Chapter Text
Takeda slowed his pace as he came upon the two figures standing at the edge of the forest. They were thrown into shadow by the angle of the sun, and their voices carried on a light breeze as he approached. The morning chill hadn’t yet worn off, and even though they’d been walking briskly through the forest, the entire experience felt surreal.
“There are a lot of things I’ll do for you, but I’m drawing the line at that.” General Blade sounded full of disbelief and denial. As Takeda approached, he saw her shade her eyes against the slowly rising sun. Takeda followed her line of sight, up the face of the mountain in the distance. “I’m not climbing a mountain because you think your ancestral tomb or whatever it is, is up there.”
“I know it is,” his father countered, shifting on his feet with what would have been barely concealed excitement in anyone else. Takeda still wasn’t entirely sure about how Takahashi Kenshi responded to anything; sometimes he was as unpredictable as any of Takeda’s peers. “I was sighted when I came here last, though I wasn’t when I left.”
“And what was Shang Tsung doing here? Hell, what were your ancestors doing here, in the ass-end of nowhere?” Sonya gestured expansively despite the heavy rucksack on her back. It bristled with tent poles and sleeping bags, but Takeda had to give her credit - it hadn’t slowed her down at all on the two-hour hike out here. She’d set a brisk pace to get them moving and she hadn’t slowed down; it reminded him of some of the endurance hikes he and Grandmaster Hasashi had done over the years. Sonya continued, jerking her chin towards the forested mountain. “I’m not even sure what country we’re in at this point. Things change a lot around here, and the maps aren’t entirely clear.”
“That’s a question I’d like an answer to, too.” Takeda shifted his burden - the other half of their gear - trying to get the straps to sit more comfortably. “I mean, the why we’re here part. I had plans with Jacqui for this week. We were going to go out of town…”
“Whoa there, Takeda. I do not want to hear what you were going to get up to with my goddaughter.” Sonya held up a hand. “Trust me, your father’s got a hell of a lot of explaining to do. I don’t know how the hell he talked either of us into this.” She shook her head and groaned. “Let’s move out. We need to get climbing if we want to get up there before nightfall and get a camp set up.”
“I need to take Takeda here so he knows its location, and what it means for our line,” Kenshi countered. Takeda and Sonya took up flanking positions beside and slightly behind him. The irony of letting the blind man lead wasn’t lost on Takeda; then again, he couldn’t sense the spirits that were apparently calling Kenshi to them. Sonya met Takeda’s eyes and shook her head, shrugging.
“So I’m just here as insurance?” She stepped out through the treeline and took off her hat. She adjusted the bill, curving it slightly in her hands, before setting it back on her head. “You keep your ghosts and magic weird shit to yourselves, thanks. Between Cage's 'I’m-descended-from-warrior-gods’ bullshit and that green glow he and Cass have, your telepathy and ancestor spirit stuff, I’m starting to feel like the only normal one anywhere I go.”
“You, normal?”
The words were out of Takeda’s mouth before he realized it. He winced and prepared for a tongue-lashing. He wasn’t prepared for the smirk on his father’s face or the long-suffering look of exasperation on General Blade’s.
“I should drop you and leave you for the wildlife for that,” she muttered, pressing onward. “But then I’d have both your father and my goddaughter pissed at me, and I have to live with both of them.”
“Your indulgence is noted, General.” Kenshi chuckled.
“Like you could take me,” she snorted. Takeda’s eyes bounced between the two of them; there was no way he would ever think of talking to a superior the way these two went straight for each other’s throats. And his father did work for her, technically. Cassie and Jacqui, or maybe he and Fox had been this close. The thought of Forrest made him close his eyes for a moment, and push the memory away. Now was not the time.
“Anyway,” Sonya continued blithely, “we went over this on the way out. I’m not General Blade right now unless this becomes a matter of inter-realm defense. I’m here to watch your backs because my friend asked me to.” She narrowed her eyes and nudged Kenshi a little ungently. “Even if he’s an asshole for making me hike up a mountain.”
