It was easy to haul Rain to a vacant tent, prodding him unceremoniously with one of her sai. He put up little resistance, though he carried himself proudly enough despite a hitch in his gait. He moved as though he was merely deigning to join her on this walk - not that his arms were still tied with rough bindings, or that he looked as though he'd been beaten by half the camp.

She'd be surprised if it had been so many. Baraka liked to keep his toys for himself and a select few. Given his history with Rain, he had probably relished the opportunity to pound the demigod to bits.

Mileena pushed aside the tent flap and shoved Rain inside, stationing her escort outside as guards. Her nose wrinkled at the stench inside the tent; it reeked of unwashed Tarkatan and sleeping furs left long unaired. She grabbed at his wrists, digging her nails into the battered flesh of his arm.

"Such a pleasure to see you too, Mileena."

"Silence, Rain." She slid one sharpened edge of her sai between his arms and dragged it up. A few short, sharp cuts and the rough thumb-thick bindings fell away onto the floor. He pulled his arms up immediately to look at them - so damnably vain - and then turned to Mileena.

She scrutinized him as openly as he stared at her. Despite the split lip and bruises on his face, the broad purple blooms of bruising on his shoulders and chest, he seemed like he was in fairly good condition. He looked terrible, but most of it seemed superficial - much like the man himself. There were no open gashes, no missing chunks of flesh that she could see.

"Times have changed, haven't they, Empress?" Rain rubbed at his chafed wrists before meeting her eyes. "The last time I saw you, D'Vorah and some Earthrealm brats had appeared and were trying to take Shinnok's amulet from you. And here you are - as if not a day has passed since."

"We are both far less dead than we should be, I understand." She hooked a camp chair with one foot and dragged it towards her, sitting down on it and crossing her legs at the ankles. She inhaled once, and steeled her voice. She had to keep the desperation out of her voice, because Rain would pick up on it almost immediately. Play to his ego, the pride and vanity that had kept him close amongst her advisors as she dangled promises in front of him, but never let him know how desperate she was. "I need to know what happened after I died. I understand you - and Tanya - avoided escape."

The demigod in front of her rubbed at his hands, flexing his fingers and rotating his wrists casually. He was making her wait. His dark eyes seemed to laugh at her as her eyes narrowed and she shifted in the low chair. He deliberately took another chair and drew it near to her, but not too close.

Just out of her reach, if she pushed out of the chair and lunged for him. She had to give him credit for that.

"We fled to save ourselves." He spoke bluntly, watching her expression as he spoke. His eyes darted around her face, gauging her reaction. "Tanya took me as her consort and we fled into the Kuatan Jungle, and eventually worked our way back to your old keep in the Setian Valley. We listened, we watched what Kotal Kahn did - along with the Earthrealmers. Shinnok was thwarted, but not without causing friction between the usurper and Earthrealm… he violated the so-called Reiko Accords."

He paused, licking his cracked lips. With a gesture, he drew a bubble of water from the air into his hand, and cast it sideways in the tent. The globe swelled and surrounded a battered metal goblet Mileena hadn't noticed on the floor. Rain gestured again; she swore she could see a small current in the globe of water - some kind of movement within. The goblet dropped into his hand and the water splashed onto the ground. The goblet looked cleaner, at least - and a moment later Rain called more water with a motion, a fat sphere of it falling into the wide-mouthed vessel.

She rolled her eyes; always a showman. He tipped it slightly in her direction, and took a deep drink from the goblet, water splashing over his jaw and onto the ruined silks he wore.

"So you and Tanya fled."

"We kept the rebellion alive as long as we could, in the hopes of bringing back Edenia." His voice took on a downward, slightly sour turn.

"You mean bring back a kingdom you could rule," Mileena accused. Rain did not even care to look abashed.

"You want Outworld, Mileena. You say - as Shao Kahn's daughter - that it's your birthright. Edenia is mine." He took another swallow from the goblet. "Tanya and I agree - agreed - that we should fight Kotal for a free Edenia. That having Edenia back was worth the hardship. Except then she decided that it would be more expedient to side with the Osh-Tekk who usurped your throne." He looked up and met her eyes, his gaze gone cold. "We fought for a year after your death, carried on the rebellion, and then it died lie you did. Tanya went to Kotal and told him where we camped."

