob the Celestial Realm."
}{}{}{
It was rather intimidating. Trying to create the symbol with her watching in fascination. She barely scooted closer to the actual spell.
After writing 牛 in each corner-circle carefully, he scribbled in the markings across the rim, before he moved on to the three flames in the center.
"Okay, so I can read the edges," she began. She looked at the corner circles. "Bull, as in your family." She pointed to the edges. "But that looks like cursive." Cur-what? "And usually I can read cursive, but none of these letters match up together."
"It's a secret symbol to the Celestial Realm. If it was written in Chinese all of China could read it." That was all he knew. He finished the flame drawing in the center, and a finishing circle around the perimeter. Once it was finished flames spewed up from the edges for a moment. Before dying down. It attracted the attention of the Smoothie Girl's stupid friends.
"So, how exactly does this work?" Asked the one with glasses.
"Ugh. If I tried to explain mystical inter-dimensional travel to a bunch of peasants! It'd melt your brains."
They clearly didn't like that little comment, because they all looked to the Noodle Boy.
"We don't have any other option. We have to trust him."
He laughed. "Great speech, Noodle Boy. Super motivational!" Before he had a chance to respond, Red Son turned, took a deep breath and shot as much energy as he could muster into the rune on the floor. He needed to move the whole ship after all.
The rune lit up an orange yellow and the whole ship started sparkling. He smirked at his handy work. Now this is excitement! The portal opened in front of the ship as a huge version of the symbol and he started pumping the thing full of fire and energy.
"Uh! We are sure mortals can travel to the Celestial Realm?" Said the nerd one. Ruining his fun.
"Of course they can!" He said. Getting back into it.
"Eh, safely?" Asked the pig. He stiffened. He subtly glanced to the Smoothie Girl. With a touch of fire, he moved her across the floor into a corner. Then he bent a long metal pipe off the ship around her waist as a makeshift seatbelt.
"Sure!" He continued. "Probably..?"
"PROBABLY!?"
Moving her was a good idea, because everyone else on the ship was jostled around and blown backward. But soon enough, they were through to the other side. With minimal fire damage. The Smoothie girl was fine though.
"I did say it would melt your brains," he said gesturing to the fire. The group, for once, was unconcerned with what he had to say. And elected to look at the beautiful Jade Palace. Which was more golden than jade, but who was he to judge.
"Woah..."
"Oh! The Celestial Realm!"
"Uh, Red?" She muttered. He turned to her. "I can't exactly... Get up to see it."
He scoffed. And used his fire to bend the metal back and pull her away from the corner to where the rest of them were.
"Now you're just abusing my generosity." He muttered to her. She smiled and proceeded to heavily put her weight on the railing.
"Woah. It's beautiful..." He couldn't help but feel prideful about how it was him that showed her the beauty of the Celestial Realm.
"So, some special pills, a fancy peach, and the furnace," said the pig. "Where we gonna find these things?" He turned to Red Son. Who didn't exactly...
The pony girl jumped out of nowhere behind him and gave him the startle of his life. "Red Boy doesn't know!" She said gleefully.
"Wh- I know they're somewhere! I'm a demon! It's not like I've been here before!"
The one with glasses sighed and began to explain. The peaches were in the garden. Duh. The pills in the alchemy lab...
"And what about the furnace?" He said. "I can't make anything without that."
"It could be there in the lab, but my guess is it will be in the Jade Emperor's throne room!"
"Wait wha?"
"Huh?"
"Alright then," he said. The peach seemed easy enough. It would be hard to miss a grove of 3,600 trees, according to legend. "I'll be off to grab that peach. Toodles!"
"Hey!" Just as he jumped off the railing to go find it the stupid pony girl grabbed him and pulled him back onto the ship. Her grip was too strong for an ordinary human. He thrashed around, trying to get away from her.
"Like we'd just let your wander off on your own!?"
