Author's Note: A special thanks to both Obelisk of Light and Hell-on-Training-Wheels for their help with various parts of this chapter, especially to Helly because she's way better at comedy than I am. And on that note, you, my dear readers, can help me repay her by going over to her page and reading her stories. Show her some love and leave her some comments too, please, even if it's just a casual "good job." I promise you, she doesn't bite and won't think you're stupid for what you have to say. She's one of the most chill people I know. The hardest part about writing fan-fic for people is when you work so hard for hours and days and weeks of your life doing this work for free, and spending even more time than that doing research just to get one or two little lines of the story right, only to have no one even acknowledge your existence. Since she is a very promising writer (and no, she doesn't know I'm writing this request), please go read and review her stories, which tend to revolve around Erron Black because that's her main. I know you'll love Desperado, Shaolin Mom, Mirror Match, and even her Mortal Kombat and Alien vs. Predator crossovers. She's in my favorites, if that makes finding her easier. So be a pal, be a chum, and help me by giving her a pat on the back for a job well done :)
"Sifu Bomani," Morgan asked as she slid into the guest quarters that Hotaru had generously given to them after a long night spent strolling through the city with Ikki, "have you seen my dad?"
Cyrax, who had been hunched over Seidan maps with Kenshi, pointed to an adjoining room. "He's in there with Johnny," he said, his Tswanan accent thick as always. "I believe they are cutting his hair."
The Hydromancer's heart immediately plunged into her stomach like a ride at an amusement park. "What?" she screeched. But before her teacher could reply, she was already bolting towards the adjoining suite.
She was just in time. Immediately, she saw her father sitting on a stool on the balcony overlooking the city, his gorgeous white hair undone from its normal braid and brushed out extensively until it shined in the morning sun like molten silver, and Johnny holding a pair of shears to a single thick lock.
"Hello, Morgan-" Fujin began to say, but she cut him off at once and pointed to Johnny.
"Drop. Those. Scissors. Now," she snarled at him.
"What's wrong?" the Wind God asked her as she marched up to the actor and snatched the scissors from his hand.
"Are you crazy?" she snapped at him. "Daddy, you are not allowed to cut your hair. Ever."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm pretty sure that I am, Morgan, seeing as how it's my hair."
"Look, kid," Johnny began as he pointed to the god, "Windy City here needs a serious makeover, and fortunately for him, I'm around to help him out. I know a thing or two about fashion. Georgio Armani and Calvin Klein are always trying to get their hands on me."
Morgan put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I'm pretty sure you need to get out of this room before I suspend you over the edge of the balcony by a water whip," she threatened. "My father looks fine just the way he is. And I don't need you wielding your scissors of doom anywhere near his head, do you hear me?"
Now Fujin got to his feet. "I don't tell you what you can and can't do with your hair, Morgan," he told her with the hint of a faint smile.
"Why would you?" she indignantly replied. "What's wrong with it?"
"I don't like that you keep it up in that tight bun all the time," he admitted as he fingered a lock of curly blond hair that kept falling loose from it. "I like it better when you let it down. It suits you better. It's more...free."
"Well, we're not talking about my hair," she replied, crossing her arms. "And you know I have to wear my hair up for-"
"Combat," he finished, making a face. He still loathed the fact that she'd chosen to walk the path of a warrior, thereby endangering and possibly shortening her life. "Yes, I know. But the fact remains that I do not interfere with your stylistic choices, and I would ask that you do not interfere with mine."
A hard knot formed in her throat at the thought of him with short hair. It was silly, she knew. Even still, with trembling lips, she asked, "But why would you want to cut your hair at all, Daddy? It's been like that for as long as I can remember."
Clearly sensing that there was more to her protests than superficial reasons, Johnny awkwardly backed away. "I'm going to leave you two alone to discuss this," he said as he quietly slipped out of the room to the one where Sifu Bomani and Kenshi worked.
Fujin sadly sighed and crossed his arms. "It has been like this for ages," he told her. "Since your mother was a little girl. Since your grandmother was a little girl. And probably eons longer than that. The truth is, Morgan, I can't remember it ever being different. So after you and your new boyfriend had fun teasing me for looking old enough to be your grandfather, I got to thinking that I needed a change."
"But it was just a joke!" she protested. "I would never have laughed at what Ikki said if I knew you were so sensitive about being called old."
"I'm not old," he argued, leaning slightly towards her to reiterate his point.
She threw up her hands in deference. "Okay, you're not old."
"And I'm not old enough to be your grandfather," he maintained.
She raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Daddy, I love you more than anything in this world," she began, "but you're pushing it."
Now it was his turn to frown. "If that's the case, then I'm cutting my hair right now," he replied as he snatched the scissors from her hands and then held it to a lock of hair framing his face.
"Please, no!" she squealed as she covered her eyes with her hands. She couldn't bear to look.
"Why does it matter so much to you?" he demanded to know. He sighed in exasperation and dropped the scissors on a nearby table with a loud clatter.
She frowned and then looked at her feet. "It's stupid," she confessed.
"I feel like this entire argument is stupid," he told her. "So at least give me the satisfaction of knowing why we're having it."
