Chapter Text
Takeda’s body screamed with pain as his mind returned to his body, the telepathic link severed and his consciousness once more his own again. His muscles ached; it was worse than any beating he’d ever taken, even on Shang Tsung’s island while everyone was under the effects of the Blood Code. His skull throbbed with pain. He couldn’t call it a headache; it was as if his entire brain was on fire, or had been seared to nothingness. The merest consideration of reaching out with telepathy sent another shot of pain racing along his nerves.
“So how’s the family?” Sonya’s voice rattled in his ears, unfairly calm.
“Very funny.” Kenshi groaned. He sounded as bad as Takeda felt. With a little bit of concern, Takeda cracked his eyes open. The light from the lantern was painful, blindingly bright after so long in the darkness. He raised a hand to cover his eyes until they could adjust. When he pulled it away, he saw Kenshi’s head tip forward, one hand rise slowly to rub at the back of his head.
“But true. Did you get what you were after?” Sonya squatted down in front of both of them, clearly ready to lend a hand if they needed it. In that moment Takeda hated her. She should have been bored, frustrated, annoyed - anything but relaxed and moving fluidly. Especially at her age.
“I think so. Or some of it, at least. How long…?” Kenshi trailed off. He cleared his throat, and wordlessly Sonya passed him a canteen. He took several small swallows, throat bobbing, and passed the canteen to Takeda.
As he sipped at the lukewarm water, he closed his eyes again.
“Seven hours, twenty-six minutes,” Sonya began. It had been that long? It hadn’t seemed nearly that long, all wrapped up in the whirlwind of spirits and the shared back-and-forth communications. It was minds, telepathy - shouldn’t it have been instantaneous? True, they
“You two need some food, drink, and a walk. You’re gonna cramp up like hell if you don’t stretch, no matter what the morning workouts did. Let’s get you topside and in the clear so I can give you a once-over, make sure those spirits didn’t leave any new scars.” She paused, and Takeda felt the light touch of her hand on his shoulder. “You good?”
“I’m good.” Takeda hoped it wasn’t a lie. “Hurt like hell, though. That lantern’s really bright.”
“Well, as long as you can bitch about it, you’re probably fine.” The weight of her hand vanished as she spoke, and Takeda cracked open his eyes again. She was dimming the lamp, back turned to them both.
Kenshi responded with a noncommittal sound. He pushed himself up off the ground slowly, breath hissing in between his teeth. His knees buckled, bare fingers scrabbled for a hold on something and meeting only air. Sonya lunged forward to catch him. She slid a shoulder under him to stop his fall, her lips moving in a mutter. He immediately dropped back down onto the stone floor with a deep groan. Takeda tried to track him, turn his head to watch his father, but his neck muscles refused, seizing up as though they’d been frozen by a cryomancer.
“You sat here the entire time?”
“No. Walked around, did some perimeter checks. ‘Bout an hour in - just when I was sure I was going to lose it - the eyes took on a different feel. Felt a hell of a lot less like I was being stared at like the kid with their hand in the candy jar and more like I was being sized up for promotion. Then I tried to decide how many of the dancing dust motes were ghosts I was almost seeing and how much was just centuries of neglect. Hoped nothing was going to come barreling down that hallway to eat my face because you two somehow woke some fucking dragon or some other nasty monster guarding your ancestors’ graves. Or that you came out possessed, or he did.” She jerked her head towards Takeda. “Don’t want to have to put him down. Jacqui’d be pissed. I’d get the ‘I gave you my boyfriend and you turned into Van Helsing’ lecture.” She sighed, and looked between the two of them. “Neither one of you is fit to walk unsupported. You both look like shit. Takeda, you’re coming with me first.”
He didn’t have it in him to argue. His body ached, and his mind felt like someone had scooped it out and run it through a blender. He did his best to haul his own weight up the stairs; by the end, Sonya was hauling him along more than he would dare admit. With a detached efficiency she checked him over for obvious injury, peering into his eyes with a tiny penlight and and wrapped him up in an emergency blanket, the foil-like material crinkling with every moment. Once she was sure he would live as long as it took to get his father back up, she departed. He fell into a deep, nearly dreamless sleep moments later.
Takeda woke to hear Sonya’s voice, pitched quietly. Her tone was sharp and curt, a His head still ached, and his body wasn’t sure how much better it was. No injuries that he could feel, but every muscle and fiber felt like he’d been on a weeks-long hike with Master Hasashi, dawn to dusk and very little sleep. He turned his head slowly, trying to locate Sonya and whoever she was talking to.
