For Hope I'd Give My Everything

One minute, he was living alone in the forest. A lonely but peaceful life, where he went down to the town maybe once a month to replenish his supplies. It was far from his past life as a warrior, but it was what he needed after Harumi and Satoshi’s deaths.

Then, everything changed. He awoke to the sound of a baby crying, finding little Takeda in a basket on his doorstep. And before he could even consider what he was going to do with the child, his home was attacked and he’d had to flee.

He had no idea what The Red Dragon wanted with this child, but he knew he could not let them have him.

His current plan was to get to the Sky Temple. The Thunder God, Lord Raiden, owed him a favour from some past actions. Taking in this child and helping to protect him seemed like a fair reason to cash that favour in. The trouble was getting there. It was a long journey from where he had been living, and he couldn’t trust anyone right now, so finding reliable transport was out. He just had to make do moving town to town, doing odd jobs along the way to keep the baby fed.

This cliffside path was not an ideal spot to walk along. It was narrow, and even walking closest to the cliff wall was far too close to the edge. Still, it was the only way past this particular mountain range, he had no other choices. That didn’t even account for the weird feeling that someone was watching him.

Takeda began to fuss in his arms, and he bounced the child slightly. “Shh, little one. We won’t be here long.”

He was cut off by a strange rumbling sound. A small rock came tumbling down from above. Luckily, it was a little way in front and didn’t hit them. But something about it made Hanzo’s hair’s stand on edge. He glanced up the cliff, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

A figure was crouching on a small ledge.

Instinct took over, Hanzo turning to find a small crevice in the cliff. He quickly placed Takeda inside, but wasn’t able to do much else before he found something hitting him at full force. Even though he fell to the ground, he raised his fist and punched, hearing a gruff groan. He found the chance to pull his legs up, kicking the person off him. As he jumped up to his feet, readying his katana, he saw them skid across the floor.

The figure stood up, revealing himself to Hanzo. He was… surprisingly short if Hanzo was being honest, wearing a fur lined cloak, and holding a hunting knife in his hand. He had short hair, a trim beard and a long scar over his right eye. But what was most intriguing were his eyes, one a deep brown and the other a bright icy blue. He didn’t ponder it too long, pointing his katana at the man who readied his knife.

“Give me all your money and whatever item you hid in that hole,” the man growled, swiping his knife as some form of threat. There was a slight relief that the man seemed to just be a common thief rather than a Red Dragon grunt. Still, Hanzo wouldn’t just give in, not when he had Takeda to protect.

“I'd recommend you back down now and find someone else to rob, thief,” Hanzo hissed, baring his teeth. “I will not back down.”

“Then you are a fool.”

The thief ran forward, slashing his knife at Hanzo. He jumped backwards, holding up his katana to defend himself. Using his weight to push the thief away, Hanzo attempted to strike. The attack was blocked, but that didn’t stop Hanzo from slashing again, and again. The thief stumbled trying to keep up with his attacks. Eyes widening as if he realised he’d made a mistake.

Too late for you to regret it now.

Hanzo heard something falling down the cliff again. He didn’t pay much attention to it, until he heard a beeping. The thief and him shared a look, where they were both trying to figure out if the other was responsible. Then, in tandem, their heads turned to where the beeping was coming from.

Down by their feet, lay a small bomb, flashing red.

“Shit-”

Before Hanzo could dive away, the bomb went off, knocking him backwards. He hit the floor hard, and groaned at the way his body cracked. When he felt around, he realised to his amazement he was still on the path.

He sat up, noting that the part of the path he’d previously been stood at had crumbled, leaving only a drop below. The thief was on the other side of the gap, lying on the ground, and Hanzo hissed when he realised that was also the side Takeda was on.

Someone came zipping down the cliff, landing on that side of the pathway and Hanzo snarled.

“Mavado,” Hanzo screamed as he stumbled to his feet. Mavado responded with a chuckle, recalling the ribbons he’d used to scale down the cliff.

“Looks like this is where you say goodbye to the brat, Mr. Hasashi,” Mavado smugly told him, walking over to the hole and pulling a crying Takeda from it.

“Don’t you dare,” Hanzo roared storming forward. The path crumbled further, stopping him in his tracks.

“And what else do we have here?” Mavado walked over to the thief, using his foot to kick him onto his back. Mavado smirked as he looked over the man's form. “The last Lin Kuei. Well, I have two for two, now don’t I?”

Lin Kuei? That clan had been hunted down many years ago. Hanzo found it unbelievable anyone could have survived that level of persecution.

The Lin Kuei looked up at Mavado before spitting out “go to hell.”

“Is there really any need for such hostility, Kuai Liang?” Mavado pressed his foot down hard on the man's chest, making him wheeze. “Lord Daegon will be so pleased to see you.”

With Mavado distracted, Hanzo decided this was his chance. He took a few steps back, and began to run again. Once his foot hit right by the edge, he leapt, and all that was going through his head was the hope he’d make it and he wouldn’t fall to his death.

As his feet thankfully hit the floor, he darted forward, knocking Mavado off balance. Unfortunately, he hadn’t accounted for Mavado letting go of Takeda in shock. The baby was thrown off towards the cliff’s edge. To his surprise however, Kuai Liang managed to dart to his feet, throwing himself towards the edge and catching Takeda in his arms.

Hanzo was forced to return his attention to Mavado however, when the other man attempted to punch him. He dodged, before forcing his elbow into Mavado’s face. As he stumbled back, Hanzo turned to see where Takeda was, only to find Kuai Liang gone. He went cold, thinking that the thief had absconded with him.

