[Yo! Shout out to @darkcrystal08 for drawing a jtsn fan-comic! I love it so much you can tell she put a lot of effort into it! Sending her nothing but love and support!]
After a very pleasant, very friendly not at all romantic ride on dragon's back, our two protagonists arrived back on the mountain (the weather being much clearer now), and got off Yusheng's back.
"You know, I was tempted to join you guys on your little adventure-"
"Why do you say that like we even asked?" Monkey frowned.
"But~ I'm like super busy with dragon stuff. So how about you give me my scale back and we'll all be on our merry way?"
(Y/n) took the scale out of her pocket.
"Toss it." Yusheng said, nodding upwards to tell her to go ahead.
She did just that, they caught it in their mouth and gobbled it whole. With a slight frown, she leaned towards Monkey and whispered:
"Is that a thing dragons do?"
"No at all. That was just weird."
She pursued her lips, trying not to chuckle, but she did snickered quietly. They said goodbye to each-other as Yusheng took off into the sky and flew to the horizon.
"Cool guy..." (Y/n) trailed off. "Gal?"
"Meh." Monkey just shrugged and started walking away.
They descended the mountain. Since they've already made the trip to the top, and they didn't have to put up with the young soldiers' shenanigans (though (Y/n) would say it was what made their charm), going back down was much faster and easier. They did stumble across the mountain ogre mother at some point and they weren't sure if they should hide or run away. But then her ogre child noticed them and waved. Relieved that they weren't as aggressive as before, they waved back as they walked passed the mother and child, still keeping a certain distance just to be safe. Though they left the mountain, the forest kept going, now it was more, for the lack of a better term, humanized. As in, it was clear humans would pass by often and the forest adapted to it: creating a little roads big enough to fit a carriage and the ground was flat if not a little rocky. Of course there was the occasional thieves and human-eating demons, but nothing too dangerous or alarming, our two protagonists got used to that. So today was like a nice stroll to them.
At some point they stopped to take a break by the river. While Monkey was dozing off in the shades of a tree, (Y/n) went to refill her bottle. Just as she crouched down and put it in the water, bright green suddenly flashed past her. She gasped and quickly backed away, falling on her bottom. Looking closely, she saw a jade green fish swimming up the river at an incredible speed. Within a second, it was out of sight. She frowned slightly, was it holding something?
"...Huh." she let out.
"What is it (Y/n)?" Monkey sat up, awoken almost immediately by her gasp.
"Nothing nothing." she said as she crouched back up and filled her bottle. "I just got startled by a fish demon passing by."
"A fish demon?"
"Well," she stood up once she was done. "I don't think jade-colored fish are a normal thing, right?"
"Jade...?" he mumbled before saying. "Yeah, I guess not. But they could've been a celestial being, don't insult them by calling them a demon."
"Oops." she said as she walked back under the tree and sat down beside him.
"I thought you'd be more panicked than that for disrespecting an immortal."
"Well you know, they can't hear me."
"Woaw~ (Y/n)!"
"What?" she smiled.
"You've changed." he slowly shook his head, yet he was smiling too. "I'm disappointed."
"You're the one to talk!" she gave him a friendly hit on the arm.
He cackled.
"You don't understand (Y/n)!" he said with a sillier voice. "You can't do that, it messes up the whole balance of our duo!"
"Oh is that why you're acting so stuck-up now?"
"...Did you just call yourself stuck-up?!"
"No I-" she frowned as her gaze began to wander, realizing what she said.
Monkey burst out laughing. (Y/n) pursued her lips, trying not to laugh too.
"Whatever man!" she stood up and started walking away.
"Oh come on~ we just got here! We can't leave just yet."
"No I'm *leaving* leaving!" she stopped and turned back to him.
"Oh yeah sure you are." he said as he laid back down, knowing she wasn't serious.
She chuckled and walked back to him.
"What if one day I was like 'I can't do this anymore' and I recite the sutra to pass all my powers to someone else. What would you do?"
Monkey looked up, thinking for a short moment.
"I'd probably be like 'cool thanks for...wasting months of my time and...making a mockery of this really important mission we have-' Also I'd be stuck with a baby, so that'd just be very uncool of you."
"What do you mean? I thought you liked kids."
"Babies and kids are two very different things (Y/n)." he raised his index. "Babies are gross and they're loud. And only *I* can be the loudest person in the room." he then pointed at himself with his thumb, sounding proud of himself.
She laughed.