"It's just that...well...it's like the one constant in the universe," she blurted out as tears welled up in her eyes and leaked over.
Clearly intrigued, the Wind God sat down on his stool again, this time taking her hands into his. "What do you mean, Morgan?" he asked her gently, looking up at her face.
She sniffed and pulled away from his grip long enough to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. "Daddy," she began, "my life feels like it's been doing nothing but changing for as long as I can remember. I had to move to Earthrealm with Mom away from my real home. And then I had to accept having a new father when I thought the first one was perfectly fine. And then I had to learn how to serve the Lin Kuei and the Falcata. And now I'm always sent on missions for both of them in Earthrealm and Outworld, so I don't get to see my brothers and sister very much, or get to spend much time with my friends." She swallowed hard. "And that's fine, Daddy, I love my life and wouldn't trade it for a minute. But sometimes, I just need something to stay the same so I don't wind up feeling lost, and that something might as well be your hair because you never change that."
Fujin took her hands into his once again and sighed. "That's not stupid, Morgan," he told her.
"Yes, it is," she argued. "It's just hair. It'll grow back. And with you being a god, I'm sure you could just wave a wand or something and bring it right back if you decided you didn't like having short hair."
"But that's not the point, is it?" he said as he got to his feet and wrapped his strong arms around her. Then he kissed her temple. "Okay, my sweet girl, you win. I won't cut my hair."
His declaration prompted her tears to spill from her eyes, but now they were tears of relief. She awkwardly giggled and then squeezed him tightly as he patted the back of her head. "Thank you, Daddy," she sniffled, her voice muffled against his chest. "And besides, if you really think you need a makeover, you could always just buy a new shirt."
"I could spice up my wardrobe," he agreed, and then thoughtfully hummed to himself.
"Well, I don't really understand why you're even worried about this right now," she truthfully answered as she pulled away from him. "The fate of the world is on the line."
He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. "I seem to recall saying that to a certain young lady about going on a date not too long ago," he pointedly replied.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Touche," she answered.
He chuckled and then sat down on the stool again. "Until Hotaru returns from the Elder Council and tells us what Seido has decided, there's not much we can do," he told her. "So we might as well enjoy our day until then."
"What will we do if they don't agree to help us?" she wondered as she stepped around him and started braiding his hair like he liked.
She loved the feel of it running through her fingers. Her own hair was not quite as pleasant. Though as soft as a cloud poofing around her head, the curls themselves oftentimes felt frizzy and rough. But her father's felt like a waterfall of satin running smoothly over her skin.
"I don't know, Morgan," he sighed, his voice taking on a sad edge. "Let us pray to the Elder Gods that we do not have to find out." He sat in contemplative silence for a minute and then chuckled. "So you're taken with the Seidan Horse Lord, are you?" he asked.
At the mention of Ikki, the Hydromancer couldn't help but smile brightly and chuff. "He's okay," she replied with feigned indifference to spare Fujin's feelings. "He's quite the charmer."
"I noticed," the other drily remarked and then stood up and faced her after she finished with his hair. "Upon further reflection, I am quite surprised that he's even somewhat attracted to you."
Morgan frowned and insecurely crossed her arms. "Thanks a lot, Daddy," she growled. "That's a really nice thing to say to your own daughter."
"No, that's not what I meant," he quickly said with a faint smile as he held his hands up deferentially. "That's my fault. I said it poorly. I told you before, Seidans are very tightly controlled. They are not given much in the way of free will. They are, much like the Hydromancers, told whom to couple with, and they don't get a say in the matter unless they're willing to accept some very dire consequences. And that is especially true for their military leaders like Hotaru and Ikki. Love, they believe, is a primary cause of conflict, and conflict, as you know, breeds chaos."
"Which they hate," she deduced.
"Yes," he agreed. He turned and looked over the balcony's edge and surveyed the city. She joined his side and he casually draped his arm over her shoulder. "Avoiding romance is as ingrained in them as it was in the Lin Kuei of old. So, they do not marry for love, but for logic and for what would greatest benefit their society as a whole. That doesn't stop some of them from enjoying other people's company now and then, but it is rare and takes a special person to seduce them." He chuffed and looked down on her. "So my point is that I'm surprised that Ikki has broken with Seidan tradition and law."
"Oh," she said as she now also wondered why the Seidan had shown any interest in her at all.
As if reading her mind, Fujin added, "I am not surprised, however, that he broke with it for you." He squeezed her tightly to his side. "Any fool in any of the Realms would be lucky to have even half a chance with you. And Ikki is smart enough to know that as well."
"Even if you don't like him," she lightly laughed.
Her statement prompted him to laugh too before he looked down on her face and met her expectant gaze. "You are the greatest treasure I have ever been given, Morgan," he said as his voice dropped to a whisper. "You'll forgive me if I'm not anxious to share you with anyone else."
The Hydromancer tilted her face up to him and smiled. "Thank you, Daddy," she said and then planted a kiss on his cheek.
They stood in silence for a moment before he added, "I'm especially not anxious to share you with a man who smells like a horse."
