Description: A return to the site of her cruellest battleground brings Chun-Li back into contact with the one person without whom her personal war may have been lost... and someone whom the rest of the world may have forgotten. The reception the Strongest Woman in the World receives is testament to both May Lee and the recovering people of Korea, and the future is suddenly a great deal brighter.
It is said that the hardest truths to face are those etched into one's soul. There have been times, during the past few weeks, where the Strongest Woman in the World would agree to that summation. Knowing what she has been - what she has let herself become - has been a tough and unforgiving lesson. But personal pain, the private petulance of a fallen princess, is nothing now to seeing the devastation her actions have wrought.
Chun-Li has come to Korea to make amends of a sort, but despite all the information she has been given and the reports she has witnessed on international news stations day after heart-wrenching day... it cannot compare to standing amidst the destruction of a once-happy people, to understanding that the scars she bears came at the cost of many lives. Fulfilled lives. Dreams have been shattered along with entire city blocks.
Fire does not catch and simply burn; it spreads and devours. Evil is no different.
Throughout Seoul, the renovation effort has come along immensely, but the skeletal erection of scaffold and the heaped building materials speak not of a bright future - but a dark past. It's too soon, and the wound has not healed. Smiles are forced and spirits aflutter only because they must be; almost everybody in the city wears a mask, even the most grim bearing hard, stern lines to conceal the emotion they most assuredly feel. Everybody lost something during the war; whether a limb, a loved one, or 'merely' their own innocence. These things are not so easily regained as walls and pavements. And it's her fault. Chun-Li believes that, truly.
Off the tattered central square, parts of the renovation have proceeded quickly. Including the mall where she met May Lee before - what seems at once a thousand years ago, and only yesterday. Perhaps it avoided the worst of the bombing; debris lies everywhere, but many of the shops have been reopened already, and a gentle bustle of civilian traffic moves through the more businesslike ebb and shift of contract workers. It's through this that the Chinese beauty moves now - if she can even be called that much any more.
Clad in a pair of flared jeans and a flowered blouse she regretted almost as soon as she donned it, cheery as the motif is, the now-former Interpol detective looks scarcely any different to the haggard creatures around her. She may be the cause for their plight, but she's turned herself into much the same being; too thin, skin pale enough to be faintly sickly, hazel eyes seeming too large for her face and lips a hint too red. Chun-Li is a bad watercolour of her former self. Even the heavy bracelets on her wrist lack that strengthening factor they normally have; seeming to hang off her arms, weighing her down rather than emboldening her spirit.
But she has to face this. To begin making amends, there is no other way.
Quietly, she seats herself at the little café not far from the ornamental fountain in which the young Korean made such a splash before. The memory briefly makes Chun-Li smile, and almost laugh as a nearby waitress catches her eye and moves over to take an order. Tea. It's simple, and it's all she can think of immediately, laden with the burden of guilt. Nobody seems to stop her or recognize her; it would almost be easier if they did, she thinks, as she inches in close to the table, hands laid in her lap beneath it.
Her eyes scan the thoroughfare to either side. If they don't recognize her...
Will May Lee be able to? Would Chun-Li even recognize herself?
May Lee has seen the suffering of her people. She has bled for them, held the hands of good men and women as they died. She has withstood hails of bullets. She has bared her soul on the battlefield, demonstrating the truth at the heart of her style; that Justice will always stand firm against evil. That JUSTICE will not be dimmed, no matter how great the odds arrayed against it. JUSTICE! is eternal. JUSTICE!! cannot be silenced. JUSTICE!!! will ALWAYS prevail.
And although May Lee has suffered greatly, what is more surprising, perhaps, is that May Lee wears no mask. She had stared death in the eye, and had almost not made it through. But... she DID make it through, and she has packed away those dark memories, those fears and doubts and pains, along with the burned, singed scarf. Her family has made it through. All of Kim's students have made it through. The long night is over; it is time to embrace the new dawn.
So whilst all around her there is devastation, the slow realization that things may never be the same again, May Lee is bright and vibrant against it. She is smiling with the exuberance of someone who is just happy to be alive. A brand new t-shirt, vibrant yellow with a beaming frog emblazoned on the front. A brand new scarf, bright orange and green stripped wrapped around her neck. Even her shoes are new, gleaming white and red rubber sneakers. Korea knows May Lee now; the young girl who stood against Shadaloo time and time again, and where she passes... the smiles become a little more genuine.
And from the second floor... she spots Chun-Li, just like she did last time.
The bolt of color descends from the sky... but where last time, she had landed on her head and almost broke her skull, this time, she lands atop the very tip of the fountain, plugging it with the toe of her sneaker, and pointing dramatically at Chun-Li, scarf fluttering behind her, the very vision of the dramatic hero she always wanted to be.
