A/N: Disclaimer, if you read just this chapter then you should be fine. But, the rewritten version of chapter 4 brings something up that makes a certain scene in this make a bit more sense. Either way though, I really hope you enjoy reading this.

22 A.M.K., Orderrealm

Kano slit the guard's throat and, after dumping the body off the floating structure, fully took on his appearance. He kept walking, making note of how colorless the world, or at the very least, most of this word was. The ground was white, the sky was white, the people often wore white, and everyone had milky white eyes.

There were cities full of color in the Orderrealm although they weren't the kind to be flying in the sky. No, they were on the lowlands, or exactly where Kano wasn't. He scratched what typically would've been a grey beard, but due to his face-swapping, he soon realized he was now 'clean-shaven.'

The guardsman were the only people he knew to wear black, and he walked over to one of them.

"Do you know where I could find prisoners?" Kano said.

"You must be new," The guard started. "Hotaru can help you."

"Right, but I can't seem to find him," He said, suppressing his accent.

"He should be at the central pyramid, if he weren't he would be breaking a law," The guard said, his voice echoing slightly from his black helmet. The faceplate of their headpieces, and the rest of their armor, was brimmed with gold.

"Hell, the only substantial color besides the white is the bloody lolly," Kano thought to himself as he walked around the metropolis. As he did, he wasn't sure what was what, and accordingly, another guard sauntered up to him.

"You're walking around aimlessly, please find something to do," He looked nearly indistinguishable from the last guardsman he had talked too.

"I am doing something, I'm looking for Hotaru," Kano said.

"Are you lost?" The guard said, confused.

"Yes, I'm afraid I am."

"Oh, then it is good of you to try and realign yourself," The guard said. "The central pyramid is this way."

"I've got to get out of the Orderrealm, and soon," Kano thought to himself, crazy at the complete lack of individuality.

The guard led him through the city and eventually they came to a great clearing. The only things that occupied it were a few incredibly long trees and one large central pyramid.

"He will be at the top, good day to you," And with that, the guard left.

"Now… I just need to find Hotaru," Kano silently reminded himself. Walking in, he jogged up a long flight of stairs and found a white door lined with bright white lights. A few seconds after he knocked on the door, it opened and disappeared into the ceiling.

"What is this? Star Trek?" Kano thought as he waited for the order to go in.

"Come in," The man's voice was deep. It was quite clear, to anyone who had spent any time in the Orderrealm, that it belonged to Hotaru. There were banners flying around the entire place and on them was a man with an olive complexion. He had silver hair that was worn half up and half down, and pale white eyes.

"My Lord, I was wondering if-"

"Kumo? What are you doing here? You should be at your post with Tonba," He stood, took his naginata and ninjato into hand and said "if you aren't to leave now, I will have to arrest you."

"Real charmer," Kano said to himself.

"My Lord, that's why I'm here. See, there was a reported altercation in the priso-"

"Which prison? Who caused this?" Hotaru started to listen, although he seemed to have absolutely no patience.

"The Black Dragon caused it," Kano laughed to himself.

22 A.M.K.

Viper sat in a chair, his hands covered in blood.

"Kollector, you can speak-" Viper started.

"Never!" The naknadan said.

"Alright then," Viper moved over to him, pressed his finger into Kollector's chained hand, and let the acid bubble. The screams were quite terrible to listen to.

"Tell Kotal… tell him, that he's a son of a whor-" Viper thrusted his palm into the Kollector's face.

"That's something we agree on, but it's still getting us nowhere."

"Shao Kahn was the true emperor! Only his heir, Mileena, may have the throne!" Viper slammed his foot onto Kollector's. After a few moments of silence, the saurian started again, saying: "Listen, if you just tell us, I'll see to it that-"

Unfortunately, he was interrupted.

"If I told you, you'd have no reason to keep me alive," Kollector desperately tried to escape his bonds. His hisses and calls were starting to become absolutely unbearable.

"You know, Kollector, for once in twenty years, I'm getting tired. Congratulations," He said as he rubbed his eyes.

"When Mileena comes to get me, you'll be one of the first victims!" The naknadan laughed and laughed. Joy eventually turning to hysteria, as he tried to escape by kicking his legs back and forth.

"Listen, if you tell me where she is, we'll win this war faster, and the faster we win, the faster I can ask Kotal to let you go."

"Kotal will never let me leave, to him I'm a criminal!"

"Forget this, we should kill him and be done with it," The voice inside spoke, the same voice that, until recently, hadn't plagued him for years.

"That would accomplish nothing," He said, firmly.

"Would you like to know something I never understood?" Viper didn't answer the voice, but he knew it wouldn't be long before it spoke anyway.

