Hey there, people. It's been a while since I posted here, but it's mainly due to me just needing time to reflect and stuff. That, and make an old fic of mine look a lot better than what it was cause the old version was just hot garbage and not what I wanted it to be. Hence why this fic's popping up again. I do hope those of you who had read the old version of this fic (taken down cause like I said, it was hot garbage) enjoy the new version, and to those of you who hadn't read it before, I hope you'll like it!
This fic is also up on Ao3 as well. Why? Reasons. Anyways, enjoy! Reviews are much appreciated!
"Too long have I allowed Earthrealm to endure the horrors of war..."
The fortress was dimly lit with the torches. A man in rather ominous attire and pale skin stands before the throne, his fiery eyes gazing at them. A golden amulet that rested on his chest glittered a bit in the light, but that was the least of our concerns. He resumes speaking.
"Time and again we've defeated our enemies. But we've exacted no retribution. Demanded no remuneration. What have we gained for our mercy? More intrigue. More senseless violence!" He says in anger, clenching his fist.
"As the new rulers of the Netherrealm, heed me. No longer will I simply defend Earthrealm. I will seek out and destroy all who threaten it. No mercy will be shown. No quarter given." To make his point go across, he reaches into the satchel he was carrying, tossing a severed head out of it to the ground. Said head was still alive despite no body to supply it with blood, looking to be in terrible pain.
"Shinnok was an Elder God. Impossible to kill." He says, before leering at them, saying his final threat to them with venom in his tone.
"There are fates worse than death."
He leaves the head there before teleporting away in a crimson red lightning, leaving a scorch mark on the floor. From the severed head of the fallen Elder God, we see the new rulers of the Netherrealm approaching it, regarding it in a joint silence.
"Unacceptable."
"What?"
We now see that what happened above was shown on a large monitor, two white skinned people watching it. One was very tall, and had half her head shaven to appear as if it was a mohawk draping down her side. The other was slightly on the heavy side, sitting at the monitor with an energy drink in hand.
"What's wrong now?" the one at the monitor says, kicking her sandals off to sit in her chair cross legged.
"What happens after this?" the tall woman asks. The shorter one closes her eyes, the gem that was where her naval was glowing a bit.
"...Raiden starts a new war with Outworld, which results in the tables being turned whe Kotal Kahn invoking Mortal Kombat... things get bloody..." She shivers a bit, opening her eyes.
"Very bloody... it pretty much results in Armageddon all over again, this time with Raiden going power hungry."
The tall woman sighs heavily, shaking her head. "The corruption basically gets worse if I'm hearing this correctly."
"Well, Shinnok was influenced by the One Being. Of course Raiden's soul would get tainted when he did what he did." the short one says, chugging the rest of her drink and crushing the empty can in her hand, "Though, I didn't think it would be to such a degree."
"Is there anything that can be done about it?"
"Not as far as I can tell..." the shorter one starts typing away at the keyboard, another monitor appearing with what looks to be a tree-like image.
"Regardless of the circumstances, in this timeline and it's branching ones, Raiden is doomed to be corrupted by various means. Even me altering the code ever so slightly either does nothing or just delays it. Delaying it proves to be worse, and he really goes off the deep end."
"Yeesh, what about drastic changes to the code?"
"You don't wanna know..."
The tall one watches the short one shiver a bit, "I still haven't gotten over the one sub timeline where I pretty much put in new code that stops him from going Dark period, yet he still went off the fucking deep in via snapping from all the pressure. What he does to his own defenders in that one is nightmare fuel..."
The tall one was deep in thought, studying the image on the screen carefully. There were many sub branches from the main timeline, and the more she went down, the less she saw. Once she got to the very bottom, she narrows her eyes.
"This all branches from Raiden's own attempt at altering the timeline? Back when he sent his memories to his past self here?" She points to the bottom of the tree.
"Yeah. All of this starts at the tenth tournament." the short one confirms, "It doesn't matter if his future self from the Armageddon timeline sends him the memories or not, every single one of these branches results in his corruption one way or another. With the exception of the this one I kept separate." She points to a seed-like image on the screen far from the tree.
"This one is an experiment of sorts... I've yet to activate it due to the code I have for it not finished yet. But the code I have for it now ensures he can't be corrupted."
