DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. They Belong to Midway
and the movie company that brought them to life. The songs "You Can Still
Be Free" and "Gunning Down Romance" were written and sung by Savage Garden.
"Everything I Do" belongs to Bryan Adams. Sonya's answering machine
message is, in fact, a copy off of MacGyver's. I am making no money off of
this, nor do I wish to make money off of this. It is merely from a fan for
other fans to enjoy because we have no lives. Or at least I don't. Well,
enjoy!
Bath Beads and Piano Keys
3 1/2 weeks after the destruction of Shao Kahn
11:17 PM
The apartment was dark. No movement could be detected inside. Not
even a candle burned in the window. The snowstorm outside blew in a
swirled mist of white and crystal. Only the wind made a sound, that of the
sharp whistle it made as it picked up speed. Then there was a ring that
disrupted the winter musical, before a recorded message began.
"Hey, this is Sonya. We all know how these things work, so when you
hear the beep, go for it." A click, then a different voice.
"Sonya. It's Jaxx. Listen, if you're home, pick up. Pick up the
phone. I need you to get to the office, now. Something's happened, and
you need to be here. Please, this is import-" The message faded off when
a finger pressed down on the volume button before a figure moved across the
room to turn on the radio. A soft tune began to play. It was the song
"You Can Still Be Free." Three seconds later, the room was illuminated by
a soft glow that came from the bathroom.
In the mirror, Sonya Blade gazed at herself. Her blonde hair was
limp and tangled, her eyes were dark, blank. Her face was distraught, and
her lips were pale. Slowly she removed her nightgown. It slid off her
shoulders into a careless pile on the floor. For a moment she looked
herself over. A few more pounds had been shed, which didn't surprise her.
She turned away from her frail appearance, closed the bathroom door, then
stepped into the steaming water covered by bubbles in her quaint bathtub.
The steam wrapped around her and she let herself sink down to her neck.
As much as she tried to drown out her pain, she never could blank
Johnny's face out of her mind. The thing about Johnny that bothered her
the most was she barely knew him. How could she possibly feel anything for
him in that short time on the island? Her emotions were irrational,
illogical, impossible to believe. But when did the heart listen to the
head? Sonya's hands covered her face as she sighed lethargically.
"When will I be happy? When will things go right for me? When will
the pain go away? When will life be fair to me?!" A new song started
while her mind drifted to the island yet again, to the few moments they
were alone. "He never kissed me..." she whispered. The words from the
song rekindled harsh memories that she could not run from, no matter how
hard she tried. Too weak to fight back, to weak to care, Sonya let the
memories come, let them blaze through the steam into her mind and burn
brightly with the guilt, the pain, the loneliness.
Love and other moments are just chemical reactions in your brain
And feelings of aggression are the absence of the love drug in your veins
in your veins
Sonya's cold heart and bitter attitude all came from her partner's
death, when she knew she could no longer love someone without putting them
in danger. Independence was the only escape.
Love come quickly
Because I feel my self esteem is caving in
It's on the brink
Kano was dead, killed at Sonya's hands, but still no solace could be
found for Alex's murder. Nothing could bring him back. And she was
beginning to realize that.
Love come quickly
Because I don't think I can keep this monster in
It's in my skin
She tried to be kind to Johnny, but her anger wouldn't let up. Now
she was suffering for it. Without Johnny, she had no control to keep the
beast of vengeance at bay. She couldn't fight it alone anymore.
Love and other socially acceptable emotions are morphine
They're morphine
Cleverly concealing primal urges often felt but rarely seen
Rarely seen
More tears shed from Sonya's eyes as she thought of her passion for
justice, to bring all those who wronged her to their knees. And now what
did she have to show for it? Only that deep down she was no better than
them.
Love I beg you
Lift me up into that privileged point of view
The world of two
Love don't leave me
Because I console myself that Hallmark cards are true
I really do
The only way Sonya could deal with anger, hatred, and fear was
through violence. Through payback. The military was her savior. Now she
was it's missionary.
I'm gunning down romance
It never did a thing for me
But heartache and misery
Ain't nothing but a tragedy
Alex, Johnny. Why was Sonya always abandoned by those lucky enough
to earn her trust? Was she destined to always be alone?
Love don't leave me
But it was too late.
Take these broken wings
I'm going to take these broken wings
And learn to fly
And learn to fly away
And learn to fly away
I'm gunning down romance...
Sonya's eyes closed while a dream began to dance from her heart....