"CHUN-LI!" She declares, loud and clear and unashamed as people gasp and whisper. "How does it feel... to have been saved, by JUSTICE?!"
Did... did her teeth... ping?
People don't hide because they're misguided, or cowardly; but uncertain. How does one begin to present their true face to the world when that face is hurt and scarred? The average person cannot comprehend the level of atrocity that was committed during the war, here and elsewhere, and that's why the world - as a whole - has done the utmost it can to move on, to forget what happened. It is natural and human to feel fear. Even the soldiers who took part, and made horrors of their own, are not exempt from that.
But others, like Chun-Li herself, cannot be allowed such luxuries. May Lee knows that, in her heart, and for all the right reasons; it's the duty of the strong to display their strength in the face of all adversity. Those who would seek justice and stand against the darkness, must do so at any cost. Through any level of pain.
Her display is flamboyant, almost entirely ludicrous, but it serves a beautiful purpose.
Initial wide eyes narrow into a comfortable resolve as Chun-Li allows the weight of the moment to settle on those already-burdened shoulders, caught in the flashbulb burst of May's prodigious molars, her name echoing off the cracked walls of the mall as people indeed stop and stare. All eyes are upon them. In a way, this was the kindest possible thing that the Taekwondoka could have done. It forces the Strongest Woman in the World to live up to her name, not only to face what she's done but face who she is.
There's a dull, metallic shriek as her chair skips backward across the tiled floor.
A once-powerful leg sweeps around to carry her through ninety degrees, turning to face the fountain and the heroine of Seoul as she stands, statuesque in her own right - despite the injuries and the thinning of her frame, a hint of the woman she was and still should be coming kicking and yelling to the dissonantly calm fore. Arms rise before her, an open palm and a closed fist framing the bow into which she almost immediately descends, back straightening then flexing into a soft arch. Hazel eyes maintain a level gaze with the warrior atop the plugged fountain, meeting her own stare with at once humility and strength.
Somewhere, deep in their depths, she's saying thank you. In the most sincere, gentle fashion.
"Justice," she echoes the word with an initial quaver rising to a clear, clarion tone that carries up to the roof - though her voice is not raised to the level that May's is, "Was served. And I feel... grateful." She acknowledges that with a smile, glancing around as she straightens. A faint blush rises to her cheeks before she takes her next action - feeling at once rather stupid and exhilarated as she steps from the ground up onto the table beside her. She's not as high as May Lee, but it puts her above those on the ground floor. It makes her more visible. There's no hiding this, and it's not just the flamboyant heroine she needs to apologize to...
"People of Seoul," she says, her chin lifting gently as she meets the gaze of man, woman, and child in turn, "I came to this city under a sinister auspice. I did terrible things. Things I can never truly forgive myself for. Neither do I deserve your forgiveness. The debt I owe this city - and the world besides - is one I can never repay, but this girl--" she hesitates on that, and then actually laughs as she shakes her head, easing into an odd sort of comfort zone as she embraces the warm, radiant downpour, "This /warrior of Justice/ prevented me from doing the worst that I could. She brought me back. Her bravery, and the great love behind her martial skill, turned me from the path of evil. She /did/ save me."
Chun-Li draws a quick breath, and brings her hands up again, palm to fist.
"She saved us all."
Her head bows once more, and this time her eyes close as the small crowd, uncertainly, begins to applaud.
Ever since she first set out on her path, May Lee has sought recognition; fame, glory, and the adoration of her peers. When she first began studying under Kim, it had been the desire to emulate her idols, to become a recognized figure, which had motivated her. But... now that she has it, she understands the truth more completely than she ever could have before. The applause buoys her up, but it isn't because she is better than them - because they are acknowledging they owe her a debt. As far as May is concerned, neither the crowd here nor Chun-Li owe her anything at all. The recognition makes her feel good because both the crowd and the Strongest Woman in the World have been inspired by her example.
Can there be any greater feeling than to inspire the one who inspires you?
May Lee hops easily from the fountain, and strides towards Chun-Li. Perhaps only she would be able to see the light touch of tears tickling in her eyes after the impassioned speech. May is still smiling, if anything she is smiling wider than she had been before, and without any hesitation at all, she is flinging her arms around Chun-Li, to hold her tightly and hug her warm and true. Yes, Chun-Li had killed a lot of people - she had almost killed May herself! - but there isn't a scrap of bad feeling in the teenager.
"You did nothing at all." May says, as she holds the woman close. "There was only one person to blame for everything that happened, and we've sent him skulking back to whatever hell he crawled out of."
