Of Scorpion Stings and Redemptions

A Hanzo Hasashi in Equestria Story

Introduction Chapter ‘Freedom’

Quan Chi felt something that he rarely felt anymore. Shao Kahn might be the ruler of Outworld, but here, here in the Netherrealm he was god. He had seen the rise and fall of thousands of generations. Some questioned if he was immortal, that perhaps he and Tsang Tsung had tricked some deity into immortality, but it wasn’t like that. Tsang Tsung was a parasite. He was barely worth the skin he wore, but the old sorcerer had long since learned the value of souls. His collection kept him alive.

It was different for Quan Chi. His mastery of the Netherrealm had gifted him what could be an immortal life. The problem was that even immortals could be destroyed, and before him was an irate Scorpion, now free of the binding he had placed on his soul, and able to do bodily harm to him.

“Wait!” Quan Chi gasped as he dodged out of the way.

The living kunai screeched as Quan Chi barely dodged it. He hugged against the stone column and closed his eyes. Hanzo finding out that he was, and not Bi-Han, responsible for the death of his family had been unfortunate. Still, he trusted the bindings he had placed on Hanzo’s soul. There shouldn’t have been a way for him to escape, but now it had happened. It had happened and he was quickly running out of ideas.

He had made Hanzo’s new body as a spectre too perfect. He fed off of the energies of the Netherrealm, and not just the one here. Any Netherrealm fed him. Tartarus, Hell, and all other places of torment fed the hellfire inside of him.

“Get over here!” the familiar cry sounded out.

Once again Quan Chi dodged, and this time he threw up his hands. There was no recapturing this soul. There was no rebinding. He had to either save his own skin, or face the end of his existence. He threw a teleportation spell on Hanzo and didn’t think about where to send him. An endless loop, a trip into Limbo, and there he would be forced to remain. He could never escape, and while it wasn’t full of the torment that flooded the Netherrealm it was mostly empty. He would be completely alone, lost inside of his own head. He waited for the spell to work, to take its effect, but there was nothing. That’s when he felt it. The screeching kunai hit his chest. He felt the sharpened beak of the Kunai as it bit into him. It opened once inside and crushed down on two of his ribs. He felt them break, the bone instantly turned into shards and shoved deeper into his chest.

“I’ll kill you! You took them! You stole their lives!” Hanzo screamed.

Hellfire was escaping from the flesh mask that covered his head. His eyes had already melted and left two bright orange balls of light where they had been. Quan Chi knew what would end up coming. He felt the kunai digging deeper, the creature he had formed from Hanzo’s old weapon now was working toward his own death.

For a moment the sorcerer wondered if there was anything beyond this. If this existence was the last existence out there. To no longer exist was beyond frightening. He felt the terror overcoming his senses, and at that moment the spell began its work. It covered Hanzo, his inhuman scream echoing throughout the Netherrealm. The eldritch energies engulfed Hanzo’s form, blurring his outline here in the Netherrealm with Limbo. The looks of rage and frustration etched on his face were a light relief to the necromancer. Quan Chi fell to his knees as the last of his former servant faded from Netherrealm. His bleeding and busted chest was now a testament to how his own hubris had nearly cost him his life. He looked toward the lakes of lava, the tower of human suffering, and raised his hands. It would take days to heal himself, but he hadn’t died, he hadn’t fallen. He was still a god here. Even so, he had so very close to being ended and becoming one of the damned that roamed this dimension.

He huffed, trying to draw breath from one and a half lungs. Part of the inhale he made was filled with blood. He coughed up the ichor from his partially collapsed lung, momentarily losing consciousness. His vision faded to black for a mere fraction of second. In the world where he now reigned supreme, it would not do to be without consciousness for even a few brief seconds. Deciding that he would not entertain his ghastly court this day, he limped back back to his bedchambers to coalesce. Shortly before entering the spacious and opulent bedroom, he uttered some time honored wisdom to himself.

“You’re getting too old for this shit, Quan Chi,” he murmured, “next time, they’ll be aiming for your head.”

Then he closed his door, to not be seen for nigh onto a fortnight…

(Limbo - Princess Celestia’s Training Ground)

Twilight followed her mentor as they neared the lighter part of this strange place.

