The balmy sherbet blaze oscillated as the soiled wick came that much closer to parley with the merging wax, a steady drip of scarlet perpetually declining down the towering side of the gore-scented candle, the blood-stained words of the faded Necronomicon flashing between brilliancy and sunset. Fluttering dense lashes as sleep crept upon her tired form, saffron irises slipping into a blurry haze, the humanoid demoness fought against the heaviness culminating in her limbs to no avail. Her fair silver-gold locks spilled from the loose braid at her side as she moved her hand from her lap to the edge of the polished desk to use as in impromptu pillow. She had been so drowsy all this past week now, and the cramped handwriting scribbled on the flesh-pages were not helping any...
Glissading in a cloud of dark plums and navys into the one place where a semblance of peace could be found for a short time, the female hellion rested her eyes for a moment as the symbols identical to the ones imprinted on her pale white skin swam from the pages and snaked their way into her dreams. She had been pouring over these volumes for three straight hours now, searching frantically for an answer - any answer- but so far she had nothing to show for her efforts - but she knew that there had to be some kind of a resolution! There had to be...
Amongst the countless books flying through the air in Quan Chi's private study, there was not a single scrap of paper that interested the former ninja; Scorpion had been in this room once before, but unlike now, that occasion had not been permitted by the archsorcerer of the Netherrealm or the biggest smallest prick in the realm. The aloof logical part of Hanzo Hasashi's mind severed from all else lamented that the events with the Necromancer's daughter had not happened at an alternate point, so that he might have had longer to investigate the sorcerer and his many plots. But what need for that was there, now that his very own daughter had handed the revenging spirit the very information he sought?
Knocking aside priceless tomes like centuries of cobweb as he passed through the interwoven web of evolving, nomadic magic - a rather ingenious form of protection to hamper thievery and detection that Quan Chi had thought up himself long before attaining his current position - Scorpion found his comparatively young charge seated at the recently cluttered desk. Atop and all around, there were stacks upon mountains of fresh texts and ancient, forbidden scrolls to be read later by her side, a chaotic pile of compendiums and disertations discarded on the floor by her chair. Leering down at her sleeping figure, obviously tuckered out from the strain of reading faster than her norm and in part due to her weakened condition, the undead shinobi was unable to escape the hauntingly vivid memories of their mission together. He might have been forced into spending all of his time with the woman since then, but he had not really looked at her once since that fateful night, when she recounted the news that she was to be wed to his fellow wraith Noob Saibot - it was just too painful.
For reasons he could neither explain nor understand, he was drawn to the slumbering hell rose in every sense of the word; Hanzo Hasashi was so near to her that he could almost touch her with the slightest movement on his part, but he refrained from doing so for a number of reasons. Prior to gaining this sort of proximity, Scorpion could easily make out her soothing essence from clear across the room, the smell of exotic flowers he had never seen wafting from her head as she turned in her sleep; he knew now that she had loved to garden, having a small pocket of a realm for such activity, but the smell was so faint now he wondered if she had gone to see to her flowers at all since coming back to the Netherrealm.
What did it matter if she had tended to her flowers?! She was the eldest daughter of the man that killed his clan, and what was more, she had lied to him, leading him to believe... No, it didn't matter what she made him feel or think, because he had a job to do, and that was to watch out for her come hell or high water, no matter how much the burning vengeance that now gave him life wished for the sudden appearance of a threat stronger than himself that could dispatch her, even if that did mean failure on his part-
Dispatch?! By the Elder Gods past, present, and to come, what the hell was he thinking?! True this woman had done him great personal wrong, but to actually think to himself that he should eradicate her...!
Reminded of that certain night in Outworld that left a deep scar - one yet to heal - Scorpion bitterly recalled how she had almost let him snuff her out, once... It was the same moment when she had confessed everything to him; that Quan Chi had manipulated him into being his servant, that his beloved Kana and sweet Jubei had died for no reason at all, that that bastard Sub-Zero had been innocent in the deaths of his kin... He pondered to himself if she was truly planing to die that night by his own hand, or if Noob Saibot was hiding in the emerald foliage nearby, merely awaiting him to make the wrong move and strike her down. No, he thought back to the look in her eyes at that moment, the wordless expression within shining in extraordinarily enduring anguish; regardless of her upcoming nuptials, she had fully been prepared to die right then and there... Despite everything else they had gone through together up to that point, there was no lie in her eyes...
Gah! How could it be that this one woman was mixing him up so damn much, his insides a fiery battleground to rival his new homeland, trashing at desperate odds against the sea that could perhaps see better days in the distant future, so how?! Glaring down at her serene expression, he realized that it would only be too easy to give her what she had wanted at that time... To do away with her memory forever... He didn't need to check around the otherwise empty space to know that he could do it now, quick and clean, no witnesses, ans as an added bonus, he wouldn't even be the first suspect either, due to all of the flitting about to appease groom-zilla. He could do it. He should do it. It would be fair - Quan Chi had executed his own son, so why not return the favor?
