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Outworld, Mileena's Palace, Early Morning...
"Kurai? Wake up, my love..."
Kurai groans as his eyes flutter open after hearing Sadira's voice to see Jade lying down right beside him, watching him with concern. He notices that he is back in Outworld and in Kitana's old room, just like before when he was here only a few days earlier. After Jade sees him open his eyes, they look at each other with relief before she leans down and kisses his forehead softly.
They say nothing and fall into a deep silence as Jade gently plays with Kurai's hair while holding each other close. After a while Jade decides to break the silence. "You left me to save my mother... and you didn't tell me about Tanya." She says to him with a mellow tone.
Kurai sighs and gently places his forehead against Jade's chest before nodding. He continues to say nothing and allows Jade to say what she wants to say. She sighs. "I'm going to keep my promise to you, Kurai, and let you explain, but I want to know something first. Did you plan to tell me about Tanya or did you intentionally want to keep it a secret from me?" She asks calmly, but her voice cracks as tears begin to build in her eyes.
Kurai lifts his head slowly to look up at her. "I had every intention of telling you about Tanya, Jade. I wanted to tell you after I returned to Edenia, but I never found the right time. I never wanted to keep it secret from you to begin with, but Tanya asked me not to tell you because she and even Ophelia knew how you would react if you saw her." He answers her with a hoarse voice, which causes her to flinch at the fresh memory of her wounding her own mother, who had protected Tanya the moment Jade saw and instantly attacked her.
Jade nods with understanding and leans down to kiss Kurai tenderly on the lips. She was still angry that he didn't tell her sooner, but like she said to him back in Edenia, she knows the type of person he truly is. But that doesn't mean that she's not disappointed in him for not being able to find the right time to tell her the truth.
Regardless, while still disappointed, she silently forgives him for not telling her about Tanya, and also for leaving her behind to save her mother and his family. She holds him tightly against her until he gently taps her shoulder. "Where are the others? Are they alright?" He asks her curiously, voice still hoarse.
"Everyone is fine. Tired, but otherwise ok. Sindel and my mother have returned to Edenia to discuss things with the royals. But Kitana is still here. She's waiting for you. Jax and Sonya have returned to Earth Realm with Johnny Cage, and Liu Kang returned to the Wu Shi academy with Kung Lao. Also, Kuai Liang is here with his brother and Tomas... with Scorpion. He wishes to speak to you. Grandmaster Han returned to the Dark Wu Shi academy while Akuma is still here with Drake. And Drake... seems to be a little shaken up." She explains to him where the others are, but the mention of Drake being shaken up causes Kurai to sit up quickly. But that only caused him immense discomfort from the sudden movement.
Jade rubs his back tenderly as he looks over at her. "What do you mean "shaken up"? Surely not because of the demons, Lucifer and Shinnok?" He asks her curiously, which causes her to shake her head before she answers.
"No, beloved. Drake took off after Delilah after you fell unconscious. Han ordered Akuma to follow him to help in case he was needed. Apparently he was, because whatever Delilah said to Drake has left him in a catatonic state since he arrived. Not even Skarlet has been able to get him to speak." She continues to explain while he listens, leaving him wondering just what Delilah said to Drake that left him so shaken up that he refuses to even speak to Skarlet about it.
"What the hell did she say to him?" He wonders thoughtfully as he and Jade just sit in the bed together in silence.
With Drake, Skarlet's room...
"Drake, beloved, please talk to me. Last I saw you you were as happy as you possibly could be. But now? Now something's seriously wrong. That... Delilah woman obviously said something to you that is really bothering you, but you won't tell me." Skarlet tenderly says to Drake as he continues to tremble and shake from what Delilah had said to him while Delilah's voice echoes in his head.
Skarlet gently turns his head towards her with a pleading look. She kisses his cheek softly, which causes him to close his eyes and sigh deeply before she hold him close to get. "Drake, my beloved, please tell me what Delilah said to you that has you frightened so. If you can't tell me or your friends, who can you tell then?" She thoughtfully asks him making him think about her words for a moment before sighing.
Then Drake hears the familiar voice of Damashi. "Drake? You might as well tell someone, my young friend. She and your friends will find out sooner or later." He says to Drake, causing him to nod as he looks at Skarlet.
"Alright. I'll tell you, but it's not so much what... Delilah said to me. It's... It's what she knows about me." He explains as he scoots closer against the wall with his legs crossed on the bed.
Skarlet scoots closer and sits near him while taking his hand into hers. "What does she know about you then, Drake? What did she say to you?" She asks tenderly as Drake takes a deep breath and sighs before turning to look at her.
