Hey guys! Here's a new chapter. Thank you for the continued support!
Okay, heads up. This is unusually mushy with feelings. And Scorpion is acting funny, yes. Don't hurt me! I promise he'll go back to normal. I guess you can say this is where the story officially begins.
PLEASE REVIEW. IT'S ALWAYS APPRECIATED. And don't be afraid to PM me with suggestions or anything for that matter.
Oh, and today's my birthday, well, yesterday since it's passed midnight now. I will be accepting gifts via Pony Express. Please send socks.
Enjoy. :)
P.S. For those of you who have already read this before I updated it, I changed her original birthplace. I find this will make her more interesting.
His undead body was under extreme stress, and his roars of pain ceased to be, only a jaw bone gapped and gulped beneath the mask, and you could only hear a light choking sound every once in a while. Raiden's fist came alive with electricity, Sub-Zero's being began to frost the air around them, and Smoke began to evaporate. Scorpion's eyes pleaded with her glowing , bloody ones, and all she did was smile like a lunatic.
Then all at once...
I shook my aching head. Rubbing my eyes, I stood, quite wobbly at first.
"Jee..." I said to myself, still rubbing my head. Where was I? Looking around, there was nothing. A vast, and absolute nothing. Darkness. Panic crept up on me, and looking around frantically, I called out a name I became familiar with.
"Scorpion." I called, glancing in every direction, with wide eyes. My answer came as a rough grasp to my shoulders. I was turned around to face the hell-spawned ninja.
"Wake up. Please. Wake. Up. Nothing is what it seems."
Pestilentia blinked, and Scorpion's form crumbled to the ground, relieved of the pain that once possessed him.
"Get him." Raiden ordered Smoke and Sub-Zero who obliged, taking Scorpion to another room. Pestilentia stood still, her eyes pale. Raiden slowly approached her.
Nothing is what it seems.
Quan Chi could feel his spell on the girl waning. She was bound to be an emotionless killer, but that bind was being severed. How, he could not know, but he couldn't let her be free from his control for long.
Scorpion hadn't seen Neriah for days, but one night, he teleported his way into her room.
I had lied on the bed, eyes wide open. When Scorpion appeared, my mouth twitched.
"I'm waking up, but I keep dozing off." I sat up and smirked. Scorpion stood still in the darkness. His eyes and outline visible.
"Scorpion, I'm sorry. I can't remember all the right stuff. It comes and goes, but I think I'm going to lose it all." More silence as a response.
"Please don't let Quan Chi make me hurt you again." Silence, but Scorpion approached me. He was close now.
"I'm sorry for what's been done and for what is to come." I said in a whispered tone. Scorpion put his gloved hand on the side of my face. I pulled back my hood, and looked up into his eyes.
"Dead is a horrible state to be in, is it not?" I smirked. Scorpion stroked my cheek, then disappeared in a gulf of flame. I sighed, getting up, and walking over to the window. Opening it, a cold wave of air filled the room. I felt like I hadn't taken a breath in days. Breathing in the cold air, I made my way out the window, and dropped several stories down. What surprised me was that I didn't even feel the slightest pain. I suppose being a wraith has it's advantages. I started walking, not sure where I was going, but I just walked.
I could feel my memories of my life fading. Like it was harder ad harder to recall anything. Like when you walk into a room and forget why, and you keep trying to remember, but it's lost forever. I can't remember anything that happened before seeing Scorpion in the dream state. I'm certain that I'll wake up tomorrow, and not remember anyone's name, or why I'm here. I've never been so discontent since the few years after my family died off. I became numb, but at least I could remember.
Whatever had caused my immortality, my ability, it had increased to something beyond comprehension at the moment. By looking into eyes, not only could I feel the emotions, but I came to know what lay behind those eyes. The knowledge, the person, the experiences. Everything. I think of Ermac when I think of what I can do. I can stare someone down, and bring fathomless pain. What have I become? I have become a true Pestilence.
I felt a presence near me, and I turned to them, seeing no one, but knowing they were there.
"I know you're there." I sighed. Smoke became visible, and took a step closer.
"Greetings." he said, his eyes narrowed, and his tone rather bitter.
"I take it I've harmed you before? Whatever it was, I apologize. I can't remember what happened since I died." I stated bluntly. No need in avoiding the subject. Smoke seemed to relax a bit, and I could feel the tension in him lessening.
