Chapter 13
What goes around…
She fell headfirst into a pond, ducks and geese flew everywhere. Groaning and sitting up with a Lilypad on her head Rashid looked at her surroundings. It was the old village she and Magdalyn had lived in years before and there were the same annoying people she had seen pointing at her time and again.
Grumbling the soaked mortal walked up the damp sand of the pond and squished her way to the small shack her and Magdalyn had called home. There were footprints where she had been in pond water and a minnow fell from her pants as she walked. 'Damn Kronika' she did that on purpose.
Rashid eventually came face to face with their metal sheet door and slowly banged on it a couple times to open it. As soon as it opened Rashid saw her old living room and crammed small kitchen. Walking in she ran a finger on the wooden table with a loose leg. The stained rug they found a few streets away, the bowl of fruit that was on the counter when they both swore, they would eat healthier…
Then something came to mind; looking down at herself Rashid gasped, she was as dumpy as she used to be before getting involved with Shinnok. "O sweet mother…"
Face palming, she carefully walked into the narrow hallway and knocked on her sister's door. Not hearing anything she walked in and poked her head inside. "Magdalyn?"
Her sister was sitting on the floor cross-legged and angry, "What do you want?"
Rashid frowned and came in, sitting on her bed. "I wanted to talk to you."
Her sister was having none of it however and turned away from her. "Listen I know I said some pretty rotten things earlier, but we have to come to an agreement here?!"
Snapping her head in Rashid's direction Magdalyn scoffed, "You just finished cussing me out and throwing a book at me; and you expect me to be cooperative?"
She blinked and shrugged, "Yeah…"
"You're an idiot." Magdalyn got up to leave her bedroom when Rashid got in the way. "Move!"
The second Magdalyn went outside Rashid knew it was all over. "No Magdalyn…"
They locked eyes with one another, the sharp eyes of Magdalyn and the soft ones of Rashid. Silence dragged until one of them finally spoke.
"Why don't you just let me go?" Magdalyn shut her eyes and looked away irritated. "You never wanted me around anyway. You never cared where I went or what I did and now you expect me to believe that you care?"
She looked at her sister with a hurt expression; all her cold characteristics and pain coming to the surface. "You never wanted me around or anything to do with me until dad kicked us out… What makes you think I can't find someone who cares about me even more?"
That's when it all made sense; the pieces came together in Rashid's mind. This was never about leaving home on a rebellious whim, or the usual entitled mind set that her sister always portrayed.
"Magdalyn… If you were that miserable to begin with, why didn't you ever say anything before?" Rashid looked at her sibling with new understanding.
"We were always fighting…or you were always gone to work." Magdalyn looked away embarrassed, "I also know you weren't too thrilled about taking me in because you were trying to get a life of your own."
Rashid sighed knowing that to be a fact. Since they had both been old enough their father had kicked them out of the house to live on their own. Reluctantly Rashid had let Magdalyn stay with her out of necessity, but they rarely got along due to their opposite natures.
"I know you were miserable but that doesn't mean you have to go drag everyone else down with you." Rashid sat on a chair and looked at her sister as she wiped her eyes with her shirt. "I never really minded having you live with me…"
"It didn't feel like that to me…"
She sighed, "I know; I was wrong to make you feel that way but it's no excuse. There was a lot that I wanted for myself, but it always felt like it was taken away in some form or fashion…"
They looked at one another as they began to make an unseen connection. "By the time I had a chance to keep something and make it mine I didn't know what to do with it. You're right I did see you as a burden but that eventually changed, didn't it?"
Magdalyn looked at her sister and realized they weren't so different after all. She had been cursed with an illness that made her invalid and gave her a limp for the rest of her life. No one immediately jumped at the chance to care for her until their father forced her sister to take her in. Rashid had pushed her own needs aside for her benefit, whether she liked it or not they had been stuck together.
"I'm sorry…" Rashid said sincerely that snapped Magdalyn out of her thoughts.
"What?" Magdalyn felt her heartbeat and her vision began to blur from tears.
