Chapter Text
New York City. One of the most cliche settings for stories since stories existed. And to make it even more cliche, the beginning of this story takes place just outside one of the many museums dotted around the city. This museum was so generic, it didn't even have a fancy name like 'The Smithsonian'. It was just called Museum; literally, not even a 'The' in front of it.
Anyways, our story begins on a clear afternoon, where the head tour guide, Thomas, was waiting by the bus stop for his last scheduled group of tourists. "Last tour of the day. I wonder why nobody wants them?" Unfortunately for Thomas, his question was immediately answered when a bus from the Metro School District couldn't seem to pull up fast enough and slammed on its brakes, rocking the whole bus. Instead of being greeted by the group when the doors swung open, Thomas looked towards the windows just in time to see a goth boy with purple bangs that covered his eyes pelt him between the eyes with a spitball from the very last window as four other kids watched and laughed. "Bull's-eye!"
One by one, the kids made their way off the bus, giving Thomas a chance to see the nametags each of them wore. The first to leave the bus was a chinese-american girl with bright pink rollerblades named Jin who didn't even glance at Thomas as she jumped off the last step and skated down the sidewalk. "Hi, super old guy!" Hopping down the steps behind her was a little russian-american girl named Sasha that was the spitting image of Darla Dimple, carrying a little redheaded doll. The purple-haired boy from earlier was a mexican-american named Luka, though Thomas could barely read the boy's handwriting on his tag, who walked beside Joao, a tall brazilian-american boy with a tiny bowler hat on top of his mess of dirty blonde curls. "A museum? Again?" The last of the kids was an indian-american boy by the name of Sanjay, who had the most generic anime hairstyle ever that covered the right half of his face and a few larger spikes sticking up from the back.
The kids stood in a line near the end of the bus, staring at Thomas with complete disinterest. Well, aside from Sasha who just looked happy to be there. "I hate stuff.", Luka stated as he raised his straw, ready to launch another spitball at Thomas, who raised his small Tour Guide sign in a weak attempt to cover his large face. "Oh, boy." "Kids these days, am I right?" Thomas turned as he heard the voice of the museum's (very human) owner, Sunny, walking towards him down the steps, his four foot figure making him about as tall as the kids themselves, except for the mess of ginger hair that almost stood straight up from his head. Sunny watched the children with amusement as he came to a stop next to Thomas, putting his left hand into the pocket of his yellow and blue-trimmed robe and taking off his sunglasses with his right, hanging them on the neck of his clothes that was open enough to show a bit of the hair on his lightly tanned chest.
"I'll take them off your hands for ya, buddy." Thomas looked between Sunny and the kids a few times before leaning closer and using his sign to cover the side of his mouth as he whispered. "You really don't have to. Seriously. I mean, we could always just stick them back on the bus with a couple things from the gift shop." Thomas seemed… less than convinced that Sunny was capable of watching over a group of problem children without causing more trouble than the kids were already going to, but his focus was brought back to said kids when Luka hit him in the side of the head with a particularly wet spitball and started dancing with the other boys to mock him. "Oh please, I can handle a few little mischief makers. Take the rest of the afternoon off to relax, bud.", Sunny said as he grabbed Thomas's shoulders and faced him down the sidewalk, giving him a push to encourage him. "Well, if you say so, Sunny." He started walking towards the left side door to collect his stuff as he muttered "Though the thought of you in charge of kids isn't really a relaxing thought."
Sunny watched Thomas walk away and disappear through the employee entrance, and while he was distracted, Sanjay grabbed Luka's straw and fired three spit balls up the length of Sunny's body. Another Tour Guide sign seemed to appear out of thin air as Sunny used it to block all three projectiles without even looking in the kids' direction. When Sunny assumed no more wads of paper and saliva would be flying in his direction, he moved the sign from in front of his face and smirked at them as they gave each other confused looks. "Gotta have a faster draw than that, kiddo! Right this way, guys." Sunny flipped his sign to the side not covered in spit that said 'Follow Me' and started leading the kids up the steps towards the entrance.