As the sun began to set, the two of them decided to start looking for a place to stay the night. Fortunately they came across a town by which the river was going through. (Y/n) looked at it as she and Monkey (who turned into a human) walked in, she wondered if the fish being was in town or if it just swam passed it. Not that she really cared, as long as they weren't planning on doing anything bad, but she was a little curious.
The town seemed to pride itself on its large variety of food, you couldn't walk down a street and not pass by at least two restaurants and one food stand. The rich smells made (Y/n)'s mouth water. Her and Monkey looked at each-other with a knowing look.
"...Restaurant?" Monkey finally said.
(Y/n) quickly nodded. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and the two of them went to look for a place to stay before going out to dinner, though on the way they stopped by a food stand for some snacks. Some baked sweet potatoes.
"Mmh!" (Y/n)'s eyes lit up as soon as she took her first bite, then swallowed to speak. "I've had sweet potatoes before, but those are completely different! They're like..."
"Elevated?" the food stand owner said with a smile.
"Right!"
"That's how it is in QiÄn FÄng Zhèn (Town of a Thousand Recipes)!" he said, full of pride. "We take whatever exists in the culinary world and we make it anew! If you wanna have the best meal of your life, this is the place to be."
"Wow, what a salesman." Monkey smiled with a little 'heh'.
"Ah~ that's one of the key skills you need to work in this field my friend."
"Can I have some more please?" (Y/n) asked.
"Of course you can miss. And you know what? Because you seem to be newcomers, that first round will be on the house." he playfully winked at her.
"Oh my lord! Thank you so much!" she smiled as she took the two new portion handed to her (one for her, one for Monkey).
"Don't eat too much," Monkey placed a hand on his hip. "we're about to go eat dinne-Omph!"
(Y/n) cut him off by shoving a sweet potato in his mouth. He pushed her away from him, looking at her with a frown as his hands were still taking hold of her arms.
"Friendly reminder." he mumbled, the potato still in his mouth. "I'm a monke-" he glanced at the stand owner before leaning closer and saying quietly. "I don't eat cooked food."
"Oh shoot, sorry." she held up her hand to her mouth. "I forgot for a moment."
"Everything okay there?" they both turned their heads to look at the stand owner. "Does the young man not like my sweet potatoes?"
"Mh! Mhmhmh!" Monkey shook his head and let go of her.
(Y/n) watched as he took the potato and slowly bit down on it, then slowly chewed as he hummed to show he liked the food. She felt bad when she noticed his left eyelid twitching and his fist shaking. Satisfied, the owner went back to work as our two protagonists went on their way. As soon as his back was turned, Monkey opened his mouth with a disgusted 'bah~' and let all the food he had in there drop on the floor.
"Eww~!" (Y/n) took his sweet potato for herself, embarrassed that some people around noticed and were now giving them weird looks. "Couldn't you have done it in a bush or something?!"
"That's on you." he casually said, putting his hands behind his head. "Because of you I had to pretend I liked baked potatoes."
He sticked out his tongue, his face twisted.
"What's wrong with baked potatoes?" (Y/n) tilted her head as she kept eating.
"When you pick them fresh out of the ground, they're refreshing, crunchy, they're good!" he glanced at her. "Baked, they're mushy and hot and they're terrible."
"...I guess that makes sense." she nodded.
"Right?! Thank you! Finally *somebody* gets it!"
She couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction. He was relieved that this won't end up in a long endless debate, like it happened with his other group.
"But yeah, again, sorry about that." she smiled. "Dinner's on me tonight, how about that?"
"You're the one with the money (Y/n)!" he pointed at her bag. "Dinner's *always* on you!"
"And if that doesn't make it up to you, then I don't know what will!" she playfully pointed at him.
"Heh." he smiled and picked on his ear with his pinky finger. "I'm gonna need a whole buffet to get this weird taste out of my mouth anyway."
As they were walking, Monkey looked at the stars already appearing in the sky. (Y/n) noticed his pensive look.
"It's gonna be a full moon tonight right?"
"I don't know, maybe?" she shrugged. "Why?"
"...Nothin'." he looked ahead.
She frowned slightly in confusion, but didn't ask questions.
Meanwhile, nearby, a man in a jade-colored hanfu was being thrown out a restaurant. A little box dropping by his side.
"If you want people to eat your food, get your own damn restaurant!" the owner yelled out before walking back inside.
"None of you are worthy anyway!" he yelled back.
