The Mask Reflects The Heart Ch. 1
By Kat

A lone figure stood on a high hill. His long golden hair blowing in the cool spring breeze. His eyes a piercing blue. He stood on a hill over looking his home town. He could see little specks in the distance which were the people. He turned his eyes from the city below and focussed his attention on the object in his hand. A gleaming white mask. The mask was hand made for perfection. From the curves to the Embroidery.....it was indeed perfection.

Vega frowned at the mask he held in his hand. Not because of the crack it now held on the right cheek of it, or because it didn't do it's job....which was to protect his face, but because he felt like exactly what the mask's name said.

'Mask of Agony.......Agony...that's it...that's what I'm feeling' he thought to himself. Who ever wore the mask was suppose to bring agony and pain for it's victim....not the other way around. But that's exactly what he was feeling. Agony. Not physically....but from inside. He felt....hopeless.....loss...depressed. And who wouldn't be? He had Shadowlaw down his back now. He had failed....and now they seeked him to pay for his failure with his life. All because he failed to kill Chun-li.

Ah yes......Chun-li. With the thought of her he traced the scar on his right cheek gently. Sure it would heal....but the scar its self would possibly stay forever. A personal reminder of that battle. Vega furrowed an eye brow. He know he should be angry at her. Loathing her....thinking of ways he could get vengeance on her. But instead.....all he wanted to do was........ thank her.

Thank her for opening his eyes...although she had no idea that she did. She opened his eyes to see that he should have never joined Shadowlaw. The day he said yes to Bison, all he was doing all along was signing his death warrant. Sure....he had a life of the privileged: money, power, women-but he had that in the beginning......right? He in fact did.....long before Bison had even entered the picture....he had all of those things. But he was greedy....he wanted more.

Unconsciously he was still fingering the scar. He chuckled a little. The scar would possibly be permanent. Vega peeked over the hill and looked at the rocks and shallow stream below. 'If I jumped....I wonder if the fall would take my life' he asked to himself. He grinned a sad smile and shook his head. "Don't want to end up like my father", said Vega out loud to no one in particular.

It was true indeed. His own father had taken his own life when he got a permanent scar in his face. "That's where I learned most of my cockiness from"Vega mumbled. The rest came from his mother when his father died. She had taught him to never socialize with petty servants and lower class. That peasants didn't even deserve to breath the same air they did. "Thanks for that valuable lesson mother" Vega said sarcastically.

'That's why no one liked me?', he asked himself, 'because I thought I was better?' He knew the answer to that. To think he use to spend hours gazing at himself....admiring himself. It wasn't his fault. He was brought up that way. To enjoy beautiful things....the finer things in life. And one thing that really ticked him off was how people always thought he was gay.

Vega visibly flinched. Him? Gay?! Was it because he had long hair? Was it because of his thinking he was better than everyone else? Because of the elegant way he moved? His charm? His looks? Gay? Him? Never! The day Vega kissed another man or even became attracted to one.....H*LL WOULD FREEZE OVER!! He liked his partners with a different anatomy than his. People also looked at him as a deranged lunatic. But could he help it if killing was his calling.

Vega looked below at the city once again. He felt so....empty inside. It seemed he had spent a life time working for shadowlaw. Fighting was the only thing he knew of. What was he to do now? He couldn't stay in Spain....that would be too easy. He couldn't bull fight....that would be to obvious. What ever he would do....he knew it would not involve Shadowlaw....or any crime period. Vega smiled. Not one of his sadistic, sneaky smiles.....but a genuine smile. The world will know of a new Vega. He didn't feel a need to cover his face any longer. Nor a need to kill or commit a crime. He felt......rejuvenated. Like he had just been born again.

Vega brought the mask to eye level and studied it once more. He looked at his reflection. Not to look at his looks for once.....but to look at him. With that he tossed the his mask over the hill. He watched it fall and hit repeatedly on the hill and break away in little chunks. Finally it reached the shallow stream below and wash away. Vega turned on his hill and walked away..............

Hong Kong China

Chun-li unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside. She bent down and unleashed her dog, then stood back up and locked the door. Chun-li was tired since she had just come from a night jog. She went to her bed room and took of her shoes and socks then played her messages. While doing this she heard her dog barking loudly. With a frustrated sigh she turned her head to see her dog barking at the balcony door. "Shut up Spike. What's the matter"? she asked while walking down the hall towards him. Getting 5 feet away from him, she yelped in pain. Looking down to she saw what she stepped on. A single blood red rose, with a small piece of paper leaning on it. She picked the items up carefully.

She then looked at the note. She gazed at the two words on them in confusion. 'Thank You'

Then she noticed something else...Spike wasn't barking any longer. She raised her head slowly and gazed out the balcony window. She saw a tall figure in the shadows. It stepped forward an inch so the light would reveal its face. She gasped in surprise as she saw the person was Vega. He stood there and gazed at her through the balcony door. Chun-li just stood there stunned. She didn't know what to feel. Anger, fear, or what. Finally Vega broke the staring contest and backed away. With that he did a backwards flip of the railing and disappeared. Chun-li stood there for a few seconds later till she rushed out the balcony door and gazed over the railing. He was no where to be seen. She looked down at the two words on the paper. The words that she had no idea what they meant.......................................................