Author's Note: So much for taking a break after I finished Curse of the Dragon Medallion! So, welcome my friends. I had a bunch of ideas for the various characters that I wanted to do in an epilogue, but it would've taken way too long, so I decided to do this in-between story. Each chapter follows the story of one of the good guys when he/she returns home from Outworld. There will be 18 chapters (again, one for each character), and those will be divided into groups of six. So, the first six chapters will be the first year home, the next six chapters will be the second year home, and the next six chapters will be the third year home. That will allow me to kind of talk about the Netherrealm War, which will pave the way for my next story. Yes, friends, due to popular demand, I plan on writing another story set closer to the events of MKX. Woot!

Anywho, I hope you enjoy these little tales, and if someone has an idea of what the hell Cyrax should be doing, please let me know! LOL

I appreciate any and all reviews!

First up on deck is Raiden, for all my Ray-diddy fan-girls out there ;)

In a brilliant flash of lightning, Raiden deposited Fujin in his Wind Temple high above the Himalayas, and then appeared directly beside him. The Jinsei had invigorated him as he knew it would, and he felt much better now that his battle wounds were gone. Inwardly, he smiled as he glanced at his little brother. Fujin had grown much since last he saw him, and he threw a much meaner punch than he ever used to. But though the Thunder God's outer wounds had healed, it would still be many years before he overcame what Onaga had done to him. He couldn't recall much – the time under the Dragon King's spell felt like a bad nightmare barely remembered – but he recalled enough to feel ashamed of himself for centuries.

"If there will be nothing else," he began in his deep voice as he looked out upon the great expanse of jagged mountains, "then I will take my leave of you, Brother. I must speak to the Elder Gods about all that has transpired." He glanced at the Wind God.

Fujin hadn't seemed to have heard him, and instead had wandered to the edge of a large platform near the center of the grotto. Great shafts of light pierced the shadows. Eastward, the golden sun caressed the land; the clouds were white and high. The wind whistled and shrieked around him, blowing through his long hair which was still left undone after the battle with Onaga. He looked down – not at his feet, but at the great precipice below him – as if contemplating whether or not to jump. He could not die from the fall, Raiden knew, but it would still hurt.

"Does something trouble you, Brother?" he wanted to know, and was met with silence. "Fujin?" he prodded again.

Slowly, the Wind God swiveled his head to face him, and as he did, a gust of wind blew his hair out so that it framed his face, the long white strands whipping about like a banner. But it was his face that Raiden really took note of. Fujin was much younger than he was, and it always showed in his boyish, carefree expressions devoid of worry or despair. Though the Thunder God felt the slow passage of time march across his heart, adding new wrinkles to his soul if not his physical being, his brother maddeningly never seemed to age inside or out. But at this very moment, the Wind God looked much older with a face lined with grief, and pale blue eyes moist with tears he refused to let fall.

"Fujin," Raiden sighed, his heart suddenly full of anguish for his brother. He had never seen the younger god look so dejected, so forlorn. Angry, yes. Afraid, yes. Drunk and most definitely stupid. But never…heartbroken. Immediately, he walked to him, his own loose hair whipping around on the wind behind him. "What troubles you?" he asked softly as he rested a hand on his shoulder.

The Wind God shook his head and looked away, refusing to answer.

"It is about that woman you spoke of with Tomas Vrbada," he deduced.

Fujin looked at him in surprise, as if he hadn't expected his older brother to guess what the problem was so quickly. "She picked him over me," he finally said, his voice taking on an angry edge.

"So I gathered from your conversation with him," he said. "I presume this is the mother of your child?"

The Wind God nodded. "Yes," he said. "Kailyn was mine. And then she met him. I never expected that to happen. I thought she'd never love anyone but me." He scoffed and looked at him. "She is the Falcata Tetrach," he explained, and immediate understanding flooded Raiden.

"I see," he said, thinking of how the Falcata generally shun male companionship. "She was the blond woman who stayed close to the Earthrealm Champions after the battle." He paused before speaking again. "So you and Tomas both must have been special to her for her to ignore her own rules regarding relationships. The Falcata do not fall in love easily."

