Raiden continued to sip quietly from the glass of water he had been given. Although he had been forced back into his bed by Sonya, he could sit up now and enjoy the proper breakfast the two had prepared for him, which included cereal and some fruit (although they had been careful to avoid citrus, to which for some inexplicable reason he had developed some kind of aversion).
Still, even though they had shown him great hospitality, Raiden wore a somber expression on his face. Now that he was awake, he had time to ponder over his situation. What would he do now? What could he do?
He let out a sigh just as Johnny came walking in.
"Rayman," Johnny greeted him, throwing some magazines onto the comforter. Picking one up, Raiden could see one had a bikini-clad model on the cover, another had a luxury sports car, and yet another had a bikini-clad model on a luxury sports car.
"Just thought you'd want something to flip through," Johnny explained as he took a seat next to the bed and set the bulky laptop he had carried in on his lap. Raiden noted the date on the magazine covers; the months varied, but all displayed 1992 as their year of publishing.
When Johnny looked back at him, evidently he thought Raiden had been inspecting the content on the covers. He flashed Raiden a smile, and the latter, not wanting to admit that he didn't think this was the kind of material he would be too interested in reading, smiled back tightly and set the magazine down.
In the time it took for Johnny's laptop to boot up, Sonya entered the room. Her expression was hard to read, but she sat down at the foot of the bed and tried to appear non-confrontational.
"Feeling better?" she asked bluntly. Johnny and Raiden exchanged looks briefly before Raiden nodded and Johnny turned his attention back to the screen. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a moment.
Sonya, either fortunately or unfortunately, was not one to beat around the bush.
"What happened?" she demanded suddenly, startling Johnny, who looked back to Raiden for his reaction. The former thunder god, however, simply shrugged and stared down into his bowl blankly.
"You can't tell us anything?" she continued to prod, visibly making Johnny more uncomfortable. Raiden now looked at her from under heavy, cloud-colored eyes. She continued to stare him down right back.
Finally Raiden spoke.
"I have been replaced," he replied, just as bluntly. "Fujin is now Earthrealm's protector. I am powerless."
The simple explanation weighed heavily for a few more seconds. Johnny slightly feared for what Sonya would contest to that, and considered moving away from any potential conflict that could arise. However, Sonya's expression finally began to soften as her friend's distress became more evident and her sympathy for him resurfaced.
"...Well," she responded, distractedly twiddling a loose thread on the edge of one of the blankets. "Is there anything we can do now?"
Raiden was looking away, not bothering to answer the question.
"Raiden?"
"Sonya," Johnny interjected quietly after having been uncharacteristically quiet for so long, leaning over to keep Raiden partially out of earshot. "Ease up on the guy; he just had his god license revoked."
"Shut up," she snapped, turning her attention back to Raiden.
Still no answer.
"Is there a plan?" she asked.
"Plan?" Johnny cut in. "Shouldn't the plan be to just stay alive, at this point? We don't know what's gonna happen..."
"I wasn't asking you," Sonya cut him off abruptly. Unexpectedly, Raiden spoke on Johnny's behalf.
"He is right," he stated, in turn silencing Sonya. "There is no plan. I do not know what the Elder Gods wish for me to do, if they want me to do anything."
Incensed with the futility of his answer, Sonya stammered out, "There has to be something. They wouldn't just leave you like this..."
"They would," Raiden interrupted her. Sonya was clearly upset at this point by how many times the others continued to stop her in mid-sentence. "They just want me out of the way so I will not cause any more damage than I have already."
Fear that she had struck a nerve prompted Sonya to backpedal on her words quickly.
"No, Raiden," she spat out quickly. "I didn't mean..."
"It is true!" Raiden almost shouted back at her. His raised voice effectively silenced all three of them in an instant. "What do you want me to do, Sonya?" he demanded. "Build an army?"
In the silence that followed, Raiden hung his head weakly.
"Too much has fallen apart in my hands."
Sonya looked at Johnny desperately, hoping her friend would be able to help her stop Raiden's self-disparaging speech before they wouldn't be able to dispute it. But Johnny seemed to be at a total loss.
