Okay so…it would seem that the email system is up and running. No stats still but you know, at least people get emails again. I will be updating this sporadically but remember; stories are all available without bullshit on AO3.
The tournament loomed close and for that reason, it required a trip to the city for supplies. Lenses, a new phone for Ken, and finally, scouring the arena. It had been open to the public for tourist reasons, though mostly baren in the late morning. The fabled Suval'hal Arena was grand, colorful, surrounded by mountains, standing in front of a waterfall, plastered with cultural architecture, and patrolled by guards to make sure troublemakers wouldn't do vandalism.
The last time Ken had been here, the actual arena was situated in the middle of a lake with a bridge to opposite ends for the participants and a platform for spectators that stood a fair distance away. Now, the gap had been shortened considerably and stands had been constructed, surrounding the entire arena completely. That meant that the bridges were essentially tunnels now.
One could still clearly hear the rushing water underneath.
"Fuck me, he finished it fast," Ken breathed out under the comfort of his hood. He pursed his lips, to quell the acidic ghost of memories. He looked around, looked at the stands, looked at the throne that overlooked the arena.
"Mm-hm," hummed Juri in agreement. "If you're ruthless enough, you can build Rome in a day."
Ken nodded ponderously and padded about on the path on which the guards would let people walk. He felt the reassurance of Juri watching him, then followed behind down the long, winding walkway that led away from the arena and to a barren parking lot, devoid of people or vehicles sans a singular car that stood parked under the shade of a nearby tree.
A young boy stood by the hood; he didn't stand there before. He had his face buried in his phone and two headphones over his ears, probably bored out of his mind while watching the car. He was…there was something familiar about him. Something that made Ken stop and stare at him while Juri continued without him. When it occurred to her that he wasn't following along, she came to his side and took a look at what had staggered him.
And the answer became quite clear for the both of them.
Juri said something or another that didn't amount to calling his name but he didn't hear her, already halfway across the parking lot, closing the distance between himself and the kid.
"Mel…?" he asked tentatively, and the boy looked up. The phone was dropped onto the ground alongside the headphones, thrown somewhere along the way, and forgotten. Mel saw Ken coming and started running too. They met in the middle and Mel threw his arms around his father's neck while Ken lifted him off the ground and swung him around, heels kicking, hoods falling off. It was as wild and joyous as their friendly bouts in the backyard, the ones Ken had been dreaming of, reminiscing of, fearing he'd never experience them again in all his time on the run. Only when he sat his son down, did the truth, the joy of Mel being here become set in stone for him.
"Dad…" Mel whimpered through the first of many sobs and Ken's throat choked to a close while he cradled his son against his chest, closing his eyes tightly against the burn of tears – then opened them again to see Juri who stood a few meters away, still as a stone. Without a word, she nodded once and walked towards the bike, sitting on its seat and waiting, letting the fractured family have its privacy.
From the stairwell, heels clicked against the stone steps and Ken scantily looked up, a moment's fear paralyzing him until he saw her. A woman; tall, blonde wavy hair, blue eyes. She carried a binder of documents under her arms, looking through the first page when she looked up and saw two pieces of her family. Fuck. Ken couldn't help himself.
And neither could Eliza, skipping down the stairs and sprinting at speeds, he didn't know she was capable of until she joined in on the embrace. He swung an arm around her and held her tight, smiling as she began to cry helplessly, as it brought overwhelming feelings over him.
The two of them here.
He didn't think to ask why. He couldn't think of why. He just held them close and basked in the familiarity. In how they smelled the same, cried the same. How familiar their voices were. Goddamn, he had missed them so awfully much.
"God, I'm so sorry," Ken said, voice grainy, face wet. He wiped it but it did the absolute square root of nothing. Mel kept his arms around him, crushing his face against his chest and Eliza let out a pearl of genuine, heartfelt laughter through her tears, rubbing snot and ruined makeup off her face without a care.
"It's fine. I just…" she began, a little more composed and Ken wished he had a tissue for her. "I can't believe you're here."
"Me neither. I…I really don't know what to say."
