Her shallow breathing would have been a hint towards her condition, had Kuai Liang actually been paying attention to that kind of thing. But in the moment, he was focused on staring down his would be opponent: Mileena. The sadistic 'daughter' of Shao Kahn, birthed of sorcery and benevolence, created to rule his chaotic realm should he perish. Kuai Liang firmly stood his ground, neither of them spoke in the passing moments that felt like an eternity. Had it not been only by moonlight that he could see her, and the vague outlines of her sai, Kuai would have seen the fact that she had been injured, the wounds weren't fatal, but they had the potential to kill the exiled Empress. "What possesses you to believe that you could step foot on Earthrealm soil uncontested?" he didn't know how she gained passage from Outworld to Earthrealm, but in the moment, it didn't matter. Especially if a legion of Tarkata were bound to leap out of the surrounding forest in an ambush.
"You dare think to speak down to me?" Mileena asked, her left arm held a sai, and also applied pressure to her side wound. She was outraged, not only at the fact that one of her father's killers was trying to condescend to her, let alone the fact that her throne had been stolen, but she was in foreign territory. True, she had been to Earthrealm, but that had only consisted of two instances; the first, being that of Shao Kahn's failed invasion. The second, was when she had to deal with Reiko, and, unexpectedly, Skarlet as well. But now, she was forced to deal with the cryromancer, on the verge of bleeding out. Today was most certainly not her day, but she refused to back down from combat, lest the enemy believe her to be weak. If she was to be finished off, she would make sure that her father would be proud of a valiant skirmish before her death.
"You come uninvited to a realm that doesn't welcome your kind." Kuai stated plainly, "Outworlders bring nothing but destruction, chaos and death." he wondered why she didn't bother to attack him, Mileena wasn't known for being a tactician, she usually threw a few haughty remarks your way before tossing her sai, trying to knock you off the ground by rolling, or a heel to your face by her teleports. What was it that she waited for? Did she wish for him to begin the combat?
"Like Earthrealmers are any better!?" Mileena scoffed, hissing at his remark, "You killed my father, then have the conceit to try and..acquir...acquire a truce from me!?" she was beginning to lose consciousness, everything was turning cloudy. Refusing to look weak, she attempted to attack, but that would be her undoing. Mileena used up the last of her energy, her pink aura had flickered and faded away just as fast as it had come. She collapsed backward onto the ground, her sai both slipping from her hands and falling on either side of the ground beside her.
Kuai was unsure of the scene that unfolded before him, he didn't know if this was some form of ruse. The moment he stepped over to Mileena, he figured she'd leap onto him, or use her sai to immobilize him before taking sadistic pleasure in attempting him harm. That is, until he saw the crimson liquid oozing out from her side. Despite their standings on the lines of 'good' and 'evil', he felt the duty to help her. Striding over to her unconscious form, he scooped her up and placed her sai around his belt, he kept them for an extra safety measure, just in case she woke up and decided to assault him. Her wound refused to stop bleeding, so he resorted to touching it with a frozen hand, the freezing helped to create an artificial form of coagulant for the moment.
She shivered as he trekked through the terrain of the Lin Kuei; he did his best to ensure she had warmth, but his skin was likely cold to the touch. He didn't feel the bitter sting of frost like most humans would, apparently the hybrid didn't have much resistance to temperature. But, then again, he doubted any creature on death's door likely did. Upon inspection, he found that the visible parts of her face were losing colour. Arriving at the temple, he was met with many questioning faces, none of them were pleased with the fact that their Grandmaster had come back with none other than Mileena Kahnum in his arms. "Grandmaster." a brave Lin Kuei decided to address him directly, "Why do you bring such a monstrosity here?"
"She is injured, that is all." Kuai Liang didn't find any more of an explanation to be necessary. They shuffled about and continued to murmur about what they had seen, though none of them bothered to try and question him again. Retreating to his chambers, Kuai laid her gently on the bed, setting out on cleaning the wound. It had no doubt been a blade of some sort; what kind of skirmish did the Empress get into? Trouble within her realm?
"It must have been a brave soul, indeed, to try and assault the Empress of Outworld." Kuai commented more to himself, as Mileena and he were the only two within his chambers.
Her crimson eyes flicked open, "You have that right." Mileena hissed, looking immediately for her sai, irritated when she couldn't find them. Her hands furiously began to scout around for the missing weapons, "Where are my weapons? If you intended to kill me, you didn't need to wait for me to wake up. You should have just finished me and been done with it." although, she supposed he'd probably want to torture her a bit, before she were to feel deaths embrace. After all, she was the daughter of Shao Kahn, he whose tournament had orchestrated the death of his brother, the first Subzero, brought about the deaths of his friends- and himself, all of them becoming slaves of Quan Chi.
"I did not bring you here for execution." Kuai dispelled that thought immediately. "I took your sai, as I believed you would immediately try to come into conflict with myself, my hunch proved correct." he was right to have taken them, as if he hadn't, she no doubt would have tried to impale him with them a few moments ago.
