The Power of Belief Chapter 8, a street fighter fanfic

Another year, another set of students. And with that of course came a bunch more assignments that Owen would have to mark.

He had always had an established a process for this essential part of his job. Starting the day all of them were submitted, he would set aside an hour or two each evening that he dedicated to going through and marking around five or six assignments from the pile. This allowed him time to focus on the strong and weak points of each one without the need to rush through them all to meet the deadline he assigned for himself to ensure all of the marks were done and recorded in a timely matter.

Tonight was one of those evenings, where Owen sat down to look through a set of writing assignments that had been finished just the day before. With a cup of tea beside him, he read a certain bit and then took notes on an individual rubric to see what the student had done right and what they had done wrong. The one he was focusing on now was to be the last one he'd look at for the day, after which he would turn his attention to something else.

"Finished!"

Upon hearing this, Owen took his eyes off the assignment and towards the person he was sharing the table with. Just a chair away was Li-Fen, sitting in front of a closed notebook and a pair of textbooks just off to the side.

"Math, Chinese, General Studies; all of that's done?" "Yep." She proudly responded.

"My, my. And here I was thinking I brought too many papers to mark." Said Owen.

"Oh, do you still have more work to do?" Li-Fen asked him.

"I do, but it should only take a few more minutes. Is that alright?" He said.

"Okay. Take your time Mr – I mean… Owen." She corrected herself mid-sentence.

After softly smiling at her, he turned his eyes back to the assignments he was marking. Ever since he had started dating Chun-Li, he had made sure to talk with Li-Fen regarding how she wanted to address him, which seemed fairly important due to their rather…unique history. This was by no means the first time Li-Fen had made this slip of the tongue, but the fact it had persisted for this long was rather endearing.

"So, tell me, how're you finding your new English class this year?" He asked Li-Fen after a brief silence.

"It's alright. Right now, we're just doing a bunch of literary analysis. I have a presentation coming up pretty soon." She told him.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem for you, right?" Li-Fen smiled.

"I mean…I do have an advantage most other people don't." Owen chuckled in response.

"Maybe. But if you ask me, you don't really need it." He said before sharing a smile with her. "That said, if you don't do well, then I'll be very disappointed." Owen told her in a humorous tone.

"I promise I'll do my best." She replied after a small laugh.

"I know you will." He told her.

Owen soon managed to finish adding his notes to the last assignment that he had brought with him, setting down his pen as he did.

"There. All done." He announced, getting Li-Fen's attention.

"Does that mean…?" "You know it. Come on." With that, the two of them stood up from their chairs and walked over to the living room, where Owen's fiddle case was waiting for them…as well as a similar, smaller one.

"Have you had any time to practice at all?" He inquired as Li-Fen set about applying rosin to her bow.

"A little bit, but not as much as I'd like." Li-Fen answered.

"Well, that's what day like today are for, aren't they? Let's try that tune from last time again, shall we?" Said Owen.

"Okay." Li-Fen replied.

Owen watched as she took her fiddle out of the case and placed the bottom of the instrument underneath her chin. As always, she had her hair up in buns similar to her guardians, which kept it from being caught between the strings. After taking a deep breath, Li-Fen brought her bow to the strings and started to play.

The tune she played was one that Owen had heard many times before and was usually accompanied by several more instruments, but could still be reliably performed with just the fiddle. However, there was one aspect to it that one simply couldn't go without and as Li-Fen's playing picked up, he provided it.

We just lost sight of the Queensport light, down the bay before us
And the wind has blown some cold today with just a wee touch of snow
Along the shore from Lazy Head, hard abeam Half Island
Tonight we'll let the anchor go down in Fogarty's Cove

My Sally's like the raven's wing, her hair is like her mothers'
With hands that make quick work of a chore and eyes like the top of a stove
Come suppertime she'll walk the beach wrapped in my old duffle
With her eyes upon the masthead reach down in Fogarty's Cove

She will walk the sandy shore so clean, watch the combers roll in
Till I come to Wild Rose Chance again down in Fogarty's Cove
She'll walk the sandy shore so clean, watch the combers roll in
Till I come to Wild Rose Chance again down in Fogarty's Cove

She cries when I'm away to sea, nags me when I'm with her
She'd rather I'd a government job or maybe go on the dole
But I love the waves as I pull about and nose into the channel
My Sally keeps a supper and a bed for me down in Fogarty's Cove

At this point in the song, Li-Fen decided to join him in singing the reprise.