He slipped into her apartment, moving quietly though the dark to peek into
the bathroom, where Sonya lay in the tub. Softly, he opened the door and
stepped in. A smile crossed her lips but her eyes remained closed. He
moved in and kneeled next to the tub, slowly, so slowly, placing his left
hand into the water to gently caress her leg. The sound of her sigh
touched him deeply, so he moved his right hand to touch her cheek. His
fingers flitted around her chin then traced her lips, his heart melting
when she kissed each finger. Sonya shifted in the tub, startling the
water, and he caught a flash of flesh that heated his blood beyond words.
No longer could he resist his desire, so he leaned over her and gently
kissed her slightly parted lips. Sonya gasped softly as she kissed him
back. It lasted for several minutes, neither moving away, neither wanting
to. All good things do come to an end, though, even if only for a moment.
Sonya parted, letting her head fall back against the ring of tub, and he
was distressed to realize tears were falling from her still shut eyes.
Unsure of what was wrong, he kissed her trailing tears up to her eyes, he
kissed each eye in turn, then her forehead, her nose, but more tears came.
He stopped and just stared at her beautiful face trapped in pain, and
remained silent. Sonya's heart was cracking again, as she remembered that
this was only a fantasy, a wish she always prayed would come true and never
did. As much as she tried to be happy, her pain was too severe to abandon,
and once again it shattered her dreams of him returning to her.
"Johnny..." she whispered brokenly, a sob climbing its way up her
throat.
"Yes?" Sonya's eyes flew open and she screamed at the man hovering
over her. Taken aback, he tried to stand as Sonya freaked in the tub, but
her frantic movements caused water to splash onto the tiled floor and he
slipped. With nowhere else to go, Johnny Cage fell face first into the
bathe, and on top of Sonya. She continued to scream while she kicked at
the man suddenly sharing the too tight bathtub with her.
"GET OUT, GET OFF OF ME YOU FREAK!!!" Johnny listened in shock to
Sonya's wild cries and realized she didn't know it was him. He tried to
get her attention but only succeeded in taking in a mouth full of water
each time he tried to speak. After a few more moments of intense
struggling, Sonya was able to get out of the bathtub, seize her towel, and
run frantically to her bedroom for her gun. Johnny, now with more room to
move, was able to get out also and go after her. Sonya's dripping body
left a long wet streak on the wooden floor, withal, and once again Johnny
slipped and slid across the floor.
"ACK!" he yelled as he cruised into Sonya's couch, toppled over it,
and crashed onto her glass coffee table. He groaned as he rolled onto his
knees.
"FREEZE, JACK ASS!" Sonya shouted. Johnny opened his eyes to see her
standing a foot away, her gun trained on him, and, to his slight amusement,
her towel barely staying about her shivering body. Trying to get out of
this situation alive, Johnny put his
hands up in a gesture of defeat.
"Sonya-"
"SHUT UP!"
"Sonya pl-"
"I SAID SHUT IT, OR I'LL BLOW YOUR DAMN HEAD OFF!" Johnny did as she
aforementioned, actually getting worried that she would pull the trigger.
He bowed his head as he waited. Slowly, Sonya stepped forward, walked
around him while watching out for the broken glass, and bent his hands
behind his back. In a moment, he was handcuffed and she was dragging him
to his feet. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can
and will be used against you in a court of law-"
"I love it when you play the dominant one." Sonya paused, as if
hesitating.
"Now listen to me, jerk off," Sonya hissed as she spun him to face
her. "I don't-" She stopped. Johnny smiled at her.
"Hi Sweets." He watched her face change from anger to shock, and she
slowly stepped away from him. As she pressed herself against the wall, her
hand flew to the light switch, and the room was illuminated in a burst of
pale light.
"Johnny?" she whispered, too terrified to believe. He was wearing
the same silk blue shirt and black dress pants as the day he died, but they
were soaked. His hair looked longer, and was dripping over his eyes. His
beautiful blue eyes that looked right back at her. And his face... his
face had suds running down the sides. Sonya laughed at the sight, then
sobbed.
"Oh, Sonya, don't cry. Please?"
"You-you're alive." As she spoke the words, the gates around her
heart opened and her love for him flooded her senses. The tears poured
from her eyes in streams of crystalized salt as she ran forward and jumped
him. Her arms flew around his neck and she molded into him, all the while
kissing his lips, his cheeks, his neck, nose, eyebrows, forehead, anywhere
her lips could reach. Johnny laughed as he tried to breath around her
fluttering kisses.
