Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mortal Kombat and/or its characters and settings. It belongs to Midway...Not! It belongs to the folks at Warner Brothers' Netherrealm Studios and their affiliates.
Chapter Three
Eight days.
The thing had been plaguing him for eight days now. Each day the pain grew worse and he had to work that much harder on keeping it at bay. That only meant less of his attention could be devoted to getting things done, which only frustrated him more and more. His temper was already known to be short at times, but now every little thing seemed to be getting to him.
His little brother Lemmy knew to keep himself and his tag-along, Bowser Junior, near the safety of the kitchens. Since the two could hardly sneak off and play anywhere else lest Ludwig's ire come down upon them, Lemmy set up a small table and chair set where he and 'B-Jun' could draw pictures and play card games or make playing dough with flour and water, courtesy of the kitchen staff. Roy and Morton kept to the downstairs training area most of the time, and Larry was satisfied so long as he had an open space and a ball. Quite often he would cajole Iggy into joining in his fun. And as for Wendy. Well. She was another story.
The girl was constantly challenging his authority lately, mainly on the basis that Ludwig was only about four years older than her and therefore could not really tell her what to do. Ludwig knew he was losing his hold over her, over all of his siblings, so when that day came he would have to assert a different sort of dominance over them all.
"Knock, knock."
"Speak of the she-devil and the girl shall appear," Ludwig murmured to himself.
He was trying to get some work done in this closet of a room nestled above the royal harem. It was a small space that used to serve as a sort of janitorial closet. He found he could get plenty of things done in relative peace after he moved a couch and desk and chair and lamp in there. Now that one of his siblings found his private hole, he figured that might soon change.
"I'm gonna' assume you're in there." Wendy spoke on the other side of the door. "I just wanted to let you know I'm going into town to see a friend of mine."
"Get in here."
He refused to play into his little sister's hands. She was baiting him, trying to coax him into an argument. He was convinced she liked arguing and antagonizing him. She was obedient in opening the door and stepping inside the room, though, much to his relief. However, when he looked up from his work that relief came crashing back down in his gut.
"What the hell are you wearing?"
"Cl-"
"If you say clothes, I'll hurt you Wendy." He interjected. "Why do insist on tearing up all the garments I've given you?"
"I don't tear them up," She clarified, "I 'alter' them."
"Why?"
"Because it defines me." She stated simply.
The girl put her hands on her hips and gave herself a once over. She didn't see anything wrong with her outfit. She'd taken a black silk shirt and sewed it into a pair of cuffed shorts, then thinned out her old turquoise snake-skin pants into tights and wore them underneath. Her blouse was a plain white button-down and the black trainers she wore actually belonged to her brother Roy. So did the thick gold link chain around her neck. The hoop earrings and bracelets were entirely hers.
"Well I'm going, then." She spoke, turning towards the door.
From his seat Ludwig used his magic to shut the door and lock it. Wendy tried the handle and then turned to face her brother.
"What?" She cried plaintively.
"You want to go into town and sit up under that little sniveling punk from the inn, then fine." Ludwig acceded, "But you're not going dressed like that."
"Why not?" Wendy frowned, "You always get on my case about the way I dress but this is who I am. An individual. Or would you have me dress like a sheep like all the other women around this place, in stupid dresses and long skirts and-"
"I'd like it if you didn't dress like some two-bit whore." Ludwig cut in coldly. "But if you like it so much then maybe you should go into town, straight to the brothel."
Wendy blinked, hurt, and said, "...What?"
"Just get out." Ludwig hissed, "Get Roy or Morton to go into town with you."
The girl was still a bit shocked at her brother's harsh words and was only too eager to leave him be. As soon as she shut the door, Ludwig dropped his head in his hands. He stared at his thighs and knew he'd gone too far. What he said was uncalled for. Normally he only thought of some of those things, he never said them aloud to Wendy. It would hurt her feelings and perhaps even compel her to rebel even more. She would think he didn't understand her, which he very much did, it was just that he was a hypocrite. He knew he was. He liked in other women what he'd never tolerate in his own baby sister.
It's this damn headache, he groused, it keeps getting worse and worse.
