Scorpion pulled a length of gauze taut around his forearm, wincing in pain as blood kept oozing. Now that the imminent danger had passed, he was finally able to process his injuries; cleaning and bandaging his arm alone was a meticulous task, so much so the Grandmaster wondered for a moment if it was even worth the hassle.
"How much longer must you struggle before you request aid, Grandmaster Hasashi? Your back is still bleeding." Skarlet tilted her head, crimson lips tugging up at the corners. She leaned against a doorframe, arms crossed loosely against her chest.
"Are you offering?" Scorpion asked with his back still towards her.
Skarlet's eyes widened a little, brows lifting up. "I thought you wouldn't be interested in my aid."
"Better your aid than none." A dry response.
"A day or so ago you would have gladly bled out before you take up my offer of aid." Skarlet replied bemused yet curtly before slowly approaching Scorpion. "Are you not afraid that I'll stab you in your back?"
"If you wanted me dead, you would've let me fall into the Sea of Blood." Scorpion stated blandly as he examined his bandaged forearm.
"Perhaps. But where's the fun in that?" she mused, her tone soft. "I am a blood mage. It is expected of me that killing with my own hands is the only way I can reap true satisfaction." Skarlet muttered as she tugged at the bottom of Scorpion's tunic. The Grandmaster flinched. "Worry not, I am only doing this to see the wound better.
Scorpion said nothing at first, "Killing should bring no satisfaction. The act is but a pathway to the final result."
"Wise words. I've never given it much thought. My final result had always been to please Shao Kahn…" Skarlet prodded at his wound, her eyes trained on the blood trickling down his back, going over every little crest and dip of his musculature.
"He is no longer here. You are free." Those words snapped Skarlet's attention back to their conversation.
"Free? Hm, you put it so simply. Shao Kahn is not just a man to me… He is a part of me. My magic, my memory, my mind, all of it he has shaped." Those words had once elicited a surge of pride within her but now only conjured emptiness, a hollow ache that left her wanting. Skarlet hovered her hands over the wound running diagonally down Scorpion's shoulder blade. Beads of blood gathered around the ragged edges of his cut as the sanguinaire finally touched both palms to his back on either side of the raw, glistening wound.
Scorpion grit his teeth and a groan threatened to escape. "I see… it's going to be a painful… process."
"You can scream if you need. It's painful to speed up the healing like this. If the wound was shallow, there would be little pain, but here I am reconstructing muscle fibres." Skarlet stated matter-of-factly. "Shao Kahn taught me this."
"And how–" Scorpion grit his teeth and sucked in a breath as a particularly sharp stab of pain arced through his back. "–did he do that?"
"He stabbed me. The blade went clean through. He did it for many moons every other day until I no longer struggled." Skarlet replied after a long pause. Her mouth had pulled tight as memories of his jagged dagger entering her midsection were recalled. There was terrible pain and it was beyond nauseating trying to focus on keeping herself alive long enough in the immediate aftermath to heal.
"Cruel beast…" Scorpion spat, expecting Skarlet to jump to her abuser's defense but was only greeted by silence; there was tacit agreement it seemed. "I'm sorry."
"For?"
"For what he did to you."
"You needn't be sorry, Grandmaster. What's done is done… there is only the present and the future." She chuckled, "Well, I suppose you are an exception, but unless we manifest Kronika's powers, turning back time is an impossibility.
"Is that another joke?"
"You're getting better at recognizing them, Grandmaster."
Scorpion felt the urge to roll his eyes and his lips threatened to tilt up in a ghost of a smirk. "Just focus on healing me. You can joke later."
Skarlet chortled and nodded, "Fine. Have it your way, Grandmaster." Her voice was silky and soft as it caressed its way off her tongue and out her mouth.
The sight of the Scorpion's blood was beginning to rouse her hunger. It radiated with heat, crimson against his slightly tanned skin. Under the glow of warm candlelight, he looked beautiful as blood stained the contours of his musculature, every breath he took causing the wet surface to catch the light differently.
"The wound is fully closed. It shouldn't be an issue anymore, but I suggest resting for the night." Skarlet said with her hands still on his back. His skin was warm too and she wondered for a moment if it was the blood or simply his nature: eternally bound to the flames. Powerful. Destructive.