He pauses for a moment then answers. "I... I killed... my own mother..." He tells her, which causes Skarlet to pause at the answer.
What do you mean that you killed your own mother? How...?
Exactly what I said, Skarlet. I killed my own mother for abusing then abandoning me.
But... How could...?
Let me explain.
15 Years Ago...
"No! Mommy, stop! Please, don't!" A 12 year old Drake Lee shouts in pain as his mother smacks him across his already bruised face again.
"Stop your crying! Shut up! Just shut up! You pathetic little welp!" His mother shouts as she continues smacking harshly, but he only continues to cry and shout from the pain.
"AHHH!!! I'm sorry, Mommy! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me anymore! STOP!!!" Drake continues to shout.
Everyday, since I could remember, she would beat and belittle me for any reason she could think of to the point where my face or my body was bloody or bruised.
Why didn't anybody say or do anything about it? Why didn't anyone help you, darling?
Because she never took me anywhere. I was always left at home. She was always seen as a... a "beautiful", single woman, looking for a man to settle down with and have children.
...
But she had already had one that she despised and hated with every fiber of her being. Something about me, whatever it was, always set her off when she would take one look at me. Then I woke up one morning in our apartment in Tokyo to find her gone. She went out the previous night and when I couldn't find her, I hoped and PRAYED that she met the wrong guy and that he killed her.
...
After that I gathered whatever supplies I could carry and wandered around Japan for about six months until I came across the Dark Wu Shi Academy. That's when Kurai found me just as he was returning from another one of his journeys. Heheheh.
12 year old Drake, dirty and covered in sweat and dirt, carrying minimal supplies in his backpack, walks up to the gates of the Dark Wu Shi Academy and looks up at the Demon Oni statue on top of the gate.
He wonders if he could ask for permission to stay a few days to clean himself up. But he begins to decide against it and turns to walk away but stops when he hears steady footsteps behind him.
He turns to see a young man, Kurai, wearing a gray shirt with a black leather jacket, blue jeans and brown work boots, walking up behind him to enter the Academy gates but stops when he sees the young and dirty Drake in his path. Kurai looks at Drake and leans down to examine him with a puzzled expression. Seeing Kurai staring at him, Drake trembles and leans away while beginning to think that Kurai will shove or push him out of the way.
"You alright, kid?" Kurai asks him softly.
Drake looks up at him. "What?" He asks with confusion.
Kurai then points at him with a friendly smile. "You. Are you. Ok?" He repeats slowly as Drake nods his head slowly, not understanding why Kurai was so interested in his well being or why he hadn't pushed him out of the way yet. Many others before him have done so due to his poor appearance.
Kurai then stands up straight with a friendly smile and nods. "Good. But are you sure you're ok? You look like you could use a bath and something to eat. You're looking a little underweight here, kid." He persists, which causes Drake to nod quickly before he sniffles as tears build up in his eyes and begins to cry silently.
No one had ever paid attention to him for this long before or even asked if he was okay. Seeing Drake begin to cry, Kurai kneels on his knees in front of him. "Hey, kid. You ok? I didn't mean to offend you." He says to Drake sincerely making Drake shake his head and wipe his tears away.
"No, no. I'm ok. Sorry. Really. I just... I've just never received this much attention before. This is the longest I've ever spoken to someone in six months." He explains to Kurai, whose eyes widen at his answer.
"Six months? Kid, where's your mother?" He asks incredulously as Drake flinches at the mention of his mother, which Kurai notices and instantly understands.
"I... I don't know, sir. She just suddenly left six months ago without... without telling she was going." He continues to explain as Kurai clenches his fist tightly before standing up once he calms down.
He looks down at Drake, who kept his head down and continues to cry while trembling. It was at this moment, Kurai makes his decision. He leans down to look at Drake again. "You hungry, kid?" He asks curiously as Drake's head shoots up and looks at Kurai incredulously.
"Wh...What...?" He asks tearfully, hoping that this stranger isn't playing games with him.
Kurai chuckles and points at him again. "You, kid. Are you. Hungry?" He asks slowly again as Drake instantly nods his head at the thought of food.
Kurai smiles and stands up while examining Drake closely, specifically his dirty clothes. "And you obviously need a bath. Do you need a place to stay too?" He continues with his questions as Drake remains dumbfounded and continues to nod.
Kurai nods in return and begin to lead Drake through the gates to the academy. After walking through the gates, Kurai turns his head and looks down at Drake. "By the way, kid, you got a name?" He asks curiously.