“I didn’t like coming here in the first place,” she was muttering as Takeda tried to focus. “They blinded you the last time. You think I liked the idea of them possibly turning your brain to jelly, damn it?”
His vision cleared slightly. They were up on the surface, outside the tent, lying flat on the sleeping pads. The general had his father’s head in her lap. Her fingers worked careful strokes along the sides of his head.
“I got what I needed,” Kenshi replied, voice ragged.
“I had to drag your ass up those stairs. What you needed almost kept you down there with them. Both of you. Excellent strategy. Your son says he wants to pop the question to his girlfriend and then you pull some bullshit that might leave him orphaned? For a smart guy, you’re pretty dumb sometimes. If this is an example of your line’s thinking, no wonder the Warrior Kings died out.” Her mouth was pressed in a thin line, her brow furrowed deeply. “Darwin Award winners. Why didn’t you tell me what you were planning?”
“You would have tried to talk me out of it. And it’s something I had to do. They need to know Takeda - and I needed to be there to… guide it, control it, if I could. Make sure he walked out of this if I couldn’t.” Kenshi reached up a hand, catching one of Sonya’s in his. “I knew you’d get him back to Hanzo and Jacqui.”
“You have way too much confidence in me.” She exhaled, somehow managing to make even that sound aggravated and resentful.
Kenshi drew her hand down, kissed it tiredly, and rested it against his face. The motion jarred Takeda, but he couldn’t avert his eyes. She brushed her fingers slightly across his father’s face. “You feeling any better?”
“I feel like I went ten rounds with all of your soldiers, and then someone went into my brain and whisked it into tea before pouring it back into my skull.”
“Serves you right. Think Takeda’s worse or better off than you?”
“I don’t know. He is less linked to this place, which means it could have gone either way for him. They were… curious. And had a lot for him.”
“Had to get both your asses up the stairs, and neither of you are lightweights. Thank God Jacqui has the upper body strength to deal with him.” With that, Sonya leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his father’s forehead. The sight of it made Takeda’s chest go tight. “Scared the shit out of me. You’re taking advantage of our relationship.”
“Well, how else am I supposed to take advantage of sleeping with the general?”
The words dropped into Takeda’s head like rocks into a lake, the ripples through his mind bouncing across all the hints and clues he’d observed but never fully absorbed. The accusations of the ancestor spirits - those pointed comments, those memories -
“-won’t be as easy to convince,” Sonya finished as Takeda came back to himself. His father had started to sit up, but Sonya was pushing him back down. “Don’t even. For fuck’s sake, you’re a mess. You need to rest. One of these times, you’re going to bite off more than you can chew and I won’t be around to pull your ass out of the fire.”
“You will be there, if only to say your favorite words.”
“Which ones? ‘You’re an idiot’, or ‘I told you so?’”
They shared a brief half-laugh. Sonya snorted and deliberately roughed up his hair with her other hand. “Now that I know you’re coherent again - as much as you ever are - I need to check on Takeda.” Her tone shifted to something more serious. “I don’t like that he’s been out this long. You both woke up and talked so I’m less concerned about a concussion. Still… This telepathy shit, and spirits, is a little out of my medic training. If he’s not up in ten, I’m calling for an evac.”
“I’m awake,” Takeda croaked. He saw Sonya’s head shoot up, watched her jerk her hand away from Kenshi’s face as though it seared her skin.
“Good.” Her voice was smooth, even if her motion hadn’t been. She slid backwards, settling Kenshi’s head carefully on the camp pillow. She pressed a hand to his shoulder and stood, walking over to Takeda. “How are you feeling? You need me to pour some painkillers down your throat?”
He began to lever himself up but then let out a groan of pain in surprise. She made a soft sound, and a few moments later crouched down beside him with several pills and a canteen. “Muscle relaxants, headache medicine, nothing else. If you’re in any state like Kenshi is, you’re a mess.”
Takeda took the medicine willingly, hoping it would ease the aches he felt. It sat heavy in his stomach.
“Jacqui-“
“I’ll let her know. Or if you’re feeling up to it, you could tell her yourself.”
Takeda squinted at her. She sounded a little hopeful that he would - maybe too hopeful. Distract him with his girlfriend, huh? He almost wanted to say no, just to watch her response. The want to talk to Jacqui won out, and he knew it was clear on his face. Sonya walked away, only to return a few minutes later with his phone, passing it carefully over.
“Sonya - before I talk to Jacqui…” He watched as her face settled, freezing into the professional soldier mask he had grown used to. “Does she know?”
