Pop!

The cork jerked from the small glass vial in Skarlet's hand. The rain above trickled in the night and a small veil of dense air began to slowly blanket the city. She had to be quick. She had to silent.

This had to be a secret.

It had been a few nights since the siege and the blood caked the streets still. Normally in Edenia, it rains almost daily. The planet was covered in lush jungles and sparse in deserts. The palace rested on an ancient plateau carved out of the planet eons ago by the still present rushing waters behind the walls. The bridge into the city was a short walk, and not the only means around to it, so she had to use her blood magic to sneak away from the palace.

Just outside beyond the great walkway the city immediately carved itself as close to the edge of the canyon as they could. A wall to protect them, thus she could go unseen once outside guarded grounds, but where she planned to go was sacred.

The very spot where Kitana's blood stained the cobblestone road, she knelt and looked both ways. Satisfied none would notice, and the only noise was that of the tavern drinkers several streets over, she withdrew her blood vial and waited until the drops of rain hastened and rejuvenated the dried essence that bruised the streets.

Shallow drops, minuscule tears of blood lifted from the stone and arched into the vial. Kitana's blood.

Once she was satisfied with the amount, enough to fill half of the small vial, she pressed the cork back in and looked around one last time.

A figure, dark in the dim light stood behind her and watched until she turned, startled, and fell to the blood stained street. The vial rolled from her hand.

Quick to snatch it before the figure could see its content, she got a better look at who had snuck on her and gasped with horror.

"You know that doesn't belong to you." Kitana kneeled down to her level.

The former Queen of Edenia reached out to the wet earth below and if she could, would have scraped the blood off the stone and mud.

She smiled and rubbed her fingers together as if it had caked them, then stood back.

"What are you doing?" Kitana mused.

"None of your business." Skarlet snapped back with a quiet hiss. "You're not her."

"No, but now I know every thought that she thought, and every feeling that she felt. I'm as much her as she was." Kitana reached for Skarlet, to guide her up, even if they could never touch.

Skarlet pulled herself from the street, grunted in frustration and scraped the blood from her arm and clothes. Quickly, she scurried from the spot to abandon such a sight, to flee from the entity that tormented her as well.

Hidden in a dark alley in the west corner of the wall that faced the cliff, she shrouded herself in the shadow, ready to transport back to the palace, but Kitana appeared beside her.

She couldn't see her face in the night, but could hear Kitana's voice as if it were in her ear.

"I brought you back for a reason, Skarlet." Kitana added, "we don't have to fight."

"I don't care." Skarlet pushed the voice from her head and moved along the wall, through the image of Kitana and closer to he bridge.

"Funny, I give you a second chance at life just to be disrespected?" Kitana appeared beside her again. Arms folded, her face half-visible in the moonlight.

"What do you want?" Skarlet couldn't push her away, couldn't run, couldn't hide.

"Kill Raiden. That's why you're here." Kitana continued in the form of the Thunder God, "now that Kitana is dead, only Raiden and Liu Kang need to be punished for tampering with time."

"Before I came back, I would have done this without hesitation, now," Skarlet spat at the image, the wad of saliva slapped the stone wall behind Raiden. "It's not worth my time."

Raiden morphed down into Skarlet as she was before death. Covered in blood, her own, and a fatal chunk torn from her flesh.

"I wasn't strong enough then." She taunted the real Skarlet, "but now I can do it. The Thunder God will pay for doing this to me!"

Skarlet rushed through herself and stepped into a puddle of blood that emerged beneath her. The entity watched as she used that blood magic of hers to flee yet again.

Outside the walls, Kotal Kahn rested within the caravan parties. With the Osh-Tekk and Tarkatans at his side, they formed a camp around the front of the city. He wasn't comfortable in the palace, not this one, nor was there room for him and his army. The tent city they created with Mileena's newly acquired resources held firm to the ground and was as comfortable as anywhere in Osh-Tekk or Outworld.

In his personal tent, made of linen and hide, adorned in the symbols of his home realm and Outworld, two guards stood outside. One being Erron Black, the other Nightwolf.

Inside, Kotal Kahn had a king sized bed of furs and silks, a base of wood that he could rest on, and two chests, to store his gear. One was solid oak and adorned in rabbit furs and a crest of feathers that nestled the jade gem.

So much had happened in so little time. He had almost forgotten it with the burial of the Queen and the battle beforehand. Finally, however, he believed it was time. Kotal Kahn had found a large stone in the ground beyond the walls and set it between the two chests. To smash it, he'd use another medium sized stone to press it between them until the energy could release and Jade's spirit finally be able to speak with him.

Slowly he placed the gem on the flat of the large stone and then retrieved the other. He wore nothing but brown breeches and winingas to protect his feet. Not adornments on his head, no paint to display his heritage, just Ko'atal, just the man behind the mask. She would deserve as much.

His chest heaved, his breathing unstable. This was it. Though he may not have her back, he would get to speak to her after hundreds of years without her. In a moment of clarity, with not a single thought to hold him back, he shattered the gem between the stones and stood back to marvel at the damage dealt.

Unsure what to expect, his eyes hid behind his hand as the bright light stabbed into them. Green, luminous, and then as dim as the world around him. In his tent he had candles on the other chest to light the place, four large ones, and three small in the front. Beyond that, darkness.

"Nothing?" He saw the light fade from the gem as it turned to jet black.

"Is that who I am to you, Ko'atal?" A voice tapped his ears to turn. She waited for him on the bed as he had seen her for many years after hard days of war, after long nights of being the Kahnum of Outworld. It was how he'd like to see her, rather than the near faceless husk shattered beneath Shao Kahn's hammer.

He rushed to touch her and found his fingers trace through through the fur and silk.

"I would have hoped to touch you one last time."

Jade slider her hand over his when he positioned it beside her, and as they connected, merged even, she smiled. It wasn't enough for him, but it was what he'd get.

"Does it still hurt?" She pondered.

"Always."

"I died a warrior's death. Like an Osh-Tekk. You should be proud of me."

"Always." He repeated, unsure what to say, ask, but he realized time was thin. She was the one that reached out to him. "I travelled through hell and back for you, but I couldn't do it."

"I wouldn't want that weight on my shoulders." She answered traced his arm to his shoulder, never able to truly touch him. "You know, in the end, they won't choose you."

"What?"

"Fate, destiny, when the time comes, it won't be yours." She continued, eyes locked on his, "he must win."

"I am the Kahnum of Outworld, if anyone can defeat Blaze–"

She stopped him, her hand at his lips though merely a gesture, but spoke, "still stubborn. There's no time left, Ko'atal. He must win, not you."

"Who?"

She slowly faded, her words formed a hollow echo in his ears as she leaned up to whisper into them. Desperate, he wrapped his arms around her and for all the muscle he built, and all the strength he had, could on hold himself.