May Lee actually laughs herself, shaking her head a little as she eases up on the physical contact; she knows Chun-Li is feeling better, but *how* much better, she doesn't know. She certainly doesn't look like she did when they last met. "Nobody holds you responsible. There were hundreds of people, thousands, who did... just as bad, just because they were scared of what would happen if they didn't. He was the devil, but he's gone now. And if he comes back... then we'll stuff him back down in his hole again!"
There's few people in the world really willing to give voice to the possibility that Vega might return. That all this devastation could be repeated in ten years, one year, a month, a week... tomorrow. But May Lee's spirit has, if anything, been redoubled by her experiences. Vega's body had not been recovered, so the chances are he would return... but if or when he does, May Lee knows with an awesome certainty that they will be ready for him!
Some would call what Chun-Li had said a kindness; but for all the dramatic impetus behind the speech, and for all that she's stepping into May Lee's world to deliver it, there's not a single lie told. The saga of her corruption under 'Lord' Vega didn't end in Seoul, but the battle against the pair of stalwart heroes - against her friends - set in motion the first ripple that led to her eventual salvation. In the past few weeks, the Strongest Woman in the World has had time to consider and attempt to understand what happened in her body and brain, enthralled by Vega's machinations and afflicted by the touch of Orochi's taint...
What she remembers most is the flood of memories that returned as the small group came to her in Myanmar. Her suffering at the hands of Rugal's servants was brutal and harrowing, even under the conditioning, but it was the sacrifice that May Lee made in Seoul that opened the way for Kim, and Howard Rust, and Zach Glen.
It's true that without the girl in the frog shirt, things could have been so very different.
And it was time that the world knew.
That applause washes over Chun-Li as May makes her way over, her eyelids only lifting once more in time to see the girl approaching. With an unhurried sense of returning grace she steps from the table, beginning to extend a hand in a sign of her lingering uncertainty and guilt, when she finds herself entangled in that close embrace. She is not a cold woman, but there've only been a few she would accept this from, without her usual formalities preventing enjoyment or involvement. She can rarely give herself to something like this.
But she does now.
Her hands find May Lee's back, grateful and nurturing in equal measure as she presses the Taekwondoka against her, notably lacking the natural strength she has experienced before. Chun-Li is but a step or two short of seeming genuinely fragile, to a fellow warrior. It's a very normal, unpowered embrace. Perhaps it means all the more, as a result. When it breaks, the older woman does not shy away, remaining comfortable and close as the smile on her own lips gains a hint of regret. It's hard to accept what's being said; she just can't, though she can try to appreciate the sentiment, acknowleding it with a faint cant of her head.
"I have to accept responsibility for my actions," she murmurs, without hesitance, but with a frown, "Because someone has to. Vega was only a man; that's all he ever was, a murderous and ambitious human being set on spreading misery in the name of conquest. I should have been better than him." She has been. "And I allowed him to win, I allowed him to take me." That rings with a hollow note, as though she were losing her breath, and her hands slip toward her lap, twisting about one another before the left draws up to the opposing wrist. A fingertip runs subconsciously along one of the spiked studs in her bracelet. What May Lee says, about Vega...
She'd barely thought of it herself, even after what she said to Rust. Like a child, so anxious to believe...
It's not just on the physical plain that their positions here are reversed. Chun-Li looks to the girl before her with a slow sigh, as though weighing her words and those that must follow. Several seconds pass before she draws a conclusion, and a smile with it, a weightless gesture that seems almost carefree. A motion from her hands, twisting and pulling, before both are rising with something held level between them.
"If he comes back," she begins, "If anything like that ever happens again..."
She offers the object forth. It's the bracelet taken from her right wrist, heavy black enamel and steel.
"My father bought these for me when I was a child. I wanted to have them more than anything, placing so much value in a material thing that it was all I could focus on." She utters a laugh, part nostalgia and part self-effacing mockery. What she's doing is just as silly, but sometimes the little things hold the most meaning. "They didn't even fit me then; they barely do now, I'm so /thin/, but-- they're a part of me. They represent him, and they represent my life. When Vega took him away from me, I spent my life doing nothing else. I've hardly ever taken them off. I wore them when we fought. And when Kim came to Myanmar, I wore them then..."
Asking for acceptance with her eyes, she slips the article into one hand and takes May's own fingertips in the other, seeking to tenderly guide the bracelet onto her wrist. How a mere child wore them is amazing-- even for a fighter, it should be almost inhibiting to wear such a thing. But there's history in them, too, a sense of strength that cannot be denied. Objects hold power, after all. Memories hold power.
"I want you to keep a piece of me. No matter where I am, no matter where you are, I won't be able to forget. My soul that you helped save, the piece of my life that you gave back to me, it will always be there. I've spent too long walking away from people, assuring them I'd come back... but if I never leave anything behind, what do I have but my memories?" Memories that can be stolen by Vega. It goes unsaid. It goes without saying.