"What'you said?!" he suddenly turned around.
"Eek!" he flinched.
"Yeah that's what I thought!" he nodded before going back inside.
The man sighed and picked up his little box off the floor. He peeked inside and started to panic.
"Oh man oh man oh man. This is bad. I don't have a lot of time left." he frantically looked around. "I-I need to find a proper-"
He suddenly stopped when he noticed a human guy in the distance, who he knew wasn't a human guy, and by his overall demeanor, he recognized him right away. The man suddenly stood up and hid around the corner of the street.
"What in the three realms is *he* doing here?!" he whispered to himself.
Peeking, he then noticed that he was accompanied by a young woman, who was eagerly finishing a baked sweet potato. Unlike with a lot of people, Wukong didn't seem to see her as 'a pain in the ass'.
"Oh she must be worthy if she's with him." he said to himself, gripping the box before following them.
After setting in their room, (Y/n) and Monkey went out to look for a restaurant. It took longer than expected because most of them were already full. But finally they found one by the river, with tiny wooden boats tied by the shore with candles on them. (Y/n) didn't miss to point out how cute they were. After sitting at their table in the terrace, they waited for a waiter to come take their order. But after a while, the two of them started to get impatient, Monkey most of all. Waiters would hurry from table to table, with multiple plates and bowls balanced on their arms, but never once stopping at theirs. Eventually, Monkey slammed his hands on the table and stood up.
"Fine. I'll go speak to the manager myself!"
"Oh come on, it's not their fault. You can see how busy they are." she gestured around them.
"That's no excuse for straight up ignoring us!" he exclaimed before stomping inside.
She sighed, despite what she said, she was glad Monkey did it. And so she kept waiting.
"Sorry for the wait ma'am."
She looked over to see a man wearing a jade-colored hanfu, he was presenting a small box.
"As an apology, we've prepared an hors-d'oeuvre."
"A what now?"
"Oh uh... It's like the entrée...of the entrée."
"Uh-hu..." she looked at him up and down, remembering where she saw jade green before. "Are you sure?"
"Well granted my French isn't that good but-"
"No that's not what I meant."
'What even is French???'
"I meant are you even working here? Your clothes look too fancy for that, and you don't even have an apron on."
He sighed.
"Okay." he sat at Monkey's seat. "I'm not actually a waiter."
"You don't say." she frowned.
"But I am providing something."
Before she could say anything, he opened the box to reveal two little green cakes. He took out one of them and presented it to her.
"A cake." she said, more and more wary as time passed.
"Not just any cake!" he raised an index, smiling politely. "This lovely thing has very special properties, aside from being delicious hehe. Tell me, have you ever wanted everlasting beauty, beauty that'd transcend that of a goddess."
"Not really no. I'm sorry but I'm waiting for my friend right now." she looked towards the restaurant, wondering where Monkey was.
She could hear him arguing with someone, but she couldn't see him with so many people around.
"Your friend? Why I'd swear you were a couple."
"A coupl-?!" she cut herself, realizing how loud she was speaking, her cheeks a tad pinker.
'Bingo.' his smile widen slightly.
"N-no. We're just friends."
"Oh, is that how you feel?"
"Of course it's-"
"Or is it how *he* feels?" he slowly leaned a bit closer.
She pursued her lips before speaking.
"It's...It's not my place to say how he feels." she tried to compose herself.
"Mhmmh. I've seen similar situation before."
"Oh have you?"
"He does like you, I can tell." he ignored her sarcasm. "But he doesn't see you as a woman, does he?"
(Y/n) opened her mouth, but then closed it, her gaze wandering.
"I...I don't know."
"Mmh." he put the cake on a folded handkerchief and slowly slid it towards her. "Would you like him to?"
She looked at the little cake, considering it. As she was thinking, he was growing impatient.
"I-I'm sorry, I don't think-"
"By gods just eat it already!"
"Wha-Omph!"
He cut her off by shoving it in her mouth, forcing her to bite on it and swallow. As soon as she did that, she stopped resisting.
"I'm sorry miss." he said, letting her go. "I was running out of time."
"Hey what's going on here?!" a customer, watching what went on, decided to intervene. "This guy bothering you miss?"
(Y/n) didn't speak for a moment. Then she calmly finished the cake. She smiled at the costumer.
"I'm okay don't worry. This cake's delicious!"
The man in the jade hanfu sighed, relieved.
"No, screw waiters!" Monkey said as he stomped out. "*I'm* taking the food out!"
