Got Out Of Writer's Block By Writing Nezha

got out of writer's block by writing Nezha

so here's a fic that I also posted on AO3 with the title Insecurity (my account name on there is RambleCobalt :] )

-

Feelings of insecurity had started to dig into Nezha when he had been unable to stop Wukong from stealing the map that detailed where the rings of the Samadhi Fire had been hidden. The explosion from when Wukong had pulled it free had subsequently wrecked the building.

It chipped his armor and he had landed wrong on his left side from the blast throwing him. Resulting in painful breaths that caught in his throat as he held his side with one hand. Unable to tell if any of his ribs had been broken.

Leaving him unable to start another attack against the simian. It felt as though he was being mocked by Wukong when he spoke.

"Look, Nezha, keep up the training. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be tough enough to beat me." He even had the audacity to laugh.

Anything Nezha could've spat out in resonse was interrupted by the sudden change of the warm pink and yellow sky into a cold blue. It was followed by a blast of magic, nearly blowing Wukong backwards as well as breaking two pillars in half.

Nezha couldnt stop the shudder of horror at the icy cold stealing his breath for a moment. Wukong seemed even more horrified as a small "Kid!" left his mouth before he lunged foward. intent on following the magic to its source.

Nezha hadn't even managed a step before a sharp pain stabbed his side and he had fell against a broken slab of stone. "Wukong! You idiot!" he went ignored by the other, "You'll doom us all!"

The cloud caught Wukong and soon he was completely out of his sight. "Wukong you fool."

He breathed in and hissed out a pained breath as he forced himself to stand. He needed to catch up before the fire was reforged. He needed to make up for his mistake.

•••

He only managed to catch up after they had alreadt found the third ring of Samadhi. His frustration at not being able to protect the map had bled into actions.

Chosing to throw two flaming wheels at the train and splitting it off from the engine. Uncaring if he had harmed mortals in the process. All that mattered at that moment was stopping Wukong from igniting the fire.

Then he had been tricked. After being punched and flung high into the air, he watched as the group split apart. Able to see as Wukong tucked the rings into his outfit before launching off in the opposite direction from his companions.

Unknowingly, he had immediately followed Wukong. Nezha managed to land a hit on the king's cheek with the flame spear in the fight that followed. Wrapping the ribbons around Wukong and flinging him through multiple mountains afterwards.

"You might hit hard-" Nezha striked the spear just above Wukong's shoulder, seeing him flinch as he landed above him. "-but I'm still faster."

He smiled, feeling victorious for a moment as he revealed he had stolen the rings. That, however, had been interrupted by Wukong, "And dumber." A smug smile appearing on his face with his words.

Nezha sighed angrily, "Why, can you never just let me have the last word." He'd never know if Wukong was about going to retort with something else.

The ground slightly shook beneath them as a loud rumble, nearly identical to an earthquake, came with the shaking. Both turned to look as large spikes of ice approached them with unnatural speed.

They were trapped within the ice in seconds, unable to get away due to the speed, as the culprit landed on one of the longer spikes of ice. the Six Eared Macaque raised his head and approached Nezha, tearing the rings out of his hand.

Then the rings had been ripped apart as Macaque declared, with anger clear in his voice, cared nothing for the Lady Bone Demon's plans. Then, the rings had transformed into tufts of hair that were blown away with the wind. Nezha's chest hurt as dread filled him.

He had failed in his goal, again.

He should've known that a trickster wouldn't have fought fair.

•••

Nezha agreed to help MK find Wukong with little thought. He had known it would be be dangerous but it was a last attempt to make up for his failure. Making sure that the Lady Bone Demon would be defeated.

•••

"Wait you can actually see what's going on?" MK questioned as he came up to his side, squinting and bringing his hands up to his face in an attempt to see the fight more clearly.

"Yes. Well pieces of it." Nezha's eyes darted side to side, following the bright blue and golden light that striked against each other in the stormy clouds. Like lightning that was ten times more deadly. "That speed.."

He gripped harshly onto his spear, causing his arm to shake, anger filling him though he had been unable to tell if it was directed towards Wukong or himself. "Sun Wukong really was pulling his punches with me."

MK dismissed him with a quick, "Yeah, yeah. that's great," before he continued with desperation in his tone, "But is he winning?! maybe we dont need to stop him after all."

"It would appear so.. but.." Nezha didn't finish his sentence. MK's eyes had widened with fear, reminding Nezha that the boy was just a mortal. One that could still die easily from one wrong hit.

Neither could have expected Wukong to falter or expected for the sage to become possessed by Lady Bone Demon.

Nezha barely focused on her words. Only stared in horror at the stillness in Wukong as he turned in the sky, eyes completely taken over by glowing blue. His skin dulled and the pink marking on his face had turned to a dull blue to match.

Then Wukong had moved suddenly from the whispered comand of "Go." from her. With such speed that he looked like he had glitched towards them. Nezha gasped and turned, seeing MK frozen in place and no doubt would have been unable to defend himself.

"Boy, get back-!" Nezha could do nothing as he was struck with a full strength attack. He was forced down with such force that the ground had split beneath him.

Pain quickly erupted though him and he cried out, seeing glowing petals fling out into the wind, only staying conscious long enough to become aware of ice growing over his limbs and trapping him.

•••

Nezha accepted the bowl of noodles with a mumbled thanks. He felt tense and he blanky stared at the freshly made food for a few seconds. long enough to prompt the water demon, Sandy, to ask if he was okay.

he turned slightly away and started to eat to avoid the fact he had been asked. Thankfully he wasn't asked again. If he had, Nezha would have merely responded with the excuse he was tired.

