The Flesh Pits.

Mileena had rarely been down here since her rebirth. Shang Tsung, her creator, had performed numerous experiments on her down here, both to ensure she was fit for duty, and for his own twisted amusement.

Soon after coming into Onaga's service, Mileena had explained to her new master, in more detail, how she had come to be. This tale had inspired him to send her back to the place of her creation to seek out any other 'abominations', as he had called them. The word had stung, but Mileena was simply happy to once more be serving the emperor alongside her 'sister', so the insult barely mattered to her. Regardless of his disdain, she would obey, happily.

Mileena had been the... eighth attempt, she thought, at creating a clone of Kitana. Her predecessors had all been unsuccessful, turning out deformed far beyond her own acceptable facial disfigurement. Presumably, they had all been destroyed.

Mileena had vaguely recalled hearing the sorcerer's mutterings of further creations, utilising what he had learned in her creation to craft something far more powerful. The memories had been hazy, but some magical prodding from her new master had made them a little clearer. She hadn't heard everything, but the words 'blood' and 'flesh' had come up regularly. Also, 'secret' and 'red'. It seemed this was a creature known only to Shang Tsung himself, and perhaps Shao Kahn. And with the two of them now dead, that left Mileena as the most knowledgeable on the matter - as little as she actually knew.

The 'Flesh Pits' was perhaps a slightly misleading name for what could more accurately be described as a laboratory. Utterly archaic, by the standards of the magic-less mortals of Earthrealm, but in the hands of a sorcerer of Shang Tsung's calibre, it could yield wondrous results. In truth, the lab had simply been built around the original 'Flesh Pit', whose named had come to represent the entire section of the emperor's fortress.

The original Flesh Pit, still the largest of the now seven such pits, was exactly as its name described. It was a cylindrical shaft, similar to a well, roughly three metres in diameter and running down at least twelve metres. It was hard to tell exactly how deep the pit actually was thanks to the thick carpet of viscera that coated both the bottom and the walls. Mileena had to be careful not to slip as she approached the edge, as the moist gore wallpaper extended up over the edge just enough to make the unwary into unwitting test subjects.

She crouched down to dig up some of the meat with her sai and shove it over the edge. Now able to inch closer, she held up her lantern to get a better view into the otherwise infinite void of blackness. Her memories of her own time in the bowels of the pit were few and hazy, but even so, she recalled staring up into the light above as she writhed in agony from forming down there. She didn't recall the pit being quite so deep, though.

Mileena held her breath at the sudden noise of... wet, fleshy movement from somewhere around her. She wasn't sure if it was the squishy remnants beneath her foot, the pit's seemingly living walls, or something deep within the pit. The echoing soggy thumps continued to emanate from somewhere, around her, causing the former denizen of the pit to turn her head frantically, eyes darting around the area, searching desperately for any sign of a surprise attack in preparation.

She jumped to her feet as her body jerked fiercely in the search, too focused on spotting any danger before it posed a risk to take notice of the more immediate danger of the slippery red remnants at her feet which, one inattentive foot placement later, sent Mileena tumbling back down into the lengthy womb from which she was birthed.

There were numerous fine sheets of flesh, almost like cobwebs of long-abandoned tombs, that her body crashed through on the way down, coating her in blood as they snapped apart, doing little to slow her descent. Falling head-first, Mileena could now see the bottom as it fast approached her, rising up to consume its prodigal child once more.

By now, the sound of the gore was being drowned out by Mileena's own shrill scream echoing all around her as she rocketed downwards. The impact was massive, but not too painful. Despite being mostly solid, Mileena found herself submerged beneath the meaty chunks that embraced her. The blood had entered her nose, her eyes, her mouth. She gasped for air, only taking in yet more of the stuff.

It was difficult to break the surface, due to the slippery, almost impossible-to-grasp substance all around her. Her black-painted fingernails, maintained long and sharp as her teeth, dug into the sacks of flesh, sinking deep like the jaws of a ravenous beast and maintaining a grip as unbreakable. With this newfound leverage, Mileena managed to pull herself up until her head was out of the muck.

She took a deep, desperate breath to take in as much air as possible - a decision she quickly began to regret. The stench of the festering refuse surrounding her caused her to gag and convulse hard enough to almost send her face-first back under the surface. Some warm liquid poured down her cheeks, though blood, sweat or even tears, she couldn't rightly say. She tore her blood-soaked veil from her face and tossed it into the refuse.