Satisfied to have won this argument with the manager (as always, he'd say), he happily brought (Y/n)'s dinner along with a pile of fruits and veggies with him to their table. But then his expression fell and he let all of the food drop on the ground. The table was empty. People were looking at him weird and tried to confront him for the mess he made but he ignored all of it, solely focused on (Y/n)'s absence. He hurried to the table and noticed that her bag was still here, no sign of a struggle, and he'd hear her scream anyway. He sniffed, trying to pick up her scent, but the various foods all around the town were overwhelming his nose. He clicked his tongue, tense.
"Hey pal! I'm talking to you!" some guy grabbed his shoulder.
He tried to turn him around but Monkey instead grabbed his arm, twisting it to be behind his back in an uncomfortable manner and slammed his head on the table within an instant, his elbow pressing on the back of his neck. A few gasps were heard throughout the terrace.
"Young women, twenty-one years old, (h/l) (h/c) hair, (height) centimeters tall wearing a blue and black tunic! Where is she?! Who took her?!"
"N-nobody! She left by herself!"
"Anything out of the ordinary?! Speak!"
"Th-the-there was this guy who force-fed her some cake!"
"Cake?"
"Right! I thought she was in trouble but when I went up to her, she said she was fine!"
"And then~?!" he said, pressing slightly harder on his neck.
"She told the guy 'you can leave now, I'll see you when I'm done' then they both left and went to separate directions!"
"Who was this guy? What did he look like?"
"He had an overall squeamish look about him a-and he was wearing a jade green hanfu!"
"Jade green...?" he thought for a moment, then glanced up at the full moon. "Dammit." he said under his breath before going back to his interrogation. "Where did they go?"
"I-I don't know where she went!"
Monkey growled and he quickly added.
"B-but I know the guy went that way!"
The two men stood motionless for a moment.
"Th...That..." he wiggled his arm a little bit before awkwardly pointing towards a certain street. "That way."
Monkey let him go and went to said street, taking (Y/n)'s bag with him.
"Hey! You gotta pay for the food!" the manager shouted.
"No I don't! Compensation from you for not preventing a kidnapping!" he glared at him.
"Kidnapping?! What are you-?!"
But Monkey has already left.
'(Y/n)' was wandering through the town, looking around as if searching for something. And by the look on her face, it must've been something really important to her. Thinking, she asked passerby's where the market was and she went there, figuring she'd find what she was looking for there. In the marketplace there was way more people than usual, she looked around and started to become desperate. Then, she saw him and froze. A man, looked to be in his fifties, calmly walking from shop to shop. Though in the middle of the almost chaotic crowd, he made his way through like he made it every day. Whenever he'd stop by a stand, the owner would greet him and he's greet them with a kindness like no other. He was very careful when picking up his ingredients, knowing exactly which ones were the freshest batch, his beautiful green eyes focused yet gentle.
Her heart skipped a beat. She finally found the love of her life. As he walked away, she went up to him and held his hand. He looked back, at first confused but then his eyes widen when he saw her jade green eyes. She smiled, blushing.
"Hello my love."
The man in the jade green hanfu finally found a calm and cozy spot away from all the people. He sat down on a bench and sunk in his seat, tired.
"I know this is just once a year but gods." he said to himself as he rubbed his temple. "There's a reason why I don't like going down here. There are way too many peopl-"
He was glad he distanced himself from the humans. Without their deafening voices, he could hear rustling in the distance. He froze and looked towards the noise. A long moment passed and just as he began to relax, Monkey (back to his original form) suddenly jumped down from a tree to try and get him. He squealed and with a poof of green smoke he turned into something to try and run away but Monkey tackled him before he could even try.
"I knew you'd get away from everyone at one point of another..." he smirked. "Rabbit. All I had to do then was follow your scent, you've always reeked of toad for some reason. Must be all that alchemy stuff you do."
He stood up, now holding a jade green rabbit by his long ears. As big as a cat. The little animal looked panicked. Monkey's smile fell and his expression became threatening as he looked closely at him.
"You know you made a big, *big* mistake by choosing my friend of all people." he said between his teeth. "Now I may be vegetarian but I can allow myself a cheat day once in a while. So you better tell me where (Y/n) is before I'll be eating green rabbit for dinner."
"I-I don't know where she is!"
Monkey opened his mouth wide and slowly hanged the rabbit above it, who became even more agitated.
