Mortal Kombat: Retribution (2)

Chapter 8 - Apologies

Evie glared at the person who had snuck up behind her. "What do you want?" She asked this through gritted teeth.

Hanzo sighed. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I can see that; you're obviously here. So, talk."

"I wanted to apologize. I know that I gave you a hard time when we were younger, and I know that I am to blame for abandoning you to our father."

"You're serious. You are telling me this now. I'm not offended at the fact that it took you this long to find out, it's the fact that you treated someone you didn't know with such disrespect and that you didn't trust me at all."

She didn't say anything else as she turned and headed to the exit. She stopped at the door. "As a father who once cared about me said, 'Words are nothing but wind and air. Actions speak everything.'" She left.

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Sonya walked into the gardens when dawn broke, approaching Evie. She was standing there, gazing at a certain type of flower. "What flower is that?"

"A lotus. It symbolizes life after death in the afterlife. It has been known to safely guide the spirit to the Heavens."

"I'm sorry for what happened. In the tournament. It wasn't right. We got ahead of our thought processes, and we weren't thinking clearly."

Evie cast a side-glance at the woman next to her. "Really? What is it with you guys and your tendency to do the same thing at the same time?" She stared at the flowers. "Hanzo talked to me last night, trying to apologize. And I'm going to give you the same answer. Words are nothing but wind and air. Actions, however, speak everything."

She left the gardens and a pondering Sonya.

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She had many more visits from the other kombatants throughout the day. Kenshi's apology she almost accepted. She didn't mind his company, and he was respectful. However, it was Johnny that really pushed her will off the table.

It was dinner when he approached her. "Hey, Evangelina! I had a question. Do you have a nickname?"

Evie raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

Johnny grinned. "Just humor me."

"My nickname is Evie." She was annoyed.

"Well, Evie, I think you look really cutesy. And hey, I made it rhyme!"

Evie had developed a nasty twitch in her eye. She turned around and went to look for Raiden.

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Sub-Zero had been walking through a corridor of the temple heading to his dorm when he stopped at Evie's door. He felt guilty for taking part in her pain, and he scolded himself for being so foolish when he was younger. He heard voices from inside the room.

"I can't take it any longer, Raiden. It hasn't even been a week yet, and I'm already going insane. How am I supposed to wait another three months?"

"I know that you are uncomfortable being around the others, but when the enemy reaches our location in due time, we will defeat them and get out of your hair."

Sub-Zero peeked inside the room. Evie was pacing the room with Raiden sitting on her bed, watching her. She was playing with something in her hand. It seemed to be a silver ring. Raiden noticed this. "You've still decided to keep it?"

Evie paused. She stared at the engagement ring in her palm. "I can't get rid of it. It's been embedded in me. And besides, it's a reminder. To never fall for anyone ever again. Whenever it deals with love or friendship."

She put it on a chain which she clasped around her neck, wearing it like a necklace.

Kuai frowned unhappily. He had caused her this pain. Then, someone jabbed him in the ribs.

He gasped silently in pain, and glared at Hanzo glaring back, standing beside him. Everyone was there, and they all leaned in to listen to the conversation.

"I was wondering if we could speed the process up. You see, we're sitting ducks waiting here. But, if we surprise them by going after them, we can dispatch of them sooner and more effectively."

"Has this appeared in a vision of yours?"

Evie nodded. "I saw the temple on flames. However, when I saw us going after them in split up groups, the flames were estinguished. I believe that we need to do this."

Raiden nodded his consent. "I'll inform the others when they wake up in the morning. Where will you go tonight?"

Evie sighed. "I guess I'll go to the graveyard. Christmas will be on one of the days that we spend trying to attack them. I need to pay my respects."

Raiden nodded solemnly.

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Evie walked through the darkened temple in a silver kimono decorated with black cherry blossoms, carrying a lantern that illuminated the corridor she was walking in. Meanwhile, the defenders were trailing behind her, hiding in the shadows. Evie stepped outside the temple and walked through the garden path. She plucked a single lotus flower from the patch and continued on the path.

Using a telepathic link that Takeda established between the defenders, Sonya spoke. She told me that lotuses symbolize peace after death.

They hid in the forest on the side of the graveyard and watched as Evie walked up to the five graveyards clustered together.

"Hi dad, mom, Eleanor, Emma, Elina. I guess that you still hate me. I don't blame you. I hate myself for what I've done. *pause* Isn't it funny how the people that deserve to live always end up dying, and the people that deserve to die continue to live? I was given immortality when I accepted this title. But the truth is, I never wanted this. The only thing that I ever wanted was to be brought up as a normal person with a loving family. I wanted to fall in love with someone and have kids. I wanted to grow old and die peacefully. I want to sleep."

Evie sighed. "I wanted to thank you, dad. Even though you did everything you did to try to hurt me, I can see now that you helped me. You helped me overcome my condition of omniaphobia by exposing me to extreme situations."

Omniaphobia is a serious case when a person is afraid of everything. They usually die quickly because usually, they are afraid to eat, drink, or sleep. It's remarkable that she was able to survive in those particular situations. Fujin explained this in the telepathic connection.

"Isn't it ironic? The one day that symbolizes a new start for me every year was the day that I killed you. Mom died on my fourth birthday. I killed the rest of you on my sixth birthday. I agreed to do the Demon Clan's bidding on my seventh birthday. I fell in love on my twenty-fourth birthday. I had my heart broken on my twenty-eighth birthday. I was woken up on my thirty-second birthday to go into the tournament. And when everything goes wrong on your birthday, well, it isn't your birthday anymore. It becomes a day of mourning. That's what I do for my birthday, on December 25th, Christmas."

Evie sighed. "I love you. No matter what you think of me, I will always love you. And to be honest, this frightens me. Because when it comes to choosing to kill any of you to save another person, I don't know if I can make the decision. I love you."

Evie took the white lotus in her hand and ignited it on fire in her palm. The fire died, and a silver powder rested in place of the flower. The wind suddenly picked up, pulling the dust into its current, carrying it off into the pitch black sky.

Evie looked down at her feet. She sat down facing the tombstones with nothing under them.

She stayed there the rest of the night.