Author: M
Title: Dark Heart
Rating: PG-13 to R
Disclaimer: All characters from TFATF aren't mine, I am using them for fun only. The characters of Mars - Chen Ling, Chen Sheng and Han Qi Luo aren't mine either. All other characters are mine.
Summary: Some say we must forget our past. For Chen Ling that is easier said then done, for his past is a shadow that looms over him. Will the move to LA prove a wise decision?
Feedback: Please
A/N: I wrote this a while back, I'm a big fan of MARS...as you can tell by my screen name. I wanted to share this with you all enjoy
Prologue
His deep brown took in the scene before him, a women, the woman he loved was lying sprawled out on her back on their bed, her delicate hands skimming over a strong back, not his back. He moved placing his full weight on his right foot, his hands fall to his sides as he feels his blood beginning to boil. The sounds of her soft moans filling his ears, finally Ling had enough. With two large strides he was standing over them.
"Ling" her once sweet, soothing voice was now filled with surprise.
"Why?" he asked his voice and manner cold.
"Ling" She called out again as Ling grabbed the man who was making love to his girlfriend. He pulled him up with ease and through him to the floor. Ling turned and stared at the mystery man who was scrabbling to stand while pulling his jeans.
"Who the hell are you?" The man growled while looking over Ling.
"Boyfriend" Ling said in almost a whisper, "A foreigner?" He then through back at her.
"Boyfriend?" the man laughed, "Didn't seem like she had one by the way she was screaming."
The taunting words through Ling over the edge, his hand went to the man's throat as he pinned him to the wall, he heard soft footsteps behind him. Ling turned seeing her eyes filling with tears. This only angered him more, was she crying for this man, not for him?
"Ling" she cried out. Her hands found his arms pulling at him to let the man go.
Ling focused back on the man in front of him, his face turning colors. He could not hear as she began to cry out for him stop. He was engulfed in silence; Ling tightened his grip smiling a little at the pain showing in the man's eyes. At once the silence was gone and again he heard her cry out, he let go, stepping back letting the man fall to the ground. She was there then, kneeling down worriedly seeing if he was alright.
"Why, Han Qi Luo?" he asked again. She looked up and the disgust he saw in her eyes made him go numb.
Ling stepped back, sighing he turned walking to the bedroom door. One last time he looked back, seeing the woman he loved caring for someone else. Tears filled his dark eyes and he urged himself to leave. He would not show weakness in front of her, he would not show how bad she hurt him.
Chapter One
8 months later....
Hannah snickered as listened to her brother and his best friend fight over a snickers bar.
"It's mine ass"
"NO it's mine."
"Jesus you two split it in half." She yelled out from under the Honda Civic she was working on.
"He doesn't deserve half." Leon barked, "You don't." He warned Jesse.
"Wha ya mean?" Jesse huffed, "Who did that bitches decals for free so you could get a piece huh?"
Leon rolled his eyes, "She wanted me even before that....that's not the point."
"Oh my god." Hannah chuckled while pulling herself from under the car. She stood quickly and made her way over to them. Ignoring the looks she was getting from both Leon and Jesse, Hannah reached out snatching the snickers bar up and breaking it in half. "Here" She shoved them their respective pieces before returning to her car.
"Get back to work" Dom's deep voice boomed in the shop, he shook his head as he walked by Leon and Jesse. He stopped once he got to the Civic and tapped his boot against her leg.
She came out from under the car, "Yeah?"
"How long before you done?"
"A couple of hours then Jesse can paint it." Hannah told him. "Don't worry D it'll be done on time." She winked up at him before going back under the car.
Dom smirked down at her, "Alright."
**~**
"What's up?" Letty asked seeing Dom's face, she followed him into the office setting on the edge of the desk.
"It's Hannah."
"What's wrong with her?"
Dom sighed, "She's just works, goes home, works a little. Lett she doesn't have any fun."
Letty smiled, "Dom, she's just not into all the stuff we are. Don't worry about her."