"Tanya? Why would she-" She snapped her teeth shut sharply, feeling the all-too-familiar roiling frustration in her stomach. He smirked, as battered and bruised as he was, as she cut herself off.

"She was an ambassador's daughter, Mileena. She suckled politics and betrayal from her mother's tits and became better at it as she watched her father. She waited until she thought she could get a better deal, and then betrayed me. The last thing I remember - before I woke up half a day from this war-camp, and was tortured by Tarkatans - was Reptile and Erron Black hauling me out of the caves to Kotal Kahn."

"And you'd seen Baraka die already."

"Which is how I knew things had gone entirely to shit." Rain leaned back, sucking in a hiss of pain. "The Tarkatans thought I knew what had happened."

She wished she could have smiled in that moment, and savored the fact that she knew more than he did. They called her mad, called her paranoid, called her unstable and insane and worse, and she knew Rain had slandered her with those words as well.

"I'm here… you're here. Baraka is here." Rain reached one hand up to rub lightly at his jaw, and winced in pain. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Your darling concubine. Tanya."

"Still gone, as far as I'm aware. That's what I have learned. Kotal had her killed, not long before all of this happened." She reached a hand out and gestured, taking everything in. "Beyond the Elder Gods, there are the Titans. The Time Titan, Kronika, was manipulating things for her own… New Era. Without Raiden and the meddlesome Earthrealmers. Without my sister. Father and Mother and Shang Tsung - and others," she allowed gracelessly, "had a struggle. The titan's hourglass was damaged, her powers to manipulate time destroyed. When that happened, some of us came back. Like you, and I, and Baraka."

"But not Tanya."

"Not Tanya." Mileena jerked her chin away, her jaw tight. "Shang Tsung claims to know nothing. I am not so stupid as to believe him entirely. But there is one creature I think knows the answer. Kollector."

"Kollector?" Rain suddenly seemed to focus on her again. "Do you know where he is?"

"I might. Why? What do you want him for?"

"He… I think he knows the location of two people I must find." Rain rubbed at his head, carefully undoing the remnants of the Edenian veil and the headpiece. His hair remained short and dark, though longer than she had last seen it. His face bore no scars, only the purpling bruises. "Before things went wholly awry, I had heard such. I'm led to believe he knows where Daegon and Taven are. My father's other sons."

"Family." Mileena sneered. "How wonderful they are. So warm and welcoming."

"You never were the sentimental type. Except where Tanya was concerned."

"So what is it you propose? I can sense you're planning something."

He made a scoffing sound, arching an eyebrow. "You think you know my tells?"

"You're breathing. You scheme with every breath."

He dipped his chin, ceding the point to her. "Kollector has information I want, or so I suspect. And he has information you want. You have rescued me from certain death at the hands of the Tarkatans. Shall we form an alliance again?"

"At what cost? How soon should I plan for you to stab me in the back and deny the alliance in favor of your own pursuits? I've lived too long - and I've died already. I am not going to be as stupid as I was before." She crossed her arms, meeting his eyes once more. "What good will an alliance with you do? I'm back in Father's favor, and my sister is proving herself as useless as I could hope. If I bring you back in tow… I am not sure even I can guarantee your survival." She shook her head. "They know what you did. Not everyone from that era died with us." She watched his face carefully. "D'Vorah continues to play every side for her own ends."

A ball of water bloomed between his hands, and despite the pain it must have caused, he set his jaw firmly. She could almost hear him grinding his teeth.

"She lives? That insectoid wretch? She truly is a bug, unable to be crushed beneath someone's boot." The liquid sphere between his fingers twisted into a tiny waterspout, spinning wildly. "Someone should have."

"We have tried, you fool." Mileena snarled. "Why, do you think you would do better at it?"