"B-B-But I know where she'll end up! Please don't eat me! She'll be all alone if you eat me!"
"Where?"
As soon as Monkey got an address, he ran on the roof tops as fast as he could. He now stood at the bottom of a little hill not far from the town, a small house on top of it. He saw a couple standing in the front yard, facing each-other and holding hands. One of these people was (Y/n). Monkey didn't waste any time and ran up to them before they did anything.
"Chang'e!!!" he stopped once he was at a certain distance.
"Huh?" '(Y/n)' looked at him with wide eyes, still holding the man's hand. "Wukong?"
He was taken aback by her jade green eyes, plus the fact that she called him by his name, but he shook it off.
"Let (Y/n) go!" he pointed at her. "Don't you dare kiss him with those lips!"
"...Oh~!" she smirked and pointed at herself. "So she's your girlfrie-!"
"No she's not! I mean don't kiss him with lips that aren't yours! Is this what you do now?! You steal women's bodies?!"
"Well you stopped visiting," she frowned. "what else was I supposed to do?"
"You know I couldn't help it, you saw everything didn't you?!"
"Yes. Which is why I had to come up with another solution."
"Oh and what an amazing solution! You do know that if you stay here for too long, (Y/n)'s soul will be gone!"
"What?" the man's expression fell. "My love, is that true?"
"Yes, but don't worry." she spoke softly before glaring back at Monkey. "We're always very careful Jade Rabbit and I. We only borrow the body for a couple of hours."
"How is (Y/n)?" he asked with a grave voice.
"She's unconscious, since it's her first time getting possessed, by a powerful goddess nonetheless." Chang'e flipped her hair. "And since she's pretty powerful herself, that leaves me a bit more time before she's even in danger of getting consumed by my soul."
With a smile, she hugged her partner, who was now hesitant to hug back.
"Well I don't care! Get out of my friend's body!" Monkey pointed at her again, making her frown.
"I'm not leaving now, I just got here! It's not like she's dead!"
"You still stole her body! And she will be dead if you stay here for too long! I don't wanna hurt either her or you, but don't think I won't kick your ass anyway!" he paused. "Uh, (Y/n) if you're listening, sorry in advance." he tugged on her bag as he prepared his staff. "Dinner will be on me next time."
"Urh~!" Chang'e let go of her partner and faced Monkey. "Why are you of all people being such a killjoy?!"
Her jade green eyes glowed as floated a few meters off the ground, an outstretched hand towards him. Suddenly Monkey felt a huge weight being pressed unto him, as if the gravity around him had become ten times heavier. He was still on his feet though.
"Oh! Oh we're doing this huh?!" he smirked, excited to go back to his roots of fighting gods. "Even with just thee of my powers I'll take you down! Bring it on!" he exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles.
Chang'e clicked her tongue and moved her hand downwards so that the gravity around him would be even heavier. And this time he felt the weight for sure, the ground crashing beneath him. She suddenly moved her hand upwards, making him float in the air to then create a powerful shock wave, sending him free-falling down the hill. A little disoriented, Monkey rolled a few times but he eventually got a hold of himself, sliding backwards with one hand on the ground.
"How come you're so strong?!" he yelled out. "You never fight!"
"I'm a goddess, Wukong." she said, her voice loud and clear, echoing. "I don't need to fight to be strong."
He frowned.
'I can't hit her, she's in a fragile human body. If I could just get close I could put her in a hold, preventing her from moving until she listens to reason.'
With a dash, he ran towards her. Chang'e summoned glowing white discs and began to throw them towards Monkey. He dodged them, and they'd hit the ground or the trees behind him, creating small but powerful explosions.
"Just leave me and my husband alone!"
"As long as you're in my friend's body, never!"
With one more disc coming his way, Monkey jumped to dodge it and took the opportunity to hit it with his staff as he was in the air. It exploded on impact. He took a hit but the explosion projected him upwards. With his arms outstretched, and preparing his metal arm, he quickly went up to Chang'e's level.
"Damn you!" she concentrated her energy into another disc, making it vibrate with overwhelming powers.
"Chang'e!" the man, who has climbed up his house to get to the roof, jumped off of it and grabbed unto her from behind with his arms around her neck. "That's enough."
"Hou Yi." she looked back at him, her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly floated down and as her eyes stopped glowing.
Meanwhile, Monkey didn't have time to transform so he just fell down, but he landed on his feet.