“Says the woman who starts her day with half-hour runs or sparring matches,” the swordsman replied, pushing back with his shoulder with equal force. “You like your exercise. Stop complaining and enjoy the view, on my behalf. I remember it being quite pretty.”
“So pick some damn daisies while you’re walking and Takeda and I actually haul gear. I’ll tell you before you head off the edge of a cliff.” She paused for a moment, thoughtful. “Maybe.”
Takeda shook his head and set off with them. He was not used to this version of Sonya, the one who bantered easily, and their flight out here and the hike this morning had given him an entirely new perspective. Then again, he rarely saw her off base and in anything that might be casual. This definitely was, thousands of miles from home and just the three of them. His father had proposed the journey to Takeda, and he’d accepted; he was willing to grant that understanding his heritage was important, especially since he was finding himself growing closer to Jacqui. The last two Takahashis in their line had planned out most of it. Then his father had called the General in, persuading her over beer and home-cooked Thai to join them.
She’d agreed more easily than Takeda expected. He’d been ready to need to lay out their plans, the schedule, and planned equipment they wanted. Kenshi waited until she had her mouth full and asked if she would go as their backup. She’d nodded, not even thinking about it, and chased the food with a drink of beer. “Like I have a choice if I don’t want to have to haul the two of you out from the shadow of some international incident. Of course I’m coming.”
And now, watching the two of them - more than that, just listening to the two of them - he had to keep hiding a mild amount of shock. He’d never think of talking to Jacqui the way his father talked to Sonya, but he could see some of Jacqui’s quick responses in the same tone Sonya had. He’d throw a verbal punch, and she’d take it or dodge it and throw one back. He couldn’t think of even beginning to talk to the General like that - and even being more relaxed with his father was still a challenge. The idea of speaking so flippantly to Master Hasashi… he shuddered at the merest hint of the idea. Jacqui - even though he’d known her even less time - was much easier. Everything was easier with her.
He began lagging slightly behind Sonya and Kenshi as he thought of his girlfriend. He definitely preferred spending the week with her instead of hauling gear up a mountain somewhere in Asia. Better yet, being sprawled on the couch in the base apartment Jacqui shared with Cassie, her head in his lap as they watched TV or a movie. She had an obsession with catching him up on some of the decades of American pop culture he’d missed. She deemed it critical - she and Cassie often used references as a second language, mission-critical shorthand. He barely followed any of what he watched, busy instead running his fingers through Jacqui’s hair. He had a particular weakness for when she braided it, the weight of them lighter than expected, the way they felt running between his fingers, the way she would tip her head back-
His foot slewed sideways on loose rocks and he stumbled slightly. He grunted with effort as he tried to compensate for the forward movement and the heavy gear backpack to tip back, without landing on his ass.
“You okay, Takeda?” Sonya’s voice was painfully solicitous. He looked ahead and she looked serious - enough that he wasn’t entirely sure if she was poking fun at him or not.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m guessing a couple more hours, but we can call a break if you need it. Your boots look solid but I don’t want to be cutting that off you if you twist something. Though Jacqui would probably love a couple of photos of your dad carrying you piggyback down the mountain.” A smile ghosted at the corners of her mouth.
“I’m fine,” Takeda repeated. Sonya nodded, arching her eyebrows but saying nothing, and turned back to resume the hike up the hill. Birdsong swelled up behind her, the local wildlife loathe to allow silence for even a moment.
He had the strange feeling he’d just been judged, but he couldn’t tell if he’d met the standard or not. She could be as stilting with her praise as Master Hasashi.
The rest of their ascent was as uneventful as Takeda could have wished - he tried pointedly not to think of all the things he wanted to do to, and with, Jacqui - until they crested the mountain. Takeda wasn’t certain what he had been expecting but this - this was not it. Grey stone weathered by centuries, arches that opened into a space with barely a third of a roof left intact. It made him think of a piece of architecture from a movie Jacqui and Cassie had insisted he watch - or one of many - with windswept moors and tragic romances. The thing that surprised him the most was a set of shockingly intact stained glass windows, set with a dragon motif at the apex. The setting sun poured through the glass, throwing the entire room into dark blue and blood red and warm yellow light. It would have been pretty if it didn’t look so neglected.