He was incredibly irritable and the pain, it was getting to be too much, even for him. He started trembling. The pain was coming back, breaking away from the magical chains he'd previously bound it with. His stomach was the first to bear the brunt of the wave of agony, lurching and rocking and heaving. Ludwig gripped a fistful of the fabric of his loose silk pants and gritted his teeth. He refused to let this overcome him. He would not-
Ludwig cried out sharply. It felt like he'd just been axed in the back of his skull. That's where all the action occurred, at the base of his head. The swelling, the pounding, the tearing. Ludwig pulled at his navy hair and squeezed his eyes shut. He never chanted incantations, he was much too advanced for that, but he chanted now. He had to cast a cloaking spell over himself. This was a more primeval response to pain that didn't dissipate the cause of the pain, only cloaked it as its name suggested. It was only temporary and somewhat detrimental to his health seeing as how, when it wore off, he'd have to deal with the whole deluge of pain at once: it would be like switching a light on and being immersed in the pain once more.
Oh well; I'll cross that fucking bridge when I get there, he thought grimly.
The door softly clicked shut.
Ludwig froze, now 'pain-free', or at least under the illusion of being so. That door had only just shut, meaning his sneaky little sister had seen, had heard that entire ordeal. Great.
That voice, that darkness, it was haunting her. She could hear his voice, was surrounded by the darkness of his dungeons all over again. Blindly she ran but kept hitting walls in all directions. All except one, that is: in front of her he stood, tall and imposing. He was smirking, he was always smirking.
"You belong to me," He whispered.
His voice alone was a curse, so low and seductive and filled with his filthy intentions. She couldn't stop it from repeating, reverberating inside her head. His voice was all around her, laughing at her as she tried to run down a tunnel of pure darkness. She didn't know where she was going, couldn't see the ground under her feet or her hands in front of her face but she just knew she had to get away from him, far away from him.
"You can't run from me, Precious," He spoke.
He was in front of her again, holding her tight, too tight. His arms encased her like steel bars. His body was hot against her back, so hot that she felt as if she were being consumed by flames. She fell, she could feel her knees bang against grainy soot, the soot of her cell in his dungeons. He pulled her hair, the roots of every follicle screamed out in protest, and she could feel not hear a scream tear out of her throat. He was laughing again, laughing and tormenting her.
Daisy blinked and stared straight ahead. She was on her back, in a bed that wasn't her own, having just woken from a horrible nightmare. Her heart was pounding and her body trembled. She had dreamed of him.
"Awful," she assessed of her subconscious terrors.
The girl sat up slowly and rubbed at her eyes. Something felt off to her then. Her hands, they seemed strange. She gazed down at the pale things, then looked from her hands to the bed sheets. Silk. The bed itself was expansive. Daisy frowned and crawled to the edge of the too-big mattress and peered over the edge: rich carpeting covered the floor.
Something isn't right, the girl thought to herself.
She was tired, so very tired, so she lay back against the lush bedspread and gazed up at the dim-lit chandelier above her. Suddenly she realized why this situation seemed so off.
At the same time as her epiphany, the door to the bedroom burst open and the Dark King himself came in. She couldn't see his face, only his loose black pants and his well-cut torso from her position. He was coming towards her. She could hear him laughing.
"Miss me, little girl?"
Daisy jolted awake in bed, a bed unfamiliar to her, and held her hand to her pounding heart. Her body was coated in a sheen of sweat and consequently her t-shirt and cotton shorts clung to her. She flung the sheets off of her and stood on trembling legs, letting her feet sink into the firm navy carpeting. Very slowly she turned around.
There he was.
Luigi. Asleep on his stomach with one arm hanging off the bed. His hair was covering his face, his face was smooth and relaxed, a contrast to the constant expression of worry he donned for her. His presence calmed her significantly.
She had never had such an intense nightmare before. And the false awakening nearly killed her heart. She was sure she'd go into cardiac arrest after finding herself trapped once more in the foul king's clutches. The girl shuddered and tried to forget about her horrible dreams. She wasn't surprised she'd had them, it was only a matter of time to her. Her body was still shaking and she had a lump in the back of her throat, as if she needed to cry. She rubbed her arms and made her way to the kitchen.
Down the short dark hall she padded in her bare feet. Childish as it seemed, she could not make the trip without first turning on the bedroom light, and after that the bathroom light.
Please don't wake up, she implored of Luigi.
He didn't. He was out cold still. Daisy hurried past the living room and made it to the kitchen, where she rooted around for a plastic cup. Having found one, she bent over the sink and poured herself some cold water. With quaking hands she brought the red cup to her lips and drank slowly, carefully, so as not to waste any on herself. By the time she finished her drink, she was a bit calmer.
"He's not here," She whispered to herself, "He's dead. He can't hurt me."
