Author's Note: It took me a while to get the feel down for this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy.

A friendly reminder though: this fanfic is rated M for language, violence, and content, just as an R rated movie would be. It's my duty as a writer to give the correct rating and warnings to all readers, which I try my best to do. While I appreciate each and every review I receive and take them into consideration, disregarding such ratings is detrimental to yourselves as a reader. I implore people to do what's safe and comfortable for them. However, I can and will mark heavier content that can be read optionally going forward. Thank you for understanding!


Souls Intertwined

Sonya and Johnny sit on Dr. Marsden's couch on opposite ends of each other. The tension is palpable; Dr. Marsden's eyes dart between the two adults and Johnny fiddles with his phone as Sonya folds her arms. Familiar with the headstrong couple, their therapist waits for one of them to break the silence first. She's patient.

Sonya swallows uneasily. "I still don't understand why there's an issue with me wanting to go back." Johnny snorts dubiously. Ignoring him, she continues, "This has been my career since I was eighteen. You can't just expect me to walk away from it without a fight."

"I did," Johnny mumbles.

"No, you didn't. You still made films in one way or another," she argues with him.

"I can walk away. I have walked away."

"I've never asked you to!"

Johnny makes a noise of disapproval. "I did it for our daughter."

Sonya stands up and screeches, "And I didn't? How dare you?!"

"Hold on," Dr, Marsden interjects politely, "I'm sensing a lot of hostility here in regards to the upbringing of your daughter. Let's address that first." She sits back down with her arms folded.

"Fine," Johnny grunts, "let's."

Sonya's lips quiver. "I wanted to make the world a safer place for my daughter. For my family. That's all." Johnny's about to say something when she continues with, "I lost my entire family one by one. So when I created a new one… I became responsible for them. And the only way I knew how to do that was to continue to protect Earthrealm.

"I fought demons and crazy Elder Gods, I did my best to neutralize the threats of not one, but two mercenary factions. I turned an entire realm upside down in search of my daughter when she was kidnapped… I…" She buries her head in her hands. "I know it'll never seem like it to you John," she starts in a stoic voice, trying not to cry again, "but I did all of that for you guys. For you, for Jax and Vera and Jacqui, for Kenshi and Hanzo and Kuai. For Cassie…" Johnny looks up at her. "And I'd do it all again, tenfold."

Dr. Marsden turns her head towards Johnny, who's uncharacteristically silent. "Do you want to tell Sonya how you're feeling? She seems to have put her heart on the line in admitting this to you even though it was hard."

"If you ask Cassie at any given time," Johnny says with a sigh, "even to this day if she saw it your way Sonya, I promise you her answer will always be the same. She'd say, 'I never saw it that way,' or 'well, when you put it like that,' or something of the same nature.

"You weren't there most of the time when she cried herself to sleep every night wondering why her mom wasn't there to tuck her in, or why her mom didn't or couldn't come to recitals and games and award shows." Sonya stays quiet, waiting for him to continue, so he does. "Or… when she got her first period. That was embarrassing on my end. I didn't know how to explain it to her. That's something her mother should've done… in person," he adds when he thinks she's about to interrupt him. She closes her mouth. "And yet, all she wanted to do was make her mom proud. She doesn't feel like she has."

"She has," Sonya whispers, wiping her tears away.

"I calmly reiterate: she doesn't feel like she has," he repeats.

"What makes you say that, Johnny?" Dr. Marsden wonders.

Johnny shrugs. "Because she's told me before?" Sonya shakes her head in disbelief. "The first thing out of her mouth after she officially joined SF and had to take orders from you was, 'Mom hates me'."

"She said that?" Sonya croaks.

He rolls his eyes, remembering the rest of the conversation from that day. "Then her face hardened and said, 'the General is a bitch about it too'. She told me she didn't wanna do it in front of you… but you did make her cry."

Not knowing what to make of this new information, she bites her lips. Dr. Marsden tries to cut through the tension. "I'm sure it's a very fickle thing to play with, but you have to remember that Sonya was in a position of power; having shown any type of biased could have potentially spelled disaster."