Morgan playfully smacked her father in the chest and giggled. "You're terrible," she muttered, making him laugh too. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Come on, let's go enjoy the day."
"Only if you take your hair out of that atrocious bun," he replied.
She shook her head, laughing, but did as he asked and let her hair fall freely down her back.
The market was a great square of worn cobblestone, tightly-woven tapestries, and white-washed restaurants. A hundred merchants and traders operated in a maze of tightly-ordered stalls and aisles, shaded by tin-roof awnings and the occasional crosshatch of flowers and vines draped between buildings. Morgan liked the strangeness of this place, with all its foreign sights and sounds and smells. As she and Fujin strolled arm and arm through the well-organized streets, she heard ululating voices chant songs in a dialect she couldn't understand, and gaped in awe at tanuki kept in cages as if they'd just been stolen from a Japanese book of mythology. There were other exotic animals that the young Hydromancer couldn't identify if she tried, and they were mingled with more ordinary animals like painted horses and lions with blue fur.
She enjoyed watching the people too as Fujin explained who they were and where they'd come from. There were tall, pale Seidan guards, and dark-skinned men and women from Miura, a region in the southernmost continent of Seido - the same place where Ikki had hailed from - the ancestral lands of the Seidan Horse Lords. Intermingling with them were the bright-eyed men from Ueno wearing cheongsam robes of various colors; and maidens from Nara and the Temple of Themis, the Seidan goddess of order, in sheer dresses with golden sandals twisting up their legs; and even men from Loba, who draped their bodies in thick folds of red cloth and wore tall crested hats on their heads. For some reason, Morgan had assumed that - given the Seidan's reputation for conformity to order - the Seidan people would be homogeneous. She was pleased, in fact, to find out that it was quite the opposite.
She and Fujin wandered for half the morning. She saw a beautiful navy blue cloak woven from crushed velvet, and bought it with a Seidan gold piece her father had given to her as a gift for Danika, whose birthday was coming soon. And then, with more Seidan money, she bought herself an assortment of tiny flasks of scented oils and perfumes which reminded her of her home in Tlachtga; she had only to close her eyes and sniff them, and she could see the village in her mind, and her long-dead grandmother's hut decorated with herbs and bones and other things for her medicines. She found and bought a dragon-tooth necklace for Connor, and when she did that, she decided she needed to find presents for Alex and Livy and her other cousins too.
At one point, while she was delighted by a parrot that a man had taught to say her name, Fujin disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned a short while later, he looked decidedly different. He had traded his drab gray robes and his silver-embroidered vest for a tight crimson shirt that showed in perfect detail every well-defined muscle in his chest and abdomen. It was sleeveless, which was perfect for showing off his powerful arms and his ethereal tribal tattoo glowing on his left shoulder as if it had been slashed through his skin. On his right arm, a thick leather band wrapped around his bicep. A heavy gold belt hung around his waist, with silver loops and ribbons trailing over his black and gold pants and down to his thigh-high boots.
"Daddy?" she asked incredulously as he approached her.
He grinned broadly. "What do you think?" he asked her as he spun around for her to see. "You said buy a new shirt, so I did."
She gulped. This was not what she had in mind when she told him that. He looked decidedly handsome, yes, but he wasn't allowed to look handsome. He was her father and he was supposed to look dowdy and modest, not show off his impeccable physique to attract the women, which, she couldn't help but notice, was already doing just that. Not a single female could take their eyes off him as he walked towards her, seemingly oblivious to their stares. She scowled at them, which was a point not lost on him.
"What's wrong?" he immediately asked her, looking around to see what she saw.
"Women are looking at you," she grumbled as she crossed her arms.
"Really?" his voice lilted eagerly as he turned around with a huge smile on his face.
"Daddy!" she yelped, exasperated. "I thought you said Seidans aren't allowed to be attracted to each other."
"No," he corrected her. "I said that they can't marry for love, only for logic. But they can look, especially when they've got something worth looking at." As he said it, his gaze met that of a stunning, dark-eyed, brown-skinned woman maybe in her thirties - or at least her thirties as Seidans reckoned it - and he winked at her. Like a schoolgirl, she giggled and tentatively waved at him.
Morgan shook her head furiously. "You said they don't break with their customs lightly. "You said you were surprised Ikki was even attracted to me. But it's not so weird for Seidan women to be attracted to you?" She scowled. "Talk about a double standard."
"No, Morgan, some Seidans are not happy with the stringent rules, and they rebel in their own little ways. Furthermore, I'm a god. They're hardly just settling for any old man."
"Oh, but Ikki is just settling for me?" she shot back.
Now he crossed his arms. "I seem to recall telling you that I'm not surprised Ikki broke with tradition and law for you," he told her. "He'd be crazy not to. That said, these women would be crazy not to try to have a shot at me."
"Ew," she hissed as he turned and flashed his devilishly charming smile at the growing crowd of women. "That's gross."
He whirled around and indignantly frowned at her. "Excuse me?" he retorted. "I may be an old man, but I've still got it."