"I do, I mean Mia's of living her life with Brian and Hannah's just locking herself away from life. It's not right, I'm not saying she needs to go out and party every weekend..I just.."
"I know." Letty said while getting up and walking around to him, "She's had a rough year and half we all have. Let her take her time getting back into things, you'll see she'll be alright."
**~**
Hannah lay awake that night, she couldn't sleep. There was a warm breeze washing over her, almost like a warning bell. She could tell something was coming, what she did not know. As she closed her eyes a face come to her sight, his eyes...dark, sad, dangerous, soulful eyes. Was the last thing she saw before slumber took her.
**~**
Ling waited without much patient as his bike was brought to him, he knew many on goers where watching. It wasn't normally for a passenger to the out on the tarmac. He squinted his eyes as his Yamaha YZR-RI was brought to him.
"Thanks" he said while taking hold of his bike. He pulled his large nap sack over his shoulder before grabbing his helmet and putting it on. He looked up at the sky and wondered if what he was doing was right, if coming to the United States would help him. "Move." he told himself before turning the key and starting the engine.
He was off, speeding his way around the large planes a smirk filling his lips. Ling knew he shouldn't be going that fast, it was too early for him to get into trouble. Chuckling to himself he pushed the bike harder, right now all he wanted was a cold beer and a soft bed. The trip from Taiwan had been a rough one.
Ling parked his bike in the middle of his new flat, thankfully he gotten the apartment he'd wanted. Chen Ling was never one for tight spaces; he enjoyed the wide open space of a loft. He looked around at the boxes that filled his new space; he swallowed knowing some of them held memories. Most of his memories from Taiwan he wanted to bury but he couldn't.
**~**
Hannah woke from a dream, no a nightmare, she sat up clutching her chest while struggling for breath, a cool sweat tingling her skin. She shut her eyes trying to get the image out of her head but she could not. Maybe I should remember? She thought to herself, it was so long ago yet I feel like it happened yesterday.
The last heist, the one that changed her life forever, she rode with Letty, Leon felt weird about his baby sister driving this time. It was odd, like they all knew this would be different. They went during the day, not a night, everything was not like before. She'd told them time and time again they needed to stop but Dom said no. He wanted a better life for them, for his family. So Hannah, like the rest of them, went with it. I
t was dangerous ground, the Tran's were coming close to finding out who was jacking what would be 'their' trucks. Johnny was especially pissed at Dom over something that happened between Dom and Johnny's sister. She hated the Tran's, hated Johnny. Ever since she was younger, he was always watching her. His cold eyes would follow her whenever she would go out to the races with the rest, even back when they all partied, Toretto's and Tran's, Johnny focused in on her.
She'd finally shaken off all her negative thoughts as she and Letty speed down the highway. Letty said nothing only stared at the rode ahead of them; she had both hands on the wheel white knuckles showing how scared she was. Then it all went wrong, the trucker wasn't going to give up his load so easily.
Hannah and Letty ended up flipping and landing hard on the side of the highway. In no time, Leon was there pulling them both out, dragging them on by one to his car. Both could hear Dom's voice blaring on the two way.
The injuries hurt; she never denied that, what cut at her even more was what none of them knew, what she could never tell her family. She was the one that call the cops; she was the one that got Brian into their lives. It was late one night after they'd done a job and she was sick, sick of seeing her family having to steal to try and make ends meet, even with the shop, the diner and even the races.
The Toretto crew had some much going out and not enough going in. She also knew that Dom was about to strike a deal with the Tran's one that would surely end up only trouble for all of them. Dom was planning to double cross the Tran's, pull off the mother of all heist, then blaming it on the group of unknown drivers that had been heisting on the out skirts of LA.
It also scared what else they could have gotten into being linked with the Tran's. Johnny had just taken over and was getting into drugs and whores. It was only time before Dom would want more; she hated that more then ever. Hated to see him give into the life he struggled to keep his family out of for all these years.