"I had to be hard on her, maybe harder because she's my daughter. I couldn't and wouldn't play favorites," Sonya reasons with him.

"I know," Johnny answers, "but the incident Cassie told me about was one that happened while she wasn't working."

"Still," Dr. Marsden tells him firmly, and the rest of his arguments dry up in his throat. After a few minutes, she asks, "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about today?" Johnny shakes his head as Sonya rubs hers. "Any plans for the holidays?" Sonya bursts into tears again as Johnny folds his arms. Aghast, Dr. Marsden mutters, "Never mind."


"He still hasn't come back?" Takeda asks Cassie in regards to Johnny while he, Jacqui, and Cassie sit on the porch in the Cage backyard on the Sunday before Christmas. Jin, having been summoned for a project ("mission," Cassie argues) by Sub-Zero, is currently at the Lin Kuei Temple.

She sips on her vodka cranberry miserably. "Nope," is her wilted response. Taking a slightly bigger swallow, she adds, "This holiday season is gonna suck balls."

Jacqui shakes her head. "Tell me about it. Happy birthday to me, huh?"

Takeda frowns as Cassie drains the rest of her drink miserably. "I'm sorry, Jacq… we should probably do something tonight. I need to get my mind off of… everything."

"I kinda don't feel like doing anything to be totally honest," she admits.

Cassie's eyes widened. "Aww Jacqui, no. Dude, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be off-putting about my shit. That's not an excuse to not do anything. We're not on duty—"

"Exactly," Jacqui concurs. With a rough sigh, she continues, "I wouldn't know what to do anyway. Places get weird about their hours around this time of year, remember?"

Raising an eyebrow, Takeda says, "What if we had a small get together?" The girls turn to look at him. "We could invite…" He stops short when he realizes the whole reason for their misery; everyone he would've thought of is either avoiding one another or otherwise preoccupied. "Never mind."

"I miss him," Cassie complains.

"Me, too," Jacqui admits.

"Me, three," Takeda adds, and Cassie stares at him. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, she clarifies, "I meant my dad this time. You guys miss him too?"

Jacqui half shrugs and nods. "It's certainly a lot quieter without him around," Takeda notes. "It's… weird."

"This time of year, this house is robust. Dad would have his lame ass oldies music playing, my aunt and cousin would be in the kitchen bugging him…"

"Dad would be with his freaking cigar on the front porch as Mom would be putting together her jello cake thing."

Cassie laughs lightly. "I love that!"

Jacqui chuckles. "We know. Remember when we were like six or seven and you ate the whole thing?" The girls laugh as Takeda looks at them in amusement. "Oh, my God. You should've seen it, babe. She blew chunks all over the dinner table that year."

"It was tasty!" Cassie defends herself while covering her face.

He smiles at their memories. "Sounds like you two had a fun time," he laments, and Jacqui settles down when she hears the morose tone of his voice. "When it was just me and mae, we'd just sit at our small little table and eat khao soi and massaman curry. She made it the best, no offense to Uncle Su."

Cassie smiles at that. "That actually sounds hella good right now." Thinking of Thai food reminds her of Yuri, and she frowns again.

"I know what we should do!" Takeda cries in an epiphany as Jacqui's eyes fall on him. "Let's see who we can actually gather and do all of those things. I can try to make some food. Jacqui, invite your parents over here. Cassie, go get your mom from her room; she's crying and feels a little lonely."

She makes a face at him but gets up from her place, taking her glass with her. "Still fucking weird how you're able to do that but okay. I'll go get her."

Takeda leans in and gives Jacqui a sweet kiss on the lips. "We'll make sure you have fun, babe."

"You're the best," she responds, and Cassie smiles sadly at the exchange.

As she walks inside the house and up the stairs, she thinks about Yuri again. Right before she approaches the creaking trick stair, she sighs. The most she can do is hope he's all right and not doing anything she deems "super reckless" since she knows he's prone to it. "He's worse than me sometimes," she says out loud with a chuckle. Bypassing the step, she reaches her parents' room and slowly pushes open the door. "Mom?" she calls out.