She squealed and covered her ears, drawing the looks of curious bystanders. "No, I don't want to hear this!" she exclaimed. She rubbed her eyes. "Will somebody please pass me the brain bleach?"
"Morgan, do you honestly think you're the only one here that needs attention?" he pointedly asked her, which prompted her to squeal in disgust again.
"Stop it, Daddy!" she yelped. "I don't want to hear about your needs or how you've still got it."
"Why not?" he retorted, now smirking in amusement. "You thought nothing of doing that to me only a short while ago," he said. "Exactly how was your date with Ikki?"
"Not terribly interesting since my father and his friends felt the need to chaperone us everywhere," she retorted.
Fujin started to open his mouth to argue some more, but at that point, the exquisite dark-haired woman with henna tattoos approached him with hungry eyes feasting on the mere sight of him. She said in a breathy, sultry voice, "Excuse me, my Lord, but I could not help but notice that this shade of red suits you quite well." She eyed him up and down, lightly licking her lips, and said, "Then again, I am certain you would look desirable in every color of shirt in the shop...and out of them as well."
Morgan inwardly cringed at the comment, even as her father's face lit up brightly and he said, "You must be a talented thief. You stole my heart from across the marketplace."
The woman beamed at him, dripping pure, maddening sex from her eyes as she reached up and touched a loose lock of hair framing his face. "Your hair is so long, Sir. Tell me, are other parts of you long as well?"
"Perhaps you can tell me," he replied, now grinning, clearly loving the attention.
The Hydromancer rolled her eyes, slightly nauseous. "Really?" she grumbled to herself as another woman slowly stepped to him, prowling like a tiger on the hunt. Morgan wanted to hurl, to walk away, to scream...just something. This was not how their day was supposed to go. And she sure as hell did not want to hear her father daring women to find the long parts of his body.
The stunning newcomer with black skin and snow white hair like his traced her fingernail along his glowing tattoo and smiled. "Such a beautiful design," she praised him.
"Thank you," he murmured back, now turning his attention to her.
"Do you have any others?" she asked him as she locked her eyes on his, never faltering. "Hidden ones, perhaps?" she prodded a moment later before raising a knowing eyebrow at him. Then she added as an afterthought, "I expect I can make them glow even brighter than they do now."
Morgan couldn't take the innuendo anymore, so she pretended to throw up. Both women and her father suddenly looked at her in shock, their eyes wide with concern, and Fujin said, "Morgan, are you okay?"
In response, she loudly heaved again, deliberately throwing her body into it, trying hard to make the most disgusting noises she could. "My apologies, ladies," she grimaced as she did it again. "I've got...cough...a hairball. My father's...cough...got a hundred cats running around his house...cough...the whole place...cough...stinks to high Heaven..." She pretended to barf again, making that raspy, disgusting exhalation once more.
"That's really cute, Morgan," Fujin frowned at her, unimpressed.
"Daddy, I'm really struggling here," she continued, still producing a hacking cough.
"Is this your daughter?" the first woman asked him.
"Absolutely not, I don't know who her parents are," he said. "She just started following me in the marketplace and I felt sorry for her, so I let her."
"Why are you so mean to me?" she wondered, laying it on thick. "You know...cough...how it hurts my feelings when you pretend like you're not my father...cough...Just because my mother was large as life and twice as ugly...cough...It's not my fault you got so drunk that you slept with a beluga whale with the IQ of a brick," she said.
"Morgan," he hissed through closed teeth.
"I don't disown you just because you're older than dirt," she protested. Now she looked at the two bewildered women. "He's literally older than dirt," she whispered at them from behind the back of her hand.
"Ladies, obviously she's joking," he told them. "No child of mine would be so rude and cantankerous."
The young Hydromancer put her hands on her hips and glowered at him. "You know, ladies, I'd be worried about socializing with my father," she began, meeting his stern, unamused gaze. "I hear he has…" she trailed off, and then shook her head. "No, that's not right," she muttered. "You should hear it from him."
"You've been hanging around Tomas and your cousins again, I see?" he dispassionately said as he crossed his arms and frowned, even as the black woman said, "He has what, exactly?"
"Slut rabies," she said.
While both women looked at Morgan in wide-eyed confusion, he looked at them as he draped his arms around either one of them. "Don't mind her, she pees in the yard. Now come, ladies. I think we can find interesting ways to occupy our time today, perhaps of a more physical nature, and you were telling me how good I look in my new shirt."
The Wind God beamed at both of them, and they smiled as brightly back at him. Then he pulled his long braid over his shoulder to let them fawn over it, and walked off with them, the three of them now giggling and speaking to each other in hushed tones, leaving Morgan there amidst the bustle of the marketplace, seething in anger. A storm was building on the horizon.
