Chapter Text
THURSDAY
“Colonel Blade.”
Sonya pivoted at the voice in her office, dropping into a fighting stance as she twisted towards the speaker. Blood pounded in her ears and she picked up a faint metallic taste in her mouth.
“Fucking hell, Kenshi, I need to put a bell on you.” She stared angrily at the man. Tall and dark-haired and (for once) in civilian dress, he sat comfortably relaxed on her office couch, like he’d been there for a while. He was bare-faced, which caught her a bit by surprise. Kenshi tended to wear a blindfold, almost as if to flaunt his blindness and his capabilities, and Sonya could occasionally coax him into sunglasses, but today he was sitting there with his eyes half-open, sunglasses tucked into the neck of his shirt.
Nonetheless, there he sat, like he belonged. In her office. On the Special Forces base. In Earthrealm. She drew in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, adjusting her jacket and self-consciously tugging on the sleeves, realigning them. It was Kenshi, a person she trusted like she trusted herself. Everything was safe. Danger never made it this far. Drop off high alert, Blade. She straightened, rising back to a normal position, trying to calm herself. “I thought you were out. Off-base. Last I knew you were, anyway.”
“I am more than a bit concerned that your first reaction upon hearing your name is to prepare for combat,” the swordsman noted, unperturbed. “I returned nearly a month ago,” he added. “I’ve been on and off base intermittently. I returned last night from visiting with Johnny and Cassie.”
“When I’m not expecting someone in my office, I get jumpy.” She walked over and clapped a hand on his shoulder for a moment, taking a moment of comfort in the solid muscle beneath her palm. He reached up and gripped her arm, squeezing it once, and then they both let go. They often went weeks without seeing each other - the longest was still nearly eight years, when Kenshi had first gone undercover with the Red Dragon. Sonya dismissed the little concerned thought that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him. Months, certainly.
“Not usually this jumpy, Sonya. You’re like a cat and I just trod on your tail.”
She ignored his comment, stepping back and walked towards her desk, trying to place when he’d started the mission he’d apparently finished a month ago. “Get tired of the life of Hollywood glitz and glamor? Cage try to drag you to afterparties?” Sonya gave an exaggerated shudder, quietly wondering what else had slipped through the cracks of her mind.
“It was a change of pace from the usual routine. I do, in fact, enjoy other things than running your soldiers around the training ring. As entertaining as that is, there is more to life.” He smiled slightly as she scoffed and pulled out her chair. “He did try the afterparties. I pointed out I was not the sort of person to discuss films with unless they were made before I was blinded, and was not the type to enjoy the rest of the function. After one, I made my point well enough. Then…” Kenshi let a shoulder rise and fall. “He had new scripts to read, and Cassie is in school, so I thought I might come back up and see if there was work. Or at least if some of your soldiers needed to be kept in shape.”
“You’re welcome to them. I’m about to send half of them out on ops… they could use a little unorthodox opponent time if you’re willing. No need to hold back.” Sonya sat down at her desk, hooking an ankle around her chair. “All things considered, you caught me at a good time-“
“You were ready to fight me. I am not sure this counts as a good time,” he interrupted. She glared and flipped her middle finger at him.
“I’m heading off for a long weekend,” she resumed. “If you’d come in tomorrow I wouldn’t be here. I can give you my wish list of field ops, if you’re feeling the itch to get out again, you can pick what you want. Few things kicking off in the next few weeks. At least three of them could use your skillset.” He hadn’t moved, and Sonya looked idly for something to throw at him. Back for a month and she’d missed it - how had that happened? She couldn’t get over it. There was probably an e-mail notification somewhere in her inbox; messages bred like rabbits, and for every one she opened, four appeared in its place. Her stomach twisted at the thought of losing track of him. She wiggled the mouse on her computer and keyed in her password. She groaned at the number next to her inbox, and began to do triage on the dozen marked urgent.
“Off to go lay waste to Black Dragon on an op? War games..?”
“No.” She shuffled a few file folders on one side of her desk into a pile. “Vacation, because the gods know I need it. Literally. Fujin had words with me during our last sparring bout.” Her voice was a little sour, and Kenshi let a smile cross his face; she glared. “There’s a place up by a lake, couple hours away. Cage and I used to rent it some summers, get out of the city.” She turned back to her computer.
“This time, I’m taking a long weekend and going up by myself. Need to just get off base for a bit.” She picked up a black foam stress ball with the Special Forces insignia on it, some smartass’ anonymous delivery to her office, and threw it at him. Kenshi caught it with barely any effort, and she rolled her eyes. Blind and he still had better reflexes than some of her soldiers, damn him.
“If Fujin himself chastised you into it, I can only imagine. What are you planning?” She heard curiosity in his voice, and a moment later caught the ball as he threw it back.
“Nothing. Read. Sit on the dock, sit in the sun. Maybe absolutely nothing. Clear my head. Everything impossible to do on post… or with two Cages around.”
“I am envious. I think I have forgotten what silence is. I have either not had any, or been more concerned about when it happens that it sends me on alert, than been able to enjoy it.”