"Wukong is right." Hou Yi continued, speaking softly. "What we're doing...it's not right. This women, and all the others, they all went through a very dangerous risk. They don't deserve that."
Chang'e pursued her lips, trying not to cry.
"...It's not fair." she said in a breathy voice, shaking her head and hanging her head down. "I miss you so much every day of the year. All I ask for is just a few hours with you."
"I know. I miss you terribly too. But hey, Wukong is back now, we'll be able to..." he trailed off when he heard her sobbing.
Just the sound of her cries broke his heart, it was clear he was trying not to cry either. He smiled.
"Hey." he almost whispered as he placed a hand on her cheek, making her look at him. "XÇ nÇ shÄngshÄngshìshì~." he began singing quietly, her eyes widen as she recognized their song. "Wú jué qà de à i~."
Chang'e felt her heart tightened as she smiled painfully.
"Always and forever, in this heart of mine~." he looked into her eyes, patiently waiting for her.
She sniffed. She held his hand and leaned her head on his palm.
"...XÇ nÇ shÄngshÄngshìshì~ wú jué qà de à i~. Always and forever, in this heart of mine~. Longer than the heavens~,"
"And the stars that shine~." they sung together. "XiÄngsÄ« qÃng nán nà i, yuà n yÇ nÇ tóng zái, I am yours, I am yours, forever~."
The couple stared into each-other's eyes as they sung, smiling. Slowly, they leaned closer and Monkey quickly separated them.
"What did I say?!" he said, looking at Chang'e. "Don't kiss people in someone else's body!"
"Mistress!"
They all looked over to see Jade Rabbit hopping over to them, he looked exhausted, holding the second green cake with him.
"Jade Rabbit!" Chang'e crouched down, allowing him to jump in her arms and she stopped up while holding him.
"I...I'm sorry." he panted. "I couldn't stop him."
"No, you did good." she smiled. "I'm sorry I always force you to do this, I know you're not comfortable around this many people. This time will be the last."
"Oh thank gods." he sinked into her arms.
She chuckled and turned towards her husband. For a moment, they stayed silent. She put Jade Rabbit down then hugged Hou Yi tightly, sobbing quietly. He hugged her back, a single tear running down his face.
"I love you."
"Me too." he said, backing away a little bit to look at her. "I love you. I love you with every breath I breathe."
She sniffed, and breathed deeply to calm herself down, finally, she turned to look at Monkey.
"...Compliment her would you?" she smiled. "Even if it's just on the little things, seems like she'd need it."
Monkey frowned slightly, not understanding. Chang'e closed her eyed and as she did, Jade Rabbit quickly prepared the second cake. She glowed of a bright jade green light and slowly, a ball of light moved out of her body to then float towards Rabbit, who caught it with the cake. It glowed for a moment, then the light dissipated. (Y/n)'s body ceased to glow as well, she stumbled but she quickly regained consciousness. She held her head with her hand and with a groan, she opened her eyes. Monkey let out a relieved breath when he saw their (e/c) color.
"Monkey!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw him. "What the hell happened?!" she noticed Hou Yi. "Who are you?! And why..." she looked down, moving her hands to clench at her tunic where her heart would be, tears still streaming down her face. "Why do I feel so sad?"
She sobbed, Monkey patted her back, the three men (Rabbit included) looking at her with a look of sympathy. Jade Rabbit hopped up to her, turning into his human form. She gasped.
"You!" she glared at him, wiping away her tears.
"Don't worry," Monkey raised a hand. "I already kicked him around a few times to find you."
"I'm so sorry miss." he lowly bowed to her. "It's hard to explain but, you see, my mistress' soul was put in the cake I fed you. And by eating it, it allowed her to possess you."
"Possess me?!"
"Yes, I'm sorry I have a limited time before her own soul disappears. Food is not a proper vessel at *all*, she needs a body. I have to go back home now quickly to give her her soul back. Again, so sorry for the possession," he bowed again as he walked backwards. "I promise it won't happen again! Goodbye forever!"
He then turned around and ran away. (Y/n) was speechless for a moment before turning back to Monkey.
"Just, what in the world is going on here?!"
Monkey looked at the man standing beside him, who was looking down before looking at her.
"...My wife is stuck on the moon."
Her eyes widen. She looked back at the full moon in the night sky, then she looked at Monkey to get confirmation that what this man said wasn't completely insane. Monkey got the message and nodded. She looked back at the man.
"That's... That's unfortunate sir. I'm sorry."
