Silence had engulfed the barracks. Not a word was spoken for what felt like an eternity.

Kitana and Jade sat next to each other at the dining table; the princess was sharpening a war fan to pass the time. Her eyes looked hollowed-out and worried, and the strokes of the stone across her blade grew faster and more labored as she tried to vent her stress in the quiet task.

Jade twirled her boomerang in her hand, watching absentmindedly as the green stone in the middle spun around and around. She was able to spot the little imperfections on its shiny surface as if reflected light from overhead.

Nightwolf suffered quietly in the corner of the room. He had been given proper bandages and medication for his injuries, but that was not enough to dull the ever-throbbing pain in the back of his skull. He took deep breaths and pondered things from where he sat.

Kenshi was standing vigil near the window, facing out towards the bright summer sun. He was almost completely still, taking in the light through the stained glass. He couldn't see it, but he could surely feel the heat on his face.

And I was sitting on the counter, examining the weapons I had picked up. My mind was on Stryker, Sonya, and that ninja that called himself Smoke. I was asking myself where they'd be, but I think I already knew.

Someplace ugly, probably dead because we wouldn't be able to save them. Dead or captured; I couldn't decide which would be worse. On one hand, they would probably be hypnotized into helping Shao Kahn win the tournament, maybe even reentered into the standings so that Liu Kang and Kenshi would still have to fight them.

On the other, they would be gone for good. I worried the most for Stryker, and I'm not sure why. He wasn't on my side, not since we got here. We fought for the same team, but I knew that he would take me back to America in a box once this was over.

And all of a sudden that didn't sound so bad. Funny things go through your mind when somebody's about to die.

I let my head fall forward, setting the rifle I had snagged on the counter next to me. I smelled like perspiration and sulfur from our brief excursion into Outworld. The bulletproof jacket I had been given weighed a ton, drenched in sweat from the unbearable heat of Outworld. Jesus, I didn't know how they survived out there.

Maybe that's why Kitana and Jade dressed the way they did…

I shrugged out of the black harness, desperate to get out of the suffocating Kevlar. It wasn't that hot here, but my whole body was still sweating, and I wanted it to stop.

I undid the pair of clasps that hooked the harness into my belt before lifting the whole thing over my head and throwing it onto the counter next to me.

Jade about jumped out of her seat and Kenshi's hand slid down to his weapon, ready for action. After an uncomfortable pause, they both relaxed.

"Restless?" Kenshi asked, turning to me. He had this uncanny way of confirming the exact location of everyone in the room without being able to see them. And, from there, being able to discern who was who just by relying on his other senses. I realized that he might not even know what I had dropped, just that I was the one to drop it.

I nodded solemnly. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "But we must have patience. Lord Raiden will return soon so he can reopen the portal from our end. Or he had better, anyway."

And he did.

Raiden, flanked by Kung Lao and Liu Kang, came charging into the barracks not five minutes later. Raiden's chiseled, weathered face held little expression, and his glowing eyes intensified as he looked around the room as if the three fighters we had lost were somewhere in the building.

The two Shaolin were also deeply worried.

"What in the name of the Gods happened?" Raiden demanded, looking frantically back and forth between all of us as his second in command, now a very distressed Liu Kang, had no idea what had happened.

Johnny jogged through the door after them, out of breath and sweating.

"They didn't make it back," Kenshi said simply, turning back to the window and facing the warm sunlight. "They found Nightwolf at the Flesh Pits for some reason, guarded by Kano's men. No Mileena, no Shang Tsung, just Nightwolf.

"And since apparently we can't activate the damn portal without your help, there's no way to get to them," I said pointedly, tucking the pistol into my waistband and folding my arms in front of me. I gave Raiden an exasperated, bitter glare for several seconds before turning back to the rifle on the counter next to me.

"Wait," Kung Lao interrupted, holding up a hand. "You three were in Outworld, the Flesh Pits, and you came back even after realizing your companions were walking into a trap!"

"Kung Lao, if we had set out for the Threshold, we would still be en route by now. And then none of us would have made it back at all," Kitana said in a soft voice that walked the line between impatience and calmness. She was upset, but couldn't afford to make her displeasure known to the others. She held up a hand as she spoke, trying to the young monk's anger before he lost his ability to reason.

"You should have done something!" Liu Kang said through gritted teeth, turning away from where I was sitting and whispering something under his breath before continuing. "If this had been planned out better, we wouldn't have this problem right now."

Oh, really? You were just fine with this plan when we started Liu; funny how you chose to voice your fears and reservations after everything went south.

None of this is his fault, I told myself as I clenched one of my hands into a tight fist and held it against my lips. I almost yelled at him for a second there, damn near lost it in front of everyone.