Extending his hand out across the minimal space that separated their two bodies, tendons taut as every fiber in his being resisted what he had in mind, Hanzo found himself trembling, his muscles on fire as his nerves shot every which way - He hadn't been this close to her since... No, he couldn't think about that now! Fingers spasming with arthritis that didn't exist, the bones beneath his flesh popped in protest, his elbow locking to prevent further movement, he could almost feel her milky skin beneath his hands, bruising like an overly-ripe peach, bursting in fireworks of red as he drained the life from her. Just a little bit more...
Aiming for the slender rod that held her head in place, patches visible beneath tumbling waves of sterling pearl that clung to her scantily clad shoulder, his clumsy fingertips brushed her royal ruby warded cheek, inviting a slew of repressed memories that damaged the floodgates beyond repair... Baraka's decapitating blades, the heady aroma of her blood, that entire night left to his own devices, watching her as she recovered from the grueling first half of their mission, his name on her lips, her ire, the crashing glass, the bathroom...
Fuck! The conflicting feelings he felt for her still gnawed at him, nestling with thorns and iron spikes in the empty cavity that had contained his heart once upon a time, and he found himself not enveloping her neck with the intent to asphyxiate but dusting his knuckles gently under her jawline, brushing back a stray hair that had fallen into her face while she slumbered. Dammit! He realized with a numbing stab that washed away all foreign aggression towards the female that he couldn't kill this woman even if he wanted to...
Feeling his hand on her face beyond consciousness, she mumbled something in her sleep and smiled for the first time in a very long time - the last smile he had witnessed firsthand being back during their mission - half waking up to the contact, just enough to say, "Hmm, it's been too long."
Freezing for a fraction of a second when she opened her delicate, unpainted lips, he berated himself for thinking that she would say his name ever again, daring to hope that some subconscious part of her might feel the same way he felt about her. Why was it so hard to just say that he hated her for what she had done and move on, back to his brooding ways? Even after she ripped his heart out and threw it back in his face every aching minute that they were together - which was maddeningly frequent, as being her bodyguard required his direct presence in the absence of her fiancée - he still loved her...
Panicking when she grabbed the hand still lingering by her ear, he noticed a rather heavy-looking codex that would be perfect for knocking someone unconscious, withdrawing his hand from her as quickly as he could when the opportunity arose. Tense, he waited as she fell back asleep, relaxing somewhat once he was sure that he wasn't in danger of being seen by her; Scorpion had taken great pains to establish a wall of strict professionalism between them since learning that she was engaged, and if she had seen him here, then it would have come crashing down easier than the average Lin Kuei warrior in kombat. She had enough to deal with with preparing herself to join her life with another, so he didn't want her to think that her bodyguard was going to try to create any problems for her wedding to the man she really loved...
That's right, she was not only in love with another man but about to tie her life to his, so who was he to interfere with her happiness? A lifetime ago he had had his own love, and even if they had been introduced on the day of their wedding, he could not imagine a life without Kana now... Who was he to take away the bliss that he had known long ago, to steal that joy of knowing that even for a moment, everything would be fine in the arms of your lover, to trample the dreams of a woman he professed to love? Even in his head, he had been starting to come to terms with the fact that it was possible to love more than one person in your life, but that was before he had learned of her intentions to get married. He could not intervene, nor could he ever find it in himself to carry on with a married woman if she had asked him to, so for that reason alone he had to forget about her... It was easier to give up hope...
Just about to teleport away from her prone shape to inform Noob and/or Quan Chi that he had found the missing bride safe and sound, his after-image lingering just long enough to see without being seen, Scorpion witnessed a series of things that happened in very quick succession: Noob Saibot, proceeded by his clone, had arrived mere feet from where he himself had just been standing, but instead of tenderly showing his bride-to-be affection as he woke her, Noob grabbed her by the back of her skull, ramming her head into the table repeatedly, hissing something inaudible in her ear. The shadow disappeared and reappeared beneath the table and her chair, grabbing her by the arms so she couldn't defend herself once she had regained her wits from the harsh wake-up call, laughing at her misery the whole while. Stunned awake, she did not bother fighting back and simply cried, tears soaked with blood running down her cheeks... And then he was gone, unable to see anymore as Noob terrorized his woman...
A/N: Ok, so here's the sequel to "Never Forget, Never Forgive"! In case it's not obvious, this picks up some time after the events in NFNF, and Scorpion is STILL trying to reconcile everything going on around him. Poor guy. Anyways, I think that's pretty much all I have to say about this chapter, besides the fact that I was sweating Scorpion's reaction to seeing her vulnerable, and to point out once more that abuse is a big no-no! BIG NO-NO! Like I said to some of you, I'm really feeling the pressure to make this even half as good the previous story! Enjoy!
So please, new or returning, please review and let me know what you think!
*UPDATE 7-21-13* I forgot to mention that this story will not strictly follow game canon but will also incorporate things from the shows Conquest and Legacy. Also fixed spelling errors.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mortal Kombat. That honor goes elsewhere. Like (but no limited) to Netherrealm Studios, the WB (or whatever they're calling themselves over at Warner Brothers), and Ed Boon. There might be more, but I'm no lawyer, and I'm certainly not versed in ownership rights, so I don't know exactly who owns what. I can, however, lay claim to original and other minor nameless characters, and I do.