"I never understood why a woman like Jade would've wanted to have wasted herself on someone like you," At that, Viper shot his hand out. His claws impaling the Kollector in one of the lower quadrants of his abdomen. His fingers stayed in the wound for a few moments, and when he wanted to remove them he heard the voice again.

"Twist the claws."

Viper nearly did, but stopped at the last moment. He took the claws out of the wound and with a strange level of calm, said: "there are plenty of non-lethal areas I could stab you, you know," The Kollector stopped his violent writhing, and replaced it with a few moments of ragged and heavy breath.

"Listen to me, Kollector," Viper started.

"Y- yes…" The naknadan said, his face looking down at his feet.

"If you don't tell me, exactly where Mileena is… on my honor, I will kill you."

"She's-" The Kollector seemed to recoil, expecting another hit. When it didn't occur, he continued. "In the Kuatan Jungle."

Viper, although he had been listening, was thinking of the look of fear the Kollector had in his eyes.

"Look at him… pathetic," The voice said.

"He's just scared… scared of you."

"No… he's not scared. You are."

Viper let go of Kollector. He stood, washed his hands free of blood, and turned to leave the torture chamber.

"Should we offer him healing?" One of the soldiers said, they had been watching the entire event. It would seem that, despite their iron-hard conviction to their kahn, they too were afraid of Viper.

"He deserved it, he attacked our home!" The voice called out

"My home… not your home."

"My Lord?" The soldier called out. Viper tried to answer him, but the voice pulled him back.

"Come on, Karanba could've died."

"When did you ever care about Karanba? I raised him, not you," Viper reminded the voice.

"Oh I forgot, it's hard to imagine you raising a kid without Jade. You know, consi-"

"Stop!"

"What? A while ago you couldn't stop saying her name, every hour you'd whisper: 'Jade, Jade… Jade' to yourself.

"If you're worried about the supplies, we have enough to spend on him. It's mostly going to be magic," A different soldier said. Viper could barely hear the man over the conversation in his head.

"Exactly my point!" Viper screamed in his own head.

Viper pushed his way out of the chamber before hastily yelling yes to the guard. He stumbled up the stairs to the rest of the palace. It was there the green eyes became orange, it was there the soft skin became hard and as cold as stone.

And It was there he collapsed, his vision blurring, and his tail wrapping around him as if he were a child again.

The saurian stepped onto the red hot coals. The scales on the bottom of his feet went unburned as he idly stood. He kept walking along the steaming path, his talons feeling the earthy substance between his toes. He looked to his left and there it was.

Him.

The color of his scales were obscured by the bright flames. In his arms was a tiny saurian girl, she had slimy pale skin, black glossy eyes, and she was nothing more than five or six. But then, her appearance morphed drastically, she became a woman grown and nothing more than a newborn, all at once. There were other people too, although they seemed to be shapeless. They all had black scales and their eyes glowed a blue that was a shade of the sea.

…

His cloak? It was simply another piece of cloth fueling the fires.

9021 B.M.K.

"Jade?" He asked, his hands lightly knocking on the door.

"Coming," She said from within the room, her voice slightly muffled. He waited, his tail wagging nervously. It was strange, every time he tried to calm it, it refused to listen to him, and the last time he had had absolutely no control over his tail, he was no more than six years old.

She opened the door.

"This is going to go absolutely horribly, isn't it?" He said to himself.

"Jade!" He said as she opened the door. "I… this isn't a bad time, right? I can come back later, if you'd like."

She looked him up and down, and after completing her assessment she said: "Are you alright? You look like you just ran across the entirety of the koliseum," There was genuine concern behind her voice.

"Yes, I'm fine. J- just nervous, is all."

"Nervous? What for?"

"Well… see, I came h- here t- to ask you if you wanted t-," He stopped himself, realizing he was stuttering. "If you wanted to… go to Shao Khan's… gathering, with me?"

"I'd love to."

"I mean… I want to-" It felt as if a hand pressed against his mouth, beckoning him to be silent. "I want to court you…" He felt his tail lash out behind him.

"It's about time you asked, you know," She said, her face soon turning to a smile.

In most other cases, he would've raked his mind for something clever to say. But this time, he was so happy he only asked her for a few seconds.

She answered in the positive.

He ran down the hall, jumping and howling in delight. He pounced and clung to the ceiling where he swung from his hands and feet as if he were in the swamps of Zaterra. He was so loud, that once again Motaro opened his door. With pale white eyes streaked with red, the centaurian groaned.

As he noticed this, he ran back towards Jade's room where she was waiting for him.