Tomas quietly slid into the small room where Sareena now slept after the Seidan doctors had sewn up her injuries and made her drink some sort of narcotic painkiller called somniferum. He arrived just in time to see Bi-han, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, tenderly brush her hair over her shoulder before planting a kiss on her temple and then pulling her blankets to her chin. For now, the cyber-ninja sensed through their connection, his old friend felt as calm and still as a clear blue mountain lake like he normally did. There was even the faintest surge of love between them, and Tomas knew it was for Sareena, whether the Cryomancer wanted to admit it or not. But it was impossible to tell how long Bi-han would stay Bi-han; more and more since the attack on the Lin Kuei Temple had the Cryomancer lost control over both his feelings and the demon caged inside his soul, to the point where the line of demarcation between him and Noob Saibot was blurred, making it impossible to tell where he began and the wraith ended. And that was the real reason the Enenra had tracked down the Cryomancer after helping the Seidans triage the Earthrealm survivors.
"How is Sareena?" the cyber-ninja softly asked.
Bi-han inhaled sharply. "She'll be okay," he thoughtfully murmured. "She's a tough old bird." He affectionately patted her shoulder and then got to his feet to face his friend.
"Are you okay?" Tomas then asked, eyeing the Cryomancer up and down for any sign of injury.
He merely scoffed at that. "Grow up," he admonished as he squeezed past him into the hall.
The cyber-ninja bristled at that. "Contrary to what you seem to think, Bi-han, you are not impervious to injury," he shot back. "And right now, you look more than a little rough. Kuai Liang is not the clumsy little boy he used to be. It looks like he made short work of you." It was true; the Cryomancer sported more than a few bruises, abrasions, and outright stab wounds. "You look like you're in pain," he added a moment later.
"Pain is the mark of a weak mind," he responded, now skulking down the hall, ever a stubborn mule.
"Okay, An Zhi," he retorted. Old hatred for the long-dead Cryomancer flared through him again. He'd force-fed both of his sons into that crap about pain being weakness, to the point that neither man, to this day, could admit how they felt about anything. One of them could have a severed limb hanging by a literal thread of muscle, and still he wouldn't make a peep. Tomas hated An Zhi for that. He knew it would make his task today even more difficult.
Bi-han flashed an evil scowl over his shoulder as he stamped down the grand corridor which was lined with wounded soldiers and warriors, many of them stretched out on the ground like logs, possibly dying, while others sat against the pristine white walls, dirtying them with their blood and grime. "Is there a point to this discussion, or are you just here to annoy me?" he hissed.
"There are things I need to discuss with you," Tomas told him. "In private," he said a moment later as an afterthought.
Bi-han sighed in annoyance but abruptly changed course and veered towards the nearest door. It was locked, but the Cryomancer had no trouble breaking into it anyway. Inside the moderately large room was someone's office, Tomas quickly deduced. It was spartan, he couldn't help but observe. There were no decorations to hint at its owner's purpose - no pictures of family, no curios. Only a plain lamp on a desk carved from a single piece of white marble, and a tapestry of a lonely mountain shrouded in mist and forests of cherry trees. There was a wall of shelves full of scrolls on one side of the room, and to the left of the desk a bay window overlooking a well-manicured courtyard and a thunderstorm pounding the city. Everything in here, such as it was, was arranged just so and put in its proper place. Orderly, he told himself as he closed the door behind him.
"What do you want to discuss?" Bi-han impatiently asked the cyber-ninja.
"I'm concerned about you," Tomas opened. "You should never have let Noob Saibot off the leash."
His friend sighed in disgust. "I'm fine," he snapped.
"No, you're not," he pressed. He crossed his arms and blocked the doorway so Bi-han couldn't just storm out. "The demon inside of you has woken from his long sleep. I can feel him stirring, Bi-han. For the first time in nearly twenty years, I can feel him. And he's getting stronger by the minute."
The Cryomancer indignantly scoffed, now crossing his own arms and scowling. "And what would you have me do?" he shot back. "Leave Anya to die? Kuai Liang never would've forgiven me for that. Not when it was in my power to save her."
Tomas now bitterly shook his head. "You clearly don't know your brother as well as you think you do," he hissed.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that it broke his heart when he realized what Quan Chi did to you," he replied. "When you came back to him as Bi-han, not Noob Saibot, he was as happy as I had seen him in years. He never wants to lose you again, not like that." The cyber-ninja took a step towards his friend. "He would never forgive you for leaving him again just because letting the demon run free was easier than dealing with life as Bi-han."
"I did it for Anya!" the other suddenly screamed.
"No, you did it for you!" Tomas yelled back. Then he sighed and shook his head again. "Bi-han, I know you started out with the genuine desire to save her for Kuai Liang's sake. I truly believe that, I do," he told him. His voice was now calm again, quiet even. "But zatraceně, the road to Hell has always been paved with the best of intentions."
"I don't have to listen to this," he snarled as he tried to push his way past the Enenra. His friend abruptly stopped him and shoved him back. "Get out of my way, Tomas," he growled.
"No, you need to listen to me," he argued.
"Move out of my way or we're going to have a problem," the other threatened. "And I won't even need Noob Saibot to deal with you."
"Do what you've got to do," he said, his Czech accent thickening with stress. "But I'm not moving until you hear me." He deferentially held up his hand to calm the Cryomancer. "Bi-han, since Reiko attacked the Temple, I have watched you use the demon's powers more and more to get yourself out of tight spots. And through the connection Quan Chi forged between us, I can feel him polluting yourself more and more with darkness. What you did to Sareena?" he winced as he thought of the demoness. "All she was trying to do was spare us a battle we couldn't win. And in the end, she was right. But you nearly killed her for speaking the truth."