Once Sunny reached the main landing, he did a quick turn on his heel and started walking towards the right side of the building. The kids were understandably confused about why their tour guide wasn't guiding them in the right direction, so they all stopped at the top of the stairs. "Yo, dude, the museum door is that way.", Sanjay stated. If the school was going to make them go on these trips for 'character development' and 'learning experience', the least they could do is make sure the adult in charge actually knew how to do their job. Sunny slowed his walk a bit and gave the kids a backwards glance. "Yeah, but that entrance is for the boring stuff. You kids need a more… immersive experience. Besides, I thought you guys were tired of the same old museum routine."
After making sure the kids would continue to follow him, Sunny led their group around the side of the building to where their outdoor exhibit was. It was split into several sections dedicated to different environments, like the desert and the rainforest. They soon entered the mountain biome and ended up at a decent sized pond that was spotted with stones and had a waterfall flowing into it that was built to look like it was in a rocky grotto with moss covering the walls and tiny flowers scattering the area. Sunny started hopping across the rocks in the pond until he stood directly in front of the flowing water, leaving the kids standing at the edge of the water. "Now, if you all would kindly step through here," he said, bowing and using his sign to gesture towards the waterfall. "You want us to walk under a waterfall? What kind of tour guide are you?" Sunny straightened himself and laughed a bit, as if Jin's questions were so unreasonable. "Oh no no no, I want you guys to walk through a waterfall." Leaning over to reach the 'grotto wall', Sunny pressed in a section of the rock with his sign, activating a mechanic that split the water's flow in half and raised a stone path that let the kids walk, or rollerblade, through. Luckily, that trick seemed to excite the kids enough that they were too curious to question the possible kidnapping taking place as they began making their way across the new walkway.
"Try to keep up!" Sunny once again turned away and resumed his 'immersive' tour, trading his sign for a flashlight that also appeared from nowhere. Once they were through the entryway, the rough rocky walls turned to smooth grey stone with colorful mosaics along the trim and different sized vases littered the sides of the long, dark tunnel. This was the moment Sunny decided to start acting like an actual tour guide.
"As you guys probably know, today is November 2nd. Does anyone here know why that date is important?" Little Sasha was the first one to speak up. "Taco Tuesday!" The confidence in her voice earned a collective giggle from the other kids. "Today's Saturday, honey." " 'Gorge yourself on Halloween candy' day?" Jin guessed, motioning to Joao who was currently sucking on a mouthful of candy marbles, one of which popped out of his mouth and fell to the floor when Jin mentioned him. "Nope. Today is Dios De los Muertos, also known as "The Day of the Dead." "Wait. Is that national zombie day or something?" Sunny honestly couldn't tell if Luka really thought there was a national holiday to celebrate the apocalypse, but he gave him a side glare nonetheless as Luka and the other kids started laughing and doing their best 'zombie walks'.
"Sunny!" A hooded man in a black robe decorated with red clouds jumped out from the shadows and yelled at Sunny who just stuck his tongue out, causing the kids to nearly trip over themselves as they screamed. Except for Sasha, who just thought the dark scary man with a purple lantern looked really cool.
"What do you think you're doing bringing a bunch of random kids to this part of the museum? You know the 'higher ups' don't like their kind fooling around with that stuff after the last time you messed with them." The hooded man glanced at the kids when he emphasized 'higher ups', earning curious gazes from the kids in return. Sunny, who was used to the whole 'dark figure' act, simply waved away the other's comment with his free hand.
"Relax Mack, I'm just sneaking them a little peek at the good stuff! I figured these guys could learn a thing or two from the good old days. And besides, we both messed around with a few lives back then. Some more than others." Sunny crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in Mack's direction, a knowing look passing between them.
"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" Sunny shook his head as a cheeky grin grew on his face, Mack running a hand down his own and sighing at the expression before pointing a finger at the ginger. "Fine, but this is the last time you get to use that against me. And try not to break too much while you're in there!"