May Lee knows the power that an object can hold. Tucked away in her closet, locked in a small, unassuming box, there is a scarf which traveled the world. A simple strip of fabric which had been used to bind wounds, which had soaked in blood and been borne through the worst moments of the war. She had even worn it when the madness reached its peak and she was engulfed in an inferno of nuclear fire. That scarf was a symbol of justice and righteousness, soaked in blood and terror.
The bracelet that is wrapped around her wrist now has a similar, historical weight to it. But where the scarf frightens her a little... the heavy chunk of steel around her wrist feels comforting, even protective. It is a bond of friendship and trust that seems truly unbreakable. May is actually struck silent by the seriousness of it. She's blushing, the larger-than-life persona that she wraps herself in abandons her. It... isn't a *mask*, exactly. She truly believes every word she speaks, but Chun-Li's actions touch her heart. So whilst she could deny it, and try to life the Strongest Woman in the World up, instead, she accepts what Chun-Li says, and her smile becomes a smaller thing.
"I'm going to travel the world." May says, suddenly. The heavy moment lifting as she bears the weight of the bracelet, and lifts it up, hand clenched into a fist. "I realize now that... there really is *good* that I can do. I'm not just a student any more, I can make a difference *now*, not tomorrow, and on my own, not just with Kim, or Ken."
And her smile returns, full force. Bright and undiminished as she looks at the spiked ornament which... if it didn't mean so much, she would never dream of picking up for herself. "It's great to know that you'll be with me, though. And if you need me again... just like if any of you, need me again."
That addressed to the crowd, who are no doubt a little stunned to be allowed into this very personal moment. "I will be there. Because I am May Lee."
"The Champion of Justice!"
There are so many reasons to abhor war, and conquest... to fight tyranny and selfishness...
But what pains Chun-Li most of all, is that every second person on this earth could make a difference to the first and third. Even the tiniest impact can carry a resonance that translates to greatness. An exchange of ideas, a simple gift, a kindly word; things that everybody can afford to give, at one time or another. For every soldier that fires upon another and every struck blow, something wonderful could be made to happen. As May Lee lifts her voice from that smile - so small and so touching, it proves how horribly petty and painfully tragic the arts of men like Vega truly are. More than just him; the arguing politician, the greedy fatcat...
This is what 'Justice' means. Dramatic empowerment has its place, but this is what comes down to.
It's what Kim has doubtless taught, but learning and /knowing/ are very different. Chun-Li is smiling too, but she makes no interruption, watching May and the people arrayed behind her - unfocused, but so very present. Each one important to another, and every single one of them important to her. It wasn't just for the girl in the frog shirt that she came; it wasn't just for her that she came back from that darkness, she's just the brightest light in a field of flickering fireflies. A champion amongst millions.
'The Champion of Justice'.
Chun-Li's smile widens at that, and she dips her chin in a slow, but firm nod. There's so much in that simple gesture that it's hard to convey; she could spend hours explaining, and never deliver the full extent of her feelings. Approval, gratitude, respect and admiration. Even the regret that will ever burn inside her. So many things she can't forget, all tied and bound - inexorably - by the bracelets they now share. A physical bond to mirror and complement the spiritual. She feels she should speak, though, and speak she does...
"You'll never be alone, May Lee. Nobody truly is if they keep others in their hearts. As the wind blows, it carries the scent of distant lands; as the stream flows, it carries the varied tastes of each realm through which it travels. Every drinking beast and bathing man, every errant rock or fallen leaf, the journey is made alone - but given meaning by the contributions of what has passed. At the end, everything is one."
She sounds like the teachers of her youth, but it doesn't embarass her. Perhaps she's found a calling, too.
"Next time we meet - any of us, meet," she's addressing the crowd now too, and several of them exchange glances with their neighbours, stranger or otherwise, "It will be because we've never truly been apart. Keep each other in your hearts, and you'll never lose a thing. Keep the world in your hearts. Keep moving, keep learning, but never forget who and what you are. As a stream must flow into the ocean, so are we all together."
She draws a breath, but something is missing. Something is unsaid. Suddenly she laughs, and reaches out to take May Lee's hands in her own. The next words are more personal - for her, and only by extension for them all. Her mind's eye tries to spin through the future, and finds it easy. She's met a lot of people in her life, touched a lot of lives for better or ill, but here is one she'll see again... who will be stronger than ever. Someday, she'll be as important to the world as she is to the Strongest Woman in the World.
"Be true to yourself, and we will all have Justice."
Like she did. As Vega did. Her last thought before the crowd begin to cheer, is...
Someday, the girl in front of me is going to take that title. And it feels good.
Log created on 07:56:16 05/07/2012 by Chun-Li, and last modified on 10:34:24 05/07/2012.