With that, Li-Fen played what little was left of the tune and closed it off, wearing a gleaming smile on her face all the while.

"Ha ha, jolly good show, Li-Fen." He exclaimed as he started to clap for her.

"Thank you." She said as she lowered the fiddle, very clearly tired out from playing.

"A lot tougher than it looks, isn't it?" Owen asked her.

"Yeah. Honestly, I don't know how you do it." Said Li-Fen.

"Well, I was actually even younger than you when I started playing and after I did, I practiced with it every time I got the chance. And even with all that, I still sounded like a dying whale three years in." He said, making her smile.

"Did you ever think about giving it up?" Was the next thing Li-Fen asked him.

"Why? Are you thinking about it?" She didn't answer right away.

"No." She replied rather unconvincingly, but instead of pressing her on it, Owen decided to answer her original question.

"Aye, I thought about stopping – more than once, in fact. But every time I did, my granddad always managed to get me to keep going. Always reminded me about how I chose to do this and that if I really wanted to be good at it, then it wasn't going to happen overnight. In other words, he guilt-tripped me." Him and Li-Fen shared a short laugh.

"So, how about it, Li-Fen? Do I need to guilt-trip you?" He teased her.

"No, I think I got the idea. Besides, doing this is fun, even if it doesn't sound as good as I'd like it too." Said Li-Fen as she held her fiddle.

"That's good to hear." Shortly after saying this, he stood up. "But do you want to know another way he used to convince me to keep practising?" He asked her.

"What's that?" She inquired.

"Selling me on the idea that if I did, I'd eventually be able to play on this one day." Owen replied as he opened up his own case and took out the instrument that his granddad had so prized, making sure to be as gentle with it as he could.

"So, what do you say? Want to keep going?" He invited as he put the instrument into position beneath his chin. After a few seconds, Li-Fen smiled at him.

"Yeah, I do." She replied.

For the next hour or so, the sound of music would fill the room, some of which sounded good and some…less so. Sometimes, Owen would correct Li-Fen's form; other times, he'd demonstrate what the tune he was teaching her should ideally sound like. And close to the end, the two of them would play together, the sounds of their respective instruments complimenting the other.

It was almost like Owen had been taken back to his childhood – to all the evenings he had spent with his grandfather as he tried to teach him how to play and the pride in his eyes as he slowly grew more and more accustomed to the instrument. And looking at Li-Fen now, Owen could feel that very same pride swelling within him.

Eventually, the two of them managed to tire themselves out and by then, it was well past time for them to settle down for dinner. Thankfully, they managed to whip up a pot of beef brisket noodles, making sure to make enough that there'd be enough left over for a certain other someone.

"Hmm, guess the place she's scouting out must be bigger than we thought." Owen noted after the two of them had settled down for tea, by which the clock was close to striking 8 PM.

"That or she only got there just a little while ago. You know how she is." Li-Fen jested as she took a piece of pineapple bread.

"Sure do." Owen said with a smile.

Chun-Li was someone who was very committed to her work, or rather, she had a job that required a ton of commitment. Law enforcement wasn't like other fields; for Owen, he had a set time in the day that he needed to be on the job, as well as additional duties he had to fulfill, but Chun-Li didn't quite have that same luxury of predictability. The fact she was a senior officer did give her more leeway than most, but she had been quick to warn him that she might not have as much free time as either of them would like.

Of course, Li-Fen also factored into that equation, which was the reason he was here. In the chance something kept Chun-Li from coming home, Owen would be the one who took Li-Fen home from school and stay with her until she returned. Needless to say, he had become a fairly regular visitor to their household.

"So, are you going to be staying here?" Li-Fen asked him as she took a sip of tea.

"Well, I can't exactly leave you alone here, can I? She'd murder me." He humorously pointed out.

"Is that a yes?" She said.

"Possibly. But don't think that means you get to stay up later. You still have to go to school tomorrow." He reminded her.

"So do you." She pointed out and even though she was right, that didn't stop him from giving her an amused glare, but this only served to make her giggle.

"It's true, isn't it?" Said Li-Fen.

"And don't you think that gives us all the more reason to get to bed on time, hmm?" He said in reply.