Sonya peeks her head from the master bathroom. "Yes?" Cassie doesn't move. "You can come in, I'm decent."

"That wasn't my concern," Cassie mumbles but crosses the threshold anyway. She sits at the ottoman near the bed. Sonya exits the bathroom and starts brushing her long hair. "I was wondering… we were gonna do a little get together for Jacqui's birthday."

"That's today, isn't it?" Cassie nods. "Right. Well, Jax already told me he and Vera were coming over."

"Cool," Cassie says before falling silent again.

Sonya raises an eyebrow at her daughter through the mirror. "I know how you feel, Cass. Trust me."

Cassie looks up. "Huh?"

Sonya chuckles. "I'm not a telepath… but I am your mom. I know how you feel. I've been there, done it a thousand times." She takes a deep breath and continues, "I haven't been the best at being there for someone, I know that. I'm trying now, so hear me out."

"Okay."

She starts braiding her hair again when she tells her story, "When I was with my ex… um, my ex-fiancé—"

"You were engaged before?" Cassie gasps. Sonya purses her lips. "Shit, sorry."

"I was. Anyway, when I was with him, it felt different. I mean, parts of me still felt incomplete, and it didn't help that I'd met him after Danny's funeral. I was hurting and I needed someone to be there for me, you know?"

"You felt needed," Cassie guesses. Sonya nods. "What about with Dad?"

"I felt wanted," she tells her. "Lots of people relied on me. You know this. I spent a lot of my time and life having people need me for whatever reason… wow, that sounds really bad, and I apologize," she realizes when Cassie raises an eyebrow. "You're different; you were supposed to need me. Not like everyone else.

"But anyway, I'm getting off track. With your dad… he could've had anyone he wanted," Sonya continues with an eye roll. "But he wanted me. He made that pretty clear from the start, and I didn't want to believe him because I knew he could've had anyone. I know women who would've cut off their left arm for him. I was even convinced he wanted Stasi."

Cassie makes a face but laughs. "Oh God, Aunt Stasi is like his little sister. He was thoroughly grossed out when people started thinking he 'left' you for her."

"I know," she remembers with a small smile. She finds a small rubber band and ties the end of her hair off with it. "Then Raiden helped me out with my doubts and feelings. I mean, everyone else did too, but… do you know where I'm going with this?"

"No?" Cassie answers without thinking. Then she taps her chin thoughtfully. "I mean… hmm. You mean like… some sort of godly intervention or some shit?" Before Sonya's able to answer, she asks, "Like, a spell?"

"I—"

"Shit Mom, are you secretly a Wiccan?" Cassie blurts.

Sonya turns to her sharply and Cassie gives her a sheepish grin. "I'm not. I just happen to know a way to tell you if you're any closer to your 'one true pair'."

"So… like a soulmate?"

Sonya shrugs. "Sure, let's go with that."

Cassie perks up. "Ooh, I'm interested. Sign me up."

"Tomorrow. Let's hang with Jacqui tonight."


Later that night, Cassie and Jacqui finish making food for everyone. Randomly, Takeda walks over to them with a bundle of mistletoe and holds it over Jacqui's head. "You know the deal!" he teases her. She quickly kisses him on the lips and pushes him away, causing him to groan and Cassie to laugh. "You owe me," he says crossly, walking away.

Cassie's cousin Cameron Cabreja walks over to the girls. "Boo!" he says, putting his hand on their shoulder. He narrowly misses being punched in the stomach by Jacqui but fails to anticipate his cousin's kick in the crotch. "Ow, Cass! Shit, what the fuck?!"

"That's what you get, asshole!" Cassie teases. She gives him a quick hug and adds, "I'm not sorry I kicked you in the balls."

"I missed you too, little cousin," he mutters miserably. He wraps his arms around the two of them. "So what's up? What's new? Heard you guys kicked some Elder God's ass earlier this year. Tell me about it."

Jacqui shakes her head, humored by his curious nature. "It was mostly Cassie's doing."