"We'd be more comfortable inside." he picked up a bag of groceries and gestured her to follow him. "I'll prepare some warm tea to calm our nerves."
(Y/n) was hesitant, but seeing Monkey going inside, she followed.
The house was small but very cozy. The three of them were sitting around the table, each with their own cup of tea. While Hou Yi and (Y/n) were facing each-other, Monkey was more to the side, putting a cold wet towel where he was hit.
"Me and my wife used to be gods." Hou Yi explained. "One day the Jade Emperor's ten sons, very mischievous young men, turned themselves into suns, making the mortals suffer endless droughts and fires. Unable to stop them, the Emperor called me, the divine archer, to stop them once and for all. He stopped me before I could shoot the last sun, angry that I killed his sons."
"Can you believe it?!" Monkey exclaimed, pissed off. "He got angry because the guy who shoots arrows, who he hired to shoot arrows, shot arrows!"
(Y/n) pursued her lips, her eyebrows furrowed.
'Would *the* Jade Emperor really do that? Surely he can't be this stupid.' she thought, a bit conflicted. 'He must have been blinded by the fact nine of his sons were murdered. Surely he expected Hou Yi to be more gentle...'
Hou Yi continued.
"After that my wife and I were banished on Earth, as mortals. We settled right here in this house." he looked around with a look of bittersweet nostalgia. "It was hard at first, but we managed to deal with our newfound mortality. Even then, we still didn't age like humans normally do."
"Like demons right?" Monkey asked.
"Correct, I'm technically a hundred and thirty years old right now."
"Woah! Really?!"
Hou Yi nodded.
"Remanence of our divinity perhaps. But of course, we missed our powers, especially Chang'e. So I took it upon myself to find a way to make us gods again. I came back with two pills of immortality, one would give us half of our godhood back, but it wouldn't be enough for us to go back to our old lives. So we decided to put them aside and keep on living as humans." he smiled faintly. "And life was good. I even started to teach an archery class. She was so happy when we finally figured out how to cook our own food." he chuckled.
There was such a gentle love in his voice, (Y/n) couldn't help but smile.
"But one day, one of my students learned about the pills of immortality and broke into our house while I wasn't there." he clenched his fists. "He threatened Chang'e to give the pills to him. Before he could find them, she took both." he looked down, his shoulders dropped. "When I came back, she was already gone. She sent Jade Rabbit to explain what happened. Apparently the pills were so powerful that she ascended beyond Heaven's Palace and straight to the moon, unable to leave."
"Where did Jade Rabbit come from?" (Y/n) asked.
"He was her pet when she was a goddess. When he saw her fly past Heaven, he decided to join her."
"I see... But what about you Monkey? Where do you fit in all of this?"
"Well," he shifted in his seat. "I knew Chang'e from when I was given a very high position in Heaven, she was cool. So when I heard what happened I went up there to check on her. She uh..." he glanced to the side. "She wasn't okay. So to help her out I offered her to be kind of a messenger once a year for their anniversary."
"Aww~ that's so sweet of you!"
"And we are forever grateful for that." Hou Yi bowed his head to him.
"But then I got trapped in that crystal so I guess Chang'e found another way to communicate with him and, you know the rest."
"Wow." she paused. "...So we almost kissed?"
Monkey frowned.
"Y-yes I'm sorry." Hou Yi bowed his head again. "I can promise you, we've never went anywhere beyond kissing."
"Yeah I hope not!" Monkey grumbled.
"Isn't it weird though? Kissing your wife in someone else's body I mean."
"Well, it never felt weird to me..." he bashfully scratched his cheek. "Whatever form she takes, all I see is her."
"Aww~!" (Y/n) placed a hand on her heart.
Monkey wanted to roll his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. He just sighed.
"Do you send each-other letters?" she asked.
"Oh yes!" his face beamed. "We'd write and cook to each-other."
"Cook?" she tilted her head.
"Right, when we learned how to cook, we came up with a new recipe. We didn't name it before, but after Chang'e left, I name them moon cakes."
"Moon cakes?!" she exclaimed, her heart squeezing. "Are you going to make some tonight?" she asked, looking at the grocery bag.
"I was planning on making some with Chang'e but..."
"We can make some together."
"But...it's something only *we* do."
"Dude, share." Monkey said. "You owe her this much after kidnapping her."
"Which is a shame because, if Jade Rabbit had just explained the situation to me, I would've taken the cake willingly."
"If you had done that, I would've made you barf it out."
