Mortal Kombat Fan Fiction ❯ Of Serpents and Sirens ❯ Chapter 23

At first all she could hear was muffled noise. Someone was talking but she couldn't make it out. A chitter to her right had her turning to it as her eyes fluttered open. 

There right in front of her was a small little dragon serpent tilting its head at her, it chittered again. She didn't feel any danger from the little creature as it crept closer to her, finally snuggling into her hair.

The sounds slowly shifted from muffled to clear as she looked around the room. She was back in her rooms.

'How did I get back here?'

"It's been three days, man! When is she going to wake up?"

Then all of a sudden she gasped and sat up quickly before groaning out loud, gripping her head as a wave of dizziness hit her suddenly.

The urn...È Mèng...her hand slid down to rest over her abdomen...the baby.

"Hey guys...she's awake!" She locked eyes with her niece, smiling softly at her.

"Sis!" Johnny rushed to her side, his hands stuck in the air, not knowing what to do.

Lily smiled, "You can hug me."

She looked down at the little dragon, "I don't think he's going to bite."

He laughed, leaning over and carefully wrapping his arms around her. When he stepped back from her, she looked at him confused.

'What happened? One minute I was fighting that witch and the next I wake up here."

"Well sis..."

"It can't be that bad, can it? Wait! The baby?"

Johnny scratches his head and Cassie even refuses to meet her eyes for a moment.

"The baby is alive and seems to be suffering no adverse affects from the fight, Lily Cage. But there is something more urgent we need to discuss."

Her eyes snap to the door to find Raiden looking down at her with a strange look.

"Raiden, just what happened down there?"

"You unlocked the same power both your brother and your niece have. They both used their power to fight a corrupted Elder God called Shinnok. Cassie in the end was the one to defeat him. Your natural instinct to protect your child unlocked that power."

Lily shakes her head, "That's not all is it?"

"No it is not."

"What happened during the time that Shang...wait!"

She flew off the bed, wobbling when she stood up. Raiden grabbed her shoulder to steady her.

"You must be careful, Lily. You are still recovering."

"Shang was hurt! Where is he?"

"He is fine. You healed him."

She stilled and looked up at him, startled.

"I healed him? How did-"

He pushed gently on her shoulder, forcing her to sit.

"You were chosen as a champion."

Lily scoffs, "Chosen? By who? And for what Raiden?"

"The one who chose you has no known name, but is known only by her title."

"What is it?"

"The Dragon Goddess of the Divine Flame. She has not been seen in many millennia. So much so that the Elder Gods feared Shinnok had destroyed her in fear of her power. But she still lives, her power flowing through your family bloodline. She possessed your body during the last moments of our fight with È Mèng. The power that she had unleashed through you was incredibly powerful, so much that only that power combined with mine was enough to destroy È Mèng and the urn. One other thing..."

She sat down hard on her bed. Stunned.  She couldn't believe it. She was chosen and by a goddess.

"Why did she choose me?"

The thunder god shook his head, "You are her champion to fight in her stead should she require it of you."

Lily wanted to change the subject so she questioned him, "What was that other thing you wanted to mention?"

He shifted from foot to foot, suddenly nervous.

"Raiden?"

"It is nothing, Lily."

She leaned over to look past Raiden and saw Shang standing at the door wearing his signature leather jacket. She immediately jumped off the bed, rushing to him where he wrapped his arms around her. She laughed wrapping her arms around his shoulders, the dragon flitting around them happily.

She stepped back and noticed a strange look on his face as he traced her features.

"Shang?"

He sighed heavily. "It's nothing my sweet."

"W-what?"

"You need to be resting."

"Your not telling me something..." He shook his head and leaned down and kissed her forehead gently.

"It is nothing of any great importance, dearest. Now back to bed. Rest."

"But?"

"I will tie you to that bed if needs be, hehua. Rest."

Her thighs clenched at the thought and she grinned, winking at him.

He chuckled hotly, "Don't tempt me, Lily."

Johnny throws his hands in the air, "Oh god, not again. I'm out of here. Anyone hungry? I'm hungry."

Cassie laughs loudly, "God dad, you are such a kid at times."

"Well, you and me need to have a talk anyway...about you and Fujin?"

"Dad! Not happening!"

Raiden turned to her and shook his head. "There are a great many things we need to discuss about that...incident, Cassandra Cage. I will collect Fujin and we will speak."

Cassie dropped her head in her hands, groaning loudly.

"Damn it Dad! Now I got to get the 'no god dick' lecture from Raiden."

Lily couldn't help it, she tipped her head back and laughed heartily.