Drake nods before answering. "Uh-huh. Drake. Drake Lee. You?" He asks in return.
Kurai smiles with a nod. "Yeah. Call me Kurai."
After that, I cleaned myself up, got myself some food, and got the best nights sleep I ever had in my life. Besides the existence of Percival Silva, life at the academy wasn't all bad. Kurai made it more enjoyable though.
And when did you begin your training?
Oh, yeah. Hahaha. Yeah, I started my training a year after Kurai brought me into the academy. I actually requested it. I was 13 when I started, but it wasn't until I was 15 when my mother reappeared, asking the people of Okinawa if they had seen me or not. Kurai was out that night, when he heard my mother asking around for me...
What did he do?
He told me once that it was one of the only times he ever considered killing a woman. I mean, when he saw the state I was in when he first met me and saw me flinch after mentioning her, it was easy for him to figure out what type of mother she was. But he wanted to leave it to me to decide what I wanted to do. So... he came back to the academy with a message for me... from her. Because he would not allow her anywhere near the temple grounds. Period.
Kurai, with a angry frown on his face walks up to the door of Drake's room. He sighs deeply and calms himself before knocking on the door. 15 year old Drake hears the knock, walks over to the door and opens it to see Kurai.
"Kurai, hey. Come on in." He says, politely inviting his friend into his room. Kurai walks over to a seat in Drake's room and sits down while Drake sits down on the bed.
Seeing the look on Kurai's face, he begins to feel worried. "What is it, Kurai? What's up?" He asks with concern as Kurai sighs deeply and frowns.
"Before I tell you, I need to know something. What would you do if you ever met your mother again? What would you do if she ever came looking for you?" He asks Drake curiously as Drake himself figures out where the conversation is going.
He takes a deep breath before sighing with a shrug. "I honestly don't know what I would do, Kurai. I really don't. I'd probably... I don't know... just tell her off and tell her that I don't need or want her in my life anymore. I mean, I've lived without her for the past three years and I'm doing fine. Why would I want her back in the life when she wanted nothing to do with me from the moment I was born?" He asks as Kurai listened before nodding.
"Then this should be easy." He begins as Drake listens to him closely. "You're mother is outside the gates, Drake. She's waiting for you and wants to speak with you." He says to him softly as Drake pauses after hearing that his mother was here.
And what did you do, beloved?
I initially wanted to refuse and ask Kurai to send her away, but then I thought that if I don't confront her myself, I'll never be able to move on with my life. So... I asked him to take me to her.
Drake follows Kurai outside the gates of the academy to see that his mother was indeed outside waiting for him walking back and forth, pacing. To his surprise, she looked horrible. Three years since he saw her last and she looks like she's aged ten or fifteen years. She couldn't possibly have been worried about him, could she?
Drake walks down to her causing her to stop pacing before she looks up and sees her son. Kurai stands near the gate in case Drake needs him to step in, the woman looks nervous under his piercing gaze.
Drake crosses his arms and waits for her to talk. "Well? I'm here. You wanted to talk? So talk." He says to her harshly, which causes her to glare at him before looking back up at Kurai and feels nervous again.
"Um... Could we... talk somewhere else? I don't like how your... friend... is looking at me." She asks him nervously while keeping her eyes on Kurai, who moves to walk towards them when he hears that she wants to talk somewhere else.
Hearing his footsteps, Drake turns and shakes his head, stopping him. "It's ok, Kurai." He tells him as Kurai remains near the gate before Drake's mother leads him as far away from the academy gates as possible.
Leading him into an abandoned alley, his mother wheels around on him and smacks him in the face with a glare on his face. "It's ok for your mother to talk to her son somewhere else?!" She hisses quietly as Drake sighs deeply before looking at her with an infuriated expression.
"I'm going to make this short, you are coming home with me. You had your fun, now it's time to grow up. All this Kung Fu, Bruce Lee bullshit has run its course. The fantasy is over, let's go." She bluntly says to him before reaching out to grab his arm, but he snatches him arm and moves away from her.
"No." He says sharply, which causes her to freeze and begin to glare furiously.
"Excuse me? You don't get a say in this, you little shit. I'm your mother and you're still a minor, you don't get to-" She tries to say but is swiftly interrupted by Drake.
"You are not my mother. I will never accept garbage like you as my mother. As far as I'm concerned, my mother is dead and the woman standing before me is nothing but a cheap whore." He says firmly as she continues to look at him furiously.
"Excuse me! How dare you speak to me that way, you brat!" She shouts and raises her hand to smack him again but he catches her by the wrist, shocking her.
