At her side, Kitana stood with Rain, Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Bo Rai Cho at her right. With her on the rolling hills of Edenia stood Reptile, Tanya, Kia, and Li Mei at her left.
She gazed up into the Edenian sky and could feel them all stand and wait for the rain. For it to come down and wash this all away.
Drawn beyond the castle walls where the citizens of her Realm wait for the blood foam to wash upon their ankle shores, the sea of bodies formed around her as it did across the field.
Shed the scales of the Kahn she was, now Queen of Edenia, she fanned her face under the grey sky above and waited for the eyes of her opponent to flash before them like a reflection of their own lives drowned within them.
Beyond the Edenians, the Tarkatans, thew few Shokan, and those left to stand, their champions pointed out as the army marched ahead from the portal they contorted out of.
At the lead, Kabal of the Black Dragon, leader of the vile organization before it melted into the white hot sun of the Red Dragon. Never beside, always behind him, the forces of light recognized No-Face, Kira, Kobra, Tremor, Jarek, and Tasia by Sonya's description.
She fanned the anxiety from her lips. The desire to call upon Fujin and Raiden sewn from the purse of her expression, even wrinkled at the brow on Liu Kang and Rain, but no doubt if the Black Dragon were here alone, then the Tekunin and the Red Dragon would keep Earthrealm busy. Who knew what tortured Outworld as they stood here on this hill alone.
Who knew if Kotal Kahn and Mileena would see another day and if Kitana would see them again, but as she turned to her forces, she understood that this is what it meant to go to war.
"This may be the last day any of you see." She stepped out in front to address them all. Just a hundred of her best, as best as they could be in this moment. "This won't be the last battle for Edenia, but it will be for a lot of you." She added after a pause and grin, "so let's make sure it's the last battle for all of them."
Her eyes cast to Rain, and she urged him forward.
Shoulders broad and straight, black and regal purple adorned, masked beneath the dense air, he pushed forward at her side to speak.
He was, after all, the blood of their God. The heir of their protector.
"I thought this would just be my battle. My blood, my history, and my future to seize." He added, "all I've ever wanted was to be remembered. To rule in the hearts of all as a legend and a hardened memory, but today, that is what all of us will become should we win this battle." With a glance to war, he remarked when he noticed though near a near half a hundred yards away, the enemy was still and silent. No words, no momentum, no passion. "My blood will lead us to armageddon, my brother will join us on this battle soon, but know that it doesn't end here should we die. It doesn't end here should you live." He finished, eyes back on the Edenians, "be remembered. Not for who you were, but what you've done."
Kitana nodded. It was time.
This moment had been prepared for well in advanced, even if only she knew of it.
As Kabal chased down the field faster than the Black Dragon behind him, Kitana tapered her fan closed and pointed out to the field and a cry followed after that reminded her of the deafening call of Raiden's thunder.
Before Rain could charge amongst the Edenians, Taven pushed ahead, having emerged as the crowd broke forth.
As one they moved. Into one the armies collided.
Like a flash of red light, Kitana winced and staggered back, her fans broadened before her face to catch the blood that shattered from the body of the Tarkatan that took the swing from two hook swords meant for the Queen of Edenia. She braced for attack and Kabal tore the body in half to try a second time.
One blade out and one as defense, he would step forward changing stance, always with the offensive foot and blade forward as the other took the defense to block her incoming attacks until his speed pushed her into measure. She could taste the salt and metal in his breath, their eyes as locked at their weapons.
Heavy metal fans that tapered to a blade at the connecting points, she was able to trap the swords, but being hooked, he'd tug on her and with his strength, she would soon have to choose between herself, or the fans.
"Is this what you really wanted?" She spat.
"Just fight." He knelt to a knee, pulled her down with the weight of his blades snagged through hers and then checked her fave with his shoulder. This staggered her back as he could take that second to spin and swing the blade with his momentum. When his arm stopped, he didn't find the flesh of his enemy snagged in the hook of his blade, but his wrist squeezed to the point of breaking beneath the Half-God Taven. At his right, Rain grabbed his other arm and together parted him like the sea.
"Is this what you wanted?" Rain remarked to Kitana.
What would be his last moments, she saw only apathy. Those eyes that stared back had been dead for a long, long time.
In Kabal she saw many faces. This one was saved from the fires that consumed the man she knew before, but this path in this timeline had drastically changed him in a completely different way than the man she knew.
If for a second of pity, she watched him fold in and pull the Half-Gods into one another to twist himself free. Unarmed, he pulled back into the crowd.
Is that really what she wanted, Kitana watched as the bodies become a globular cluster.
If she could just get past armageddon, all things would be better, right?
If Rain and Taven could reconcile, could she?
Before a thought could clench her mind from battle, she was pulled into the fray.