"I will… meet you here."

"Right, goodnight, Viper."

22 A.M.K.

He stood.

"Heavy is the weight on your shoulders?" Viper looked upon his revenant form in disgust.

"I need some fresh air," He said, finding his way out of the palace. His steps being uncharacteristically unbalanced. Even though heat and fire had never bothered him, he felt like he was about to be baking in his cloak.

"Take it off, then, Viper," His revenant version said.

"Please… just… stop."

"Why? I'm only being truthful with you, haven't you ever felt the itch to just rip it o-"

"Don't you even finish that sentence!" Viper looked up to the side of a building, and started to climb it, as if that would distance him from the voice.

"What is he doing?" A woman remarked.

"Elder Gods save him, he's lost his mind," Another one of the smallfolk said as they watched him scale the wall.

"As long as this gets me away from him…" He thought to himself. But, as he looked to his left, he could see his revenant climbing with him.

"You know… it gets a little hurtful when you try to run from me," The voice said.

"Why can't you just… leave me alone?" Viper asked as they reached the top of the building. He sat down, pushing his head into his arms. For the first time in days, he slept while he quivered in a cold that defied the heat of the sun.

22 A.M.K., Orderrealm

Kano sauntered through the grass of the lowlands. Hotaru was always in front of him and he never spoke, although that was fine. It was strange to Kano, how the lowlands were mostly uninhabited.

"The man's unbearable," Kano thought to himself, in fact, the entire realm was quite horrible. Outworld was more to his liking. There was order, but its deepest recesses proved that a cutthroat could happily operate there.

He scratched his chin, thinking about who he was going to break out of prison.

"Tremor for certain," The man had the ability to control the earth itself, and not just the base element. He had control over metal, crystal, and lava.

"Tasia and Jarek would be useful… but if it's too much trouble…" They were psychotic killers. And while Kano had rarely met a lunatic that he disliked, Tremor was a much better target.

"Wonder if any rebels are stuck in this place…" Kano's mind turned to Darrius, the man wasn't an outstanding fighter, but if there was one thing he knew how to do, it was getting a crowd riled up.

"We are here, Kumo," Hotaru said. "I shall talk to the warden, interrogate the Black Dragon at the wardens room. If you would like to investigate, you may do so.

"Right."

Kano entered into the center of the pyramid where most of the prisoners were. After a few moments Hotaru and he went their separate ways. Kano hurried over to the top of the pyramid. Once he got there, he looked up the rebel Darrius on a list. He was near, but in a high security cell. When he got to Darrius' private cell he saw a man sitting behind an orange translucent field of energy.

The man had curly brown hair that was greying, and a beard that was following in its footsteps. His skin was dark and unlike the other prisoners he was shirtless, with what seemed to be a brand on his chest. The marking was made up of eight arrows that came together in the center. When Kano got closer, two other guards posted around his cell stopped him.

"We're sorry, but you mustn't come any closer," One of them said. In response, Kano uncloaked himself, unsheathed his knife, and cut the closest one's throats. The other guard tried to call out, but before any sound could be made, he was killed by a concentrated laser blast.

"You have my attention, but… who are you?" Darrius spoke.

"I'm with the Black Dragon."

"I see. If you're looking for a way to get through the field, check the guards you just killed," Kano complied, and on one of the bodies was a blue sphere.

"Any more advice, mate?" He said holding up the supposed key.

"There should be a hole on the wall, put the sphere into it. You should probably hurry, though," Kano knew what he meant. In a place like the Orderrealm, even if it was in a private room, it wouldn't be long until more guards showed up. He did as Darrius instructed and like he said, the field disappeared.

"Right, and your name is?"

"Name's Kano, I'm breaking out some of my people and I figured I'd need your help."

"Ah, the Black Dragon prisoners? I'll help you get them free."

"Why stop there? Ya like chaos, don't you? I'm planning on getting the rest of 'em to Outworld."

"Outworld? There's nothing for me there. It's ruled by a man who's obsessed with order."

"But if you go there, you'll be helping Mileena, and she'll be much more appreciative of your help. So much so, that she could help you take over this realm," Darrius seemed to smile at that. But they had to get going, soon guards would come back to their location. Kano recloaked himself and devised the plan. He would pretend Darrius was to be lead to the control room, where he would free inmates, cause disarray, and help his teammates escape.

22 A.M.K.

Viper woke up. His eyes took in the low light of the night. After the blur and disorienting sleep wore off, he could see. He lay down on the rooftop, although once he did, he heard a small gasp. When he turned to see who had made the noise, he saw an old lady. She was wearing a muted red, and her hair was a shade of silvery white not many outworlders lived to possess.

