Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Cloud was eerily silent when Syntax entered through the door. The lights hummed as they flickered, that being the only sound following his footsteps for a good amount of time.

It's been around two weeks since his life changed pretty abruptly. One second he was a human, a mere scientist who got unfortunate enough to fall into Spider Queen’s lair, the next his world was spinning upside down. Sometimes he was still surprised to see purple in the mirror, green in his vision, surprised his vision worked at all.

Speaking of his vision, he could see the little cube he was supposed to find. "Somehow, this feels too easy," he mused to himself as he picked it up.

Adjusting to his new limbs, albeit mechanical, took a lot of time. They used to have a mind of their own and Huntsman would laugh at him whenever they acted up (they ended up smacking him in the face, much to Syntax's amusement).

As he moved around using his spider legs, he supposed there was no use dwelling on the past. He got used to his new life pretty fast and it wasn't like he had that many complaints. The Spider Queen, despite what she seemed, actually cared for her people dearly. Even if she was yelling at them most of the time.

His ears perked up when he heard a noise. That didn't sound like the Cloud's own doing. If anything, it sounded like someone's voice. Now that was intriguing — he had been sure the whole city was under Sleep Bug's reign.

Quietly, he walked towards the sound, the cube held safely in his right hand. "Found ya, buuug!" A familiar voice rang through the silence. "Thanks for making it easy for me. Time to bring my friends back!"

Ah. The Monkey King's child. Syntax internally sighed as he rounded the corner.

"Well, well-" he paused. Blinked. Took off his goggles in hopes that maybe he was seeing things wrong, maybe the way his headset perceived light was somehow affecting his visio- nope. The Monkie Kid did, in fact, have a tail. And what looked like face markings.

Why was he so surprised? He was the Monkie Kid, Monkey King's successor. Wasn't that his whole deal? But the last time he'd seen the boy, the last time he'd fought against him, he was human.

"The one and only Monkie Kid." The kid let out a yelp, eyes widening upon seeing the spider demon. "You should be asleep," Syntax added helpfully.

That seemed to snap him out of his state. "Another person!" he yelled out, pointing at the spider, his whole body moving with him. He made a little noise as he tilted forward before stopping in his tracks. "Wait! One of Spider Queen's goons! Wait, why should I be asleep?"

"Because of my Sleep Bug game? That sent the whole city to sleep?" The kid let out a gasp as he surged towards the spider demon — he got halfway there before he toppled onto the floor and swallowed the beginning of a sentence that sounded like "That was-".

"Oh, come on!" the Monkie Kid groaned, pulling himself back up, stepping on his tail in the process. Syntax winced as the boy tripped over himself again, a string of light curses coming out of his mouth, followed by a painful squeak as his sharp teeth nipped at his lip, drawing blood.

Syntax stared at him. He did not move, didn’t make a sound as he watched the Monkey King’s successor struggle with the monkey part of his title. The cube laid heavy in his hand. He would love for this all to be over so he could go back to the lair. Sooner rather than later would be appreciated, because if he took too long, Huntsman would make comments about how he would’ve been faster.

The Monkie Kid made another irritated noise. Syntax did not care. He came here to get the item for his Queen and the little hero being here meant nothing. He could just awaken the guardians. They'd deal with him.

There was a thud as the boy angrily slammed his staff down. "Stupid-" His tail swished behind him in an annoyed motion. "I don't know why you sent the whole city to sleep but I'll fix it!" Though the words were clearly directed at Syntax, the boy barely paid him any mind as he wiped the blood off his lips.

Syntax did not care.

(Syntax barely had anyone when he got turned into a spider. Sure, the Spider Queen was there, sending him occasional glances every few hours. He couldn’t decide whether it was to make sure he was okay or if she was checking he hadn’t run away yet. That aside, she had started a few conversations with him, though they tended to end rather quickly because the Queen was unsure what to talk about.

Goliath helped him settle into his new home, offering to help him get new furniture and all. Although he was clearly mostly lost in human technology, he even got him a new phone, somehow. His old one got smashed when he first fell into the sewers.

Huntsman was there, unhelpful as always.

But they helped. They truly did, but Syntax didn’t think they’d ever understand the internal terror that came with not being human anymore.)

"Okay, I know I'm not exactly in top shape but can you stop looking at me like I'm a total disaster?" The Monkie Kid grumbled from where he finally balanced himself. His eyebrows furrowed before he rubbed his face with a long, dramatic sigh. "I am a total disaster right now, aren’t I?"

Syntax did not-

The boy pointed his staff at the spider. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days. "Doesn't matter! I'm gonna destroy the bug and then everything will be fine!" In the shine of the Cloud's lights, his eyes looked watery.

(Syntax was alone in his room and while the Spider Queen and Goliath provided comfort, and Huntsman begrudgingly gave him some food, he felt so miserably alone as he studied his lavender skin.)

