[WIP] Just in case CapCut nukes itself here’s the current progress of Light the Dragonfires! My PMV of Oblivion’s final main quest set to Guns for Hire by Woodkid.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
It had been years. It had been years upon years upon years and Liu Kang didn't notice. Raiden was old, and his immortality wasn't there to hold him together anymore.
Raiden was going to die on this little island with no one to witness but the two of them.
- Liu Kang watches Raiden die.
full fic under cut
It had been years. It had been years upon years upon years and Liu Kang didn't notice.
Liu Kang could see it in his slow movements and the winces when he'd move. He was old, and his immortality wasn't there to hold him together anymore. Raiden's eyes were fogged over, not dissimilar from the way Liu Kang remembered them, though without the glow they once had. His bones creaked and clicked every time he moved and Liu Kang could hear it. He'd grown frail despite Liu Kang's best efforts to ensure otherwise. His smile when he led Liu Kang to rest on their little stone platform was weary. His hands shook as they held Liu Kang's between their rough palms. He took longer to answer questions, and he seemed to struggle with them. He could hardly tell Liu Kang what his own name was. The only thing he seemed certain about was Liu Kang himself. The only thing he never failed to respond to was Liu Kang's soft declaration murmured under the light of the far stars in their space between realms.
Raiden was going to die on this little island with no one to witness but the two of them.
Liu Kang held him close as he fell asleep against his shoulder. He didn't know if this would be the last time it would happen. He hoped it wouldn't be as he carefully shifted Raiden's position to be more comfortable. He murmured old prayers from years ago, before the new stars were born and named, before the fuzzy shapes of the realms came to his sight.
It wasn't the last time. Raiden woke up soon after, still leaning against Liu Kang's warm chest with Liu Kang's arms around him. Raiden winced as he pulled himself upright on the stone, but smiled as he ushered Liu Kang back towards the hourglass to continue his work.
Liu Kang worked for as short a time as he could. It seemed like a mere moment to him, perhaps a few minutes, hardly progressing time along at all, but when he turned back to Raiden, he was hunched over and making this hollow noise, a shaky rattling sound every time he breathed.
Liu Kang conjured up a softer surface than their hard rock, a plush bed for him to sink into. He didn't think about what minute implications this action might have had in the future, he just knew that he needed to do it. He lifted Raiden with his new magic and carefully set him onto the soft bed, wrapping him up in the warm sheets, warmer than anything in the void should be, warm like everything Liu Kang made from his magic.
Raiden tried to wave him off, but Liu Kang insisted. It took so long, too long for Raiden to allow himself to sink into the bed, but he did so eventually, slowly letting his body sink into the mattress with great difficulty, groaning painfully as he did.
Liu Kang stood next to him, cradling his face with one hand and holding his cold, wrinkled palm with the other. Raiden could barely open his eyes, but he held onto Liu Kang's hand with all the strength he had. He opened his mouth to speak, but Liu Kang covered it.
“Don't waste your energy. Please. Hold on a little longer.”
Raiden gently squeezed Liu Kang's ring finger between his teeth until he let go. “I would rather”—he began to cough, and each one shot through Liu Kang's entire body like it was draining each bit of blood from him slowly. “I would rather spend my energy speaking to you than waste it holding on to a fleeting life.”
“Raiden—”
“If I can devote my energy to”—another bout of coughing—“anything, then I'd like to devote it to listening to you one last time.”
Raiden opened his eyes just a bit wider as he looked up at Liu Kang, bringing his hands up to his chest and holding on to Liu Kang's with both. “Will you recite your prayers for me? One last time. Make me feel like a god again.”
Liu Kang blinked away the tears forming in his eyes and nodded, then began. The prayers still felt so familiar on his lips. They came out like a song. Kung Lao did always say he had a way of singing his words whenever he wasn't speaking English, especially when he prayed.
He didn't stop until he had recited all of the ones he could possibly remember, then repeated some of them. He didn't stop until he felt Raiden's fingers slipping.
He shut up in the middle of a verse about prosperity and good blessings to hold onto Raiden's hands tighter, then switched to a verse for good health and peaceful passing. His eyes shut tight. He hunched over Raiden and pressed their joined hands against his forehead. He repeated the verse again and again. Raiden smiled at him.
Raiden's hand twitched and left the joined pile atop his chest. Liu Kang didn't stop praying until he felt Raiden's trembling hand reach out and hold his face softly, stroking over his cheek where he hadn't even noticed hot tears had begun to fall. They must have been boiling hot, but Raiden didn't seem to notice. Liu Kang grabbed onto his wrist tightly.
“I remember that one. You recited it every day before the tournament, didn't you?”
Liu Kang nodded jerkily, tiny, disjointed motions that Raiden's hand followed.
“Teach it to me.”
Liu Kang did. Word by word, phrase by phrase, he taught Raiden to pray. He corrected pronunciation and guided him through phrases until Raiden could recite it himself, singing it in the same way Liu Kang always did.
Raiden trailed off in the middle of the third phrase. He looked up at the stars.
“You've done well, Liu Kang. I can't wait to see your New Era. I am proud to die as a mortal.” He smiled. “Like you.”
His fingers fell from Liu Kang's cheek. His hand slipped from Liu Kang's. He sank into the bed with a deep sigh. He faced up towards the stars.
Time froze. Liu Kang leaned over Raiden and heaved sobs and cried tears that never fell further than his chin and clutched at the fabric of the warm sheets until his hands tore through them. The first stars could have burned out above his head and he would not have known, all consumed by the grief of a loss he'd never considered he would have to face.
It must have been years. It felt like a long time to Liu Kang, and he'd learned not to trust his sense of time anymore. It must have been years before he could finally push himself off of Raiden.
Time continued around him. The stars grew in size and died and were reborn before him. He didn't move. The tears didn't fall.
As the realms formed, as life sprang into existence, first upon the young Outworld, the tears didn't fall.
And as Liu Kang descended upon Earth to gather the first of his champions, Raiden's still body remained untouched on an island far in space, frozen in time forever.
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
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