체리 🍒

you materialized in the middle of a vast stone hall, the air thick with sulfur and the low hum of dark magic. pillars rose like black teeth around you. this wasn’t the champions’ gathering point. this was the arena they’d chosen for the next slaughter.

and across the blood-stained floor stood kung lao.

your kung lao.

or the thing wearing his skin.

same height, same broad shoulders, same ridiculous hat tilted at that arrogant angle you used to knock off before you kissed him. but the skin was ashen, pulled tight over sharp bone. dark veins crawled beneath the surface like ink. his eyes burned with netherrealm fire—cold, wrong, nothing like the warm brown that used to soften when he looked at you after a fight.

your throat closed. the grief you’d been swallowing all this time surged up so fast you almost choked on it.

“…lao?”

the name came out cracked, barely air. your hand twitched toward him before you could stop it.

he turned his head slowly. the smirk that curved his mouth was nothing like the one you remembered. this one was sharp enough to cut.

“still crying over a corpse?” he laughed, the sound low and cruel, echoing off the pillars.

the sound gutted you. you tried to speak again but nothing came out, just a broken sound in your chest.

“the elder gods should have sent liu kang,” he murmured, voice low and distorted. “he might have stood a chance.”

he didn’t wait anymore.

the fight was vicious from the first second. you were fast, skilled, one of the best left, but he moved like death itself. he was stronger, faster, every strike carrying the weight of his grave. you landed hits that would have dropped any living man; he absorbed them and kept coming. a brutal palm strike to your sternum sent you flying backward into a pillar hard enough to crack stone.

before you could recover he was on you. one hand slammed into the pillar beside your head. the other closed around your throat and pinned you there, lifting until your toes barely scraped the ground. your vision went spotty at the edges. you clawed at his wrist on instinct, nails digging in.

he held you there. but he didn’t finish you. not yet.

his fingers dug with just enough pressure to make every breath a fight. his body pressed flush to yours, caging you completely. up close you could see the unnatural glow in his eyes, the way his pupils were blown wide and wrong. but he didn’t kill you. his grip stayed exactly where it was, tight and controlled. like he was holding himself back from something worse.

and then it happened.

for one split second the fire in his eyes flickered into something else.

recognition.

memory.

his gaze dropped to your mouth as your lips parted on a gasp, the same lips he used to bite and suck and kiss until you forgot your own name. just a glance, barely there, but you saw it.

he still wanted you. even like this.

the realization hit like lightning, and you stopped fighting to escape.

instead you leaned into the hand around your throat, letting the pressure sharpen everything the way you both used to like. your back arched, chest pushing against his. one leg slid up the outside of his thigh, deliberately slow. you felt the line of his cock against you through the layers of cloth and armor as his eyes widened a fraction.

you didn’t speak.

you didn’t beg.

you fisted the hair at the back of his neck and yanked him into a brutal kiss, teeth first. you bit his lower lip hard enough to taste copper. then you sucked on it, tongue pushing past his teeth like you were trying to crawl inside him and drag him out by force.

he froze against your mouth.

for one terrifying heartbeat his lips were still, his body rigid. then he snarled, completely furious, and ripped away from you. with terrifying strength he hurled you across the hall. you hit the stone floor hard, skidding several feet, the impact jarring every bone. pain flared in your ribs, but you rolled to your feet immediately, breath ragged.

he was already coming at you again.

the fight renewed, and he was faster now, angrier, like that brief contact had only pissed off whatever was controlling him. his hat whistled past your head, nearly taking it off. you landed hits, solid ones, but he absorbed them like they were nothing, revenant energy flaring dark around him.

you were tiring. he wasn’t.

yet you kept pressing, refusing to give ground until a lucky sweep took his legs out. he crashed down and you were on him instantly, straddling his hips before he could throw you off again.

you ground down hard on the ridge of his cock, rolling your hips in a filthy, deliberate circle. the friction through the remaining fabric was maddening. you were soaked now, aching and desperate.