"I might." Rain clenched his fist. Mileena watched the waterspout twist upwards into a long and narrow cyclone. "Hunt out her hive, and drown them all." He continued to speak, speaking with short, clipped tones. "Kollector first. Kollector will know what has become of Taven and Daegon." His mouth drew up in a cruel smile, a barely-healed scab cracking anew. A thin rivulet of blood trickled down his chin; she had to force her eyes back up to his own. "And perhaps your concubine as well."

⁂

She did not sleep much that night, even as he dropped off easily into slumber. The camp never quite slumbered, though the angry bellowing of Tarkatan dropped into quieter fits of rage and bursts of emotion. There were shrieks and screams she attributed to mating - or murder, sometimes it was hard to tell. Rain slept, her guards guarded, and she was alone with her thoughts. She tried to box them off, to force them away to allow rest to come, but they defied her and kept forcing themselves to the forefront of her mind. Unable to sleep, she paced the tent as thoughts of Tanya filled her mind.

Rain's accusations sat heavily there - that she had betrayed him, that she had sold him out to the usurper to curry favor with him. Annoyed, she sat on the camp chair and stared into the low dancing flames of the brazier. If Tanya was truly dead, so many of her plans would fall apart - so many hopes, as feeble as they were. Tanya had been there in the nascent days and weeks and years of Mileena's rule. She was the ambassador's daughter who knew how to manage the court and the political matters that Mileena - still fresh-born from the clone vats - couldn't even begin to fathom.

She could remember the disparaging look Tanya had given her at after one audience. The yellow-clad Edenian had walked over to Mileena, bowed politely, and then told her Kahn off in no uncertain terms about how foolish a political decision she had just made. Mileena had been staggered by the utter confidence of the woman, as well as well as the absolute way she picked apart Mileena's decision and pointed out every reason it was a terrible choice.

Mileena had promptly hauled her back to her private audience chambers and they had torn into each other verbally, and it had transitioned into a physical conflict that ended in wine and a meal and conversation long into the early hours of the morning. Tanya had taken a place as one of Mileena's closest advisors after that incident, and one of Mileena's lovers after that.

Sometime in the intervening years, she had become Mileena's friend, and beloved after that, until Mileena could not think of a thing in her reign without how it would affect Tanya. She had been Mileena's prime diplomat - though there had been little need for that, since only Earthrealm had conducted much diplomacy with Outworld. The young Sonya Blade had ventured across to Outworld one day to ask for assistance with the Netherrealm War. She had been brave, Mileena would give her that, standing in her finery and not quaking in her boots even in the slightest. Mileena hadn't scented fear on her at all, just determination, as the Earthrealmer had pointed out that if Earthrealm fell, the Netherrealm would come for Outworld next.

Mileena had directed Tanya to address the matter, and the two had disappeared into one of the palace's many chambers to let the Earthrealm soldier lay her case out. Tanya had coaxed as much information as she could out of the woman, but ultimately refused any sort of non-aggression pact or assistance. Mileena still didn't know how the details behind it; maybe she would have to find the little blonde Earthrealmer. Shang Tsung had her in his chambers as a token of Father's 'goodwill', though he seemed intent on convincing the Earthrealmer to side with Outworld for power and glory and extended life, to abandon Earthrealm and all she knew.

Given that it meant she was getting to bathe regularly and hadn't yet been forced to fight in the Koliseum, only be displayed as one of Shao Kahn's trophies, maybe Shang Tsung was making inroads. And if Mileena was going to deal with him… maybe she could talk to the Earthrealmer, find out what it was that Tanya had said and done.

Who knew, maybe even the Earthrealmer would have an idea as to what had happened.

Mileena sighed heavily, looking at the brazier's burning coals and flickering flames again. Tanya's pyromancy had never been something she had seen duplicated, either; it had always been a unique trait of the woman. The Osh-Tekk loved their sunshine…

Something tugged at the back of Mileena's mind, yet another thought rising unbidden. The snarl she made was loud enough that Rain turned in his sleep. Enough. She still had to decide how to respond to Baraka's proposal - his refusal to submit to the Kahn or to her, and his determination to be an equal.