Princess… Celestia, it’s just Celestia now Twilight thought to herself, she said this was important. That I was going to learn how Luna dreamwalks, and how she is able to view all of time in here.

An anguished and awful scream echoed through the room. Both alicorn mares stopped as they heard it.

“Coward! Quan Chi you coward! You took them from me! You stole my family! You killed my clan! FACE ME COWARD!” the unknown voice roared.

In the distance, or what seemed like distance in the Realm of Limbo, was a figure, roughly pony in shape. It glowed not unlike an ember but not in any color that could be deemed natural. The figure moved around in an enraged fashion, nearly insensate to all but it’s own fury. Twilight didn’t want to admit it, but the sounds and movements of the figure frightened more than anything she had seen before. And she fought off Tirek, alone, with all the powers of her fellow alicorns. That was easily one of the most frightening experiences of her young life. Yet, this unknown being made her afraid for her very life. Twilight began to move forward, but Celestia held out a fur covered hand.

“Stay here. I am uncertain what has invaded this realm, but I must make certain that it poses no danger,” Celestia replied.

Twilight watched as her former mentor walked, the distance seeming stretching on into eternity, but then from what her mentor had said Limbo was eternity. It was never ending and it also never began. It simply existed.

Celestia breathed out the nervous feeling she had building up. She glanced back toward Twilight to ensure that she was fine, and then she focused on the shape ahead of her. She could see the glow, a glow Twilight had not seen yet, but something that had remained in her mind since the first time she had witnessed it. That thing glowed with the very flames of Tartarus. The deepest pits were only the worst, horrific, and nightmarish beings went contained the flames. Flames that always burned, always alive, and they existed for the sole reason of giving torment to those who were unfortunate enough to end up there. She stepped closer when the being stopped moving. Instead it became very still.

“Where is he?” it asked.

“Where is who?” she replied.

“Where is Quan Chi?” the figures seethed, his eerily light burning more brightly as his anger crests, “Where is that fucking coward?! He will face me for what he has done. He took my son, my wife, slaughtered them, and placed the blame at the hands of another. I will see him forced to swallow his weight in the lava lakes for what he’s done,” the figure replied, “I’ll rip out his lungs and eat them, while he lays dying and watches!!”

Celestia’s mouth scrunched up into a thin line. Hearing that this Quan Chi had done something so terrible warranted something to be done to him, but to hear the plans he had… The only one that ever came that close in being so obsessed with suffering had been Ironclaw the Gorehound. The once Emperor of the Griffin Empire had lost his cub and his bride to a botched assassination attempt. It had been done by the northern Diamond Dog tribe, and Celestia had tried to talk Ironclaw into talks of peace. Instead he slaughtered the diamond dogs, down to the nobles they had.

It was there that he made them eat their own intestines for what they had done. Shortly after the southern tribe had came and brought vengeance. They didn’t fail the assassination attempt. Celestia had to allow it. She couldn’t stand in the way of their retribution, and shortly after there was peace between the diamond dogs and the griffin empire.

This creature was like Ironclaw in his determination to make this Quan Chi suffer like Ironclaw had made the Diamond Dogs suffer.

“He isn’t here. I do not know where, or who, he is,” she replied.

“NO! I refuse to believe that! He will suffer for what he’s done! All of those who aid him will suffer for what he’s done!” he screamed.

“He isn’t here. I do not know of him, but I would not aid him in any fashion,” she replied.

He walked toward her. the glow was still bright and she could see where the flames had eaten through his face. Slowly the skin and muscle began to pull itself together, and he gave a small, and angered growl.

“Where did that coward send me?” he asked.

“This is limbo. It is a place that spans all of eternity. There is nothing that exists inside of it, and yet everything that does come here can find all they need. It touches every universe, and yet it touches nothing,” she replied.

“This is Nirvana?” he asked.

A slight smile crossed her lips. She had heard the term once. A complete stillness of the mind, and the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion had been extinguished. It was a perfect description of Limbo.

“In some regards, yes, yes it is,” she replied.

“Then, what are you? I am not Buddhist, nor am I a religious man of any sort, yet I’ve seen the Netherrealm, walked in the fires of eternity, climbed the mountains of suffering, and seen every torture ever created there. There was all manner of being there, but nothing like you,” he replied.

