By the time they had reached the throne room it was too late. He had truly gone mad.

They arrived to hear screams and laughs of insanity-the type that makes your blood go cold and your hairs stand on end. When they entered, Shinnok spun around and laughed maniacally. His eyes had lost their blue of goodness and were now replaced by a void of grey. He looked straight at them. Rayne backed away nervously, but Fate and Raiden held their ground.

Shinnok stopped laughing, but kept his grin. "Join me, dear wife, and we will take command of all the Realms! Better yet, the Heavens to begin with!" She looked at him with wide eyes and shook her head.
His grin began to fade. He strode towards her.

"Then perhaps I could have the glory, but you would support me?"

Again, she shook her head. "I could never support such a cause."

He stopped a metre away and cocked his head. After a few moments, he began to look from Fate to Raiden and back again.

He started to chuckle—but that chuckle escalated into a horrifying laugh.

"Why, of course! You've sided with the boy!" he looked at her stomach and began to slow his breathing. "Nonetheless…I will soon have a child of my own…" As his hands reached towards her, Raiden stepped in front.

"Father, please…"

"I am not your father... and nor are you my son!" he slammed Raiden to the wall with his Magick. "I should have killed you while you were weaker…" He walked towards Raiden slowly. "…when you still had no strength to fend for yourself." Out of the wall came a skeletal claw—which held Raiden upright. "If it wasn't for that whore-of-a-lover, your essence would have been mine…"

"Stay away from him!" Fate shouted. "He has done nothing wrong-"

He turned "YET! Do not tell me that you have forgotten what is to come! Oh, don't look at me like that!" he released his grip on Raiden and started towards Fate. "You yourself cried to me at night, wishing it to be wrong. Don't you remember?!"

She looked down. "Of course I remember! My lord, there is nothing I love more than you! But…you're…you…I fear you…" she felt herself shake with fear. "You're not the same person you once were…you have Darkened…"

He smiled. "Indeed I have." It was the last thing he said before disappearing in a mist of purple, with Fate in his arms.

-o808o-

"Raiden, calm down!"

"Calm down? Do you really believe that my mother is safe in the hands of that maniac?" he looked at Rayne with total disbelief. "You know what he can do, Rayne! You've seen him rage before! How do you expect me to 'calm down' in this situation?!"

"Well at least let your wounds heal!" she finished putting the ointment on his swollen neck and sighed. "You know how powerful Shinnok is. If you're going to confront him then you're going to need help. Confront? What am I saying!?By the Gods, Raiden, you don't need to even see him! Alert the Elder Gods! Let them deal with him!"

"No-one needs to know."

"Everyone's going to know once he's been damned!"

"It doesn't have to end that way-"

"What if I told you otherwise?" They both turned to see the God of Wind standing at the archway.

"Lord Fujin," Rayne murmured. He walked over to them, a faint gust of wind accompanying him.

"There is much you do not know."

-o808o-

He told them of the Prophesies. Every here and there Raiden would shiver or ask a question, but besides that he was completely silent. Fujin could see how he would cringe at certain thoughts and look down at others. There is nothing he wanted less than to tell Raiden of what would happen to Shinnok.
Or of what his unborn brother was to become.

Rayne, on the other hand, seemed to take it in easier—though that doesn't mean she was happy. Fujin later found out that Fate had told them only parts of the truth, and that she had kept secrets from him as well. He knew her since she was a Youngling, when she was chasing doves and making flower crowns. They had become friends—close friends, who spoke of nearly everything with each-other.
Or so he had thought.

"He raped her?"

"That's what Her Lady told me." Rayne blushed slightly as she spoke. She had promised Fate that she wouldn't tell anyone. She bit her lip nervously.

Fujin, in contrast, seemed to have a glow of triumph on him- though she couldn't bring herself to ask why.

"I knew she hasn't been herself lately." Raiden spoke. He looked down and sighed in frustration. He shook his head and said; "We should leave now and help her. Only the Elder Gods could possibly know what he is doing to her."

"And only the Elder Gods could possibly help us."

-o808o-

Pyro and Destiny shook their heads in disapproval. They were very close to Shinnok, and had thought and imagined of the day their brother would turn rogue.

But they had never thought of it to be like this.

"Alright then. We had hoped that this day would never come, though it was obviously inevitable. We will alert the others of the situation."

Raiden bowed in respect and left to meet Fujin and Rayne in the Halls.

Rayne looked at him. "What's happening?"

Raiden shook his head. "Their Graces, Pyro and Destiny are going to alert the others. They said that there is still hope. Though I strongly doubt it."

"At least we're not alone now." Fujin said. "We should focus on finding your moth-"

"Raiden!" his head jerked towards the voice.

"Raphael? What's wrong!?"

As the Angel came to a halt he bowed. "My Lord, Lady Fate has returned-"

Fujin and Rayne looked at each-other and approached.

"Where is she?" Raiden demanded.

"She is in the chambers-"

Raiden didn't run towards Shinnok's Chambers, he teleported there.

"Mother!" he found her lying on the divan. When he ran over to her, though, he saw a small bag next to her.

A crying bag…that made a horrible wailing sound.

Bags don't cry.

Raiden picked the little infant up and cradled him gently in his arms. Almost immediately, the child stopped crying and rested on the God's chest. Fate sighed and opened her eyes. He looked at her and she smiled at him.

Raiden frowned. "Rayne told me that you weren't due for another five months."

She sighed. "Your father didn't think so."

"Don't…call him that."

She sat up slowly. "He is though. And he will always be your father. Even though-"

"Maybe in blood, but Fujin was always more of father that he ever was."

She sighed again. "I can't argue with that." The baby started to cry again, and this time Raiden handed the infant over to it's—he's mother. When she held him, he began to wriggle in her arms. She laughed and hugged the baby. He went quiet again.

She kissed him softly on the forehead.

"Have you thought of a name?" Raiden said.

She shook her head and looked back at him. "I thought, perhaps, you could name him."

Raiden smiled and approached his new brother.

"How about…Shao Khan?"