"You need to breathe." The words were out before Syntax could stop them. The boy's eyes snapped to his. He tried to ignore the mechanical whirring as his legs anxiously curled closer to him.

"What." The Monkie Kid's tail lashed behind him as he tilted his head in question, eyebrows furrowed.

Syntax could still back out. Could play it off as a joke.

…

He did have a history of making bad decisions, didn't he?

"You're working yourself up-" Bad choice of words because he didn't even finish speaking when the kid waved his arms around and gave him the most incredulous look he could manage.

"You sent the whole city to sleep!" Okay, Syntax could admit that was probably not a good start. His (remarkable, phenomenal, life-changing) game did do that.

"I was just supposed to fix this quickly so everything would go back to normal! And now I'm- Now I have this!" he harshly pointed at his tail that twitched.

Oh. So that was new new.

"I mean, not that this didn't happen before. I knew this could happen because it happened like once or twice after the whole Spider Queen stuff, which still makes like, no sense to me, but I had it under control! The others don’t even know, and-"

The kid blinked his tears away, balking at how angry he sounded. "No, no, this doesn't matter." He mumbled the next words so quiet Syntax couldn't hear him but he was sure he caught a 'Monkey King' and 'disappointed' and really, what was he doing here?

"You treat your tail as a separate limb when it's a part of yourself." To emphasize his point, Syntax's legs stretched out a little. He could see the way the boy's eyes latched onto the small movement.

The frustration on his face melted away to… something. An understanding, maybe.

"Your balance is off because of the added weight which you're not accustomed to, but that is nothing tragic. It simply takes time getting used to." The kid looked at his swaying tail, lowering the staff. Syntax didn't know if he was glad the kid no longer seemed ready to fight him or if he desperately wanted him to slam that staff into his face.

"If it's a part of me, then why does it keep getting in the way?" he grumbled.

"Because you're not used to it. You keep trying to control it while focusing on the rest of your body and it just gets jumbled together in your brain." Syntax watched as the Monkie Kid gave a questioning look to his tail. "With each unsuccessful attempt, you get angry and start focusing on where your tail is not supposed to be."

"You should be asking the Monkey King about this stuff, he’s the expert here," Syntax wanted to say but kept his mouth shut. From what he gathered, the boy didn’t want his mentor finding out about this, for whatever reason.

The kid huffed, giving his tail an exasperated look, before narrowing his eyes at Syntax as if he just realized something.

"How do you even know all this?"

Syntax blinked at him. He forgot most of the Monkie Kid’s brain cells were probably exchanged for his powers.

"Do you think I was born with the mechanical legs?"

"Uhhhhhhh."

Syntax pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, you don’t have to look so disappointed! I can never know with you guys and- wait. Wait, does this mean you were HUMAN?!"

Instead of giving him an answer, Syntax raised an unimpressed eyebrow. The boy gaped at him.

Gesturing wildly, he mumbled at least ten different sentences in the span of fifteen seconds, way too fast for Syntax to catch a single word. "Ohh my god," he whispered, bewildered, like he was just told the deepest secrets of the universe. Then, he paused.

"Is that why you’re helping me?"

Syntax bristled, looking away, suddenly embarrassed. His spider legs curled towards him.

"I would hardly call it helping-"

The Monkie Kid snorted. When Syntax glared at him, he quickly cleared his throat, smirking. While his eyes still looked extremely tired, there was now energy sparkling in them as well.

"Well, Mr. Spider Demon, thank you for not helping me! I am gonna have to fight you now 'cause, y’know, you sent the whole city to sleep."

Well, at least the kid seemed more chipper now. Syntax wasn’t sure that was an achievement worth celebrating. Still-

"No."

The kid’s victorious smile fell.

"What do you mean no??"

"I'm sure a brute like you would choose fighting. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of outsourcing." Syntax's lips twisted into a grin as he summoned a screen, the room flashing bright red.

The kid yelled out, surprised, but Syntax was already stretching his legs up to the ceiling. "I'd love to hang around and chat some more, but I have other things to attend to, and you're about to be eviscerated by the ancient guardians of knowledge, so I guess we're both pretty busy. Okay, bye!"

With that, he pulled himself up, ignoring the Monkie Kid’s "Hey, get back here!".

He left the Cloud, only slightly feeling like he just betrayed his clan. Surely it would not matter - he obtained what he was supposed to, so no one had to know about his little heart to heart with the enemy.

But, as he handed the box to the little girl, he couldn’t help but feel like he was making a huge mistake, heart heavy in his chest.

Days later, Syntax was exploring the underground system for spare parts he could use when he came across a bag of Pigsy’s Noodles neatly placed on the top of a disposed table, a note stuck to it.

'To Mr. Mechanical spider legs

Wasn’t sure where to leave this, so I hope you don’t find it like, days after it’s no longer edible, that would suck. But thanks again, your advice really helped.'

Under it, a small doodle of a monkey was drawn. Syntax huffed, lips curving into the tiniest smile.