She smirks. "Yup. Whooped his ass from one end of the Jinsei to the other. He totally deserved it, though."

Cameron's eyes go wide. "Oh… does that mean your green halo thingy kicked in?"

Jacqui stares at him. "You know about that?" she wonders.

Cassie rolls hers. "Jacq… do you honestly think he wouldn't know about it?"

"I mean like, but do you get it too?" Jacqui inquires.

He laughs. "Yeah, right. As if I'd be in a position to be taking on an Elder God to know if it kicks in. But I mean… I do have a tiny bit of that green stuff. Cassie stole the rest from me."

"It's because I got it from Dad. My dad was born first. You can't be mad at me for that," Cassie reminds him. He shrugs and they all sit on the couch, Cassie chuckling at Cameron's antics. "So what about you? How's Ella?" she teases him.

He makes a noise of disgust, reminding Cassie of her dad. "She hates me. We broke up. Again. I'm tired of this song and dance, so I'm gonna cut my losses."

"Ouch," Jacqui sympathizes, "that's too bad that it got to that point, but I can't say I blame you."

"Yeah dude, weren't you like ready to propose?" Cassie asks. He shrugs. "I feel you. I'd be over it too."

He shakes his head. "Whatever. What about you ladies? Jacq, I know you have a boyfriend," he says to Jacqui. Jacqui blushes right as Takeda walks over to her with a cup of eggnog in his hands. "Sup."

Takeda does a double take at Cameron. "Uh… hi," he says intelligently. He holds out his hand and introduces himself, which Cameron shakes graciously. "I'm Takeda. You?"

Cameron scrutinizes Takeda. "Hmm… aren't you Takeda Banana or something like that?"

Cassie and Jacqui choke back laughter as Takeda's face heats up in reference to his Friendships name. "Yep… that would be me."

"Uh huh," Cameron confirms, and Cassie laughs into her own glass of spiked eggnog. "You're definitely taller in person."

"Cam!" Jacqui squawks at him. Turning to her boyfriend, she says, "This is Cam… Johnny's freaking nephew."

"That explains a lot," Takeda mumbles, still blushing.

Cameron sips at his drink before continuing with, "Nice to meet you, dude. You seem like a cool guy. Definitely Jacqui's type."

"Cam!" Cassie and Jacqui yelp, both of them smacking a shoulder.

"Hold up, Cass. You're not off the hook either. You like a guy who likes knives. I mean… you need help, sis."

"Dude!" Cassie blushes.

After taking a sip of her drink, Jacqui says, "Takeda and her boyfriend Yuri are actually cousins."

Cameron looks back and forth between the two girls. "Jeez, I know you girls like to do just about everything together, but this is overkill."

"Your face is overkill," Cassie mutters miserably. Takeda and Jacqui crack up at Cameron's horrified face. "That was a happy coincidence."

"So where is he right now?" Cassie pouts, and Cameron wisely picks up on her change of mood. "Ah, never mind. Forget I asked. But you guys aren't fighting, are you?"

"Hell no. We're good right now. He's just…" Cassie starts to explain, but how could she tell her protective older cousin that Yuri was off doing some mission even she doesn't have the details to. "He's away… on business."

Cameron's eyebrow hitches in skepticism. "On business?"

Takeda steps in to help Cassie out with, "He and I are part of a… hmm, how do I explain this?"

Cameron rolls his eyes. "Just tell me. I'm not an idiot." Cassie plucks him. "Ow, just saying!"

Takeda nods. "We're part of a clan and sometimes we get sent on missions from our leader. I don't know if… Hanzo sent him on the mission."

"Who else would've sent him on a mission?" Cameron asks, and Takeda shrugs.

Cassie scrolls through Friendships on her phone and notices the new picture Yuri uploaded. She stares at it for a little while, smiling sadly to herself. It's a picture of him smiling broadly with a girl who looks to be his age smiling at the camera enthusiastically. Underneath the picture, it says: Glad to have reunited with my best friend Maeliana!

In the comments section, Cassie writes: I'm happy for you babe. You guys look hella good. Miss you!