“Know what?”
“About you. And my dad.”
“Shit.” Her jaw tightened and he could see the tendons cord in her neck as she resisted some other strong response. “No. Nobody does. Except, apparently, you.” She shot a loaded look back towards his oblivious father, then leveled it back on him. “And I’d like it if we keep it that way. How the fuck did you even find out?” The dark expression shifted slightly.
“Well, between the fact that he just said he was sleeping with you, and the fact that the ancestor spirits kind of outed you…”
“They did what?!”
Takeda had never seen the General floored. He had never seen her shocked, surprised, or so pointedly caught off-guard as she was now. She had always been cool, collected, the one in control of the situation. To see her now, piercing blue eyes gone wide, her mouth half-open, her head snapping sideways as fast as a kick to look at his father - and then at the blurry half-formed shapes that moved through the ruins of the House... She was furious. His eyes rested on her hands, and what he swore was a pale pink glow beginning to wreath them and slide up her bare forearms. Her hands clenched and released, and then almost as fast as it had come, the rage - and that faint pink hue - subsided.
He cleared his throat, speaking carefully. “When we were in the trance. It got… complicated.”
“I’m going to murder your father. And then I’m going to get this place exorcised. Fuck, where’s Kung Lao when I need him.” She rubbed at the back of her head, and then pinched the bridge of her nose so hard Takeda could see her fingertips go white. “I just.. the fuck.”
“More or less how I felt.”
She barked out a laugh. “Bet you’ve got questions.”
“Yeah, I do.” Takeda tried to give her a piercing look, and it hurt to do so. She didn’t seem to notice - or care if she did. It hurt to sit up, too - but he wasn’t going to have this conversation flat on his back like an invalid. He kept his expression as even as he could, hiding the pain behind practiced neutrality.
“And you expect answers, hmm?” She dropped down into a half-kneeling position next to him, gaze flicking out towards the perimeter, before turning back to him. “I make no promises you’ll like what you hear, but I’ll answer what I can.”
“How long?”
“Years. Started after my divorce.”
“Why didn’t either of you tell me?”
“Wasn’t yours to know. You didn’t need to - still don’t, as far as I’m concerned,” she added. “You’re busy with your own life, and this was something private. Something ours. We don’t pry about what you and my goddaughter get up to, do we?”
“But you know. We don’t hide it. You do. Are you - are you ashamed of it?” The thought struck him, for no reason he could quite identify. A sense of righteous pride stirred in his chest. Did she think she was too good for him? Some kind of secret shame? “He’s my father. If you two ever got-“
She cut him off sharply. “Ashamed? Hell no. But it’s ours, and we are pretty private people. And trust me, he’s not proposing any time soon. I think he’d die before he did, and I’m sure as hell not going to be doing it to him any time soon. You’re the only Takahashi with wedding bells in their future.”
“Any time soon.”
“Figure of speech. I already divorced once, not a highlight I’d care to repeat.” Her words were clipped, voice cooling noticeably.
He didn’t like this at all. The idea that they’d been carrying on a relationship behind his back - behind everyone’s backs - for years? And how angry she’d been at being found out. He swallowed.
“Do you love him?”
Sonya stared as if he’d grown a second head. Her expression shifted once more. It didn’t soften so much as become less businesslike in some way, a tilt of the head and a lowering of eyebrows. “You think I’d do this kind of ridiculous field trip to the ass end of beyond for just anybody?” He could feel his face twist up in response. She paused as she looked at him, then laughed suddenly. The sound was unexpected, and knocked him off balance again. She had a tendency to that. “You did. I don’t know what that says about you, or me. No, Takeda, I wouldn’t do this for just anybody. I’m not that nice a person.”
“But do you love him?”
“Didn’t I just say that?”
“You two hide everything with layers of meanings, half-truths, shadowed intent. I’ve had too much deceit in my life. The Kamidogu, the lies about what happened with Mæ̀ - my mother. That it wasn’t an accident. Everyone’s obsessed with hiding the truth from me. I’m not a child, and everyone insists on treating me like one!”
Sonya knelt down, setting herself eye-to-eye with him as she could.
“You want me to say the words, huh? You’re as bad as your dad. Jacqui’s gonna have her work cut out with you.” She blinked for a moment. He was sure she wouldn’t say them, and instead was going to hit him with some other shocking statement. “I love your father. You’re stuck with knowing this now. And it’s a fact that I would really prefer you keep to your own damn self. I don’t like that control of this got taken away from me. This wasn’t anyone’s to share but mine.”
