(thunderstruck) (one shot.)
In which a 22-year old member of the US military and an ancient Shinto god's relationship develops from an indestructible cellphone.
In the beginning, the only way to describe the relationship between Sergeant Cassandra Cage and honorary elder god Raiden would be "strained".
The two had met briefly over the years, but only in passing when she was a small child, and other times were too chaotic. He had overheard the harsh tones of her parents, yelling about overblown matters. Raiden did not want to notice the redness of their daughter's eyes. When they had met in camp briefly, after her mother had scolded her for speaking out of turn, she had insisted on sparring with him.
To say Raiden had misspoke before fighting her was…..an understatement. He had told her that she did not possess her father's skills, and just as she had been chastised in front of her teammates- Raiden would rather not recall the memory. He had let her convince him into getting a cellular device, as a form of an apology. And admittedly, it would be pleasant to keep in contact with the humans that he had become close with over the years.
He couldn't help but think….
Perhaps if…..
…..he had been closer to those he cared about, if he could have understood them better, things could be, would be different.
You know, you kind of suck as a mentor.
You have killed us all.
(Things are the way they are.)
Raiden doubted that a cellular communication device held the key to his salvation, but he owed it to himself to at least make the effort. And Sergeant Cassandra Cage, to which he now owed an apology...and his gratitude, now that she had defeated Shinnok.
The aftermath, though, of the cleansing of the Jinsei's corruption leaves Raiden greatly exhausted and in frankly, no mood to go shopping or anything of the sort. But whenFujin informs him that Cassandra Cage has arrived at the sky temple, he finds himself dusting off the old street clothes that he had worn once before, and venturing outside his temple.
How bad could it be? Surely finding a suitable device wouldn't take too much time….would it?
"Hey, what about this one?" Cassandra Cage tosses him yet another cellphone, but this one is colored an almost eye-searingly bright fuchsia pink. He takes the device in his hands, and a small spark emerges from it. Suddenly, the cell phone wildly vibrates, and multi-colored bars appear on the screen of the device. Then the screen turns black. Cassandra Cage takes the phone from him, and after making several attempts to turn the device on, she then flings the cellular phone into the trash.
"-never mind, then!"
"Perhaps this whole endeavor should be forgotten," Raiden suggests, the countless amount of colorful malfunctioned cellular devices in the forefront of his mind. In fact, this current store had been the seventh in the long list of businesses the two had visited in their unsuccessful journey around around Los Angeles's Chinatown. Truthfully, he had been secretly pleased that the more garish cell-phones had ceased to work.
"What? Hell no! There has to be," Cassandra Cage roots around inside of a box. "SOMETHING here for you," she grumbles, and blows up a lock of her blonde hair. After their largely unsuccessful hunt to find a suitable communication device in the store, they finally come upon one of the business's employees. The lanky boy sits carelessly against several bookshelves filled with various knickknacks, and stacks of magazines are piled up on the bookcase behind him.
"Hey, maybe you could help us?" Cassandra Cage smiles sweetly at the sales associate, and loops her arm around Raiden's own. "My friend's got a bit of a...static problem."
"Get him some dryer sheets, then," the clerk drawls, and returns to reading a magazine.
"No, I mean-" she breathes out through her nose impatiently, attempting not to sigh. "...Do any of your phones have storm protection?"
"What?"
"Yeah, my friend follows around extreme weather patterns for a living," she continues, and he has to resist the urge to laugh aloud. "You ever see the movie Tornado? Johnny Cage's the lead actor? A bunch of guys follow this huge fucking tornado around southern Kansas, and it's the storm of the century?"
"Weeellllll, that's his job, and it's pretty important, because he works for-" Cassandra takes a cursory glance at the stack of the magazines stacked perilously high on the bookcase behind him. "-National Geographic. And his phones keep breaking, which is a real pain in the ass."
"Dressed like THAT?"
"Duh. The hat deflects stray electric currents."
Raiden's eyebrows raise higher and higher as Cassandra Cage's story grows longer and longer, and he finds it hard to believe that that the man currently standing in front of them could believe any of it. However, he finds himself nodding after each of her statements, and can't help but feel that he has made himself complicit in her tall tale. Much to his surprise, the boy looks somewhat impressed, and continues to listen.
She finishes her carefully constructed narrative with "You could even say he's got his own personal little black rain cloud following him around."
The sales associate turns to Raiden, obviously waiting for him to say something to validate her claims.
"It is as she says," Raiden states, and hopes that the innate authority present in his deep voice is enough to convince the boy of her (far-fetched) story.
"I don't know about storm protection, but we do have these old Nokias," the man finally says. "I don't know if they'll last through a hurricane, but me and my buddies dropped them off three-story buildings, boiled them in water, and charge them with higher voltage cables and they still work. The Internet's a little slow, but hey, at least it's not dialup."
"That's great, no, that's freaking amazing," she beams. "We'll take one."
After the store employee leaves the pair to get said phone, Raiden turns to her, incredulous. "I work for National Geographic?"
"Now you do," she laughs.
They walk out of the store, new phone in hand, wrapped in a rather cheap and flimsy plastic bag. Knowing that the young woman had traveled far in order to purchase the cellular device for him, Raiden only found it fitting to also provide a thoughtful gesture. Raiden had recalled that Kung Jin and Kung Lao had often come to a noodle shop after a hard day's work, as one of the few ways to treat themselves for their training. With a flick of his wrist, they found themselves transported to that very same location.
"You know, it's not your fault." she says finally, looking up from her bowl of noodles. "If I had to put up with half of the bullshit that you did, I'd probably go insane. Or worse."
Her gray eyes meet his. Cassandra continues.
"You, know..thanks. Us humans, we're kind of clueless."