The mention of her made Bi-han cringe, and a glimmer of hope filled Tomas because he believed he was getting through to his friend. But then, the Cryomancer growled, "And what do you know of it?" He shoved the cyber-ninja into the door. "I have saved lives because of my powers," he argued, and now a flare of inhuman rage scorched at the psychic tether between them.
"Noob's powers," he corrected.
"I am Noob Saibot!" he shouted, and he shoved him again. "I never stopped being him when Raiden pulled me away from Quan Chi all those years ago. I just learned to keep him down. And I can control him."
"No, Bi-han, you can't," he challenged. His voice was now sad. "Nobody can control the demon inside of you. He answers to only one master: Quan Chi."
"It's funny to hear you say it's impossible to control Noob when you walk around here with your own demon wrapped around your heart, Enenra," he shot back.
Tomas ground his teeth together, wounded and infuriated by the statement. "I am not reliant on his powers like you are of Noob's," he retorted.
"Really?" the Cryomancer scoffed. "Because I don't think the powers you have over smoke and vapor are natural."
"I don't pretend to understand why the Enenra chose me, or why it elects not to make itself known, but I do know this, Bi-han," he glowered. "We are not separate entities like you and Noob. It is bonded to my soul, and it has been a part of me since it raised me from the dead and deposited me back on the streets of Prague when I was a child. It has never encouraged me to do horrible things to the people I love." He scoffed and then scowled at his friend. "It does not try to control me, not like Noob controls you."
"I'm fine!" the Cryomancer insisted once again. "I have used these powers to do good, and it's worked. I've saved lives, Tomas. I saved Anya. If they helped me do nothing else, they let me save her so that my brother doesn't have to suffer any more than he already has."
"And what was the cost?" he demanded to know. "Your soul? I'm sure Kuai Liang will be extremely comforted by your sacrifice."
"For the last time, I can handle Noob Saibot," he snapped.
Tomas chuffed and pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief. "Do you even hear yourself right now?" he hissed. "You sound like a drug addict saying you can handle it. But meanwhile, in reality, you're craving your next hit."
"Now you're just being stupid," the other muttered in disdain. "A drug addict? My symbiotic relationship with Noob Saibot is not a drug addiction."
"Oh, it's not?" he countered. "You keep using Noob's powers even though you saved Anya and she's no longer in danger. You just can't stop yourself from using them. You are lashing out in violence at the people around you for no reason. And you look like death warmed over," he said. "Your eyes are all bloodshot and sunken in, you look a lot thinner than you did just a few days ago, and you smell like roadkill after a day of baking in the hot sun."
Tomas shook his head and stepped towards the Cryomancer. "You know what drugs do to people, Bi-han," he said. "They hollow out their insides until they're nothing more than shells of their former selves. And I know without a doubt that Kuai Liang doesn't want that for you. I don't want that for you. You're as much my brother as he is."
"I'm sick of listening to this childish sentimentality," Bi-han retorted as he tried to squeeze past the cyber-ninja once again.
Once more, Tomas blocked him and shoved him backwards. "Fine," he snapped. "If you don't care about my opinion, or even Kuai Liang's, maybe you'll care about Sareena's."
He bitterly chuckled. "And why is that?"
"Because Kuai Liang told me many years ago how she was devastated when Quan Chi turned you into that monster," he told him. "She always thought you deserved better than that. And for once, me and the She-devil agree on something."
The Cryomancer's face turned scarlet as he pointed at the cyber-ninja. "You don't know what you're talking about," he snarled.
"You're right," he agreed, shrugging. "I don't know. I was automated at the time Sareena told him this. But I trust Kuai Liang. Why would he lie to me about her having feelings for you, or more importantly, you having feelings for her?"
Bi-han scowled. "I don't know where my brother got his bad information," he began, "but he was dead wrong. I don't have feelings for her and I never have."
Now Tomas' lips turned up ever-so-slightly, forming the faintest smirk. "Really?" he challenged. "You're actually going to try to lie to me, the one who was magically attached to you for the sole purpose of spying on your innermost thoughts and feelings, and keeping you on your best behavior?" He chuckled. "Bi-han, do better." He shook his head, and before the other could answer, he said, "And even if Quan Chi hadn't bonded us together like he did, I would know you have feelings for Sareena simply for what I witnessed in her sick room just a few minutes ago. You betrayed yourself, my friend. You looked at her like I look at Kailyn. Like Kuai Liang looks at Anya."
"You're imagining things," he shot back.
"You're still sticking with that story, huh?" he snorted and sighed. "But then again, maybe you're right," he conceded a moment later. "I mean, you were the one that nearly killed her before the Netherrealm battle. I estimate that more than half of her injuries were inflicted by you, and that's definitely a lot considering how many times her masters lashed her for her failure. So yeah, you're responsible for her current state. Or should I say, Noob Saibot?"