“please, lao,” you gasped, voice raw as you rocked against him again, harder. “please remember how good it felt.”

his dark, soulless eyes rolled back for a moment before his lids fluttered shut. a low, broken sound escaped his throat as his hips jerked up once, involuntarily, meeting your grind. his hands flew to your thighs, gripping hard, like he couldn’t decide whether to pull you closer or shove you away.

then the resistance slammed back in.

his eyes snapped open, glowing brighter, furious. with a roar he bucked violently and kicked you off him. you flew backward again, slamming into another pillar. the air was knocked from your lungs.

but you saw it — the crack. the momentary lapse. the way his chest heaved even though he didn’t need air.

he was fighting it. the memories, the want, the history between you… and you were winning, slowly.

you pushed yourself up from the cold stone floor, ribs aching, blood on your lip. without hesitation you stripped off what remained of your torn top, letting it drop. the cool air hit your bare skin, nipples tightening. you stood there exposed, breathing hard, eyes locked on his.

but he refused to look down. his glowing eyes stayed fixed on your face, unnervingly distant, like he was forcing himself not to see. his jaw clenched so tight you could see the muscle jump. feet planted, body rigid, every line of him screaming resistance even as the front of his pants strained.

you stepped toward him cautiously, one measured step at a time until the distance closed. he didn’t move or attack this time, just watched you with those burning, conflicted eyes.

when you were close enough, you reached for one of his hands. he didn’t stop you. you brought it up and pressed his large, calloused palm over your breast, then squeezed gently over his fingers, forcing him to feel the soft weight, the hardened nipple against his skin.

“lao…” you whispered. it came out pure need, low and broken and hungry.

for a heartbeat his expression flickered, something almost human bleeding through the revenant mask. his breath hitched, a sharp, involuntary sound.

you kept your hand over his, holding it there, while your other hand dropped lower. you palmed his cock through his pants, rubbing softly, stroking the hard length you knew so well.

he gasped. his hips twitched forward once before he jerked back several steps, breaking the contact like it burned him. but you followed without hesitation, closing the distance again and stepping right into his space.

“make love to me,” you whispered, voice thick. “like you used to.”

he snarled, the sound ugly and cruel. “you think spreading your legs will fix what’s dead?” the words were venom, meant to wound, but his voice was rougher than before, strained.

you didn’t flinch. you stepped even closer, letting your bare breasts brush his armored chest. your hand returned to his cock, stroking firmer this time as you leaned in and spoke low against his ear, filthy and intimate.

“remember how you’d fuck me on the training hall mat after sparring? sweaty and angry you almost lost, pounding into me so hard i couldn’t walk the next day… your hand around my throat while i squirted all over your cock.” you squeezed him through the fabric. “remember how i’d ride you in your quarters, slow and deep, clenching around you until you begged me to let you finish? or how you’d flip me over and take me from behind, biting my shoulder to keep quiet whenever the others were nearby…”

his breathing grew ragged. the glow in his eyes dimmed, half-lidded now, pupils blown with something far more human than rage. his hands twitched at his sides like he was physically fighting the urge to grab you.

you kept going, voice a husky murmur, lips brushing his jaw. “you always loved it when i was loud for you. when i’d moan your name while you filled me up. when you’d choke me just right at the end so everything went white and perfect…”

the resistance was cracking wider. his head tilted slightly toward you, almost against his will. the cruel sneer faltered. his cock throbbed under your hand.

his breathing was already shaky. you didn’t wait for another snarl.

you slipped your hand inside his pants and wrapped your fingers around his bare cock, throbbing despite the unnatural chill of his skin. you squeezed him firmly at the base, then stroked upward, thumb sweeping over the sensitive head.

a low, guttural groan tore out of his throat as his whole body shuddered.

