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youssefguedira · 10 months

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behold, the product of yesterday's lotr au discussion (for @spacegirlsgang)

Nicolò has not spoken to him in days.

He hasn't spoken to anyone. He walks silently at Yusuf's side, hand always on his sword, eyes always on the horizon. When there are people who need it, he helps, tends wounds and lifts the younger ones onto horses and hands out food. He still does not speak, and Yusuf worries for him.

They have already lost Quynh, and Sebastien. Dizzy and Jay may well be dead by now for all they know, and Nile and Lykon… he does not really want to think about it for long. He only hopes they are alive. And now Andromache, too, is gone, and Nicolò will not speak, and Yusuf cannot help feeling very, very alone without him. It is strange: Yusuf would have thought, just a week or two ago, that he would have been glad never to see Nicolò again. Now, the thought terrifies him.

When they make camp that night, Yusuf takes his place by the fire with his sword across his lap and prepares to keep watch. Nicolò joins him, after a while, but instead of taking a seat and silently watching the horizon as Yusuf has come to expect him to, he speaks.

"You should rest," he says, voice hoarse as if – well, as if he hasn't used it in days. He carries two bowls of stew, one of which he passes to Yusuf.

"So should you," Yusuf responds. He's exhausted, but neither of them have slept much – he's not sure Nicolò has slept at all since they lost Andromache.

"I do not need to sleep like you do," Nicolò says, which almost makes Yusuf laugh.

"Bullshit," he says. "Even you can't go this long without needing to rest."

Nicolò doesn't say anything to that. Doesn't even meet Yusuf's eyes, but Yusuf can tell how tired Nicolò truly is, and suddenly he cannot bear it anymore.

"We cannot keep on like this," Yusuf says. "This is not – if we're all that's left, I cannot do this without you, Nicolò."

Nicolò is quiet, for a while. When he finally speaks, he says, "Try to rest, Yusuf. I will keep watch tonight."

Yusuf waits. Nicolò does not move, nor show any sign of conceding. Just as stubborn as Andromache – well. He doesn't let himself finish that thought.

He waits a little longer, but Nicolò remains silent.

"Wake me for the second watch, then," Yusuf says, finally. Nicolò does not nod, but Yusuf no longer has the strength in him to push. He falls asleep quickly.

When he wakes, it is morning, and Nicolò is nowhere to be seen. Yusuf can only hope he found someone else for the second watch, and that he did not stay awake all night, but he would not be surprised if the latter were true.

During the day, they keep to their regular routine – Nicolò's silence and Yusuf's attempts to find anything to do that isn't think too much – but that night, when Nicolò finds him, he sets his sword down by his side and asks, "Will you wake me for the second shift?"

Yusuf nods quickly, too quickly, and Nicolò smiles, though it is small. It's the first time Yusuf's seen him smile in days.

He wakes Nicolò for the second shift and sleeps after that, and the next night, Yusuf takes the first and Nicolò the second.

It's a start, at the very least.

–

The day after they reach Helm's Deep, Nicolò is the first to see the rider.

He does not realise who it is at first: the figure is too distant. They wear a cloak with the hood pulled low over their face, and lean heavily over their horse, as if injured.

Nicolò's first thought is that it is a scout. His second thought, which he discounts quickly, is that it is Andromache, which. It cannot be. He does not dare imagine it.

When the figure keeps approaching, he shouts a warning to the guards on the walls. Yusuf, who had fallen asleep beside him, his back against the stone, startles awake. "What is it?" he asks, still half-asleep.

"I do not know, yet," Nicolò responds. He gets to his feet. Yusuf follows a moment later.

"I see it, now," Yusuf says, furrowing his brow. Nicolò's hand goes to his bow, just in case. If it is a scout, he will deal with them quickly.

Then, suddenly, Yusuf's eyes go wide, and he curses. Taps Nicolò twice on the shoulder, and runs along the wall, down the stairs, towards the gate, shouting at the guards to open it.

Nicolò looks again, then, and realises what Yusuf has seen. The rider's weapon is just visible over their right shoulder, and Nicolò knows the carvings on its handle, knows them because they are the twin of the carvings on the hilt of his hunting dagger, because both weapons were forged by the same person.

He is moving before he truly has time to process the thought. The gates are opened far too slowly, creaking with the movement, and by the time he can see the rider again she is sitting straighter in the saddle, a wide grin on her face, urging her horse forward. It is only Yusuf's hand on his arm that keeps him from running through the gates to greet her; when Nicolò looks back at him, his smile is bright enough to rival the midday sun.

Andromache.