Bi-han drew his fist back to attack the cyber-ninja. Through their shared connection, Tomas heard the demon whisper at the Cryomancer to kill him where he stood, to take all of his powers and make him pay for his harsh words. He inhaled, prepared for a bloody row in this orderly little office. But to his surprise, his friend suddenly inhaled deeply before he dropped his fist and sighed.
"You're not worth it," he growled a moment later.
The Enenra dropped his head and winced. "All right, have it your way," he said. "I can't make you do the right thing." Now he lifted his eyes to meet the Cryomancer's cold blue ones. "But you better get Noob Saibot back into his cage, Bi-han, because if you don't, I'm going to tell Raiden exactly what happened. He may already suspect what's going on, but I'll remove all shred of doubt from his mind." He sadly sighed and then rested his hand on the furious man's shoulder. "You are the strongest person I know," he said. "And you already beat the bastard once. I know you can do it again."
The Cryomancer glared daggers at him. "If you ever threaten me again, Tomas, I will turn you inside out myself, and I'll do it without Noob Saibot's powers." Then he said, "Is that all you wanted to speak to me about? This waste of time?"
"No," the other softly said, fearing for his old friend. "We also need to figure out what we're going to do about Reiko now that he's got Netherrealm's army behind him."
"Perhaps you both can leave my office and speak of it elsewhere," a baritone voice spoke behind them, and when they faced the door, both men recognized General Hotaru standing there with his arms crossed, his expression unamused.
General Hotaru, the Captain of the Seidan Guard, the Keeper of Order, and the Right Hand of the Elder Council, was broad of shoulder and sinewy of limb, with a tightness to his face and flesh that spoke of leather cured in the sun until it was as tough as steel. Hard was the word people used when they spoke of him, and from personal experience, Tomas knew he was. His deep-set eyes were open wounds beneath his heavy brows, a blue as clear as the sky after a storm. His mouth was made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile but had never known how to laugh. He was intimidating in a way Tomas hadn't experienced since he was a child and bowing at Grandmaster Oniro or Master An Zhi's feet.
"Sorry," the cyber-ninja apologized.
"The Seidans have generously allowed your warmongering people to stay in the safety of our great palace, therefore I find it quite disrespectful to break into my private office when there are plenty of other open places to congregate." Hotaru had never learned to soften his speech, or to flatter; he said what he thought and those who didn't like it be damned. "Why did you break into this office, Chaosmongers?" he demanded to know.
"Because it was convenient?" he offered.
The other shook his head in disgust and sighed. "Times are troubling and dire," the other replied, "therefore I will forgive this transgression in lieu of pursuing more pressing matters. However, should you engage in such foolishness again, I will imprison you for a month in Pitesti, and there you will learn to have better manners than you do now."
"Duly noted," he replied as Bi-han started to take a dangerous step towards the General. Quickly, he elbowed him and forced him to stand down. "It won't happen again," he said through gritted teeth as he now frowned at the Cryomancer.
If Hotaru recognized Bi-han's ire, he ignored it and said, "The Elder Council has made their decision. I am here to request your presence at a meeting of the heads of the factions to discuss it."
"Lead the way, General," he graciously replied, now gesturing towards the hallway.
The Seidan respectfully bowed his head and then turned to escort them through the palace. His conference room, Tomas noted when they reached it, was a great room with walls of white stone and four oriel windows that looked out to the four points of the compass, all of them awash in pouring rain from the dreary sky outside. In the center of the chamber was a massive table fashioned from highly polished cobalt and engraved with strange symbols that the cyber-ninja knew to be Seidan runes. It was more than fifty feet long and perhaps half that in width. Around it sat the older generation of Earthrealm Champions and Seidan lords while the younger warriors milled around in the background. Just as Hotaru, Tomas, and Bi-han entered, the cyber-ninja saw Fujin rush in from a different entrance - his face flushed and sweaty as if he'd been exercising - and take a seat next to Raiden at the table. The elder of the two leaned over and whispered something to the Wind God, and the two began arguing inaudibly until General Blade told them both to shut up.
Tomas didn't worry about them so much as he did his step-daughter, whom he spotted leaning against the window's ledge. She was engrossed in conversation with a Seidan man - a tall, muscular, dangerously handsome black man bearing armor that looked almost as heavy and strong as him. The young Hydromancer grinned at him, and when he bent over to whisper something in her ear, she giggled and then whispered something back to him. The cyber-ninja frowned as he watched the scene unfold and a knot of annoyance filled his gut. He swallowed it down, reminding himself that Morgan was a beautiful young woman - truly her mother's daughter - and she was bound to attract the attention of men and even some women. Still, it didn't change the fact that he felt a swell of protectiveness rise up inside of him, and it prompted him to narrow his eyes at the two of them.
"Morgan!" he called to get her attention, and it worked.
The Hydromancer looked up, and when she spotted her stepfather, a happy grin exploded on her face and she bolted towards him. "Táta!" she cried as she threw her arms around him. "I missed you," she said a moment later.
Tomas patted her bouncy blond curls as he pressed her into his shoulder and held her tightly. "And I missed you, dcera," he tiredly answered.