"How come you can't apply that to the other timelines?"
"Because there's too many branches of sub-timelines to work off of it: the code can't work for all of them."
"I see..." the tall one falls silent, still studying the screen in silence. If what was said was true, then Raiden couldn't be saved no matter what timeline he was in. She had a feeling it was due to her fellow Elder Gods' incompetence. Either that, or the head Elder God Izanagi's secret grudge against Raiden for being the son of the fallen ones. Either way, she detested them for it regardless. Raiden didn't deserve any of this. He was just trying to do his job, yet he never got his happy ending...
"Azriel?"
She snaps out of her thoughts, looking at the shorter one, who had turned to her with hopeful eyes.
"What is it, Corliss?"
"What if we did another timeline reboot? But this time... we send in someone who we can trust to do the subtle changes and ensure none of this hell happens?" answered Corliss, "I mean, we got plenty of Asali that we can trust. We could send in Tex."
"Corliss, she's a Guide. And even if we could, she doesn't have her updated Kombat Program yet."
"What about Michael then?"
"I've sent him off to a mission in the Badlands for a month. He'll be too busy for this."
Corliss thought about it for a bit before looking like she had another idea.
"What about Rei?"
"So, let me get this straight... you're going to do another reboot of the One Being Realms' Timeline just so you can ensure one person gets a happy ending?" asked the purple haired woman as she sat in another chair, her silver amulet in hand as she polished it with the end of her tunic.
"Rei, it's not like that." Corliss says, cracking open another energy drink, "This reboot will be beneficial to all the One Being Realms, as it can possibly ensure Armageddon is permanently delayed. We just need you to go in and do these changes since you're an "outsider" to the One Being Realms, therefore theoretically, an anomaly."
Rei raises a brow, putting her amulet back on her belt. "A beneficial glitch basically."
Corliss nods. "Yeah. Except while you do these changes, you have some freedom to do as you wish, as long as it doesn't have a negative impact, of course."
"That's like telling me not to destroy Chaosrealm."
"Azriel, you made Chaosrealm. While drunk. The Elder Gods had to create Seido as a result to keep Chaosrealm in check."
"Your point?"
"My point being that we can't let NOTHING kill this new timeline that results due to our reboot. We only have one shot. Gotta make it count."
Rei thinks it over for a bit before reaching her decision.
"Fine, I'll do it." She looks at the monitor, which was showing the courtyard as kombatants gathered. One in particular caught her eye: the non-corrupted Raiden standing there, who looked deep in thought as the monk next to him was looking around. She smirks.
"Only because this Raiden guy is a hot piece of ass~"
"Rei!" Corliss shouts, "Be polite in front of your mother!"
"I mean, she's not wrong." added Azriel, "Raiden is indeed very handsome."
"A-Azriel!" Corliss shouted louder, "That is inappropriate behavior!"
"Does it look like I give a fuck?" the Elder God smirks, Rei giggling. Corliss just rolls her eyes.
"Regardless, you understand what to do, Rei?"
"Yup." Rei gives a thumbs up, standing up, "Alter the timeline when you tell me too and me to try not to alter it too much."
Corliss nods, turning back to her monitor and starts typing away. She presses a blue button near her keyboard, causing the wall nearby to swivel around, revealing an archway portal. Rei and Azriel watch as Corliss activates it from her monitor with swiftness.
"Now Rei… the second you step through this portal, your mission begin. Be careful with what you say and do, and whatever you do, do NOT let anyone know of your mission. I'm sure Raiden will question it since you won't be in any of his visions." explained Corliss. Azriel was about to say something, but Corliss stopped her in her tracks.
"And for the love of Azael, don't blow anything all to hell."
"Damn." Rei snaps her fingers as she stands up, walking towards the portal. Corliss remembers something and goes up to her.
"Wait! Take this too." Corliss gets a medallion off the table, putting it around Rei's neck. Rei looks at it curiously.
"A gear? Really?"
"Don't question it or else I'll show Zero those pics of you and Solly at the-"
"LEAVING NOW." Rei nervously laughs as she runs into the portal, vanishing. Corliss and Azriel are silent for a bit as the shorter one sits back at the monitor again, taking a swig of her drink.
"...wanna show them anyways?"
"Hell yeah."