"I can leave if you'd like me to…" He said.

"No, I was only coming up to the roof to give you," She paused, and held up a blanket. "This," She finished.

"I give you thanks… but, I'm fine."

"When someone's quivering and shaking in a heat that is often considered smoldering… one is not fine," His inner voice said. Viper had figured it was only a matter of time before it came back to him.

"Would you like to come downstairs?" She asked.

"You're very kind…" He hadn't asked her name.

"Blanche, if it please you," She said.

"Blanche," He continued. "But, I think I'll be more comfortable here."

"You know, my husband and I would be glad to have company tonight. Our children moved to another district decades ago."

"Once more, I thank you for your courtesy, and I thank you for checking up on me while I slept, but I would be happier alone right now."

She left at that, and as soon as she was away from him. He felt arms wrap themselves about his neck and chest. He thrashed a small bit, thinking it was the voice once more, but when he took in his surroundings completely, he soon came to realize who it was. As the familiar smell returned to him, his hands slowly dropped to the gem of the necklace, where nine thousand years ago, he had traced the carvings.

9021 A.M.K.

"You…" She trailed off. "Are wearing something other than the cloak."

He had on a red robe, the kind that was typically worn in the courts. The sleeves were long, big and at their ends were an intricate black pattern. The style repeated itself at the bottoms of the mid-section and at the lower-most reaches of the robe itself. He still had a hood though, and it had the enchantment his cloak had.

She was wearing green, as she typically did. And joining the familiar color were black boots and gloves, the kind that left her fingers uncovered. The majority of her outfit, mainly the torso and aforementioned wear, was brimmed by gold. Her hair was tied into a braid, one that hung past her waist. Most days, she would leave her face visible, but tonight she had obscured it. Her mask was also green, with what seemed to be two golden snake fangs embossed onto the front. Her eyelids had a familiar red eye-shadow on them, the same kind she wore the first day they met.

"You look… nice," Viper said, already feeling the nerves crawl up his scales.

"Think I should wear this more often then?" She said, already leaving her chamber to walk with him.

"I got you some flowers…" He held up a bouquet of bittersweet nightshade. "I thought roses were too… suggestive, and although I'm not sure you have a favorite flower, I always see you stop to look at these whenever we're walking together in the gardens around the palace and I just…" He stopped himself before he began to talk her to death.

"Do you like them?" He finally asked. She took them into one of her hands.

"Thank you, it was very nice of you" She took hold of his arm, and they walked off together. His tail started lashing out, and almost seemed to be searching Jade's body for something to grab onto. He attempted to take control of it again, but each time he regained power over it, it broke out. Eventually, it decided that her braid was similar enough to a tail and attached itself to her.

"Your tail is… happy to see me?" She said as she looked back at what was pulling on her hair.

"Give it a moment it'll stop… I hope," He mumbled that last bit.

"I don't believe I've seen it do this before," She said stifling a laugh.

"I know… last time I didn't have any control was when I was…" He thought for a moment, the idea of him 'becoming a man' being very uncomfortable to recall.

"Ah, there we go!" He said with relief, as it finally let go of her hair.

"Well then, shall we continue?" She said as her hand reattached itself to his arm.

When they got to the throne room, no-one noticed them. It would've been taboo to be in a relationship with a fellow member of the court. But, Sindel Khanum appreciated being able to let her court members celebrate, and the rest of the members knew that Viper had been spending much of his time with Jade, so to have seen them arrive together wasn't a strange sight. It was so normal that, a few men – Rain – approached her and asked her for a dance.

"I'm fine, thank you," She said.

"Why? You're not here with him are you?" Rain would say.

"No, but even if she was she wouldn't be able to dance with you."

"Why is that, Viper?" Rain.

"You're the only one here that's prettier than her," Viper said, smiling.

"Not true," She said, nudging him in the arm.

"What?! Look at him, you may be a beautiful woman, but… he's Rain!" The edenian prince refused to move.

"Well, this may be hard for you to believe, but… you're wrong," Jade said. He thought for a few moments, thinking of what to say next.

"You're right… Motaro is much prettier than both of you," For once in his life, Rain seemed to be deterred by their words.

"Maybe later, I'll get the chance to change your mind," She whispered, smiling devilishly.

"You could get the chance to prove it now if you didn't have a mask on," They laughed and she tightened her grip on him.

"Is that an invitation?" His smile grew, he wasn't entirely sure how to respond due to his… inexperience in the romantic field.

"If my tail is any sign… then…"

She took hold of his arm once more and nearly dragged him over to a table.

"I never see you doing much at these gatherings," She said, sitting in her chair.