“Thank you,” Takeda said after a moment. The words startled him as much as they did her. “For being honest. And for keeping him in one piece.”
“Gods know that’s the first time anyone’s ever thanked me for being blunt.” She pushed off the ground and stood up. “You deserve honesty, Takeda. And I keep him more or less in one piece… Well, you know how he is. All I can ever do is try.” Her tone shifted abruptly. “I’m going to go do a perimeter check, since you’re both up. Give a shout if you need anything. ”
For the first time in years, Takeda was not wholly comfortable in being alone with his thoughts. His attention turned to his phone, and the string of text messages from Jacqui - a handful of photos, and then an increasingly terse series of messages asking how he was, requesting - then demanding - checkins.
I’m awake and fine, he typed slowly, considering. It’s been a hell of a day.
Ellipses appeared, almost instantaneously.
Tell me about it. Anything to make Cassie stop talking to me about shoes.
I love you. You know that, right?
There was a pause, and then ellipses a moment later. What did you do?
I didn’t do anything! He stared at the phone indignantly, fingers moving quickly. Why do you think I did?
You started out with “I love you” & that always means something’s coming I won’t like.
It just took a lot out of me. I want to get back and not do anything for a week.
I think we can manage something. Especially if your dad goes off on one of his random ops.
Takeda’s eyes flashed to his father’s prone form, and then to Sonya’s dark jacket meters away, stalking the perimeter she’d made. Got a feeling he’ll be busy. Think we could pick up that rescheduled vacation early?
I can’t get the time off again so soon. We’re confirmed for a couple weeks out… but def weekend at yours if your dad’s gone. :) Why, got plans?
Just want a little dose of normal. And I miss you.
A photo followed, Jacqui on her back in her bed at home - he recognized the headboard. It was a shoulders-and-up shot, and there was no sign of a shirt or tank top. He took a deep breath, feeling his ribs creak and his muscles protest, and let it out slowly. Tease.
Nope. Only promises. And reminders of what you’re missing when you skip out on me, Takahashi.
Lesson learned.
“You and the General.” Hours later, after more reluctant rest, Takeda cupped the mug of tea in his hands and stared his father square in the face. “You’re…?”
“I am General Blade’s informal aide de camp. I am the XO she cannot fire, because I will not listen to her when she makes a poor decision.” Kenshi blew on his tea, then took a sip. Takeda knew better than to push his father, so he simply waited for the man to continue. “We’ve also been lovers for years.”
“You never said a word.”
“Why should I? You’re welcome to declare your love of Jacqueline to the world - and you do. But that isn’t how she and I am. Between her work expectations, and her family, we have chosen to keep it close to the chest.”
“But why?” Takeda couldn’t fathom why his father wouldn’t want to talk about it - wouldn’t want to keep someone he loved close to him, spend his hours with them, like he did Jacqui. They’d been together long enough that he knew she was The One, and he still wanted to spend all his waking hours with her. Knowing how often Kenshi was gone, how brusque the two of them were with each other…
“It doesn’t matter to us what the world thinks, or knows. We know. If it becomes common knowledge… She will be pressured to do something about it. Either stop working with me, or marry me. And I think you’ve heard her feelings on that matter.” He lifted the mug to his lips, then lowered it again. “That said, I intend to give her a hard time about it. As much as I can possibly manage without her killing me. So if I’m out of town unexpectedly in the next week or two…”
“Running for your life, got it. Not entirely out of the usual for you, either, is it?”
Kenshi quirked an eyebrow, the milky white of his eyes seeming to stare at Takeda. “I’d be insulted… if you weren’t correct.” There was a flash of teeth in a quicksilver smile, then they disappeared as he drank again. “Though depending on how Jacqueline is handling your lack of communication… I can make escape plans for two if needed.”
Takeda rubbed the back of his head after a moment. “Well, she’s… not exactly enthusiastic about this situation. She relaxed a little because Sonya sent her a picture of me passed out and looking like an idiot.”
“She has a tendency to do that. I’m aware of a few blackmail photos of myself in existence.”
“Oh really.” Takeda felt the ache of a smile pulling at his face. “I’m sure Master Hasashi has space for two men running for their lives from two dangerous women. It’ll be good training for the other Shirai Ryu, too.”
“I’m fairly certain Hanzo has had his lifetime’s fill of fights against Sonya. He is too smart to take both of them on, especially at once.”
“So, uh, tonight - should I maybe camp outside?”
“If you’d like to wake up an orphan. While it’s a kind thought, I’m fairly certain I’m going to need a third party to make sure I survive.”