She strokes his face in the picture when she gets a notification of a response: Thank you! I miss you too, dear. Lia says hello!

"… Right, Cass?" Cameron's voice drifts into her ear, shaking her out of her reverie. "Cass?"

"Huh?" Cassie asks him.

He shakes his head. "Never mind."

With a sigh, Cassie gets up from the couch. "I'm gonna go to my room," she tells them. She makes Jacqui stand up and hug her. "Happy birthday Jacq. I got you in a couple of days, okay?" she says in reference to a present.

"Girl, you don't have to. You being here is enough. Thanks. I love you, Cass," Jacqui tells her honestly.

Cassie gives her cousin a hug as well as Takeda. "Thanks for understanding guys."

"Of course!"


Meanwhile, a few doors down from his hotel, Johnny sits in a taco restaurant with his little sisters, blood, and honorary. "Remember Dad used to take us here all the time?" Rebecca reminisces as she bites into her fish taco.

Johnny nods. "Still mad at you for always stealing my fries," he tells her as Stasi (having stolen a fry from Johnny) puts down her food. He shoots a look at Stasi. "Fry burglars, both of you."

Rebecca laughs as Stasi blushes. "You always made them make you new ones. Can ya blame me?"

"Exactly!" Stasi agrees. "Besides, stolen fries are the best kind!" She and Rebecca high five each other as Johnny tuts at them. Turning the conversation over to a more serious tone, she says, "So, Bec and I didn't bring you here to talk about your delish fries."

Rebecca bites into a fry thoughtfully. "We didn't? Damn," she jokes. Stasi eyes her. "Sorry. Yeah, really bro. Why aren't you at your house? Did you and Sonya get into a fight?"

He rolls his eyes. "I wish we'd talk about the damn food," he mutters miserably. "Yes, Sonya and I are fighting, what else is new?"

"The fact that you're not at home with your family?" Rebecca tells him. He tuts again. "Don't. Dad does that shit and it's the same kind of annoying when he does."

"Don't compare me to Dad," he warns her.

Rebecca narrows her blue eyes at him. "Fine. But I'm serious. What makes this time so different that you felt the need to be living in a hotel?"

Stasi waits for his answer patiently, sipping from her water. He says, "She left Special Forces on her own accord, but the minute she gets the offer to come back, she wants to jump right back on that bandwagon. Totally disregarding everything we've been through this year. All of us."

"All of you? Or Cassie?" Stasi wonders, gently broaching the subject. He scowls at her. "I mean… didn't you initially tell me she was forced out?"

"That's… that's kinda what she told me. She told me she was forced to resign, something she didn't want to do," Rebecca defends Sonya.

Stasi sighs. "Look, I get wanting to protect Cassie, but you're borderline coddling her right now and she doesn't need that. She doesn't need to be watched like a hawk."

"Who's coddling her?" he inquires miserably. They level a serious look with him. "Unreal. Sue me for wanting to make sure my princess is all right."

Rebecca pinches the bridge of her nose. "Dude, no one is telling you that you can't make sure she's all right. What I'm saying is that Cassie's a big girl. She's fully capable of taking care of herself. You need to give her that much, John."

"And as for Sonya," Stasi begins, causing Johnny to groan (and Rebecca to roll her eyes at her older brother again), "You can't ask her to not fight for her career. That's like… what if she asked you to give up acting? Like, completely?"

Johnny covers his mouth and nose with his hands. "I would've in a heartbeat."

Stasi purses her lips at him. "You've taken fewer roles, but you did not fully give it up, even when she did ask. She even tried to compromise with you by letting you work with her when needed. And she didn't even want to, but she acted in a movie with you. But you want her to fully give up her career. You know how much of a dick you sound like right now?" Rebecca gapes at Stasi. "What? I'm not mincing my words."

"Obviously you deserve to be happy. But wouldn't Sonya being happy also make you happy?" Rebecca wonders.

"I hate you both," he retorts.

Stasi shrugs. "That's fine," she appeases him. "It just means you know we have a point."

