Jin froze, faced with Lao's lightless eyes staring both into his face and straight through him. His mouth fell slack, and all the concern and fear and pain on his face relaxed as though hypnotized by Kung Lao's eyes. His shoulders slumped and cold, immediate resignation clouded his eyes. As soon as Lao was turned over, Jacqui gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth and she retreated a few steps towards the door. Jin's trembling hand touched Lao's chest. His shoulder. His face. Jin blinked once. Twice. His eyes welled up so fast that on his next blink silent tears fell rapidly. His cheeks reddened and his lip quivered with the force that he looked like he wanted to cry with, but he was stuck staring in disbelief.

"Jin, I'm . . . I'm so sorry," Cassie said.

He swallowed. Closed his mouth. Sniffled. His pain forgotten, from his knees he hoisted Lao 's body up and untangled him from the pedestal. He draped him across his lap, resting his head against his arm. Jin's shoulders shook once with a violent sob, so strong that no sound left his strained throat. He curled up over Lao, leaning his head down to rest his ear against his chest - one final desperate attempt to disprove what was right in front of his own eyes.

"He's gone," Cassie whispered.

Jin sat for a few seconds, tears and snot dripping freely onto the metal dragon stitched into Lao's robes. He closed his eyes. Lifted his head from Lao's chest. He covered his face with both hands.

And he broke down completely.

His chest heaved with sharp, painful breaths, choking thick with emotion between sobs. The tears spilled out from between his fingers and trailed down his nose, chin, and arms. He slowly rocked back and forth over Lao's body from the force of it.

Takeda quickly put up a few mental blocks, making sure to close his psyche to the full depth of Jin's grief. It wasn't enough for the strength of the empathy that came with his gift. His heart sank and bled, and tears welled up in his own eyes. He felt the lump growing in his throat, and when Jin sobbed again it was enough to cause the tears to fall down his cheeks. He sniffled and wiped his eyes, not bothering to hide it from any of them. He glanced at all of them, and when he caught Jacqui's eyes she was already crying too.

Takeda put his hand on Jin's shoulder as his gesture of comfort and Jacqui nestled herself into Takeda's side. He wrapped his other arm around Jacqui's back, pulling her close. She hugged him around the waist and cried into his chest. He rubbed small circles into her back and squeezed Jin's shoulder.

"He - he was just restored!" Jin lamented between his tears. "Raiden just restored him back from a revenant. He barely got to live again!" He cried even harder, and that wet wheezing punched its way into each breath. He shifted his weight, and Takeda saw through Jin's vest that the red stain on his bandages was growing from the tension on his abdomen.

"I'm so sorry," Jacqui said.

"Lao . . . I'm sorry," Jin cried, ignoring her condolences. He leaned over Kung Lao again. "I'm sorry I couldn't-" He choked, and couldn't finish the sentence before he broke down again.

Takeda felt from his sheer proximity to Jin that this was deeper than the loss of a loved one. It was no secret now much Jin admired and idolized Kung Lao. He was Jin's hero. Lao always believed in Jin, making attempts to reach out to him even after he deviated from society and family and started thieving. In turn, Jin respected Lao's individual skill and personality as they deserved to be respected. Jin thought of him as great in his own right, not great in Liu Kang's wake. He loved Lao like a brother and treated him as more than a cousin. The way he spoke about Lao on the regular, with such admiration and awe . . . It was absolutely devastating to Jin to have lost him.

They sat with Jin in silence until his sobs softened to the occasional heave of his shoulders, down to slight hiccups and then to sniffles. They waited until he sat back on his haunches, lowering his hands from his face. He raised his head, craning his neck back and avoiding all of their gazes to stare at the ceiling, blinking the edges of a dizzy spell away.

"How-" He paused to clear his throat, wincing and rubbing his side. He wiped his nose. "How are we gonna move him?" His voice was thick with tears. "How are we gonna carry him?"

Takeda's first and immediate thought was that it wasn't feasible. They couldn't carry Lao with them through the tunnels. They were weak, injured, and pressed for time. Lao would only slow them down further and would be a burden. That, and the process of decay could attract scavengers, and that would be incredibly dangerous and nasty to deal with.

