"You summoned me, Father?" asked Kitana, Princess of Outworld, upon her entry into her father's private chambers. It was a rare occurrence for anyone to be allowed entry into this room, even his only daughter. On the exceedingly rare occasion he allowed it, he had serious matters he wished to discuss. In fact, the last time she recalled being asked inside was when he had mournfully informed her of the death of her mother.

"Indeed," came the simple reply of her father's deep, commanding voice. The room was dark, lit only by a handful of candles, which the pungent scent permeating the room indicated were incense-based. Kitana barely remembered the layout from all those years ago, so what little she could see through the darkness could have been untouched or completely changed and she'd never know. There was, however, a wooden chair at a small desk, where the thickest of the candles stood.

Accepting this wordless invitation (the Emperor much preferred delivering commands to offering invitations), Kitana sat on the chair and pulled down her face mask, something she only did in private with her father or Jade, as per Edenian tradition. Her Emperor seemed to be debating with himself how best to proceed here. She waited patiently with her hands on her lap, until he finally spoke again.

"Kitana." She almost jumped at the stark contrast his voice brought to the near total silence that had, until now, bathed the room like a miasma. He leaned in closer, allowing the dim light to illuminate the frightening visage he preferred to keep obscured by his iconic war helmet. "There is... something you must know."

"Y-Yes, Father?" Kitana said automatically without thought. She worried that she might have spoken out of turn, but her father seemed too preoccupied with choosing his words to notice. He paced his words slowly and deliberately.

"Many years ago, when your mother died, do you remember where you were when the Earthrealm assassins made their move?" His vitriol as he referred to the murderers of his wife was plain to see.

"I was..." It took Kitana a moment to remember the answer to that question. Why? Why was she not instantly sure where she was at such a pivotal moment of her life? "I was in my room, sleeping?" And her answer came out more as a question? What was wrong with her? Why did she feel like the answer she knew to be right was actually a lie?

"I see you still believe that. I expected as much." What did he mean by that? "In truth, you were not in your room; you were present when the killers struck. It was by good fortune you yourself were unharmed. Were it not for Rain and Jade's arrival..."

As her father trailed off, likely struggling to continue speaking so openly about his loving wife's violent murder, Kitana pondered what she had just been told. Her mother's death had happened thousands of years ago. Had she somehow misremembered it all this time? How could that be possible?

"We believe you may have repressed your tragic memories as a means of protecting yourself. There are other things not directly related to the incident that, at the time, we felt were better left forgotten. However, the situation has since changed."

"I... I do not understand, Father." Kitana's mind was spinning. Some of what her father was saying felt so wrong, but she could explain neither how nor why.

"You will in due time," he replied reassuringly. "Do as I say and I will guide you towards remembering."

"Y...Yes, Father." She found it strangely comforting to simply do as her father told her, knowing that he had all the answers.

"Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let the incense wash over you."

Kitana did as she was told, naturally. There was something oddly familiar about the scent that filled her nostrils, though she couldn't quite place it. It felt like something she had smelled in the distant past, but couldn't quite place it. It reminded her, strangely, of her mother's death. She wasn't sure what exactly the incense's intended use was, but the more of it that entered her system, the less she seemed to care. There was something strangely... inviting, she supposed, about the whole thing.

As she continued to breathe in more and more of the incense, she began to lose track of both time and her father's words. It was a strange sensation; she couldn't hear the words per se, but she could still understand what was being said to her. From her suppressed spacial awareness, Kitana had no idea that her eyes had reopened at some point, unseeing and milky white as those of an undead as her trance took hold.

Through her father's words, Kitana's open mind began to remember. He was correct, it turned out, that she had suppressed her memories of the incident. Only now, through whatever arcane methods her Emperor was employing, was she able to accurately recall the events of that whole sordid affair.


"Mother," a younger Kitana said cheerfully as she entered the throneroom of Emperor Shao Kahn and Empress Sindel of Outworld. "Where is Father?"

"I'm afraid he left earlier this evening," her mother replied from her throne, her tone expressing a deep longing for her beloved's return.

"Another rebellion?" Kitana surmised.

Sindel gave a wide, prideful smile. "Very astute, Kitana. I see our realm will be in safe hands once it comes time for you to ascend the throne."

"Mother, please! Your and Father's reign will be everlasting."

Sindel stood from her throne and crossed the room to where Kitana stood. She cupped her daughter's cheeks and beamed. She was about to speak when something behind Kitana caught her eye.

"Mileena!" She released her grip on her daughter's cheeks, allowing Kitana to turn and face her younger twin sister, who smiled as widely as their mother.