Finally, she is there, riding through the gates like a king returning to her kingdom, like she had planned this all along, like Nicolò hadn't seen her fall from a cliff only a few days ago. She dismounts easily, before the horse has even fully stopped, and then he is running, and she is meeting him halfway and gathering him into her arms and laughing, even as he thinks he starts crying.

Then Yusuf is there too, and Nicolò has to step back but cannot bring himself to go far, and Andromache hugs him too, while Yusuf laughs, bright and loud.

"Where have you been," he is saying, and "I thought you were dead, Andromache, I thought we had lost you," and she laughs again and cups the back of his neck with one hand and says, "I'm okay, Nico, I'm okay."

"So," Andromache says once Yusuf steps back, too, her grin sharp despite how exhausted she must be. "Tell me what I've missed."

#neon writes #tog lotr au #the old guard #look. i have Feelings abt it #firstly. helm's deep is the Major turning point for joe and nicky's relationship but we're starting to lay the groundwork here #i think they're not quite there with talking about feelings yet. but on their way #nicolò a) letting yusuf sleep through the night and b) actively asking him to take the first watch (i.e. listening to him when yusuf says h #needs to rest) is really. its something for me #i don't know if the thing about elves not needing to sleep much is true just go with me on this one. also if ive mixed up timelines its in #service of the Brain Worms. ok #in the actual hypothetical longfic this would be interspersed with other sections / the reunion might be from another pov #the bit about blacksmith andy is one of my favourite details about this au #she makes quynh's necklace AND nicky's knife n him being able to recognise her by the design of her axe because it's the same as that of hi #knife. Yeah it's important to me #anyway mary as always i hope you like this <3 and thank you for continually enabling the brain worms

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rayalltheway · 11 months

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A New Approach (LWAU Fic)

Aka, Zhuāng Jié (LMK OC) meets MK and the gang.

------

MK was trying to figure out how to function as a hero and as a mostly full-grown person by himself for more than a few minutes at a time. He really was.

So the fact that the worst things seemed to happen when his friends were out of his general vicinity for as much as five seconds was seriously putting a damper on that endeavour.

They had only left their last campsite half-a-day prior on their journey to the west (MK had spent a good part of those hours trying to think of a cool sequel name to give their adventure), but a sudden engine problem with T.E.A. had forced them to take refuge at an abandoned mountainside castle so Sandy could fix it up, everyone else discussing staying there for the approaching night.

“I dunno….” Pigsy huffed as everyone stood in the entryway of the castle, looking up at the old, likely structurally unsafe building apprehensively. “I thought the plan was to limit our stops more and more. Specially’ considering what we got on our heels.”

“Yeah, and we’re only a week away from Lantern City.” Mei chimed in, sitting on a rock and stretching out her legs after sitting in the van for the last several hours. “I want this to be over already….” She sounded particularly restless at that moment, which MK chalked up to van fever.

“To keep going would certainly be ideal…” Tang began, adjusting his glasses, looking out over the cliff the castle stood upon, built into the mountain. “But Lady Bone Demon’s power can only spread so fast across the world when she isn’t there herself, and we got a considerable head start.” He explained, going to Pigsy’s side in assurance.

“Smart guy here is right.” Monkey King spoke up, drifting between Tang and Pigsy (inadvertently pushing the two apart, much to both their charaign) on his somersault cloud, which he had hardly left once he found himself able to summon it again earlier. “We can afford to stay here a night. Not like there’s anything out there we don’t already know about, or can’t see coming from miles away.” He continued, leaning casually back on his cloud.

His nonchalance earned another huff from an already-irritated Pigsy. “Yeah, you seem to know a LOT of things…” He grumbled, but everyone agreed to pitch camp, and Sandy was content to join them after finishing work on the van.

The others entered the castle, intent on finding materials to start a fire – MK briefly hearing Monkey King muse that he might have recognized the castle as one he came upon during his own journey west, with Mei in turn remarking that the numerous signs of damage around the place was a fairly good indication of that idea.

MK spent some time looking around the place, but he wasn’t too curious – night was coming, and given recent events, darkness in general was becoming something that MK was adding to his ever-growing list of anxieties. He didn’t feel nervous yet – Monkey King had to be right, there couldn’t be anyone else watching them that he didn’t already know about, but staying on the move mostly kept those thoughts at bay. Even so, he felt they were actually doing better than ever so far, given they had a head start they were only getting more miles on, and were about a week away from the Lantern City.

MK felt himself become more at ease with that in mind – they were getting all the more closer to finally ending this nightmare. They could afford to have a spontaneous pit-stop, eat the rest of the mooncakes they got from Chang’e and pretend this was just a regular road-trip for a few hours –

Oh, wow, it was cold here.