"It does, but we're not quite there yet. I'm sure she'll be back soon." Li-Fen told him.

"We'll see." He said before taking a sip of his tea, though once he swallowed it, it seemingly went down the right way. As a result, he started to cough, covering his mouth with his sleeve and setting down his cup to avoid spilling anything.

Yet even before he had settled down, Owen's mind suddenly erupted in panic. His eyes quickly darted to Li-Fen, who was sitting with her eyes closed and both of her hands resting on her cup, steadily breathing all the while. At first, he was too worried to say anything, but he eventually mustered himself to speak up.

"Li-Fen? Can you hear me?" He asked in as calm a voice as he could manage. A few seconds of tense silence passed until she responded to him.

"Yes, I can hear you." Not long after saying this, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath, causing Owen to let out a noticeable sigh of relief. Even so, her expression was noticeably different; she was no longer smiling and appeared much more dejected.

"I'm so sorry, Li-Fen. I have no idea where that came from." He said after everything seemed to settle down.

"It's okay. I was ready for it." She assured him, though this did very little to lessen his guilt.

"And you don't think you needing to be ready is a problem?" Owen then asked her.

"No." She quickly replied, so quickly that it genuinely surprised him.

"Come again?" Said Owen.

"I have to be ready all the time, from the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I go to bed. I know what might happen if I run into something that reminds me of…what happened and that it can happen at any time. I can't change that – I don't think anything is ever going to change that." Taking a pause, Li-Fen turned her eyes to him and softly smiled.

"But it's like you told me. It's going to take up a bunch of pages, but not the whole book."

Upon hearing her say this, Owen couldn't keep himself from smiling. How long ago had he given her that pep-talk?

"Taken it to heart, I see?" He said.

"You sound surprised." Li-Fen noted.

"I mean, even as I was saying all those things, they sounded cheesy." He jested.

"It was a little bit, but that doesn't mean it didn't make sense. I mean, just look how things have changed since then." She didn't even need to specify what that change was for her to make her point.

"Yeah, it's certainly been an…interesting few months to say the least." He felt like he didn't need to clarify further; Li-Fen knew exactly what he meant by "interesting".

"But interesting in a good way, right?" Said Li-Fen.

"Of course. As odd as the circumstances may be, the two of you have been great to me. Chun-Li - she really is a remarkable woman. And you…well, I never did say thank you, did I?" Li-Fen looked at him with widened eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She claimed.

"Sure you do." He replied with a soft smile. After a little while, Li-Fen caved and set her cup down.

"Alright, fine. I may've talked her into it." Li-Fen finally admitted, sporting a nervous smile as she did.

"And why'd you do that?" Was the next thing Owen asked, even if he felt like he already knew the answer.

"Well, for one, it wasn't really all that hard to tell how you actually felt." Said Li-Fen.

"Fair enough. But I'm having a hard time believing you only did that because you thought we'd be cute together." He pointed out.

"Cute? I mean, you are, but that wasn't it." Li-Fen said in a humorous tone.

"Then what was?" Owen inquired, with the young girl once again taking a lengthy pause before answering.

"I…I can't overstate how important what you've done has been for me – you and Chun-Li both. I owe the two of you everything and…I thought it would be a good way to make you happy." She looked over at him then.

"Are you?"

Owen almost couldn't find the right words to say. Sure he had known how much Li-Fen had looked up to him, but hearing all this from her was still nothing short of astonishing, but at the same time, even more heartwarming.

"More than I've been in a long time." He eventually replied.

For the next little while, him and Li-Fen shared a warm smile. Though his goal in doing what he did was always helping his students be the best they could be, he never could've predicted that he would impact one of them to this extent – where he became so much more than just a teacher to them. But then again, she wasn't just his student anymore either.

Eventually, Owen decided to glance over at the clock. "Well, it looks like we still have some time to kill. Want to see what's on right now?" He proposed.

"Sure." Li-Fen replied.

After moving over to the couch, the two of them spent a fair amount of time flipping through the channels to find something to watch, all while Li-Fen sat next to him holding her beloved stuffed panda. What they did find wasn't quite the most interesting thing in the world and barely half an hour later, Owen could hear soft, rhythmic breathing coming from the side.

