Liability

*Fifteen Years ago…*

The Living forest appears to be nearly barren. The only thing keeping Anomaly's spell from being broken is the fact that her body had been buried there by Tanya and Jade during the final day of the 10th Tournament. Nowadays, the only people with access to the forest are Kitana, Tanya, Jade, and Eva.

Tanya falls onto her knees, exhausted from the training she endured throughout the day. Her right arm and both of her legs suffer from first degree burns. She breathes heavily on the verge of nearly passing out. Jade sits on the steps of Anomaly's cabin sipping tea. Tanya slowly turns her head towards Jade and notices that she isn't watching anymore. Jade peaks over to see Tanya watching her.

"Are you finally finished?" Jade asked.

"For now." Tanya responded. "I'm still not where I need to be." Jade walks over to Tanya and carries her onto her shoulders. As she takes her to the cabin, Tanya's vision begins to fade.

As Tanya wakes up, she finds herself alone lying in her bed with a cool towel over her forehead. She raises herself up and notices the photo her family took back when she was still in Anomaly's womb. Her eyes were glued to Anomaly's smiling face. The look in her mother's eyes was completely different from everyone else's. Almost as if she was on the verge of tears. Such a deceitful smile could cause anyone to fall for her schemes. Survival was all she focused on. Survival was all Tanya could focus on. She needs to become more powerful than the Elder Lords themselves.

"I'm nothing like you." Tanya muttered as she frowned upon the picture.

*Present Day…*

"I think we should be getting close." Jade stated. Tanya and Jade were trekking along the west side of Outworld. There were rumors that reported signs of Zaterrian activities similar to that of the Locust Clan.

"Hopefully, this rumor turns out to be accurate. I can't imagine what would happen if these guys allied themselves with K'etz." Tanya stated. Jade starred at Tanya as they continued walking.

"Speaking of K'etz, how do you think we should beat him?"

"The same way we beat everyone, through Mortal Kombat." Tanya responded.

"You think K'etz would set up a tournament during a civil war?"

"We don't need an actual tournament. Remember that time Li Mei challenged us all by herself?"

"Li Mei was from another realm."

"We all are. That's why the system is so broken with Shao Kahn gone." Tanya responded. Jade still stared at her.

As the two got further into the forest, Jade began to slow down to allow Tanya to lead the way. Jade slides her hand into her satchel. Her eyes turned red as she leaned her hand back.

"Whoops." Jade tosses a small vile filled with a red liquid substance. The top loosens as the liquid slashed over the woman. As Jade smiled, she felt a wet substance lands across her shoulder. She noticed that Tanya was not in front of her. As she took a look at her shoulder, she noticed that the red substance had splashed on her. She looked behind her and saw Tanya grinning.

Suddenly, a flood of Tarkatans rushed through the forest directly towards Jade. She pulled out her staff as she prepared to face them. One Tarkatan grabs her in a choke hold. She takes the sharp end of her boomerang and shoved it into the eye of the Tarkatan. As she is released, she takes on her opponents one by one. However, the number began to grow too numerous. Jade attempts to get to Tanya, but she noticed that Tanya had already left.

*Further into the forest*

Tanya finally stops running as she believes she escaped far enough from Jade. She wipes the sweat from her forehead and laughs as she felt the rush of excitement coursing through her. She looks behind her once more. However, she does see someone standing in the background. Someone watching her from afar, smiling and waving. It was a female with bronze skin, long black hair, white eyes, and was dressed in a Black & Gold fitted top and Black Edenian tights. Tanya had recognized that attire before.

"Mother?" she whispered. The woman smiled as she shook her head. She began running towards Tanya.

Tanya wastes no time running away from the woman. She takes many turns along the way to throw the woman off. She looks back to see if the woman had caught up to her and noticed that she was no longer behind her. She decided to stop running and rest her hands on her knees. She was out of breath, but lucky enough to dodge the woman. However, she was suddenly struck by a shadow kick from Jade. Her body soars back a few years before landing onto the pavement. Jade slowly rests her legs as she menacingly stares at Tanya.

"Looks like I caught up to you just in time." Jade stated.

"You took out a whole pack of Tarkatans by yourself?" Tanya questioned.

"Enough with the small talk, Tanya. I know what you did. I know why you disappeared for three weeks. It was bad enough that the two of use stepped away from the Castle for so many years, but for you to separate from me for three whole weeks after being by my side for years…I should've known better." Jade stated. Tanya tosses a ball of fire at Jade. It fazes right through her as a green aura surrounds her.

"You know that won't work on me, Tanya."

"There's a way." She responded.

Tanya tossed a shroud of purple dust onto Jade, who once again used her shadow walking technique. As the green aura dispersed, Jade throws a boomerang towards Tanya. The boomerang comes inches to Tanya's face before she uses her magic to, once again, switch places with Jade. Jade smiled as the boomerang curves away from her face. She quickly grabs it and throws it at Tanya once more. As Tanya awaits the attack, Jade pulls her arm back. A second boomerang pierced Tanya's back right shoulder while the first boomerang struck her left shoulder.

"You have no way of using magic with these stuck in your shoulders." Jade mocked. Tanya began to laugh maniacally. Her eyes void of pupils and fangs fairly visible. Her feet began to combust into flames as she leaned over. Jade readied her pole.

"What's the matter, Jade? Weren't you watching me train in Anomaly's forest? Don't tell me that you were only pretending to care." Tanya mocked.

"You lied to us all. You sold us out for a false sense of security. Isn't that something you were fighting against?" Jade asked.

