What More Than Friends Are For
~...~
A/N: I had this idea for a while now, and I was listening to Rick Astley with Never Gonna Give You Up, and I just got so many more ideas and now, it's precisely 4:02 am where I live and it's a Monday morning and here it is.
Disclaimer: I don't own or have anything to do with Street Fighter and it's characters. I'm just a fan that had an idea.
~I~
Ken had been depressed for a while. He hadn't been himself, either, and he couldn't even bear to be around his friends now. He knew they meant well, and would do whatever they could to help him in any way, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't do anything. His gaze fell upon the golden sunlight that was creeping up into the sky, shooing away the dark hues of night and bringing forth the true blue of day. It was 5:43 am. It was Sunday.
He hadn't slept. He could have if he tried, but what was it worth? A few hours of haunting dreams? That wasn't what he felt like going through, and as long as he could control it, that wasn't what he would go through.
But as Ken was taught at a very, very young age...
There are just some things that cannot be controlled.
Like other people, and especially their feelings.
Like Eliza's feelings.
Ken knew he was gone a lot. He knew he was away from home, and he knew that was weighing on his boy and his wife. What he didn't know was that Eliza was hurting because of it. Because of him.
He loved her. He would never hurt her. Or...he'd never want to.
And because she was hurting, and he wasn't there for her, his own son had to be. He had to assure his mother that if his father knew, he would care.
And he was right.
But he was a child. Eliza didn't know whether or not to trust her son's sources. He was young, and he barely knew his own father.
She barely knew her own husband.
She valued his word, but dismissed it.
And Ken didn't know any of this. How could he? He never called. And to Eliza, that meant he never cared.
But he did care.
He didn't know that a phone call or a few missed tournaments could have saved his marriage. He is not stupid. Had he known this valuable information, he would have acted differently.
"But Eliza! Ryu needed me!"
"Ryu needed you? What about us Ken? We need you."
Silence.
That was the murderer of the moment. She left, then, taking her son with her.
Her son.
And later on that month, they were divorced.
Ken had the money. He had the house.
But what he didn't have—what he lost, was what made it all worth living for.
His beloved family.
Eliza moved with her parents in Colorado. Ken didn't know any more than that and he didn't want to know.
She was no longer a part of him.
His son was...but who knew who he'd grow up to be?
Ken had no influence on that anymore.
Sunday.
Today was Sunday.
A sigh made it past his lips.
This was not Ken Masters.
Ken Masters might be dead.
And if he was, there was only one person on the planet that could revive him.
And then the phone rang.
Ken was going to just let it ring. He didn't care to know who was trying to reach out to him. But, oddly, the ringing sounded more persistent than it normally did.
And then he found himself reaching for it, and picking it up.
"Hello?" He answered, staring out the window.
"Ken? Is this you?"
Ken had to process and recognize that voice. In truth, he knew who it was instantly, but he was so shocked that this person was reaching out to him that he had to reconsider a few times.
"Ryu?"
"Yeah..."
Ken was going to ask how Ryu got a hold of a phone, and how he found Ken's number in Japan...or wherever he was...but instead, he found his lips curling upward into a shadow of his signature smile as he greeted his friend, "Hey buddy, how ya been?"
"Alright. I'm in India right now..." Ryu sighed, "Chun-Li got a hold of me and told me what was going on with you..."
Ken's smile melted away, and turned to melancholy as he sighed, like Ryu had. "So she did, huh..."
Ryu wasn't good with emotions. Hell, he could barely realize his own. But, regardless, he knew he was the only person who could be there for Ken at a time like this, and all the times Ken had been there for him made him want to try. "I'm...sorry, Ken."
Ken realized that Ryu was speaking from his heart, which was something he didn't know Ryu knew how to do. Yes, Ryu is a fantastic guy, inside and out, but he just doesn't know how to do certain things, and one of those things is how to execute and hold an emotional topic. "No, Ryu, you don't need to feel bad for me."
"Yes, I do. You feel bad for me a lot, even when I don't realize I feel bad about myself. Eliza just didn't understand...she...didn't understand..." Ryu's voice evaporated like a puddle in the summer sun and Ken couldn't have stopped his smile if it had been his lifelong mission.
"I guess what...I think what I'm trying to say...is...she wasn't the only person you had, Ken...I..I'm here, too..."
"Ryu, I know. I know that you'll always be there for me, and I'll always be there for you."
"Okay...Good...Listen, I'm...I'm going to come to you."
"But you're in India..."
"I know. But...I don't know...Just be expecting me by tomorrow. I...I don't like phones..."
Ken chuckled softly. "The door's open when you get here, Ryu."
Goodbyes were said as the call ended.
Ken was really grateful to have Ryu in his life...as a friend.
He supposed the butterflies that flew about inside of him and the flushed face was because he hadn't spoken with his best friend in months, and he'd missed him.
And if hearing him speak had done that to him...what would seeing him be like?