Chun-Li paced around their cell impatiently. There were no doors, windows or floors, only blackness and confusion. There was still something keeping them in there, for Ryu was sitting on a block of solid blackness, his hands clenched, his mind working continuously over what he had just agreed to do.

"Why…" He kept asking himself, tears welling up in his eyes.

"R-Ryu?"

The voice came from somewhere in the darkness around them, but the voice was unmistakable.

"Ken?"

"Oh God, Chun-Li, they got you too?"

"Ken, is that really you?" Ryu stood, his voice uncertain.

"Who else would it be?" A chuckle.

"Are you all right?" Chun-Li began to follow the voice, tracing her hands across the 'wall,' trying to find a break or window or something.

"A little roughed up, but my arm healed super fast," He sounded excited, "So let's go, Ryu. Let's break out and send these bastards back to hell."

"There's—no door." Ryu finished lamely.

There was silence.

"Ken?"

Silence.

"What's wrong with you, buddy?" Ken's voice was suspicious, "I've never heard you act this way before."

"Ken…"

"Ken, there's more to this than just breaking out," Chun-Li interrupted.

"What happened?"

"They…they want Ryu to kill you in a fight. In exchange for the lives of the other people trapped in here."

Silence again until Ken's quiet voice broke.

"So that's it…"

Chun-Li found the window, and when she looked through, what she saw broke her heart. Ken sat down hard on the block of blackness, leaning forward onto his knees. A look of realization and complete loss fell over his face as he studied his hands.

"Ken?" She caught his attention. He stood and came over to the floor under it. He didn't have a block under his, so he continued to look up, reaching to her hand, enveloping it in his.

"Ryu…what will this do to the Hadou Ken?" He asked quietly.

Ryu stood underneath their side, by Chun-Li, "I—I don't know…"

Ken smiled slightly and looked away, releasing Chun-Li's hand, even though she refused to let go. He pulled away anyway, "Hey, don't get too attached to that hand. I need that for the next fight, you know."

"How can you joke at a time like this?" She snapped.

"What better time?" Ken sat across the room, just looking at her.

"Can I?" Ryu and Chun-Li exchanged places, "Hey, buddy."

"Hey, Ryu," He leaned forward onto his knees, resting his chin on his fists, "They treating you well?"

He shrugged.

"Best of the best at Hotel Hell," Ken chuckled slightly, "It isn't that bad, once you get your head around the shitty treatment…hey, buddy, don't take this too hard. I saw the kids there."

"You could see what was happening?" Ryu looked at the form of his friend and watched his shoulders sag.

"Bits'n'pieces," The American looked up and sighed, "It ain't gonna be that bad. I won't fight it too much. I mean, isn't there an old saying, something like 'the punches of a friend are more to be desired than the kisses of the enemy'?"

Ryu chuckled, "Something like that…"

"I'll make it easy, but not too easy, for you. I know that you don't like a wimpy opponent, so I'll give you a run for the money," Another chuckle, "Just make sure those kids get out all right, okay?"

"He kept six people, Ken," Ryu said quietly, "He expects you to last through six rounds and he'll release one person for each round I win. He'll probably kill one for each one that I lose."

"Damn…"

"Ken?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't give up too easily…There has to be some way out of this. There's always a way."

"Yeah, I have to give you shit in the fight."

"Just as long as you don't wimp out."

"Course not."

There was a certain length of awkward silence as no one could think of anything to say. Finally, Chun-Li traded places with Ryu and peek through the fairly narrow window, which was just big enough for her to fit her arm through.

"Ken, come here. I want to give you something."

He stood and made his way over to the wall. He reached up and was going to pull himself up when his shoulder, the same one that Ryu had dislocated, gave out on him, "Damn…it feels like somebody dislocated my arm, then popped it back in with a sledgehammer…"

Chun-Li looked at Ryu, and her free hand went to her throat. Ken saw this.

"Damn, what did I do?"

"Ken, I—"

"Tell me!"

"You tried to strangle her," Ryu said quickly.

"Ryu dislocated your arm so you would release me," She turned back to the window, pressing her forehead against the top of the frame, "But its all right. It wasn't your fault…"

"What did you want to give me?" His voice was low, almost husky as he was finally able to pull himself up.

She leaned forward and kissed him, catching his lips with hers.

He pulled away, dropping back to the floor, "No—no, Chun-Li, I'm an enemy now. None of this 'good-bye' crap! I'm not gonna say good-bye, because it's all over anyway. I'm the bad guy. You two fight bad guys. Get it?"

"But, Ken—" Her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Shut up! Just—shut up, Chun-Li!" Ken snapped angrily, "Don't you get it? If you start feeling sorry for me, you won't be able to do it! And all those people will die! You have to kill me! And you can't feel sorry about it!"

He folded his arms over his torn shirt and sat on the block, never again looking up at the window. Chun-Li pleaded with him, and Ryu tried to convince him to talk to them, but to no avail. They gave up, sinking to the floor of their cell in defeat.

Only then did Ken look up, tears staining his cheeks.

It felt like years later when creatures—demons—came to drag Chun-Li and Ryu from their cell. From the sounds of it in the other room, Ken had already been taken away to the battle ring a long time ago…and Chun-Li had cried.

Ryu was given a copy of his old outfit, white karate uniform with the sleeves gone. It fit well and he grimaced at the memories that it brought back. The demons pushed him and Chun-Li into a large, arena-like room, there the floor was a thick white mat. Other than that, the curved walls and ceiling arched high above them.

Ken stood across the room.

He, too, was dressed in his old outfit. Same as Ryu's, only red. His eyes were narrowed and downcast, as if he were unwilling to make eye contact.

A whistle shrilled through the room.

Ken charged.

Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. We found out later that the reason Ken had been chosen was because he could not only channel Hadou Ken, but also this Li-Kang Power, which was why the demon was afraid of him.

You know, I don't think that I'm going to tell you how the story ends. I want to let you fill in the blanks, allow your imagination get the best of you, then you can dream up your own ending.

Did I kill Ken? Did Chun-Li escape this whole mess…and what about the people? Did we somehow escape and destroy the demons' evil schemes to cover the world in their darkness? Oh, there is an ending, and I know it. We all know it.

How do you think it ended?