It was enough to drive her mad. She was - what, twenty years old? Thirty? She did not have the experience for this, against men and women with thousands of years on her. It was enough to make her scream. She fisted her hands in her hair and

And knowing the betrayals she'd suffered - would suffer? - accusations of paranoia were the least of it. She needed her advisors again. Clever, determined, ready to kiss her boots.

She looked at Rain, his face lax in slumber, and sighed heavily. He would have to do.

⁂

With little sleep to speak of, Mileena dined again with Baraka the following morning. It occupied her while her escort readied themselves - and Rain - for the return to the palace. She and Baraka spat and snarled at each other as they broke their fast, baring teeth and arm-blades and sais. She nearly left one of hers quivering in one of his eye sockets as they negotiated the terms of their arrangement. She could still remember the reek of his breath against her face, the way his breath pooled against her skin, as he had pinned her in place with an arm-blade through the fabric of her shirt and made his own vicious points.

They had resolved, in the end, to speak again - she would say the Tarkatans had no intent to lead an attack on Shao Kahn's palace, and that was all. She was not yet willing to throw her lot in with them, and without a commitment on par with Kitana's, Baraka would not ally himself with her. Where had been that spine, that determination, when she had needed it most?

She seethed as she mounted the grey and blue striped riding beast, her grip tight on the reins. It sidled beneath her, sensing her restlessness and tension. Father would not be happy with Rain's appearance, but she was fairly certain he could be useful. Father would need all the generals he could get - even if they needed to be heavily supervised. He would either send Rain far away, where he could do little damage - or keep him closer to hand, where every minute of every day could be watched.

Maybe if Rain was part of her entourage, she could keep an eye on him. Make him earn his way back into her graces. She spared a small chuckle… What few she had, anyway. With an extra riding beast saddled and ready for Rain, they rode at a more leisurely pace away from the Tarkatan camp and towards the looming bulk of the Kahn's palace on the horizon.

"What else has changed, Princess?" Rain's voice nearly dripped sarcasm with her title. She glanced sideways to see him riding easily beside her. He had scavenged fabric, enough once more to make an Edenian half-veil to wrap his face against the vicious sun and the rough dust and sand of the route they road. "Tanya is dead, her schemes fallen idle. So many of those dead, like your father - and Baraka, and I, and you - are returned."

Mileena adjusted the mask over her face against the dry dust their mounts kicked up, thinking. "Kitana is back, gone depressed and idle in her bedchamber while her playtoy Liu Kang is tortured. They are Revenants no more, but the Kitana and Liu Kang of the last Tournament, when she discovered me. The Shokan follow my mother now, and none know where Queen Sheeva is. Or if they know, they do not speak of it. The Shokan have no ruler, now. Shang Tsung has resumed his manipulation of everyone and everything that he can manage." Myself included, I am sure. But better the vile monster you know than the one you do not.

"What of the other Edenians and Earthrealmers?"

"Sister's companion Jade is… dead, I think. Or gone. Erron Black is still lurking around the fringes of things. The Cages are in the cells, father and daughter alike. The mother - the past version of her, like Kitana and Liu Kang - Shang Tsung keeps as a… token… from my parents. She has her purposes, with Sister and her toy, and with keeping an eye on the sorcerer. But I do not trust her."

"Much has changed indeed. No sign of anyone else we thought long dead?"

"There was no sign of you until I rode to the Tarkatan camp. Who knows who lurks in the Kuatan Jungle or out in Sun Do or the Setian Valley? For all I know, the Centaurans and a returned Osh-Tekk army mass somewhere, Cryomancers have returned to Arktika, and Shang Tsung is growing more hybrids somewhere in the Flesh Pits."

"You are paranoid, Mileena."

"My worries serve me well!" She turned in the saddle and her mount reared back, letting out a loud cry that was half-whinny half-scream. "I have yet to be proven wrong. Everyone has sought to betray me, Rain. Every hand wields a dagger, from Reiko's to yours. Even, you say, Tanya's. It is not paranoia if my worries come to pass each and every time!" Her fist clenched on the reins as she hauled her mount's head down, yanking it back to the dry ground. It shifted underneath her and she had to hold onto the saddle horn to keep her position on its back. She was certain Rain was laughing at her, the way the corners of his eyes tipped up slightly. Her jaw tightened, teeth clenching, the ones along her cheeks tight against each other.

