Beng ran out as quickly as he came, and I wasted no time in getting out of the bath and dumping the water off of me. On my way out the door I used my necklace to dress myself as quickly as possible. I continued to run down the hall, and out of the royal wing, and to the entrance of the palace.

I wasn’t the only one. Monkeys from all over were congregating to the entrance of the palace. There was a buzz in the air.

I got my sword out and hopped on it, racing above everyone’s heads and weaving between those swinging on the ceiling. I made it to the entrance just before the crowd.

There he was. Shaking off the water after coming through the waterfall on Nimbus. He saw me and smiled.

He was right here. He was alive.

His smile dropped as he realized I wasn’t slowing down. He hit the ground just in time to avoid my sword.

I hopped off, and got between him and the waterfall. Good, I cut off his escape.

“Yue? Is that you? What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? What have you been doing!? Where have you been? What happened to your promise to send for me? What the fuck made you disappear for ten fucking years!?”

“Ten years? Yue, I’ve been gone for ten days.”

“What? Take a look around Wukong! You’ve been gone for ten years. I fucking gave up on you coming back! I thought you died or worse, you just forgot about us. Forgot about me.”

Wukong looked around, confused. “Yue, the palace does look nice, and the island does look a little different from how I remember, but I’ve only been in heaven for a week and a half. Are you pranking me? Because it’s not funny Yue. You should stop.”

I sent my sword towards his head. His eyes widened and he barely had time to parry it with his staff. “A prank! Do you seriously think this is a joke? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through since you’ve been gone? You… you…” I shook my head. I grabbed my wedding bracelet and wrenched it off. I threw it onto the ground.

“Yue, why?” Wukong had the nerve to look hurt.

I hopped on my sword. “Figure it out you bastard.”

I tilted to full speed and burst through the waterfall.

Now that I was alone, I let the tears fall. Gone for a week and a half. What bullshit.

I flew up as high as I could and headed east until I could no longer see the island. Then I stopped.

Fuck. I broke down and just started sobbing. I sat down on my sword and just cried.

He was alive. He was back. And he said he was only gone for ten days. Was that the best he could come up with? He was better liar than that.

He could’ve told me heaven imprisoned him. That he had to fight in a war for heaven. That he couldn’t come home.

But no. He didn’t. He just forgot about me and Flower-Fruit Mountain the moment he got into heaven. Did our marriage mean nothing to him? What about all his sweet words and gestures?

Was it all just a lie?

It’s been a while since I felt this bad. I wanted to throw myself into the waves and sink to the bottom of the ocean, but I shoved the urge away.

I was still needed back on the island. I needed to ask Liu about retirement procedures in the morning. Then I had a report from Ba about recent developments in the research division.

While all my duties helped my urge to self-harm, they didn’t make me feel better. Wukong really just left me. And he couldn’t even bother to come up with a good lie to cover it up. Did I mean that little to him?

I loved him. I loved him with all of my heart. Even after ten years all I wanted was for him to come home, safe and sound, and with a good reason for being away.

Now it felt like my heart was breaking. Like he just threw it into the wall and shattered it. I begged him to not make me care all those years ago, and he told me I would never lose anything again.

That liar.

I drifted aimlessly over the waves as I continued to sob. By the time they ran dry, the sun was beginning to peek over the waves of the surf.

I needed to get back. The generals will be worried. But I just felt so tired now. I just wanted to crawl into my bed and never come out.

Oh, I was headed for a very dark place. I’ve learned to recognize the signs. But I still couldn’t bring myself to care.

I shifted my sword west and started back home. The sun rose slowly over the surf, and as I got closer to the island, I spotted a little cloud zipping to and fro above the island.

Wukong. I didn’t want to deal with him. I activated my invisibility. And went straight to the palace.

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The moment I got through the curtain of water, I dropped my invisibility, startling Ma.

“Your Majesty.” Ma bowed.

“Ma, tell the generals I’m resting today. We’ll suspend all meetings and paperwork for now. Only get me if there’s an emergency.”

Ma hesitated. “I will send up food and water to your room. And check to ensure you consumed them.”

Something I told them to do when I took a lot of “rest days”.

“Thanks Ma. I’ll see you later.”

I didn’t want to walk, so I just flew my sword straight to my room. The other monkeys took one look at me before jumping out of the way. Word of Wukong’s return and our fight must be common knowledge by now.

I made it to my room without incident. I put my sword away in my necklace and collapsed into bed.

I flashed my dress back into my necklace before I got sucked into oblivion.

I didn’t want to be awake. I think I’d rather have a nightmare than be awake right now. But awake I was. I groaned.

I looked out the window. It looked like I slept the whole day. I just laid in bed, trying to muster up the motivation to get up and grab the water and fruit outside my door.

I didn’t want to. I just wanted everything to stop. I pressed my hands into my eyes.

If I didn’t get the water and fruit, the generals will know I didn’t eat. If they know I didn’t eat, they’ll come into my room themselves and try to feed me. It would be easier if I just got the water and food now.

I still felt awful. But I kicked off my blanket and got up anyway. I shuffled over to the door and opened it to grab the food and water.

Something that had been leaning on the other side of the door fell in. That something was Wukong.

He laid at me feet staring up at me in shock. “Yue?”

