Chapter Seventy-Six: Bloody Tears

The tapping of Jade's foot grew faster as she became more and more impatient. Raiden has been gone for quite a while and Earthrealm's warriors were beginning to get worried. Even Liu Kang was becoming anxious about his master's well-being, and he glared at the demon guards that still blocked the way to the entrance doors. The Mortal Kombat champion could easily take them out if he wanted to, but Raiden insisted that they wait for him to return. How much longer could they wait?

"I cannot take this anymore."

Everyone turned to Sub-zero, whose form was now surrounded by a mist like aura. He started stomping towards the sentries.

"We should not be standing here doing nothing! We have to-!"

"Sub-zero, please."

A hand grabbed the cryomancer's arm to stop him. Sub-zero looked over his shoulder to see it was Liu Kang who had stopped him.

"Lord Raiden told us to wait for him to return. We must have faith in him."

"But what about Smoke? We need to find him!"

"And we will, my friend. But we must be patient. If we barge in there now, we could put Smoke's life at risk."

Kuai froze. He had been so blinded by his rage and worry that he had not thought about that. Who knows what Quan Chi would do if they charged into the palace uninvited. Sighing, Sub-zero allowed his power to diminish from around him and calmed himself.

"…You are right. Forgive my rashness, I-"

Just then, a huge explosion could be heard, cutting Kuai off in the middle of his sentence. the Earthrealmers and the demons looked back and saw smoke coming from one of the many towers of Quan Chi's fortress. There was now a big, flaming hole in the structure and the guards, forgetting about their post for the moment, rushed towards the tower to see what was going on. The Warriors of light decided they should follow the sentries and they too ran to the sight of the explosion.

"What was that?"

Raiden asked Quan Chi this, but the sorcerer only smirked in response. The thunder god was getting incredibly tired of seeing that smug expression on Quan Chi's face. Since it did not seem that the sorcerer was going to give him an answer, Raiden sprinted out of the room and headed in the direction he had heard the explosion come from. The closer he came to the location, the more smoke clouded the palace and if he had been a mere mortal, Earthrealm's protector would have had some difficulty seeing where he was going. Fortunately, it did not take Raiden long to reach his destination.

A thick fog almost obscured the contents of the room, but with his enhanced vision, Raiden could clearly see what laid within it. And it was nothing but destruction. Books had been burned to a crisp, a few flaming pages floating in the air being the only evidence that they existed. The lanterns that had hung from the ceiling were now broken on the floor and the small amount of fire that had kept the illuminated was now slowly diminishing on the ground. But what had really caught Raiden's attention was the gaping hole that was the only source of light in the room, yet due to how dark the Netherrealm naturally was, not much light was given.

"To mi je líto. Moc se omlouvám…"

The god's pace quickened when he heard someone talking, even though their voice came out as a whisper.

"Smoke!?"

Raiden called into the fog as he continued to move forward and he spotted a figure laying on the floor, their body curled into a ball like a frightened child.

"Smoke?"

Kneeling down to the floor, Raiden slowly reached out to Tomas' trembling form. But just before the god could make contact….

"STOP!"

…Smoke suddenly yelled at him, and then Raiden was pushed back by an unseen force. Earthrealm's protector was thrown into the only wall that was still intact from the explosion, but fortunately, he was not injured. Even so, Raiden had to admit that Tomas' attack did sting. And that was coming from a god. Not only that, but Smoke's voice when he spoke sounded deep and a bit distorted like two people were trying to speak at once.

Just as he was standing up from the floor, Raiden heard many footsteps coming his way. The first group to enter the room was the two demon guards he had seen earlier and they immediately charged through the smoke without even thinking. The thunder god held his hand out and shouted towards the guards to warn them about what laid beyond the fog.

"Wait, you need to fall back! It is not-!"

But it was all in vain. The next thing Raiden heard were screams and the sound of bones breaking. The god looked down at the floor, where small trails of blood was running towards him from the smoky abyss. Despite them being on the side of evil, Raiden did feel bad for the demons. It was clear that the guards were forced to serve under Quan Chi as his servants and he felt that maybe, somewhere deep down within them, there was a hint of good. Much like Tomas.

"Master!"

Raiden turned to the entrance and was not surprised to see his champions had arrived. Liu Kang was by his side in an instant and offered his hand to the god, but Raiden shook his head.

"I am alright. It is not me you should be concerned about."

Just then, something was thrown to the ground at the warriors' feet from the fog. It was the severed head of one of the demon guards and its mouth hung wide open with black blood gushing out of it. The Champions of Light were used to blood and gore, but Raiden was now even more concerned about the one responsible for this chaos.

"Smoke is in there. But he is not himself."

Sub-zero and Jade both looked to Raiden and then back to the mist. The cryomancer spoke in a whisper as he looked into the abyss.

"Tomas…what has happened to you?"

Kuai Liang then felt someone gently grab his hand and he looked down to see it was Jade. The Edenian looked back at him with glistening eyes.

"Sub-zero, he needs us. Do you understand?"

"…I do. But how can we help him?"

Jade turned back to the fog and her eyes narrowed.

"We can start by being by his side. He is hurting. And he is alone. We need to ease his pain in any way we can."

Sub-zero immediately nodded his head.

"Then let us hurry."

"Go."

Kuai and Jade watched as Raiden pushed himself off the wall and nodded to them.

"I can feel Smoke's presence fading little by little. You must not allow him to fade. You cannot."

Sub-zero and Jade shared a look before again turning back to Raiden, their determination clear in their eyes as they spoke to Earthrealm's protector three simple words.

"We will not."