He didn't have the heart to say that out loud. Nor did he have the emotional energy to fight the fight he knew would ensue with any sort of dissent. He looked to each of them, hoping to catch some semblance of their opinions on taking Lao with them. He caught Cassie's eyes first and scanned her for her thoughts.

" . . . How do I tell him he shouldn't take Lao with us? Wonder what Takeda thinks. Maybe if I don't say anything, he will-"

Takeda shook his head, staring straight at her. "No I won't."

"God, Takeda, stop it!" Cassie whined. "Drive me nuts when you do that!"

"Hello?" Jin asked. He swallowed thickly. "How are we gonna carry him?"

"Jin . . . " Takeda began. Jin looked up over his shoulder at Takeda, eyes wet and wide, puffy, nose red. He looked broken, like he would completely shatter under another ounce of pressure. Takeda cut himself off, unable to bring himself to say it.

Jacqui peeled herself from his side and dropped to her knees next to Jin and Lao. "I can carry him," she said. "Over my shoulder. Just like in training."

Takeda sighed heavily, and Jacqui shot him a dead-panned look, challenging him immediately. Of course Jacqui would find a way to help, even if it wasn't the best decision. It was one of the many things he found incredibly endearing and that he adored her for, on any other day. He wondered if she even considered what he and Cassie did, and he debated on how he'd explain it to her period, let alone in front of Jin. Her face changed again. She raised her eyebrows, mouth open expectantly, waiting for him to say something.

For just a second, he felt incredibly selfish. Jacqui made the physical act of carrying a dead body around seem so easy and so obvious. For her, it probably was. It took him another second to remember why it wasn't feasible. It wasn't just the physical taxation that would come, or just the decay either, but also the logistical dangers of carrying a body through this world. She'd have to take time to carefully stow the body away before she entered a battle if she didn't want it to be collateral damage. Those were precious seconds that Jacqui had to spend away from the battle, and those seconds could mean all the difference for them and for her.

"Jacqui, I don't think . . . " he murmured, before he even knew how he wanted to try and breach the point.

Her eyes flared and she leveled a hard stare at him. Not angry yet, but teetering close if he took the discussion where she anticipated he was taking it. 'I know what you're going to say,' her eyes seemed to say, and he picked up the sentiments even without directly reading her. 'I know it's not ideal.' Her eyes flicked to Jin, once. 'But it's for him. For our friend.'

Takeda cursed softly. "What do you think?" he asked Cassie, hoping she had the emotional strength to contradict Jacqui and Jin. But when he looked she shook her head violently, throwing her arms up.

"Not touching it."

"Not touching what?" Jacqui asked, turning back to Cassie. "Say it."

"Jacqui," he sent to her. "We can't carry a body through the caves with us." Her head whipped back around.

"Yes we can! I'll do it!"

"I don't doubt that you can do it. What I mean is that there are risks involved-"

"I know that. I know it's dangerous, but I'm willing to take those risks for Jin. It's the right thing to do-"

"Don't do this, please," he begged. "It's so much more than just carrying Lao around. Do you understand that?-"

"Of course I understand. I'm not stupid." Her mental voice grew louder, her tone sharper. Nastier. Like a guard dog standing watch over Jin and Lao, growling at the threat.

"Woah. Never said you were!"

"No, but you're talking down to me, like I lack the skills necessary to evaluate danger. I've already reviewed it in my head, and I decided I want to do the right thing anyway."

His patience for the entire conversation was growing extremely thin. He didn't want to talk about it, and he didn't want to feel about it either. His heart squirmed inside his chest, his cheeks heated in the shame he felt at having to be the one to say it. He had to resist putting himself in Jin's shoes on impulse. He had to resist picturing Master Hasashi there instead of Lao, and he had to resist it because he knew what he would want to do if it was him. He knew what he would want to do, and he knew what the smart thing was to do, and the fact that they didn't coincide would cause him far more pain than it would cause to whoever was suggesting it to him.