"Mother. Sister." Mileena embraced her sister, who squeezed her tightly in response. Aside from the uncontrollable downpour outside the windows, theirs was a good life, thanks to the ever-protective arm of their father.

But that life came to an abrupt end as one of the royal guards came rushing into the throneroom to report an attack on the palace - a report cut short by the attack in question spilling into the throneroom via a fireball burning a hole directly through the poor man's torso from behind. Before the messenger's body had even hit the floor, a trio of unknown warriors had already entered the room.

One was covered head-to-toe in black garments, aside from his eyes and muscular arms. An assassin, no doubt. The first of his companions wore a large wolf pelt over his head and back, while his chest remained bare, save for the copious amounts of white body paint he had applied there. His talents would remain a mystery for now but the use of a fireball, coupled with the more mundane looks of his allies, suggested to Kitana that this man had been the caster, and was thus likely a mage or shaman. The third of the trio, standing front and centre, was fully armoured and wielding a longsword. A knight, no doubt, but not one from either Edenia or Outworld. Somehow knew on an instinctual level that these men were from Earthrealm.

Their motives remained momentarily unclear as they wordlessly began slaying the guards with swords and daggers and various flavours of magic. Sindel shielded her daughters and ushered them to the back of the room. The knight made a move towards them, ready to strike with his glimmering blade, but he was knocked off-balance by a jetstream of water as Rain leapt into the room from the window.

Kitana's personal guard formed a high-pressure hydraulic blade around his hand as he charged toward the knight. His strike was intercepted, however, by the knight's ninja companion. As the two similarly-clad warriors faced off, the knight continued his march towards his intended quarry.

The shaman, still dispatching the guards with little effort, soon found himself smashed in the side of the head by a long metallic pole, sending him sprawling to the ground as the green-clad Jade entered the scene. From the way her left hand clutched her side, it seemed the invaders had wounded Kitana's friend outside the throneroom and assumed the Edenian warrior was as durable as their own short-lived kind - a grievous error, indeed.

Rain deftly parried each of his opponent's strikes, facing away from the royalty to allow himself to slowly back towards them so he could engage the knight as well. Until he was close enough, however, it fell to Sindel to defend her daughters. Unbeknownst to all but the royal family, Sindel kept a kwan dao hidden behind her throne for just such an occasion.

She backed away behind the throne and the knight pursued. He was caught off-guard as the metal counterweight of the weapon struck the side of his head as he rounded the corner, sending him staggering back into the open. Sindel capitalised on the opportunity and swung the blade, expertly aimed for her would-be assassin's neck, digging deep and unleashing a powerful geyser of blood.

With some difficulty, Sindel pulled the blade free of the gaping wound in the man's neck and swung again. This time, she took his head clean off. Kitana and Mileena were stunned as the man's severed head hit the floor several feet from his crumpled body, leaving an uneven blood trail as it skidded and spun.

The ninja managed to pierce Rain's shoulder with a dagger, sending him reeling. Using the opening, the assassin threw a second dagger towards Sindel. Sindel's famously powerful scream both deflected the weapon and stunned the attacker long enough for the injured Rain to slice the man's hand off with his water blade, unleashing another powerful torrent of blood.

The shaman recovered from Jade's sneak attack and struck her in the midsection with a fireball, enough to knock her off her feet but not to cause any lasting damage. His next attack, a quick blast of lightning, caught Sindel off-guard and knocked her glaive from her grasp.

The ninja, rather than attempt to seal up his wound, used it as a weapon, spraying Rain directly in the eyes with his bloody stump's ongoing torrent. This bought him an opening to throw a trio of kunai Sindel's way. Again, her scream deflected the attack, until the shaman hit her directly with a second lightning blast. This opening allowed the ninja to get in another kunai throw right before the blinded Rain swung wildly with his water blade and slashed the assassin's throat.

But the assassin's blade found its mark: Sindel's own throat, ironically. While the strike wasn't enough to deal a mortal blow, it was enough to put her most powerful asset out of commission for the remainder of the fight... and her life. The shaman unleashed his most powerful lightning blast yet: powerful enough to actually pierce Sindel's body all the way through, directly impacting her heart.

Sindel's life came to an end before her body hit the floor.

After that, the shaman fled, the now feral Mileena giving chase. With Kitana frozen in her grief, Jade wounded and Rain blinded, there was no one able to pursue Mileena to stop her from getting herself killed. Jade's urging was able to snap Kitana out of her grief long enough to pursue them. She arrived at the Earthrealmers' portal just in time to witness the shaman strike Mileena with an eerie green light that seemed to leave the princess gasping for air, as far as Kitana could see from her position behind the two.

