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Lord Liu Kang had much to attend, here among mortals, loose ends to tie up and promises to fulfill. He worried every moment he was away from the Hourglass, but at the same time knew that nothing moved without his say-so, that he was master of time. The weight of the krown was heavy, even when it was not upon his head, however, and he did not relish returning to it and all the wildcards the sands of time had of late been dealing him.
The loosest of all ends, the wildest card in the pile was standing next to him, a drink in one hand, a goober of a half-smile on his face. He was watching his daughter do a turn on the dancefloor with Kung Jin, could see the happy confidence on both faces, and wondered what it would be like to be that young again. The attendees were engrossed in the music and idle conversation, chewing on sweets leftover from the dessert table and sipping fine wine, beer, and simple cocktails.
“Man, Scorpion said eastern AND western traditions would be ‘laid aside for this ceremony’ or somethin’—guess he was fuckin’ with me, at least a little. The ceremony itself was kind of a surprise, though.” The semi-retired star lifted the cup to his lips and drank deep, relishing and needing the soft edges it would soon lend to the world around him. “Speakin’ of which, where is the incongruous couple?”
“Making new traditions, I would guess,” Liu Kang surmised, sure the two were making something and simply too tactful to say so, though a mischievous grin made a grand appearance on lips. “Come, I still need to speak with you and you have not yet seen all of the Fire Gardens.”
Johnny’s heart clambered into his throat and only alcohol could soothe it back down, so he finished what he had and laid his cup aside. The music followed them into the dimly lit half-darkness of the rest of the Shirai-Ryu complex. Soon, only Liu Kang’s divine tattoos would be their light, but Johnny didn’t much mind. It was a good view and always had been, tattoos or not. His mind, the edges softened with good feelings and beer, shot immediately back to the last time they had seen each other. I’m on fire again, he thought to himself, catch your eye and history starts repeating. He cleared his thoughts of that immediately upon realizing they were out of earshot of the party.
“So what’s up?” Johnny’s head tilted to the side and he regarded his old friend with some concern. “And don’t sugarcoat it—I can see the static floatin’ around you there.” He gestured toward Liu’s shoulders where, indeed, arcs of electricity gamboled this way and that. He had done his best to disguise them, but like Raiden, there was nothing he could do to stop them, per se.
“Lord Raiden is—”
“Oh no—nope, no you are not going to tell me Raiden’s dead at a fucking wedding reception, Liu. I get it, you got places to be, hourglasses to tilt an’ shit, but that’s just one fucking thing too many.” He remembered one of his final conversations with the former deity, in the living room of his own home. Raiden had informed Johnny that Liu Kang had returned his elemental abilities to him for the duration of his mortal life, citing that Liu (wisely) did not want his advisor to move about the realms and timelines unarmed. Johnny had sensed there was more to it than that, but did not, for once, pry. He was wishing now that he had. Raiden may have told him.
“He is not dead, no,” Liu Kang amended, holding up both hands in a gesture of apology. “He elected to return this to me with certain conditions.”
Johnny Cage, at the moment, did not care what conditions those were. He wanted to know what, precisely, could have pulled Raiden away from Liu’s side before the end. It didn’t feel right, not like the Raiden he had come to know and respect—maybe even to love a little. He voiced his concerns eloquently.
“Where is he that you couldn’t drag his anionic ass along?”
Liu chuckled at this. “Lord Raiden is not dragged anywhere. You may recall the man… about seven feet tall, big hat, scary temper?”
They stopped in the semi-darkness then and stared at each other. Johnny broke the silence first with an ugly laugh and shook his head, admitting that yes, he did recall the individual and that he was a moron to think the new god of thunder and fire could force even mortal Raiden anywhere he did not want to be. But why wouldn’t he want to be here?
“So it’s something he couldn’t leave,” Johnny guessed, betraying his cleverness once more. Liu sighed through his nose, shoulders sagging.
“Yes, in a manner of speaking,” he admitted, “and I can say no more, Johnny, so do not ask. Please.”
Liu Kang reached out and grasped the man’s hands, squeezing them tightly. Johnny’s heart thumped hard in his chest at this and he felt that same buzzing sensation he always got in the past when he tossed an arm carelessly about their divine friend. Now it was accompanied with a pleasant heat.
“Fine,” whispered Johnny, “I won’t—but Liu, why’re ya holdin’ my hands, man...? You’re freakin’ me out. I’m totally wigged right now and I swear if a cricket so much as farts, I’ll jump out of my skin.”