He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. Then, with a regretful sigh, he yields to his feelings and says, "Yes, you do. I don't know man… I still get a little stuck on my feelings about all the times she's chosen the job over our family."

"Did she really? I mean, I get it if she had like, an entirely separate family or whatever, or if her career was just something she did on the side. Johnny, she felt responsible for not only our country but the entire world. That's a lot. What good is having a family if you don't have a world to come back to, am I right?" Rebecca implores.

The three of them are silent for a moment. Johnny then renounces, "I… you're right. My ego and pride are still hurting. Let me lick my wounds for a little bit."

"Don't lick 'em too long," Stasi starts, "or else you'll lose both women, your wife, and your daughter."

"Especially since she has the same career as her mom. It may have seemed like Cassie took your side during the divorce, but be careful Johnny… she knows what it's like, so she's gonna see it Sonya's way as well," Rebecca tells him. Stasi nods.

Johnny sighs again. "I know," he concedes, sipping his drink in silence.

Both Rebecca and Stasi had the uncanny ability to make him see the error of his ways, but Johnny's relatively stubborn; he's waiting on Sonya's final decision before he can contemplate hearing her out. He knows he's shutting her out again, just like she mentioned he did when they first started having problems in their marriage.

"So," Dr. Marsden started, "what's your biggest issue with each other?"

Sonya said, "Communication," while Johnny blurted, "trust issues."

"All right, Johnny, what about your trust issues?" the therapist asked, turning to him.

Shoving his sunglasses on top of his head, Johnny let out a weighted sigh. "I don't think she trusts me to help her with her problems."

"Why do you say that?" Dr. Marsden implored.

"Because she doesn't talk to me, she doesn't come to me with anything, and she thinks I'm incapable of taking her seriously," Johnny answered as honestly as he thought possible, ignoring the scathing look Sonya gave him.

Dr. Marsden nodded and turned her attention to Sonya. "Okay, Sonya, why do you think you have communication issues?"

Sonya narrowed her eyes at Johnny. "I tried talking to him earlier in our marriage. He stopped listening, so I stopped talking."

He sips on his drink idly as her words ring throughout his head. "I tried talking to him earlier in our marriage. He stopped listening, so I stopped talking." "Shit," he mutters.

Stasi and Rebecca turn to him. "What?" Stasi asks.

He puts down his drink. "Sonya said something back at therapy that's getting to me. She said that I stopped listening to her so that's why she stopped talking to me." Rebecca looks away guiltily. "Talk to me Bec."

She bites her lips. "It must be a Carlton trait… we stop listening to people when we're hurt, effectively shutting them out. It's why Cam stopped talking to me for those few years."

He bites the inside of his cheeks as Stasi runs her fingers through her hair. "And it's why she stopped telling me about missions. It's why I didn't know till years later that she shot some hostile woman in front of her daughter while she was saving Kenshi."

"Jesus," Stasi mutters, swallowing uncomfortably. Talks of Sonya's bids in action still make her uneasy, so she opts for silence. "Wasn't that the same time you said she missed Cassie's eighth birthday?" Johnny nods. "Yikes. That little girl probably haunts her life forever."

Rebecca reaches over to place her hand gently over her brother's, Stasi follows suit by placing her hand over Rebecca's. "John," she draws his attention softly. He looks at her. "Don't shut her out." He nods again. "Promise?"

"I promise," he agrees. "I still need some space though.

"So be it. But don't take too long like we said," Stasi advises him.

"Okay."


Sonya and Cassie sit in the living room Indian style, Lucky perched between Cassie's legs as Sonya stares at her small cauldron. "This is still seriously trippy that you even have this in your arsenal, Mom," Cassie tells her with a chuckle.

Sonya shrugs. "It's useful. Now… I need a personal effect from both you and him."

Cassie makes a face. "A personal effect?" Rolling her eyes, Sonya reaches over and plucks a hair from Cassie's loose waves. "Mom, ouch! What the fuck?!"

Sonya drops it in the smoking cauldron and it emits a small puff of light pink smoke. Cassie's favorite color, of course, Sonya notes in her head. "Now… I need something personal from him."