"Eww!" she hit him on the arm.
Hou Yi chuckled.
"You're right." he stood up, taking the groceries with him. "Come along you two."
(Y/n) excitedly followed while Monkey kinda went along with them.
"I like to mix it up from time to time." Hou Yi said as he emptied the bag on the kitchen counter. "This year I want to try making a sweet potato filling."
(Y/n)'s eyes widen and she looked at Monkey as if to say 'did you hear that?!' He smiled.
"I know," he quietly said. "it all came full circle."
"Have you ever cooked before?" Hou Yi asked.
"Not really, I just have to heat up my rations and even back home we have a cook."
"And I'm Sun Wukong."
"Haha of course. Don't worry, we all the free time we've had me and my wife, we became experts at making moon cakes." he rolled up his sleeves. "So here's what you do-"
"Shouldn't we wash our hands first?"
"...Oh. Apologies." he retracted his hands from the ingredients, embarrassed yet smiling. "A bad habit I picked up, I forget humans get sick sometimes. Of course yes, let's wash our hands first!" he then hurried out.
(Y/n) and Monkey looked at each-other and laughed.
Hou Yi was a very good teacher, a kind and patient person, not really what one would expect from a former archer god. (Y/n) was happy to learn how to cook and Monkey kinda stayed in his corner, since he won't be eating the cakes, he wasn't that interested in making them, but he'd still provide an extra pair of hand if needed. But of course, no one was safe from his usual shenanigans.
"I'll never understand why people go through this much trouble just to eat." he said, looking over (Y/n)'s shoulder while she was mixed together what will soon become the dough in which they'll put the filling. "It's such a waste of time, just put the ingredients in your mouth, it's the same thing!"
"It is very clearly not the same thing!" she gave him the side-eye. "You're supposed to be smarter than this, come on."
"And it doesn't work." Hou Yi said. "Trust me, we've tried."
Monkey burst out laughing while (Y/n) looked on in disbelief.
"My man!" he smacked him on the back, making him chuckle.
Monkey wanted to pester them further so as to not get bored, but at some point he noticed how dedicated the two of them were in their cooking thing, so he left them alone for like two minutes. When the fresh batch of moon cakes was placed on the table, he had to admit, all that hard work seemed to have paid off, especially by the look on their face as they tasted them. They provided him with the extra sweet potatoes they had (raw of course).
"They're so good!" (Y/n) exclaimed.
"They really are," Hou Yi nodded. "I'll have to add it on the list of possible fillings."
"...You said it's just a 'you' thing. But, wouldn't it be nice to share them with everybody?"
"Yeah, if they're this good, and if you like making them. Why not set up a stand and sell them?" Monkey asked.
"Wha-I'm not profiting on this testament of our love!"
"That's not what I meant." (Y/n) said. "I...I thought it was weird that no one has heard of your and Chang'e's tale. Wouldn't it be better to share this testament, telling its story so that it's not left unknown to the world?"
Hou Yi was silent for a moment, hesitant. He looked out the window, at the nightsky for a moment before sighing.
"You make a good point." he said, looking at the moon cake he was holding. "Even if the story is forgotten, the recipe itself is a proof of our love. If centuries from now, people are still making them, then it'll be enough to bring us peace."
(Y/n) and Monkey smiled.
"I'm sure they will, they're delicious!"
"Yeah I'll probably puke if I eat them, but I'm sure by human standard they're good." Monkey shrugged.
They all laughed.
Bonus scene!
Millenniums from when the story is set, in the twenty-first century, a group of friends were sitting around, enjoying a batch of moon cakes and arguing about what Chang'e's reason was for taking both pills of immortality.
"I'm telling you!" a young man with glasses and a ponytail pointed at his friend. "She sacrificed herself so that that asshole student wouldn't become a god!"
"And I'm telling you!" a young woman with short hair and a tattoo on her arm pointed back. "She was a girl boss and thought of her career first!"
"Exactly!" another guy added. "She was the goddess of the moon, don't you think she had responsibilities?!"
"Bruh! We're talking about a legend from mythology!" another woman nudged him. "You really think they wouldn't go the tragic romance route?!"
"Okay guys? Guys?" a fifth person, sitting in the middle of this chaos, said. "Can we all just agree that this whole thing is all the Emperor's fault?"
"Oh yeah!" "Yeah completely!" "Imagine being mad because the guy you hired did his job!" "Period!"
With peace restored, they kept on enjoying their moon cakes.