Mileena had no problem with the smell or taste of blood - in fact, she usually derived an almost erotic pleasure from the two sensations as she ravaged and consumed her prey - but this was... gods knew how old by now; probably years. Worse, Mileena now realised that she had absolutely no idea where Shang Tsung even got this much viscera. She knew he tended to recycle failed experiments, at least in the lesser pits, but the central pit? Was it synthetic? The remains of the Emperor's enemies? The secrets of the Flesh Pits had likely died with the sorcerer, remaining a mystery forevermore.

It took some time - seconds, minutes, she had no idea - for Mileena to calm down enough to get her bearings. She had curled up into a ball to clench her stomach, upon almost vomiting earlier. Slowly, cautiously, she uncurled her body and allowed one foot to wander lower, hoping desperately that she could find a real bottom and not have to continue treading water.

Fortunately, her boot touched down on a hard surface that she knew for a fact was the stone base of the pit. Tapping it a couple times to make sure it was real, and wide, Mileena slowly lowered the other foot down until she was able to stand. Now that she was able to stand tall, the gore came up to just beneath her breasts, leaving her little room to manoeuvre. Fortunately, she had dropped the lantern as she slipped, leaving some light above for her to estimate how high she would have to climb to get out of this mess.

At the very least, she knew the brickwork was old and softened enough from the slimy wetness of the pulsating muscles coating the walls for her twin sai to be able to dig in deeply. She reached for said implements, only to find that one had slipped loose from her belt. She wasn't sure if it had happened at the edge of the pit or once she'd become submerge and, honestly, she wasn't sure which prospect scared her the most.

First, she felt around with her foot to see if it had fallen in with her. After a minute of fruitless searching, she reached down and removed her boot to search with her bare foot instead. Actually crouching down and searching with her hand was the absolute final resort. She half contemplated just trying to climb with one sai and her nails before even contemplating going back under.

Fortunately, she wouldn't have to worry about that as her foot finally felt the familiar sharp steel of her weapon of choice brushing against her sole. With surprising efficiency, Mileena pointed the sai away from herself and gripped it firmly between her toes. As she began to lift her foot towards her waiting hand, though, she felt something else brush against her leg.

This something was hard, boney, almost like a hand grasping her around the ankle. Thinking quickly, she tried to shake her leg free, almost slipping for a second time in the attempt. As such, she instead yanked her leg high into the air, thanking the Elder Gods that Shang Tsung had insisted she train to keep her body limber and flexible. On the way up, her toes had released the sai, her waiting hand struggling to catch and maintain a grip on it from the slick layer of blood now coating it. The sudden motion dragged up the creature that had grabbed her, holding tight like a fish on a hook.

What now hung before her was a simple skeleton, stained red with blood and looking otherwise lifeless, save for the pair of eyeballs that darted about in their sockets. The were a few errant strips of flesh hanging off of the creature and draped across its bones, as if it had been mostly stripped to the bone before being abandoned (or only given as much before being abandoned, as the case may be).

Mileena forced herself forward, planting her raised foot against the wall and trapping the creature between the wall and her pelvis. Both sai were quickly in range to inflict some damage; one against its spine and one ready to puncture one of its eyes. She sneered, laying on her intimidation as her mind quickly formulated a series of questions to test the creature's ability to think and reason. As she did so, though, she started to notice that the creature's eye movement was too frantic, almost... frightened?

"What are you?" she growled. "Do you understand me?"

Despite having no ears (an observation she should have made sooner), it nodded, slowly.

"Then answer!"

After a brief recoil at the ferocity in her tone, the creature opened its mouth to make its lack of tongue apparent.

"You hear your master's commands but cannot speak in return? How like Shang Tsung..."

Again the creature recoiled, though evidently not from the volume of her speech, but the subject. Mileena felt a certain amount of pity for the creature. She knew what it was to be bound to the whims of Shang Tsung. At least she had been commissioned by Shao Kahn, leaving her creator little choice but to hand her over, unless he was sure he could replicate his success to keep a fake Kitana for himself. This creature, however, may have simply been one of the sorcerer's hobby projects to poke and prod and torture and experiment for as long as he could stop it from dying.

Slowly, Mileena lowered her leg and pulled back her sai, gently lowering the creature back down until its skeletal feet touched the bottom. In return, it released its grip on her ankle, allowing the two to stand and face each other properly.

"How long have you been down here?" she asked, unsure if it was curiosity or empathy that fuelled her question.

It shrugged, dejectedly.