Rashid sighed and said it once more, "I'm sorry that I made you feel unwanted and… I should've been there for you. I wouldn't have it any other way than what we have right now."
It was silent for a moment until they felt the walls of their home began to shake. The winds outside picked up and the sky darkened with flashes of lightning sounding out through the village. The ceiling caved in, and the floor ripped open having the two sisters hold onto one another and scream as they fell.
All the way down into the unknown.
Mom… Mom… MOM!
With a start Rashid bolted up in bed; her dark hair a ruffled mess as her eyes looked at her surroundings in a panicked state. "What!?"
"We're late…" A familiar male voice spoke to her as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. To her disbelief after opening them and seeing more clearly Rashid had three teenagers sitting on her bed looking at her with concern and confusion.
"Late…" She spoke to herself and slowly some memory came to her from what felt like a bad dream and gradually she phased into what was her reality.
Tiberius, Lucas, and Evah all looked at their mother with wide eyes.
"What happened did you come in late again?" Tiberius looked around the room and grimaced seeing clothes and misfiled paperwork on her floor.
"Yeah… I… I guess so." Holding her head Rashid looked at the clock and jumped out of bed after seeing that she was late. "Crap it's 8:30…"
Lucas snorted, "I know…" and handed his mother her shoes.
"We were going to get Uncle Raiden to drive us, but he couldn't…" Evah peeped as she looked for Rashid's hairbrush.
She stopped dead in her tracks. "Uncle Raiden?"
Her kids looked at her baffled, "Yeah he had to drop Aunt Magdalyn and the others off; there wasn't any room for us." Tiberius cocked an eyebrow. "Did you drink last night or something?"
Without saying anything Rashid ran out of her room and looked throughout the house. "Where are they?" She looked at her surroundings nervously.
"Who are you talking about? What's the matter?" Lucas grabbed his mother by the shoulders and made her look at him.
It took a second, but Rashid finally calmed down, "I'm sorry I had a freaky nightmare and…Nothing was okay." She slowly explained in limited detail what she'd experienced; at the end she inhaled before breathing out shakily. Her children calmed down as well and sat next to her also.
Evah brought out a photo album. "Look mom…" Flipping through the pages Rashid slowly began to realize that this was the final reality. "See? We're all here; everything's okay."
The photos showed Rashid, Tiberius, Lucas, and Evah all sitting with her sister and three other children and… Raiden.
"Raiden?" She blinked and looked at Tiberius.
"Uncle Raiden? Yeah, that's him…" The boy ran a hand through his brown hair and pointed at another picture. "That's all of us when we visited Wu Shi academy last summer remember?"
It was Raiden but not Raiden… His eyes were brown not an electrifying blue. His hair was dark and tied up instead of being a silvery white and his face was tan with some blemishes.
"Where's your dad?" Rashid looked up at her kids and they all looked at one another. "Which one?"
She sighed heavily. "What do you mean which one?"
"Mom that must've been one hell of a nightmare… You had me and Evah through a sperm bank and Lucas…" Tiberius frowned in disbelief.
They looked at the teenage boy who had his arms behind his head, "I'm a dumpster baby remember?" He looked down embarrassed for having to remind his adopted mother that he was illegitimate.
Rashid sighed and looked up at her kids, "Guys I'm sorry…" Looking up her heart swelled, and she pulled all three of them to her. Her two boys and daughter wide eyed but not complaining held her back just as the door opened.
"Hey I decided… What's going on?" Looking up Rashid saw Raiden. He was as tall as she remembered, and he looked familiar and soon Magdalyn joined his side looking as perplexed as he did. "You guys alright?"
Come to find out that they all lived together in the same two-story house separated by a staircase built on the outside. The bottom level was Magdalyn and Raiden's, and the top level was Rashid and the kids.
Raiden and Magdalyn had three children: Dante, Savannah and Nicos in that order with their aunt Fujin; Raiden's sister living in the basement.
"You might've taken too many aspirins; I remember your car pulling in around 1 last night. "Raiden took a swig of his sake before looking at Fujin try to feed Nicos by making airplane noises.