Until he noticed fingers clinging to the edge of the cliff.

A black blur from the corner of his eye yet again prevented him from going to their aid. He once more managed to pull back, grabbing his katana and striking Mavado in his stomach. The man made a pained gasp, skidding to a stop and staring down at himself. Red began pouring from his midsection. He looked disgusted for a second, before taking a step backwards.

“Damn you,” he hissed, before throwing his hands up towards the top of the cliff. The elastic ribbons caught something up there, and he prepared to jump. Hanzo wasn’t able to catch him before he zoomed up the side of the cliff. All he could do was stand and watch Mavado disappear.

His head snapped back around, remembering that Kuai Liang and Takeda were still in danger. Except the fingers were now gone.

“No,” he whispered as he rushed to the edge and peered down. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Kuai Liang, glowing blue and floating in the air, holding Takeda to his chest and wearing an extremely confused look on his face.

“What the-” Hanzo whispered, but put that aside when he noticed Kuai Liang was starting to ascend.

He floated back up to the edge, before settling to sit on the path. The blue glow disappeared, and Kuai Liang still looked like he had no idea what just happened.

“You’re a telepath?” Hanzo questioned, wondering if that were the case, why he wouldn’t have used those powers sooner. But when Kuai Liang looked at him like he’d grown a second head, he realised this was not the Lin Kuei’s doing.

“No. No I-” He paused, before shifting slightly and staring down at Takeda, who happily babbled in his arms. “I’m not a telepath.” The implication was clear. But if it was right, then it brought up even more questions. “Um. Why exactly is the Red Dragon after your son?”

“I don’t know. Or at least I didn’t. This might explain it.” And if that was the case, Hanzo actually had a friend who was a telepath, for as rare as they were. But he swore to god, if Kenshi had anything to do with all of this, he would fucking kill the man for dumping him into it. “And he isn’t my son.”

“Wait.” Kuai Liang pushed himself up to his feet, looking at Hanzo with a raised eyebrow. “So you’re just journeying with a random kid that isn’t yours?”

“He was left on my doorstep, and then the Red Dragon attacked,” Hanzo explained with a huff, feeling like he was being judged for something that wasn’t his fault. “I’m trying to get to the Sky Temple to see if they can help.”

“Good luck with that,” Kuai muttered bitterly under his breath. Hanzo understood his scepticism, a man whose people had been persecuted to the levels The Lin Kuei had been would have no reason to believe in the Gods. Still Kuai held out Takeda to Hanzo to take him.

The second that Takeda was returned to Hanzo’s arms, he began to absolutely bawl his eyes out. Hanzo bounced him, desperately trying to calm the child down. His eyes were shut tightly, but his little hands were reaching back in Kuai’s direction. Not only that, but Kuai’s legs were glowing blue, keeping them basically bound together and preventing him from leaving.

Takeda doesn’t want him to go. It was weird, and honestly, Hanzo couldn’t help but feel a little bit insulted. I’ve been protecting you for weeks now, but this guy throws himself off a cliff once to save you and he’s all you want. He knew that was a jealous and ultimately very petty line of thought though. Maybe Takeda sensed something in this man that Hanzo couldn’t.

“Right, fine,” Hanzo huffed, passing the baby back to Kuai Liang, whose eyes widened to a comical degree. But as Hanzo suspected, Takeda immediately stopped crying, and the blue glow faded. “Take the baby. You’re coming with us.”

“Wait. What?” Kuai exclaimed looking between Hanzo and Takeda.

“The baby’s chosen you,” he claimed, wandering around the area and making sure he wasn’t missing anything. “Therefore, you have to come with us, I don’t make the rules.”

“I just tried to rob you, and you’re trusting me with a baby?” Kuai questioned, like somehow Hanzo was the unreasonable one in this situation.

“I’m not trusting you with the baby, but Takeda sure seems to trust you for some reason.” He shook his head as he returned his katana to its hold. “Besides, you wanted my money and whatever was in the crevice, this way you get both.”

“I didn’t think what you’d hidden was a baby, I thought it was treasure or something,” Kuai claimed in an exacerbated tone. His eyes flicked down to Takeda, who was again making small happy noises to himself and playing with the fur on Kuai’s cape. Despite himself, Kuai smiled down at Takeda. “If I had realised you had a baby with you, I wouldn’t have tried to steal from you at all.”

Hanzo sighed, “look. The way I see it, if you come with us, it'll benefit you as well.” Kuai glanced up just enough as though to demand an explanation. “The Red Dragon are after you too, correct? If you come with us, we can find a way to stop them.”

Kuai was silent for a few seconds, before his gaze landed on Takeda again. His expression softened, bringing Takeda up close to rest their foreheads together. Kuai closed his eyes, and let out a breath.

“Okay. Fine. I’ll come with you.” He pulled Takeda away. “You’re very lucky you’re so cute.”

“Excuse me?” Hanzo baulked, feeling his face go hot.

Kuai looked at him incredulously, “I was talking to the baby.”

Hanzo paused, and cleared his throat. “Right. Of course.”

He didn’t say anymore, just started to walk off, hearing Kuai Liang giggle as he followed him. He swore he could hear Takeda laughing too. With him being a telepath, how likely was it that he understood more of what was going on than an average baby? He shook his head, that was a ridiculous line of thought. He was better using his mind to map out their road to the Sky Temple.

He just hoped Lord Raiden would be able to offer the salvation that they sought.

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