"Son-Sonya...mmph... Hey there, hey sto-stop! That tickles!" Johnny
continued to laugh, but could do no more until she calmed down. Her tears
mingled with the water still dripping off him and she was able to make some
coherent sounds through her crying.
"Johnny, why-why won't you hold me?" He chuckled.
"Because I'm still cuffed." Sonya pulled away and stared in horror
at his words.
"Oh, my God! I'm sorry!" Quickly she moved to uncuff him,
apologizing profusely the entire time. "I didn't know! I thought it was
someone else, oh please forgive me!" Johnny smiled at her, and when he was
finally free, Sonya threw the handcuffs to the side and clung to him.
Johnny gladly accepted the embrace as he wrapped his arms about her tightly
and rocked her soothingly. Sonya said nothing, but she liked it that way.
All she wanted was to feel him, to know he was there, to be secure in his
arms. Johnny respected this, but after a few moments he realized he should
probably let her know about the uncomfortable predicament he was in.
"Sonya?" he whispered into her hair. She made a small mewling noise
in response, and he bit his lip slightly in fear. "Sonya, um... are you
cold?"
"No, no I'm fine." She sniffled. "Why?"
"You, uh, you dropped your towel." Sonya's eyes flew open when his
words registered.
"Shit!" She pulled away, then realized she left herself exposed
before him. She yelped and wrapped her arms around him again so he
couldn't see her. Alas, this didn't help much because he could still feel
her. Johnny couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! It's not funny!"
"I'm sorry, Angel, but I can't help it. I wanted to surprise you,
you know, have everything perfect, and then everything went downhill from
there. Now here we are, dripping wet from our game of "hide and seek" in
the bathtub," Sonya's laugh cut him off for a second, "Me still in my
clothes, and handcuffed at first, and you without your towel."
"Don't let anyone say you can't show a woman a good time." Johnny
laughed again, and placed his chin on her shoulder. There he realized she
was shivering.
"You ok?" he whispered.
"Yeah."
"You need to get dressed, or you'll freeze. I'll close my eyes, you
get the towel, and then get dressed in your room. I'll wait out here, ok?"
"Ok," Sonya replied. He kept his eyes closed until he heard a door
shut, then looked at the floor, and the remains of Sonya's coffee table.
"Damn," he whispered. "That hurt!" He rubbed his back for a moment.
He looked for the kitchen and found a broom and dustpan to sweep up the
broken glass and wood. He disposed of the pieces in the garbage, then
looked around for something to drink. First, he found the answering
machine blinking away. There was on message. He pressed play, heard
nothing, and realized the volume was turned down.
"... you need to be here. Please, this is important. Damn, hey!
Where are you going? Get back here-." Johnny grinned at Jaxx's heavy
sigh. "Ok, Sonya. I didn't want to tell you this over the phone, but
Johnny's alive. Don't leave the apartment! He's on his way over, so...
just stay there. And please don't be dead." The message cut off and
Johnny rolled his eyes at Jaxx's last remark.
"Majors." He redirected his attention on his thirst, and searched
Sonya's cabinets for two clean glasses. Surprisingly, he found none. So,
he went to the refrigerator in hope of a can of soda. He opened the fridge
door and gaped.
"I wish you didn't have to see that." Johnny jumped, and turned to
see her standing in a silk bathrobe. A pair of men's clothes were in her
hands.
"I think we should talk."
"Not without something to drink. I'll have a Vodka. Help yourself
to whatever." Johnny nodded, then reached through the various half empty
bottles of bear, whiskey, scotch, tonic, khalua and tequila to the bottle
of vodka. He pulled out a black cherry wine cooler for himself. Sonya was
sitting on the couch, and for the first time realized something was wrong.
"Where's my table?"
"So Rayden convinced the Elder Gods that because Shao Khan fought out
of the original terms of Mortal Kombat, and broke the sacred code, you
could come back." Johnny nodded as he finished off his drink.
"The paperwork was why it took so long. I feel so bad for those
clerks up there." Sonya looked at him questioningly. "Nevermind," Johnny
chuckled. "Now I'm back, and I'm not leaving." He pulled Sonya closer to
him, and she snuggled into his chest, his warm cotton sweatshirt rubbing
against her hands. "Most certainly not before you tell me why all you have
is alcohol in your fridge."
"Johnny..."
"Don't even try to get around it, Sonya. It's not healthy, and you
look ill." Sonya sat up swiftly, glaring.
"What the hell are you talking about?! I look perfectly fine!"