"You were right to worry about your advisors closeted with Kotal," he conceded. "And you never quite did trust me."

"I still don't."

They spoke little as they continued to ride over the next few hours back towards the palace. Suddenly, she reined her beast in. It danced and sidled, throwing up dust and clods of dirt with its hooves. She smacked it irritably on the neck.

"Look." Mileena threw a hand up behind her in a signal to Rain and the others. She pointed down the rocky slope to a visible figure walking across the plain. It had a regular, even pace and could have been anyone - except it held a lantern. It cast a blue light, even noticeable in the bright sun.

"You found our prey," Rain said quietly, just loud enough for her to hear. "He's afoot, and we are mounted. We'll have our answers soon."

"I will wring them from him."

Mileena urged her fractious beast down the scree of the slope to the plains. Her heartbeat began to quicken as they approached him. Kollector neither sped up nor slowed, merely continuing the steady pace he had maintained since coming into their sight. Only once Mileena and Rain had cut him off, and her escort formed a semicircle behind him to block his retreat, did the Naknadan pause.

"Princess Mileena. I had not thought to see you again." His mouth spread, baring sharp teeth.

"No longer dead, Kollector. And I've heard you may have something I'm willing to pay for. Best to start our new relationship off well, isn't it?"

He squinted at her, clearly disbelieving. "What is it you think I have?"

"I want to know where her body is. Tanya's body. They say you know." She swallowed once, tip of her tongue slipping out as if to lick her lips before it retreated again.

"Your Edenian… friend? Kotal had her killed. But what happened to her after? That knowledge is not for sale. At any price." Kollector's mouth split into a sharp smile. The two smallest of his arms fidgeted slightly, and the four larger shifted restlessly in more obvious fashion.

"A word from me, and you - and your people - will regret it. Tell me what you know." Her fingers clenched and released on the reins, making the riding beast step sideways again.

"Do not threaten the Naknadans!" Kollector's eyes went wide, and she watched several of his arms fidget, reaching for weapons and pausing in their movements. "The knowledge of Tanya's body - what has happened - is not for sale. No matter what you threaten."

"Then you are useless to me, Kollector." She slid off her mount, feet connecting solidly with the ground. "And I'd hate to waste you."

She heard Rain chuckle beside and behind her. "Always to the point."

There was only a heartbeat before she drew her sai and lunged forward to attack.

It was not an easy fight; he was surprisingly quick on his feet, all of his arms moving in a blur and making it difficult to know which was coming for her and which was merely feinting. A blade would appear in one hand, a chakram in another, the chained mace in yet another. She tried to pick and choose against the array of brutally swinging weapons. She met his strikes with blows of her own. Her breathing grew heavier, filling her ears, and was almost matched by the rough sounds of weapon against weapon. She blocked one thrust of a blade, catching it between two tines of her sai and wresting it from Kollector's grip. He snarled and bent his arm, slamming his elbow - and its spike - into her hand.

The pain surged through her and the last of her restraint vanished as she surrendered herself to the Tarkatan bloodlust raging in her veins. She pushed off the ground and kicked out with her legs, knocking him backwards. Mileena kipped up and leapt backwards, dodging a thrown vial and a thrown chakram in turn. Cursing, Kollector reached behind him with his upper hands and pulled out more vials, throwing them at her feet. One burst into flame and the other an acrid sour smoke that made her cough and her eyes water. Unable to see him, she moved around lightly, sai at the ready to block or stab the moment the opportunity presented itself.

One of her sai clattered to the ground and she whirled in shock, seeing her hand hanging loosely. Her wounded blood-slick hand couldn't grip the weapon properly anymore. She wiped it roughly across her face, but it only smeared blood along in its wake, doing little to pause the bleeding. She roared with anger and frustration.

A heartbeat later, the sound stopped abruptly as Kollector's chained mace slammed into her ribs, knocking the breath out of her. She felt the crack and crunch of her ribs and the taste of blood. She cried out in pain and staggered back.