MK felt himself shuddering as the sudden frigid draft pricked his fingers and neck. He let out a shaky breath as he quickly adjusted his jacket collar before jamming his hands under arms, turning back to call out to the others – not realising he had wandered into another room of the castle while lost in thought.

“Heeyy, guys?” He called out, beginning to walk back from where he thought could hear the others, as it sounded like Monkey King and Mei were still arguing.

“Come on pony girl, those wall-holes could of been left by anyone–”

A cracking sound filled the air, halting everyone where they stood, including MK – with more booming cracks followed by the castle groaning discontentedly. The air got colder, and sharper – and MK finally remembered where he had felt this chill before, just as a sharp, jagged spike of ice shot out from the floor at his feet. He yelped and fell on his behind, using his feet to propel himself backwards in fear.

It was her power. The sounds of the castle straining and breaking against the ice continued all around as more began to jut out of the floor, and MK gasped when he saw the ice was growing near the entrance of the room. His legs practically pinwheeled as he leapt to his feet, running out with mere moment to spare, straining to hear where his friends were.

“Lady Bone Demon?! Is she here?!” MK heard Pigsy shouting, a couple rooms away.

“This is her power – it’s caught up to us!” He then heard Tang respond, before hearing his trademark shrieking telling everyone that they had to get out of there. Well, obviously.

“Wait, where’s MK?!” He then heard Mei yell. That was enough for him to finally snap out of his confused panic, running to where he thought their voices were coming from, feeling the ice nip his heels, catching the sight of ice crawling up the walls.

“Guys, get out! I’m right behind you!” MK called out, running as fast as he could to reach them. He almost had to bite back tears as he thought about how he still wasn’t back to full strength with his powers, and he couldn’t hope to tap into anything with this invasive, chilling bone demon power pressing around him. He turned a corner – and screamed when he saw an array of icy spikes blocking his path, and heading right for him as an extra touch. Whipping his head to look at the way only promised a similar fate – he had nowhere to go unless he jumped out the hall’s windows and hoped his powers wouldn’t falter on him.

With the ice spikes reaching up to his head, he decided he’d take that chance. He began to move –

– Before he felt something grab the collar of his jacket and jerk him backwards. He didn’t anticipate the feeling of falling, panicking as his hold of gravity left him momentarily. But he soon found himself being held up on stone steps after hearing a doorway slide shut, realising he was dragged into a dark passageway going down that he hadn’t noticed, away from the path of ice. Any relief he might have felt was quickly dashed when he felt himself getting picked up once more, only able to let out a startled yelp as he was pinned against the wall with nothing to do but stare up at –

“Mac–”

“No.”

MK’s panic was immediately silenced by the deep voice under the red hood he had glanced at, immediately making him assume this assailant was the shadow monkey in question, until his eyes actually took in the looming figure. While their expression was shrouded in shadow, MK could still see the shape of a face, and a dark, cold, human eye glaring at him in a way that utterly froze him where he was. It wasn’t Macaque – but whoever this was sure wasn’t any less intimidating.

“You should know better than to isolate yourself, Monkie Kid.” They hissed through their teeth – before pulling MK from the wall and into the descending passage.

——————————————————————————————————

MK soon found himself getting dragged by the male stranger through a secret entrance to the castle tunnelled through the mountain, coming into a small forest side clearing bathed in moonlight. It was there the man finally released him, MK recoiling out of his grasp and nearly tripping against a rock as he tried to resolve his bearings enough to take up a defensive stance. “What do you want?” He demanded.

“A bit more caution from you, for a start.” Came the man’s response, his hard but weary tone steeped in impatience as he scanned the exit they came from, seemingly checking whether or not they were followed. “You could have killed yourself in two completely different ways back there.”

“Hey, I’m the Monkie Kid, guy.” MK retorted, putting a fist to his chest as he mustered up as much of his superhero confidence as he could manage. “You don’t know that.”

“You’d be surprised by what I do, kid.” The man shot back, still not looking at MK, circling the clearing expertly as he continued to examine for any sign of intrusion. With his back turned, MK finally noticed the long, bladed polearm weapon strapped to his back — the pointed reminder that he didn’t have his staff sinking into his gut.

“I know that while you have power on your side, it’s not as much as it could be, thanks to her.” The man continued, and MK’s eyebrows shot up, and an icy chill passed through him, thinking of the pain in his head whenever Lady Bone Demon was around. But he didn’t feel it now, so…

“How do you know Lady Bone Demon? O-or me?” He asked, his voice shaking despite himself.