"Thank the Elder Gods you came back," she said. "Mom said there was a battle in Netherrealm. If I'd known things were going to blow up like that, I would've come with you to help fight."
"No, holčička," he told her, "I am relieved you stayed here where it was safe. The battle did not go well for us, and many people died. It was stupid to go there," he explained as Alex now approached them.
"Any word on Livy?" he asked his father.
"What about Livy?" Morgan now demanded to know as she pulled away from her stepfather and frowned.
Tomas heavily sighed and scowled at Alex. "Můj syn, I feel as though I shouldn't have to remind a weapons specialist that timing is everything," he said.
He had been hoping to delay this conversation with his daughter for a while, not feeling particularly anxious to tell her that her best friend in the entire world could be dead. There was far too much to worry about now as it was. But his son, who was as bruised and battled by the fight as the rest of the warriors, gazed back at him without remorse. His brown eyes flashed with worry, but they were set in determination like stone.
The cyber-ninja looked back to Morgan. "She joined us in the battle," he told her.
"What?" she yelped in sudden fury, her shrill voice like an ice pick to his ear. "She was supposed to stay in Earthrealm to heal!"
"Yes, well, you know how stubborn and obnoxious she can be," he reminded her. "Regardless of my orders to stay put, she disobeyed and traveled to Outworld with the twins as well as Kabal, Xinyi, and Frost to ask the Emperor for his help in Netherrealm. When he refused, they joined us in the Netherrealm."
"Gods damn her!" she cried. "Why can't she ever do what she's told?"
"That's the question of the hour, isn't it?" Alex grumbled to her left. He looked as equally exasperated by his ex-girlfriend as his sister did.
Tomas swallowed hard. "When we sounded the retreat, she never fell back with the rest of us," he explained, his voice now very quiet. "The twins took Sergeant Cage's team along with Kabal, Frost, and Erron Black to go search for her. There are many reasons why she didn't return with us, and I pray that the search party finds her safe. But Morgan, my sweet dívka, you must prepare yourself for the very real possibility that she died on the battlefield. It was a massacre."
The Hydromancer's lovely lavender-shaded eyes suddenly moistened with tears, and she wrinkled her nose to fight them back. "Why is it always her?" she rhetorically asked them, her voice cracking into a whine.
The Enenra couldn't answer her, so he gathered her into his arms again and held her close to comfort her. Meanwhile, he looked at Alex. "To answer your question, můj syn, there has been no word of her yet."
"So no news is good news, isn't it?" he asked.
"I hope so," he replied.
"Will everyone please take their seats?" Hotaru now called, bringing everyone to order.
Tomas nodded and pulled his children to three vacant seats at the table as Raiden said, "What have your Elders decided, General?"
"The Seidans will not entrust you with our sacred kamidogu," he replied. "The Elders do not like you, nor do they trust you after your complete and utter failure in Netherrealm, and the justice of your cause means nothing to them. But you have brought war to Seido."
"No, Reiko brought war to Seido when he started collecting these goddamn knives," General Blade swore at him.
Hotaru patiently inhaled and then stared at her. "Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot sit by and watch how the wind blows, hoping that you triumph over his evil plans."
"Then what will you do, General Hotaru?" Raiden prodded.
He looked to the Thunder God, who was seated at the other end of the table, directly opposite to him. "The Elders have decided that Seido will fight alongside Earthrealm."
MKDemigodZ-Warrior, see, you got all impatient with wondering about Fujin's group when little did you know, it was already in my outline to address them next LOL Also, who says they will be the ones to rescue Livy? ;)
alwaysdoubted, yay, I'm killing you with suspense! XD But yeah, Erron knows how to behave himself when he needs to. He just seldom needs to LOL As for the writing, I think every writer worries about sounding repetitive. You should've seen me while writing this chapter and I kept trying to think of ways to say "talk angrily at" without getting repetitive. One trick that helps me is to go back and read my story out loud. If you stumble on a part, chances are you need to fix the grammar and/or spelling there. But also, your brain will notice repetitiveness and get bored. I swear by this method.
DinoLord00, you know, the dynamic between Xinyi and Olivia is similar to Rain and Anya, but I wanted them to be different in the sense that Rain thinks he's God's gift to women, so why would a woman reject him? When Anya rejects him, he can't take that sitting down and so as we know, he makes it his mission in life to force her to comply anyway. With Xinyi, that's not why he wants Olivia. It'll be explained better in future chapters, but without spoiling that, he's doing it for the optics and to help Reiko. And I think there's a part of him that truly believes there's a connection between the two of them. To answer your question, I plan on checking in on Rain shortly, and getting into his mindset. And I have an idea of how Frost's story will come to an end, but I need to flesh out the finer details still. Anyway, thank you for your review!
Praxus84, haha Xinyi is the new Rain, I take it XD Thanks about Erron and yeah, Miyuki has been trained by Shinji, her foster father. He was one of the best trackers in the world, because, ninja life. But I think she probably had a natural predisposition for it. She was a prodigy in all other aspects of hunting and fighting as well, so it would make sense that she was naturally talented as well. :)
ROCuevas, indeed! Time to lace up the hiking boots and climb ;)