Mileena managed to get to her feet and stagger away from the assassin, only for him to summon lightning from the rain-filled sky. The attack struck the ground behind Mileena with enough force to send her tumbling over the edge of the platform and into the chasm below. Kitana screamed her sister's name as she rushed towards the ledge. The harsh weather had left the valley flooded with a strong current that had washed Mileena away within seconds.

Kitana whirled around, ready to rip the Earthrealmer's fucking throat out, but to her devastated dismay, he was gone. The portal was closed and the man who had taken both her mother and her sister from her was gone. Forever.

And her father would make sure all of Earthrealm would suffer the consequences.


The world reformed around Kitana, slowly, yet jarringly. Her frigid tears from that cold, cold night slowly shifted into fresh, warm tears of today. Throughout the entire process of remembering, she had convinced herself that the events she was recalling were happening now, not thousands of years ago. In a strange way, she was glad those events were long past, now that she was capable of acknowledging that they were memories.

Memories she had long since forgotten, it seemed. Perhaps her father was right- No, she knew he was. She had repressed those memories to protect herself - convinced herself that she had been absent during her mother's death, so as not to be forever haunted by the image of her lifeless, bloodied body; and to avoid the guilt of not being able to protect her. She had even gone so far as to make herself completely forget that she had an identical twin sister for much the same reasons. But now, she remembered. And the guilt she now felt was, arguably, far greater than any she had tried to shield herself from.

The room was brighter now, lit by more candles spaced throughout the chamber, allowing her to more clearly see her father's anxious expression.

"I... I remember," was all Kitana could manage to say, despite knowing that her father knew that. "I remember... Mileena."

Shao Kahn placed a hand on Kitana's. "I know. That was what I wanted you to remember."

Kitana opened her mouth to respond; to ask how he could have let her live for so long in ignorance of the fact that she had once had a twin sister, but he seemed to know what she wanted to say as he held up a hand to silence her. She obeyed.

"I discussed the issue for countless hours with my closest advisers. We all agreed it would be for the best if your mind was not plagued with regret and sorrow over your sister's death. And now, you wonder what changed."

Kitana nodded.

"It will come as a shock to you, so I want you to take a deep breath and relax." It didn't take much convincing, really. The incense was still as powerful as when she'd first entered the room. It was less that she took more of it in as he asked her to... more that she was made more aware of its lingering presence.

Either way, Kitana felt oddly calm as her father motioned for someone to enter. It was a woman that entered the room. Despite the relative darkness and the woman's mask, there was something unmistakably familiar about the woman's eyes. They were the same eyes that stared back at Kitana every time she looked into a mirror.

There was no mistaking it: this woman was Mileena, her sister.

Despite the calming effect of the incense, Kitana was overcome with emotion. She simply had a more controlled reaction than would otherwise be possible upon discovering that her long dead sister was alive. As she slowly dragged herself to her feet and stumbled towards her sister, it was clear to Kitana that Mileena had those same brown eyes from all those years ago; not the milky white of an undead. Mileena had never died in the first place.

"How...?"

"Mileena was left at death's door by the attack," her wise father explained as he stood to join his two daughters. "She was recovered by a farming family some time later, but whatever magic the assassin performed on her..."

Mileena looked to her father uneasily. He nodded understandingly. She turned back to Kitana and said, "Brace yourself, Sister," before pulling down her mask.

Kitana winced at the sight. She wasn't quite sure if it was out of empathy or because, aside from the afflicted area, Mileena was still perfectly identical to Kitana herself. The area in question was her mouth. The two sisters had always, by the rare few who had seen them, been complimented on their beautiful faces, with their smiles being a particularly common point of discussion. That would no longer be the case for Mileena, however.

Her lips seemed the same, but it was what lay behind them that was the cause for concern and Kitana understood the instant she saw them why her sister was uneasy about showing her. Mileena's formerly perfect white teeth, with which she had so often flashed a devilish grin when she was up to no good, had been warped and twisted; sharpened and elongated. They were like bony daggers extending from her gums. There was no mistaking it: they were tarkatan teeth.

Tarkatans - the horrid race of savage, animalistic, feral beasts that made up the bulk of their father's armies. Mileena's arms lacked any protrusions or growths, suggesting she hadn't also contracted their infamous armblades.

Mileena's eyes were welling up now, no doubt terrified that her sister's reaction to her face was a sign of rejection. And it was, Kitana supposed, but she wouldn't let her disgust stop her from pulling her sister in close and kissing her on the cheek, whispering that she was there for her and assuring her everything would be okay.

"As you can see," their father continued, "the Earthrealmer placed this curse on Mileena that is unlike anything we have ever seen before. The magic kept her amnesiac until recently. Once her memory was recovered, she made her way back to us, but this curse on her visage seems to be irreversible."