"I make no promises! ThanksMackieyou'rethebestloveyabye!" Sunny started quickly herding the children past Mack, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as he went by and rushed away before he could change his mind. Mack turned and watched Sunny's retreating figure, his hand hovering over where the energized man had kissed him with a small smile appearing on his face. He turned back around to leave, but stopped when he saw that the tiniest child from Sunny's group had stayed behind and was still staring at him with those eyes that seemed too big for her head.
Mack knelt down so he was at her level and held the lantern a bit closer to his face. "…Boo~" His eyes flashed a vibrant purple from the shadow of his hood as he attempted to scare the little girl into catching up with the group. Sasha, being the child she was, simply stared at him for a second before her eyes somehow became wider than before. She squealed and jumped while clapping her hands, giving him a big smile before running away to the rest of the kids. Mack stood and watched her nearly trip a few times with those tiny legs of hers. "I like that kid."
Sunny waited with the other kids at the end of the hall until Sasha rejoined them. Once they were all back together, Sunny flipped a switch hidden on the wall and gestured to the children's left as the lights turned on and revealed a cavernous room. "Behold, children: the glorious beauty of Mexico!" The walls of the room were lined with humongous stone carvings of skulls and animals painted in various shades of red and green, streamers with stenciled flags hanging above their heads.
As the children walked down the middle of the large golden tree mosaic that made up the floor, they passed between two curved rows of long wooden tables, all of them piled high with different artifacts, statues, and replicas from different periods of time in Mexico's history. At the end of either row stood three large statues: The first was a larger-than-life wooden bull with metal spikes on its horns, shoulders, and face. The second was a guitar-shaped scale model of a tan and red town that sat on a hill in the middle of a lake, with a bridge across the water acting as the 'guitar's neck'. Its three largest buildings were a tall church with a large bell inside its highest tower, a colosseum that could fit the whole town, and a mansion sitting between them that was so big, it could've been mistaken for a palace. The third was a stone statue of a large woman wearing a spiked headpiece and shoulder armor over a long dress with a gem in the middle of her upper chest. The bottom half of her figure was that of a large spider, her body raised on her back few legs in a battle pose.
"This place is loco," Jin said as she and Sanjay walked/skated between the bull and the town model to stand in front of a large section of a wall that was covered in hundreds of painted human skulls, a small chunk of it missing in the middle. "So many skulls!" Luka walked up behind them a moment later. "At least that part isn't lame," he replied. Meanwhile, Sasha had walked past all of it and went straight to a small set of stairs at the very end of the room, climbing up them to where she saw a worn leather book twice her size under a spotlight being propped up by wood that had been carved to look like tree roots. "What's this book?" she asked.
Sunny walked up behind her and squatted down so he was at her eye level, the other kids now crowded around them. "That is the Book of Life." The book's cover had four brass decorations on each corner with a gold border. The golden design depicted a pair of hands rising above the ocean, holding a red heart made of smaller hearts, with fire coming from its top, using its light to chase away a storm. "All the world is made of stories, and all of those stories are right here." He stood and opened the book, golden light shining from its pages as the words flew by. "This book holds many tales. Some are actually true." The pages stopped on their own as they landed on a chapter with moving pictures that depicted a man holding a sword and the flag of Mexico, leading an army wearing blue against an army wearing red. Sasha squinted a bit as she tried to read the title of the chapter. "The battle of Cincõ de 'Mayo'?" "Mayo?! I love mayonnaise." Luka exclaimed while rocking on his feet and pretending to hug a jar of the stuff, earning a laugh from the other boys. Sunny continued as the pages began turning themselves to another chapter. "And some, not so much." This time, the pages landed on a moving picture showing a small, black creature with three eyes, multiple wings, and striped horns stretching its neck to devour one of two goats. Lula stared at the creature like a kid in a pet store would at a puppy. "El Chupacabras? The legendary goat sucker?! I have to get one."