"No, they don't," Fujin agreed. "She hated him at first. I don't even know when that changed, exactly. But it did."

"I have long since given up trying to understand the mystery of women," he said with the faintest of smiles. "It probably does not ease your pain, Brother, but I am proud of you for the way you handled Tomas. You carried yourself with dignity and grace, and you did the right thing. If she has chosen him over you, then you cannot force her to stay with you."

"I know," he said, nodding softly before he stared at his feet again, seemingly contemplating the jump.

"Here, let us sit," he said, and he tugged on Fujin's arm to sit on the cold stone of the platform. They both sat upright with legs crossed as if meditating, and Raiden inhaled deeply, not anxious to open a very old wound, but knowing he needed to in order to alleviate his brother's suffering, to let him know that he understood all too well. "May I be honest?" he asked, looking the Wind God directly in the eye.

"Of course," he told him.

"It is probably best that Kailyn left you this way," he said, sighing. A twinge of pain stabbed through his own heart when he thought about why he believed that.

"Why is that?" he asked defensively, narrowing his eyes.

"Because you are a god, Fujin," he said.

"I don't care about that-"

"You should," he cut him off. "You are immortal." He paused as he met his brother's unhappy gaze. "She is not."

"I don't understand, Raiden," he said. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Eventually, she will grow old and die," he explained. "But you will do neither of these things. And someday, she will die in your arms, and you will watch that life as it fades away, that beautiful life that you have grown to love in ways you did not think were possible for someone like you, knowing that you cannot save her. For all of your power, for all of your desire, there is nothing you can do except…watch her die. For all the creatures in all the Realms, and even the gods, cannot ignore Death's call forever. And you cannot fight it. So I say to you now, Brother, that the utter helplessness that you feel then will be far worse than her choosing the affections of another man."

"You don't know that's worse," Fujin stubbornly snarled, waving him off in annoyance.

"Oh, yes I do," Raiden argued.

"How?" he challenged.

"Because it happened to me."

Fujin blinked in disbelief. "What?" he said, his voice full of confusion.

"I said that it has happened to me."

"You were in love with a mortal?" he skeptically asked.

"Very much so," he replied.

The Wind God frowned. "Yeah, right," he scoffed. "You fell in love. You – the god who swore to distance yourself from humanity and once told me that love was just a distraction so I should never do it – fell in love?"

"And why do you think I distanced myself from humanity?" he pointedly asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you think I told you love of that nature was a distraction and that you should never do it? I wanted to spare you from the pain I went through many years ago. Of course, you never listen to me, and now here we are."

"You really fell in love." It was a statement, not a question. "That is so unlike you. You actually have…feelings?"

Raiden smiled. "There is much you do not know about me, Brother," he said.

"I guess," Fujin conceded with a small smirk.

"Her name was Kalani," the Thunder God began, another sharp pain stabbing at his heart. He hadn't uttered her name in many years, though he thought about her often. Even under Onaga's spell, he remembered thoughts of her poking through the dark veil. He dreamily waved his hand through the breeze and summoned a vision of her, when he first met her, the edges of the picture bleeding into the sky. Glossy, raven-colored hair cascaded to her waist, pinned away from her heart-shaped face by a dendrobium blossom. Her body was lean and the color of cocoa, though her hips and breasts were full, making her an ideal hula dancer. She was young and strong, and that was how he wanted to remember her forever.

"That was her?" Fujin asked, and the Thunder God solemnly nodded. "So what happened?"

Raiden closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, carried away on a warm breeze fragrant with hibiscus and the salty smell of surf.

Raiden, shirtless in this unbearable humidity, shaded from the sun only by his coolie hat, was giving serious consideration to also shedding his hakama pants as he hiked through the rainforest atop a high Hawaiian plateau. He was hunting for fresh hibiscus blossoms to restock his tea supplies in the Sky Temple when suddenly, he heard an ear-piercing shriek cut through the air. Immediately, he had unsheathed his katana and was standing upright, looking around. The voice screamed again, wailing for help, and behind her followed the sounds of men laughing and directing each other to catch her. By the time the woman yelled for help again, Raiden had already bolted towards her and the men that chased her, soon crashing through the trees into a clearing. The woman tumbled through the thick bushes on the opposite side of the clearing, sobbing, a moment later.