The next morning, after some of the lightest and most awkward sleep of his life, Takeda woke to an empty tent. He frowned - it was, save for himself and his gear, otherwise entirely empty. He rose and looked through the netting cautiously. His father and Sonya had clearly packed up - maybe he hadn’t slept so lightly after all? - and had left him to his own devices. He could see them sitting next to each other on a sleeping bag pad near the camp stove, speaking softly enough he couldn’t hear. Something his father said made her groan and elbow him before she raised her mug to her lips and drank. His father gave a smug smile in response, followed swiftly by another comment that made her spit out half her mouthful of coffee. Perfectly timed for that response, Takeda had to admit.
“Not on your life,” Sonya replied audibly. “I’m still pissed off, don’t push it.”
Takeda saw a movement, his father’s hand drop down to rest on Sonya’s leg, as if a conciliatory gesture. He said something further, and her response was soft but still carried to Takeda.
“You make it sound like a plague. Or gangrene.” She sighed, sipping her coffee again.
Takeda took the pause to - loudly - unzip the flap and rustle the fabric. His father’s hand didn’t move, and neither did Sonya. “Coffee’s up, and there’s hot water for boiled leaf juice if you want that.”
“What’s like a plague or gangrene?” Takeda asked instead.
“Us.” Sonya’s voice was curt. “Because now it’s out, and it’s going to spread. You’re a nice kid and all, but you’re going to end up slipping up and telling Jacqui. Because no one can keep their mouth shut forever… and that apparently includes the dead. And then Jacqui’s going to let Cassie know, on purpose or by accident. And the minute Cassie knows, the rest of the world is going to. So now I have to decide how the hell I’m dealing with this.”
“So far,” Kenshi supplied, “she’s decided denial is the best option. Or sending me off into the middle of nowhere so it’s a moot point.”
“Or just leaving you here, because this is the middle of nowhere.”
“Why don’t you want anyone to know?” Takeda poured hot water into a mug, and then dropped in a pinch of tea leaves from the small canister beside the coffeepot. Sonya shook her head and wrinkled her nose.
“Really simple? It’s going to be a goddamned mess. It would be nice to not have to second-guess everything I do, wonder if someone’s going to figure it out and make my life hell. Cassie is going to make this into a mess, and her father is going to double down on it - and that one, by the way, you get to deal with.” Sonya poked Kenshi in the chest. “He’s your best friend.”
“Second best, and so noted.”
“This is going to turn into a clusterfuck of epic proportions.” Sonya looked into her mug and back to Takeda. “I’d prefer it not to. I like my personal life being personal and my professional life being professional. This was a personal trip - just maybe a little more personal than you’d realized.”
“You were pretty firm about this not being a General Blade thing.” Takeda hunched down slightly. “I hadn’t even considered - you two… You’ve been just… around. Like, I can’t think of talking to Jacqui like you two talk to each other.”
“You’ll learn eventually. We’re friends before anything else, and shit-talking friends is what we do.” A ghost of amusement crossed her face before it went solemn again. “Are you going to keep your mouth shut about this?”
“I’ll do my best to not say anything. But I don’t like secrets, at all. If Jacqui asks, I’m not going to lie to her.”
“If Jacqui asks, you tell her to ask me. She wants details about my personal life, she can ask me about it.”
Takeda watched his father’s fingers trace circles on her thigh, and the way she leaned into him slightly as she sipped from her mug. It was the same kind of easiness they’d had, that he’d known they had. It now included expressions of intimacy that made him think it was some kind of joke, that they’d pull the rug out from under him.
“We’re not going to.” Kenshi took a sip from his own mug.
“I didn’t say-“
“You thought, loudly.”
Sonya’s lips twitched. “Fucking telepaths. Good thing Jacqui’s ready to to give you shit when you deserve it.” She downed the last of her coffee and stood, Kenshi’s hand falling away from her after a moment. “I’ll start packing up so we can get the hell out of here. I want to get back down this mountain and home as soon as we can manage it.” She nudged Kenshi with one of her feet. “You’re actually hauling gear down this time, by the way. We don’t need our seeing-eye-swordsman to get home.”
“Somehow I have a feeling as if I’ll regret this.”
“Oh, trust me.” Sonya turned a dark expression on him, and it was full of dangerous promise. “You’re going to. And rucking up is only the beginning.”
Kenshi looked up at her, closed his eyes, and shook his head a few times. “I have regrets.”
Takeda gave his father a knowing grin. “I’m starting to think that trip to the Shirai Ryu is going to happen sooner rather than later.”