Like a mantra she repeated these affirmations over and over to herself. Once satisfied with these truths, she clicked off the kitchen lights.
"He's not here," She whispered.
Daisy passed the living room and shut off the bathroom light.
"He can't hurt me."
She turned off the bedroom light.
She turned on the bedroom light.
"He's dead."
She turned off the bedroom light.
"He can't hurt me."
She turned the light back on.
"He's not here."
She turned the light off.
She closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths, trying to slow her sprinting heart. It was working. She was calming.
Something woke me up. Some soft, hushed noise. It was only after I looked up and saw, in the darkness, that Daisy was standing near the bedroom door did I realize it was her that roused me. She was holding herself tightly with her eyes shut and her lips moving slowly over words I couldn't quite make out. The girl reminded me of the woman on that paranormal thriller movie I shouldn't have seen last year. It was creeping me out. I climbed out of bed slowly, soundlessly, so as not to startle her. Very cautiously I moved over to where she was and reached out to her, putting my hands gently over her shoulders.
She screamed.
I hurried up and turned on the lights and gripped her forearms gently, trying to catch her eye. I'd never heard her scream like that before. It immediately tore at my gut and made a chill go up my spine.
"Daisy!" I spoke over her, "Daisy it's me!"
The girl sobered and gazed at me, losing that bewildered look in her light eyes. She had tears brewing and was shaking under my palms.
"Luigi?" She spoke in a rasp.
"Yeah, it's me." I spoke softly. "I'm here. It's alright."
And then her face crumpled and she threw herself in my arms. I had no clue what was going on, but I held her and stroked the small of her back while she composed herself. The girl wasn't crying, but she was trembling and I could feel her heart pounding against my own chest.
"Shh," I coaxed, "Hey, it's alright. It's alright, Daisy."
I kissed the top of her head and just held her against me. It hurt my heart to see her like this. I didn't know what was wrong, I just hoped I was helping her in some way. After about a solid minute she pulled back and wiped at her eyes.
"I'm sorry," She sniffed, "I didn't want to wake you up."
"What happened?" I asked.
She said, "I had a nightmare."
"Were you sleepwalking?" I guessed.
She shook her head and said, "No. I got up to get some water. And then I got scared and was trying to calm myself down. When you touched me, I thought. I thought."
Her voice was thick with coming sobs, her eyes wet with tears ready to be shed. I couldn't take it.
"Hey," I whispered, pulling her into my arms again, "It's okay. I have bad nightmares all the time. I mean, I used to. It's alright, it's not real. You're awake now."
"Am I?" She asked, her voice breaking. "I-I thought I was awake in the dream and then he came and he was about to, to h-hurt me again!"
"Shh," I consoled her, "It was a dream. An intense one, but still just a dream. He's not coming to hurt you anymore. Daisy, please stop crying. It's okay now. I'm here for you."
I cupped the side of her face and rubbed my thumb against the tears on her cheek. Those pretty eyes were full of emotion, so many that I couldn't attribute the tempest to just one feeling. She was deeply disturbed, that I could see. We'd need to talk about this later on, definitely.
"Come on," I said, "Let's go back to-"
"No!" Daisy shouted, "I'm sorry I just can't. I can't go back to sleep."
I knew what that was like and I kicked myself for being so thoughtless. Of course she didn't want to go back to sleep. From personal experience, I knew there was a risk of having the same dream, or having a dream where things picked right back up where they left off. I knew she was scared because I had been terrified of those sort of nightmares. Many a time I'd sat up for hours until daylight, watching tv and drinking soda.
"Alright," I said, "Come on. We can watch some cartoons or something. Get your mind off of it."
Daisy's face cleared and softened. "You won't mind?"
"Of course not." I told her.
How could I sleep knowing that you, my love, were suffering? Impossible.
I wrapped my arm around Daisy's shoulders and ushered her into the living room, shutting off the bedroom light on my way. Again, I could've kicked myself because she immediately stiffened and clung to me.
"Sorry," I said, kissing her head.
I turned on the bathroom light and then grabbed the remote, sinking down onto the couch. Daisy yet stood.
"If I get relaxed," She explained worriedly, "I might fall asleep again."
"Right." I nodded. "Hold on."
I headed to the kitchen and made mistake number three; left her alone. It was alright, she just trailed behind me to the fridge. I took out two cans of Coke and handed her one, then guided her back to the living room. I left the kitchen light on and sat down in front of the tv. Adult Swim was playing. It wasn't exactly the cartoons I was hoping for, but it'd keep her distracted.