Liu had almost nothing to do with the rescue operation. This is just him venting.

"Okay, true," I admitted. "But we didn't have enough information going in to anticipate these sorts of switch-ups. I've got enough guns, we might be able to go back and find them-"

"Enough," Raiden said in a surprisingly collected tone. "We are down three more fighters, and Nightwolf needs rest… This is unprecedented, unacceptable. I should not have sent them in alone… sent them to the Threshold… alone."

His pronounced bass tones dropped into unintelligible mumbling as he thought things over, dipping his head as if in prayer.

"I need time to think over this matter. Liu Kang is still in the standings, so we're not finished yet. Take heart, I will find a way to save them. I promise you, all of you, I'll bring them home," he spoke softly and very much in despair; with each syllable sounding slightly more weary and downtrodden that the one before it. His conical hat hid his expression from the rest of us, but I was pretty sure he was on the verge of tears.

Those perfect, cream-colored robes adorned with mystical symbols covered almost his entire body. The intense, eye-popping bright blue waistcoat fixed over his robes with a leather belt gave him the appearance of an unstoppable physical god, as he very much was. His boots were untarnished, and straw hat perfectly perched atop his head.

But now, as the very human feelings of anger, disbelief, and fear washed over him, he appeared very mortal. It took me this long, my friends captured or worse in a totally different dimension, to realize that he was not perfect. To discover that the steely resolve and imposing figure he cut were only vanity.

Underneath all that, he was much more human than he cared to admit.

And so he left, taking quick steps out of the room to hide his true feelings from the rest of us.

He left us there to contemplate, to brood, and to once again sit in silence.

MKMKMK

Stress. It seems to fade in and out like a night full of dreams; manifesting itself in a manner that I notice and remember only once in a while.

Back in Outworld, during the assault, stress was just another thing; just another one of the items pushed to the back of my mind during combat. I didn't really think about it, or fatigue, or the chronic soreness and stiff muscles that I had been experiencing lately.

But now, after a mission that felt more like failure than anything else, all of the hurt came cascading back over me like a tidal wave of dull, throbbing discomfort.

I let my legs give out from under me so I could slide down to the floor of the shower. The slippery wall behind me propped up my back while hot water washed over me.

Ouch. My legs. They hurt the most.

I think I pulled something running earlier. Maybe being wired and tense earlier made me more fragile. I had pulled my muscles taunt without knowing better, and now something in my right thigh was paying the price for it.

My back was a close second. Something about landing at the bottom of a cliff without anything to break your fall will really do the trick. I didn't believe Quan Chi when he told me he had fixed everything, and it really sucks that I was right.

Then came everything else, which was more of that dull, achy feeling all over that wasn't too bad in comparison. I had taken some Tylenol earlier, and it made everything a fraction more bearable.

But only a fraction.

I hung my head, trying to separate my mind from my body the way Liu Kang does. I let everything loosen up just a bit, and gave the tight nerves and tendons some slack for the first time in a while.

I could only imagine how Stryker and the others are feeling right now. Probably locked up, or mind-slaves, or another horrendous fate that was something out of a Lord of the Rings movie.

See, if the future gets grim enough, then you start to waste the present looking at the past.

You start remembering back to how you got here, how all of this happened.

I soon snapped out of my timeless daze. Suddenly I decided that it was time for me to get dressed.

Somebody used all the hot water.

MKMKMK

I found something relaxing in donning my comfortably-loose outfit. I gave myself an extra notch of slack from my belt and left my outer shirt unbuttoned. I also left my shoes and socks just inside the door and decided to spend the rest of the evening barefoot.

I took a last look in the mirror and grinned: I really think I hit the relaxation mode vibe that I was going for. Apart from the pistol I had tucked on one side of my waistband and the collapsible baton stuck very loosely in the other, I looked like I was on vacation.

I fell into the cozy chair next to the bed and leaned back, thinking about our next move.

I didn't have enough energy to jump when I heard a knock at the door. I lackadaisically turned my head to the source of the noise, decided that I was not in immediate danger, and proceeded to get out of my chair.

Literally, this is currently the level I am operating at. I have just enough adrenaline and natural focus left to curl my fingers around the grip of the gun and move to the side of the door when I answer it, but not enough to properly address a threat if one was waiting for me.

"And this is?" I asked, sliding the pistol upward until the trigger guard was free of the fabric of my pants.

"It's Jade."

I let the weapon fall back into its place in my pants and yanked open the door enough for her to see my face but not enough for her to enter yet.

"Yeah, what's the word?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Nothing from Raiden or Liu Kang yet," she informed me, voice somewhat muffled behind her green mask. "I think we're going to wait until morning to come up with a plan of attack."

"But we don't have until morning," I insisted. "Where I come from, if somebody gets taken or captured, they have about a day before they end up buried in the woods."