Liu could sense more words threatening to come from his friend and so, with the current occupation of his hands, he did the only thing he could think of to silence Johnny. Pressing his lips forward, he swallowed the protests in sweet, nostalgic heat. When Johnny’s back hit a carefully-manicured brick wall, he felt like he was in his twenties again, sneaking around and groping like a horny kid.
The same kind of charge he’d felt from Liu’s hands poured into Johnny’s mouth. He could not place the taste, but it began to tingle all throughout his body, filling every cell. Only Liu Kang’s gentle motion to break away from the kiss stopped Johnny Cage wrapping his arms AND legs around the man and making like they were teens after prom. Liu stayed close, at least, covering Johnny with his heat and presence, bodies pressed tightly together.
“As I said,” Liu continued, his baritone a whispered gasp, “I was sent with this power and one condition… that I give it to you.”
Johnny’s eyes—now glowing with the mark of divinity—flew wide and his mouth popped helplessly open. For once, not a single word spilled out as he felt that familiar energy radiating through every atom of him. He thought he might fly apart at any moment, yet the seconds ticked by and he remained corporeal.
“But he gave YOU his divinity—have… have you still got it?” Johnny was fuzzy on the details, having been laid up with a bullet wound, but he was certain he caught that much, at least.
“I do, yes. Lord Raiden taught me a few things about the passing of divinity before he… well it is simple physics, evidently; energy is never destroyed, only converted and transferred.”
Johnny shook his head. He was following, or he had been, but this was too damn much. He also did not think it was physics, but something else entirely though he wasn’t in a place to argue. Maybe metaphysics? Christ, my head hurts. The fireflies were out now—or maybe they had always been out and Johnny had, due to his panic, missed them. They were beautiful, flying about and flashing at one another, lighting the night with their strange, warm glow. He focused on the fireflies, avoiding thinking too much about what this meant.
“Why me, Liu? What was he thinking?”
“That you would be an excellent god of thunder, most likely.” The simplicity of Liu Kang’s answer nearly infuriated Johnny, but for the wonder he was now experiencing. It was not the wonder of a man who had lusted for power all his life and had finally gained it, but a guy who had struggled, fighting tooth and nail for everything he had and who was finally being (albeit strangely) rewarded for his endless fight. He knew this conferred upon him not only divinity, but the responsibility of that same divinity and that it was not going to be any sort of relief or retirement.
But for once in his life, Johnny Cage felt worthy.
“Okay,” he said quietly, looking down, thinking hard on this, and then nodding. “Okay—fine, yeah. I can do this. I can be a… god. Right?”
“Right.” This second kiss was softer, starting on the corner of Johnny’s mouth and making its way with blissful slowness to his lips, claiming them once more with deliberate gentleness, not asking permission so much as reminding. And oh, how they remembered. Liu Kang was delighted by the taste and the fact that he did not feel the need to draw away to punctuate his point that he would not be offering “take-backs”. He recalled how Raiden had argued and reflected that, in the end, the old deity had gotten his way after all.
“One thing though, Liu, I just… I gotta know,” Johnny stammered, relishing the feeling of hard brick upon his back, the heat of Liu Kang’s arms around him, hands groping him, knowing he must speak now or he would lose it in a veritable fountain of ecstasy.
“Hm?” Liu Kang receded a little, though certainly not much, not enough to allow completely coherent thought, but that was really of no concern. He wasn’t sure Johnny Cage was capable of completely coherent thought anyway. It made no difference.
“The tatts,” said the actor, reaching up and laying a hand on Liu’s left pectoral. “Do I…?”
He was wearing sleeves, after all, a rather nice suite, tie and all at Cassie’s insistence, and could see nothing and felt no real change on that front. He was already becoming accustomed to the buzzing, had tuned it out, so to speak.
“It is the mark of divinity,” said Liu simply, “so yes, you do… But maybe here and now isn’t the time to thoroughly explore that, huh? This is not our day, after all.”
“Okay, fair… but ah…” Johnny turned on his charm, as if he could ever have turned it off. “Later?”
“Later,” agreed Liu Kang, drawing back further, reacquainting himself with reality. “And then for all eternity.”
“Take it easy, slugger,” Johnny warned, “that’s a long time.”
“It is,” Liu admitted, offering a hand. “Let us walk that path together.”
Johnny Cage took it gratefully. “Yeah. I think I can do that.”