With the last heist came much more pain then Hannah have every thought, Vince almost died and Jesse. Poor Jesse, he was still now healing for what the Tran's had done to him. She blamed herself solely for what happened but still could tell no one. They hide as long as they could in Mexico before coming and deal with the law. But to everyone's surprise nothing happened, Brian, the one person most all of them hated had taken care of everything. The golden boy had somehow made Johnny Tran the FBI's main target. She was happy for that, what she didn't see was that Tran would only spend six months in jail before getting out.
For the last year she, along with the rest of her family waited and wondered when Johnny Tran would come back into their lives. She felt tears streaming down her face, all this time and still she couldn't forgive herself. She never would.
**~**
Ling leaned his 5'10 frame against his bike as he watched a stream of cars pull into an old abandoned parking lot near the water. His boots scratching at the ass fault beneath them, he folded his arms over his black racing jacket. His dark brown, almost black eyes waited closely as the each car pulled up next to one another. Street racers he thought to himself, a smiled played at his lips. Bikes had always been his thing, cars that an entire different story. He'd rarely ridden in one more over he'd rarely driven one. Only once, an image of a long black limo filled his mind. Taking him back to the day they, no HE buried his twin brother. Sheng, he said softly, how he wished his brother was here with him.
A group of cars, the last ones to arrive made him move. Ling straightened up a little noticing the detail of the automobiles. There were nicer then the rest, he could tell that for yards away. One by one they came to a halt, each person slowly exiting their vehicles. Ling knew this group was the leader.
A man, a large bald man, stood as a crowd of girls and some guys huddled around him quickly. He worked the crowd smiling at the all the women before walking over to another couple of guys and set up what Ling knew to be a race. The man was followed by a girl, with dark hair, dark as night, she looked tough and at once Ling knew that must be the main guys girl.
Three other young men followed the bald guy, a large tank top wearing solider; he looked ready for a fight and for what Ling could read could pretty much take care of anyone out in the crowd. The second guy, dressed in a jersey and a playful smile checked all the girls out as he made his way to his friends. Finally, a smaller, almost boy looking dude. He was grinning while talking to his friend in front of him. That was the brains; it was scary how Ling could read people by how they dressed and how they moved.
What then caught him off guard was another car pulling up, a car unlike the other, a simple Honda accord, not tricked out or anything. His eyes focused in and he wondered what manner of person would arrive to this social setting in that ride. A girl stepped out, her height, a little below average, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. She was dressed in a pair of low riding jeans and a t-shirt. This young lady was different from the rest.
Hannah moved slowly through the crowd to get to Dom and the rest of the team. She stopped short when she saw a man leaning against a bike. He was watching her, watching all of them. He was close enough to see but no one had taken any interest in him. His bike was what Jesse would call 'Bad Ass'. His figure was nothing but impressive, his face, you could only see some of it. His left eye blanketed by his dark hair falling over it. Hannah knew without seeing him up close that he was not from around her. She also could feel cool stare from his dark eyes.
Her named being called pulled her out of her daze and she pushed her way to the others.
"Glad you came." Letty smiled, "Finally, you just got home from work right?" Letty asked eying Hannah's outfit.
"Wha?" Hannah put up her hands, "You wanted me to come so I come."
"You gonna stay and watch the race?" Vince asked while stepping out from behind Letty.
"I don't know." Hannah looked past him and found the mystery guy still watching them. Vince groaned at her lack of focus on him. He reached out and pulled her towards his car.
"Vince?" she cried out but found herself following him. Once they were at his car she crossed her arms over her shirt and glared up at him. "What?"
"Why didn't you just ride with me?" He asked, he'd wanted her to go with him. He'd been wanting her to ride with him for a while now but she never would.
"I'm not staying long and you're gonna end bring some girl home, why would I want to play the third wheel?" Hannah asked wanting so bad to see if the guy on the bike was still there.