"I feel bad for where you come from," she said bluntly. "But there's nothing we can do. My contacts informed me that the Threshold is locked down for the night by Shao Kahn's best and Kano's Black Dragon. Nigh impenetrable without an army."

"Or possibly nigh very penetrable a very talented group of, young, dedicated individuals who are being backed by a thunder god. Don't know where we would find a team of those though…"

"This is not up for discussion right now," she said firmly. "We're all exhausted, and attacking tonight would get even more of us captured or dead."

"So why are you here again?" I asked, again rubbing my eyes. I knew that her culture might be different, but if you come to the door of somebody you don't really know at night, there's generally a pressing issued at hand.

"To make sure Kitana didn't leave any of her things in here," she said in a strangely cool voice. "I heard she spent the night here, is that correct?"

How the hell… well, they are best friends.

"Nothing happened!" I practically shouted it.

"That's the only reason you are still alive," Jade said in a near whisper, leaning in close and staring at me with her furious green eyes.

"If you had goaded Kitana into inappropriate behavior for your own satisfaction," she threatened in a voice that made the hair on my arms stand up. "Then you would most certainly be not in one place right now, but many."

I was speechless as she crossed her arms in front of her, leaning against the doorway. I had backed up several feet, giving her a wide berth.

"Whoa, I… look, I had no intention of any of… that. Me and Kitana just talked and… I don't know where you would have gotten that idea from, Jade," I stumbled through my words, jumbling several incomplete thoughts into one barely cohesive sentence.

"Oh, just making sure, that's all. When I sense Kitana is in danger or about to do something stupid, my reaction may be a little… out of proportion to the situation. Get ahead of myself, so to speak, get a little carried away in my work."

She took several steps toward me. I have about three inches and probably at least 30 pounds on her, but right now she was somehow looming over me.

"Totally," I blurted, nodding and searching the room for improvised weapons I could use to defend myself. "Yep, got it."

She turned to leave but stopped. "I'm glad we've agreed on this matter so quickly. There was one man who attempted to surprise Kitana and do something awful… it took me hours, Maxwell.

"Anyway, sleep tight young man. I'll be seeing you in the morning."

On that happy note she was swiftly out the door and halfway down the hall, leaving me standing in the doorway like a fool. I thought I heard a giggle under her breath as she glided back down the hallway to her own room. I wasn't certain if she had intended it as a type of joke, or if she had been completely serious.

One thing was for damn certain; tonight I would be sleeping alone. No questions asked.

I wonder if handholding is also off-limits…

MKMKMK

"Quite an experience to be in despair, isn't it?"

Raiden turned slowly to see Liu Kang and Kenshi approaching from inside the barracks. Kenshi, as per usual, wore almost no expression.

But Liu Kang looked a thousand emotions at once on his young face. His eyes suddenly appeared weary, and the energy behind them seemed to have disappeared over the course of a few hours.

Kenshi leaned against the balcony railing and folded his arms, facing Raiden as he pondered his question. Raiden did not answer, but merely shook his head.

"That is what it means to be alive. You might have to get low, really low, sometimes before you can regain your courage," Kenshi finished.

"Do you know what is like to be tasked with the protection of an entire realm?" Raiden demanded. "Do you know how difficult it was getting this far? There have been sacrifices… I fear I may have already given up too much."

"Are you willing to forfeit humanity's existence because of those choices?" Liu Kang asked, suddenly challenging his master. "We fight Shao Kahn or die trying, those are the options."

"I…" Raiden was suddenly at a loss for words. "I'm sorry, Liu Kang. I've bet everything on you, ever since the beginning. And that's not fair to you… or to you, Kenshi."

Kenshi and Liu Kang were shocked. A god had apologized to them!

"I've expected much more than I should from everyone, especially you two. I sent almost all our fighters away on a wild goose chase that never should have taken place. It is my fault that those three are now captured," Raiden lamented. "I just tried so hard… I want to win this tournament more than I've wanted anything in my life."

"So let's make it right," Liu Kang said with a hint of a grin. He gave Raiden a pat on the shoulder. "I think that Kenshi and I can handle things here. Max and the Edenians are out of the tournament already, so let them stage their assault on Outworld tomorrow. I believe they can find Stryker's team… or make a grand mess of Shao Kahn's palace trying."

Raiden stood up to his full height, reinvigorated and ready for action. "Yes, we start the attack at sunrise. The end of this tournament is near, and I intend to see the sun set tomorrow on a free Earthrealm."

Hey everyone! Next chapter will be the beginning of the end for the story. It might be shorter, but it will be coming to you all very soon.

Thank you for reading, please gimme some feedback and leave a review, much appreciated.

Until next time, Peace.