A/N: Wow, it's been a hot minute since I posted on fanfiction! I was boredly rereading through my old work, (cringe) and came across this piece. I remember how much I loved the story I was putting together for it, and saw that the writing itself could use so much improving. I have a sudden kick of inspiration now that my college finals are done, so I figured why the heck not! Let's rewrite this bad boy! I probably won't finish it (again), but I want to rewrite as much as I can before this writing inspiration leaves me once again. (Curses!)

Let me explain this piece. It's loosely based off the Mortal Kombat Legacy: Episode 6 about Raiden going into the mental hospital. I remember being captivated by this episode, and I found it was one of the best episodes made, depth-wise. It touched on a lot of hard topics, which I think is what made it so successful. This fanfic uses some of the same dialogue and some of the same ideas, with my little spin on it. I'm wanting to flesh out the episode a bit, to kind of give a bit more backstory on this Legacy version of Raiden. I have some surprises up my sleeve, and we'll see if I end up getting to them. This fic is only going to be a few chapters, maybe anywhere from 4-8, depending on how I space things out.

Trigger warning: This fanfic explores some of the ugly sides of depression, including self-harm. Later, it goes into very vivid detail on the process, and I want everyone to know that. If you feel like you can't handle that, then this fic isn't for you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Unfortunately.

Ch. 1: Blue, The Cutter

Rain tore at the window, thunder pounding and reverberating around the small room that Blue slept in. A flash of lighting lit up the entire room, making her squeak in surprise. The thunder that followed nearly shook her bed. Probably would have too, if it wasn't bolted to the floor. Her body trembled against her will. She tried to calm down but found that she couldn't. Lucille Blue was terrified of thunderstorms.

She pulled her blanket up over her head, closing her eyes tight and humming as loud as she could in efforts to drown out the sound of the rain slamming against her window like it wanted vengeance against her for simply existing. Another crack of thunder made her body quickly tense up and roll into a ball, a small wail building in her throat. Blue knew that no one could hear her, and even if they did, they didn't care. They said they did but they didn't really. It took what seemed to be years of torture before she fell into a fitful sleep that took her to morning.

She was woken by someone ripping the blankets off her body.

"Get up!" a gruff voice yelled, sounding gravelly. If she didn't already know this was her doctor, she would have sworn he was a chain smoker. The tiredness that clouded her mind immediately dissipated at hearing his stupid voice. Blue jumped up, standing straight, glaring up into the eyes of her attacker. She gave an indignant shout.

"That's MY blanket!" her teeth were gritted and bared in her anger.

"Lucille Blue, sit down!" he barked, bringing his hand back to hit her. At seeing this, her former bravery was cast away and she sat down so fast she almost fell off the bed.

"No! No, please, don't hit me again!" she cried, "I'll be good, I promise!" The doctor eyed her before putting his hand down and picking up his clipboard off her small desk that was bolted to the ground just like her bed. He went on as if this little altercation never happened.

"Lucille Blue, patient 6001. You are…" he looked over his clipboard, "...to take your Lamictal this morning. The rest of your pills you will get tonight." Blue rolled her eyes. He already knew what medicines she had to take even without his stupid clipboard. She'd been here for several months, and he checked in with her three times a week. To her, he should have her figured out by now.

He gave her the medicine she was to take and she took it faithfully. She used to spit them out while he was not looking, but she figured out quick that doing that and getting caught meant isolation time, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So she took her medicine. Maybe her moods would get in check. Maybe things would get better? Doubtful, in this hell hole. It was worth dreaming.

The doctor grabbed her arm, looking angry once again. She shrunk away in fear.

"Lucille. Did you do this last night?" he asked with an icy calm, his eyes lingering over the shallow cuts she had made with a stolen paperclip after group therapy the night before. That had been before the thunderstorm. They were sad in comparison to the thick braids of scars running up and down her arms, but it was all she could muster with the materials she had found. They kept a very close eye on her at all times, so it was a miracle she could get away with what she did.

"Lucille!" he exclaimed, "Answer me!" A whimper rose up in her throat and she felt tears prick at her eyes.

"N...No." she choked, knowing it was a lie and knowing that she'd get punished for it. The doctor, Dr. Ramsay, calmed.