"What is wrong?" he asked her in her native tongue, but she never got the chance to answer because as soon as he lifted her to her feet, a group of strange men broke through the trees and filed into a circle around the two. Their bodies were decorated in war paint and their teeth were rotten and brown. Bone jewelry pierced their septums and their ears, and some bore tribal tattoos not found in these lands. It didn't take long for Raiden to look into their souls and see that they were cannibals not native to any of the islands, but were sailors who had run aground on the west side of Kauai and were now masquerading as Hawaiians.

A large man with a shaved scalp stepped forward, presumably the leader. He carried a club and a spear in his hands. "Now we will feast on two instead of one," he said with a wicked smirk, and the other men grunted their agreement.

"You will leave this place at once," Raiden told them fearlessly as he pushed the frightened woman behind him. He lifted his katana to send a clear message to them all.

Predictably, the leader laughed and motioned to the others to attack. The men then moved to intercept their prey, and instead they discovered the true power of lightning. Arcs of electricity whipped through them, and as they did, Raiden gracefully whirled around, cutting through flesh with his katana, striking each enemy to the ground. But he fought the leader of the cannibals by hand, and the man was shocked to find that the Thunder God was ready for every cunning feint and well-timed blow, and that he easily gained the upper hand on him as they fought. Foaming at the mouth and roaring and screaming like an enraged animal, the man quickly turned to run away, but Raiden then blasted him in the chest so hard that the branched bolt of lightning pushed him through palm trees and hurled him over the edge of the plateau. Down the cannibal fell, broken and mangled by the rough, sharp spurs of lava rock, until the lifeless body lodged in the braches of a tall chia tree far below.

When the fight was over, Raiden turned and looked at the woman, who was now crouched on her knees to show him her respect. "What is your name, young one?" he asked her.

"Kalani, Lord Kane-hekili," she replied, not daring to look him in the eyes.

He smiled at that, remembering that was what her people called him: the Spirit of the Thunder. He gripped her by the elbow and lifted her to her feet. "Are you hurt, Kalani?" he asked her, but then he saw for himself. Bruises battered her arms where the men had beat her with their clubs, and she even had a long cut running from her shoulder down her back from the end of a spear. "Here, let me help you," he told her gently before he ran his hand over her wounds with his powers, healing her.

"The Lord, Kane-hekili, is kind," she remarked, timidly looking at him.

"Why were those men chasing after you?" he wanted to know.

Kalani swallowed. "I was looking for a pretty flower for my hair," she confessed. "For when I dance the hula. They caught me in the forest and carried me to their hiding place. I escaped by kicking my guard in his manhood."

Raiden nodded in approval and then reached into his satchel. "Well, here is a pretty flower for a pretty girl," he said as he withdrew one of the large hibiscus blossoms. It was the color of coral, and she looked at it with a big smile before he carefully pinned it into her hair for her.

"Thank you," she said, her amber eyes sparkling.

"Allow me to walk you back to your village," he said, taking her hand.

"How have I never heard this story?" Fujin demanded to know.

"I am certain I told you this once," Raiden replied, waving his hand dismissively.

"No, no you didn't," the Wind God argued. "I am certain I would have remembered a story about my older brother killing a band of cannibals in order to save the damsel in distress." He inhaled and thoughtfully paused. "Was it love at first sight?" he asked.

The Thunder God shook his head. "No," he replied.

"Neither was mine," he said. "Kailyn was just a child when I met her. It wasn't until she was fully grown that I realized how I felt about her." Fujin had a dreamy, faraway look in his eyes, and then he shook himself from it and looked at his brother. "So how did you fall in love with her?"

Raiden met his younger brother's curious gaze. "I took Kalani back to her village, and as mortals usually are, they were immensely grateful to me for saving her and them from the cannibals who had been attacking lone houses near the plateau. They dubbed me one of their patron protectors." He smirked a little at the thought. "Naturally, whenever they sought to curry my favor, their hula dancers danced to impress me."

"That had to be so awful for you," Fujin drily remarked, shaking his head.