"Shao Kahn will not be happy when I bring you back - but perhaps I won't." Kollector's voice came from nearby. His figure pushed through the smoke towards her, four arms dangling. "The Tarkatans would pay well for you. Or the Kuatan corsairs might. They always like interesting things for trade."

"I am no one's bargaining chip." The comments gave her a fresh burst of anger and she backed up slowly, gnashing her teeth at the pain in her chest. She tried to inhale deeply and couldn't. Pain sliced through her. She saw Kollector's mace lash out again. She didn't dodge, she didn't duck. She closed her eyes, called up the innate Edenian magic within her, and pulled herself from in the path of the spiked mace to behind Kollector.

When the mace connected with nothing, he screamed in frustration. That suited her well enough as she leapt upward and slammed her sai down into the soft place where his neck and shoulder joined. She ripped her weapon down as she flipped over him. Her body weight dragged the weapon down through his chest, catching on his own ribs. It held in place and she ripped it out as he scrambled. He flailed wildly to pull the sai out of his body. Hands ripped at her, knocking her away and to the ground again.

She leapt onto him once more, kneeing him repeatedly in the chest and knocking him off balance. While his hands windmilled in the air, she seized the sai and knocked him to the earth. She slammed the point through his shoulder and pinned him to the ground. Blood seeped out onto the dry earth as he writhed.

"Tell me. This is your last chance."

"The Flesh Pits." Kollector's voice was choked, blood bubbling from the corner of his mouth. "On - on Shang Tsung's island." He coughed, sending spatters of red flying onto Mileena and Rain alike. When had he dismounted, closed the space to stand beside her? "Her body is there."

"He lied to me," Mileena snarled, thinking back to her earlier conversation with the sorcerer. Shang Tsung had spoken so smoothly. She should have recognized it for what it was, lies upon lies. She hadn't - she had suspected, yes, but she hadn't believed. Hadn't wanted to believe. "But you? I will give you your reward." Mileena reached up and pulled her mask down, knowing the feral smile that gaped from ear to ear. She lifted up an arm, only to feel a tight coil around her wrist. A rope of water stayed her hand, taut under Rain's control.

"Not yet, Mileena. He has answers for me, too."

"And will you ensure she does not kill me?" Kollector bared his teeth, sucking in a breath with obvious difficulty.

"She swore she would not kill you. I will ensure the future Empress keeps her word." Rain yanked on the liquid binding. Mileena rose and whirled around to stare at him, hatred and shock warring in her body.

"How dare you-"

"What do you know of Taven and Daegon, Kollector? Argus' sons, with his wife Delia?"

Kollector stopped for a moment, jaw working in thought, one pair of the smaller hands also frozen in their movement.

"I know of them, but where they are? That will cost you, son of Argus."

"Try again, Kollector. It's my hand that keeps her from ripping out your throat - and whatever else she wants." Rain spoke evenly, but Mileena didn't dare a look away from Kollector. She let her tongue slip out of her mouth, licking slickly at the blood on her face. The Naknadan tensed beneath her. "How much is your continued life worth?"

"Earthrealm." Kollector coughed again, spattering Mileena with blood and spittle. "I don't know where - but Earthrealm. Daegon has awoken already. I know nothing of Taven."

The coil of water vanished from her wrist. It suddenly increased in strength and shot out in a vicious jet from both hands.

Drawing his hands apart, he then slashed them across Kollector. The jets of water arced outwards, cutting off Kollector's head and portions of two arms. Dark blood arced briefly before slowing, pooling around the corpse. Mileena snarled and glared at Rain, but lunged forward towards the dead being. She dropped down onto the ground.

"Really, Mileena?"

"Waste not, want not. And Father always says not to play with my food." She reached down towards Kollector's chest, nails driving in towards where she was sure Naknadan ribs were, splitting him open with wrenching force. She sought out the last faint pulsing of his heart, and what she thought looked enough like a liver to be worthwhile. She was not entirely certain how much of him would be edible, but these, at least, would do.

She was absolutely ravenous.