“Want to tag along?” The words were out of her mouth before she realized the offer. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, focused on the email in front of her.
“Is that a genuine offer?”
She had the chance to rescind it, and she was grateful he’d extended it.
“Yes,” she blurted instead, and lobbed the ball back with more force than was strictly necessary. “Go home, pack yourself a bag. Coming back to base on Tuesday. It’s up in the mountains… I’m leaving tonight, driving up. That a problem for you?”
“Only if you expect me to share the driving duty.” He tossed the ball back to her.
She caught it one-handed. “Little after five, then, unless the end of the world, or my phone rings.” Her voice soured again, as if she expected either one of them to happen and ruin her plans. It would not be the first time. “We’ll hit the PX and then the road.”
“Five, then.”
It had been several hours of awkward conversation, mostly silence or radio interspersed with attempts at conversation. Sonya realized about twenty minutes in that this was the first time she’d be alone with Kenshi this long and it wasn’t somehow roughly mission-related. They’d spent social time together, hours of it over the years - but this was over two hours in her truck and there was no raid on the Black Dragons or Red Dragons or some sort of odd outpost at the end of it. No social drinking with anyone, dropping him off at his apartment on base - this was it. When she made the turn off the main road to the little lake house, she couldn’t decide if the knot in her stomach was better or worse.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve been up here,” Sonya prefaced as the truck bumped over the last part of the driveway into the clearing. Headlights and moonlight reflected off the windows of the little house, tucked away in its clearing. A porch wrapped around two sides, and the truck’s headlights flashed brieflyon the worn dirt path down to the lake. The grassy sward around the house looked fairly well-maintained, and she remembered chasing Cassie around on it, occasionally using as a practice space for kicking her then-husband’s ass in sparring bouts.
“Let me check the layout, clear any of the furniture and all for you. I mostly remember it being nice and neat, and then covered in toys. His and hers.” The smile on her face was sad, and she wiped it off her face as soon as she felt it appear. She was here to relax and clear her head - not dredge up the past. “Should be a lot easier with you around, truth be told. Can’t be messier.”
“I am capable of handling furniture on my own,” Kenshi answered, “And I tend to neatness. Though the consideration is appreciated.”
She parked the truck and walked to the door, keying in a code and then turning the lights on as she stepped inside. It was a single main room with a small partial kitchen, a couch and pair of chairs, a fireplace built into one wall and a small wood pile tucked up neatly beside it. The decor was cabin rustic chic, plaid and full grain wood and its aesthetic entirely lost on her. “Yeah, not much has changed. Looks like a new table, new curtains, and -“ she laughed and shook her head.
“What is it?”
“Still no dishwasher.” Sonya stepped out of Kenshi’s way, looking into the small kitchen space.
“C’mere, honey.” Johnny’s arms curled around her from behind and he kissed the nape of her neck. “We have one episode of Duck Tales before Cass’ attention goes.”
“So I’m only worth thirty minutes? Nice try.” She elbowed him and he laughed, hands moving unerringly upwards under her shirt. “Hey, leave off. Someone picked a place without a dishwasher, and if you want clean plates for dinner, at least one of us needs to do some work.”
“Hey, I’m being a supportive husband,” he grinned, cupping her breasts with his broad hands, stroking circles with his thumbs. “Anyway, I’ll make it worth your while.”
She rinsed her hands and turned, flicking her fingers and spraying him with droplets. “You saying I’m an easy lay?”
He brushed his lips across her forehead and tucked a hand into a back pocket of her shorts. “Nothing easy about you, babe. We can live dangerously, and make out like teenagers about to be caught by their parents instead?”
“Or like parents getting caught by their kid?” Sonya snorted, feeling the impact of a body on their legs.
“Group hug!” came a cheerful voice from knee height. Sonya looked to Johnny, who tilted his head down and kissed her softly while one hand dropped down to ruffle their daughter’s hair.
“What’s up, Cass?” Johnny asked.
“Don’t like it.”
“You liked it last week-“ Sonya’s mouth snapped shut and she looked at Johnny, exasperated. “Alright. Who’s up for a swim?”
She forced down the memory, mentally kicking herself. This was the stupidest idea she’d had in a very long time. She hadn’t been expecting to get slammed with vivid memories, and it set her further on edge. She turned around, and reminded herself who she was with: her friend, not her ex-husband. They were both tall men, both fighters, but there the similarities stopped.
“That’s my only quibble about the place, but I have no problem washing up, so it’s not a big deal. How much of a detailed tour do you want? Just the overview, or do you want the here’s-the-forks-and-cups level of detail?”
“I can figure out most of it by trial and error. The general tour is fine.”
She gave it to him easily; the place was so small that it took only a few minutes. He moved slowly, mentally mapping the layout, touching pieces of furniture to gauge their length, their location. She paused at the end of the hall. “Bedrooms are here. You want left or right? Same layout in each.”
“Which side will the sun come up on?”