Sure enough, Li-Fen had fallen soundly asleep, still holding onto Zhen. After turning off the television, Owen set about gently and quietly picking the slumbering girl off of the couch and carrying her over to her room, making sure that her panda didn't fall along the way. After safely tucking her into bed, he stopped just by the doorway to look back at Li-Fen. And as he did, he couldn't help but smile; there was something fulfilling about seeing her so at peace.

Eventually, he quietly closed the door to her room and returned to the couch, sitting down with a sigh. Seeing as Chun-Li still hadn't returned, he decided to take out a book that he had brought with him to pass the time, just to avoid accidentally waking Li-Fen. He would be lying if a part of him wasn't worried about her, what with the nature of her job and all, but at the same time, he knew she was more than capable of looking after herself.

After a while, Owen finally heard the lock to the apartment open. Looking over to the door, he felt a surge of relief as Chun-Li opened the door, stopping as midway as she spotted him and their eyes met. Owen put a finger to his lips and pointed to Li-Fen's room to let her know that she was asleep and with an acknowledging smile, she quietly closed and locked the door behind her.

"Hey there, stranger." He quietly teased her as he approached.

"Hey." The two of them shared a quick kiss on the lips before she set about taking off her shoes. "How're you doing, Owen?"

"Wonderful, especially now that you're back safe." He replied.

"And Li-Fen?" "Fed, caught up on her homework and tucked in bed." Chun-Li let out a contented sigh.

"God, you're a lifesaver." She said to him.

"Ah, it was no problem, really." He assured her. "Would you like something to eat? We made sure to save you some left-overs; I can go and warm them up for you." Owen then offered.

"That'd be great. Thanks a ton." Chun-Li replied, allowing him to go over to the kitchen and place the pot of noodles back on the stove. As he set about doing this, she snuck up behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned up to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Had one of your music lessons today, I take it?" She said as she rested her head against his back.

"Believe it or not, she's getting better." He told her.

"Really?" She said in jokingly skeptical tone, causing him to chuckle.

"Slowly, but surely." Said Owen as he stirred the noodles around a little.

"You laugh, but guess which one of us has to listen to her play every single day." Chun-Li humorously pointed out.

"Are you saying I've been a bad teacher?" He said as turned his head to look back at her.

"You? Never." Chun-Li said in a quiet voice.

With a wide smirk on his face, Owen carefully set aside the spoon he had been using and turned around to face her, not taking his eyes off her for a second.

"Come here." Upon him making this invitation, Chun-Li giggled and let him lean in to kiss her on the lips, her arms still wrapped around his neck. Without breaking away from her, he led them away from the stove and lifted her up to set her on the kitchen counter, causing her to let out a surprised yelp that quickly turned into another giggle, which he shared with her before meeting her lips again.

"Tuckered out, are we?" He whispered to her, breaking their kiss.

"Yeah. Sorry." She replied.

"Don't be. That makes two of us." He admitted to her. "Besides, we wouldn't want to wake her, would we?"

"That hasn't stopped you before." She teased him.

"Have to take our chances, right?" He said to her.

They spent the next little while simply staring into each-other's eyes, their foreheads gently pressed together and wide smiles adorning their faces. No matter how many times Owen saw her, she somehow seemed even more beautiful than the last. And every time he saw that sparkling adoration in her eyes, he felt a sense of fulfilment unlike any he'd felt before.

"Now, you hungry?" He said as he ran a hand through her hair.

"Famished." She replied.

Returning to the stove, Owen proceeded to pour the re-warmed noodles into a bowl and brought it over to Chun-Li, who had moved to sit behind the table.

"Here we are." "Thank you." Chun-Li said to him as she accepted the bowl and accompanying pair of chopsticks from him. As she started to mix the noodles, Owen circled around the table and sat down opposite her.

"So, how'd the showing go?" He asked her as he settled down.

"Pretty well, actually. Everything was pretty close to what was advertised." She replied before she started to eat.

"Is that right? And do you think this place is the one?" Was the next thing he asked.

"You know, I thought it would be going in. But now I'm not so sure." She admitted before picking up some of the noodles with her chopsticks and bringing them up to her mouth.

"Why? I thought you said it was what was advertised?" He said, admittedly quite confused.

"It was, but…" She paused for a moment and sighed. "I'm not sure how to explain it, but the whole while I was there, it just didn't feel right for what I wanted to do, you know? Like it needed something more." Chun-Li tried her best to explain.

"And do you know what you want?" He asked her, leaving her to mull over the question in silence.