And through all of this Ken forgot that Juri was watching the whole thing. And it sort of occurred to him that he had a lot to explain to both parties. The feeling of non-reality, possibly conflict hit him hard then, putting a huge damper on this happy reunion – just as it fueled his resolve. Just for a moment, just long enough for Eliza to cup his face and tenderly kiss him – long and hard like they were still married.
Ah, now the reality hit him. But he was happy nonetheless to see them both.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you coming back home soon?" Mel asked, wiping his face clean with the sleeve of his shirt.
The question stung but Ken answered with honesty. "I can't. Not yet. When I find out who did this to us, you can bet everything that I will."
"And that someone – is here?" Eliza asked.
"Yes."
She closed her eyes and nodded, trying not to overreact to that. Ken knew what he had told her in the letter – that someone had uprooted their lives. Warning her of the dangers ahead. Promising her truth, and if not that, happiness.
"I know what you've been trying to do, Dad," Mel said, a mite sheepish because he wasn't used to seeing his own father crying; suppose no kid was.
Ken looked at him and tried not to explode with pride, with relief. Tempered by the knowledge that Mel – and Eliza were never thinking of him as a monster. And still, perhaps a little selfishly, Ken couldn't stop himself from being a little heartbroken at the divorce. It was such a stupid thing to get upset over now, especially when they had this reunion. Certainly when he had left her alone to pick up the pieces.
He deserved the truth. She deserved happiness.
Ken snapped the bitterness back and looked at Juri's steely expression. She gestured at him urgently as a reminder that they couldn't stay here forever.
There ended up being a lot more overflowing emotions before the pair–-group made it back to base. The apartment stood modestly cleaned, undermined by candy wrapping on the donated table. With two bedrooms, nothing was amiss. And yet as it occurred to Ken, one room was a testament to his relationship with Juri. A lot needed to be explained.
"Tea or coffee?" Juri asked, completely apathetic while she took a few mugs from the mug rack. The table only had two chairs, so Ken opted to stand up while Eliza and Mel sat down, looking around their modest surroundings.
Mel shook his head while Eliza answered with a polite smile. "Tea, thank you."
Ken noted that she had been eying Juri curiously, then glancing over at him for answers while Juri added water to the kettle. While the water boiled, she stood next to him, earning another glance from Eliza and subsequently Mel. It lingered while Ken went to fetch the water and tea, pouring Eliza a generous cup.
"Alright, dear," Eliza began once she had her cup. "What has happened?"
Ken nearly choked on his tongue, looking at Juri, wondering where to start. He took a deep breath and began from the very beginning; fleeing Nayshall, following the trail to Metro City, meeting Juri (which led to a hasty introduction of her, eschewing their relationship), the false arrest and prison raid, life or death situations, sleepy fishing towns, more paper trails, the journey to Hong Kong. His heart nearly fell out of his ass when he had to recount the human trafficking ring and the raid on the mansion, forgoing his emotional breakdown but the heartbreak must have been apparent on his face.
His discomfort must have riled Eliza to an extent as she aimed some of that vitriol at Juri – just for a moment. A moment was enough to irritate her.
"He went to hell and back for the both of you. Got tased, got beaten up, got pistol-whipped, got shot at with a crossbow, crossed mountains and rivers just so he could find out who fucked him over. If that doesn't make him a hero, then I don't know what does," she said with just the tiniest hints of pride. Ken looked at her in surprised relief.
Eliza lifted her brow, in parts shock, parts discomfort. "And where does it leave you?"
"Oh, I'm just a badass dragon who kicks a few asses when the going gets tough."
The answer didn't delight Eliza but it filled her with some level of understanding. Or even the realization that something else was happening under the surface. She straightened herself primly and drank her tea with firm poise and quiet contemplation. She looked like herself, acted like herself but things were different. He viewed her differently.
Mel, ignoring or not noticing his mother's discomfort, looked at Ken with that childlike admiration that never left him no matter how old he got. "Did you give them hell, Dad?"
"I did my best, buddy. I like to think I did," Ken smiled at his son, then diverted the topic to the pink, glowing elephant in the room, gracelessly fumbling into the topic. "So why are you here?"
The silence filled the room, tense and thick as Mel looked at his mother and Eliza looked at the tabletop until she finally bit out an answer. "I was doing some business."