"Not much I was interested in," He said. Although some of the best food was free for, like many reptiles, his metabolism was incredibly slow, making him usually only feel the need to eat once every two weeks.

"Reptile's always trying to get you to celebrate with the rest of us," She reclined in her seat. All the while she was talking, he was watching her. Viper felt a strange urge to rip off the mask she was wearing, he was itching to see the rest of her face.

"Hmph, trying to get me to drink with him," He said, still focusing on her. Slowly the nervousness disappeared, he grew a bit calmer to be near her.

"We're going to find some way to mess this up spectacul-"

"Silence," Viper commanded. The inner voice didn't even argue.

"Is that so?" She got up, and walked over to the food table.

"Don't force wine down my throat," He said from their table.

"I'm not going to force it, I'm just going to… persuade you," She said, walking back with a bottle.

"Is that the wine Shao Khan drinks?" He said, holding it in his hands.

"Well of course," She said.

"You expect me to drink all this?" He said, his eyes turning to the throne. In it was the emperor himself, his eyes glowing through the darkness his mask cast. Next to him was, in what was somewhat of a comical contrast, Sindel. She was nearly three feet shorter than him, even in her throne. Her hair was draped over her lap, the gray slowly starting to take over the black. Not from age, but from stress.

"Afraid you can't?" Jade said.

"Said the edenian to the three-hundred pound saurian," He said as he turned it around in his hands.

"Are you trying to get me to drink with you?" She said, resting her chin on her palms.

"Well I'm not sure, how well can you hold your liquor?" He said, handing her the bottle.

"Better than you, I'd bet," She smiled as she took it into her hand.

"Then what are you waiting for?" He was going to have a lot of fun that night.

9021 B.M.K., A few minutes later…

Jade watched him drink another cup. She was on her fifth, but by then she had felt the beginnings of a sensation called drunkenness moving around her mid-section.

In the minutes they had started drinking, he grabbed himself a bowl of food, although it didn't look very appetizing to her. He was eating noodles, and while that part was fine, they were saurian in design. And when a food was meant for the walking lizards, it would carry not only the typical meats of Outworld, but also wax worms, amphibian meat, and tiny mammalian creatures.

"Are you… really three-hundred pounds?" She said, a little buzzed.

"Three-hundred and twenty-seven, to be precise!" He lifted another, and drank. "That's seven!" He said, grinning.

"Alright, any more and I'll be dancing on tables," She said.

"Know that from personal experience?" He said, eating some more of his noodles.

"Excuse me?" She leaned in, a little closer to his face.

"You asked me how heavy I was," Was his justification. His mouth hung open, his tongue limp in a gap between his fangs.

"I might just have to do something to that tongue of yours…" She said, leaning further across the table.

"I'd like to hear what these things are," He stifled a laugh, noodles practically gravitating towards his mouth.

"Alright, alright. If we're done drinking ourselves to an early grave, I did want to ask something of you," She said.

"Ask away," He said after he finally swallowed the last of the food in his mouth.

"I want you to tell me all about… when you were young."

"Really? It's… not as interesting as you might think, you know."

"Come on, Viper. Indulge me."

"From when, what year, what age?"

"I don't know, when are saurians considered young?"

"About as long as anyone else… maybe a few years longer," He scratched his chin. "We're considered adults at age eighteen."

"Then tell me a story from then," She prepared herself.

"Eighteen? No… that year was… strange for me. And no, it's not because of 'tail troubles,'" He said. As if to prove it, he used his tail to lift the bottle of wine and pour another cup. After he had finished that, he used it to grab the cup itself.

"Fine. Tell me one from when you were… ten," She

"Ten? I'm not sure that year was an interesting one for me."

"Let me be the judge of that," She said.

"Alright then," He thought for a while, his tail lifting the cup to his mouth a few times. "My father took me to the Zaterran sea. That place is strange, they're the only waters that don't glow in the spring."

Jade pictured him as a child, he had told her of his deformity, and accordingly, she had thought of crazy ideas as to what he hid under his hood. Some of the things she had come up with were a creature with giant scales facing downward, webbed fins on the top of his head, forearms, calves, and tail.

Or a grey-skinned creature with a cadaverous appearance. In that work of fiction, his head would've been long and dark, and his mouth would've been filled with pointy black teeth and a tail that had a scorpion's point.

Some other ideas were a purely animalistic creature with long legs, short stubby arms and feathers on his head and tail. Of course, most of these were quite impossible. There were a few times she had seen him without his hood on, and while the enchantment still stuck to his skin, she could see his head was quite round.

"Unless the enchantment blots out those details, too," She thought to herself.