“I’ve been following her trail for a long time, and yours for days.” His blunt reply came as he pressed his ear against a tree, while MK did a double take at that last bit.

“Hah??”

After a moment on his end, the man seemed satisfied that they were alone, standing back upright and turning so MK could feel that glare on him again – but rather than threatening, it felt more…scolding, something like the looks Pigsy would give him when he slacked off instead of delivering his noodle orders.

“Nice to know you never even noticed.” Came the man’s chiding tone – and MK, in spite of this being a complete stranger with no reasonable authority over him, felt himself shrink a little.

“You’re dealing with a spirit, not just a demon.” He continued, and with that baffling statement spoken, he turned to face MK completely, throwing back his hood. “So you and your friends are going to have to get better at knowing when you’re being watched by one.”

He was…old. A truly old man, with at least a decade on Pigsy or Tang – wrinkles lining his sharply handsome features, with long grey hair partly tied in a bun on the back of his head. Strangely, he wore a suit of armour under his weatherworn red cloak – the traditional kind of armour that MK recognized from illustrations in Journey to the West, but much more simple and way more worn out. Monkey King always wore clothes from centuries in the past, but this guy fully looked like just stepped out of a completely different time period.

But aside from the dated fashion, he would look like a completely normal human…if it wasn’t for the fact that his left eye, which had two jagged red scars running over it, was a empty black, with an glowing red pinprick where an iris and pupil should be – directed at MK in a piercing glare.

“…..What??” MK wondered aloud, his mind spinning at the assault of all this new, confusing information. “Why would – who – ok, time out.” The young man stammered out, shaking his head and throwing up his hands. “So, apparently you’ve been following us, but you’re not with Lady Bone Demon, and just now you kidnapped me to…to give me advice?” He questioned, fully vexed.

“To get you out of there.” The man replied as he pointed into the distance, MK looking behind him at the castle – it was now completely overtaken by ice that slowly spread over the rest of the mountain. “You couldn’t have foreseen this.” He explained, MK looking back at him quizzically. “Something new has set Lady Bone Demon off. It will slow back down soon, but it won’t stop. Though, her power is still escapable for now.”

“Wait, you – you only got ME away?!” MK protested, officially becoming angry now. “What about –“

“Your friends are fine.” The man stated, stopping MK. “I saw them leaving the castle, they’re looking for you.” He paused before nodding in though after a moment, taking his eyes off MK to adjust his right wrist guard. “It’ll be easier to explain things when you’re all together.” He said, more to himself than to MK.

MK, for his part, stared at the man…but now felt his sense of trepidation was slowly waning. Most new people he met these days tried to kill him – but this stranger really might have just saved his life back there. It suddenly seemed this whole drag-around and lecturing was his way of…helping.

“Who are you?” MK finally asked.

The man’s gaze quickly darted back up to meet MK’s, who instinctively stiffened at the stony expression completed by the man’s glare. His eyes were intent and predatory as they studied the younger one, like those of a hawk.

“Are you frightened?” He asked, with an interrogative edge.

“W-What? No!” Came MK’s immediate defensive reply, but the man’s unchanging expression put a crack in that facade quickly.

“….Okay, yes. Why?” MK asked, returning the man’s look with his own suspicious look.

“Because you should be.” The man replied, taking a step closer to the nonplussed MK –

– Before the impact an unstoppable force meeting rock struck the ground between the two of them, winding MK and making him stagger backwards, while the man dug his feet into the ground and drew his guandao in a single, swift motion, facing two figures that MK quickly recognized.

“Wait, M-“ he started.

“Get away from him!” Yelled the voice of Mei, her blade drawn and eyes glowing a ferocious electric green. Next to her, Monkey King raised himself up from the kneeling position he landed in, his teeth bared ferociously.

“I have had it with you, you shady, sixed-eared–“ Monkey King snarled – before actually registering the man in front of him, who had lowered his weapon upon seeing who the new arrivals were.

“…Random old guy?” The monkey finished, dropping his aggressive posture in bemusement.

Mei was less placated, still pointing her sword at the man, while MK heard the distant sound of the team’s van bursting through the trees, coming to a halt as Sandy, Pigsy, and Tang burst out hurriedly.

“MK! Are you alright?!” Pigsy shouted, him, Tang, and Sandy making their way over to him in concern and looking towards the one sided stand-off with Mei and this stranger in confusion.

“You do have a bold heart, Young Mei. You should save that for when you really need it.” The man said towards the dragon girl, spinning his guandao once before positioning it upright next to him. Mei only bristled further in response. “How do you know my name?!” Mei growled, thrusting her blade forward, the end coming to life with that familiar green glow.