It was obvious he was still on the offensive. She let him circle her, the entire time she felt his eyes studying her, but not in the way she’s known some nobles, or even members of her personal guard, to study me. There was no taking in of her curves, no admiring of her beauty, but instead it was simply seeing if she was a threat. It was the way a warrior looks at another warrior. When it became apparent that she was of no threat he stopped.

“He’s cheated me…. HE’S CHEATED ME!” he roared as he fell to his knees and slammed his fists onto solid, and yet not solid, ground.

She watched him as his strikes stopped. He lifted his hands, now torn and bleeding the tortuous fire, They healed, like his face, and he stood there, looking as if the weight of the entire universe had decided to sit upon his shoulders.

“Perhaps, just perhaps, this could be a good thing. You have the potential to be free from your burden of hate,” she said.

“He killed them. I came home to find my home burned to the ground, my wife stripped naked, violated, staked down, and left to the crows, and my son… Quan Chi roasted him over a fire. I do not want to let go of my hate. I want Quan Chi to answer for his crimes. I want him to face the punishment he deserves, and then interest placed on top of it,” he growled.

“That-” Celestia started but couldn’t finish. She could understand certain measures of revenge eeking out of her ponies. Most were petty excuses or imagined slights. It had been centuries since the last great feud happened between the Hardfeilds and the Macaws. Still, the sort of vindictiveness in which this being sought out his tormentor was on par with nothing in Celestia’s long experience. The closest she could come to for that sort of unnecessary violence were the Caribou. That species was the most vile and belligerent of any creature on the planet. The most pacifistic of them made the most bellicose griffon look tame. The suffering this being had under was most egregious. Something deep in Celestia’s heart felt deeply for him, almost pitying him.

He looked less angered, but it was a far cry from peaceful. She moved closer to him, and she could see the torment in his eyes. They were tainted, much like Sombra’s had become when he gave over to the darker powers of Tartarus, but even so, there was something there Sombra didn’t have anymore. He still had a soul. She reached out and touched his shoulder. He didn’t react to it, and she assumed it was a reason to continue.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Why? You didn’t kill them. You weren’t there when she was violated, while she cried out for her husband who was gone on a mission, and you didn’t tie my son to a spit over a fire and roast him. There is no reason for you to be sorry,” he replied.

She was taken aback by his words. Only one other being had spoken to her in such a blunt and straightforward fashion. But she had saved her sister, where in this entity returned home to see his family eradicated. She knew she could never equivocate the turmoil he was feeling, nor the anguish of having his vendetta wrenched away from him. She tried to think of what could be said, if anything that could make this better, and there was nothing. No words could ever truly do anything to help him.

Perhaps, perhaps there is something we can do to help him, but only if he will agree to the terms she thought.

She stood at her full height, and it became painfully obvious that she was a good half a foot taller than he was. Regardless, she took a moment and breathed in.

“I can’t undo what has been done to you. The blight this Quan Chi visited upon you is something that I can not undo. I can however offer you something else. I can offer you a life of peace. The realm, the world, I come from is one that is mostly peaceful. My kingdom is one that does not often see battle, and the most violent battles have not been seen for well over a thousand years. It will not make up for what you’ve had taken from you, but perhaps, it will help you,” she said.

“Where there is life,” the being murmured, “there is conflict. You cannot offer me what is not in your power to give.”

“I could try,” Celestia answered, “as I stated before, my kingdom is mostly peaceful. There is crime, and every now and then, little wars brew up from those with either a lust for power or a warped sense of fidelity to some deity. I think you’ll find our peace more to your liking then you can imagine.”

He looked at her, his eyes looking into her own, and after a moment he gave a nod.

“Very good, I am Princess Celestia, and may I ask your name?” she asked.

“My name was… is Hanzo Hasahi of the Shirai Ryu clan,” he said as he followed her “Perhaps Liu Kang was right, or at least perhaps it’s worth seeing if he was right.”

They walked back and Celestia could notice Twilight becoming more and more unnerved. Her former student was having a very hard time of containing the fear within herself. She knew it would most likely affect her, and seeing the effect was unsettling. Her student was practically dancing on her hooves, wringing her hands, and looking as if she had just seen a horrific nightmare up close.

“Twilight, everything is fine. I need you to calm yourself,” Celestia said as soothingly as possible.