Reminded him a lot of his family, really, so it was a perfect fit.
Takeda paced around the room as his father and Sonya spoke, standing close together near a statue at the front of the intact section, just before the stained glass windows. Sonya was making short sharp gestures with her hands, clearly annoyed about something. His father rested a hand on one of her arms, stilling the movements, and said something. Her response was a laugh that barked like gunfire in the room before she shook her head and sighed. Kenshi’s hand stayed on her arm, Takeda turned his attention to the dust in the room; it floated around in a breeze he couldn’t feel, whirling and spinning and coalescing into what almost seemed like shapes. He rubbed his eyes and his fingers closed on the water canteen at his hip. He had to be seeing things, the effects of dehydration. It had been a long day.
“I’m not sure I want to camp inside it.” Sonya’s voice rang loud and clear amongst the ruined pillars and vaulted ceiling. Takeda glanced back to see her looking at the building skeptically. She turned to his father. “All due respect, Kenshi, but this place has definitely seen better days. You can’t see shit but I am not comfortable risking either of you - or myself - in this over night. Shitty weather might just be the type of thing to send that tree over on our tent, or the roof in, or that window to break, or-”
“I understand. It wasn’t in particularly good shape when I was here last,” he admitted, “and time probably hasn’t done it any favors. Outside it entirely, then?”
“If we want to put stakes in the ground, I’m going to say outside it entirely, and a good distance away from the pillars. If you want to camp at the far end so we’re technically inside its confines, we can, but no stakes and I’m going to be really fucking picky about layout.”
“If you weren’t, I’d be concerned.” He clapped a hand on Sonya’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “I defer to you in this.”
“Damn well better. You brought me out here to cover your asses.” She turned, and her eyes settled on Takeda. “You got any feelings about this?”
“I can see…” Takeda paused. Something had been bothering him, and he closed his eyes for a moment. He steeled himself, ready to lose all respect he’d earned with the General. “Ah, I think I see some… ghosts?”
“Probably.” Kenshi’s voice was relaxed. “I can see them here easily. We’re in the source of their power - the root of your heritage… I would be surprised if you couldn’t see them even a bit. Can you see them too?” His voice was clearly directed to Sonya. Takeda watched her carefully, the tight way her shoulders were pulled close, almost edging up to her ears.
“I think so. I’m not sure. But if I can, then I want to sleep in here even less.” Her boots were heavy on the tile of the floor. She looked, and sounded, uneasy. “You can have your family bonding time. I’ll set up the tent but hold off on stakes or not while you two sort it out.” Sonya exhaled sharply, a loud puff of air that made Kenshi turn. He frowned, one of his hands twitching slightly towards her before dropping to his side.
“So no ghost stories around the campfire tonight, then?”
“Starting to wonder why I agreed to come on this.” Her lips pressed together in a narrow white line. “Starting to think it was for Takeda, for my goddaughter’s sake. You’re pushing your luck… it’s a good thing I like you. I’ll go start putting things up.”
She doesn’t like ghosts? Takeda reached out to his father through their telepathic link. The chamber echoed and he wasn’t entirely certain about being overheard.
She doesn’t like anything she can’t land a kick on. Kenshi’s mind voice was wry and amused. And usually she doesn’t like anything she can. There was something else in there, an underlayer Takeda could not quite identify, that seemed like pleasure-amusement-satisfaction-surprise, though it quickly vanished.
“Any strong feelings about it?” Kenshi spoke out loud.
“I have… I feel like we’d be safer here? Like the spirits will…”
“Act as an early-warning system?”
“Yes.” Takeda nodded. Kenshi’s mouth pulled sideways.