Cassie rolls her eyes. "I don't have a hair from him if that's what you're after," she complains. After a moment, she snaps her fingers in epiphany. "Hang on. Excuse me, girl!" She crawls away from her puppy and reaches behind her to show Sonya George. "This is as personal as Yuri gets. Be gentle please."

Sonya bites her lip in thought, scrutinizing the plush fox carefully. Carefully, she plucks a hair from the top of the plush head. "Sorry George," she apologizes to him before dropping it in the bowl. It emits a puff of light gray and green smoke. "His favorite colors are green and gray."

"I knew that already… oh." She peers at the bowl, curious of its contents.

Sonya laces her fingers together, giving them a crack before shaking them out. "Give it a few minutes to react."

"What would I be watching for?" Cassie asks.

"Well," Sonya starts, giving the mix one swirl with her wooden spoon, "if you're not at all compatible with each other what would happen is that smoke would pour out and spill over, turning into this disgusting foam shit."

"Gross," Cassie mutters.

"I know right?" Sonya agrees. "If you're sort of compatible, but not a true pairing, the smoke would emanate before disappearing."

"You've done this before, huh?"

Sonya shrugs, which makes Cassie frown at her. "What'd I tell you about your little ex-boyfriends?"

Cassie gapes. "Mom! You did this to them?!" Sonya half shrugs, half nods sheepishly. "That is a blatant misuse of my trust, woman."

"The closest you'd gotten, and I'm absolutely loathed to say this, was with you and Laurence."

Cassie stares at her mother in shock, at a loss for words temporarily. Then, she yells, "You talked me out of being with Sebastian!"

Sonya purses her lips at her daughter. "He was a Lieutenant, you were barely Corporal. Think of the massive amounts of misconduct you'd been committing. You're lucky you didn't get your ass booted for that." Cassie shrinks away guiltily. Sonya sighs. "I'm sorry. General Hard Ass came out just then. As your mom… I… I just didn't think he was a good fit for you. He was… is still cocky and reckless and just… I didn't like him. Something felt… off about him. And I was right, wasn't I?"

Cassie blows out a long breath, her lips vibrating against each other. "What about… did you hate Denny that much, too?"

Sonya shakes her head. "I didn't hate Denny," she admits, thinking of Cassie's high school sweetheart. "But you weren't compatible with him at all. I mean… I did this, and the smoke nearly choked me. Like it was saying 'this is a terrible match, why would you even?' It was bad, Cass. You should've seen my office after."

"Must've looked like a slip-and-slide, huh?" Cassie jokes, laughing lightly. Sonya chuckles and nods. "So, what's it supposed to look like if you've found… what did you call it?" Cassie does the quote-quote gesture and says, "One true pair?"

Sonya bites her lips watching her cauldron carefully. Cassie watches a sliver of pink smoke dancing with a sliver of green smoke. They waft up into the air, twisting together. Cassie gapes when the puffs of smoke create a heart before disappearing. Sonya smiles. "It does that," she informs her happily.

Cassie's green eyes go wide in shock. "Oh, my God," she gasps.

"Mmm hmm," Sonya confirms, folding her arms with conceit.

Cassie shakes her head. "Nah-uh… that… that seemed way too… nope. Do it over, Mom."

"Cassie…" Sonya begins.

"Mom!" she whines. "Seriously?" Cassie squeaks helplessly.

Sonya laughs at Cassie again. "Fine… let me ask you a few questions then." Cassie nods. "When you first met him and he accidentally touched you, did you feel like you got zapped?"

"Ew, that's such a stereotype!"

"That doesn't answer my question, kiddo."

Cassie frowns. "Yes," she reluctantly admits. "And," she starts after a minute of silence, "when he's feeling an extreme emotion… I feel it too you know? But I feel it tenfold and like… I might not have even been sad or whatever, but I just… For example, the other night I was having a good moment and it suddenly felt like someone sucker punched me in the heart. That shit hurt… and it literally took my breath away. Next thing I know, I'm sobbing helplessly and feeling like the world was crashing down on me."