"Why are you out here, alone, at night?" he asked. I took a deep, yet unnecessary breath.
"Fresh air, I suppose. And alone, I am not." I smirked. Smoke's eyes showed a small smile, and he looked at the ground. "Care to join me?" I suggested, and in response he nodded, and we began walking together in silence, but I knew questions were praying on his mind.
"You can ask. Whatever I was before wasn't me."
"What connection do you and Scorpion have?" Thinking his question over, I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Well, I suppose we're allies. I helped him find the true murderer of his kin, Quan Chi, and he kept coming back, so, I suppose things are alright between us. He did burn me alive and stab me in the chest with his kunai, which did, in fact, kill me." I paused and saw a look of confusion and shock in the eyes of Smoke. "An accident of course." I added quickly. "Quan Chi's doing, actually." I looked back up at Smoke who looked at me.
"You and Scorpion." he shook his head with amusement, trying to make light of the situation. I smiled.
"I can assure you, it's not like that." For a moment we walked in silence, then Smoke again spoke.
"Who are you exactly? Where are you from?" The questions surprised me. "You're not required to tell me." He quickly added. I stopped walking and thought hard. The memory was slipping.
"I'm from Scotland originally, I believe. That was a long time ago. But I kept moving, sometimes going home, of course. Usually keeping within the boundaries of Europe. I went to America at some point. When America was discovered, of course. I had to wait a few hundred years. My name is Neriah. I never married, and never had any children." I looked up and saw a furrowed brow.
"How old are you, exactly?" I smirked.
"I was born September 22, 1010. But as far as you're concerned, I'm just an undead seventeen year old."
"So seventeen." I smiled at him.
"Yes." I confirmed.
"I imagine you've been to many places then. What were your favorite?" I looked up and saw real interest in Smoke's face. I sighed.
"It's hard to remember, but I've been everywhere in Europe and in America. Above all, my home was my favorite. There is no place like home, especially when home is the highlands of Scotland. The accent is long gone. I haven't been there for such a long time... I even met a young man sometime in the sixteenth century I think. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I ran away the night before we were to be married actually. I had honestly forgotten that I wasn't normal, and I could never have a normal life. It hurt for the longest time, but I don't regret it." I looked up again and saw sympathy.
"The only reason I'm revealing all of this, is because I'll eventually forget, and I need someone to remember." I explained. I received a nod.
"Forgive me, but I need to be going. Sub-Zero is probably wondering where I've gone." I nodded and bade him farewell. After he vanished, I felt heat on my back, and turned to see Scorpion's glowing eyes looking down at me.
"Eaves dropping were you?" I asked with a smirk. He was silent. I turned around and continued to walk, and he walked beside me.
"Is Japan a nice place?" I said suddenly, and Scorpion looked at me.
"It is." He answered.
"I've never been there, in person, unfortunately." I sighed. We continued to walk. Then suddenly, Scorpion picked me up in his arms and we disappeared in a sudden gulf of flame, reappearing in a familiar landscape, and chill to the air. Looking out, I could see the moon reflecting off of Loch Ness in the distance. I turned to Scorpion. He was looking around and witnessing the beauty as well.
"I understand the fondness you have for this place now." Scorpion looked out, and I wrapped my arms around his waist.
"Thanks." He gently pried me off, and looked down at me.
"Quan Chi will pay for the things he has done." He growled. I shook my head.
"Scorpion, I don't want to think about it. No, revenge talk. Not in Scotland. Just promise to stay with me, even if I can't remember anything." I embraced Scorpion once more, and this time he pulled me close to him. "Scorpion I..." I paused, not sure of exactly I was going to say. My emotions struggled on my tongue. I wasn't an affectionate person, but I put that aside, with the dread of forgetting again. I didn't want to forget again. You would think I would come up with something memorable, and meaningful, even in the slightest of a way. But instead I didn't speak. And that was that. I ended up back in the room I had stayed in, and I closed my eyes. The false memories disappeared, and the binding spell that caused my sense of remorse to fade away, also had gone. But everything has a price. They say your life flashes before your eyes in a moment of peril. I was dead, but my life flashed before me, all at once.
Neriah was dying, and in her place stood a plague.