A slight hiccup to her voice caught his attention and he smiled softly, his chest filled with warmth.

Shang just stared at her, completely struck still. His hand touched his chest over the healed flesh of his wound. 'What is this?'

'Live. With her. Embrace happiness for once.'

'This is a second chance, sorcerer. Do not refuse it.'

And suddenly in that moment he knew why he had been so drawn to Lily, so utterly addicted to her and he shook his head violently of the thought.

'No. It cannot happen. I refuse to believe this.'

'Do not deny the strength of the bond between you two already.' A voice whispers through his mind.

His hands shook from his revelation and he quickly and quietly left the room, leaving Lily behind to her laughter.

He needed to be alone.

The outside air was heated and humid. He paid it no mind as he quickly threw his hands up, creating a portal and stepping through it before collapsing to the sand surface of the beach.

He screamed then, throwing his jacket to the ground, flinging sand everywhere, refusing yet again to acknowledge it.

Shang was filled with rage. How dare she do this? How dare she walk onto his island and ruin everything he had come to know. Damn her! He was the most formidable sorcerer that ever lived. A master of soul magic. He only needed himself.

'I would rather battle with wits than with fists.'

'What if I'm fireproof?'

He remembered the feeling of her brushing against him that first time, how she shivered but kept her gaze locked with his, so defiant.

'What time should I be ready by?'

Opening the door and seeing her in the dress he picked. How his mouth went dry at the expanse of pale flesh exposed to his eyes. The cherry red lips stretched into a soft smile.

The way she looked drenched from the waterfall and surrounded by those lilies. Her pale flesh a stark contrast against the dark purple petals. 

'Hehua. His water lily.'

She didn't know him and still blindly trusted him.

Then that first kiss. 

Damn it! He had never wanted to kiss someone as strongly as he had in that moment.

Then Sub-zero and Scorpion showed up and an anger like never before coursed through him.

'Jealous?'

Looking back now...he had been jealous. Said what he had, leading her to slap him. That was the tipping point. He had never wanted someone as viciously as he had wanted her in that moment. This woman that had enough fire and defiance to stand her ground against him. To still bite back with smart remarks and witty retorts. He shook his head, giving a humorless laugh.

They had always come to him...the women he seduced. Never...not once had he went to them...until her. Until Lily.

'Come to me tonight. Share my bed, hehua.'

He had been the one to go to her. To beg her.

Shang Tsung was the one to use them and throw them away, but she...she had dug her claws deep into him and he couldn't.

Having her in his lap as she ground herself to her release. Then how shyly she looked at him afterwards. She had been magnificent to watch.

He can feel himself hardening at the thought of it again.

Shaking his head viciously. "No!"

'Then fuck me properly. I'm done thinking I'm fireproof. Burn me Shang Tsung. Mark me. Do whatever the fuck you want to me...just don't stop touching me right now.'

That one statement had changed everything. She was fireproof and only made himself realize that he hadn't been. Not against the fire her touch ignited in him. 

He runs his hand over his face and is shocked to find wetness on his cheeks. He was crying.

"Tears?"

Every single moment that he touched her, that she touched him. The sweet moans and cries, the way her body quivered and shook as she shattered around him. How much she hungered for his touch...how much he hungered for hers.

'I'm a possessive man and when I have you, I will have all of you. Every inch.'

He had her body yes...but he had been the one possessed, not her.

Than that one moment...that one damn kiss where she sighed, pressing her lips gently into his. She had looked at him so sweetly, so damned lovingly that it had left him breathless. No one had ever looked at him like that. Not in all his years of existence. It had shook him to the core. He had needed no one. He was content by himself.

But seeing the flicker of the tiny soul that was to be his son? Their son? Knowing that she was the one to carry that little life? It had utterly and completely ripped his chest open, exposing him to the lie he had built around himself. It destroyed the stone he had encased his heart in, reducing it to rubble and allowing that hardened heart to beat again.

She had irrevocably ruined him. That revelation shook him to the very core and he snapped.

He screamed, throwing his arms out as his power exploded in an expanding circle of green fire around him, sand flying as it made a scorched crater in the beach and leveled the trees surrounding him, the stumps crackling as they caught fire.

He covered his face and lowered it to the ground, shoulders shaking, his chest ached and a sob caught in his throat as tears poured from his eyes.

'In ten thousand years you have finally found something worth fighting for, Shang Tsung.'

He could deny it no longer. It such a short amount of time she had become everything to him.

His drug...his obsession...his lover...the mother of his child...and his weakness...

He loved her.