"Do I want to know?" Ken asked, with a strong feeling that he already knew the answer. And it subsequently floored him.
"I don't think you should know," Eliza shook her head.
"Mom, that's not fair," Mel stood up from his chair. "Just tell him. Say you're selling the company to that old guy with the cane!"
"I…why? I mean…" Ken struggled for the right words, but Eliza pinned him with a stare, the words leaving her mouth before they were thought through.
"Ken Masters, you left us. You're not the boss of me. Married or not."
We're not married, Ken wished to remind her. Yet married chilled the air. And it reminded him to calm down before he flared up. "…You can do whatever you want. Was just taken off guard, is all."
His response, leveled and disconnected, made Eliza look up at him with worry. Sure, it was his money, his family's pride and joy, his father's legacy. And yet…all the business jargon went flying out the window with the destruction of his life. Naturally, the duties fell onto Eliza – then Mel when he got older. Even when his name was cleared, there was a chance that this mess would hang over their heads until the end of time.
Ah, the world lived to disappoint, didn't it?
The silence was allowed to stretch out for a long time, long enough to really make the tension palpable.
"I'm sorry, honey…" Eliza finally said, although more to her tea than to him.
Ken relented, guilty over the mess this entire conversation was becoming. "Why? It's a constant reminder of me. I understand why you'd want to move on. In more ways than one."
More ways than one. A stark, unintentionally sharp, reminder of what had been lost. Of what could and did indeed break a marriage. And in its implications, there was a quiet admission that Eliza didn't pick up or attribute to the pair of Ken and Juri or the open secret kept from her. And if she did notice, it wasn't readily apparent.
Not even when she looked at Juri again and the two women glared at one another. Ugh, they were gonna have that conversation right here, right now, weren't they?
Ken, preparing for whatever might come from this, rubbed his hands over his face and announced; "Okay so…I have a feeling that we're sitting on a ticking timebomb."
The silence that followed was short as all eyes turned to look at him.
"I need to talk to you first, Juri. Then, Eliza, I need to talk to you second. Mel, I'm gonna talk to you last."
"Huh? Why me last?" the kid pouted.
"Ladies first," Ken said to assure his son.
He didn't get to ask if these arrangements were okay as Juri got to her feet without a word and Ken followed her out to the balcony, closing the door soundly behind them. There was no guarantee they wouldn't be heard but it was better than not trying. The lenses were beginning to strain his eyes but he didn't have the case with him when he removed them from his eyeballs so he had to stand with them resting on his fingertips.
"I know, you're not loving this," he began once his vision adjusted to the changes. "But if it's not too much to ask; could you two get along, just until we figure this out? You know, no death stares and sarcasm and whatnot?"
Juri shrugged, souring while she leaned over the railing and stared over the busy marketplace. "Pfft, you know why she fucking hates me. People don't get along that easily when such volatile feelings are involved. It doesn't matter what you tell 'em."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You do."
"I don't."
"You do, Ken. And you gotta tell her. Unless you want me to break her heart with some truth bombs. I can make her cry her heart out if that's what you want."
Her voice turned dark and acidic, not like she was planning to do it but it made Ken uncomfortably aware of what she was insinuating and confirmed his worst fears. Women's intuitions were the darndest things, huh? And in its stead, it made something within Ken with fear and quiet rage. Before he was even aware of it, his hands balled into fists.
"Don't threaten her."
"Oh please," Juri rolled her eyes. "I'm just telling you to stop fucking dancing around the obvious. She's gonna put two and two together sooner or later."
"We're divorced."
She snorted and turned around, resting her back against the railing. "Yet she obviously still wants you."
"Then why did she leave me?" Ken asked and wanted to kick himself in the balls for such an obvious, stupid question.
"You wrote her a letter, right? Well, answer this; if the whole world bought into the notion that your spouse was some psychotic terrorist and hounded you over it, wouldn't you leave that person just to get away from? Even if you still very much love them?"
Fine, fine. Fuck. Ken knew this. He knew. He understood why. He accepted it. It didn't leave him any less flustered.
"This is already hard enough without you being so-so jerkish, Juri."