Why are all her friends so annoying!? If only he could just torch them all.
He finally broke free. "Grk!" He glanced over to the Smoothie Girl, who was still leaning heavily on the railing. She looked like she was going to start laughing at the whole thing. He growled and brushed himself off.
"You just wait here like an obedient little- OW!" Did she just bite my hand!?
"MEI!" _____ yelled. "Dude! Chill out!"
"I'm keeping you where I can see you." She muttered. He growled again and tried to pull his hand back. Unfortunately the dragon Girl had a stronger jaw than he was prepared for.
He spent a while trying to shake her off. And the Smoothie Girl was laughing the entire time. It occurred to him that he could probably set his hand on fire to get her off, but that might do more damage than he was willing to deal.
It took a hard kick to the face to finally get her to let go.
He let out a huge growl as he shook his hand. "That hurt, you filthy-" he hesitated, then sighed. "Look. If I allow you to come along with me to grab the peach will you stop being so annoying!?"
The pony girl perked up. "Yeah, okay! That should be fun. And I can keep an eye on you."
"Fantastic," he grumbled.
He heard the Smoothie Girl sigh happily and glanced at her. She was wiping tears from her eyes thanks to laughing so hard. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Okay," she said. "That has made up for how crummy most of today has been." She slowly slid to the floor. Keeping one leg straight. "Grab that peach and get back soon, okay?"
Red Son scoffed. "What? Not going to come along with us?" He might've said it a little harsher that he intended. But he was... Slightly hoping she would.
She laughed. "You think I can handle going out there?" She guestured to the palace. And his shoulders slumped.
"No, probably not..."
"Don't worry about it, _____!" Said the Dragon Girl. Putting an arm around him. He growled at her. "Me and this dork are going on a reconnaissance mission!"
"That's not what that means," he muttered.
"A stealth mission, then!"
"Okay, well stay safe, please? And Mei? Try not to drive him insane?"
"Eh, no promises."
The Smoothie Girl glanced over behind them. "Looks like MK's got a head start!"
"Not for long!" Yelled the Dragon Girl, grabbing him diving off the side of the ship.
"You little- Ack!"
He face planted into the marble like flooring of the Celestial Realm. He looked up in time to see the girl land on her feet. "C'mon, Red Boy!" She yelled before running off in-between the large buildings.
With the Smoothie Girl safe, and unharmed as far as he could tell, all he had to do was rescue his father. He would put up with the girl for the sake of rescuing his father.
He got to his feet and reluctantly followed.
}{}{}{
The trek into the Garden wasn't that long, but there were a lot of different immortals and handmaids to stay clear of. And the dragon girl wasn't helping much, constantly rolling and making illogical hand-gestures like she was in a mediocre spy movie.
Eventually they both reached a building that bordered the edge of a large, golden wall. On the side it read 'Immortal Peach Grove'. That was definitely the place.
There was currently a consistent flow of handmaids going in and out of the orchard. Each with baskets full of peaches swung over their shoulders. They'd need to wait for an opening. Red Son watched from the corner carefully.
"Psst! Red boy!" The horse girl whispered from behind.
"Not yet, wait for my signal!"
"No! Not that! Something else! While we have a minute!"
He suppressed a growl. "Not. The. Time."
In and out, in and out. Why were there so many handmaids?
He had to fight the urge to set his hair on fire when she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. He yanked his arm back and couldn't resist giving his hair the slightest orange glow. He wanted her to know he was angry.
"What." He hissed.
"Why did you promise _____?"
His eyes widened. "... What?" She knew?
"I said, why did you pr-" he slapped his hand over her mouth.
"Not so loud, you dimwit!" She glared at him and he pulled his hand back before she could bite it. Though she wasn't all that loud, he still felt paranoid. "No one can know about it."
"Why not?"
He sighs. "It wasn't exactly a good promise to make."
"So you regret it?" She asked. Absolutely not!