"Your hands linger, Skarlet." Scorpion commented quietly. His delivery was plain, unassuming and without judgment.
"They do." Her reply came swiftly. It came without any of the defensiveness she utilized so often and seldomly even paid attention to. "Does it bother you?"
"No."
She gently moved them up ever so slightly and settled her palms against his shoulder blades. "Does it please you?" her forehead leaned forwards and pressed against the center of his back, lips nearly touching his skin.
"No."
"Then what is it to you?" she murmured.
"It is nothing to me. I only need to dispose of Bi-Han… to avenge Harumi and Satoshi."
Skarlet sighed, "They are gone–" she felt him tense under her hands. "–but you can live for them. You have the Shirai Ryu. With your immortal spectre body, you have countless generations to train, countless boys who are just like Satoshi you can mentor."
"You know it's not the same."
"Of course not," she pressed a chaste kiss against the center of his back and pulled herself away. "But nothing in life truly ever repeats, does it? You said it yourself, Grandmaster. We can all change. You should never forget them, but this… is this what they want? Or is this what you believe they want?"
"I… don't know." Scorpion admitted. He felt regret strike him hard and choked him up. He found it painfully difficult to breathe now. "I wish I did."
"Grandmaster, do you believe the intention behind an action matters?" she paused, "Is intention integral to the moral value of an act." Skarlet clarified.
"Yes. I do."
"Then complete this mission. Find a way to dispose of Bi-Han. But not out of spite and vengeance. Do it… do it for all the people he may hurt." The words felt foreign as she spoke them and she considered diminishing their worth with a quip of some kind but decided against it. She meant what she said.
Skarlet expected mockery from Scorpion but received a slight smile as he turned around to face her. "Thank you."
"There is no need to thank me, Hanzo Hasashi."
Silence settled between them briefly. "I suppose there is no 'need'... but it is polite."
"Is that a joke?" Skarlet cracked a smile, firelight dancing in the ruby gems that were her eyes.
"Hm," Scorpion shrugged, "I suppose it is."
"Shall I prepare some more tea? A hot drink will help you relax. Maybe you'll find some much-needed rest that way." Skarlet motioned to the table.
"Oh, there's no need–"
Skarlet held up her hand, "Please, Grandmaster. I insist."
Scorpion hesitated but took a seat. "Alright. If you insist." He gave her a kickstart by lighting a candle to heat the water over.
The sanguinaire lowered herself, comfortably folding her legs under her so she could sit on the old cushion that acted as a seat. She drummed her fingers against the grainy wood of the table and hummed in thought. She waited for Scorpion to sit before speaking.
"What made you choose the kunai as a weapon?" Skarlet leaned her chin against a hand and focused on the man sitting across from her.
"I didn't choose the kunai. It chose me. When we train, we discover ourselves but we must never fall into the mindset that we get to choose." Scorpion replied, casting a glance over at the teapot every now and again.
"I'm curious. Elaborate, please."
"We train to become better and when the time comes, the right tool will fall into your hands. Training with one tool in mind makes you blind to the possibility of countless others you can utilize." Scorpion replied. "There are countless things we cannot control in life, often times we cannot even control what we feel, but how we react to how we feel is one of the only things we do have control over. Do not be ruled by your desires lest you confine yourself to only one possibility when there may be countless others."
"I have never believed in free will… It was… never an option. Perhap it does exist… somewhere." Skarlet gave a gentle chuckle before continuing. "I've always believed in skepticism about our reality though funnily enough. When things happen, we only ever see the events happen one after another. We never experience causation."
"That is a curious thought, Skarlet." He took the teapot off the stand and poured two cups. "Do we not experience causation as we speak? See, I am handing you a cup of tea. Your tea is now in front of you because I pushed it."
"Think about it, Grandmaster… what is causation? We cannot put a finger on it, can we? We only ever see action one lead to result two, what connects them is fundamentally all but a mystery. You pushed the cup. The cup moved forwards. Those are two actions that happened consecutively but in the end, we can never be sure one thing will lead to another. There is only ever conjunction and repetition, never truly causation. At least we can never be sure of it."
"What does that mean then?"