She gave him a hard, apathetic stare. "You tell her that when she discovers we've been sharing a bed. Divorced or not, she's not gonna start giving me basic courtesy with the knowledge of me fucking your brains out. Not telling her that is a lie by omission you wouldn't want to get caught in."
It sounded like an accusation but rather, hopefully, it was meant as a warning. Of chaos and hellfire to come from a woman scorned. If Ken didn't temper her. It would be helpful to keep his head above water when he talked to Eliza about it. Break it to her that he, despite everything, had moved on.
Part of him loved her; a bigger part loved Juri. He knew this, he had known for a while. It was just the weight of being confronted with it. Of having to tell the news to a woman and aim for peaceful coexistence lest he lost her – and the one standing in front of him now.
A fear that suddenly made itself so overwhelmingly potent.
Ken opened his mouth to say something, anything but found his resolve faltering. Shit, and it was his call. He lifted his gaze when he felt a hand press up against his cheek and looked at Juri, looking at the same worries mirrored in her eyes. Of losing. The sight of it was as unsettling as it was reassuring.
"I'm sorry," Ken uttered. "It's…today's been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster. Eliza is reasonable, I promise you that. I'll try talking to her."
Juri narrowed her eyes a bit. "What if she asks you to come back? Asks with your son?"
Ken froze. Standing so close, being met with such raw fear, there was no place to hide. It felt horrible to get staggered by such honesty. Such a possibility of a promise to past prime. In the face of Juri, it felt awful to think of, especially when Ken was suddenly faced with the thought of never seeing her again. Never touching her again.
"I don't think I can go back to the person I was. None of us are ever the same again," he answered in a soft whisper, almost breathless at the vision of disappointment in Mel's eyes. "She knows that too. I can see it in her."
Juri sighed and kept her touch on him, brushing her thumb against his skin. Her hand was warm and soft, so damn effective in settling Ken's woes. He wondered if he ever told her how well, she calmed him down.
"You got two more conversations, Kento," she said quietly and pulled her hand back. It felt like such a great loss that Ken was momentarily certain, he was floating in the middle of some deep, dark ocean without her. Selfish, terribly, terrified, he leaned in to kiss her hastily, taking all of her in. Taking what he could get.
Juri looked surprised, then genuinely grateful, giving him a quick nod and headed inside. Despite the ease of her movements, Ken got the strong feeling that it wasn't easy for her either to leave. He remained where he stood, composing himself as the door to the balcony went open again and Eliza walked out. Ken was certain she looked different since they had last met.
Indeed she did. A little older, a little wearier, a little sadder. With the sight of her, the weight of what they had all been put through hit like a slap in the face. Only once had Ken fallen apart in front of Eliza; at his father's funeral. It had been at his weakest and he had hated himself for it. As the man, it was his job to be reliable, be the shoulder to cry on.
And now Juri had seen the entirety of his emotional spectrum so the man being the immovable, strong type was a load of baloney anyway. He steered the ship. He steered. He tried and he fucked it up. He tried and he crashed it. He tried and he fucking capsized the whole thing. Juri looked at him without judgment for it. So did Eliza now – albeit with a heavy underside of regret.
For them both, Ken was thankful.
"I'm sorry. I'm such a mess today. I wasn't prepared to see either of you so soon," he rubbed his eyes free of tears. "It's…it's been a lot."
"I understand," Eliza said warmly, wrapping her arms around Ken and pressing her head against his shoulder. "But what matters now is that we're together again. Maybe, hopefully, we can put it all behind us. Go back to the way things used to be when it's over."
Gingerly, Ken held her close but told her in return;"…I don't think we can, honey."
Eliza said little as she pulled back and regarded him with a puzzled look. It would be and had been a long day for the both of them. Ken felt his insides quiver at having to break the truth to her. He wondered how much of the brittle emotional instability she could see. Framing, sudden separation, single-handed divorce, and guilt could do a lot to a person. Longing could change spirits, Ken had to remind himself.
"Too much has changed. Including me," he said apologetically.
"…Because of her?" Eliza asked without meeting his eyes.
"Because of a lot of things. Things I've seen, things I've done. It molds you."
"And…what about her? What is she to you? Involved in the conspiracy? A captor?"