"Not exactly," he muttered. "It was a slight miscalculation on my part. I had underestimated how fragile humans are. Especially when she's hanging out with the likes of you. Who rush in blindly to every demon attack ever."
"Hey, you're the one who attacked her along with the rest of the city the other day."
"Argh, that wasn't on purpose!" He huffed. "Look, if anyone knows I'm protecting her, my job will be a lot harder. So please, for her sake, keep this quiet."
He turned to look back at the entrance and saw there were significantly less handmaids walking though. Just a few going in.
"Now's our chance." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the entrance. No one said he couldn't have just a tiny taste of revenge.
He let go once they were both behind the trees in the inner edge of it. They were all peach trees, but only the one in the center seemed ripe enough to eat, and he wasn't taking any chances. Not when his father was trapped. Again.
What if he's trapped for another five hundred years?
It wasn't a logical thought, this situation was nothing like that one, but it popped into his head anyway.
"C'mon," muttered the girl. "They're gone."
With her in front this time, they both approached the tree in the center. The moment it became clear that they were truly alone, the girl spoke up.
"So, heard you helped Mk beat your dad!"
"That was oNE TIME!"
She snickered.
"My father, the Great Demon Bull King, was... Not himself." He wasn't sure which was more disturbing, the way his father was acting, or the fact that he didn't notice how he was acting. It wasn't until his mother said it that he finally realized. He really didn't know his father at all, did he?
He glanced away, only to flinch at her intense stare.
Wait, she's still-
The air lit ablaze with fake anger as he tried to fix his slip-up. "But in no other instance would I ever assist that sorry excuse for a hero!"
"But, you're totally assisting right now! Between this and what you said about _____-" She gasped. "You are a hero!"
"huh??" It slipped out before he even had a chance to fix the situation. First, _____ called him sweet, now the Dragon Girl thinks he's a hero. Maybe he's just bad at villainy.
She shouted his name in excitement, lifted him off the floor, threw herself into his arms for a gag no one would see, pulled her phone out for some stupid bit, and she looked ready to keep going for a while.
"Would you give me that!?" He yelled, grabbing her phone and smashing it. Smashing people's stuff was a good way to get people angry or sad. Get them to back off. "Let's just get this peach and-"
Is that another-
"Mei and Red Son!" She yelled to the camera of the new phone. "Heroes on a quest!" She giggled and shoved the phone into his hands before running off to the tree. "Okay! Let's gooo!"
He stared for a moment before reaching a consensus. "I've just decided." He shoved the girl's second phone in his pocket where it would probably melt. "She's next on my hit list..."
It didn't take long to catch up to her at the tree.
"Bad news," she said. "Tree's unclimbable. And every thing is too high up for me to jump."
"Ugh. Seriously!? 'Unclimbable?'" He was getting really sick of the universe's constant toying with him. Why can't anything be easy?
She nodded vehemently. "This is like, the least climbable tree in the history of ever. I would know, I climb a lot of trees."
"Fine then, I'll lift you up, you grab one and we can finally get out of here."
"Whaaaat? No way! I wanna be on the bottom!"
He laughed. "Absolutely not." He folded his arms. "I call 'dibs', as you peasants would say."
"No! I refuse!" Mei pouted.
"You couldn't lift me anyway!" He said.
"I did, like, thirty seconds ago!!!"
His face flushed, and he made a series of annoyed, embarrassing noises for a moment. "W-Why does this matter, anyway! The world is at stake!"
"Your hair sets itself on fire at the drop of a hat! I'm not letting you literally set a fire under my butt!"
"Well I wouldn't if you were above me!" He scoffed. "That'd be so counterproductive."
"Well, I don't trust you to not set me on fire, so we're at an impasse."
He stared for a moment then let out a quiet growl. If only the Smoothie Girl was here to be a buffer between him and that insufferable woman.
"Fine!"
"Yay!" She clapped.
"We don't have time for this anyway."