“I’ll see if I can talk her into it. I’m not overly confident, though. She’s stubborn.”
“Like you?”
“Like both of us.”
Takeda snorted, looking around the room again. “So this was… what? Our ancestral home? Palace? Mausoleum?”
“I’m still not entirely sure.” Kenshi crouched down and ran his fingers along the base of the seated statue at the front of the room. “I know I’ve told you that we’re a peculiar line - descended from warrior kings that used to reign in this area. It’s where the telepathy comes from. This is where I was set up by Shang Tsung, damn his name.” Kenshi’s voice went bitter. His hands slid up the base of the statue, sliding up the figure’s carved staff to the falcon that perched atop it. “And in the labyrinth below, where he connived and schemed to get me to release the souls there. And free Sento - but with it, lose my sight.” He turned back to Takeda. “I don’t know all the secrets this place holds. But it’s important that you know where this is, and you learn what I know about it. Perhaps you’ll be able to uncover more information in your life.”
“Makes sense, I guess.” Takeda looked at the statue. “Do we even know who this guy was?”
“An ancestor. If he had a name, no one has bothered to share it with me. Probably one of the last great kings.” Kenshi shrugged. “I suppose I’m a landless warrior-king, and you a landless warrior-prince.” He gave Takeda a wry smile. “You can use that on your girlfriend sometime, see if it gets you anywhere.”
“Oh, like you have?”
“You’d be surprised. Rank and title mean a lot to some, and very little to others.” Kenshi turned and resumed walking slowly through the room. “Jacqueline doesn’t seem the type to care about anything she can’t use a welding torch or soldering iron on. Or decode and recompile.”
“Yeah.” Takeda almost sighed the word, and then shook his head as if to clear fog from it. He sounded like a lovesick idiot. But his dad was right - Jacqui liked to make sure she understood how something worked. And unless Warrior-Prince of the House of Pekara - or whatever it was - came with something she could get her technologically inclined fingers into… it wouldn’t matter. “Who knows, might get me out of hot water sometime.”
“Good luck.” Kenshi walked slowly towards the sounds of Sonya cursing out tent poles. “I’ll see if I can wield any of my royal majesty to convince her to shift camp.”
Takeda laughed. “You’re the one who’s gonna need the luck.”
Somehow, to Takeda’s surprise, Kenshi managed. He wasn’t sure what happened that convinced Sonya to haul the tent into the confines of the House of Pekara despite it “giving her the heebie jeebies” - whatever they were. She and Takeda split the duty of cooking, as basic as their supplies were: heating MREs over a camp stove, with a few small things to supplement. His years with the Shirai Ryu had served him well in this; Takeda caught Sonya nodding a few times, and once he thought he saw an actual smile as he was a step ahead of her in their preparations.
Kenshi, meanwhile, had been utterly useless. Ever since setting foot in the House of Pekara, he had been distracted. Had Takeda not known about his father’s ability to see spirits, he would have convinced Kenshi had lost it completely, the way he turned and had murmured conversation with dancing dust motes that occasionally solidified into humanoid shapes. Sonya had stopped even asking him questions or trying to engage him in any conversation, dropping into a sort of silence that almost worried Takeda. Her eyes kept flicking to Kenshi, and then away.
“You keep an eye on him, all right? I need to go set up a perimeter alarm, but I don’t like this.” She jerked her chin towards his father. “I’ll be ten, fifteen minutes and then I’ll do the washing up. If the timing’s right, should be a decent hour you can maybe give someone a call.”
“Give someone…” Takeda trailed off, and then felt a faint bloom of heat in his cheeks. “Fifteen minutes?”
“Yeah. Think you can wait that long?”
“So how is it?” Jacqui’s voice was clear on the other end of the phone. He wasn’t sure what she’d done to his device, but she sounded just like she was sitting across from him.
“What part? We’re in an old building, there are ghosts here, my father and General Blade keep sniping at each other…”
“So it sounds like a normal day, then. Aunt Sonya kind of behaving herself?”
