Realizing that he loved her, not that Evren had completely been absolved for her part in his clan's fate, Scorpion abruptly came around to the fact that they still had much to discuss, and not all of it was pertaining to the increasingly distant past... Having the feeling that there was still more to this than he knew, there were still details to iron out, such as how she would take the death of that lying, murdering bastard... Gritting his teeth, the wraith calmed himself, thinking that he should do her the courtesy - a thing he himself had not been offered in life - of allowing her the time to come to terms with the fact that he was going to be the man that annihilated her father... The genocide-bringing prick was going to pay for what he had done, not only to the Shirai Ryu, Kana, and Jubei, but to Evren as well... That fucker was going down faster than a two-cent whore on Tuesday, and he was going to be the one to eliminate that exterminating son of a bitch!
Taking more than a minute to rant and rave about all the different ways he was going to make the sorcerer pay and pay again, the ninja assassin took the time he needed to cool down so he could explain to Evren that Quan Chi had to pay, no matter what it did to her opinion of him. Once his temper was in check enough to be sure that he wouldn't misdirect his aggression at her, Scorpion returned to the place he had left her - Shang Tsung's garden. Aware that some time had elapsed since his departure, he had not expected her to have moved from the dirt, but she was gone, not a trace to be found of her perfume-like scent... She had neither come nor gone by foot, so clearly someone had transported her from her place... Looking at the stars now scattering the sky in a dimpled blanket, Hanzo wondered where she could be, and with whom... Perhaps Shang Tsung or someone one his behalf had come and brought her back to a room of her own...? Something told him that this was not the case...
About to teleport out, back to his room in the hopes that she had returned to wait for him, he paused when he heard a rustling in the nearby bushes as someone approached, the bitter scent of citrus and spice on the shifting winds informing him that it was a woman. Knowing by the stark contrast of the sheer amount of masking oder that this was not Evren, Scorpion was shocked to see her half-sister, Eclaire... or something like that... As if he cared about what the woman was called... Judging from the hushed footfalls and single heartbeat, she was alone, snooping around, probably for some reason involving her kin if he had to guess. Glancing around corners, Scorpion saw that she was waiting for something, or someone.
Noticing Scorpion just after he had spotted her, Ebele, not immediately recognizing the skull on fire, flaunted her voluptuous frame arrogantly over to the undead warrior, only slightly impressed by her older sister's taste in formidable men, "Looking for-"
He could sense that she was going to say something disparaging against her sister, so he cut her off before she could insult the absent female, "Evren."
"So you know her real name? Huh, not many get close enough to her for that - they seem to lose their stomach around that putrid little scab." He had the feeling that she wasn't talking about picketers and their replacements, but rather the oozing infection, "She does know to pick them though, I give her that much..." She trailed off, deliberating taking her time with this encounter, "Reiko's the complete package of course, but you're not too bad yourself..." Like a vulture, she circled him a handful of times, making no secret that she was sizing him up, prodding him here and there, even going so far as to stroke his deliciously corpulent posterior, "Ohhh, how nice!"
Finding her gestures at the hight of unwelcome, the wraith grabbed her by the wrist, throwing her back with considerable force, a disdainful growl echoing in his words, "Don't do that ever again."
His voice was as low as it was dangerous, but she seemed unperturbed by it, in fact, she took his reaction as a confirmation that that he and her vexing pest of a sibling had a fairly close bond; a vindictive smirk shadowed her features as she spoke, "I might dare to say that you and Reiko could almost be on parr, but I really don't know anything about that third guy she took up with..." She scoffed at Evren, shifting her bright hazel eyes to the side, "And I'm supposed to be the whore? I guess she does deserve the right to be our father's heir after all..."
What was this brainless twat muttering about? What third guy?! Growing frustrated with the Kreeyan and her antics, Scorpion barked, "Careful of how you speak - grow weary of you, woman! What do you mean by a third man? Who is it? Speak!"
Arching her distinct brow, Ebele began counting off on her fingers as if explaining herself to a child, "More than two males grown to full maturity, the names of the guys I know of, three out of x number of lovers..." Ok, so maybe she was talking out of her ass a bit, because until just now, Evren had never shown any interest in any other soul but their father's. It was quite fun to watch the ninja get angry over nothing, "She's quite the little harlot, from what I hear."
Scorpion didn't want to believe that there were any other men in his confederate's life, but as she was a virtual stranger in several personal areas, he could not be sure that he knew the full extent of her history, "Tell me!"
Smirking in triumph, Ebele wondered how much damage she could case between her sister and her lover, "The last guy's name escapes me at the moment... I know the names of some of the ones that didn't mean anything... Let's see, there was Aaahv-Kaloi, Aaaja, Abran, Achswitzh, Archer, Bando, Ben, Benn with two 'n's, Benny, Bi-Ban, Bi-Dao, Bi-Hei, wait, I know I'm missing one..." Knowing exactly who Scorpion was by reputation, she went to deliver the death blow to her sister's relationship,"Oh, Bi-Ha-"
"Enough!" This woman was lying; Even if there had been more men in Evren's life than what he knew, the apparition knew the demoness well enough to know that she would never sleep with enough men to have to alphabetize the list, "Silence your lying tongue!"