"I was scared of the sea when I was little. All I could imagine when it was brought up was the…" He stopped for a moment. "Kerosi… the leviathan, the kinds that went extinct in Zaterra millions of years ago. The skeletons that had washed up on the northern shore millions of years ago were terrifying. It's funny actually, eventually that place became one of my favorite areas in Zaterra."

"Where did you live?"

"Eastern continent, its name was Rila. Zaterra had ten continents, two of which were barely inhabited giant islands, three of which were filled by other races, and the other five were the heartland of our civilization," He took another sip of wine, and ate some more of his food. "You know, I have a map of Zaterra, if the place interests you."

"I was just thinking about the other races…" She imagined them in her head.

"Vulpines, felines, avians… all of them are in worse shape than even the saurians now," He said. After a moment of silence he continued. "I could remember, my father brought me to the skeleton of the greatest leviathan, and he talked about the mythical heroes that fought it, about how the ancient king Tatsurri used a scroll of fire to burn away the sea monster," He smiled, and took another drink.

"Do you have any other family?" She asked, wondering why he never spoke of his mother.

"My sister still lives in Zaterra… her name is Shras."

"Why do you and Reptile always use your fake names?"

"Shao Kahn must've decided they were too hard to pronounce," He said, finishing his cup of wine.

"So… what are your true names?"

"Reptile's real name is Syzoth," He said.

"Are you… uncomfortable telling me yours?"

He stopped for a moment. Fiddled with the giant sleeves of his court robe, got up from his chair, walked over to her seat, brushed away the few wisps of her hair that hung by her ears, leaned in close and then…

She learned of his true name.

9021 B.M.K., A few hours later…

"Sometimes, you don't realize how quiet it gets," She said, her hand moving to his. In the few hours before now, she had removed her mask. He smiled at the gesture, and gladly interlocked his fingers with hers. They had moved away from the loudness of Shao Kahn's gathering, Jade having apparently wanted to show him something. Although being dragged anywhere he didn't want to go was typically an infuriating endeavor, Viper didn't much mind this time. He was with Jade, after all.

The rest of the high ranking members of the court were definitely more than acquaintances, but he had never felt to make his relationship with them turn to a deep friendship. The rest of the people Shao Kahn had appointed were simply advisors, shipmasters, bankers, minor lords, and even concubines. Those were ones he actively estranged himself from, despite the fact that they made up 70% of the court and, during certain occasions, he had to interact with them. He shook the thought from his mind and turned his attention back to Jade, who was dragging him to what seemed to be the city gates.

"You know, sometimes, when I would complete an assassination… I'd retreat to a safe area, sit, and watch the stars," She said.

Viper could imagine it. In fact, he was doing more than imagining. Every second he was trying to take in everything he could about her facial features. When they first met it frustrated him a bit, he usually didn't have to study a person more than once or twice to memorize how they looked. And even though Jade wasn't an exception to the rule, he still couldn't tear his vision from her. Looking at her, simply made him happy.

"Aren't you going to ask me anything? Like, 'where are we going,' or 'what did you want to show me?'"

"I… don't want to have the surprise ruined," He answered, grinning like an idiot.

They continued through the city, the stars and moon mostly obscured by the buildings. She lead him to the city wall where, instead of talking to guards at the entrance, he offered her his back.

When they had gotten past both sides of the bulwark, she grabbed his hand and hurriedly lead him further away. His grin turning to a hushed cackle as they continued jogging towards wherever she had in mind.

Finally, she stopped.

They were just short of a forest. Viper knew the one, it was full of trees with faces.

"Remember what I said earlier?" Jade said.

"About the stars? Yes, why?"

"Sometimes, when there aren't any assassinations, I like to come out here," She pointed to the brightest star they could see through the bare branches. "Right there, I always look for that one, whenever I'm away from the city."

"That one?" He pointed. He could remember the discussions on astrology he had had with the seidan, especially Hotaru. "They say that in every realm's sky the brightest of all the stars, this one for example, is the physical representation of the Nexus."

"The Nexus… where the realities meet?"

"Yes."

Her grip on his hand tightened. When he went to take another look at her he made note of her eyes. They were still green in the low-light, but while to many they may have seemed paler and greyer, for some reason to him, they almost seemed to be glowing.

"You should've seen the stars in Zaterra," He said.

"Oh?" She responded, turning to him.

"During most of the spring nights, the swamps would radiate this glow, it would change every few nights. When it met the setting of the sun, and the rising of the moons…" He trailed off, his mind focusing on that image for a few moments.

"Moons?"

