Before he was Taken (Prologue)

Timeless Escape

400 years.

Gone and lost, never to be regained.

When his knees had given out on him, Macaque's sister was there to catch him. Her eyes crinkled with pain. "Mihou," she choked, grasping his shoulders to steady him. He was wheezing.

"No- No it can't be-"

400 years

His sister and DBK were left to worry, abandoned by his reckless actions. Wukong was left alone in that prison for years, with nothing but time to wonder... His tribe, his home-

Macaque made a strangled choking sound, coiling into himself as it hit him. "No..." he whispered. "No no...!"

The world around him blurred, colors melting into indistinct shades.

"Mihou." His sister's voice cut through the fog. "Look at me. Let me see you..." her fingers trembled, grasping his chin tightly, "Let me see you, Brother."

Something deep within him twisted at her words, that last note of desperation clawing at an old promise buried beneath layers of grief. He raised his eyes to meet hers, searching for clarity amid the chaos, "Mihou," she says, her touch gentle this time. "How in the world did you get out? We have tried for years to free you and the others and have made no progress at all."

He stammered, shaking his head. "I-I don't... I just came out. I was barely in there-." he mourned, pressing his head to her shoulder. She clung to him, the two collapsed on the floor as the guards rushed to gather their King.

"Shh..." Gongzhu whispered, patting his head. 400 years had been a long time. Such a time would normally made distant memories hazy- yet she could still recall that night in such clarity. She had arrived just a second too late, opening the doors just as Mihou had been yanked below the scroll's surface.

It had taken all her strength to close it again, and all her patience not to rip it open in a skewed attempt to free her brother from it's clutches.

Months of research, months of nothing. They spilled into years.

No matter what she did or where she went, she found nothing that could help. Truly this scroll felt like a curse. A lie of "rehabilitation" when it was just the gods way of cleaning out the trash they didn't want to deal with anymore.

She could not help her brother. With him gone, returning to the Celestial realm felt pointless. Dull. So she never returned. Some had tracked her down to demand explanation, but she sent each and every one away.

And when the Jade Emperor 'banished" her for abandoning her post. it only solidified her decision. The Celestial realm held nothing worth protecting- nothing worth valuing.

With not but the clothes on her back and the fan in her hand, she had pulled her hair down from its tight bun, letting the weight of years fall around her shoulders in a cascade of dark silk. Freedom, she thought bitterly, was more of a burden than she had anticipated.

With nowhere to go, she had returned to DBK's domain to clean out her belongings here. As she reached to begin to remove the books from their shelves, DBK's hand stopped her.

His voice had been low but firm, "You could stay here." the offer was in a hushed silence, a moment for them and them alone. His hand softened against hers, holding it like something delicate. "You could stay..." With me. The words were unspoken, but clear.

The walls seemed to close in on her as Gongzhu stared deep into DBK's eyes, the weight of his request pressing against her chest. Her heart fluttered in confusion; with Mihou now trapped, lost to her, how could she even think of finding solace here? This was a time for revenge, for answers, not new beginnings.