"It was rare that I saw them dance," he said. "But the first time I did – the first time I saw Kalani dance…that was when I fell in love with her."

Two men dressed in brilliantly colored headdresses simultaneously blew into conch shells, filling the flame-kissed twilight with a deep, reverberating echo that carried across the beach, heralding the beginning of the dance. Raiden watched with rapt interest as the dancers, both men and women alike, filed onto the grassy patch of sand before him and took their spots. He looked at them all, but his eyes caught sight of Kalani, who was stationed near the front of their number. She nervously smiled at him, blushing. She had brushed out her long hair until it shimmered like onyx, and pinned it back with a large hibiscus blossom like the one he'd given to her over a year prior. She wore a necklace made of shells and a small starfish, and wristlets and anklets that matched the flower in her hair. Though she was dressed nearly identical to the others, there was something about her – though Raiden couldn't say what, precisely – that made her stand out from them.

And then the drums beat out, and the priests chanted the mele while the dancers began to hula. Their bodies moved as a single entity; when one dancer moved a certain way, the rest did it too. It was mesmerizing the way their bodies flowed and gyrated, almost as if they were part of the ocean itself. Kalani, especially, was graceful and good. She danced with precision, elegance, and a depth of spirit that almost created a magic of its own, one that transcended her power and beauty, full of deeply-felt emotion.

At first, she did not look at Raiden or anyone while she danced, and kept her eyes rigidly fixed upon her hands like she was supposed to do. But eventually, he caught her glancing at him out of the corner of her almond-shaped eyes, sizing him up. She quickly realized he'd seen her, but made no show to focus on her hands again. Instead, she kept her gaze locked with his, and he saw a faint, seductive smirk creep into the corners of her mouth. Immediately, something stirred inside of him, a hot, burning need that he'd never truly felt before, something that surpassed lust, though lust was definitely part of it as well.

When the dancers were finished, Raiden leaned over to Keone, the Chief, and said, "I want Kalani."

To appease him, Keone granted his wish, and Kalani willingly joined him as he carried her away to a secluded beach a few miles from her village. There, he lowered her into the sand and kissed her, studying every inch of her with his hands and mouth. She was afraid at first and understandably so, but here was not the time or the place for worry. She soon opened herself up to him and filled herself up with him, and here there was love, desire, and the dark, and if they didn't try for the first two, they would surely be left with the last. They spent the night under the stars like that, and he'd made love to her several times, not allowing her to rest until the sun peeked over the horizon at dawn.

"Don't you think that was kind of rude?" Fujin now asked, interrupting the story.

Raiden cocked his head in confusion and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Saying to the Chief, 'I want Kalani,'" he explained. He scoffed. Then he lifted his fist into the air and joked, "Send out the virgins!"

The Thunder God shook his head and sighed, dropping his face into his palm. "I may have given you the wrong impression, Brother," he muttered. "I had been to the village many times before that, and I had befriended her. I knew that she had grown fond of me after I rescued her. She desired me as well. Very much so, in fact. I looked into her heart and saw the truth."

"Still…" Fujin trailed off. "You don't just go into a village and demand the women, Raiden. It's bad manners."

"And I suppose you are now going to tell me that when mortals have agreed to give you women, you have turned them down?" he pointedly asked.

His younger brother shrugged and leaned back onto his hands. "I've been with a lot of women, Brother," he proudly replied. "But never anyone who had been gifted to me. I find the idea repugnant."

"You are more virtuous than I ever gave you credit for," Raiden said in his most deadpan voice, crossing his arms.

Fujin shrugged. "And I must say, Brother, that I have my doubts as to whether or not you made love to her all night long like you said." Now he wore the faintest smirk on his face, hinting at the obvious joke.

Raiden narrowed his eyes. "Just because you cannot last all night, Fujin, does not mean that the same holds true for me."

For the first time since arriving in the Wind Temple, the younger god laughed and cracked a broad grin. "There it is," he said, looking much more like his normal self. "Nice one, Raiden. I didn't know you had it in you."

"May I finish my story?" the other impatiently asked, though he smiled as well.

"Please," he said, gesturing broadly with his hand.