In his haste to silence the debate for his own emotional sake, rather than approach it with the sensitivity the situation deserved and the respect Jacqui and Jin deserved, he thought to win it outright with the best and last word. In retrospect he knew how wrong it was, but it didn't occur to him at the time.

"So you're literally about to carry a dead body through the caves with us?" He wanted to make it graphic to prove his point. To make her see the situation his way and change her mind before she could give Jin any semblance of a belief that they could realistically drag Lao with them. "You're gonna let a dead body decompose and rot over your shoulder like Sub-Zero was rotted when we found him?" He pictured Sub-Zero, his eviscerated body, organs and skin shredded and greyed and yellowed. The stench. The stages of rot, including the melting stage. He projected it all to Jacqui in an onslaught of images. She screwed her eyes shut, turning her head away from him.

"Stop," she said aloud. She put her hand up to him, palm out.

"You're gonna let him rot until he stinks and attracts spiders and scorpions . . . " He sent her the scorpion, wearing the decomposed body. " . . . and whatever the hell that thing was that just attacked us? You're gonna stow Lao away before every battle and pick him back up and haul him around after we're bruised and battered and tired-"

"Stop!" she yelled back, putting up a block to cut him off.

"What's he doing?" Cassie asked, stepping forward to potentially get between the two of them.

"Yes," Jacqui said. "I'll leave him somewhere until we clear the area! Then I'll go back and retrieve him when we know it's safe."

"That's so incredibly inconvenient, and is contingent upon you and you alone being able to carry him!"

"So you won't do it, then? You're not willing to do this for him? Have a heart, Takeda!"

He instantly guarded himself against her attempts to play on his sentiments, not caring anymore if it deteriorated into an actual fight. "No, no, don't turn this on me, and try to make me feel bad! This isn't about me wanting to help Jin or not. Of course I want to do it for him. I care about you guys, and I would do anything for Jin if I thought it was reasonable. But this is so, so different. This is bigger than him, and bigger than Lao. This concerns the whole team. Because we're here on a mission, and we have to also consider the others. Those on Hanzo and Kenshi and Jax's recon team, who might still be alive. Dragging Lao around will get in the way, I promise you!"

Jacqui visibly scoffed and shook her head, glaring up at him. " . . . How dare you say something like that? How could you say something like that about Lao's body, when there's a chance we could find Master Hasashi or Kenshi the same way? Is this how you'll want to treat them? Will you even fucking care if they end up dead? Is this how you'll expect me to treat my father? By forcing me to leave him here to rot?"

Her mental voice cracked on the last word. Her eyes welled up at the very thought, and she quickly wiped them dry. They pierced through him, her pain evident on her stoney face. She shook her head softly. Her disappointment in him cut through him, and he understood how upset his words made her. It clearly meant a lot to her to bring Lao, but he didn't feel as though he was being unreasonable. He didn't feel he was in the wrong for suggesting they not carry a cumbersome dead body with them, no matter who it was. He refused to rationalize the emotion enough to warrant facing the dangers they would face because of it.

"How dare you," she sent to him again, eyes narrowing in the resurgence of her anger. "I'm so disappointed in you right now. How fucking insensitive and selfish of you to say that."

He stood dumbfounded at the vehemence of her words before he understood the attack she was making against his character. His chest filled with rage, indignant over the implication that he had the capacity to be so malicious so easily, and for no discernible reason, when she knew him better than that. She definitely knew his empathy better than that after dating for the better part of a year and a half. He felt personally attacked by the implication that he cared so little for her, he would do the same to her so readily if they found Jax in the same state. He was enraged that she thought he wouldn't care if they found those closest to him dead. That he would be able to walk away from them with the same 'ease' she assumed he possessed now.

He would walk away if he had to, if it meant prioritizing her life and all of their lives over a life already lost. Realizing it was the better thing to do wouldn't make the decision any less hard. It would be a hard decision, but a smart one, and that's all he was trying to do: make them see the smart decision. But he couldn't explain that to her without trapping himself. By acknowledging that he would walk away at all, she proved him selfish. By expressing any sort of reluctance to leave Kenshi and Hanzo if it came to it, he proved himself a hypocrite.