He should've fought harder to be on the bottom. The woman was the most wobbly thing he'd ever seen. He had to grab one of the branches to keep them steady.
"Hey, remember when you went crazy racing for a fake one of these things?" She asked.
Don't set the tree on fire, don't set the tree on fire.
"I remember when you wrecked my car," he spat bitterly.
"Eh, we wreck a lot of stuff," she said, just as he grabbed a peach and plucked it from the tree.
"Oh! Well, that was easy!" He said. Finally he can get back to the smoothie girl and free his-
He gasped as they bumped into someone and he immediately went into overdrive. His hair and eyes burst into flame for a moment as he registered what was in front of them.
One of the Spider Queen's lackeys, judging from all the eyes and legs. He was tall, much taller than they were, standing on each other's shoulders.
"Well, well." He said. Leaning down to stare at them. "You and your little girlfriend are coming with me."
He felt a distinct, white hot anger burn through him. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't the only one.
"His..."
"Girlfriend!?" He blew a stream of fire directly into the spider's face. "Flaming fist of dignity!"
"OW!" He screamed. "You got me in my favorite eye!" He made a half blind swing at them, and the dragon girl dodged awkwardly. Then two more swings. Which is when the pony girl decided it was a great idea to try and run.
"Get back here with that stone fruit!" Yelled the spider. He could hear him chase after the two of them.
Nevermind, this was the most wobbly thing he'd ever seen!
"Grk- LEt mE DoWN!" He yelled.
"There's no time!" She was fast, plowing through every tree on the way back to the ship. He did his best to make sure he didn't let go of the peach on the way back.
After what felt like way too long, he heard the girl yell again.
"Sandyyyy!" She yelled, just before tossing him onto the ship. He landed on the cold metal with a thud.
"Start the engines! It's time to go!" Exclaimed the one with glasses.
"What about MK!?" Asked the pig.
Red Son shook his head. He was overwhelmingly dizzy. The ship was spinning around him as he got to his feet. The dizziness began to fade in time for the Noodle Boy to leap onto the ship with what looked like a mech and the furnace. Just as the ship pulled away from the palace.
Coming to his senses, he shoved the peach into the Dragon girl's hands and marched over to the spell symbol on the floor. He glanced around, and found the Smoothie Girl sitting on a ledge, leaning against the engine. He bent another piece of metal around her and activated the portal.
The second they were though, and the sickly green sky was back, he sighed. Stupid Dragon Girl, dragging him across all of the Celestial Realm.
He bent the metal back to normal.
He was still angry. At that stupid henchmen, at the pony girl. But seeing as he probably wasn't needed for a moment, he decided that if the smoothie Girl was able to calm him down earlier, maybe she could now.
He stormed away from everyone else and sat down next to her.
"Welcome back, glow stick," she said. He gave her a confused look. She pointed just above his head. "Your hair is glowing."
He sighed and willed it to stop. Something he probably couldn't have done earlier, but her voice was already making him calmer. He knew the glow had fully stopped when the reflection of it in her eyes had also stopped.
"So, am I correct in assuming that your hair was glowing because you're angry?" She asked. She sounded tired. But if anyone should be tired it was him.
He scoffed and glanced away from her. The Noodle Boy and his friends were putting all the ingredients into a pile. "Such a brilliant deduction, how'd you figure that one out? Become a detective, why don't you?"
"That sounds like a lot of hand writing," she said with a shudder. Her ability to let his prickly half-insults roll off of her like he never said anything was unparalleled. "Well, it's over now. You don't need to deal with whatever riled you up anymore."
"We find a place to lie low, make the antidote, and save everyone!" Said the Noodle Boy. If only that were true, Smoothie Girl.
"You're back to your disgustingly enthusiastic self. What happened?"
"I got a new power!" He said. New power? "The power..."
"Oh?" He leaned in slightly.
"Of self reflection!" The Noodle Boy said it all dramatically.