"I returned back to her often," he said. "As often as I could, given my duties as Protector of Earthrealm. The villagers said she was my wife, and I suppose that is true in nearly every sense of the word, save for the actual ceremony. They made Kalani a noblewoman, and did their best to make sure she was happy so that I would be happy with them."

"Did you have children with her?" Fujin asked.

Raiden shook his head no. "I do not think she could have children," he said. "But I do not think she wanted them anyway. She was the oldest child in a family of twelve children. She had already helped raise her brothers and sisters, and must have decided she had already been like a mother."

"Well, thank goodness for that much," his brother teased. "I was going to be upset if I was related to half of Hawaii and didn't know it."

"I returned to her as much as I could," the Thunder God continued, ignoring Fujin's comment, "but when my Champions lost the Mortal Kombat tournament again, depleting my number of warriors, and invasion by Shao Kahn seemed inevitable, my visits grew farther and farther apart." He sighed, feeling a large ball of needles creep into his throat. "It just never occurred to me how fleeting a mortal life is, Fujin," he said. "It seems as if I blink my eyes and decades pass."

"I've noticed that myself," the Wind God agreed.

"I began to notice that, when I would return to my beloved Kalani, she was growing older," he told him. "To me, it would feel like I had only just left her, but in truth, years had passed. And she would have a little bit more gray hair, or a couple new wrinkles that I had never seen before. It did not change how I felt about her, mind you. In my heart, she was still that same young woman I had fallen in love with all those years ago. But in my head, I began to understand what was coming for her, and I did not know how to stop it. I was determined to try, though."

"You tried to stop her from getting old?" Fujin asked in disbelief.

He nodded. "I went to the Elder Gods and beseeched them to make her immortal like me so that I could keep her forever, so that I did not have to watch her grow old and die." He winced at the thought, remembering how indifferent they all had looked at him as he pleaded his case. "Toci and Gaia scarcely cared what I had to say," he said. "They all but told me it was my own fault for my dilemma. After all, it was the risk any god takes when falling in love with a mortal."

"And Himavat?"

"Himavat was the only one of them who sincerely wanted to help," he replied. "But how? From the moment they are born, all mortals are destined to die. He could delay Kalani's death, but he would only be delaying the inevitable."

"So what did you do?"

"I returned to her, as he had advised, and I spent as much time with her as I possibly could. Sadly, that was not much."

"Where is Kalani?" Raiden asked the elderly Chief, Keone, when he returned to the village after his unproductive discussion with the Elder Gods. He had searched for her in her house, but had found her house gone, reclaimed by the thick jungle. So now, he had found the old man resting inside of his hut. "What happened to her house?"

"It collapsed last winter, Lord Kane-hekili," the hobbled man replied, rocking in a chair his children had made for him, basking in the growing dusk. "A typhoon came ashore and destroyed much of the village."

"And Kalani?" the Thunder God demanded to know, suddenly worried for her, panicking at the thought of her being dead.

"She was unhurt, Lord," he reported. "She stayed in my house with my family until we could rebuild her home on the plateau."

"Why on the plateau?" he wondered. "Why so far from the village?"

"She wished it, Lord. She said she wanted to live where the island overlooks the sea, close to your home in the sky, in the spot where you saved her many years ago."

Raiden bowed to Keone, and then took his leave of him, teleporting on a bolt of lightning to the plateau and the spot he spoke of. There, he found her hut sitting quietly in the clearing, the forest growing tall around it like protective sentries. Hibiscus in shades of pink and coral bloomed beautifully around it, filling the air with sweet, delicate fragrance that mingled with the ozone of a coming storm. But there was no sign of Kalani.

"Kalani?" he called. "Where are you?"

He thought he heard coughing in response. The Thunder God frowned and approached the house, entering. Inside, he found her lying on a cot, huddled beneath her blankets, curled almost into the fetal position, wheezing and gasping. A small fire burned in the pit in the corner, and cast eerie shadows throughout the dimly lit hut. It provided enough light for him to see that she had aged even more since last he saw her. Her hair, which had been braided, was now coarse and white, and liver spots mottled her face and trembling hands.

"Oh, Kalani," he sighed, kneeling by her side. He rested a hand tenderly on her hair, waking her.