It irked Ken how she seemed adamant to pivot back to Juri. What he had to do right now was to just tell her and tell her why. What he wanted was to do it as gently as possible so it didn't hurt her more than necessary. But pain could not be avoided and in the defeat of that truth, Ken answered; "…Lover. Well, it didn't start that way and I didn't intend for things to happen like this when she tagged along but-"
Eliza didn't let him finish.
Before either of them was aware of it, she had raised her hand and slapped it across the side of his face. Done it with such force and primal vitriol, Ken wouldn't have expected it a day earlier in their marriage. Maybe being apart, being through their own respective hell had filled Eliza with pent-up anger that a betrayal like this, illogical and all, was the drop to make the cup overflow. She cursed more than she had ever done before, staring at the floor, staring at her hands, suddenly realizing what she had done and she looked up, abject remorse in her eyes.
"Why…?" she pushed softly, dazed. Maybe at him. Maybe at herself.
Ken tried not to bite back or hiss at the sting or glare at her. It hurt. It hurt him deeply, he had to admit. All he did was utter a singular truth, albeit through a panicked, rapidly manic filter. "Because you ended our marriage, okay? I get it. I really do. I don't blame you. I know why."
Did he really? He hadn't actually heard the gist of it from Eliza. He heard it from Guile, from Juri. But never from the woman about whom this pertained. A plain secret, intentional or otherwise that she'd have to reveal herself.
"Because you left. E-everyone told me how horrible you were. I wanted to believe you because I know you better than them but it…it became too much. Stock was falling. The media. Reporters. Rumors. Harassment. Police. Mel getting bullied. It's-was too much," Eliza said with a shudder, covering her face with her hands and it confirmed Ken's speculations. It aided his conclusions.
Too much had changed.
Even Eliza, with her gentle truth, careful and affectionate but protective against a woman whom she thought had a root in all this, was now still unendingly kind to Ken despite the nightmare between them. Even in their youth, she looked at him with adoration while he traveled across the world, traveled after Ryu, hunted after Shadaloo, fought tournaments and rivals. The wildlife. Taming of a flame.
One day, he'll burn you, Ken remembered the hushed whisper of his in-laws utter to Eliza behind a closed door. How goddamn right they'd been.
His face stung, his eyes burned. He didn't push for an apology, not right now. Not when the process of brittle feelings being hurt, repaired, then hurt some more, maybe repaired again was circling above them like an ouroboros. Until they healed or shattered into dust.
"I tried seeing someone else, to move on, you know?" Eliza admitted apropos of nothing.
There was shame in that statement, which had no place there at all. She divorced her husband, then moved on with her life. She told Ken this. So what? Ken struggled to find it uncomfortable, logical, or rude. Or some combination of the three.
Acceptance. He settled for acceptance. She deserved happiness.
"Good," he nodded and Eliza smiled slightly in return, marred by the ghost of disappointment.
Fight for your family.
Ken shook that away. He'd fight for the truth, for the future. For Juri – provided she'd let him. He was fairly certain it was impossible not to see how much he liked her. Not quite afraid of her despite what people might think. But the weight of two women's expectations bore down on him, making him more skittish, struggling for balance, looking at the window for some semblance of peace.
The clarity of such caused Eliza to ask; "What type of woman is she?"
Flinching at the question, Ken looked at her and she explained; "If I'm sticking by your side until this is over, I like to know what I'm working with. If it's as dangerous as it looks."
It wasn't exactly fear that made Eliza puff her chest up slightly at his scrutiny. Fascination, curiosity, combativeness. She looked hard at him, and he crumpled a bit under the pressure.
"Juri is a…she's a tricky person to get along with. At first, it was kinda like living with a wild animal. She didn't bite though because I fed her and kept a roof over her head so I was never scared of her. Think it gave me the edge to find out how she ticked. It made things easier. She's reliable and she can be good if you let her. But she got a tongue like a razor blade and the social decorum of an old rusty car so…"
Eliza narrowed her eyes, then pinched her brow together in sorrow. "I'm sorry, it has worn you down. It must have been hard on you."