"Do you know for what purpose you were created?"

It shook its head.

"Did he hurt you?"

It nodded.

Mileena extended a hand towards the creature. It stopped back instinctively, causing Mileena to freeze. She began moving closer again, slower this time, making clear that she meant no harm. The creature was more accepting this time, allowing her to place a hand on its shoulder and squeeze one of the few pieces of meat on its bones, smiling as reassuring as she could manage.

She released the creature and slipped off her remaining boot, opting to leave both behind, rather than drudge up the other one from the depths. Without much in the way of resistance, Mileena took the creature by the wrists and wraps its arms around her neck from behind. She told it to hold on tight as she dug her sai into the fleshy walls and began to ascend. Fortunately, being only a skeleton, the creature didn't weigh enough to be much of a burden as Mileena, slowly-but-surely, dug her way out of the pit. Sai. Sai. Toes. Toes. Sai. Sai.

It took a few minutes, but Mileena and her new companion eventually reached the lantern that she had focused on during her ascent to keep her spirits up. She stretched her leg up, over the edge, and pulled herself fully out of the pit. She allowed the creature to dismount before rolling over onto her back and laying there to catch her breath. The foul stench still permeated the air around them, and she doubted even a century-long shower would ever fully remove the stink from her body, but at least there was some (relatively) fresh air entering her system and it was glorious.

The creature, it seemed, had no such need for air and Mileena envied its lack of a nose or tongue, preventing it from fully experiencing the 'joys' of the Flesh Pits. As she stared down at her bare legs, covered in the slick red goo that was sure to haunt her dreams for many years to come, she noticed that her robe was saturated with the stuff. The pink colouration that distinguished her outfit from Kitana's otherwise identical robe was now stained blood red.

Sighing, she sat up and slowly removed the robe, leaving her in only her thong. She tossed the robe aside in frustration and mused that it would make a good gift for Skarlet, should the two ever cross paths again. But on a more serious note, she decided that her replacement robe would definitely need a pair of pants to go along with it. And a bra, probably.

Normally, she might not have cared about being so exposed, but she had noticed the creature staring at her. Thanks to its lack of eyelids, she couldn't quite tell if it was actually staring, or simply sitting passively, waiting for her guidance. When it noticed her cocking and eyebrow, it turned its head. That seemed to confirm some kind of sex drive, at least. From the shape of its hipbone, now that she really looked at it, it seemed to be male.

Chuckling at the bashful skeleton, she scooted further away from the edge before daring to stand up again. Carefully, she did so and looked down at the still sitting skeleton, still averting its gaze.

"So," she said casually, "what do you plan to do next?" It was a stupid question, she knew that, but it didn't truly dawn on her just how stupid until the skeleton shrugged. Of course it didn't have any idea what to do now. She herself knew the feeling well. Hell, the creature probably wouldn't even last very long in its current form.

But maybe she could do something about that.

The journey to Quan Chi's Fortress was a harrowing one. It wasn't that it was particularly dangerous or embarrassing; she had found some spare clothes in her old room from around the time of the invasion, which still fit, and the path between the two fortresses was mostly safe, save for the impossibly high bridge leading from the portal to the structure itself.

Rather, it was the fear of being followed. Carrying around a bloody skeleton such a long way would surely look suspicious, especially to anyone serving Onaga that knew of her most recent destination. For whatever reason, Mileena just couldn't bear the thought of Onaga getting his hands on this creature. He would surely see no use for it and have it destroyed - a fate Mileena herself could very easily have shared.

However, the journey went smoothly, and Mileena was soon laying the creature down inside the sorcerer's personal library. It seemed he had brought a number of books over from his Netherrealm fortress. How exactly he had done so with Shinnok's Brotherhood pursuing him, she had no idea, but she thanked the Elder Gods that he had.

During her own time serving Shinnok, Mileena had browsed the books in Quan Chi's old study as she awaited her orders. The titles had meant nothing to her back then, but they had remained in her subconscious, eagerly awaiting a chance to be of use to her. And now, they finally were.

The sorcerer had been collecting arcane tomes from across the realms - some even collected from dead realms such as Zaterra and Vaeternus. Some days, they would be arranged purely alphabetically. Others, divided by realm of origin first, or by subject. The sorcerer's near obsessive compulsion to avoid stagnation in his collection was truly astounding, especially given his consistent wardrobe.