“It feels wrong, something feels wrong, and it shouldn’t feel wrong because this place isn’t supposed to have anything that makes a pony feel wrong,” she said her hair starting to become disheveled.

The being walked toward her and Twilight let out a whimper. Celestia could see how badly it was bothering her, how Twilight was doing everything possible to keep from screaming out in terror, and she shook her head. It was hard to believe that her former student, the same mare who had faced down Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and even faced the horrors Sombra had left behind was allowing herself to be so bothered by this.

“You fear me,” Hanzo said.

Twilight’s eyes became pinpricks and she whimpered as she nodded.

“You’d do anything to no longer be around me. The idea of running in fear is flooding through you. The need to escape what you feel is overpowering, and at this moment you are fighting a losing battle with your bladder and bowels,” he said.

Twilight squeaks out a yes, wringing her hands in nervous measure and trembling, a leaf on the wind. Celestia notices this as well. She strides to her protegé, and with a wing, calms the young princess. Her smile is cautious, but optimistic, as she gives twilight a reassuring word.

“It’s alright, Twilight,” the Sun Princess tells her, “this- Oh, how rude of me. This is Hanzo Hasashi of Clan Shirai Ryu. Hanzo, this is my protegé, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

He stretched out his hand. It was a western greeting, one that had been taught to him by that fool Kano, Twilight, not fully comfortable with such a greeting, raised a hand in kind, but formed it into a fist; Hanzo’s reaction was both swift and immediate. Dropping from his lofty, “diplomatic” posture, he fell into a combat stance, palms open, knees bent and space more widely than his shoulders, eyes narrowed. The grimace on his face expressed a disconcern for inflicting bodily harm if it came to it.

“Hanzo?” Celestia called out, “What are you doing?”

“Your protegé is engaging me in battle…” the shinobi cooley stated.

Looking between the being that dropped unwittingly into her lap and her protegé still softly quivering in fear, Celestia found a certain dark humor in the situation. Tittering, she placed a genteel hand over Hanzo’s wrist, and lowered his appendage down.

“You have no reason to fear,” the Sun Princess said, “either of you. Hanzo, what Twilight is doing is called a ‘hoofbump.’ It is a common sign of greeting between ponies. Twilight, I believe Hanzo was trying to offer you a ‘handshake.’ There will no need for violence.”

He slowly rose back to his full height and looked at the now openly quivering, mare, in front of him. He curled his hand, remembering seeing one of the Earth Realm protectors, a Johnny Cage, doing this with another Earth Realm protector. He touched her quivering fist and looked into her eyes.

“I will not attack if you are not attacking. It goes against my honor to do so,” he said.

She looked at him a bit strangely.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The Shirai Ryu are not the Lin Kuei. We attack, we kill, only when there is an aggressor. Our honor demands that we dethrone warlords who would overthrow the Emperor, who would see the world plunge into darkness. The Lin Kuei kill even those who could not protect themselves. They have no honor,” he replied.

“You kill?” her eyes once more shrinking into pinpricks. She backed away from him, her wings flaring out in a defensive manner. She looked in every direction, and finally she darted off toward the direction Celestia and she had come from.

“Twilight!” Celestia called after her.

She turned to Hanzo who crossed his arms, and in an instant the fire that she had seen surrounded him. He disappeared from sight. She tried to see where he went when she heard a shrill scream in the direction Twilight had went. She lifted into the air and flew toward the direction. It was easier to fly here in Limbo. What she had said to Hanzo was true. There was nothing here, but whatever anypony needed Limbo provided. At this moment Limbo was providing magical currents for her to fly toward her student.

There, on the ground, holding her knees to her chest was Twilight. She was rocking back and forth, and Hanzo was standing off away from her.

She walked toward her former student. Twilight looked at her and remained curled into a fetal position. She knelt down to her fellow princess and former student. Gently she touched Twilight.

“Twilight, it is okay,” she said softly.

“He’s killed,” she replied in a shaky voice.

“Twilight, there are dozens of creatures on Equestria who have killed. The griffins kill their food, several beasts in the Everfree kill what they hunt. It is merely part of life, but I am certain that he will not kill while he is a guest of my kingdom, right?” she asked.