Instead, he lashed back out at her. He didn't know why. Maybe to trap her back before she did it to him. "Then why'd you leave Sub-Zero, huh?" he shouted out loud.

"Wh-what?" Jin sniffled, looking up at Takeda with those broken eyes, accusing him of the very thing he was fighting with Jacqui about.

Takeda ignored him. "Why'd you let us freeze him and walk away from him? It's the same situation, isn't it?"

"I didn't want to leave him! And Cassie was the one to suggest we could carry him! I asked you guys then the exact same thing I asked you now: if that was how we'd handle the others - by leaving them to rot or be eaten or whatever. But then y'all got mad at us and said no, we weren't taking him along!"

That wasn't exactly how Takeda remembered it, but he rolled with it because it proved his point. "Right! We probably said that because it was dangerous and stupid and unreasonable to carry around a DEAD BODY!" The last word echoed through the cave and he realized he was shouting. He didn't care. It felt good.

"No, it was because he was already in two pieces and he already smelled! Lao isn't at all at that stage yet, which means that this is in fact a different situation, and we should take him!"

"No, it's not different, Jacqui! We just can't take him with us. That's it. I don't know how else to explain this to you so that you realize how ridiculous you're being. I tried to explain my reasoning but for some reason it's not good enough for you and you'd still rather not do the smart thing! I'm sorry, Jin, but Lao's too hindering. We just can't take him!" he said again. "He'll get in our way, slow us down, tire us out, and bring danger! Cassie agrees with me!"

He pointed to her and her eyes went wide at the sudden attention. They flicked between Jacqui and Takeda before she threw her hands up again. Takeda rolled his eyes.

"And also," he continued, "how fucking selfish of YOU to prioritize a dead body over your team's safety!"

"Fuck you, Takeda!" Jin roared, voiced strained raw from his crying. It cracked again, and Jin didn't bother to stop the fresh tears that slipped into the dried tear tracks that carved into the blood and dirt on his face. "He's not just a dead body! He was my cousin!"

"I know who he was to you, and how important he was to you. But my point is that if I had a choice between your dead cousin Lao," he said, slicing his left hand through the air, "and you," he added, slicing with his right hand, "I'm picking you!"

"Of course!" Jacqui said with false brightness. "Because that's really understanding of you. Real nice, Mister Empath. Thank you for your acknowledgment of Lao being someone he really cares about, and still forcing him to choose." She paused, closing her eyes. She shook her head again, so softly that if Takeda didn't see her braids moving he would have missed it. She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly, then folded her hands, locking her fingers over her mouth.

Takeda's heart sank. The change in demeanor meant that she was about to deliver a crusher. Some kind of retort that would demolish the argument entirely and end it, regardless of who was right.

"I hope," she said slowly, calmly, "that Kenshi and Hanzo are alive and well. I hope they're alive because I care about them and I want them to be. But I also hope for your sake that they're together and having a fantastic time down there in that stupid, fucking mausoleum," she chided, her tone so uncharacteristically laced with venom that it gave Takeda pause before he actually processed what she said. "I hope you don't have to feel what Jin is feeling right now, and I hope to the Elder Gods that you don't ever have to make the choice you're asking him to make right now. The choice you're obviously okay with forcing me to make if the time comes. I hope you are spared of all this."

Of course he had nothing to say to that. So he stared back instead placing all of his rage into his eyes and standing up to her retort. He ended his side of the argument with a sneer and a "Do what you want!" that snapped on the last 't' sound. He whirled around and left ehe small recess where they had gathered. He stormed back down the tunnel, past the pedestals and past the monster's tunnel. Desperate to be anywhere else where they weren't, away from Jacqui's accusations and disappointment, away from Jin and his bleeding emotions, and away from the argument and its outcome. His blood boiled, pulsing in his temples in the form of a raging headache. His heart raced and his fists clenched so hard they shook.