“It still terrifies me you call her aunt.” Takeda shuddered, and Jacqui laughed. He felt his mouth crack open in a smile. “How do you manage her?”
“I mostly let Dad do it, and… well. She tries to get you in a lock or something, just land her on her ass, you’ll both be happy.”
“Her, happy?” Takeda scoffed. “She and my dad have been throwing jabs at each other like it’s fight night.” Jacqui snickered in response. “What? It’s true!”
“I believe you. I can picture it. She’s just… you know, it’s Aunt Sonya. I’m used to it. You’ll get used to her eventually. You got used to Master Hasashi, right?”
“I can at least tell when he’s joking.” Takeda groaned. “I’m afraid to use telepathy with her because I don’t want to risk going deep and finding out something I really don’t want to know.”
“Yeah, her and Dad have some pretty dark corners of their heads, I bet. I know Dad does, and they’re more alike than they’ll let on.” Jacqui sighed. “So. What’s it like, this ancient fortress of your ancestral lineage? Gonna take me out there sometime?”
“Well,” he began, “it looks like something out of a horror movie…”
What felt like not nearly enough time later, Takeda stepped out of the tent. One foot out, he looked around for any sign of the two adults; they wouldn’t have gone far. There - out under the sky, not in the ghost-ridden confines of the House. His father sat on the ground, one knee drawn up towards his chest and the other stretched out in front of him. The pale light was enough for Takeda to see Sonya stretched out on the ground next to him, her head pillowed on her hands. She turned her head from gazing up at the stars to look squarely at Takeda. He forced himself the rest of the way out of the tent under her gimlet gaze.
“Any problems, Takeda?”
“I-“ He paused, froze, looked at the two of them. She rolled her eyes and snorted.
“You’re not interrupting an important conversation. Trying to describe this,” and she gestured skyward, “to your father. Failing miserably. Everything all right with Jacqui?”
“She’s fine - they’re all fine. Mrs Briggs says to tell you she’s out of bail money if this goes sideways and you’re on your own.” Takeda wasn’t sure how Sonya would respond; she made a sound like a rusty laugh, and he caught a quicksilver smile from his father. “She’s fine, pulling duty on post like everyone else. She rescheduled our vacation for a couple weeks out.”
“She’s a good kid - woman,” Sonya corrected herself swiftly. “Smart, capable.”
“With a terrifying father, an equally terrifying godmother, and a mother that is so nice I wonder what secret she’s hiding.” Takeda dropped onto the ground near both of them.
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Kenshi quipped. “I’ve tried.” Sonya punched him, not particularly gently, in the thigh. She turned her eyes back skyward. Takeda leaned back to look up at the stars as well. Maybe Jacqui would like it here; it was nice enough. She liked to camp, and she’d definitely enjoy the stars. There was no sign of any light pollution, just bright pinpricks of light on a velvet-dark sky. They could get a couple of sleeping bags, lie out under the stars…
“Hope it’ll have some sway with Jacqui.” Takeda inhaled, then let the breath out long and slow for what seemed like minutes. “I think… I think I want to propose to her when we get back.” He didn’t look across, not at the two faces he was sure were turned in his direction, one of them with bright eyes pinning him where he sat. “I know - I’ve heard from Cassie all the… rough stuff that happened for you, General, and I know what it was like for my mom, and somehow even with all the shitty stuff, there’s good memories too. And I want those with Jacqui.”
“Well,” Sonya’s voice was dry as a desert, “it’ll at least get you couples housing on base. Marriage is good for the extra space. One good thing about being General is that I’m expected to have the big place, for cocktail parties and social functions.”
“Yes. All the parties you host.” His father’s voice was almost as dry. It warmed up significantly as he focused it on Takeda. “Are you sure? Aren’t you a little… young?”
Sonya choked back another laugh. “Cut him some slack. I’m the only one here who can talk with any experience about being married. You’re the one who gets to give lectures about being embedded with the enemy for eight, nine years and infiltration procedures and what to avoid. I’m the one who gets to give shitty relationship advice.”