Not for the reasons she was insinuating. Ken shook his head with a tired smile. Yes, he looked shrunk in but…
"The issue was never her," Ken promised. "It was the grey line I chose to walk on. I've seen a little bit of everything. I've been close to losing my mind so many times, it's not funny. She's used to that world and she guided me through it. She is…"
Here, Ken faltered and tried again a little more vaguely. "She has her own battles to fight. So we kept each other floating through the worst of it."
There were questions in Eliza's eyes, wonderment, curiosity, hurt. Abandonment. And for a moment, through a sudden flash, Ken felt so incredibly, unhappily angry that he almost let it run roughshod like he wanted to return the slap. He understood yet part of him didn't. Who in the fuck was she to act like only she knew what abandonment felt like? How dare she dissolve their marriage, knowing full well that he was out here risking his life for her sake. Moving on, seeing someone else, selling his parents' legacy.
Fuck her!
The red-hot brief anger crumpled in shame over his own irrationality. He understood the logic of her choices, the immense pressure she had been crushed under. Ken swallowed his fallacies, sinking into the miserable shame. Betrayal, irrevocable, terrible, agonizing betrayal.
The fact of the matter was that there was no such betrayal. Only irreversible changes.
"Right," Eliza breathed into the quiet. "I'll go get Mel."
Ken could only nod, wanting to curl into a corner and scream without a sense of resolution. He had to suck down his emotions when the door to the balcony went open yet again and Mel stepped up, worry plastered all over his face. Familiar in a way that felt like a punch to the gut. A kid watching his parents' union crumble into dust.
"When all of this is over, will you come back? I mean, sometimes it feels like the world that I lost you to is too big for me. I just…changes are too much. I freaking hate that all of this is happened," Mel admitted, rapid, trembling, heartfelt, reaching out to seize Ken's arm with his hands, begging, looking into the eyes of his father.
"Back…" Ken began, shuddering with the aftereffect of the proverbial gut punch, struggling with the difficult words to answer. Not a no but…"It's complicated. I'll stay in your lives. I won't leave you alone again."
"Even if Mom finds someone else again?"
"It didn't work out the first time?"
Mel smiled like a fiend. "No. I'm glad it didn't. Fuck him."
"Language, mister," Ken let out a wry laugh. He sighed and continued; "Your mother and I have become different people. I don't think we can be any more than friends."
"That's fine! Just don't go again, please?" the young man pleaded. His eyes stood bright, glistening in the dull daylight. Brittle with emotions. Desperation, a little bit of anger. Ken looked at him and noted how he too had changed. Cheekbones and jawline sharpened, deeper shadows under his eyes, and a fading bruise under his lip. Stress, bullying. It made Ken want to cry and rage all at once.
He didn't. Miraculously, to give his son some hope, he did not. Even if he wasn't even halfway immune to the warm clutch of Mel's hands or his wide, blue eyes.
"I promise I won't. When this is all over, I'll be here for as long as you want me," Ken assured him, low and weak, wrought with absolute crushing emotion. Surprisingly Mel faltered. Faltered in a way that made him wary of a second incident like this, concerned about the future. So raw in a way no kid his age should have to feel. The resolve to not hurt him or his mother anymore stabilized Ken some. So did the firm hug he shared with his son.
"And that lady? Mom doesn't like her. Says she looks like trouble," Mel wiped his face clean, looking like a guilty prisoner for spilling such secrets.
"Take it from me that she's a good person. You can trust her," Ken assured him and was happy to at least make one part of this quartet work.
"So what's the plan?" Juri asked as the first thing when Ken and Mel entered the apartment.
"We should…" Ken trailed off but he was in no headspace to actually formulate anything.
"Look," Eliza offered, standing up with her mug. "I can drag out the selling procedures until you get your hands on JP. He wants to finalize it on the day after the tournament so until then I can spill some information on his whereabouts and whatnot."
Instantly it dawned upon Ken what she was offering and he livened up and stepped in front of her, raising his hands in protest. "No, I can't involve you."
"It's fine, Ken. He ruined our lives too," she assured him with something that resembled a smile. And…she was right. Of course, she was and Ken couldn't find himself protesting against it. He looked at Mel, then at his mother to tell her that under no circumstances would their son be involved in this.
It was a condition she'd need to adhere to.