"Yes, we had multiple… but when they were all present, when the sun was just hitting the horizon, and when the swamps glowed… it was amazing to look at.

"I'll have to go there some day," She said.

"The view was amazing," He said. "But… it's long gone."

He was silent for a few moments.

"You remember that mission we had, in the jungle?" He said.

"Yes, why?"

"I… I never told you, how much what you said meant to me. The way I felt was… ineffable."

22 A.M.K., Orderrealm

The door to the control room opened, revealing two people protecting it. Kano, who had recloaked himself, explained the same lie he had fed all the other guards, and proceeded to slit their throats when they weren't expecting.

"Right, how do I open the cell doors?" Kano asked, uncloaking himself again. "I'm guessing that just blasting them with my eye might ruin the whole process?"

"Correct… give me a moment," Darrius dug through one of the guard's armor pieces. "Here," He held up a red orb, and a wakizashi he had taken from one of the corpses.

"So… put that in here or something?" Kano said, pointing to a cavity in the control panel.

"Yes, and after we do so, we have to get to the warden's office, fast. Luckily for us, it's quite near."

"Good," Kano put the red sphere into the cavity.

"Now, turn it to amplify the effect," Darrius instructed.

"Right, let's get out of here before the warden finds out what we did and sounds an alarm."

"Not if we set it for him," Darrius walked to the intercom. He spoke. "Hello my fellow rebels! Today, you have been set free, today, you have been given a chance. A chance to give this world individuality, to help me, Darrius make this realm as powerful as it could be! And we owe it all… to the Black Dragon!"

After that, they dashed out, with Darrius telling him where the warden's office was. When they found it, Kano rerouted some of the extra power from his artificial heart into his cybernetic eye, and an amplified laser beam broke through the door to the warden's office.

Right as the room opened to them, Hotaru nearly stabbed Darrius with his naginata. But, the rebel was able to hold him off. Kano dashed into the office where he saw Tremor, the only one the guards weren't actively interrogating at the moment. He hadn't changed much, besides his prison outfit. He was never one to have grown hair, and he still managed to keep his physique in peak condition, now all they needed to see was if he kept his powers.

"Kano?!" He said.

"Tremor! I'm here to break you out of this place!"

"I've been in here, for nearly three years!"

"Right, and luckily we don't have to bake a cake to celebrate that!" Kano yelled over the blaring noise of the alarm as he sent a concentrated blast through the bonds that were blocking his abilities. Tremor was free.

At that moment, the warden came out of one of the interrogation rooms.

He called upon his powers and he conjured up earth. First his arms were made of stone. Then they became metallic. Then red and black liquid started to emerge from the grooves between the earth. And finally his forearms became green and crystalline. He sent forward the elements that made up the earth and they killed the warden before he had any chance to start fighting against them. The stones hit the poor man square in the chest, and then the crystals cut through the exposed parts of his skin, next the metal nearly knocked him down, and finally the lava made him combust.

When they turned to see Darrius on the losing end of a fight with Hotaru. Tremor called upon a similar trick, he sent forward all four components of the earth. the lava separated the two of the fighters, the stone was the first to hit its mark though, slamming into the seidan guard's side. Hotaru attempted to return fire, but the metal chained him to the ground, and the crystal slammed into his face, leaving him unconscious.

"Thank you. I recall you were named Tremor," Darrius said, his chest suffering a few cuts from the previous battle.

"Tremor," The Black Dragon confirmed.

"Alright, do you know where Tasia or Jarek are?" Kano said.

"In the interrogation rooms, but I don't know how to open them," Tremor said.

"I know how to, follow me," Darrius ran behind the warden's desk and searched for another orb. He pulled out an orange sphere. "Give me one moment, please."

After a few seconds, the orb emitted some form of energy, and soon two doors, one of which the warden walked out of, opened. Darrius went into one of them, while Kano and Tremor went into the other. Tasia was chained to a desk, and when she looked up she said: "Took you long enough."

A guard leaped out of the shadows, but Kano tackled him before he could do anything. He shot a beam out of his eye and it burned through the guard's chest.

Tremor, in the meanwhile had been able to free Tasia from her bonds. Taking in her appearance, Kano realized how she had changed. She used to have short dark brown hair, but it had grown down to her waist in the time it had been left unattended, and there were a few stress lines adorning her face. She, like Tremor, had apparently managed to keep herself in good shape. Hopefully, she could still teleport, even if her abilities had only allowed her to do so at short distances, it was useful.

"Ya still good with a sword?" Kano asked.

"Is that even a question?" She responded, smirking at the fact that she was finally free.