Sunny began turning the pages on his own as he continued to address the children. "Now, most of these stories sound like they were created by some burnt-out writer with a few lights out upstairs, but there is one thing that we know for certain:" He stopped on a page with an image of a galaxy that looked like a sombrero, which remained for only a second before the picture zoomed in to show the country of Mexico with a handlebar mustache on it. "Mexico is the center of the universe. Not exactly sure how that works, but it does. And long ago, when demons were still walking around and causing mischief, in the center of Mexico, was the quaint little town of San Angel."
The image once again zoomed in to show a town that mirrored the scale model they saw before, its center full of people enjoying the market that surrounded the fountain in its center, acting as a base for the statue of the spider woman behind them. Standing on a box by the fountain was a little girl with long black hair decorated with a pink headband trying to sell sweets to those passing by. "Churros! Churros!" Her cat that was playing nearby scared a parrot that pooped on her food as it flew away. "…Frosted churros!"
The image shifted to the shores of the town's lake where a single man stood, waving to the group. "Now, naturally, since San Angel was the center of the universe, directly below it lay-" Their view was shifted down to where the same man was now a skeleton and was dancing in front of a rainbow-colored city with thousands upon thousands of others throwing a party that spanned as far as the eye could see, a large main road leading up to a humongous castle with fireworks and confetti shooting out of it to cover the entire town. "-The Land of the Remembered! A festive and magical place for the souls of mortals and demons alike who live on in the memories of their loved ones." The children crowded closer to the book, trying to see everything that was happening in the image all at once.
"And below that-" Their view shifted downwards one last time as the image changed to show a place made entirely of ruins held up by large chains, ashes constantly falling like snow and blanketing the ground. The only color that existed was the orange molten lava that surrounded the crumbling castle in the center, and the faint green glow that came from the bodies of the souls themselves. The man from before still stood to the side, though his entire demeanor had changed from one of enlightenment to one of hopelessness, his form turning to dust and blowing away after he gave a final sigh. "-Lies the Land of the Forgotten. A sad and lonely place for those poor souls… who are no longer remembered." The children backed away from the book, their moods darkening at the melancholy sight still showing on the page, Sasha clutching her doll closer to her chest.
Luckily, the pages began turning on their own again as Sunny stood directly in front of the book and turned to face the children, seeing their saddened looks. "Don't worry guys, I promise this story isn't a sad one. I wouldn't bring you all the way here just to make you upset. However, before we get to the real story, I gotta introduce you guys to the three 'masters of mortality'." He raised his arms to draw their attention to the large mural behind him. Rising from behind the roots that supported the Book was a bright orange tree with swirling branches which formed bubbles between them that were filled with different images of colorful figures. The background was of a sky split between night and day with the sun and the people of San Angel on the left, and the moon and an army led by the spider demon on the right.
Sunny, still facing the children, lowered his left arm to place his hand on his hip and pointed with his right to a portrait on the tree's left side, showing a tall, long orange-haired monkey with short tan fur on his face, neck and hands. He sat on a throne wearing a white button up under a long, scarlett robe that went far past his feet and floated just above the floor, with a paler red skirt trimmed with blue hanging from his waist, a tuft of his fur poking out from his exposed chest. The robe had bright orange marigolds that lined around his waist and down the bottom half of the robe until they wrapped around the bottom hem, as well as around his sleeve cuffs, and one tucked behind both ears. On top of his head sat a dark red-violet, large-brimmed hat that was topped with a few large pink carnations, lined with candles that never went out, and peaches that never went bad sat in a small pile in the center, as well as a few hanging from the brim. His fluffy orange fur was held back in a long ponytail with beads to better show his face that was covered in intricate designs, like the peach-colored mark that mimicked a mask, and petals surrounding his eyes that were black with glowing golden iris's.
