Smoke's P.O.V

I stood behind Jade with my arms folded in front of my chest, trying not to smile or break my composure as she pouted at me with her green eyes staring into my soul.

"Please Smokey? I'll be super careful! I promise!" she whined, her lip now quivering. I looked straight past her and pretended to be interested in a growing plant.

"Smoke, just let her drive!" hissed Skarlet who was growing impatient from standing in the hot sun. Her grey eyes were narrowed as she looked my way, and I knew she was seconds away from snapping.

"But… It's my new car…" I whined. Skarlet merely shrugged and transformed herself into her blood state, oozing up my arm and flowing back on the ground. She soon transformed back to her original state and handed Jade my car keys. I threw my hands up and sighed as I got in the passenger seat and Jade squealed with joy.

"Jade, can you even drive?" asked Scorpion, who was staring angrily at Skarlet.

"Pssh.. of course. Just switch gears and gas and break. No problem!" she said waving her hand. Everyone got in the car and as soon as I fastened my seat belt, I felt like I was going to hurl as fast as Jade was driving.

"Slow down!" I hissed. Wind blew her hair all across her face and she was screeching with glee as she sped down the road. Many other drivers swerved to get out of her way and she only turned up the music to avoid the profanity that was being launched at her.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna freaking die!" Skarlet yelled as we sped through three red lights. I looked over and saw Kuai praying to the Elder Gods that we made it out alright.

…

Mileena's P.O.V

I cooled down and dusted off his hat, smelling that Kung Lao and the kidnapper were close. I looked into the trees shaking my head, an obvious place for assassins to hide.

Jumping and dashing to the tree tops, I felt my nose burn, a sign indicating I was close. But then it stopped. The kidnapper was on the run!

"On no you don't!" I hissed and launched a sai in the direction of the kidnapper. I heard a loud snarl and a thud. My ears flicked and I slid down the tree to face my love and the kidnapper, but instead I saw Kung Lao slung over Baraka's shoulder.

"Baraka?" I asked, "Why do you have Kung Lao?"

He didn't reply, but instead he tossed Kung Lao to the side like a piece of meat and circled around me. He sniffed me and made a face I couldn't make it, and even had the nerve to grab hold of my hair and smell it.

"Mileena, what did he do to you?" he asked disapprovingly.

"He gave me what I wanted, now you do the same. Why the fuck did you kidnap him?" I hissed, digging my nails into my thighs to keep from lashing out on him.

"He has two things I want, you and the essence of the Mortal Kombat dragon. With the essence, I will be unstoppable creating an over populated race of Tarkata, and if you give him to me I will give you the honor of producing the first Tarkatan." he explained. My mouth was agape. Kung Lao never told me he had the essence, everyone thought Liu Kang did! But how did Baraka find out before me?

"In your dreams rock chewer. Now, give me my boyfriend and get out of here before I stick my sai so far up your ass, your children will feel in in ten generations." I warned, my eyes narrowed. I could see him flinch as if he thought about it, but he tried his best to look intimidating. He grabbed onto Kung Lao and dashed off, using his blades to cut down trees to provide obstacles for me. I easily dodged them and ran after him, my sai ready to strike.

He leaped into the air on top of a tree and snarled at me, climbing higher to escape me. Anger flowed through my veins and I saw Kung Lao's brown eyes snap open and look down directly at me. He mouthed that he was sorry and sunk his teeth deeply in Baraka's shoulder blade, which caused Baraka to cry out in pain and back hand him. Seeing him hit Kung Lao sparked something in me. I didn't become extremely angry or bawl out crying. Instead I was focused and took a deep breath. I tossed my sai in the air and when it fell back in my hand, I launched my sai at Baraka.

With the teaching of Kung Lao, I managed to focus long enough to control its direction. It slammed directly through Baraka's hand, blood spilling everywhere. I thought he would give up or fall out of the tree from the blow, but instead his eyes burned with anger. He hissed angrily and stabbed Kung Lao in the eye with his blades. I watched in horror as Kung Lao fell and Baraka cut down a tree. The tree was coming to plummet directly on Kung Lao but I jumped in front of it while Kung Loa rolled to safety. I felt my ankle snap but I bit my lip to hide the pain. Looking up I noticed Baraka vanish into the tree tops, leaving me here with a broken ankle and a boyfriend blind in one eye.