“Mei, wait!” MK called out, and Mei did turn to him at that, if only in confusion.

“MK, what’s going on here? And who the heck are you??” Pigsy questioned the man irately, directing everyone’s accusing gazes. The man surveyed each of their faces with, his stony expression unchanging – before landing on MK’s unsure expression. Surprisingly, his own softened by a degree. He shook his head, and raised up his hands.

“Look, it’s a long story, but to keep it short – I’m not good at this.” The man began, kneeling to place his guandao slowly on the ground, keeping his arms above his head as he stood back up, facing the group. “But I know what hunts you all. By coincidence, I have walked along the path that intends to put an end to what she is for a while now. And I didn’t know anyone else was, until now, so…” The man trailed off, glancing off and pressing his lips together, looking conflicted for a moment…before dropping his head with a sigh, stepping back, and giving the group a greeting bow.

“I am here to help you, MK. All of you.” He states, directly towards the core of the group.

Everyone was silent, and a bit hesitant – before turning to MK to see his reaction.

“…Oh.” MK sounded numbly after a moment, before dropping his arms lazily as he arched a brow at the man. “Oh. Why didn’t you just start with that?” He asked.

The man’s eyebrow twitched with an untold emotion, before he sighed, putting his fingers on the ridge of his nose. “Like I said, I’m not good at this.” He responded, murmuring something under his breath. MK thought he heard him say a name…Chang something.

“Alright, gramps –” Monkey King suddenly spoke up, cutting through the moment. “Whatever it is you’re good at, you’re lucky I didn’t kill you just now." Everyone looked to see his suspicious expression directed at the old warrior, his bafflement set aside as he moved to be in front of MK. “So you know about Lady Bone Demon, and showed up just after her power appeared where it shouldn’t? Real convenient, that.” He challenged.

A silent stare down ensued, and MK looked over his master’s shoulder — honestly shocked to see how the man was indeed matching Monkey King’s golden glare, without even flinching.

“Uh – okay, hold on now – “ And then another surprise appeared when Tang opted to step between the two, halting whatever friction was starting to build. He gave a still-glowering Monkey King a shaky smile before clearing his throat as he turned to the man.

“I think what Monkey King means is, if you really do have more, uh…expertise when it comes to Lady Bone Demon, then we’d be glad to accept your help – but we’ve also been victims of her trickery. How…exactly are you planning to show us we can trust you?”

The clearing was silent in the pause that followed, everyone waiting with bated breath to see the Warrior’s potential reply. He, for his part, kept up that frown that MK was starting to think was just his natural expression, before lowering his eyes in thought. But before he could speak, any ensuing conversation was interrupted by a series of loud booms sounding in the air. Everyone turned to see the castle practically breaking in half, the ice splintering the supports and sending the lower half of the structure crashing down the mountain – a sight punctuated by icy spikes climbing up the nearby cliff, towards them. The group quickly began to step back.

“Uh, maybe we can save this for when we get out of here?” Mei suggested, and they all heard the van horn honking, turning to see Sandy had already gotten into the driver's seat.

“Hop on in, guys! You too, sir!” Sandy called out, and everyone began to follow suit – until MK had a thought, and turned to the man.

“Uh, quick question – you said something about spirits earlier…do you know how to, like, uh – I dunno, sense this stuff?” MK asked, pointing to the encroaching ice. “To sense anything all spooky and weird and Lady-Bone Demony after us?”

The man took a moment to think again, before letting out a resigned huff. “I’m not the expert at it — but I can do it well enough to get you all to safety.” He responded.

“But…there is?” MK questioned, catching the way he worded that. “An expert?”

Before the elder one could respond, the van horn honked again, more continuously.

“MK, come on! We gotta get the brick outta here!” Mei yelled from the open back door, and the two could both see the grass frosting over.

MK gave the man one fully purposeful look. “You promise to help us?”

“I swear it.” the warrior responded, resolute.

“What is your name?”

“Zhuāng Jié, kid.” He stated, collecting his guandao from the ground.

“Do you like Monkey Cop movies?”

“I – what?” He looked perplexed.

“Good enough, lets go!” MK decided, running to the car with their new teammate behind him. “Pigsy, move! Mr. Zhuāng Jié here needs to sit in the front!”

“What?!?”

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #the little warrior au #lmk oc #qi xiaotian #lmk fanfiction #I was inspired by Aragorn meeting Frodo for this on a LOTR trip mainly #And just. decided to show Zhuang Jie’s interactions with the group cuz he’s trying to do the good guy thing here w/o changbiyuan present #lmk oc: zhuāng jié #Reunions

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