He, unfortunately, was. They all were.

Though the guilt swamping any positive emotion Nezha had wasn't caused by exhaustion. His thoughts overtaken from the stinging repeations of his failure regarding the Samadhi Fire.

In the end he only finished half of the bowl and disregarded the worried glance from MK as him and Wukong joined the rest of them around the fire. Everyone seemed joyful and none of them seemed to try to involve Nezha in the conversation.

Late into the night, when everyone else had fallen asleep, Nezha left the van for fresh air. Feeling too agitated to remain in the same area as the rest of them slept peacefully.

They had done so much to finally defeat Lady Bone Demon and Nezha had done little to help. He didn't deserve to feel tired. He didn't deserve to sleep alongside people who had actually helped.

He sat down and weakly leaned against a tree. Closing his eyes as he took deep breaths to attempt to clear his mind from everything.

He flinched as he felt a weight suddenly against his shoulder a few minutes later and his eyes shot open with a slight amount of panic. Darting them to the side only to see a tired looking MK leaning against him with a blanket wrapped around.

"Are you okay?" He quietly asked and Nezha hesitated in answering. MK simply blinked slowly and waited patiently for an answer.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine." MK didnt seem to like the lotus prince's response as their eyes narrowed. "Its alright if you're not." They commented after a few moment of silence.

Nezha said nothing and simply sighed quietly. MK closed their eyes and continued to lean against him, mimicking his sigh and making no move to return to the van. Part of him felt grateful for them not leaving his side.

When MK had fallen back asleep, which only took a few minutes at most, Nezha tilted his head to lay it on top of theirs. Making a whispered promise to protect them.

•••

Turns out promising to protect someone while dealing with feeling like a failure wasn't a good combination.

Nezha grunted as the demon struck him across the torso, spikes becoming lose from said demon's arms and going through his clothes. Pain quickly following where the spikes stuck into his skin.

Angrily, he jerked around, stabbing into their side with the tip of the spear and causing them to yell out in pain as flames burned their skin. He could hear MK yelling though he couldn't make out his words.

He flung the demon into the ground and landed near them, the flames extinguishing as he did do. They twitched but didnt try to fight again.

Nezha felt arms hug around him and a head tuck against the back of his shoulder. Then it was lifted and he heard MK yelp when he saw the spikes stuck in his skin and urgently asked if he was okay. He could only stare as he realized that his thoughts had become foggy and everything was spinning.

"Can't-" he could only managed a single word before he collapsed in MK's arms. That sent the other into a panic and Nezha was only vaguely aware of being dragged, feeling too warm for the slightly cool air around them.

He heard a thud as someone landed near them and after a long moment, he was gathered into somebody's arms and brought up onto a soft surface. He was aware of quiet but frantic talking and soft, reassuring words responding. He cried out as pain sharply struck through his torso and a hand brushed his hair out of his face as he was shushed.

He must've passed out as he blinked and suddenly the scenery was no longer city building but trees filled with green leaves. he was being pulled off of Wukong's cloud. Hot embarrassment filled him though he made no struggle at trying to get away from being gently laid on the ground.

The world had stopped spinning and he pushed himself up to sit, the spikes digging further into his skin. "Stop moving Nezha!" Wukong's hand landed on his shoulder to make sure he didn't try to stand.

He let out a quiet hiss but managed no more then that. Not attempting to fight against Wukong pulling out the spikes from skin though he let out a pained noise with each one.

Blood glistened on the spikes and when Wukong would set one down, he would briefly soothe him. Nezha wanted to growl at him and argue that he wasn't a child who needed help. Unfortunately, his exhaustion was starting to finally catch up to him.

He started to lean more and more against the sage. Wukong cleaned the wounds left behind and began to wrap white bandages around his torso. Nezha closed his eyes against the sun shining into his eyes and let out a pain filled whine.

Wukong wrapped his arms around him and rubbed one his shoulders in a circular pattern. Showing surprising softness for one who had once fought against multiple armies and come out ontop.

"..sorry." Nezha breathed out quietly, he was shaking and felt too vulnerable in his current state. Wukong paused before huffing, "Seriously? apologizing for getting hurt?" his words seemed unintentionally harsh though Nezha didnt try to puzzle over it for long. "I was trying to protect him.."

There was a long moment of silence before Wukong sighed. "The kid can handle himself." his voice softened, "he was nearly in tears when he called me and could barely explain you collapsed."

When there was no response, he continued, "I know you're better about not getting hurt then this. You only become this reckless when you're pissed off or haven't slept."

Nezha huffed and let out a pointed hiss, exhaustion clear in the way the hiss was near slient and abruptly cut off. A poor attempt at trying to seem more angry then tired. "Don't wanna sleep." he mumbled, "I didn't help at all. I fucked up."

Wukong paused and seemed to become more serious. "Listen, Nezha, you tried and that's good enough." the words didnt assure him at all. "Its not good enough." Nezha responded, opening his eyes to weakly glare.

It did nothing to scare Wukong, who merely tightened his hold and moved Nezha slightly to make the lotus prince lay more against him. "You better sleep or I'll tell the kid. he'll give you puppy eyes and if you still dont sleep, he'll get his friends to lay on you until you do."

Nezha made a amused scoff and closed his eyes again. His body slowly relaxing as he allowed himself to fall asleep in the first time since he'd been tasked to guard the map.

Wukong hummed and started to undo the two buns in Nezha's hair. He grumbled slightly in complaint but did nothing against it. The sensation fading into nothing as he mumbled out a jumbled sentence of nonsense before fully falling asleep.