"Lies." Mileena refused to believe it, "What possible reason could you have, to save me?"
"You were suffering, and on the verge of death. Even though you were being entirely reckless, attempting to challenge me to combat in such a condition, I still brought you here." Kuai explained, the younger Subzero didn't care if she believed that he only brought her to this sacred place just for attempts at a petty revenge. "Fate brought us together as enemies, meeting time and again on the battlefield within opposite sides. But, in this moment, you are in no condition to bring harm upon anyone but yourself."
"And how could I possibly harm myself?" Mileena scoffed, if she wasn't weakened, she would have summoned her remaining strength to teleport and kick him in the face. He did raise valid points, but she absolutely had no reason to believe him. No one in this world was kind without reason, and she needed to figure out what his reasoning was.
"By moving around too much, attempting to overexert yourself." Kuai could see how much she was squirming already. "Lye still." he remained firm in his tone, attempting to bandage her up.
"I am Empress of Outworld! Not some lowly mortal you can speak to in such a manner!" Mileena hissed, feeling her teeth on edge.
"Not in this moment, you are not. Your kingdom is within another realm, in Earthrealm you are not aristocracy. You are on the same level as us mortals." Kuai could tell she was lying, he already knew about what had happened within Outworld. Her regal outfit had consisted far differently from the one she currently wore, and he swore that her hair had been longer. He wasn't sure, due to the fact that he had only gotten glimpses of her when he was one of Quan Chi's revenants. "Sit still, or I won't be able to bandage the wound." this time, he chose a less firm tone, considering the fact that she seemed to obviously hate taking 'orders'.
His statement made her narrow her eyes, it had been entirely true. She wasn't the Empress, anymore, just a name that the denizens of Outworld probably mocked and laughed at. How the Mad Empress had been usurped by her warchief, how her ally's had all betrayed her, one after the other. Save for Baraka, they all left her side. "How am I to be sure this isn't just your attempt at touching me?" it was a weak response to what he was doing. It was obvious that Kuai Liang wasn't doing anything of the sort, but she felt the need to mock him, to make the situation seem like anything other than what it was. They weren't friends; they most certainly were not allies, they were mortal enemies. So there was no feasible reasoning behind this moment.
"Believe what you will. I am only doing what is necessary to prevent your death." Kuai worked around her torn clothing, bandaging it tight enough with the gauze to stop the bleeding, but not so much that it would be uncomfortable for her. Thankfully, she decided to be quiet, her steady breathing the only noticeable sound within the room as he finished bandaging her up.
"What do you believe you will get out of this?" Mileena asked, "I have no doubt you already knew I had lost my throne to that traitorous dog, Kotal." she spat his name, had Goro not failed to execute him, she wouldn't even be in this situation.
"There is nothing I want. Once again, this is not my attempt at getting you in my debt. You are injured, I am assisting in the matter, that is all." Kuai could see that he would need to explain this time and again. She needed justification over the same issue, explained in nearly the same way. Although, from what she had just explained, it was obvious that she would be suspicious of any form of 'help' that came her way.
"Then you won't mind if I leave, as of right now." Mileena attempted to sit up, only to cringe and immediately be forced back down by her own body.
"Your body betrays the confidence your voice relays." Kuai shook his head, "You may stay here. No one will bring you harm, you have my word." he turned on his heels and walked to the door, waiting to see if she was going to say anything before he left the room. It took a moment, but she finally chose to speak to him.
"I trust your word, as much as you would trust mine." Mileena snorted, "How am I to be sure none of your clan will decide to come in here and attempt to kill me? I have no doubt there would be a bounty on my head, especially if Raiden knew I was within this realm. Or the babbling bafoon Johnny Cage."
"If any of them attempt to enter this room, I will deal with them personally. You are a guest within this temple, one of which I personally have allowed within. To contest this fact, would be to contest me. And I doubt that any of them would attempt the challenge." Kuai Liang looked her directly in the eyes, making sure she understood the fact that he was telling the absolute truth, and that he would make good on the promises he made to her. It was true, that she would likely turn on him and the Lin Kuei the moment that she was better, but that would be a different time from now, and so it was irrelevant.
Mileena was surprised at his statement, she actually believed in what he spoke of. "Where are my sai?" she asked.
"If you are so concerned about your safety within this place-" Kuai walked over to her, "then, here." he produced the weapons and handed them to her. "You have my permission to kill any offending Lin Kuei that enters this room, if they somehow pass through me to attempt you harm." he sounded completely serious, and he waited for her to properly grab hold of the sai.
Mileena remained completely silent, accepting her weapons and watching him go. He left without another word, he didn't even bother to look back at her, the large wooden doors shut, and she swore she heard some form of locking mechanism in place. Clutching onto her weapons, she didn't hear a single soul walk by his chambers. No one tried to smash open the door, no one fought with Kuai Liang to try and kill her, all that she could see was endless amounts of snow falling from the window. The sound of it began to soothe her, and she finally accepted the sleep that called. It had been a long day, and tomorrow would most definitely be an even harder one.