"I am responsible for so many deaths that would never have happened in the first place..." he continued before Johnny suddenly found words again.
"That's not true!" he cut in, holding up one finger in protest. Raiden snapped out of his funk for a second to give Johnny a strange look.
"On the bridge? Remember?" Johnny prodded, looking to console his now bewildered ally. "If it hadn't been for you, who knows what that Mutaru guy or whatever would have done? Huh?"
Johnny looked at both of them, hoping for approval from Sonya and a more positive reaction from Raiden. Unfortunately, he elicited no response from either, and sunk back into his seat in defeat.
The three of them were left with nothing to say. Sonya's eyes were downcast, reflecting her dismay that they could not find a solution to their predicament.
"So... that's it?" she murmured, still looking down. "We just give up?"
Raiden couldn't bring himself to look at either of them. He didn't feel the need to communicate to them his concern, but in reality he was furious at himself for being completely helpless in a situation like this.
"We're not giving up," Johnny grumbled, focused on the computer screen. "We just have to give ourselves a little more time to think of something. In the meantime, we should probably just lay low."
He turned the laptop around so Raiden and Sonya could read the monitor. The home page of his browser displayed the news of the day, with the destruction in several major cities across the globe taking the headlines. Sure enough, the battered aftermath of Los Angeles was the picture accompanying the story.
Sonya's expression fell along with her confidence. She didn't want to be holed up in this house forever, but at the moment it didn't seem like they had many other options.
"Fine," she spat, picking herself up off of the bed and heading for the door without another word, slamming it a little bit too forcefully to leave Johnny and Raiden comfortable.
Visibly exhausted by the exchange, Johnny looked to Raiden for comment. His friend, however, didn't look too intent on furthering the conversation. Although he hadn't meant to let Raiden see him in distress, Johnny couldn't help but put his head in his hands.
Raiden looked at him woefully. He felt even more remorse for putting his comrade through all of this. Desperate not to drag everyone else down with him more than he already had, he searched around the room for something that would trigger a conversation.
"It is... nice how you have set the place up."
Johnny lifted his head up to look at his friend awkwardly for a second. When he realized what Raiden was referring to, however, it was amazing how quickly his mood was lifted (Raiden only hoped he wasn't putting it on for his sake, although he seemed genuine).
"Oh, yeah," Johnny said, walking over to the Japanese partition. "Just stuff I've collected from publicity tours."
He pushed the screen aside, revealing an antique chest drawer Raiden had not realized had been there.
"Old things from tournaments," Johnny explained as he pulled the top drawer open. Raiden saw him rummage through what sounded like metal, presumably trophies, before Johnny exclaimed "A ha!" and pulled a medium-sized glass case out, blowing the dust off of the surface. He turned around and held it up for Raiden to see.
"I won this in my first tournament when I was seventeen," Johnny divulged proudly, displaying the blue robe that had been placed inside so the logo of two intertwining dragons on the back was showing prominently.
"…Wow," Raiden said with as much enthusiasm as he could force, trying to look impressed. Johnny shrugged.
"Yeah, it kinda just sits here and collects dust now," he said, observing it quietly one more time before beginning to put it back in its storage place.
"Why do you not display it?" Raiden asked out of slight curiosity, since Johnny had another one hanging on the wall next to it and another one outside in the hallway.
"Eh," Johnny replied, sneering a little. "It's crushed velvet. Not really my thing to have hanging around."
There was another silence as Johnny slid the drawer closed. Brushing excess dust off of his pants, he looked around at the room one last time.
"Well," Johnny said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "If you need anything, holler."
The two exchanged a brief set of smiles before Johnny exited the room. Alone at last, Raiden leaned forward, sighed, and rubbed his chin pensively. He stared at the wall as he contemplated what he was going to do next. One thought in particular continued to eat at him.
…What does he mean, there's still an opportunity?...
I sometimes feel this would flow so much more smoothly if it were written like a screenplay, but you make do with what you have.
Feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated. :)