It was the tomes on necromancy that she needed. It seemed that Quan Chi had had a fascination with that particular field of sorcery, but had never been quite as adept as Shang Tsung; a key reason for the formation of the Deadly Alliance. A major component of necromancy - according to Shang Tsung in one of his many, lengthy monologues while experimenting on her - was the ability to create a new body from scratch, in the event that the subject's original body was too damaged to reanimate (such as his own now, ironically).

It was the primary reason his work in the Flesh Pits had begun. It was only when Shao Kahn himself had challenged Shang Tsung's abilities in these fields that he had begun his experiments in creating life from scratch. Mileena had thought he had only succeeded fully two times, creating herself and Skarlet. But now, she knew he had managed a third time, before abandoning it.

Mileena spent untold hours perusing the tomes, some barely holding together as their pages threatened to spew out over the floor. Eventually, however, she found the passage she sought. It looked complicated, especially for a non-sorcerer like her, but there were certain artefacts that could allow one to perform certain types of magic, even without a particular aptitude for it. She was sure such a thing must exist in the Netherrealm, but opted to instead return to Shao Kahn's Fortress first, to search Shang Tsung's belongings. After all, if he had managed to leave an unfinished creation behind, him not taking all of his magic trinkets was certainly a possibility.

Throughout their time here, the creature had continued to ooze blood, forming a rather large puddle on the floor around it. Mileena's back was still damp with the stuff and it seemed this constant production of blood wasn't going to stop any time soon. She sighed and hoisted him onto her back once more, glad she hadn't switched to a new set of clothes for him to ruin just yet.

Mileena almost regretted not simply leaving the creature behind as she travelled, though she feared someone might have been sent to check up on her and found it before she returned. Her time in the pit and her clothing situation could probably make for a good enough alibi, if she wrapped things up soon and employed some well-placed hyperbole.

Shang Tsung's chamber seemed almost untouched, even by time. Not a single fleck of dust could be found anywhere. After laying her companion down on the king-size bed, she began scouring the chamber, opening draws and feeling for secret entrances. She managed to find a hidden tunnel that led to the Flesh Pit, but that was it, mostly.

A small hidden compartment beside the fireplace yielded a few gemstones that she recognised from one of Quan Chi's tomes that she had brought with her. None of them were immediately useful - invisibility, basic magical augments, short-term memory erasure, even a necklace designed to house a soul so it could possess the body of the wearer - but she couldn't deny the temptation to use them for some experiments of her own.

Under the bed, she found a loose tile, covering a small wooden box. She placed the box on the bed beside the other container and opened it up. Again, she recognised the artefacts inside, but from a different tome - one of Shang Tsung's. She quickly found the book in question and tore through the pages until she found the one she required.

One stone, a red oval, roughly the size of a chicken egg, was described as a stone intended to heal wounds, but had later been found to be capable of fusing foreign flesh to bone. This was exactly what she needed! She placed the stone into a pouch on her belt, deciding pants were a must in her next outfit, and reached in for another, figuring she could find some use for more of them.

It was then that she heard a voice say her name. A familiar voice. Intimately familiar. Familiar because it was her own. Or rather, the one she had plagiarised. She turned towards the ivory door, to where Kitana now stood. Her 'sister's' tone was impudent, demanding. Something about Onaga's control had made Kitana far more entitled and belittling than ever before. And Mileena didn't like it.

"Sister." Mileena put on her friendliest smile, sure that her veil would obscure how forced it really was. "What brings you here?"

"The Master grows tired of waiting for you to report your findings, and yet here I find you pillaging Shang Tsung's belongings, instead of investigating the Flesh Pits as you were commanded."

It was truly difficult for Mileena to maintain her composure. Even as enemies, Kitana never scolded Mileena. She preferred insults, rejection and assault, but not scolding. It made Mileena feel small, and she wanted to slap Kitana for it, at the very least; or to eat her face off, at most. However, glimpsing the skeleton currently staining Shang Tsung's pure white bedsheets red, Mileena dug her thumbnail into her palm to keep herself focused on her task.

"You... have never been to the Flesh Pits, have you, Sister?" Mileena asked, her tone polite, in spite of her gritted teeth. Kitana titled her head in response to this. "Such a treacherous place, filled with tripping hazards and deep holes of rotting gore. One mistake and the stench of death will cling to your flesh for days, weeks even. Such a thing is hardly appropriate when presenting oneself to one's master. Don't you agree?"