Jade's P.O.V

Skarlet and I made it to a bridal store while the guys wandered off somewhere else. There were beautiful dresses, one that made my mouth fall agape. There was one dress in particular that reminded me of Kitana. It was white and had a blue diamonds as a belt around the waist, and had small blue diamonds embroidering the neck line and the ruffles on the bottom. There were matching heels that were free with the dress, and earring that I would modify later.

There was a dress that reminded me of Mileena. It was white and stopped to the knees with lavender chains wrapping around the middle and the hips. White heels with lavender studs were free with it and earrings that I would modify if she were to get married.

Lastly I found mine. It was a beautiful dress that looked like a ball gown with long sleeves and ruffles along the middle. Gold pearls assisted the ruffles, and a gold necklace with emeralds came with it. I would redesign it to where the poofy part at the bottom was like a skirt and would flow with the wind, and add emeralds at the bottom.

"Excuse me sir, how much for these three?" I asked the salesman. He looked at me and shrugged.

"For you two lovely ladies, I'll say free. Each dress was worth $5,000." he told me. I hugged him tightly and snatched all three and put them into white bags, running out with Skarlet close behind me.

"You haven't said much Skarlet, are you alright?" I questioned. She nodded and pointed to her throat, indicating it hurt. I gently massaged her throat when I got a call from Sonya on my wrist communicator.

"Jade… he took it away from me…" she said slowly. I looked down and saw that she was completely naked and only had a thin sheet wrapped around her bare body.

"It?!" I yelled angrily.

"It.." she nodded.

"Skarlet and I are on our way. I have your location on my communicator, stay relaxed until we get there." I told her. She nodded and rubbed her face which was covered in bruises.

"Skarlet, we've got a soldier to rescue." I replied. She nodded and I teleported the bags to Sonya's apartment, then teleported us to the desert.

Smoke's P.O.V

I didn't know what to say as Kuai Liang told me the five words I tried to forget he said.

"I'm in love with Kitana." Kuai sighed as Scorpion wandered off to a lighter store.

"What? Dude, she's engaged to be married." I reminded him. He put down his coffee cup and froze it, un froze it, and then froze it again.

"I know, but can you blame me? Do you see her Smoke? How loyal she is to Liu Kang? How lovely she is? Her body? Her hair? Her voice?" he asked. I watched him freeze and un freeze the cup and put on a fake smile as Earthrealmers walked by.

"Magic trick." I told them and they nodded and clapped, walking away with a small smile.

"She came to me for help, and I gave her a terrible answer. Elder Gods I wish Liu Kang would just…" he trailed off.

"Frosty. You need to chill out. And stop using your powers here, you're making it way too obvious we're not human." I hissed. He banged his fist against the frozen coffee and it smashed into tiny pieces.

"I DON'T CARE SMOKE! I LOVE HER! I LOVE PRINCESS KIT-" he started until I kicked him in his nether regions.

"Shut up! You're drawing attention. If you like her so much, tell her." I said and drunk some cold water. A small smile formed on his face and he nodded.

"Alright, I will. First thing tomorrow morning." he said and twiddled his thumbs. I shook my head and sighed. Love is dangerous.

Mileena's P.O.V

I woke up in Sonya's apartment with ice on my ankle and my foot elevated. I looked to my right and I saw Kung Lao putting drops in his eyes.

"I'm really sorry…" he trailed off after he rinsed his eyes. He got the drops from Kenshi and NightWolf, and as long as he puts them in daily, his vision is normal.

"Why didn't you tell me you had the essence Kung Lao?" I asked facing him. He gently stroked my cheek and sighed.

"Because I don't. You do." he replied. I was shocked and amazed at the same time.

"You're joking right?" I asked, my full attention on him.

"No. The night we made love, I passed the essence to you. Liu Kang never had it. When Shao Kahn was finally killed once and for all, the essence was passed onto me because I had finished a deed Raiden requested. The essence is too powerful, it can restore anything except a mutilated body. That's why Baraka wanted it so he could restore his race of Tarkata." he replied, light rubbing my thigh.

"How did you get it?" I asked again.

"Well, the essence is passed around when good things are done. Like you learning to calm down is what sparked it, but when you didn't kill Baraka when he slapped me, that's what made it fully happen." he explained. I nodded and held tightly onto him, biting my lip as he moved my foot and rubbed my ankle.