"I guess so…" Rashid was still unsure about the whole incident. She looked at her children and took in all their features. Now that they looked as normal as ever instead of one of the walking dead.
Tiberius was still thin and sickly with brown hair and dark green eyes; he still didn't like Savannah. Evah was slim and shapely with blonde hair and green eyes as well but rarely spoke but was close to Dante. Meanwhile Lucas had black hair with brown eyes and a couple of scarring's from when he was found as an infant. No more than six months old found injured at the bottom of a dumpster outside the funeral home she worked at.
It wasn't until Rashid met eyes with Magdalyn that she knew it hadn't been a dream. It was real all of it but that didn't stop from something more wonderful coming from the nightmare that was Mortal Kombat and tragedy that had torn them all apart in the first place.
There was only one question that had plagued her mind since she learned of their new existence. Where was Shinnok?
"So where... I mean have you guys seen Shinnok?" Rashid asked carefully looking at their expressions with some dread of not knowing where the hateful geezer was.
Raiden snorted, "You mean that old tax collector that comes by every month for rent?"
She dropped her fork, "Tax collector?"
Fujin snickered, "He was so mad last time; he thought we missed the rent date; he just forgot to check his mailbox."
The table erupted with laughter and speaking of the devil the doorbell rang. "I'll get it…" Rashid had a feeling she knew who that was.
Walking to the door with each step her heart pounded in her ears and just as she turned the knob and the door opened Rashid gasped, "Shinnok…"
Standing on the porch wearing a dark suit and looking spiteful with cold blue eyes and thin brushed back silver hair Shinnok glared at her. Here was the man that had punished her and her son time and time again. Always looking down on their existence and laughing cruelly every time she tried to pull away from his forceful advances.
Here Shinnok was reduced to a cold bill collecting mortal.
Truly, if anything in life was certain it was death and taxes.
"I said where is it?"
Rashid blinked, "Excuse me?" He'd been speaking to her while she was in her own thoughts.
He sighed but spoke a little less annoyed, "Where's the payment Ms. Skame? I told you and your family I was coming to get it a couple days earlier remember?"
"Right…the payment." Somehow with limited memory Rashid found the envelope with the house rent stuffed inside and handed it to the slim man as he started writing her a receipt on their porch.
She took it from him as their eyes met, "Thanks…"
His icy blue ones locked with her soft brown ones as their fingers touched while Rashid took the slip of paper from him.
She swallowed seeing him take her features in and pulled away hastily. Shinnok frowned and closed his binder before sticking it back under his arm. "I'll be back next month…" He put his fedora back over his silver hair and turned away before speaking once more.
"Do you think that's it between us?" His back was still turned to her as he spoke. She almost touched his shoulder with a soft hand. Her heart almost melted with compassion for him until remembering who she was dealing with.
"It must be… There's no other way." Rashid swallowed as she looked at the table in the kitchen behind her. It was filled with laughter and people that cared for one another.
"You'll be on your own you know… No one will want a woman with two bastards and a mute girl." The former fallen god growled barely looking over his shoulder at her.
"Maybe not anyone like you…but I can still hope." Rashid glared at him.
"You'll poison your heart with that garbage?" Shinnok hissed as he looked back at her once more.
"If garbage is what satisfies me than garbage I am. You'd never bother to dirty your hands with someone like me." Rashid growled at him earning a glare from the old man before he turned away once more and walked down the stairs and driving away.
She swallowed a lump in her throat; in a way Shinnok was right. What did she have left besides her three children, sister, brother in-law and extended family? Who in their right mind would want someone in her position?
"Was he bothering you?" Her eyes widened hearing a raspy voice speak to her. Turning in the direction it came from she couldn't believe who she was seeing.
"Reiko?"
A strong built figure climbed the stairs in her direction, brown eyes instead of pale white ones and no war paint was seen on his features. His dark hair was brushed back and not cut on the sides, but she could still tell it was him. Why was he here?