He wished there were spiders here. Spiders, or the stupid scorpion, or even the monster. Something alive he could use to work off what he felt. He picked up a broken piece of marble and growled, hurling it with all of his might at the bloodied numbers on the wall. It dashed across the rock, the cracking sound and the shower of pebbles reverberating through the cave, and his shout with it.

With nothing else to do with his frustration, he paced and placed blame. If Raiden hadn't tried to explore the Netherrealm like a fucking idiot, then Hanzo and Kenshi, Jax, and whoever else wouldn't have gotten themselves lost. Sonya would've had no need to send anyone else. Then the four of them wouldn't be there. They wouldn't have to be in the shitty spider caves, finding the breadcrumb trail of their dead friends. They wouldn't have to wonder who they would find next around the next corner.

As he fumed, pacing down the tunnel where they came, he saw the beast carcass. Still with his empty gauntlet and broken whip trailing from its mouth. He stepped up to the beast, grabbing the coil. He tugged as hard as he could and the whip pulled free with a sick, satisfying sound of tearing flesh. He kicked its face. Once. Twice. He loosed the only in tact whip he had and pried its stiff mouth open with his feet. Takeda opened the blades and placed it in its mouth, slicing them against the softest places of its unresponsive gullet. He pulled the plasma blade from his belt and activated it. He slashed down, the hot blade sizzling through and cauterizing tissue.

If the creature hadn't killed Lao, they wouldn't have this dilemma and he wouldn't have fought with Jacqui over it. The blame was so, so easy to place. He mixed it with his rage, and like a molotov cocktail it exploded. Something inside of him snapped. His mind went blank. He launched a violent onslaught against the dead creature. Stabbing, hacking, carving and rending flesh. He cut into its exposed stomach, into its chest. Over and over again his blade struck home, but the force of his strikes weren't enough for him. The damage wasn't enough for him. He couldn't have lashed at it hard enough, like throwing a punch or running in a dream. Throwing his body weight into it. He didn't stop, even when the blade sliced through the abdomen and organs slid out with a hiss. Instead he moved up to the chest, between its front two legs. He cut wheatever he could reach of that area.

He went at it until his strikes weakened and his breath labored. Until the red faded from his vision and black took its place at the edges and exhaustion tied lead to his arms. He collapsed to his hands and knees, replaying the argument with Jacqui over and over in his head. What he said, what he wanted to say, and how he went about it. And he was regretful of all three. Jacqui and Jin deserved so much more respect from him, and so did Lao, and he felt disgusted that he thought pushing it on her like he did was a good idea. She called him selfish, and what he said had truly been. In the effort to be right he forgot the gravity of what they were discussing and he stomped all over her and him in the process.

He especially considered her last statement to him.

He truly was lucky that it was Lao and not Hanzo or Kenshi. Jin's only reason for being on this mission was lost to him forever, and the weight of the knowledge that it could've been his family crashed down on Takeda's heart. How close had he come to mourning instead of Jin? Lao had probably sacrificed himself and sacrificed ever seeing his family again so that Takeda's family could live. What right did he have to disrespect him and Jin the way that he did?

Raw despair raised itself from the bottom of his chest and settled in his heart. He realized he was crying again. Takeda swallowed his tears, feeling as though he had no more reason to be upset than Jin. He latched on to that thought, and it was calm enough and real enough to allow him to release the rest of his anger. He sat where he was, breathing, calming himself. He read the energy of the room around him. Felt the hot, stale tunnel air around his body and the solid floor underneath him, imagining he was placing himself directly in the center and grounding himself. He called his mind back from the edge of rage, most remnants of his feelings destroyed by his tirade. While he breathed, he made sure to recognize each emotion he was feeling. He pictured himself breathing them all back out into the void of energy, releasing them and their thoughts.

He waited until his meditation was finished and he felt completely calm again, as though he had never been upset in the first place. He dusted himself off, and felt it safe to go back to the others. He tucked his broken ship into his pack and trailed back down the tunnel. He walked back, in time to find Jacqui and Jin still on the floor. She pulled Jin into a tight embrace, with Cassie's comforting hand on his shoulder.