"This is Sun Wukong: The loveable demon king of the Land of the Remembered. He is made out of golden light and sweet fruits." "He's kinda hot." Luka stared at the king's image with his head slightly tilted and a goofy smile on his face, oblivious to the curious stares his friends were giving him. Not judging, just curious. "Oh, so hot, and funny too. He loves humans and demons alike, and believes that their hearts are born pure and true. And that is Liù'er Míhóu." He pointed to a portrait of another figure in a throne on the opposite side of the tree. He appeared to be a monkey as well, albeit a flying one judging by the large black-feathered wings coming from his back. His aura appeared to be completely different from Wukong's. " 'Lower my' what?", asked Sasha, struggling to pronounce the foreign name. " 'Liù'er Míhóu' ", Jin corrected. "It means 'Six-eared Macaque'."
True to his name, six pointed ears could be seen poking through his messy black hair with glowing shades of pink, violet, and blue on the insides that stood out from his dark brown fur; the purple in his ears matching the color glowing in the middle of his black eyes. His face was covered in detailed lines, as well as a crimson mark that covered his eyes and nose in a similar way to Wukong's peach one, except for the large crack that split it and went over his right eye. The red on his face matched the color of the scarf he had wrapped around his neck. Instead of a regal robe, Macaque wore blue-black chest armor and shoulder guards on his upper body that were trimmed with the same shade of green as the Forgotten Souls the children saw in the book. His lower half was covered by green and purple hip guards that were trimmed with silver and tied on with a black sash, with a pair of loose pants the same shade as his armor. His clawed feet were exposed, as well as his arms that changed from hair to a smoother black as it moved down to his hands, leaving his paws looking like they were made of pure obsidian.
Sunny stared at the darker simian with deep admiration. "Liù'er Míhóu, or Macaque as Jin said, is the witty demon lord of the Land of the Forgotten. That scheming rascal thinks demons are pure chaos, just like him, and only exist to corrupt mankind. He is made of inky shadows and licorice." Luka had everyone questioning his sexuality again as he shifted his attention to the monkey that was more goth than he could ever dream to be. "Talk about tall, dark, and handsome." "Eh, not as handsome as Wukong.", Sunny replied, which seemed to personally offend Luka who put a hand over his heart and gave Sunny a quick look-over before retorting. "Well, you're clearly blind." Sunny, now equally offended, leaned down and poked Luka's forehead every time he emphasized a word, his face making an annoyed pout. "Well you're a kid, so your opinion is clearly invalid." Jin, not wanting to be a witness to child assault, quickly changed the subject to the last figure on the mural at the top of the tree. "Hey, what about the piranha with a mohawk?"
Having completely forgotten he was in the middle of a 'tour guide lesson', Sunny turned his attention away from the child he was ready to drop kick and blinked at Jin a few times before standing and looking back up at the painting of the man in question. His glowing pale blue skin looked like it was slowly melting off his body, and contrasted the bright orange color of his mohawk. His beard, however, was all white and pure fluff. The large fins that replaced his ears and the gills on his neck gave him the fish appearance that Jin pointed out. His outfit was much more simple compared to Sun Wukong and Lìu'er Míhóu; his only clothing being a long white toga skirt with a black stripe on either side, and magenta-colored stone marble jewelry around his neck and wrists. Although his body itself was built like a wrestler, the man's expression and warm pose gave the feeling that he was the kindest person in the world. "Aah, that is Shá Wujíng: the Candle Maker who lives between the realms, but he prefers just 'Sandy'. He keeps everything in balance. He has a body made of wax and a beard full of river foam." "But why is he a fish?", asked Sasha, her head tilted to the side as she studied his weird appearance. Sunny simply shrugged with an equally confused look on his face. "Heck if I know. Moving on!"
Sunny guided the kids over to the side of the platform where a large brown chest sat on a round table. He lifted the lid, revealing over a dozen hand-painted figurines of different forms and sizes. San jay let out a loud gasp and started waving his hands in excitement and jumping in place. "Action figures!?" Sunny and the other kids snickered a bit at his sudden enthusiasm over some simple figurines. "Sorry fanboy, these are just regular old dolls. All of these wooden puppets here represent real people in this story, just like you and me. These little guys are gonna help me out while I tell you a tale I like to call: Corazón de la Quimera."