"Kane-hekili," she rasped in surprise, her voice old and bent. "My handsome, strong Lord."

"Hello, Beloved," he told her, smiling even as pain ripped through his heart like a forked branch of lightning. "I have come to see you."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she weakly shook her head. "No," she whimpered. "Leave me. I do not wish you to see me like this." She tried to pull her blanket over her head, but he stopped her.

"I am not leaving you," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "Never again."

And then he climbed onto the cot with her, balancing awkwardly on the edge against the wall so that she might be more comfortable, and wrapped his arms around her frail body. Her soul was as strong as ever, he could tell, but her body was rapidly weakening. Kalani fell asleep in his arms, and he watched through the window as a storm approached the island, his tears trickling down his face, dampening her matted hair. Night fell early as the black thunderheads moved in, and brilliant flashes of blue lit up the sky as arcs of lightning bounced from cloud to cloud. Deafening peals of thunder shook the ground as if matching the pounding in his head, and they startled her awake.

"There is a storm moving in," she said, threading her gnarled fingers through his.

Raiden nodded, holding her closer. "Yes," he agreed.

"I remember…many years ago," she began. "I was afraid of thunder and lightning."

"Are you still afraid, Beloved?" he asked her.

She shook her head slightly. "No," she told him, squeezing his hand. "Now, I cannot truly rest unless there is a storm coming."

"Then rest," he told her, and she fell silent. "I am here with you, Beloved."

The hut was quiet for a while longer, and then her voice, so small and fragile, asked, "I cannot see, Lord Kane-hekili. What does Kauai look like today?"

Raiden winced his eyes shut, sensing now her life leaving her body. It felt like sand slipping through his fingers, claimed by the tide and pulled out to the dark, unyielding sea. "It's late summer and warm," he told her, "but the days are going to get shorter and cooler very soon. But the hibiscus and plumeria are in full bloom. They will be perfect for your hair…" he trailed off as her body went limp and her soul left it in a ragged, pitiful exhalation. "…for when you dance the hula for me," he finished, his voice cracking.

"Kalani?" he whispered a moment later as tears streamed from his eyes. He didn't want to believe what had just happened. He didn't want to believe she was gone. He refused to believe it. "Beloved?"

There was no answer.

Raiden's chest shuddered and heaved, and a strangled sob escaped him. Immediately, he ran his hand over her wrinkled skin with his powers pulsating into her body, stubbornly pulling her back from Death's pitiless clutches. He imagined he caught her hand as she darted away to the Hereafter, but the tighter he held her, the easier she slipped free of his fingers. And then she was gone…forever.

The Thunder God snuggled against her, weeping into the depression between her shoulder blades, think of her dancing for him all those years ago when she was young and vibrant and more a creature of spirit than even he was. Each tear that fell from his eyes brought a new bolt of lightning hurtling towards the earth, each miserable sob summoning claps of thunder. Raiden held his Kalani tightly in his arms as the storm passed through, uprooting ancient trees and kicking up ocean waves that threatened to swallow the village whole.

When dawn came at last, Raiden neatly arranged Kalani's body on the cot, and then he unfastened her braid, combing it out until it draped her body in a silvery, rippling waterfall. When that was done, he went outside to collect as many hibiscus blossoms as he could find, in as many colors as he could imagine. He carried them into her hut and set about arranging them around her body and throughout her home. He saved the last one for her – a large bloom the color of coral – and he carefully pinned it into her hair behind her ear.

"A pretty flower for a pretty girl," he whispered, his voice breaking, before he kissed her one last time. Her lips had gone cold, and that, more than anything, affirmed her absence.

He rested his head on her stomach and took in the sweet smell of the flowers, wishing she would wake up to comfort him, to relieve this unyielding ache slowly gnawing at his heart. He was a god! What good were all of his powers when he could do nothing to save her?

Finally – Raiden wasn't quite sure how much time had passed – he pulled himself away from her and quietly walked outside, his eyes now involuntarily glowing white with ethereal power. Several paces from the hut, he turned and looked back, blinking back tears, some part of him waiting for her to run after him and tell him the Elder Gods had granted his wish after all. But nothing happened, and he trembled, his body shuddering as he silently wept.