Then the two warriors sprinted into the fog and disappeared from their comrades' sight. It did not take them long to locate Tomas, but when they saw him, their jaws dropped. A ring of blood surrounded the silver-haired man's form and the demon guards' bodies laid about, mangled and almost unrecognizable. Their eyes had been taken out, holes replaced the spot where their hearts were supposed to be, and one of them was missing a head, which Kuai and Jade already known. The cryomancer shook his head.

"This is not Tomas' work. He would never do something like this. This is…This…"

Sub-zero could not even finish his sentence. He simply walked forward until he was next to his friend and slowly knelt down.

"Tomas…I know you can hear me."

Smoke did not respond. He continued to lay on his back with his hands over his eyes, black tears still streaming down his face. Kuai Liang did think that was unusual, but that was not his concern right now.

"I need you to talk to me, Tomas. I cannot help you if I-"

The cryomancer was cut off back a large, black tentacle emerging from the ground between his feet. He quickly moved out of the way before the tendril could stab him and he stepped back to where Jade was standing. The two had not expected such an attack, but they quickly regained their composure. Sub-zero sighed.

"You are not pushing me away. Not this time."

After a moment, the tentacle disappeared back into the ground and Kuai again tried to approach Tomas.

"I did not want to push you, Tomas. I wanted to give you time to gain the courage to talk to me. But Tomas, that time is now. You need help."

Sub-zero did not expect any response, especially for Smoke to laugh at his words. The silver-haired man then removed his hand from his eyes and Kuai Liang saw that his comrade's eyes were no longer their normal silver color. Instead, they were pure white with no iris or pupil. They looked similar to Sindel's eyes, but instead of them being filled with warmth and kindness, all Sub-zero could see in Tomas' eyes was sadness…and fear.

"Do you not understand?"

The distortion in Smoke's voice was strange and Sub-zero taken aback by it. But Tomas did not acknowledge his friend's surprise as he continued.

"You cannot help me. No one can. All this time, I tried so hard to keep his power at bay. But soon I will be consumed by it and only he will remain. And there is nothing I can do about it."

Tomas wiped away his tears, but more continued to appear and he moved his head to look in Kuai's direction.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry for keeping this from you. From all of you. I was just…I was so scared that…that…"

Unable to finish his sentence, Smoke began to sob as he again covered his eyes. He just could not stand looking at Sub-zero and Jade, their worried expressions making him want to disappear. He did not deserve any of it. He did not deserve people who worried about him, who cared about him. Tomas was dead weight that had unfortunately been picked up by those he called his friends and now they were here in the Netherrealm because of him. This was all his fault.

The silver-haired man was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when he felt two hands being laid upon his cheeks and they held him firm to force him to look up. And what he saw was the brightest, emerald green eyes he has ever seen.

"You are forgiven."

Jade smiled down at Tomas and used her thumbs to wipe away more of his tears.

"I do not fully understand what is happening here, but…I can see how much of a burden it has been on you."

As he watched her, Smoke could not help but think about the day they met, when Jade bumped into him while escaping a group of Tarkatans. They were in the exact same position as they were then with their faces only a few inches apart.

"Tomas, I…I am here for you. We all are. But you cannot keep us in the dark any longer."

With a single tear sliding down her cheek, Jade pulled Tomas into a hug and buried her head into his shoulder.

"I made a promise to you, and I intend to keep it."

The Edenian then let out a chuckle.

"And you cannot exactly keep your promise to me if you are dead, yes?"

Smoke's eyes widened when he remembered the promises he and Jade made to one another back at the Special Forces Base. They promised they would look after each other and make sure they lived to see another day. If there was one thing you can guarantee from Tomas Vrbada was that he will never break a promise. With that in mind, the man wrapped his arms around Jade and hugged her tightly.

"Yes. You are right."

Unbeknownst to Tomas and Jade, the fog around them was beginning to fade and soon the room was back to normal, aside from all the damage the silver-haired man had caused. Kuai Liang turned around and Raiden, Liu Kang, Kitana, and Nightwolf jogging towards them and they wasted no time asking if everything was alright. Smoke pulled Jade away to end their hug when he saw the others approaching and he gave them a nod.

"I apologize for worrying you all. I…I could not control my actions."

Tomas looked at Raiden, who he remembered attacking earlier.

"Lord Raiden, forgive me, I-"

"No need for apologies."

Raiden held out his hand to help Smoke up from the floor while Sub-zero did the same for Jade. Kuai Liang may be an assassin, but he was still a gentleman. Once he was up, Tomas looked around the room at each his comrades to see if they were alright. He still felt guilty for making them come all this way for him, but if they had been in his place, he knew he would have done the same. He would literally go to Hell and back for them as they have done for him.

"I suggest we return to Earthrealm as soon as possible."

Everyone's attention was now on Raiden.

"While I am glad you are safe, Tomas, we should not linger here any longer. This realm's darkness is beginning to become overwhelming."

Smoke nodded.

"I could not agree mo-"

Tomas suddenly stopped midsentence and again looked around the library. His friends stared at the silver-haired man curiously as he looked.

"Tomas, what is it?"

Kuai asked his comrade this, but after a moment, Tomas shook his head.

"N-Nothing. There is just…someone I need to thank if we cross paths again."

The person Smoke was referring to was Scorpion. Tomas was sure that the Shirai Ryu had escaped, but what about Noob? Seeing no bodies, Smoke assumed that both of them must still be amongst the living. At least as living as they can get considering that they are both technically dead. If that was so, Tomas was sure Scorpion could take of himself and he hoped Quan Chi would not find him after his betrayal. Who knew what the sorcerer had in store for the specter.