"You know how I said I wanted to start a school, right?" She eventually said.

"Of course. Why?" He inquired.

"Well, I've been thinking recently. I obviously still want to teach martial artists and all that, but at the same time, I kind of want it to be something more. Not just a school, but also…"

"A home?" He finished for her, catching her by surprise.

"Yeah. Something like that." She confirmed with a smile.

"So, an orphanage, then? That's what you've got your mind on?" Owen swiftly concluded.

"I guess it is." Said Chun-Li.

Owen was admittedly quite surprised by this change in plans. For the longest time, her heart seemed to be set on a dojo – somewhere she could teach her style of martial arts to others. But an orphanage? Somehow, he had never considered that would be something she would want to do, but now that she had, it made almost perfect sense.

"I wonder what gave you the idea?" He broke the silence by saying, looking in the direction of Li-Fen's room, with Chun-Li turning her head to do the same.

"There's so many more like her out there, Owen. Kids without families, without homes. And if she's taught me anything, then it's that there's a way to make their lives better."

As Owen listened to what Chun-Li was saying, he couldn't help but feel proud of her. She had always been someone who's heart and mind were set on doing the right thing and making the world a better place for others; it's why she had become a cop and why she took Li-Fen in.

And well, it's why he fell in love with her.

"You know, I think I can get behind that." He said after a brief silence.

"I thought you would." Said Chun-Li. After another brief bout of silence where they simply smiled at each-other, Owen looked over to check the time and found that the clock was close to striking nine 'o'clock.

"Hmm, looks like I better start legging it." He said as he started to get up.

"No. Stay." Chun-Li stopped him by saying.

"But what…" "You have your laptop and everything else you need for work with you, right?" She said.

"I do." "And do you not also have a spare set of clothes in my drawer?" She reminded him with a silly smile.

"You know full well you wear those more than I do." He reminded her.

"Hey, I washed them." She countered, still smirking at him. Owen could only silently stare at her for a few seconds before he caved.

"I can't be mad at you." He said with an amused sigh.

"So, you'll stay?" She asked him.

"I'll stay." He replied.

Once Chun-Li had finished eating, the two of them decided to move over to her couch and snuggled up together, with Owen putting an arm around her as she rested her head on his chest. Ever since they first started dating six months ago, Owen came to find that the thing he looked forward to the most wasn't the dates and whatever came after, but rather small moments like this, where they simply relaxed and enjoyed each-other's company. But instead of driving them apart, it only made those moments when they were together all the more special.

"By the way, have you booked your flight yet?" Chun-Li asked after a fairly lengthy silence.

"I have. Now it's just a matter of making it to the holiday break." He informed her.

"After which you'll be overseas for a week." She said in a noticeably disappointed voice.

"Hey, I'll be back." He said to reassure her.

"I know. But then you'll have to go again barely a month later and well… I'll miss you." She said as she met his eyes.

"I'll miss you too." He said with a soft sigh. As much as he regretted not being able to spend the holidays with her and Li-Fen, she had nevertheless encouraged him to go and see his family back home, assuring him that she understood.

"You know, I've been meaning to say sorry." Chun-Li surprised him by saying.

"For what?" He softly asked her.

"For being so busy all the time. You're always there to help with Li-Fen and meanwhile, I have to jump through hoops just to spend an hour with you." Said Chun-Li.

"Oh, come on. I knew what I was getting into." He said to her.

"I mean, sure, but…you're supposed to be my boyfriend, not my babysitter." Owen could tell that she was genuinely regretful, which admittedly was quite touching.

"I'm guessing there's a reason you wanted to talk about this?" He eventually said, causing her to sigh.

"I've just been thinking about, well… us. Especially with how things are going to go after your contract runs out." And she wasn't alone in these worries.

Owen himself had asked himself what would happen once his two-year contract was up. He supposed he could become a permanent resident, but even that would take him at least seven years to obtain, assuming he was able to land another job. Thankfully, he still had the option of moving back to Canada, but he would unfortunately have to do that alone. Sure it was possible for him to help Chun-Li and Li-Fen attain citizenship or even just permanent resident status; the fact that Chun-Li still worked for Interpol might even help make that process easier. But even so, them moving overseas with him would mean they would essentially have to start over. And besides, he knew that deep down Hong Kong would always be their home, especially for Chun-Li.

