:･ﾟ🌪️┇ ❝I do not need saving, Tui La — do you not see?❞ Fujin advances on her, his features once so soft now uncharacteristically dark with upset. The bloody kusanagi hangs at his side — indicator of more harm to come — until the portal opens beneath her and Raiden. Swallows them away. ❝TUI LA❞, enraged now, teeth gritting beneath pursed lips, her name is spat like a piqued curse from the devil. His hand presses to the bloody mess on the floor — his heart thuds in his ears, veins pulsing angrily in his neck. She left. With him. But he knows where they went, oh yes, knows exactly where, and she is not the only one who can open portals to the Heavens. And so he casts his own, tempests rising, and steps through.
The Lady of Waters pleaded, and an Elder God responded — Cetrion was a comfort for so long before another portal was opened and a being stepped onto the holy lands. He was angry, awash with a fury even the Elder Goddess felt she could not contain. There was little time to spare.
Tui La died next to Raiden, with Cetrion standing above them, already working to get their bodies away from the intruder. But Tui La did not miss Fujin’s words, the last ones that would haunt her, his voice distorted with acrimony and hysteric madness: ❝You are not getting away from me this easily!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
❝She has awakened❞, one of the nursing ladies announces.
❝Thank you, Kalia, we will be there shortly — ❞, Kitana responds, only to note the concern in the lady’s features. ❝Speak your mind.❞
❝She is… very distressed. Weak, but disoriented. We cannot hold her for long. She is calling for Lord Raiden.❞
Kitana offers Raiden a quick glance, followed by an understanding nod before they set for Tui La’s chambers. Raiden’s heart pulses heavy in his chest. Every step he takes is leaden with pain, but he pushes on regardless. He has spent countless hours at her bedside, waiting for her rebirth — feels guilty he was not there when her eyes did open.
He enters the room as the medics stand aside for the Thunder God and the Kahn. Raiden himself looks disheveled, broken. His body is wracked with bruises and gashes not yet healed, bandages about his body for there is no Jinsei to heal his wounds in Outworld. He does not don his hat, nor his usual garments, instead wearing a blue yukata. He appears humbled, that with his silver hair strewn about his shoulders: no more a Demi God than the princess standing next to him.
❝Tui La❞, he calls to her, and approaches the bed, kneeling on one knee before her. ❝Tui La, I am here. I am alive. And so are you. We are safe.❞
Voices bleed into the endless void. Child’s laughter, musical chimes, sweet words of whispered love. Flashes of memories, fading out a thought and time. Life ages ago and bittersweet. Until the howling of the wind drowned out everything. Flaying every fiber of her being in the tempest as the nightmares came. The sounds of pleas, the wet sounds of metal meeting flesh and the deranged laughter.
The motherly voice of Cetrion whispered in the dark. Soothing words as the winds howled. His voice drifted along the abyss. Talons clawing, ripping and tearing. “you are not getting away from me this easily!” No escape as her heart ceased. Blood pooling and mixing with that of Raiden. The Blood of Betrayal. The nightmares started anew. Fears became one, tangled with each other as the laughter of Shinnok and Fujin filled the void until...silence
A gasp came from her once slumbering form. Heart pounding as fear gripped her. Startling the servants watching over her. Unknowing of their presence as she sought to rise, flee! But a weight settled over her weak body. Unhearing of the voices that called out for help. Of soothing words that did not reach as tears flowed freely from the demi-gods empty sockets. "Raiden!” Tui La called. Fear lanced within her voice. Was he safe? Was he alive? After a few minutes Tui La ceased her struggling.
Her body too weak to fight anymore as she slowly came to her senses. Yet waiting for the blade to give her a true death. The words of the startled healer were muffled, as if Tui La was underwater. But it was the voice of Raiden that pulled her to the surface. “Raiden...” Tui La whispered. Cheeks wet and tear stained. Shifting closer to the familiar presence at her bedside. The only comfort in a strange place after a violent death.
“Are you real...please...not another nightmare...I can’t!”
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