AN: I'm new to MK but I really hope I can put Ermac (my favorite character at the moment) to be in character as much as possible. i know that Mileena was in the game before Ermac was in the original timeline. But I follow the MK9 one and Ermac was created before Mileena was in that timeline so...
Ermac might be OOC sadly, no matter how hard I try, his personality is just too darn hard to "read"
Unwanted relations
To meditate in a cold, blatant and formidable forest would seem unattractive to any man, but Ermac isn't picky on such things. The place only needs to be quiet and as distant from society as possible to meet his preferences.
And any unfortunate passerby stupid enough to come across within the 10 feet radius Ermac calls his personal space was merely asking for a disembowelment.
The meditation began as a mere past time during Ermac's early allegiance to Shao kahn, honestly during Ermac's tenure as his warrior he was often left…idle. There wasn't much to do, although no one could easily call Ermac a person who can easily succumb to boredom. Yet it is expected from Shao kahn lackey's to torture their prisoners with utmost lack of humility and sympathy, and in every sadistic way they that know that was amusing when no mission was assigned.
Ermac, however, wasn't as amused. He didn't find the suffering of others as entertaining as his 'allies' do – and they mocked him for it. They called him soft.
He was never soft.
It was fun at first, he admitted. He certainly enjoyed it when he ripped off the Earthrealmer's appendages while his friends just stood by and watch with mounting horror. He did assassinations sporadically. But nowadays the methods of torture seemed repetitive that only complete psychopaths would savor it.
Bloodstains were hard to wash off though.
Well, other than inflicting pain, he would help in planning their next move in Shao Kahn's favor – if he chose to. He wasn't loquacious enough at best; but it would really irritate him whenever someone would argue with his proposals. So he opted to stay quiet. So quiet only a few would suggest including him in their next attack.
When those two activities failed for him there was only one left – Chatting with others.
Any attempt to do so was not mandatory, but Ermac felt the souls within him paralyze like a glacier when Kano called him a "Pussy ass bitch" when he heard that he simply let the "Jax" fellow live.
He had no clue what the term meant at first, but a few of the Earthrealm souls within him made him reflect what it meant. It felt like someone was hitting his physical organs with a heated flail from the inside.
Bonding with his allies is definitely out of the question.
The red warrior really needed a meditation, granted he was not in the best of moods since Kano's insult. Even to be in his presence was enough to make him feel slight nausea.
We are torn because we could not maim him since he is on our side. But we wanted to hurt him so.
Ermac was searching for a new site to be left alone, granted he would return to his last one, but it was desecrated the moment it became a battle ground against the enemy. Those damn rebels…
He heard about the Living forest from Baraka, the tarkatan was a good ally enough to be fully trusted. Baraka said so himself that people rarely travel this part of Outworld since the trees that inhabit the forest will exterminate travelers and consume the souls of the living to be a permanent part of the forest. The trees would definitely become a force from hell when the prey was immobile for too long. Not a place for those for who seek peace in ways that need to stay still.
We don't mind.
It was unusual for the others to learn that Shang Tsung had actually let Ermac wander off many times, the allowances was still a puzzle to them.
Ermac trekked the forgiving part of the said forest, towards its unrelenting, unexplored depths. The branches would try to capture him and hurt him at least; but Ermac escaped each effort with a few scratches. He came across some setbacks with the "Earthrealm defenders" as well (He calls any foe with the said appellation), but he decided to injure them for the time being. It will be up to the trees to dispose of them.
He found a good clearing in the late afternoon, there were blotches of undead canopy from above and the ground was in shades of gray and saturated green. Ermac speculated that it was barren for some time and he doubted it was inhabited by anyone.
It's enough.
The place was far as well, probably served as a nave within the forest, and it would take a huge amount of effort for anyone to find him. But the moment Ermac sensed that he would be needed, he'd simply teleport within the perimeters of Shao Kahn's palace to avoid suspicion of treason.
Why would they suspect that? Well they're really an odd lot.
He sat down coyly with his back inches from a very harmful looking tree. Ermac was startled at first to feel flutters emanating from the trees, but he found the faint vibrations comforting. They're respirating, he theorized. The groans wafting in the area are tolerable to the point of it being unnoticeable, the draft was cool and the dissolving sun at the distance was giving the last drops of light unto the earth. The trees looked innocuous at this rate.