Jacqui said something into Jin's ear, shaking her head emphatically. He nodded in response to her statements. Jacqui raised her eyes and saw Takeda hanging back near the first recess, and she glared at him over Jin's shoulder. Takeda resisted the nearly overpowering impulse to read her and know what she was saying. That would've truly been malicious when it was clearly meant for Jin alone. He crossed his arms and leaned against the cave wall, waiting until she pulled away from Jin. Cassie bunched the sleeve of her suit up around her hands and wiped Jin's tears and blood from his face like they were consoling a child, then she said something that eked a small chuckle from him.

They stood up together and steadied Jin against another dizzy spell. Jacqui gently nudged him out of the way and positioned herself behind Lao's head. She hooked her arms under his, and Takeda figured they decided to bring him along. Not even a shred of anger manifested itself. If that's what they wanted to do then he wouldn't fight it anymore. He didn't have the energy. Instead of hauling him over her shoulder, Jacqui tugged Lao free of the recess and lay him flat on the side of the path. She crossed his arms across his chest in a peaceful position, and brushed her hands over his face to close his eyes.

The three of them stood before Lao, heads bowed. Driven by respect, Takeda left his place alone and stood behind them, not feeling worthy enough to stand level with Jin or Jacqui.

Jin intoned a mantra nearly silently. When he was finished he folded his hands and bowed, holding the position while he said his prayers. They mimicked his actions and Takeda made sure to apologize. He apologized to Lao, to all generations of the Kung family, to Jin and Jacqui. He prayed to Raiden, the Elder Gods, and to the Buddha that Lao's soul would know peace despite not being laid to rest properly. And he prayed that Lao's soul would find reincarnation or Nirvana, whichever was right in Lao's case.

After his prayer he met eyes with Jin. He was too embarrassed to say anything, but Jin grabbed a fistful of his collar and twisted, jerking Takeda forward. He drew his arm back, twisting his body, then threw his fist forward and slammed it so hard into Takeda's jaw that stars burst in his vision. His knees buckled, blood collected in his mouth, and the sound went away from his ears for a second. H swore he lost consciousness for a second but when the stars cleared and the cave stopped spinning he was still standing. No, he realized, Jin's fist was still tangled in his suit, holding him up. On impulse Takeda clutched at Jin's vest, but only to steady himself. He recovered, staring at Jin's set jaw as he clearly fought the pain in his ribs and stomach to hold Takeda there.

Then he pulled him into a tight hug. He squeezed Takeda so tightly that he could barely move his arms and hug back. But once he did, he imagined pressing all of the negative emotion right out of him.

Jin held Takeda at arm's length and released him with a cold nod. A nod that didn't yet forgive him for what he said but was willing to put it to rest for the time being. Jacqui, he noticed, refused to look at him.

"Are you ready?" she asked Jin.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm ready. He took his position at the third switch, taking a chakram from his belt and holding it in a ready position, aimed at the door. Cassie and Jacqui held their pistols, trained in the same direction.

Takeda took his place at the fourth switch. He readied a plasma kunai, studying the door for the first time. Round and expertly carved, at the very center rested a stone skull embellished with gold gilting. Two Aztec or maybe Mayan reliefs on either side were of some kind of four legged creature that curled around the skull. The inlay was beautiful and intricate, so detailed that he couldn't make out any one design or pattern. Some had worn almost smooth as well, disrupting the artistry.

"I'm ready," Jin said, casting one final look across Lao's form. Then he raised his eyes and chin, dutifully ignoring him.

Takeda flipped the lever and a click sounded from somewhere in the stone. He heard Cassie flip her lever, but waited for Jin to flip his and walk past Lao before he left his own recess.

Jacqui hesitated and waited until they were all circled around the door before flipping the last switch.

The door shuddered and lifted, disappearing into the stone.

A/N:

Pour one out for Lao.

The next chapter's gonna be fun and I've already got everything planned out at least. I'll just have to flesh it out over the next couple days!

As always, thanks so much for sticking with me for this long! Thank you to all who have reviewed and followed and favorited and everything! Leave a comment if you have the time! ~~
~Keyblader