"Good," Kano dashed to Hotaru, who was still unconscious, and took his ninjato. He handed it to Tasia, and when they entered the other room, Darrius stood there, blood soaked on his hands. Jarek was chained to the table, he reclined when he saw Kano and expressed a similar relief as Tasia's.

They freed him, and once they were all out Kano explained the rest of his plan to them.

"Alright, I came here alone, but I did contact the other members of the Black Dragon. Kira, and No-Face will be w-"

"What about Kobra?" Jarek interrupted.

"Kobra's dead, Erron Black killed him. But, that brings me to my next point! Kira and No-Face'll be waiting at…" He took a look at his communication device. "These coordinates," He showed them. "They'll take you to Outworld where you'll be helping Mileena… and that means you get to rematch a certain Osh-Tekk…"

"What about you?" Jarek said, although he smirked sadistically.

"I'm not going to Outworld just yet… but I'll get there eventually. Tasia, can you still teleport?" He said scratching at his dark grey beard.

"Yes, although I'm not sure I can get us out of here…" She trailed off.

"As long as we aren't dead by the time we're out of here, I'll be fine," Tremor said. With that, Tasia started to channel her power, a yellow blast enveloped them and when they became conscious of where they were again, they were much nearer to the entrance. There was a door in front of them, and Tasia was too tired to teleport again. So, Kano blasted it open with his laser beam.

The outside had changed to a frigid temperature. In the middle of the cold was Kira. She was sitting, cleaning her knives that were covered in blood. She was wearing a red jumpsuit, and her typically blonde hair had been dyed to be the color of blood.

"I thought I told you to wait," He responded.

"You're getting slow, Kano," She said.

"I'll say, it took you six years to get us out of this place!" Tremor exclaimed.

No-Face walked up, he was responsible for the frigid temperature and frozen guardsmen. His voice was cold and slithery and he had on an orange and black elemental-proof suit. His face had no distinct features, instead being completely pale and mostly flat. He had never talked much, but that was fine, flamethrowers attached to his back did the talking for him. Strange thing was, instead of using them for fire, he had a rather unique power.

Thermokinesis.

The only weakness to this ability was that he needed intense heat, which was why he had flamethrowers, to create and manipulate ice, which was the element he could truly control to his every whim.

"Well…" Kano trailed off, seeing the dead bodies of the guards. This was one of the few times he had actually enjoyed being disobeyed, but his mission was still the same. "Get the rest of the Black Dragon out of here, they'll help you in Outworld. Oh and, bring Darrius with you."

22 A.M.K.

"Do you need reminding?" The voice said.

"Of what?"

"Of the power we had… don't you remember? Can't you recall, the feeling of flames erupting from our scales?"

"You've talked about that enough, now please… stop."

"What are you gonna do if I don't?"

"Wait and see," Viper shot up, and thrusted his palm into the apparition's face. He disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Viper stood at the edge of the building. He never lost his balance, but there was a strange calling to leap from the edge. He could recall when he was younger, maybe in his early nine hundred thousands, saurians would jump from the rooftops. They were nearly doomed, and sometimes the zaterrans would get into such a deep depression they would decide it was better to die than to see themselves go extinct. Viper was now where thousands of them had stood. He could hear the vague voices. Their words were estranged and remote in his ears, a bare suggestion of something long gone.

"This is what I'm talking about, teleportation, true pyrokinesis, not that shit you were practicing before."

"Our father taught us that you insufferable fiend!"

"And yet, you're so scared of it… Quan Chi took away that fear…"

"I… I wasn't scared of it after that spring in Zaterr-"

"Either way, you refuse to use it now and back then, after the 'spring in Zaterra' you were never as strong as I was. It just goes to prove how scared you really are… without me, you became the very thing you hated! You became weak, the same helpless boy you were when our mother was hitting you across the face!"

"You're the only thing I hate!"

"Really?! What about Kotal, or speak of the devil, our mother!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" The voice laughed, and seemed to teleport once more as his claws ran through the purple smoke that was left behind. After he realized he had missed, the saurian ran across the rooftops of Z'Unkarah, his agility ensuring he would be fine in his jumps and twists. Finally, he was left alone, the very thing he had wanted.

The final thing that entered his ears was a single sentence.

"You've got quite the heart of ice, for a man who hates the cold."

A/N: ;)

Well, I included some 3-D era characters in this chapter because I felt like they were a bit under-utilized. Anyway, I tried to give them some new powers and a more defined purpose as to why they exist.

No-Face was kind of just a psychotic killer in special forces, and I felt like if Kira really was so fond of taking big risks, it should've been incorporated into character rather than being relegated to a random piece of trivia.

Either way, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Sincerely, The Swampian