"Hannah, I just..."
"Vince, its okay" Hannah sighed, "For so long I wanted you to notice me. I'd watch as you went from one endless blonde to another. Then one day I look at myself and wondered what was wrong with me. Why didn't you want me?"
Vince was stunned, "Uh."
"Jesus Vince you really are thick." Hannah chuckled.
"I didn't..." Vince struggled to get out, but Hannah stopped him.
"It's okay Vince, I'm over it." She smiled before shaking her head, "I swear you guys only see tits and ass everything in between is blurry."
"Uh.." was all Vince got out before she walked away from him. What just happened? He asked himself, he'd wanted to tell her that he been wanting to ask her out and just told him that she'd liked him and now doesn't like him. Man, chicks were messed up. He a hand through his head as a strange feeling rose up inside. A lonely, nagging feeling, he'd wanted her to want him. He'd wanted her to be with him, yet it seemed too late. A cold rush of male ego came over and Vince growled. His steely gaze roamed over the crowd until he found her. He narrowed his gaze and wondered how hard it would be to get her, NO he was going to get her. Nothing was gonna get in his way.
**~**
Hannah smiled as Leon and Jesse went back and forth about a car. She was so happy to see Jesse like this, even with his injuries still nagging him; the mad scientist was full of energy. She watched how Leon's eyes shined with brotherly love and she cursed herself for betraying them. How could she, she was the one to blame, not Brian, not Dom....Her.
She tried pushing the cold, desperate feeling that now coiled inside her stomach. Hannah wanted to be able to laugh with them but she couldn't. Instead she told them goodnight and slowly made her way back to her car. Before getting into her car she turned, letting her eyes take in her family. Tears swelled up and at that moment she went numb inside. All this time she blamed herself. She was useless, all the hiding, all the over working, it would never take away the pain that was embedded in her heart. The sound of a bike roaring caused her to turn; the mystery man was sitting, leaning over his bike watching her once again.
Ling leaned forward and watched as the dark haired girl stood with her car door open. He could see her sadness even from where he was. The same sadness that was in his brother's eyes the day he died. Ling growled kicking his stand up and slowly moving forward. He slowly moved towards the cars, getting glares from everyone as he did so. Bikes had never shown up before and were rarely seen where the street racers were.
"Who the @#%$ is that? We got a new Asian crew in town" Vince growled when seeing a dude slowly riding through the ranks of parked cars.
"Sweet" Jesse chimed in while looking over the bike, "That's a bad ass bike, a new model...@#%$ hell they ain't put it out here yet." his eyes wide with enthusiasm.
Dom and Letty turned as did Leon and watched as the rider slowly moved past them. Ling turned his head to the side and locked eyes with every single one of them before moving towards Hannah.
Hannah felt glued to her spot, she'd watched as the man on the bike rode in front of all the cars. She'd noticed his gaze meeting every one of her family members faces. She wanted to turn away but couldn't. He came slowly towards her stopping once he was next to her car.
Ling sat up and took in the sight of the women before him. She was prettier then he'd first thought, her eyes were almost as dark as his, but still lighter then Qi Luo's. She was built different too, more curve. He felt a surge of desire and mental kicked himself. She had tears in her dark eyes, and it only made her look more inviting.
"Wha?" Hannah asked, her voice shaky, this man's stare was burning through her skin.
"The darkness must be kept at bay." Ling told her, "Once we invite it in, it never leaves."
Hannah went to say something but he drove off. She followed his form until he disappeared into the night. His voice, soft, low it still ringing in her ears. Those eyes, they looked right into her soul. He could read what she was thinking; he made her feel guilty for hating herself.
**~**
Across town.....
"Yeah" Johnny answered his cell; he winked up at the waitress that had just brought him a beer.
"A biker came in town a couple of days ago."
"And?" Johnny rolled his eyes, "Who is it? And why do I need to know?"
"It's some dude named Chen Ling, from Taiwan." the guy said.