"Sorry I'm late; I got stuck at work but… Are you okay?" He looked at Rashid confused as she began to sob into his chest; leaving wet marks on his shirt as Reiko held her.
"Oh, I know…" He looked down at her as she cried. "It's that time of the month, isn't it?"
Rashid snapped her head up and frowned as her crying came to a halt. "What? No!"
He shrugged, "Well what's the deal you never cry and all of a sudden I show up and you're sobbing like you saw that damn chipmunk movie with the stupid penguin in it."
Rashid snorted and held him close to her, burying her face in his chest. Reiko sighed but returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her. "You're a pain in my ass."
They stayed outside for awhile longer until going inside and joining everyone for the remainder of dinner.
Magdalyn P.O.V
Looking around her Magdalyn saw her husband and three children sitting on the floor watching a movie on her sister's television. They normally wouldn't have come upstairs but since all their kids were so close, she didn't mind walking the steps with her limp.
She often wondered why things didn't work out between them the first time. Her being married to Raiden and Rashid being married to Shinnok.
That was until it finally made sense to her; they were never really a family in that situation.
Magdalyn and Rashid would have fought each other tooth and nail due to old resentment. Their husbands despised one another to the end of eternity.
Their children had been corrupted and miserable.
Magdalyn shook her head and decided to forget the past.
At least here Raiden had stability and was family oriented more than he'd ever thought he'd be. Reiko as stoic as he was made a connection with Rashid's children; giving them the guidance and affection that they had always needed.
Dante was a responsible older brother as he held helped Savannah through a game level on the Nintendo; letting her be the child she never had a chance to be.
"Are you tired?" Raiden asked Magdalyn who had been laying back and thinking about the literal past.
Shaking her head she smiled, "No I'm fine. Thank you…"
Magdalyn sighed and held Nicos close to her as he drifted off to sleep. It was Friday night and for everything that it was worth it'd been a hell of an experience for them all.
"You know…" Raiden whispered to Magdalyn as they sat and watched the kids play Nintendo. "I'm glad we ended up the way we did."
Magdalyn looked at him with surprise and confusion. "Why are you happy about that? It was a nightmare…"
He chuckled but wrapped an arm around her, "It might've been but that's why we're here now. Things could always be worse. But the longer I was separated from you the more I realized that I couldn't live without you…"
Magdalyn looked at the mortal man that was once a thunder god. "You gave it up?"
He nodded, "I figured it was time; I've done what I can and I'm more than confident that Liu Kang can handle the rest."
Without another word Raiden held Magdalyn and kissed her. It was a real kiss this time not bent on duty and necessity but real affection. As the night ended and the families went their separate ways the time coils in Kronika's keep came to a standstill.
Cetrion the elder goddess of death looked at Geras and smiled knowing that it had worked for the best and that the families would no longer be quarreling amongst one another.
"What of your brother Cetrion?" Geras let sand fall from his hand as he looked at the hourglass once more.
Cetrion's brow furrowed as she ran a gentle skeletal hand over Shinnok's face on the hourglass, "As fond as I am of him, I believe he is living the life that suits him…"
Believing her words and deciding to the end the conversation there Geras and Cetrion walked out of the Time keep and let the doors shut behind them. They took the sand pod that held Rashid and Magdalyn's story. When they began their journey as Two Mortal brides and beyond that before sealing it away in a time capsule that could only be opened to them.
From that point their story had ended. All the twists and turns that had resulted on a spontaneous whim of mortals and gods had finally ended.
Thus, the original story of Mortal Kombat continues…
Hey guys so whether you enjoyed this story or not thank you for reading this fanfiction concluding the original story, Two Mortal Brides.
It's been fun and as long as it took to crank out a sequel, I think it's time to wrap this one up and start working on other ideas. Or not depending on what you want to see (MkDemiGodzilla) I could bring some OC's back and give them their own story. Either way I'm going to let this series rest in peace. Thanks again for the views and sticking with me as a stumbling author. Take care and R&R
Two Mortal Brides
02/27/2016 - 08/15/2024