Soul of the Dragon Queen

Chapter 11: Pain; Physical, Emotional

(Li Mei's POV)

I was returning to Kaito's worn down house after a fishing trip and was lugging a bucket of water for us. I was very exhausted due to the long journey and the weight of the bucket. The constant pressure on my feet sent a surge of pain to my legs, the uneven stone path not helping. As I moved closer towards the hut, my eyes caught the sight of said hut looking slightly more run down. I shrug it off as it having always been there and me just not noticing.

It was when I entered the secret basement of the house that things became a little concerning. I couldn't see nor hear Kaito, and the room was looking messy. It was looking surprisingly tidy, before I left. I put down the bucket of water and dried my hands on my trousers, by rubbing them. I looked around for a while. And then started calling out his name.

"Kaito! Come out! You've got me all worried!"

Iknow he wouldn't run on outside because I had told him to let me go outside and do that work, while he would stay in and keep the room clean. My forehead developed creases of worry and I held my head with my hand. I was suddenly startled by something falling out of a cupboard. I turned around and initially smiled thinking it was Kaito trying to sneak up on me.

And I wish it was. In actuality, it was Kaito's corpse. Covered in blood, frozen in fear. His brown eyes were still open, capturing the last emotion he ever felt. Pain. He must've been caught by surprise…I shouldn't have left him alone. And I'll never know who did it. The tears welling up in my eyes. First it's my fault that his family is gone. Now it's my fault that he's gone!

I fell to the ground, crying, almost wailing. I grew so attached to him, as though he was my younger brother and now…because of me…he's gone! I crawled towards his body and cradled it. Tightly clutching his corpse and pressing his head to my chest. I cried into his shoulder, begging him to be alright. I let go of him and saw myself covered in his blood and I just slumped to the ground in pain.

"We meet again, Li Mei." A familiar voice revealed itself.

"TANYA! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!" I shrieked.

"Still dumb as ever, I can see." Her tone relaxed.

"HOW COULD YOU? AN INNOCENT CHILD!" I continued.

"Oh please, I'm not above such things." She maintained her composure.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Me? I am in shock. Your ex-husband, he wanted to make sure you are brought back to him."

"SO YOU KILLED-" My voice was breaking. "So you killed poor Kaito?" My tears streaming my face.

"Aw, is the big bad queen gonna start crying?" She mocked me in a tone which a parent might use on their child.

"YOU NO GOOD RAT!"

I lunged forward on Tanya unleashing a flying flurry of fists, one after the other on her. Taking her by surprise. She fell down and I kicked her stomach, causing her to cringe in pain. I took advantage of this and shot a Nova Blast her way. She seemed unconscious but I poked her with my foot to check. Before I could touch her, she grabbed my foot and made me fall. She got up and kicked my face, causing my nose to bleed. I rolled away and rose to my feet and performed my Carnival Spin kick. As my foot connected with her jaw I grabbed a plate and threw it at her as she tried to force herself up. It landed on her face, causing her to further weaken. I got her to stand up, kicking her occasionally to prevent her from doing so herself. I knew I had to leave this hut now, so I decided to perform a maneuver taught to me by Master Bo' Rai Cho. I began punching various pressure points on her body, with adrenaline induced strength. And after punching each point thrice I began walking out.

As I turned my back on the hut and began walking away, I heard the sound of blood and organs falling on various surfaces. My thoughts were further drenched in guilt, but now I could decrease it slightly. I smiled painfully. At least Kaito has been avenged.

-W571-

I carefully traversed through the shambles of Edenia. I made sure to check if I was being followed, but just in case, moved in a random pattern. I held my nose as it began stinging. I needed to stop the bleeding. I stopped moving, and I pinched my nose and leant my head backwards. My eyes watered, and I wasn't sure as to whether it was because of Kaito's death or my nose really hurting, or both. The overwhelming feeling of loss was pouring into me, and the fact that it's my fault Kaito died…just adds to it.

I looked up at the sky and saw a fire, obviously a sign of people. I began walking again and surprisingly the bleeding had somewhat decreased. As I was nearing the smoke, I tripped on a rock or something and fell face first onto the ground. I yelled in pain, as the bleeding returned with a vengeance. I lay down on my back and brought my hand to my nose. When I saw how much blood, covered it I hollered again.

I heard a group of footsteps approaching me and felt relieved that at least this wouldn't be how I die. I am filled with gratitude that has no bounds. I feared that they might not have the proper resources to treat my wound. But when I saw who, these people were, I began fearing a number of other things.
So there before me stood, Kenshi, Jax and Sonya. And now I wish Kaito lived instead of me.

"Oh my God! Li Mei, your nose!" Sonya panicked.

"I'm pretty sure she noticed Sonya." Kenshi quipped.

"Come on, let's get you back to camp." Jax said.

"Alright Li Mei relax, I'll help you up." Kenshi kindly offered.

I don't know whether Kenshi was able to sense it or not but there were looks of disbelief on all of our faces. He extended his hand, and because my nose was hurting I accepted his hand. I exchanged looks of confusion with Sonya and Jax. Kenshi helped me stand up and put one of my arms around his neck. And put his around my waist so he could help me walk. At some level, I'm glad he did that. I was becoming dizzy. But at another level, I was filled with confusion and disbelief.

-W571-

As Kenshi led me to a tent, we were met by the gazes of Ermac, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana and Johnny Cage. All of whom, except Johnny, let their jaws drop as though they would fall off. Johnny just lifted his glasses and winked at me. Which perhaps annoyed me the most.

Kenshi dropped me off at a tent and then left. Although I thanked him as he did. Next Sonya and Liu Kang came in to treat my wound. Both with extremely uncomfortable expressions on their faces. Sonya began wiping away the blood and Liu began began mixing some herbs in a bowl. Next Sonya made me lean my head back and handed me some gauze and instructed me to cover my nose with it. Liu began chanting something and Sonya dipped a clean cloth into Liu's mixture and lightly dabbed my nose with it.

"Hold this to your nose till I tell you to remove it." She handed me the mixture dipped cloth.

"Ogay." I responded through my blocked nose.

"And Li Mei, we may have not said anything. But Kitana will." Liu Kang said.

"So be careful." Sonya warned.

I released a sigh of annoyance as they exited the tent and prayed to God so that I could leave this place as soon as possible. I was startled by Kenshi's kindness, and I'll admit I needed it, considering what happened to poor Kaito. But I think I feel to guilty about everything in general to the point where I can't truly appreciate it. Yay me…

And I finally decided to update! Well all I can say about this chapter is that I got it done. So yes I'm implying that as usual, I don't like the chapter too much. I think it's kind of jumpy. Like Speeding through everything. But I wanna hear how en-lumine and Nerdette92 will say that :P

Speaking of which, God bless your souls for being my faithful reviewers. I love you two

So recently I've been feeling that the quality of the chapters has been dwindling. So I've been spending a lot of time thinking through what I should do next. But I still feel the quality's decreasing. And if I feel it's getting that bad, I might put the story on hiatus or if it gets that bad I might discontinue it…

Wow I'm ending the chapter on a really bad note…

-Warbird571 signing out-