"Wait what?" Johnny sat up straight, "Chen Ling?"
"Yeah Chen Ling, from..."
"Stupid, I know where he is from. Find out where he's staying and call me back." Johnny barked before shutting his phone. He grinned before taking a swig of beer. It had been years since he'd seen Ling, the last time was at his brother's funeral. Ling coming back to American was indeed a surprise, he wondered if he could use this somehow. Maybe Ling coming back was a sign that he needed to tell the world that he was back. He was sick and tired of hiding like a beat dog, the @#%$ Toretto's were walking around acting like nothing had happened. He'd spent time in jail for some @#%$ he didn't do, @#%$ Dom...he knew he'd had something to do with it&. only needed the proof. An evil grin filled Johnny's lips, his days were looking brighter already.
**~**
Hannah stayed locked up in her room after she arrived home, he knew the other's wouldn't be back for a while. She couldn't get the image of the rider out of her mind. He was, she didn't know what he was. He wasn't from LA she could tell and she wondered what Asian country he was from. The image of Johnny Tran came to mind and she groaned. Like all of them, she wondered where he was, what was he gonna do?
When she heard her family arrive home, followed by a large crowd of people, Hannah shook her head. She stood, walking past her mirror making sure she was semi decent before going downstairs. Once she was at the bottom of the stairs her eyes scanned the crowd that had formed, her lips curled into a smile when Hector winked over at her. She smiled over at him before making her way to the kitchen. Leon, Vince and Jesse were all in there grabbing beers. Jesse smile brightened when he say Hannah leaning against the door frame.
"S'up?" He asked.
"Nothin much, how was it tonight?" Hannah asked.
"D won of course." Jesse laughed, "Did you see that sweet bike?"
"Of course she did" Vince grumbled, "remember that punk stopped and chatted with her."
Leon gave a wearing glance over at Vince but had to give him credit for bringing it up. With all the @#%$ they'd gone through with Tran, an Asian dude just showin up and making a point to talk to his sister..well that didn't sit well with him.
Hannah watched as Vince slowly took a long swig of his beer, "Yes he did."
"The parties out here" Dom laughed appearing behind Hannah. "Come on, ladies are waitin."
Hannah shook her head and turned to the side as Leon, Jesse and Vince passed her. Dom didn't follow as the three of them went back to the party instead he leaned back across from her folding his large arms over his chest.
"How's it going?"
"Fine."
"Something is wrong." Dom told her, he could see it in her eyes.
"Dom I'm fine." Hannah groaned, "What is up with you lately?"
"You haven't been right since we got back from Mexico." Dom urged, "I just don't like seeing you like."
"What do you mean? Seeing me like what? Dom's I'm alright okay, just a lot of @#%$ happened. And if you didn't notice I'm not the only person who's changed." Hannah hissed at him, she wasn't so much angry at him but at herself. "Every single one of us is different, and none of us will be able to forget what happened."
Dom watched as tears swelled in her eyes, "Hannah..I...." He reached out to her but she was already pushing her way through the crowd.
Hannah ran to her room, falling back against the door once she was safe inside her room. Tears rushing down her cheeks; it was all becoming to much for her. She was finding it harder and harder to keep her secret locked inside. Everyone would hate her, yet not as much as she hated herself.
**~**
Ling sat in the dark, his eyes watching over the night sky. He finished off his beer before kicking off his boots. With a heavy hearted sigh, Ling leaned back against the pillows on his king size bed. He closed his eyes only for a moment but then opened then again. The image of Qi Lou making love with someone else was still burning into him. Still he could not understand what had happened, how she could hurt him so. She'd given him hope; hope that he could be loved without any conditions. Not even his parents had given that. When he closed his eyes again, instead of Qi Lou was the girl from this evening, her eyes, so dark, so full of pain. He was reminded of Sheng, he'd carried such eyes with him until the day life was taken from him. A single tear feel down his cheek before he finally found sleep.
TBC