he still looked dangerous as hell, like he could snap your neck in the next heartbeat. jaw locked, glowing eyes narrowed, muscles coiled tight. but you looked up at him, silent, pleading with your gaze alone. please. remember me. feel this.

you stroked him steadily for a long minute, slow and tight the way he used to beg for when he was trying to hold back. his hips jerked into your fist once. his breath came in ragged, broken bursts. the glow in his eyes flickered violently.

then he snapped.

with a vicious growl he shoved you hard and you hit the stone floor on your back, the impact knocking the wind from you. he was on you instantly, pinning you down with his full weight. his knees forced your thighs apart. for one terrifying second you thought this was it, as he looked down at you with renewed, savage energy, eyes blazing like the revenant had finally won and he was about to end you.

but he didn’t go for your throat.

he ripped away the rest of your clothes, tearing fabric and armor like it had personally offended him. his hands moved fast, almost frantic, and in only seconds you were completely bare beneath him. he only shoved his own pants down enough to free his cock, and drove into you in one brutal thrust.

you cried out at the sudden stretch, back arching hard off the floor. he bottomed out deep, hips flush to yours, and stilled for a heartbeat, buried to the hilt inside your clenching heat.

when he started fucking you, it was raw and desperate, nothing gentle. his hips snapped forward in a punishing rhythm, the wet slap of skin echoing through the hall with every deep stroke. but through it all, his eyes never left yours.

he looked unsure. conflicted. the revenant fire still flickered at the edges, but underneath it you saw flashes of the man you loved, memories playing out in his gaze like ghosts. the way he used to watch you come undone. the way his eyes would soften right before he filled you. the hunger, the possession, the love twisted up with raw lust.

you held that stare, refusing to look away even as pleasure tore through you. every thrust dragged over that perfect spot inside, his pelvis grinding against your clit on every downstroke. your hands clutched at his back, nails digging in, pulling him deeper.

you wrapped both legs around his waist and locked your ankles, using the leverage to meet him thrust for thrust. you rolled your hips in that filthy figure-eight you knew drove him insane, clenching around him on every withdrawal like you were trying to keep him inside forever.

“harder,” you gasped, voice wrecked. “you used to fuck me like you meant it.”

the words hit something deep. his rhythm stuttered, then he gave you exactly what you asked for — deeper, faster, the force of it jarring your bones. one hand stayed braced on the floor beside your head, the other stayed at your hip now, fingers digging bruises into your skin like he was afraid to let go.

he fucked you like he was trying to punish you for making him feel this, for cracking his control. but the longer he held your gaze, the more the uncertainty in his eyes shifted into something hungrier, more desperate, more him. his rhythm grew erratic, deeper, harder. a broken sound escaped him as your walls started fluttering around his cock.

when you came hard, clenching tight around him and moaning through your orgasm, that finally shattered the last of it.

he slammed in deep and followed you over the edge with a raw, guttural sound, pulsing hot inside you. his eyes stayed locked on yours the entire time, memories and recognition flooding them as the revenant energy around him dimmed and the glow in his eyes died.

when the aftershocks faded he stayed buried inside you, forehead pressed to yours, breathing hard. both hands cradled you now, one at the small of your back, the other sliding up to cup your neck, fingers rough and trembling but gentle in your hair.

the cruel mask was gone, and what was left now was raw. confusion. hurt. and underneath it all, recognition. love. the real him, clawing his way back through the revenant haze because your body had reminded him exactly who he belonged to.

he didn’t speak. didn’t need to. the way he kissed you then said everything. the way his thumb stroked the bruises he’d left on your throat like an apology, the way he didn’t pull out, just held you pinned there, cock still twitching inside you, like letting go would break whatever fragile thread had pulled him back.

the tournament still raged somewhere beyond these walls, but you’d brought him back to his senses the only way that mattered. no pretty words, just the truth of your bodies and the history they refused to forget.

he was yours again. and as his arms tightened around you, you only knew one thing with absolute certainty:

whatever came next, you weren’t losing him again.