"You okay?" Chun-Li broke him out of his thoughts.

"I am. Just been having the same thoughts as you, I suppose." He told her.

"Well, what would you like to see happen?" Owen thought about it for a few moments, but couldn't come up with a straightforward answer.

"All I know is that I want to make sure this all works out." Was what he eventually told her.

"Me too." Chun-Li replied. In the brief silence that followed, Owen suddenly had an idea.

"Hmm, I actually just thought of something." Owen said to get her attention.

"What's that?" "You know how I'll be going back to Canada for the Lunar New Year, right?" She looked somewhat confused by him bringing this up again.

"Yeah. Why?" She asked him.

"Well, how would you feel about tagging along?" Judging from the way she was looking at him, his proposition had clearly taken her by surprise.

"Are you serious?" Owen nodded.

"Of course. You get to see what life's like in my little corner of the world and we won't have to spend the New Year apart. What do you say?" He left her to think it over for a little while, silently praying that he hadn't somehow overstepped.

"I'm guessing we'll be seeing a lot from your family on this trip?" Was the first thing she asked.

"I mean…mom and dad have been asking about you a lot." She let out an amused sigh. "Ah, come on. They're wonderful, I promise." He assured her, though it still took her a little while to say anything else.

"Alright. But I'm sure you understand that if I go, Li-Fen goes too." She reminded him.

"Well, of course she will. Besides, I can only see some time in the Maritimes being good for her." Owen replied, looking off in the direction of Li-Fen's room.

"And you're not at all worried about how your family's going to react to her being there?" Chun-Li humorously asked him, which was admittedly a pretty good point on her part.

"I mean…I don't see why we can't be honest with them." He eventually replied, causing her to lightly laugh.

"Right. I'll be sure to ask her about it." She assured him.

"You do that." Said Owen, leading to another brief silence between them.

"So…does this make us official?" Chun-Li soon asked him.

"You mean we weren't already?" He humorously responded.

"I don't know. From what I understand, being introduced to family is a pretty big step." Said Chun-Li.

"And how big of a step do you think it is?" He asked her, genuinely curious to hear what she was thinking. Much to his surprise, Chun-Li went on to sit up straight and look him straight in the eyes.

"Owen, you're…I don't know how to say it. Everything you've done for me, for Li-Fen - I have no idea what I did to deserve you." He could sense nothing but sincerity in her voice, but hearing something like this from her at all was nothing short of touching.

"I think you do." He softly told her.

"Maybe. But even so, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Chun-Li sounded very serious, making Owen wonder what she would possibly want to ask him. After a few seconds, he got his answer.

"Would you…would you like to come live with us?"

For a moment, Owen couldn't quite find the words to say. "What?" He uttered in disbelief.

"You know, live here. You won't have to pay rent on your own anymore and let's be honest, you practically live here already." She said all this with a smile, but even so, he was still surprised by the proposition. Flattered, of course, but still surprised.

"Chun-Li, I…I don't know what to say." He admitted.

"Well, I know what I'd like for you to say." Chun-Li said, sharing a smile with him.

"So, this is really what you want, huh?" He said more as a statement than as a question.

"It is. Ever since I met you, I knew you were going to be unlike anyone I'd ever known. At the time, I wasn't sure how, but I do now and I am certain when I say that I – that we want you to live here. Li-Fen, she absolutely adores you and I…" Chun-Li paused for a moment, taking his hand in hers.

"I love you, Owen. I do. And no matter how much more time you'll spend here, I want to spend as much of it with you as I can."

Once again, Owen found himself at a loss for words, albeit in a different way. There was so much that he wanted to say to her, but he just couldn't. All he could do was sit there, smiling like a complete fool. However, there was one statement that managed to escape his lips.

"I love you, too, Chun-Li. And nothing would make me happier." Taking her in his arms and holding her close, he decided to let his actions do the talking for a while and simply enjoy the warmth of her embrace. The two of them stayed like that for a precious few more seconds before they broke their embrace and met each other's eyes.

"Well, then I guess we're going to have to get you settled in somehow." Said Chun-Li.

"All in good time. I'm going to have to sort things out with my contractors first, but I'm sure it won't be too much of a hassle." He told her as he put a hand to her cheek. As he did so, he noticed the fatigue that had settled in on Chun-Li's face.

"But first and foremost, you need to get some sleep." He said to her.