"Don't even try it. Mileena's incompetence as an Empress is what caused all of this. Had she simply destroyed the portal sphere holding Nitara's realm hostage, this war would've never happened."

"That's a lie, Tanya. You're trying to justify your actions as if they were for the better of Outworld. It's funny how Kitana spoke of reforming the Inter-Realm Alliance with the four of us. It's like staring into a painted mirror. Yours truly, Mileena, Kitana, Tanya; Eunomia, Eris, Sindel…"

Tanya swings her left foot against Jade's pole. While the kick itself wasn't as strong, the flames caused a great explosion which knocked Jade into a nearby wall. As the smoke cleared away from Tanya, she stood grinning with her right foot still in flames. Jade struggled to rise to her feet. She used her pole as a support to help keep her composure.

"That…that wasn't a normal kick." Jade stated.

"I learned it from you, Jade. Converting that purple energy into powder. It's something I learned from my training with Shinnok and Quan Chi."

"You what…?"

"You can thank Kitana and Mileena for killing my Teachers. A few more minutes and I would've learned all of Shinnok's magic instantly. But they just had to end Tesla's spell."

"I should've known there'd be no way for Shao Kahn to die so easily. You brought them to him." Jade stated.

"I did no such thing. I already told you that I'm not my mother. My deal was to wait, nothing more." Tanya confirmed.

Jade picks her staff off of the ground and runs to Tanya. She struggles to keep her balance as she begins to glow green. Tanya tosses more of her purple dust at Jade, but Jade doesn't dodge it. As she gets into swinging distance, Tanya swings her right foot towards her. Jade swings her pole diagonally as a large explosion erupts from their position.

The impact causes some of the trees to combust into ashes. The dark clouds surrounding the two began to lighten up. Eventually the smoke cleared the area. Tanya stood in a slightly awkward pose as she had a shocked expression on her face. Jade's face was lowered to the point that the shadows from upper sockets covered her eyelids. She was holding Tanya's foot down using her pole as she suffered none of the effects from Tanya's attack.

"You…lose…" Jade muttered. Tanya could barely respond. "It was obvious…that you…held back. I can barely…" Jade stops mid-sentence as she notices something on the ground. Next to her feet were the royal rings of Jarrod and Sindel.

"I never meant for anything bad to happen to Mileena." Tanya stated. Jade slowly raised her head. Tanya was crying. "I'm…I'm sorry Jade…"

"Are you…crying?"

"That day—when you were willing to sacrifice your life to save me—I've been training to never be in that situation ever again." She stated. "Edenia was once in this position, and it cost us our Realm…and freedom. Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Ashrah, Tesla, all of them are responsible for what happened to our realm. And now they're all gone. There was nothing left after that."

"What happened?" Jade questioned.

"Ko'otal made me an offer. He never liked me—possibly because he's friends with D'Vorah. I had no choice. I tried my best to sabotage the plan. I kidnapped a woman who looked like Knightwolf. For a second, I believed she actually was Knightwolf. Had the real one never shown up, Mileena would've eventually caught on to what was happening. They were to assault the castle in the event that Mavado were to fail in Assassinating Mileena. She only needed more time. I was almost there, but I was too late."

"Why did Ko'otal approach you instead of Kotal K'etz himself? He's the one who took over Mileena's throne."

"K'etz hasn't been in control since Mileena placed his son as authority over him. Besides, it's not he who possesses the throne." Tanya confirmed. Jade was confused. Tanya lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"Go ahead, Jade. Finish me." She asked. Jade squinted her eyes.

"You think death is the answer for your crimes against the throne?" Jade questioned. Tanya cracked her eyes open. "You can still help us reclaim the throne. You owe us all that much."

"Why would Mileena need someone as weak as me? Even with my magic, I wasn't able to stop you." Tanya stated.

"You're not weak, Tanya. You held back. I don't expect you to do the same against the Vampires and Osh'Tekk."

"We don't know that."

"I know that you can. Who knows, in a few more years you could be as strong as—"

A loud snapping sound occurred out of nowhere. Jade's chin jerked upwards as Tanya swung her left foot into it. Jade's eyes rolled behind her head. Her mask flew into the air, being carried off by the wind as her forehead seemed to constantly keep track of its direction. Jade fell flat on her back. Blood run down her neck as her forehead rested upside-down on the pavement.

Tanya clutched her chest as she realized what she had done. Her hands guided their way to her mouth as she attempted to muffle her voice to ensure no one could hear her scream. Tanya runs to the nearest cliff and vomits. She starts hearing voices once more. Laughing. Blaming her for what she did. She raised her head as wiping her month with her hand. All she could see was a vision of Anomaly smiling with her arm held out. Tanya took a short step back as she balled up her fist tight. Her body was trembling. However, she took a deep break and finally calmed down. She released the tension from her hands and walked forward.

End of Chapter 9

So the moment has finally come. No I'm not talking about the ending, but that's part of it. I'm talking about the moment where I make my final decision on how I was to finish the rest on the first portion of this story. As mention in chapter 7, I've reworked everything that was supposed to come after this chapter. I've finally decided that the next 3 chapters will indeed be the final chapters for the Civil War arc.

Sounds depressing? Well, a war is never truly over just because two sides stop engaging in all out warfare. There are things that happen after a war that can have both positive and negative consequences for everyone. The next 3 chapters may lead to the end of this arc, but they are definitely not the final 3 chapters of this story as I've also decided to have this story last for a total of 30 chapters. This means after Chapter 12, there will still be 18 whole chapters to come after.

(Upcoming—The Deadly Alliance Pt. 1)