Red Son growled and turned away. Noticing _____ looking at him, he was about to say something along the lines of 'I didn't want to see his stupid power anyway', or maybe 'the Noodle Boy is an imbecile for thinking he could protect anyone when that's what he considers a power'.
He didn't say either of those, however, because he was distracted by a her very forlorn sigh.
"They- they can handle themselves for a while, right? No need to worry?"
"Set a course for flower fruit mountain!" The Noodle Boy said behind them.
"Though foolish, they're not entirely incompetent. They don't need your babysitting," Red Son said.
She nodded slowly. "Good." Then she went silent. Dead silent.
And then, all of a sudden, she started sobbing.
He wished he could say he didn't flinch. But that wasn't the case. He stared at her like an idiot for a moment. Did I do something!? How do I fix it!?
"Uhm," he muttered. "What's happening?"
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed harder. Her shoulders hunched, she was starting to curl up into a little ball.
Say something, you moron!
"Uhm... Did I do something?"
She shook her head.
"What's wrong then?"
She cried even harder.
"Sorry! Wrong question! How do I fix it?"
She took a shaky breath and started wiping away her tears. She was suddenly a lot quieter, but that only made him more unsettled.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I just- I'm still really f-freaked out..." She sniffed. "I can tell what's..." She took another breath. "Wrong, i-if you want?"
How was he supposed to respond? He didn't know the correct response.
"... Sure."
"I'm... afraid of spiders."
He blinked.
She stared at him, tears still falling, trying to gauge his reaction.
"I beg your pardon."
"I am really, really, really terrified of spiders."
Her? Afraid of something? Something so mundane? That didn't seem right. She wasn't afraid of him when they met, she was nonchalant about a car accident, she was more angry about the bull clones attacking than afraid, she wasn't afraid of his father, even when hopped up with power... He was beginning to think there wasn't anything she was afraid of.
Really, truly afraid of.
"I didn't know that..." He mumbled.
"Most people don't. Only my family back home." She wrapped her arms around herself, before stopping and looking at her hands. "Geez- I shouldn't be crying right now, I'm going to throw my ribs out of place."
"You're WHAT!?" His charged reaction actually made her laugh slightly.
"I-I promised myself I wouldn't cry about it around MK because I don't want to make his already severe fear of spiders worse, but frankly, I shouldn't be doing this at all..." She looked up at him. And the prolonged eye contact made him adjust nervously. "And he already saved me earlier, when those... Zombified things attacked me..."
She was afraid of spiders. The only ones he's seen were fake, but he supposed fear was hardly logical... Even then, however, she couldn't have seen any since going airborne. The only time she would've seen them was a while ago.
"How... Wait. Have you been holding this..." Crying session? "This in all day?" She looked slightly sheepish and uttered a quiet 'maybe'.
She was insane. A good insane, of course, but still. Naturally, it took real skill to hold something like that in... Without having it emotionally backfire on you when you planned on being productive.
"Can I tell you something?" She said in a whispery voice. It was slightly daunting. Her breathing was far too quick.
"Uhm. Yes?"
"No one here in China knows this, but there's a reason I'm afraid of spiders. I-I mean, I wasn't always afraid of spiders. Can I tell you?"
He nodded slowly. He felt out of his element. Then again he always did around her. She just kept showing him emotions he'd never show anyone- hell, at this point he felt like she was inventing new ones. Some of which he'd never felt before.
"W-when I was... Fifteen? Sixteen?" She shrugged. "Teenager. I got bit by a spider. Not a dangerous one. Just. A spider. I didn't even see it.
"I don't know what happened," she said. Wrapping her arms around herself, then forcibly letting go again.
"My memory is a little warped. I don't know what triggered it but I- I got a thing called..." She mumbled something he didn't understand. "I don't know what it's called in Chinese, but basically it's when an infection gets into your bloodstream. And it's miserable."