Daisy sat down primly beside me: I knew that she only acted that way when she was uncomfortable, so I leaned back against the couch and stretched out my legs, then patted the space beside me. Daisy crawled over and plopped down, then leaned her head on my shoulder.
We stayed up all night.
J's on my feet
J's on my feet
J's on my feet
So get like me!
Wendy made a face as she heard the repetitive lyrics. She was still at the top of the stairs that led to the training room and she could hear her brother's music blasting. This particular song had enough bass to rattle the walls. She felt more than heard the song that was playing and cringed; not because of the song. No, she liked the song. It was just that, when Roy was down here with his music blasting, it was hard to get his attention. This afternoon she had some important things to discuss with him. The music did well to keep away the reverberations of Ludwig's words to her earlier, though.
While she descended the stairs, her youngest brother sat bewitched. No matter how much Roy picked on him, Lemmy would always look up to him. Not only because he was so tall, but because he was an excellent fighter, too. The boy was only seventeen and he was already taking down three, four, sometimes five Koopas at once. He moved as swiftly as a cheetah and had the endurance of one, too. His strikes were deadly and precise as he executed them with an astounding amount of confidence.
"Ain't nobody got moves like these, yo," He smirked to himself.
He caught sight of his sibling and the former Crown prince sitting together on a bench along the wall, saw their doe-eyed fascination, well in Junior's case it was more of a blank-faced indifference, and his smirk grew.
"Hey baby brother," He spoke in a low, conspiratorial sort of tone, "You wanna' see something cool?"
Lemmy nodded. Junior sucked on his thumb. That was invitation enough for the teen to show off.
Roy stepped over to the center of the training room, across from a willing Koopa, and chuckled.
"You ready for this, yo?" He asked his opponent.
The mutated reptilian gave no indication that he'd heard Roy's question. The creature stood, stoic and stalwart, armed with a spear, with metal plating covering various parts of his body. Roy had no such armor or weapons other than his own two hands and feet. He lifted his head and then dropped his hands to his sides. He turned one of them upwards so that his wrist was facing him and his nails were digging into his palm, then used his free hand to grip that one in the middle of his forearm. Slowly, with much concentration, Roy began channeling energy down to his fist. The strands of innate energy coiled down his toned arms and bloomed over his knuckles so that they glowed an electric pink color the same shade as his hair.
"Here comes the power move!" Roy shouted.
He released his hand on his glowing wrist and then pulled his arm back at the elbow, then launched it forward deep, deep, deeper inside his opponent's chest until it came bursting through the skin in the Koopa's back. Like a hinge he snapped his arm back out and hissed in a breath through his teeth.
"Shit!" He swore loudly.
Not only was his hand and arm coated in the blood of the Koopa, but also some of his own. He'd torn his skin when he plunged his fist in, first after he'd broken the being's ribs and then again when he pulled his arms back out over the jagged bones.
Lemmy was expecting something marvelous, not this feat of merciless cruelty, so he was duly horrified. With eyes wide and his expression anxious, fearful, upset, he fled the training room. Junior, not to be left behind, got up and ran after him. Morton, who was benching weights on the other side of the room, missed the whole happening. Wendy had finally reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed the room to turn off Roy's CD player.
"Hey what gives, yo?" Her brother immediately protested. "Are you wearin' my shoes?"
"That was real sick, Roy." She stated, ignoring both of his questions.
Her brother gazed over at her and appeared confused. His body was already healing itself so the pain was no longer registering. The only thing on his mind was why his younger sister had stormed down here.
"What are you talking about?" He asked her.
Wendy narrowed her eyes and approached him. She didn't get too close, though, seeing as how his left side was splattered in blood. He noticed this and smirked.
"I saw what you did just now," Wendy explained.
"You did?" He grinned, "It was tight, wasn't it?"
"It was nasty, Roy." She grimaced, "Why would you do that? You're supposed to be training, not killing people."
"For starters, that thing ain't a person." Roy spoke with a mocking smile.
"It's a living, breathing creature," She argued, "It's not just some inanimate 'thing' whose sole purpose is to be slaughtered by you."
"Calm down, Wen." Roy spoke, rolling his eyes. "I ain't getting any fun out of killing these Koopas if that's what you think. I'm not some kind of satish or nothing."
"It's sadist," She corrected, "And I wouldn't say you aren't. You looked like you were having a pretty good time."