Ermac couldn't have asked for more.
He closed his eyes and the world in front of him was swallowed in shadows. But his eyes are luminescent so total darkness won't be expected. The collected souls were placid, and the memories of visions that plagued him in his deep slumber would evaporate into nothingness yet again. But would condense into blurry fogs when he returns to consciousness once more.
Its rare for Ermac to feel "satisfaction". He didn't care if it was an appropriate word for the sensation, but it was close. The slow, undisturbed rise and fall of his chest was a heavenly movement he would forever savor. And the silence was enough to bring about the faintest of smiles in his face and ease to his hearing.
He heard far too many screams from the captives anyways.
He continued with no thoughts in his mind. The delectation of the luxury was short lived. Even if he meditated for a good 5 hours.
His muscles tensed the instant the new vibrations in the ground made themselves heard, forming an erratic and fast rhythm of footsteps in it's wake. He knew by instinct that this intruder was running and its distance was 50 feet away at the time being. Ermac would've just ignored the unintentional presence but he sensed it approaching towards him.
30 feet, he opened his eyes.
20 feet, he tightened his fists.
10 feet, That's it.
He was about to levitate and dismantle the person limb from limb but he curtly stopped when he found her familiar. Unfortunately, he sighed. He contemplated if he should bow or not, but no one else was here but them alone, and he could take her on pretty easily.
It's her...
She wore royal yet revealing garb with blushes of pink and magenta. She's that insane girl back at the palace no doubt. Out of all his "allies", she's the one he didn't even see the necessity to prattle with. He mouthed with surpressed irritation and uninterest. Apparently he was that annoyed since this girl disturbed him in his rare moments of inner peace.
"Mileena...we presume"
She broke in cackles and dins, now Ermac was even more unmotivated to even acknowledge her presence. Mileena stopped herself when Ermac remained taciturn throughout the whole laughing episode.
"Sit down with me" She requested coyly, with her right arm waved in a curve.
What should we do? Ermac didn't have any experience with this girl, he cannot predict on how she will act and respond, and sadly for him he didn't saw her fight much so he didn't know what to expect the moment she should attack him. It took a moment's contemplation, he didn't even sense Mileena's dwindling patience.
So like a lapdog and in the nick of time, he sat down. Mileena sat on the ground as well, she flexed her arms and did something unthinkable. She pinched his cheek. Or more specifically she pinched the fabric of his face wrappings in her dainty fingers. Ermac twitched at that.
"Look at you remembering my name like that, you're really sweet." Mileena smiled.
We were baffled, no one has acted like this to us, do only people with mental problems such as her act like that? Maybe...
Then Mileena cupped Ermac's hands. This is bad.
If she touches us any further, we will not hesitate to disembowel this wench and leave her for dead. He wanted to think like that, but she has not done anything flagrant of the sort, and it would leave Ermac biased if he ended up killing her when asked for a decent reason. Ermac wanted to do something. She was Shao Kahn's daughter after all, or so he knows, so he had a hard time picking the next move to...make her stop at least. Clearly though he was level headed enough to tolerate her actions, unlike others who would simply threaten her if she did the same to them.
In situations such as these, or even it was close enough; Ermac opted to shut his mouth by instinct. Too bad though, Mileena misinterpreted it as shyness.
Ermac distanced himself slighty when Mileena inched herself forwards - nearer to him. Although she stopped when she their lower limbs touched. Ermac could not fathom with his logic the purpose of her shenanigans. It must be how she fools her victims. Then in a very sudden and unexpected outburst, Mileena leaned to his ear and whispered in a serious tone, "I found our hiding sister, big brother, but we can't trust her"
Ermac's eyebrows rose at a height it never rose before, What?
That statement alone caught Ermac off guard, it seemed out of character of the woman, even if he lacks the knowledge on how she behaves. But really though, big brother? what made her think like that? He divulged his reasoning on her words, but then a moment of unexpected discovery dawned itself.
He remembered a time not so long ago when Mileena treated Kitana (If he remembered correctly) as her sister. She would babble on and on about it. She insists on it and brags about it. She'd hurt her - that Kitana.
And that same woman was scheduled for an execution. This made Ermac wary.
AN: I'm confused at the timeline as much as it is, I know that technically Skarlet was created first in the timeline in the game (story wise). But Ermac will be the older one in this story.