||To Change a Destiny||

{~Chapter 8: I Took You~}

Down in the sewers a day or so later, the Spider Queen was destroying what equipment was left to create her mech in her rage.

"I had the Monkey King's power!! The city was mine! And I still lost!!" She shouted. Her assistant took this chance to speak up.

"My Queen. You will have you revenge." He stated firmly, using whatever power he had to bring the furnace into view. "Now that we have the Trigram Furnace, it is time to take the next step towards your destiny."

The man opened his palm, and a blue hologram of a small box with patterns along the corners and a keyhole on one side instantly appeared over it. The Spider Queen examined it, scoffing.

"And how is that supposed to help? Actually, better question, what is that?" She gestured to the hologram.

The boy smirked. "The first of six powerful items that we will need. It must be retrieved from the Cloud."

"The Cloud?" Syntax cut in, shoving the other two spider minions to the side. He bowed to the Spider Queen.

"My Queen, allow me to break in and bring you this item." He declared, crossing his arms in determination.

"Oh, really? And just how are you gonna do that?" Spider Queen asked, unconvinced the other spider could do it.

Syntax pulled up a hologram of the map of the Cloud and proceed to explain the workings of the Cloud. Spider Queen really only caught bits and pieces of it, because she suddenly found her gaze drifting to her assistant next to her.

That boy... She was sure she had seen him somewhere before. How could she not put her finger on it? His face looked so familiar, but his attire and attitude was completely foreign to her. Why did she—?

"...However, it is connected to all the technology in the world. Therefore, I can exploit it. Has anyone ever heard the story of the 'Sleep Bug'?" Syntax chuckled as he fiddled with his screen.

Spider Queen blinked, turning her gaze back to what lay in front of her and pretended she had been listening the entire time.

Perhaps it was just her.

<***>

When MK became conscious again, the first thing that came to his mind was that it was cold.

Very cold.

The next thing he discovered was that it was totally dark, so he couldn't even tell if his eyes were closed or not. Weird.

The most concerning thing that Mk found out was that he could barely move at all. It was like he was being held in place against his will. Feeling a small bubble of panic rise in his chest, he tried to turn his head to the left, and was relieved to find that he could still move his head.

The relief went away the instant he found blue chains wrapped tightly around his left arm, holding it firmly in place. Gasping, he turned his head to check the rest of his body and found that his arms, legs, and torso were tightly wrapped in glowing blue chains.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!! Help me!!" The young man shouted into the dark abyss, tugging and yanking against the chains.

<***>

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!! Help me!!"

LBD blinked, startled to finally hear his voice after nearly days of silence. The voice was followed by some invisible force trying to regain control of his body. To shove the demoness out.

Grunting, a hand flew to her chest as she fought against the monkey boy's force.

Damnit.

"Something wrong, Mystery Boy?" She heard the Spider Queen question. LBD had to fight the urge to snap at the fiend right then and there. Instead, she controlled herself.

"...I-It is nothing, My Queen. Excuse me for a moment." The demon managed to get out before she forced herself out of the room.

<***>

After a minute or so of struggling, MK finally went limp and simply hung there. He was exhausted. It was as if something was preventing the chains from breaking. Something the boy couldn't see.

Think, MK, think! What was the last thing he remembered?

He was taking the trash out... he tried but failed to help a little girl get her cat... Then all of a sudden he was choking as something cold tried to force its way down his throat, through his chest. After that, nothing.

Was he dead? He didn't think so. He didn't feel dead. Then again, he had no clue what death felt like, so he couldn't be too sure.

"I see you're finally awake."

Gasping, MK looked up to see a blue hologram of a woman floating right in front of him. Something instantly felt off about her. That's when it hit MK.

She wasn't mortal.

"Who... Who are you?" He asked, trying to sound brave.

This... woman? Demon? Smirked.

"I am the Lady Bone Demon. And I truly must thank you, MK. Releasing me from that bull demon's body when you did. If not for you, I never would have found a proper host in time to set things in motion."

"Release you? 'Bull demon'...? Wait... You're the one who was controlling DBK!" MK exclaimed as he tried to process everything that was going on. It was all moving so fast.

The Lady Bone Demon chuckled and nodded.

"He was a suitable host, I will admit, but he never would have been useful afterwards. Not when destiny had other plans in store. I had to find somebody else. And lo and behold, fate delivered them to me on a silver platter."

Visions suddenly flashed across MK's vision. All from the alleyway that fateful night. He saw the girl struggling for her cat, him running to help her, the girl running out...

Fear instantly overtook the boy, however he had the wrong idea.

"Did... Did you take that girl?! What did you do to her—?!"

He was interrupted by the demon's amused giggle. He instantly shut his mouth.

"Oh, you poor, clueless boy. Haven't you figured it out yet? I didn't take the girl."

It only took mere moments for the meaning of that sentence to truly sink in.

When it did, many things began racing through the delivery boy's mind. However, there was one word kept repeating itself, over and over at an inhumane speed.

No. No, no, no, no no no nonononononono—

Her twisted smirk seemed to widen, as her form began to glitch and put itself back together, only now she looked different. MK nearly choked.

She looked like this cold, evil version of himself.

"I took you."