"Lucille, you need to stop doing this to yourself," he said in a soft tone, one that Blue knew was fake and held no real emotion behind it. He called in a nurse and she had it wrapped up all quick-like. Blue stared down at the bandage, trying to remember the feeling of the paperclip digging into her flesh and tearing at it. It wasn't as pretty as a razor, and she didn't get to bleed as much, so it wasn't all that helpful. She had just wanted to feel pain again. She was a cutter, and the pain was her drug, her high, the thing that made her most at peace.

"You misbehaved, but I'm still going to let you go outside today. Maybe the fresh air will do you good," Ramsay said, jotting something down on his clipboard, "Come along, then."

He led her out of her room, past the eating area and the place where they held group therapy. She saw the other patients heading the same way as them, down a corridor and to a door leading to the outside. They all filed out, each of them itching with excitement, herself included. Ramsay was right. Fresh air would do her good. Her feet carried her to the spot she always went to in the corner of the courtyard, just over the crest of a small hill. When she got there, she paused. There was a large hole before her, the sod torn up, showing the dark earth underneath. She crept closer.

"Lucille! It's time to go inside!" One of the guards yelled for her. She didn't turn away from the hole. She peered inside. Expecting nothing, she gasped when she saw there was something.

Someone.

Her eyes widened when she saw the shape of a man dressed in white. He looked to be in his early thirties, and was scruffy in a ruggedly handsome sort of way. Blue was captivated by this man.

"Wow," she whispered, crawling into the crater that she could only assume was formed by this man. She looked up to the sky for a moment, as if she could imagine him falling from a great height. Her eyes looked back down to him and she noticed that he wasn't dirty in the slightest.

"Hello?" her whisper was a little louder now, "Are you okay?" she reached toward him, shaking his shoulder. Immediately, his eyes snapped open, looking positively electrifying. Momentarily terrified, Blue jumped back, her backside slamming into the wall of the crater. His electrified eyes faded into a dark grey. Blue stared into the man's eyes, her bright blues meeting his steely greys. They looked at each other for a long moment, both looking confused.

"Where are you from?" Blue finally forced the words out of her. The man blinked. Her words seemed to jar him from his thoughts and he tried to stand up, struggling with the task. He hunched over, throwing up a bright blue liquid that smelled like antifreeze. She gasped as he threw up all over the bottom of the crater. Just as she was going to ask if he was alright, she was interrupted by two guards.

"Lucille! I told you, it's time to go inside!" one of them barked, coming up behind her. The other two came up behind him. "Hey, who the fuck is that?!" he yelled, pointing at the mysterious man. Blue stood up, blocking the guard's path.

"Leave him alone!" she exclaimed. One of the guards came forward and grabbed her and she struggled to get out of his hold. "N-No! Get the fuck off me!" she thrashed in his arms to no avail. The third guard stepped forward, pulling out a needle. That stopped her wriggling in its tracks.

"You don't want me to do this again, do you?" he threatened, which made Blue whimper and shake her head. She glanced toward her newfound friend and found that he had already crawled out of the crater and was staggering toward the outer fence.

"Shit!" the guard holding her yelled, "Where do you think you're going?!" The man simply ignored him. The guard threw her to the ground and stalked toward the man, the other two following. One of them tried to grab him, but the mysterious man whirled around and punched him in the face. Blue gasped at the man's boldness. The said man spun toward a guard coming behind him, executing a punch to the abdomen, a kick to the knee, and a punch to the face, all in rapid succession. It was clear that this man knew how to fight, and how to do it well. Once he was finished with that second guard, he ignored the third and continued toward the fence, starting to climb it.

Which appeared to be his undoing.

The last guard grabbed him by the shoulders and peeled him off the fence, shoving him face-first into the dirt. Blue gasped and scrambled to her feet as the guard took out the dreaded needle.

"No! No, don't hurt him!" she screeched as the guard prepared to sedate the man.

"Let go of me!" The man shouted. Blue was surprised to hear him speak.

"Let me go!" he yelled as the needle pierced his skin. Blue counted to five and the man went still. The guards recovered and gathered him up, dragging him into the facility.

Meadowbrook.

A/N: There's a short little chapter, kind of like a prologue to get the fic rolling. I used a lot of my old dialogue and scenes, but made it a little more cohesive and hopefully a little more fleshed out. That's my goal! It's to see how much I've (hopefully) improved over the past few years. (It's been over FIVE years since I wrote this chapter. There better be some improvement!) Let me know what you think of this chapter. Read and Review, my friends! Thanks for taking the time to read this far!

Question of the Day: What Zodiac sign are you? I'm an Aries! Let me know what you are in the reviews!

See you soon,

SolasTheDreadwolf