"What happened?"

Cassie opts not to tell her mom exactly how she spoke to him, but responds, "When I talked to him, he told me he was feeling like… crap because one of his childhood best friends passed away."

"Oh, Jesus. I'm so sorry to hear that, Cass," Sonya tells her daughter honestly. She wants to hug her but settles for a knee pat instead. "Anything else? I'm genuinely curious now."

Cassie thinks for a moment. "When… um…" She takes a deep breath and tries again, "When Hendrix and I got into that physical altercation, he told me later that night about how badly his hands were hurting him. I didn't even think about it then, but now I'm just like, oh shit he felt that too." She subtly rubs at her arm. "Right now, I don't know what the hell he's doing, but it's making my arm hurt."

"Soul pains… that's the only way I can really explain it," Sonya informs her. She chuckles. "I think I accidentally turned your father into a hypochondriac because of my job. Do you happen to remember a time when I was away on a mission and your dad complained about feeling like someone ripped his lungs out of his chest?"

Cassie leans back and eyes her mom. "Yeah? God, he was being such a baby about it."

Sonya shrugs. "I told him how sorry I was, but that was a time I'd gotten into a fight with a bunch of idiots from the Black Dragon and uh…" she trails off.

"You can say it, Mom," Cassie says, feeling her apprehension.

Sonya nods. "Okay. Well, Kano and I were fighting and his butterfly knife cut straight through," she explains as she shows Cassie the trajectory of her injury. "Went in through my R3 rib, behind my back, and then he pushed it in and wouldn't fucking let go."

"Oh shit," Cassie gasps. "That's exactly where dad said it hurt him. Shit, Mom."

"Mmm hmm… soul pains."

Cassie raises an eyebrow. "You and Dad… are soulmates."

"Yeah," she admits sadly.

Cassie doesn't quite catch Sonya's tone and she cackles. "You're both stuck with each other!" When she sees her mother's face however, she immediately halts her mirth and clears her throat. "Mom… you have to fix things with Dad. And he's gotta fix things with you too. You know I'm a big softy at heart; I can't stand knowing how 'meant to be' you guys are while you're fighting. If Yuri and I are supposed to be—"

"You are," Sonya corrects her.

Humoring her, Cassie backtracks, "If Yuri and I are soulmates… it's gonna hurt so bad if he doesn't come back in one piece and I didn't even tell him…" She swallows back tears, but is unable to keep the pain out of her voice when she continues, "I didn't get to tell him I love him and I wanted to do it in person. You still have your chance, Mom. Don't fuck that up because both of you have hurt feelings."

Sonya blinks away tears. She knows her daughter has a point, and she laughs bitterly at the irony. "You're such a smart girl… woman, sorry. Smart woman." She looks up at Cassie who's silently crying into her hands. "I'm really glad I'm your mom. I hope you know that. And you know I'd do anything to make sure you're safe."

"I know," she moans, sniffling uncontrollably.

Sonya gathers her into her arms and rubs her back soothingly. "Whenever you need to do a mental check on Yuri, take a deep breath and put out your heart feelers. It'll connect you to him so you can tell what kind of emotional state he might be in. If he realizes that you're his one true pair, he's able to do the same thing. And trust me, you'll feel it."

Cassie tries to do what Sonya said, and she squeezes her eyes shut. "He's sad, and I can't tell if it's because he's legit sad, or if he's sad because I am."

Sonya pulls away and wipes Cassie's face with a gentle hand. "Try again. Really concentrate on him."

Cassie takes a deep breath in, holding it for five seconds before letting it out slowly on a count of ten. Her heart beats faster and she places a hand over her chest. "Fuck, he's having a nightmare." In her head, she tries to project to him, wake up Yu-Yu. You're having a nightmare.

Her heart begins to slowly calm down and in her mind, she hears him faintly say, thank you, my love. I didn't mean to disturb you.

"Did it work?" Sonya asks. Cassie nods. "There." They share a small smile before hugging again.

"Thanks, Mom."

"Anytime, sweetheart."