"Everything will be alright, Sister. What matters most is who you are. You are my precious twin sister and nothing will ever change that."

Mileena nodded silently.

"Will that be all, Father?" Kitana asked. "I would like to spend time with Mileena, if you will permit it."

"Of course," her father replied with a smile. "Only, give me a moment to discuss something with Mileena, in private."

"Yes, Emperor," Kitana replied with an obedient bow. "I will see you in a moment, Mileena."

"Yes, Sister," Mileena replied, wiping away her tears.

Once Kitana left the room, closing the door firmly behind her as she had been taught to do, Shao Kahn cast a spell to make the room fully soundproof so he could address Mileena properly.

"You are quite the actress, my 'daughter'," he said with his first genuine grin of the entire night.

Mileena flashed her own wicked grin, a twisted version of how Kitana now believed it had once been. "Your praise fills me with joy, my Master."

"And you? Is it done?" The Emperor asked towards the shadows, from which the visage of the sorcerer Shang Tsung emerged. His wide, ever-present grin had long been burned into Mileena's mind from both the memories of Kitana she had inherited, and the countless hours she had spent in his 'care' down in his abominable Flesh Pits.

"Exactly as you commanded, my Emperor," the sorcerer reported with a deep bow. "There will be no discrepancies between the memories of Kitana and Jade. Both will accept Mileena as Kitana's beloved sister."

"Good," Shao Kahn said simply. "And Rain?"

"His loyalty to you is unquestioning, my lord. However, I can do the same to him as well, if you so desire."

"Do so. Then, you may depart and make preparations for the tournament."

"As you command," Shang Tsung replied, bowing once more and turning towards Mileena. "I look forward to seeing your progress... Princess Mileena." With that, he melted back into the shadows, his dark chuckle echoing throughout the chamber long after he was gone.

"I don't trust him, Emperor," Mileena warned.

"Nor do I," her wise master replied, leaving her name unsaid until she proved her name worthy of gracing his lips. "But he has his uses. Do you?"

The question caught Mileena off-guard, but she replied with determination, "I do, Emperor. Command me, and I will see your will done."

Wordlessly, the Emperor placed his hand against the side of Mileena's face, each finger making contact with the appropriate spot for his magic to have the desired effect. Within seconds, the soft blue glow emanating from his fingertips entered his agent's mind and her eyes rolled back in their sockets until only white remained. Her mind was rewritten, the magic locking away her memories of her true mission, and her even deeper-programmed mission conceived by her true 'father'.

The door remained open just enough to subconsciously influence Mileena's actions and keep her on-task. Her conscious mind accepted the lie she was to live until the time was right to re-open the door and fulfil her duty to her master. Her eyes closed as her old reality melted away and her new reality began as they opened again, the soft blue glow faintly illuminating them from behind.

"F-Father?" she asked, struggling to think coherently as her mind slowly emerged from the fog. "What am I...?"

"You merely felt lightheaded for a moment," he said kindly. "It is nothing to worry about." He gently pulled her mask up over her mouth and patted her on the cheek. "Run along, Daughter."

Mileena felt like there was more to the story than that, but if her Father said it was nothing to worry about, she had no reason to doubt him. She nodded simply, then bowed and left the chamber. She found Kitana outside, waiting. Kitana smiled at her beloved sister, in spite of the monstrous transformation she had undertaken thanks to that damn Earthrealm sorcerer.

Kitana kissed her sister on the cheek and held her tight. "I'm so happy to see you again," she mumbled, warm tears rolling down her cheeks and onto Mileena's. Mileena responded in kind.

"And I you, Kitana. Nothing will ever keep us apart again... Sister."


This is the third in my Mortal Kombat Khronicles series. The main goals for this were:
•Settling on a version of Kitana's backstory after the vastly different versions in each retelling of MKII:
MKII - Has regained her memory some time ago and works to undermine Kahn.
MKSM - Under mind control until defeated.
MK2011 - Doesn't know until Kahn tells her for no reason.
•Having a Shao Kahn who actually displays the deceit and charisma that he's supposed to have instead of just being a retarded brute like in MK2011.
•Depicting Mileena in a way that utilises her potential to be a great sympathetic character. This one was more the setup, while I may delve further into that in the future, particularly with Baraka.

Another idea I had was for Mileena to be created around the time of Sindel's death and be sent to assassinate Kitana, leading to a fight. Kitana would fall from a ledge, but survive. Heading down after her to finish her off, Mileena would discover that Kitana had developed amnesia. Taking pity on her, Mileena would then take Kitana back with her and convince Shao Kahn that indoctrination would be preferable to assassination.

Some of you may recognise some of the flashback from my alternate take on a scene from MK2011.