“Slug,” Sonya accused immediately, before considering. “If you want to sleep in, take the one on the right. Sun won’t get in your face first thing.” She turned to the one on the left and tossed her duffel bag on the bed. “Poke around, I’m going to get the cooler out of the truck and unpack it, throw something together for dinner, and then sack out. I’m exhausted.”
It only took her a few minutes to do so, loading up the small fridge with various groceries. Partway through she paused, and leaned around the door of the fridge. “Ah, damn it. I wasn’t thinking. Kenshi? Any way you want me to sort this so you know where things are?”
“Well, I cannot read the labels, so… Would it be a problem if I did this? I can set it up as I do at home and as long as everything goes back where I’m accustomed to, I should not be entirely dependent on you.” His voice came from behind her suddenly and she was very grateful she managed not to lash out at him. She twitched at the proximity and moved out of his way. “Part of why living on base is useful. If I need to, there is always someone around to do something when I cannot. And that includes eating in the mess sometimes.”
“Hmm,” Sonya said, nodding her head slightly. “Hadn’t considered that. Especially someone willingly eating in the mess. Alright, so - want me to tell you what it is and pass it and you just shelve it?”
“Probably best.”
An hour later, sorted and fed, Sonya reached over and touched one of his shoulders. “Alright, I’m for bed. I’ll see you in the morning. Anything you need a hand with, any crises, just wake me up. If I get six uninterrupted hours it’ll be a miracle.”
“Then sleep well, Sonya, and we’ll talk in the morning.” He reached up, touched her hand briefly while it was on his shoulder. “And if I knock on your door - please do not shoot me.”
“I make no promises,” she said with a grin, squeezed his shoulder, and headed down the short hall.
Her dreams that night were uneasy, crowded things. They began strange and nonsensical - fighting Johnny in Mortal Kombat for custody of Cassie and neither one of them giving in. Another was of Shang Tsung returning, the sorcerer calling up Ermac at the Well of Souls and imbuing him with new power and new souls - among them, one with her father’s face as she remembered him last. No matter how hard she fought to try to break Shang Tsung’s invocation, Jax’s inflexible arms held her back, telling her that a soldier took the fate they were given, that she should be grateful her father had died a warrior. His arms were cold - unbearably cold - everything was old, and she turned around in Jax’s grasp to see Sub-Zero sending out ice to hold them both in place. She didn’t know what to make of that, and shook herself out of the dream, confused.
She sat up, realizing she’d somehow kicked all the blankets off and was freezing - that explained Sub-Zero, at any rate. It took long minutes before she could calm herself enough to lie down again and try to sleep. Eventually she managed to, burrowed into the blankets.
The second round was worse.
Hunting her way across Shang Tsung’s island, then stalking her way through Shang Tsung’s dungeons. They were cold, despite the humidity of the island, and water dripped down the walls. She made it to the lowest level and its large central room, spinning around to look at the cells, all the cells. One of them had Jax - that’s who she was here for. Jax. She walked from cell to cell, looking for him, and suddenly stopped.
One held Cassie, slamming herself into the bars, crying for Sonya. Five or six, tears streaming down her face as she tried to reach Sonya. “Mama, Mama! Get me out, Mama!”
Another held her father, broken and bleeding but swearing he could get up, he could go, if she could help him, get him out of the cell. “Ever wondered where that covert op was, kiddo? What happened? There was so much - so much I can tell you, so much we missed..."
Across from him was Jax, much as it had on the island, horribly battered but his arms intact. “Get out of here, girl,” he mouthed. “Get out of here, and get me out of here, and we’ll make it and this will all get fixed. You know, now. We can do it right.”
Beside him, a cell trapped her twin brother, Daniel, eighteen and cocky and everything important to her, looking heartbreakingly perfect. Not like he had when she’d had to identify his body in the morgue, utterly wrecked from the car crash that had killed him a couple of days after their high school graduation. He grinned at her - their smile had always been the same. “Hey, little sis. You owe me.”
As she turned, more and more cells, people she’d failed - her mother, Johnny, Kenshi, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Kitana, Nightwolf, Stryker… Every one that she had failed, every one that she had disappointed, every one whose life she had, in some way, utterly ruined.
“Pick one, Miss Blade,” came Shang Tsung’s voice from behind her. “You can have one of them, whichever one you choose, free and clear. One and only one - Miss Blade, Lieutenant Blade, Major Blade, Mrs. Blade-Cage, Colonel Blade, whoever it is you think you are. One, and only one.” She turned around, looked at herself, looked across Cassie - the little girl older now, but with a sort of world-weary look Sonya had seen far too much during her stint in Hollywood, the one that said all she wanted to do was chase the next high. Daniel, now mangled and pale; Jax, armless, bleeding, looking at her accusingly; her father’s corpse, grasping at the metal of the cell, mouth working and maggots writhing.
She shot up, muffling a scream, heart pounding in her chest, breathing hard and ragged, and managed long after, to find sleep again.
None of the dreams were good, none of them restful, and she finally gave up as the light of false dawn began to creep through the window. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a battered sweatshirt against the cold, made a hurried pot of coffee, and struck out for the lake.