End of the Civil War

Mileena ponders on how she plans to approach her sister, Kitana, about the lie she told. What other lies could she have told her? What other secrets is she holding back? What is she plotting? Better yet, what is she plotting against her? Aylin noticed that something was troubling Mileena but was hesitant to speak to her. Her father and mother also noticed. They nodded towards Aylin.

"Um…prince…princess?" she struggled. Mileena did not respond as she was still deep in thought. Her mother stopped walking and placed her hand on Mileena's shoulder. Mileena looked to her as she was brought back to reality.

"What is it?" Mileena asked.

"Are you alright? We are still alive," the mother responded.

"I do not fear for our safety. You have me," she boasted with a crooked smile.

"Now that is what I like to hear," the father cheers. "Now talk to us, what is it that is bothering you?"

"Oh? You noticed too?" Mileena questioned. "You Earthrealmers are quite interesting."

"Earth…realmers?" the mother asked.

"There is this woman, the other empress of Outworld. Someone I love. Someone so dear to…" Mileena noticed the baffled looks on the family's faces. Aylin covered her mouth, giving more attention to her rosy cheeks as she chuckled. "That is not what I mean!" Mileena shouted.

"What's wrong with that?" Aylin laughed.

"She's my sister!" she shouted. She turned away from Aylin and faced her parents instead. "You two love each other dearly I am to assume?"

"Of course, we do."

"I know he does," the mother joked.

"Hey."

"What would you two do if one of you were hiding something from the other?" Mileena questioned. The two of them looked at one another as they pondered on her question. Aylin also thought of an answer for herself.

"I never told her about my discoveries when it has come to these supernatural crea…supernatural beings."

"No offense taken, Earthrealmer, but watch your words," she threatened.

"I do not think any of us would care if someone we loved held back on something. We trust one another, so we do not need to worry if the other is hiding something. If they do not want to tell us, it is probably for a good reason," Aylin responded.

"How do you know that secret isn't something meant to harm you?"

"Why would you trust someone who might be trying to harm you?" the mother asked. The sounds of growling echoes throughout the forest. The four of them looked around and notice the rustling of the bushes. A small group of Tarkatans appeared from the bushes. The Family moved closer to Mileena, with Aylin holding onto her arm. The Tarkatans focused their attention on Aylin.

"By order of the Empress, you are hereby sentenced to death!" one of the Tarkatans stated.

"My sister has sentenced us to death?" Mileena shouted. The Tarkatans looked at one another.

"Both of you have ordered us to execute Operation Reklaim. Knightwolf's assassination was—" Mileena stabbed the Tarkatan in the neck. As she pulled away her Sai, his blood shot into her face. Mileena looked up smiling as she did before. Aylin was stunned as she loosened her grip from Mileena's arm.

"Princess Mileena, please." Another pleaded. "You could order us to stop right now and we'd cease this operation. You are our True Empress." Mileena's bloodshot red eyes pierced into the eyes of the Tarkatan. Him and the others were startled.

"You're right."

*Sun Do*

Li Mei dines with her mother, the Representative of Outworld, after a long day of rebuilding communities destroyed during the Outworld civil war. Her Father continued his role in trading with other towns in Outworld for supplies. It has been difficult for them as they have never worked this hard since the first time they began building towns in Outworld. It took years for the Representative to teach Li Mei and her father her Architect Magic. Li Mei was a fast learner, however her father never truly caught on. His inability to pick up on things is the main reason her mother was chosen to be the Representative of Outworld instead.

"Have you apologized to the empress, mother?" Li Mei asked. Her mother stares at her fork.

"I'm sure the empress knows it was no hard feelings," she responded. "Besides, Kitana allowed us to live. I'm sure she would explain our situation to Mileena."

"So, Mileena never saw you?"

"No. Let's…discuss this some other time."

"You say this every day, but it will come a time when Mileena will learn of this. There is nothing to be afraid of Mother. She is much more forgiving than you think," Li Mei assured. Her mother leans forward and stares into her eyes.

"How do you know this?" she asked. Li Mei remained silent, but her eyes jumped up immediately. She looked away from her mother, who leaned over trying to keep her eyes trained on her. "How. Do. You. Know?" Suddenly, they hear their door fly open. A group of Tarkatans rush into the home as they search for the Representative.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked. One of the Tarkatans peaked into the kitchen.

"By order of the Empress, you are hereby sentenced to death!" he stated. The two women jump from their seats and prepared to face the Tarkatans.

"They are here for me, Li Mei. Go find Bo Rai Cho and remain with him."

"I'm not going to leave you to face them alone."

"Neither of us would survive this. Your father shouldn't bear the burden of losing both his wife and his daughter."

"You underest—" The floor below Li Mei flips over, tossing her out of the window. The representative then looks to the Tarkatans smiling.

"I suspect this order came from Empress Kitana and not Empress Mileena."

"You are wise. Your death may give your daughter an opportunity to take your place."