Takeda couldn’t help it, chuckling too.
“And that. You two… you always have each other’s backs, and I know Jacqui and I have that, but you two have decades of depth to it. I want that, but with, well…”
He did see the grin on his father’s face this time, bright even in the darkness, and a muffled, unidentifiable sound from Sonya.
“Please do not tell me what you’d like to do with my goddaughter. Or I will have to ensure you get to spend an eternity of quality time with your ancestors. I’ll be falling down on my responsibilities as her godmother if I make Jax kill you and hide the body by himself. I’ll do both and save him the effort.” Takeda spared a glance towards her. She still looked up at the sky and stars even as she lightly delivered the threat. No - it was a promise, had to be promise, with her. She never joked.
Well, he thought she never joked, but after the day with her and his father, he was beginning to reconsider just how much of what he saw as the General was a professional facade. It seemed like some of it was, and there was a slightly warmer human underneath all it.
“But if you want,” she continued, “I’ll consider interceding with Jax on your behalf.”
That comment was almost enough to knock Takeda off-balance. “Maybe just… you know, make sure he won’t kill me just for asking?”
Sonya sat up, meeting Takeda’s eyes.
“He’ll threaten to. Jacqui is his world, Takeda. So is Vera. Anything happens to either of those two women…” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he challenges you to a fight. I love Jax to death - and beyond it - but he’s old-fashioned about some things. And after what he went through, he needs to know that his little girl is going to be safe. You may need to try to pound him into the ground and prove you’ve got what it takes, to satisfy him. And then never, ever tell Jacqui you did that because she is the type who will kick your ass for doing something so Stone Age.”
She paused, then pushed herself up off the ground, dusting off the backs of her legs. She put one hand on Kenshi’s shoulder to steady herself as she contorted slightly in the process. She pulled her hand back and met Takeda’s eyes again. “Regardless of that - you’re a good fighter, and you’re my partner’s kid. You should realize by now I’ll go to bat for you if it comes to you ever needing someone else in your corner. Hanzo and Kenshi should be enough. Might even be too much. But if you need me, I’m there too.” She looked off, past the perimeter wire she’d set earlier. “Kenshi, I can tell you’re aching to say something. I’ll go do a check outside our perimeter again, give you two some space. Give a shout if you need me, and I’ll try not to get eaten by the native fauna.”
She was gone before Takeda could even think of a response to the grenade she’d just dropped on him. He watched her go, feeling himself oddly off-balance for not having moved at all.
“Is she… always like this, when she’s not on base?” Still uneasy, he dropped into Japanese. That, at least, she couldn’t eavesdrop on.
He hoped.
Kenshi’s response was in kind, switching languages with ease. “Logical, yet disturbingly unpredictable, and only occasionally willing to show she’s possessed of a capability for emotions? Yes.”
“All we ever see is Angry General Blade, and I can’t blame Cass for not being excited about that.”
“She worries more than she lets on,” Kenshi said slowly. “She’s always on guard. She trusts the two of us to be capable - she’s fought against you, remember - and she can ease up slightly. But this isn’t General Blade with us on this trip. This is Sonya.”
“I like this one a lot more.” Takeda’s blunt honesty made him glance over his shoulder again. He almost expected to see Sonya’s slim figure looming in that strangely threatening way she had. “She’s… rougher around the edges? The General… it’s like talking to a brick wall.”
“They’re both my friend, but I will admit I’m more partial to the one out of uniform - such as she ever has, anyway.”
Takeda shuddered at the thought that flung itself at him unbidden. The General out of her uniform - and his father - and he proceeded to wrest that back into the depths of his nightmares where that image belonged. He’d much rather think of Jacqui, out of her uniform, those dark eyes full of mischief. He heard his father laugh and
cleared his throat and
“So what exactly are we doing tomorrow, then?”
“You,” Kenshi said with an undeniably smug look on his face, “are going to meet your family.”