"How miserable?"
"Well, I'm calling it miserable, and I am pretty good at tolerating things that would make other people scream so..." She wrapped her arms around herself once again. Like she had given up trying to stop herself.
"I almost died. My eyes hurt, my skin hurt, my bones hurt, my blood hurt, everything in its own way hurt so bad. Every part of me was so sensitive to pain all over again. I was so nauseous I didn't eat or drink anything for days. And I almost died." She laughed slightly. He couldn't believe she could laugh about any of it.
"I know America isn't known for it's good healthcare, but honestly the only person who understood my body's knack for dysfunctioning was at a children's hospital, so I was transferred. I had a decent stay.
"It wasn't all that serious. I almost died, but I also caught it really quickly. I got into a hospital before I was really teetering off the edge." She sniffled. "My dad stayed in the hospital with me for days on end. I remember one of the later days–when I was trying to walk again–was a day it was raining. We went outside in between rainstorms, and we walked out onto the hill, and we looked down the mountain and the city was lit up with a thousand lights. And then beyond that was the next mountain, and the sun was setting behind it, and just above the sun were storm clouds; we watched lightning strike the other mountain in the warm air as the sun set and the city lit up."
Red Son was just listening. No one had told him something so... Vulnerable before. It was an honor, and the idea of her in such a state made his stomach twist painfully. She was tearing up again.
"Generally speaking, I handled it pretty well, I didn't even know I was traumatized until nearly six months later when I saw a big spider in my room and it launched me into an episode. My ribs were out for a w-week from crying and flinching so hard." She was definitely tearing up again, and her voice was losing its steadiness. On top of it all, she was starting to shiver.
He was too empathetic. That was his problem. That must've been why he had promised her in the first place. He was starting to feel really... Scared. As if he had lived through it himself. Which was stupid. Really really stupid. And it only made him feel worse for letting her experience it. As if he could've done anything about it.
"All this just for the same exact meltdown to happen again with a st-stupid little robot."
It wasn't all that small, really.
"I'm c-crying again," she mumbled. "I'm going to hurt myself."
"How do I help you?"
"What?"
"You're telling me all of this, so I am going to do what I promised you I would. So how do I help."
She gave him a watery smile. "You're too nice sometimes, y-you know that?" He made a strangled noise.
"Wh- uhh! Tell anyone and you're dead." He didn't mean to say it, but it got a louder, genuine laugh out of her. It made him feel better.
"Well," she said. "Could I have a hug?"
He froze. He wasn't sure why he froze. After all she had practically already hugged him a number of times, but him openly giving her a hug for no reason other than to help her feel better. Well that wasn't exactly something he expected- out of himself, and tonight.
"You d-don't have to if-"
"No, no. You may hug me. I said I would help you." He opened his arms. Geez, how long has it been since he hugged anyone?
She smiled weakly, before scooting closer to him. She slid her arms under his and cuddled up next to him. And he just about had a heart attack from it all. She even leaned her head against his shoulder. He started out all stiff, but he relaxed as it quickly became more comfortable.
He could hear her breathing slow down from it's feverish pace. Maybe she wanted a hug because it would keep her from crying too hard. Or maybe she just, wanted one. He felt her shivering lessen too. No one could see them from where they sat. They were just free to... Enjoy it.
He felt guilty for letting himself enjoy it when his father was still locked away, but it was just so... Nice. It was just such a pleasant feeling. It felt good being so close to her. And that thought was slightly terrifying in its own right. But the negative feelings couldn't outweigh that feeling of peace that filled the moment. It was like that time on the skyscraper, but better. So much better.
"You're warm."
"Don't make it weird, Smoothie Girl."
She giggled and leaned in closer. It sent shivers up his spine. Along with a buzz of fondness and exhilaration he couldn't properly describe. Much less understand why it was happening in the first place. He tightened his grip on her and heard her sigh contently.
Oh, Buddha save me, now.