The Jinsei had almost completely faded the marks that indicated where Shinnok had grabbed her by the neck, but in some areas they remained faintly visible. Raiden feels bitterness rise up in his throat, and a pit of resentment deep in his chest. Here was a young woman who had her entire life ahead of her, and due to his foolishness, his hubris, he had almost taken that from her.
You have not your father's skills.
He was wrong, wasn't he…?
Liu Kang's voice.
Again, Raiden?
Vague memories of a lonely young woman sitting on the stoop of a house, her blonde hair short, tears running down her face, his hands cannot reach her.
"It seems like I should be thanking you, rather than the converse," he says quietly. "You defeated Shinnok, and are the true savior of Earthrealm."
Raiden laughs somewhat bitterly. "It seems as if my duty has become superfluous."
"Seriously? That's what you think? I was trying to thank you - I don't really think I could purify the Earth's life force. Geez, Raiden." she scratches the back of her head. "You really need to work on that whole accepting gratitude thing."
"Listen," Cassandra Cage takes his hands in hers, and he marvels at how small her hands are compared to his own. "When you tell me that you don't want my thanks, or thatit's not necessary, it's kind of rude. I want to thank you, or else I wouldn't be doing it!"
"Okay…?" she cocks her head ever-so-slightly to the side. Raiden does not respond, still deep in thought. All of a sudden, Cassandra Cage stands up from the chair she sat in, and lifts her chin.
"The savior of Earthrealm commands you to heed her wishes," she feigns a deep, booming voice and puffs out her chest, obviously attempting to imitate his mannerisms. He chuckles, despite himself.
"All...all right," he concedes. She pumps her fist triumphantly and he sighs, all the while trying to conceal his smile.
Even with Shinnok's defeat, there remained work to be done, with Special Forces' reports of the return of a new and powerful sorcerer. Raiden's thoughts went immediately to Shang Tsung as the prime suspect. However, the time for their goodbyes grows near; it finally arrives with the setting of the sun and the monotonous chirping of the Cassandra Cage finishes preparing for her journey, it suddenly occurs to him that he is sorry to see her go. Cassandra Cage trudges forward to her motorcycle, with her shoulders slightly leaning under the weight of her equipment, the weapons, backpack and the separately packed ammunition, only serve as a constant solemn reminder of her mission.
The young woman stops midway, then with a fierce glint in her eye, she throws down her equipment; her steps hurry back. She leans forward on the balls of her feet, balances on her tiptoes, cranes her head upward-
... and gives him a quick, fleeting kiss on the underside of his jaw.
"Thanks." Cassandra Cage smiles widely, and playfully punches him lightly in the arm. "For everything."
However, the kiss had taken him by surprise; he feels as all of the air has been knocked out of his body. His voice comes out hoarser than he had expected, the roof of his mouth is dry, so dry.
"Your gratitude is..." Raiden realizes his mistake, hastily corrects himself, and smiles gratefully. "You are...welcome, Cassandra Cage."
Cassandra Cage's smile breaks out into a fully-realized grin, and she lets out a laugh. "Ha, see?! You'll get there."
"But...call me Cassie, would ya? Every time you call me Cassandra Cage, I feel like you're gonna tell me to go clean my room or that my mom says I'm in trouble," she says.
"A point that I'm afraid that I am unwilling to compromise on," he frowns, and crosses his arms across his broad chest.
"Oh, come ON. Please?"
Raiden shakes his head.
Cassandra Cage huffs. "Fine. What about..." She bites her lip, and her brows furrow in that familiar way when she is deep in thought.
"...just Cassandra, then? It's formal, in that I can still feel like an old lady when you call me that," she continues, stopping him mid-protest. "-but it's casual enough that I won't think you're yelling at me because you saw my hand in the cookie jar."
Raiden cups his chin thoughtfully, and he stops to consider her points. Finally, he says:
"All right, Cassandra."
"Thank you, FINALLY-"
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips.
"Cage."
She groans and punches him in the arm again, this time a little harder. "Real funny, Raiden. Promise me you'll at least think about it."
"I will have my answer prepared for you by the time you return," he says.
"Good enough for me," she hoists up her backpack onto her shoulders. "Means I can't die until I hear what you have to say."
There are plenty of other reasons for her to stay alive, Raiden suspects, but he feels a strange sense of pride that he would be included in them.
After securing her equipment to her vehicle, Cassandra turns around once more to face him, her sunglasses reflecting off of the harsh glint of the sun's rays.
"Hey," she yells. "Who knows? Maybe now that you've got a cell phone, you can finally join the rest of the civilized world!"
"It's the 21st century, Raiden. You gotta get with the times!" her grin grows wider as she continues yelling, and he can't stop a smile from emerging on his face, either. Finally, Cassandra puts on her motorcycle helmet. As she gets onto the vehicle, she yells:
"I'll add you on FriendShips! How does that sound? I'll be your first friend!"
The roar of the ignition signals her departure. As she speeds away, he thinks...
...he thinks he'd like that.
Many days later, Raiden finds that his fingertips on occasion, absentmindedly graze the area of his face that she had kissed. Sometimes he will say "Cassandra." softly to himself as he paces slowly around the temple's courtyard.
If only...
...it is best that he dwells on it no longer.
Overhead, the skies above his sky temple grow dark. There is a faint dampness in the wind, signaling the beginning of a violent tempest ahead. The cellphone that they had purchased together still laid on the floor next to the spare futon, which he had rolled up neatly some time ago. He brushes off the dust that had accumulated on the some omen, or perhaps by pure coincidence, the device violently vibrates and he drops it. The cell phone's screen lights up, and a message flashes across the screen.
"YOU HAVE ONE NEW MESSAGE."
He turns the cell phone once, twice over and smiles.