I scowled and went to slam the door shut on him. He held his hands up to stop the door. “Wait, Yue please, I need to talk to you.” He stopped the door without a problem. Fucking Wukong and his fucking freakish strength.

I gave up on closing the door and marched over to the bed. I threw the covers over my head.

I heard Wukong scramble up and come over to the side of the bed. “Yue, please, I know what happened now, please listen to me.”

“Fuck off.”

“Yue, you have every right to be mad, but please don’t do this. I have some food and water here with me. Even if you don’t want to talk to me, please eat and drink something.”

I sat up abruptly. Wukong had the fruit and water in his hands. I grabbed the fruit and practically swallowed it whole. Then I grabbed the cup and downed it in one breath. I slammed the cup back into his hand and looked him in the eye.

“Get out.”

He bit his lip and nodded. He actually left without saying another word.

As the door shut behind him, I couldn’t help but cry again. Just seeing him felt like hot knives in my chest.

And yet I wanted to call back to him. I wanted to let him change his story, to tell me I never left his mind while he was gone. I just wanted things to go back to how they were. I wanted to curl up on his chest while he purred.

I felt so weak. I wanted him. I wanted to give him another chance.

“Wukong?” I called out softly. I knew he couldn’t-

The door was thrown open and Wukong rushed in. “Yue? Do you need me?”

I reached out to him. “Hold me. Like how you used to.”

He picked me up and set me on his chest within seconds.

He started petting me, and purring. Just like he did before he left. But it just made me feel even worse. I started crying harder.

The purring stopped. “Yue please, tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it. I’ll do anything to make this right. Please just say something.”

“Why? Why did you leave me? I got so bad. I needed you. Why did you break your promise?”

“Yue, it’s… it’s all my fault. I should’ve asked more questions. I should have checked in on you sooner. But I didn’t lie to you Yue. I really was in heaven for only ten days. I only learned when I got back that every day in heaven is a year on Shijie.”

“Stop lying! How is that even possible? Just say you forgot about me! Just say you never cared about our marriage!”

“I’m not lying to you Yue, and I’ll never ever say those things. Not as a joke, not as lie. Never. I care more about you than I do myself, the world, and heaven all put together. If I’d known this would happen I would have never left without you. I’m so sorry Yue. Even if it takes the rest of my life I swear I’ll make it up to you. But I’m begging you, please don’t leave me. Don’t give up on us. That’s the one thing I wouldn’t be able to bear. Please Yue, I’m begging you, give me one more chance.”

I shouldn’t. He’ll just hurt me again. But I wanted to. Oh Lunus, how I wanted to believe him.

I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t a strong person.

“Okay.” I whispered. “Just this once. I’ll forgive you. But you can’t ever leave me alone like that again. I’ve already warned you once. I can’t lose anything else. Or I really will break.”

“I know Yue. I promise. I’ll never leave you again. I’ll always be where you can reach. I know I’ve already broken too many promises. But I swear that was the last.”

I wanted it to be the last too. No. I’d make sure it was the last. I rubbed my bare wrist. “My bracelet. Do you have it?”

“Yes! Yes, I have it right here.” He pulled it out from under his armor.

I picked it up and felt it over in my hands. It had a dent from when I threw it down, but it wasn’t broken. It was still wearable. I slipped it back into my wrist and felt over the smooth inside. Perfect for engraving.

“Wukong, I changed a lot of things while you were gone. Did you see?”

“Um, I was mostly looking for you, but there are a lot more fruit trees now. And the palace looks good too.”

“Tomorrow we’ll stop by the research and crafting division and I’ll show you. I want to put a formation on our bracelets.”

“Formations? You’ve been learning the Taoist arts while I was gone?”

“Well, it’s less like I’ve been learning them and more like I’ve been combining them with chi and seeing what sticks. But we’ve made a lot of progress. You probably didn’t notice all the defensive formations when you were looking for me, but now the island is fortified. If anyone tries to attack us, they won’t find it easy.”

“Ah. That, uh, reminds me of something I have to tell you. We may be attacked soon.”

I pulled back looked at him. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Why?”

“I may have, sort of… abandoned my post in heaven.”

I sighed. “Why?”

“Well, just keep in mind I’m very strong right? So naturally, I should be given an important position. Maybe in charge of the army or something. But ah, I wasn’t.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! I was assigned to the stables, and it was fine, but then I asked about bringing you over, and they said I needed a higher rank for that. So I asked them what rank I was, and it turns out I was at the bottom. Which, you know I left you for that job, and when I heard that it really made me mad, so I just… left.”

“Wukong. Did you start a war with heaven?”

Wukong was quiet. Trying to gauge my mood. “Maybe?”

I sighed. “You need to go find the generals. Tell them we’re initiating plan A. Siege defense. They’ll know what to do. Once you do that, come back here. Bring some more fruit. I’m still hungry.”

“Yes! I’ll go do that right now! I’ll be back!”

He set me back on the bed, and rushed out of the room. I sat up in bed and rubbed my temples. Somehow, I had forgotten just how much trouble it was to manage Wukong. I loved him, but Lunus, sometimes he was more trouble than he was worth.

I flopped back down in the bed. It was a problem for tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted Wukong to come back, feed me some fruit, and sleep on his chest.

Only time would tell if I made the right choice.