"It means we must always be aware that no matter how certain we are of something, anything… there can never be true certainty. Remaining open-minded to the strange possibilities of the world is important." Skarlet sipped at her tea and chuckled softly.
"Yes, remaining open-minded to the possibility of change is crucial." He looked at her, locking eyes momentarily. There was a tacit understanding of what was unspoken.
Skarlet placed her cup down, "The tea is very hot. I forget you're not affected by it."
"Hm, perhaps you should blow on it." Scorpion mused as he finished his cup. "Skarlet, one more thing," he added on rather abruptly.
"Yes?"
"That drawing of me–" he watched her bristle, "–where and when did you learn how to draw?"
"I don't know. I suppose I just… started one day when I saw a drop of my blood splashing to the ground. The shape it made intrigued me and began teaching myself." Skarlet placed her notebook on the table and flipped it open to her drawing of him. "I did not get to finish this, actually. You moved away too quickly." She pointed to the picture and motioned at his hair and parts of his face. "If you do not mind, it would bring me much joy to finish it."
The urge to turn her away bubbled up but he gave her request some thought. She wasn't hurting anyone with the request. In fact, she looked innocent when she made that request. She looked younger, her visage no longer burdened with the countless things that must be constantly on her mind.
"Fine," Scorpion shifted in his seat and scratched at his maskless face. He suspects that it had fallen into the Sea of Blood during the brief encounter with the leviathan. "Go on."
"You have my gratitude, Grandmaster." Skarlet bit down on her thumb, drawing a bit of blood which hovered in a perfect, tiny marble before closing the wound. "You are a handsome man." She commented as she began to use that bead of blood to finish the details of his face and hair.
"Harumi thought so."
Skarlet snorted, "She's your wife. Of course, she would find you handsome…"
"She teased me about my constant scowling. She told me I should smile more and I'm only handsome when I smile." Scorpion replied, his face softening at the mention of his late wife. "Satoshi was happy to joke around whenever he got the opportunity."
"I have never wondered what it's like to have children. I was made to believe that attachment breeds weakness." She paused her drawing, "But for you, your attachment to your family and the Shirai Ryu brings strength."
"If you so choose, you will one day find a purpose for yourself."
"What will it be?" Skarlet thought out loud.
"That's for you to find, Skarlet." He extended his hand. "A token of my appreciation."
"A coin?" Skarlet mused. "Hm, a coin… from Earthrealm?" Skarlet ran her thumb against the small disk, feeling the square hole in its center. The coin had long since grown patinaed, dark silver with a surface that was slightly rough against her skin. It had a certain charming quality to it.
"Yes. An ancient silver coin from my place of origin. I thought it'd be appropriate considering you gave me this." He held up the silver Edenian coin she had given him earlier in the night. He had strung a piece of leather cord through the center and kept it on his belt to Skarlet's surprise. She expected him to have tucked it away or simply discarded it.
"Yes," she smiled and plucked a piece of cord from her own outfit and strung it through the coin Scorpion gave her. She slipped it over her head and around her neck. "Perfect. Will it bless me with good luck?" Skarlet jested as she finished her tea.
Scorpion smiled ever so slightly. "Luck? Funny word."
"When we play the game of life to its hilt, we will find that we can create our own kind of luck. Those who refuse to play the game to its fullest will never experience luck. We ought to play to our fullest capacity... I must admit, in the aftermath of my former master's death, I have not been doing so." Skarlet placed down her cup and stood, stretching her legs a little. "Well, the hour is quite late…"
"Yes. Sleep would be for the better." Scorpion hesitated as Skarlet turned to retreat to her blankets. He touched her shoulder, fingertips warm against her bareskin. "I think you are beginning to play that game to the fullest again and I sincerely wish you find a righteous path... a path right for you."
Skarlet placed her hand over his and held it there for a second before gently removing his touch from her body. She offered a smile, one holding consideration and a hint of wistfulness. "I think we ought to sleep now, yes?"
"Yes." Skarlet nodded as she laid down, curling into herself on her side. She looked so much smaller that way, Scorpion couldn't help but notice she almost appeared delicate and vulnerable in that pose. He was surprised she allowed herself to be seen in such a position.
"Rest well... Hanzo Hasashi." The sanguinaire murmured and closed her eyes.
"Rest well... Skarlet."