So he lifted his hand to the sky and summoned a thick bolt of lightning, more than enough to envelop the hut with blinding white heat. Wild arcs of electricity squealed as they exploded outward in a shower of sparks, which set everything in the vicinity on fire in an instant. Raiden watched the roiling flames creep up the hibiscus trees, the pretty blossoms curling and melting as they blackened, the forked orange tongues licking the hut itself and setting it ablaze. He stood there as it burned, and didn't move, even when the villagers came to see.

At last, though, there was nothing left of her or her hut, and Raiden swallowed the tight ball of needles in his throat before he said, "Farewell, Kalani. I will never love another."

Fujin stared at Raiden, his face betraying sympathy. "I don't know what to say," he finally said.

The Thunder God looked at his hands, which were folded neatly on his crossed legs. "There is nothing to say," he told him. "It is not something I ever speak of. I have seen many horrible things throughout the ages, and I have felt despair and sorrow grasp me in their clutches and refuse to let go. But losing Kalani was the most horrible thing I have ever endured. I have not returned to Hawaii since then, not once."

"I'm sorry you went through that," the Wind God said after a long pause. "I can't imagine…You're right, Brother. That's far worse than what I am going through."

"It is not a competition, Fujin," he firmly said. "But if it was, I actually think you have unintentionally dealt yourself the worse hand."

The younger god lifted his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I lost the only woman I ever loved, and the pain still torments me even now." He looked at his brother knowingly. "But someday, you will discover the pain of losing a child."

Sudden realization filled Fujin then, and panic joined it. "Raiden, what do I do?" he demanded to know as he pulled himself onto his knees. "There has to be something I can do."

The older of the two shook his head. "There is nothing you can do," he gently told him.

"Morgan…" he trailed off, fresh tears filling his eyes. "This is perhaps the cruelest joke I've ever heard. We gods have all the time in the universe, and yet it still isn't enough."

"It is a cruel joke, indeed," he agreed, rising to his feet. "But now, I really must take my leave of you. Take from my story what you will. But know there are worse fates than unrequited love."

"Raiden," Fujin called a moment later, prompting the Thunder God to turn around. He looked expectantly at his younger brother. "You give terrible pep talks." He inhaled deeply. "But…thank you. For sharing that with me."

The older of the two nodded. "Be well, Brother," he said. "Until I see you again."

Raiden originally intended to meet with the Elder Gods, but once he left the Wind Temple, he unexpectedly found himself in Kauai for the first time in several centuries, as if the bolt of lightning that carried him had a mind of its own. Perhaps it was because that, deep down, that was the direction his heart pulled him. The landscape was relatively the same, he noticed when he appeared on the plateau where he met Kalani years ago, but the wild, untamed forest had violently been pushed back by civilization. Hotels and resorts lined the shoreline in places, and winding asphalt roads cut swaths through the wilderness. But the plateau had been mostly untouched save for a few observatories installed at the top.

The clearing where the Thunder God had first met Kalani was gone now, though, and the thought made him sad. The rainforest had reclaimed that land long ago, and now, only thick groves of tropical trees occupied that space. No scar remained there to hint at what once was. But there were hundreds of hibiscus blossoms in full bloom, and as he walked through them, he felt as if they turned to look at him.

Raiden made his way to the spot where he knew his Beloved's house once stood, that place burned forever into his memory. To his pleasure, a healthy, strong hibiscus tree grew from the ground, climbing towards the sky, its flowers large and the color of coral. Fragrance perfumed the air, and he inhaled deeply, savoring the smell. He watched the woody, slender branches sway in the breeze, the delicate arms seemingly dancing to impress him.

He dropped to his knees and dabbed away the tears that betrayed him. "Hello, Beloved," he spoke out loud, closing his eyes. "I have been gone far too long. But I have returned now, and I hope you are well."

The Thunder God then began to speak as if she were there, listening to him, and telling her everything that had happened since last he saw her. Raiden spoke well into the night, his voice carrying through the trees, lifted on the wind, and drowned out by the sound of beating drums and distant memories. Somewhere, far below, to appease the gods, the women began to dance the hula.