“I will not kill while in your lands, save for self preservation or preservation of those who are under my protection,” he replied.

It wasn’t a firm I won’t kill, but it was at least something. She felt Twilight start to relax.

“Perhaps we should cut our lesson short for today,” Celestia said.

“O..okay,” Twilight agreed.

She looked at Hanzo, then back at Twilight and a moment later all three of them glowed a brilliant gold before disappearing. They reappeared back in Celestia’s throne room. A moment later the idea of teleporting there instead of a safer place came to mind when several of the guards rushed forward. She started to say something when the first guard rushed in. He neared Hanzo, and before he get much closer the spear he was holding was suddenly stolen from him.

He broke it into two pieces and used one of them to knock the guard to his rump. He then placed the pointed end near the guard’s throat.

“Stand down!” Celestia shouted her wings spreading.

The guards backed away and Hanzo reluctantly backed off of the guard. The guard got to his hooves, backed away from Hanzo, and then bowed to Celestia.

“Forgive my guards,” she said.

“They attempted to protect you. There is no reason to apologise on their behalf,” he replied.

The fact that he was blunt and to the point actually made her respect him a bit more. She watched him. She could tell that he was studying everything around him, his body still prepared for an attack, and she assumed that it was his life before that had caused him to be like this. Always assuming that there was an attack coming. It had to be a lonely existence, and it was one that actually hurt to think about.

“Hanzo, tell me, would you like some time to get settled?” she asked.

He gave a slight nod. she motioned for a maid to come forward, and a light brown Earth Pony moved toward them. The pony looked at the being, and already there was a sense of unease around him. She let out a shaky breath.

“Yes your highness?” she squeaked.

“Please show Mr. Hasashi to a guest room,” she said.

“Ummm… not to question your highness, but…” the maid said before Celestia gave a slight laugh. She stood and walked down.

“It is fine my little pony, I will show him the room, but I request that you come with us,” she said.

The maid swallowed back what fear she was feeling and gave a slight nod. She followed the two of them down the hall, hearing the clopping of her princess’ hooves, but hearing nothing from the strange being walking with her. Once in the room the maid stood at the open doorway.

“Thank you for accompanying us. I will ask that you help answer his calls and requests if he has them,” Celestia said.

The maid nodded, bowed, and then left. She watched Hanzo as he looked around the room.

“I haven’t said anything yet, but I’m assuming the mask over your mouth, and the black hood are merely part of your clothing. You are welcome to show your face,” she said.

Slowly he looked at her, and then he remembered another thing that Liu Kang had said. The only way to begin peace is to give a little trust. Only members of his clan, and his own family, were ever allowed to see his face. To show his face to another was an act of absolute trust. He hesitantly reached up to his face. The flesh mask he wore was his face in life. He pulled the hood back, knowing that the last scars of his life would be clearly seen. The long gash along the side of his head was there. Healed, by the unholy flames the fueled him, but still present.

He made a small move and removed the mouth guard. It was something he hadn’t done in years. Not since his rebirth actually. Part of him wondered how the rest of his face looked. He looked toward Celestial who stepped back.

Oh Mother, Celestia thought as she saw the sunken in place on the left side of his face, and then the long pale scar on the righ where his scalp was. Such a wound, the one that was on his mouth, nothing could survive that.

That’s when it occurred to her that he didn’t survive. He had said that he ended up in the Netherrealm. She felt a flood of sorrow sweep through her. He had been through so much, seen so much, and lost everything dear to him. She stepped forward and engulfed him into a hug. Her wings wrapped around him with her arms and she held him.

“I’m sorry this was done to you,” she whispered.

He never returned the hug, instead he stood surprised, uncertain, and completely caught off guard. Rulers did not do what this ruler was doing. They did not express concern for a warrior, and especially for one not of their empire. He felt her let go and he simply stood there unable to think of anything to say.

Author's Note

(So, a small drive into Mortal Kombat territory. I did make a promise that this was the next story to come out. It will be updated, but perhaps not with the same intensity that I update some of my other stories. That said, I do hope that all of you enjoyed it to some degree. Scorpion is certainly one of my favorite characters from the Mortal Kombat series, and it only made sense to use him. That said I want to send a huge shoutout to L0rd0f7hund3r for his help on this. Be sure to check him and his stories out.

RJP)