Johnny glared back.
"For an anorexic supermodel, yeah!" She slapped him. Johnny inhaled
sharply, then touched his burning cheek. Sonya looked away from his
intense gaze. "Sonya-"
"I don't want to hear it, Cage. I'm fine, I just got sick a few days
ago and have lost some weight. I'll get it back soon." She stood and
walked toward the window.
"Yeah, alcohol poisoning can do that to you." Her hands clenched so
hard her nails dug into her skin.
"Will you stop it with the smart remarks?! I'm not a drunk!"
"Ididn't say you were! I'm just concerned if you need help!"
"I don't need any help, I'm fine!" she yelled viciously as she spun to face
him.
"A month's gone by since you faced you fear of trust, and still you can't
admit when you need help! What are you trying to accomplish, Sonya,
killing yourself?!" Pain reflected deep in her eyes, and Johnny knew he
stuck the wrong cord. Slowly he stood up. "Was it-- did you blame
yourself?" Sonya rolled her eyes as she scoffed.
"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Johnny Cage. I think your ego is big enough
as is."
"What about yours?" Johnny shot back. Sonya looked at him thriftily.
"Excuse me?"
"You have more pride in yourself than anyone I've ever met, and it's
the only thing holding you back from the truth." Sonya rubbed her
forehead.
"Which is?" she asked tiredly.
"You need help." A few moments passed by with only the sounds of
their breathing and Toni Braxton's song "Unbreak My Heart" playing on the
radio. Then Sonya's head fell to her chest, and she wearily sat down on a
nearby chair. Pale, thin hands covered her face.
"I don't need help, Johnny. I need you." About her nose her hands
clasped together as if in prayer, and her green eyes searched his, begging
them to understand. "Death never bothered me before. Then Alex, my
partner and lover, died. But I survived by going after Kano, his killer.
Just when I thought things were going all right, I lost you, and I lost
myself then and there. I fought back, yes, but only in the single strand
of hope that you would come back after we won. But you didn't. I faked
being happy, so Lui, Jaxx, and Kitana wouldn't know. When I got home,
nothing mattered. I took leave from the Special Forces because I just
didn't care." Sonya's voice became choked up with tears, causing Johnny to
walk over and kneel before her, resting his hands on her knees for comfort.
She hid her eyes behind her hair as she continued.
"So I stayed here, and every night, every single night, I'd draw a
bath, pull out a few more bottles of whiskey, or vodka, or khalua, and just
watch the stars until I was ready to pass out. I'd slip into the tub and
let myself drift away to where ever you were in my heart at that moment.
I'd wake up the next morning, freezing of course, but alive. For a while,
the pain in my head would block the pain in my soul, but when it went away,
you were still gone. And nothing was going to change that. No matter how
much I slept, or how many dishes and glasses I broke, or how much I drank,
or prayed, or screamed, or cried..." Sonya stopped for a moment, a sob
bursting from her lips. "Nothing was going to change."
"But it did, Sonya, and I'm here now." Johnny pushed back a strand
of blonde hair behind her ear, and smiled fondly as she looked at him.
"Yes you are, and as long as you stay here, I don't need to turn to
anyone else for help." She breathed deeply. "I can stop the drinking, I
know I can, but..." Johnny shushed her, then traced her chin.
"Don't worry, angel, whatever you need from me, it's yours." She
smiled, but Johnny could sense something hidden in her eyes. A lingering
doubt. He frowned.
"I need your honesty." Johnny gazed at her for a moment.
"About what?" he whispered.
"Do you-do you really-I mean-" Johnny cut her off with a kiss that
left her head spinning. He pulled away only far enough to speak.
"I love you, Sonya Blade, with everything that makes me real, and if
I have to sacrifice my life again to prove it-" Sonya's hands glided
around his neck.
"Then don't even consider it, because I'll follow you into hell if
that's what it takes to stay by your side." She pulled him to her, and
they shared a moment of pure love that most couples rarely find. When
Johnny pulled away, it was to lift her up and over to the couch, where they
embraced again, then just lay together. Moments later, Sonya was asleep,
with the most contented smile on her face that Johnny sent a prayer up to
heaven for giving him this second chance.
"I love you," he whispered into her hair, then slowly drifted off
into slumber. As his consciousness became black, he could distantly hear a
love song playing on Sonya's radio. The soothing notes from the piano
blended well with the words as Bryan Adams brought the song to a close.
"You know it's true... everything I do... yeah... I do it for you..."