The Tarkatan runs to the Representative and begins his assault using the blades on his arms. She uses her magic to remove parts of the stone in the floor tiles and walls to guard against his attacks. Unbeknownst to her, one of the Tarkatans was behind her. He placed his fist on her back and his blade extends from his forearm. The Representative uses different materials in the house to conjure a huge brick like object and forces it onto the tip of the blade protruding from her abdomen. She forces her body forward, allowing her to escape from the blade. She could feel the blood in her body rushing out as she continued to try and fend them off. Her resistance was pathetic to the point that the Tarkatans started to sympathize with the woman for her efforts. One of them decides to put her out of her misery as he places his fist on her heart and unleashes his blade. The others proceed to do the same with other parts of her body to ensure she would not be able to resist. As her body became lifeless, they all retract their blades, causing her body to slump down onto the floor.

"Our job is done here. Let us report back to Kitana at once."

*Sindel's Shrine in Outworld*

The Ambassador of Outworld decided to spend time at Sindel's Shrine as he remembered his time in Edenia many centuries ago.

"Your daughter has matured well, my queen. It seems she has followed her destiny after all. May your soul bless the young child for all eternity." He placed his hands together and bowed to the shrine with grace. He looked at his wedding ring as he continued to reflect on his former life in Edenia.

"Ambassador!" A Tarkatan shouted. The Ambassador turned to the voice and trembled as he back himself against into a nearby wall. What seemed like an army of Tarkatans surrounded him menacingly. Zero stood amongst the crowd pointing his finger towards him. "By order of the Empress, you are hereby sentenced to death!"

The horde of Tarkatans start to move in on the ambassador as he had nowhere left to go. Behind the horde, he could see who he believed to be his dead wife, Anomaly, standing at the entrance of the Shrine. She seemed distraught at the sight of the Tarkatan horde as they tore through the flesh of the Ambassador. He reached towards her as he screamed in agony, only for her to vanish as his vision fades to black.

*Osh'Tekk Camp*

Kotal Kahn and D'Vorah return to the Osh'Tekk Camp after taking a stroll through Outworld. Fire and death was all they saw as the bodies of Kotal's fallen brothers littered the ground. He knew what it meant after reminiscing on his conversation with Kitana. D'Vorah summons her worms to seek out any surviving Osh'Tekk warriors who may be in need of healing.

"Is this one to assume this is the Empresses' doing?" D'Vorah questioned. Kotal said nothing. "My children shall seek out any survivors. You should start looking for Nitara as your father instructed." D'Vorah turned her attention to Kotal. He held his Kamidogu blade up to his heart.

"Go, D'Vorah. Save yourself from this madness. Bo Rai Cho shall offer you safe Harbor on my behalf."

"If something so trivial as the deaths of Outworlders dressed like your people is enough to drive you to this conclusion, this one feels no need to mourn such cowardess," D'Vorah confirmed. A tear fell from Kotal's eye.

"You and your…children…may consume what's left of me and my fallen. Hopefully, you will be able to see the future of Outworld, or a future somewhere else," he stated. The hand of a woman grabbed his wrist and slowly pulled the blade away from his chest.

"Did you forget what your father told you to do?" the woman asked. Kotal frowned in response.

"This one will gladly remove you from this realm," D'Vorah hissed.

"Do not threaten me, D'Vorah. I could kill you in a moment's notice," she threatened. "Besides, you're going to want to see this." Three shadowy figures approached the group. Kotal's sadness turned into laughter as he realized things may turn around for him after all.

*The Throne Room*

Kitana rests on her throne peacefully as she awaits the reports from the Tarkatan warriors. She felt the warmth of her sister above her head. The shadows of the woman's arms were spread like eagles. Kitana smiled. However, her smile slowly diminished as she notices what looked like three long claws protruding from the shadow's fingertips. She quickly rolled away from the throne as Mileena wrapped her arms around the throne. Her sais pierced the backrest, pinning pieces of Kitana's clothing.

Kitana summoned her fans and looked to the door. However, the door was not there. She returned her attention to Mileena, who seductively walks from behind the throne. She was still berserk as she was before. Kitana was troubled at the sight of her bloodlust. She could remember the effects of the Tarkatan Essence used on one of Shang Tsung's Tarkatan test subjects. The look in his eyes combined with his ferocity was unlike anything she had ever seen. And now that look is in Mileena's eyes.

"Sister, I do not know what has gotten into you, but you need remember who I am," Kitana stated.

"You no longer get to make demands, Kitana. You are no queen." Mileena enters her kombat stance. Kitana reluctantly follows suit. "And you are NOT my sister!"

End of Chapter 19

Sadly, I didn't get to finish this arc before June. The Last Chapter of this arc will still be release next week. As stated before, Chapters 21-30 will start being released in Mid-July. I also have two short stories coming in the fall of this year, which you can learn more about in my profile so be on the lookout for that.

One thing I will add that I haven't before in these ANs is that I strongly encourage everyone to send reviews for this story and any of the other stories I've written (whether praise or criticism especially), because I do want to write these stories the best I possibly can and if any improvements need to be made with future chapters, I will surely take them all into consideration. A recent review, for example, felt the story had too many flashbacks, which I kinda agree looking back on things. So, the amount of flashbacks I implement in the story (which kinda would've been a lot more in later chapters) is going to be greatly reduced in the future. This is a legitimate criticism. I truly do encourage everyone to send reviews when they deem it necessary no matter how minor or major you feel it would be. If you don't want them to be publicly seen, you can also PM them directly to me. I have thick skin, so you do not have to hold back at all.

With that matter out of the way, see you all next chapter.

(Upcoming—All Hail the Emperor)