"Yeah, 'cause I was tryin' out a new move," Roy countered.
Wendy wasn't so convinced.
"I'm training, Wen." He said defensively, "What'd you think I'd be doing down here? If I'm gonna' be the best fighter in the world, I gotta' go all out."
"Oh please." Wendy scoffed at his ambitions.
"Besides," Roy remarked, "These Koopas can bounce back from just about anything."
"That doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to them, just because you know they'll heal." She insisted.
"Why not?"
"Because it's wrong."
"Says you."
"Says every decent person in this castle."
"Not Ludwig."
"I said 'decent'."
Wendy paused. "Speaking of him, that's why I came down to here."
"What's up?" Morton suddenly asked.
He'd caught sight of his sister in between reps and had gotten curious enough to come over. He toweled down his face and bulky arms. He was as tall as his older brother Roy but was a bit bigger in terms of muscular build. MJ squinted, making the star-shaped scar over his eye contort.
"I need to talk to you guys about Ludwig." She said, "Come into town with me."
"No." Roy denied immediately.
"Why not?" She frowned.
He rolled his eyes and said, "You know why."
"This is important!" Wendy persisted.
Roy said with a hint of irritation, "It always is."
"I didn't know seeing your 'boyfriend' was such a big emergency," Morton snickered.
Wendy glared at him and said, "It's not about that. And he's not my boyfriend."
"If you don't wanna see that chump," Roy said, "Then what you wanna' go into town for?"
"You'll see." She promised, "Come on."
And, with them following or not, she headed back up the stairs. Roy at first looked put-out, then shrugged. He could train some more when he got back; if Wendy said it was important, whatever she wanted to talk about had to be important. It wasn't all the time she ventured down to the room that she deemed to be 'dirty, musty, and gross', after all.
Her brothers caught up to Wendy once she pulled open the door at the top of the stairs and stepped through. She led them past the throne room and through the kitchens. The kitchens was where Lemmy had fled to and he now came hurrying towards her.
"Where you going, Wen?" He asked.
"Into town," She said, pausing only for a moment.
Lemmy's eyes brightened. "Can I come?"
"No, baby, you're too small." She told him.
His face fell. "No I'm not!"
"Get lost, pipsqueak!" Roy cut in. "She said you can't come so move."
"You can't tell me what to do!" Lemmy declared.
Wendy said gently, "Sorry Lemmy, but this time you have to stay here. Next time I'll take you into town with me, I promise."
Lemmy mulled on that, then asked, "Can B-Jun come, too?"
"If he wants to." Wendy said quickly, mainly to get rid of him.
"Okay." Lemmy said, assuaged.
He guided his red-haired companion back into the kitchens as his elder siblings left the palace. They came to the courtyard next. There was a stack of potato crates about eight or nine feet high, with one placed at the front with its bottom busted out. The make-shift basketball goal was held together with lime green vectors that were coming from Iggy, who stood off to the side. Larry was off to the side using his magic to form a basketball so that he could do a layup and then vault himself in the air for a slam dunk.
"Larry! Iggy! Come on!" Wendy called.
Roy frowned. "You mean Brainiac and the twerp's coming with us, too?"
"You should really stop being so mean to your brothers," Wendy advised.
Larry came jogging over and couldn't keep the ball in his hands for all his showing off. He twirled it on one finger, rolled it over his shoulders and behind his head before Roy snatched it and popped it with one hand, making it shatter into a mess of shimmery blue light.
"Hey!" Larry cried out. "Why'd you do that!"
" 'Cause I felt like it," Roy shrugged. "Why? You gonna' do somethin' about it?"
"Yeah, you gonna' do something about it?" Morton echoed.
Larry balled his fists and said, "Shut your ugly face, Roy!"
"Why, you-"
"Listen!" Wendy interjected. "We're going into town because I need to talk to you all about something."
"Why can't we talk right here?" Larry asked.
"Ludwig might be listening." Wendy said, "The sooner you cooperate, the sooner you can be back here to go on about your business. Got it?"
"Tch. Whatever," Roy said, "Still don't see why the twerp has to come with us."
"Because the matter concerns us all." Wendy said in answer. "Let's go."
A/N: My head is hurting so, so, super bad right now. I'm surprised I finished this chapter. Sorry if some of it seems dragging or redundant. I hope you like it nonetheless.
If you do or don't, please review! Your feedback would mean the world to me in my current sick-ish state. Until next time!
~DymonGold~