She tries to yank her hand away but he holds it firmly. "You can't control or hurt me anymore, bitch. You are nothing and you are nothing to me. Take your pathetic, selfish life somewhere else because I want nothing to do with it or you anymore." He coldly tells her as she quickly reaches into her purse and pulls out her custody papers with her other hand before shoving them in his face.
"You see this? DO YOU SEE THIS?! THIS means that I have custody over you! You are MINE! I OWN YOUR ASS!!!" She shouts at him sinisterly and begins to laugh wickedly in his face.
Tears build in Drake's eyes from the memories of her abuse and neglect. The beatings, the abandonment. Asking if dinner was ready only to get a slap in the face for being selfish. Searching for food in trash cans for breakfast, lunch and dinner after she abandoned him. The memories and his emotions overwhelm him before he screams wildly before he palms her throat.
His mother stops laughing and begins to cough while holding her throat. She takes deep wheezing gasps but Drake doesn't stop. He comes upon her and begins to beat down to the ground and stomping on her madly when she crumples down.
She puts her hands up to defend herself and shouts in pain until Drake stops. He looks over at the custody papers that were lying on the ground. He walks over, picks them up and walks back over to her. She lies on the ground, wheezing and taking gasping breaths before looking up at him through one while the other was swollen shut.
He kneels down in front of her with a sinister and wild expression before he begins tearing up the custody papers slowly. She raises one of her hands to try and stop him but he keeps his hands and the papers out of her reach.
He continues tearing up the custody papers into tiny pieces before throwing them in her face. "You don't own anything, you piece of shit. I am not your son and you sure as hell are not my mother." He tells her before he grabs her by the collar and lifts her back up to her feet them pushes her against the wall.
She hits the wall and leans forward, too tired from the beating she received and not able to do anything to help herself. Drake, with a cold stare, takes a step forward and drives his fist towards her chest until it impacts with deadly force, driving her to hit the wall again. The brick wall splinters slightly as he feels her heartbeat begin to slow.
She takes quick, short breaths while looking at him with defiance before her one eye rolls into the back of her head. He feels her heartbeat stop and her head hangs down before he pulls his fist away, which causes her to drop to the ground, dead.
Drake stands there panting heavily as he stares angrily at his now deceased mother before he blinks and realizes what he's just done. He looks down at his bloody hands, which begin to tremble when the reality slowly sets in that he just killed his own mother. And it wasn't out of self defense. He killed her in cold blood.
Off in the distance, a dark hooded figure had witnessed what Drake had done as she smirks underneath her hood. "Hmm... Found you. But it's not time yet." She says hauntingly before she disappears.
Present day...
Skarlet looks at Drake in shock. "And... what did you do after that?" She asks him curiously, wondering what managed to do after he killed the dreadful creature that was once his mother.
Drake sighs with a trembling breath. "What else? I quickly went over to the nearest water pipe, washed my hands and feet and let them dry on my way back to the academy. When I reached the gate, Kurai asked me if we should be worried about her coming back. And truthfully, I said no, but... I didn't..." He pauses.
"You never told him what you did." Skarlet finishes causing him to nod somberly. She sighs and hugs him tightly. "I understand why you're upset, Drake. You did something terrible and you tried to keep it a secret. But... why are you upset that you killed her? The woman was horrible to you. Why would you be-" She asks him curiously but Drake interrupts her.
"It's not that I killed her that upsets me, it's the fact that I could have just said my piece then walked away. Instead, I... I baited her to say something... to belittle me like she always had. I manipulated her just so I could have a reason to beat her to death and be free of her. As long as she was still breathing, I would never have been free. But I... killed her in cold blood. That went against everything Kurai and Han had taught me at the academy. But I was so... so..." He says venting his frustration, but once he couldn't find the right word to describe what he was feeling during that fateful moment, he hops off Skarlet's bed and growls in frustration.
"You had a deep seeded hatred against that womam, beloved. You were feeling vengeful. Is that the word you're looking for?" Skarlet asks him tenderly, causing him to nod as tears begin to flow down his cheeks, but he doesn't make another sound. He keeps it all in.
"Drake..." Skarlet calls to him as he turns his head slightly. She lies down on her bed welcomely opens her arms to him. Drake begins to break down and shakily walks back over to her and her bed. He lies down with her and places his head on her chest as he releases the pent up emotions he's held inside for over ten years.
He weeps loudly as Skarlet tenderly shushes him and gently strokes his hair. "It's ok, Drake. Let it all out. I won't let you fall apart. I'll hold you together. I promise." She soothingly whispers to him as he continues to cry again her.