"I will when you do." After she gave this reply, Owen smiled and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"Deal." He said.

Seeing as they were both too exhausted to so much as leave the sofa, the two of them decided to simply lie down together where they sat, holding each-other close. As Owen relaxed and closed his eyes, he found himself softly smiling to himself, not only from the comfort that came from her being so close to him, but also because he knew that from this day forth, the two of them would only grow closer.

Whatever was to come, they would face it together.

…..

Sometime later, Li-Fen's eyes flew open and darted around the room, her heart beating against her chest. Eventually, she managed to deduce that she was lying in her bed, which helped quell her panic and allowed her to turn her focus to getting her breathing under control. Sitting up in her bed, she held onto Zhen and tried her best to focus on her surroundings instead of what she had just seen.

There was just no escaping the nightmares. They might not happen every night or even every week, but no matter what, they would inevitably return and forcibly drag her back to that dark, miserable facility, making her once again confront the man in purple and what he had done to her. Li-Fen knew that it was unhealthy to dwell on them. The past was the past and she would never truly escape from it.

Looking over to her bedroom door, she noticed that there was still a faint light visible through the crack at the bottom. Her bedside clock told her that it was only 10:30, so not quite late enough where she couldn't afford to waste any time trying to fall back asleep. Besides, she found that talking about her nightmares to be a pretty helpful way of calming her down.

Taking Zhen in her arms, Li-Fen stood up from the edge of her bed and started walking towards the door. Upon reaching it, she took hold off the doorknob and quietly opened it a pinch just to check if anyone was waiting outside.

And upon doing so, she had to hold back a gasp.

Chun-Li and Owen were lying together on the sofa, neither of them appearing to react to her opening her door. Cautiously stepping out into the living room, Li-Fen tried getting a little closer and was soon able to see that both of their eyes were closed; from the looks of things, the two of them had fallen asleep. And what's more, they both looked so…happy.

A smile found its way onto Li-Fen's face. She still remembered that night when Chun-Li had finally come clean about how she felt about her teacher, long after Li-Fen had noticed the way her and Mr. Diedrich acted around each-other; always smiling, always stealing looks, always appearing uncharacteristically nervous. She didn't quite remember when she got the idea to try and convince one of them to just go for it, but when she did, she somehow knew that the two of them would be perfect for each-other.

And it looks like she had been right.

Quietly making her way to Chun-Li's room, she quickly retrieved a blanket and returned to the living room. Being as careful as she could, she draped the blanket over the two of them, freezing after Chun-Li slightly stirred in her sleep before settling down again. After she was done, she took a step back and looked upon the two slumbering adults.

Here were two people who had helped guide her through the uncertainties of her new life, who had been there for her when she needed them the most and reminded her that she was no longer alone. And above all, they had filled two aching holes in her being, which she had thought could never be filled.

After staying there for a little while longer, Li-Fen turned off the light and made her way back to her room. Just before she was about to close the door, she looked back to the couch and quietly whispered…

"Thank you."

With that, Li-Fen left them to rest, returning to her bed to attempt to do so as well. As she closed her eyes, a comforting feeling of hope helped lull her back to sleep. Her parents might be gone and nothing she could do would ever bring them back, but she had a new chance at life. A new home.

A new family.

...

Author's Notes: Hey, everyone. I don't really have all that much to say at the moment, which I guess is appropriate considering the relative short length of the chapter in comparison to the others. That being said, there are two small things I wanted to let you guys know about.

The first is that I've made an update to Chapter 6, which added a short scene that takes place during Li-Fen's sleep-over at Lian's place. I wanted to include a scene like that to explore both how Li-Fen felt about the whole situation and to give Lian some additional characterization, but decided not to go through with it for the sake of time. I'm going to be completely honest and say that Lian was always meant to be more of a plot device than a character, but I suppose that didn't feel fair to her.

The second thing is that I'm unreasonably miffed about that bombshell Capcom dropped on us during Rose's character story. I was hoping that whatever they were going to reveal would help me in pinpointing certain future details in this story going forward, but what we got raises more questions than it answers, none of them good. Please no reboot, Capcom, I beg of you.

Hey, everyone. I don't really have all that much to say at the moment, which I guess is appropriate considering the relative short length of the chapter in comparison to the others. That being said, there are two small things I wanted to let you guys know about.