She shrugged noncommittally, "Perhaps. But maybe you only say that because you fear the truth?" He turned away from the shrew, preparing to leave, so she quickly repeated what she saw before his arrival in the Garden, "I guess you don't care to learn that my sister went off with Noob Saibot then?" This is what the little tramp gets for stealing Reiko!
"Liar." He was at his end with this trickster trying to besmirch Evren's name, so sister or not he took an aggressive stance against her, preparing to fight, "I will end your lies here and now, wench!"
Laughing at his folly, Ebele removed what appeared to be a simple wooden bracelet from her wrist and held it out in the palm of her polished hand; using her father's sorcery - briefly making him wonder if Evren wasn't capable of a similar feat - she created a glowing, neon blue edge of a longsword. Swinging it around with admirable skill and hours of dedication, the magic shifted the blade into an awe when she tossed it into the air for show. So it was a magic weapon. Lunging at her with his fist out, she blocked his attack with her bare hand, proving herself to be far stronger than her sister in terms of brute strength. This was going to be a good match...
Tossing her other arm out, fingers stretched to their limit in a straight line, she scratched out at Scorpion while she continued to hold tight to his fist, aiming for his eyes. Blocking the blow with his elbow, her deflected nails raked his yellow wrist guards, chipping away some of the paint to reveal the blackened surface below. Jumping back from her after kicking himself free from her grip, he created a wall of flame that burst from beneath her feet, burning her alive. Following up with a teleporting blow to her spine, he sent her body flying forward into the mulch. Instantly at her side before she could get up, Hanzo kicked her skull twice and her abdomen once, making her soar through the air once more.
Coughing up blood, she pulled herself up from the ground. Chucking her now tomahawk-like weapon out at his head, it missed, curving midair as it became a small boomerang and struck him in the back of the head, severing several nerves in his spinal column. No more daunted by his flaming skull now than she had been before, she used her magic to summon a miniature blood-red skull that flew through the air in wave-like motions, chomping as it went. Punching the thing before it latch its teeth in his flesh, it shattered in one hit, but his knuckles were broken. Flinching from the pain, she sprang up from the ground in a waterless variation of Rain's Geyser Kick, breaking Scorpion's jaw.
Hurting like hell, her triple-hit Mercy Break wasn't enough to slow him down, because what everyone seems to fail to understand about him was that the wraith was always in pain; that, and he wasn't about to have anyone speak ill of his partner, blood or not. Crying out one of his trademark catchphrases, Scorpion sent out the famed kunai that earned him his moniker, "Come here!"
Snagging his catch, he followed up with the Scorpion Sting, teleporting behind her to hit her in the groin-area, punching her so hard in the side of the face that the blood splatter was mixed with teeth, and finally he finished up with stomping down on her chest as hard as he could, breaking the ribs below. And a new sensation for him, he could feel something massive leaking from inside her body as his foot came crashing violently down, as if he had popped a water balloon...
Great, as if her absent master didn't dislike the Kreeyan woman enough for playing the father card to earn his reluctant tutalage, now the Edenian demi-god had had his work destoryed too! The Prince was so going to flay her alive when he found out about this! Crying a little at all the extra water rushing through her body, Ebele sat up with a huge effort on her part, panting heavily with every other syllable, "You win this round, wraith. You're right - I was lying before, about the other guys, but shortly after you left her in a boiling rage, quite rudely declining her wish and a great service to the rest of us, she went off with Noob Saibot."
There wasn't a single thing she had said that didn't irk him, "...". He performed a rising-knee upper cut, knocking her out so he didn't have to hear any more from her.
Noob had traveled there with them for the mission, not that he had seen him once since then, but what would he possibly want with Evren...?
A/N: Well, I'm officially calling this story a success! In only twenty chapters, twenty-one with this, you guys have already given me over thirty reviews and my second most reviewed fic,! Even though I probably shouldn't, I put a lot of stock into the reviews I get, so even though I probably sound a bit like a broken record at this point, I really want you guys to know that I really do appreciate each and every one of you! Even the readers that don't review! You guys have just been so truly wonderful! Go figure its my luck that one of the fandoms I thought would be the toughest on me have been the kindest! And to fandelivres, I think I get what what you're saying ^^ But I have been fooled before... But honestly with the way things are looking right now, I'm probably going to make a sequel this story - "When Wedding Bells Die". I haven't started it just yet, but it's in the works...
Fare well, until next time!
*Update 7-17-13* Rewrote the mention of Rain to clarify that he was NOT in the area at the time, also including a bigger connection to Ebele. Many a thanks goes out to Obelisk of Light for pointing out that that part was a tad confusing - even I, as the author, had to reread it a few times before getting what I was trying to say... Thanks again!
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 Zyanya and other minor nameless characters, and I do.