Kitana remained motionless, though Mileena could tell she was contemplating her logic. Sindel had reacted in a similar fashion during her own stint under mind control. After a few moments, Kitana replied, "I suppose that sounds plausible. However, I am more inclined to believe you were either setting up a shrine to your fantasy of devouring your creator, or else hiding your fellow abomination from your master." She indicated towards the creature, who had managed to stay completely motionless for the entire duration, preventing Kitana from narrowing down her conclusion, and buying Mileena enough time to formulate a plan.

Mileena sighed, though she wasn't entirely sure it was convincing enough, even with Kitana's current state reducing her ability to reason. "You caught me, Sister. I wanted so desperately to devour the sorcerer for all those long hours he spent experimenting on me that I... found a corpse to use as a stand-in. I was... hoping one of these stones might be able to craft a flesh coat of his visage onto it."

She hoped her pauses could be played off as embarrassment by her averting her gaze. However, this did not seem to be the case, as Kitana drew one of her fans in its closed position.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe, Sister," she sneered. "I will give you one final chance to explain yourself before I report your disobedience to-"

Not giving her a chance to finish her threat, Mileena snatch up one of the stones and pointed it at Kitana, willing it to activate. To her great relief, it did. The bright green stone, though jagged and unrefined, stopped Kitana in her tracks. Her grip loosened, her fan slipping free of her hold and clattering to the floor. Her body slowly and smoothly shifted from its frozen position to stand straight, arms at her sides and feet together, head tilted upwards. Despite their undead lack of detail, Mileena had examined her own eyes in the mirror enough that she could tell Kitana's eyes were rapidly shifting in every direction as her eyelids fluttered spastically, her body twitching uncomfortably alongside them.

It looked like she was being electrocuted, only without the flashing lights. Mileena knew this was the effect of the stone assaulting Kitana's mind to erase her short-term memory. Wasting no time, Mileena quickly gathered up as many stones and tomes as she could carry, hoisted the skeleton over her shoulder and ran for the door.

She spared one last glance at Kitana, whose expression made whatever was going on inside her head right now seem extremely painful. This was not as well-practised a spell, as those utilised by Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, and Mileena couldn't help but utter a quiet "I'm sorry" before running past Kitana and hoping she could put enough distance between the two before the process concluded.

Mileena placed the skeleton down on the very same slab Shang Tsung had often placed her on during his experiments. She knew that this plan was risky, both because she had never tried anything like this before, and because she feared Kitana might have forgotten her search taking her to the Flesh Pits and come looking again. Fortunately, Mileena still had the green stone, even if she was a little hesitant to use it again.

Mileena laid out the tomes across the cold stone floor and sat cross-legged as she read through the relevant passages. The skeleton sat up and some point and began watching her. She became strangely self-conscious of this, and quickened her reading, having to reread several paragraphs after realising she had failed to take in the words in her haste.

Before too long, she felt like she had a grasp on the idea. She stood and offered the creature a hand, which it took. She guided it over towards the pit, making sure to watch her step as she did this time. She explained her idea as they slowly walked.

"We can't have you wandering around as a bloody skeleton forever, can we? I was lucky Shang Tsung had the time and inclination to finish me, twice. You, on the other hand... We're lucky you can hear, but the ability to speak, to taste, smell and feel... those are gifts you don't deserve to be without. So, I'm going to finish you. I'm going to use this stone and the instructions in these tomes to graft some meat onto your bones. That way, we might be able to pass you off as an unfortunate victim of some attack or curse, and get you far away from here. How does that sound?"

The creature stared at her for a moment, possibly contemplating, before nodding its approval. Mileena then looked down the pit, making it clear where it needed to be for this process to work. It seemed hesitant to return to the fleshy tunnel from whence it came. Mileena cupped its cheekbones with her hands and gave her warmest smile.

"I know it's a scary proposition to go back down there, but I wouldn't ask you to if it wasn't absolutely necessary. If we had the time, I'd bring some fresh meat here, but this is the best we have right now. I promise, I'll try not to take too long, okay? I brought some rope this time, so I'll have you out of there in no time. Can you be a brave boy until your big sister finishes?"

After a little more hesitation, the creature nodded, slowly. Mileena pulled down her veil and 'kissed' him on the forehead. "Good boy."

Without a second glance, the creature leaned over the edge and allowed itself to fall back into pit, trusting in Mileena to do as she'd promised. Unbeknownst to him, however, Mileena began to worry about the amount of trouble she might get into, both for the amount of time she had spent without reporting in, and in the event the creature was discovered. For her own sake, it might have been a smarter move to abandon this creature here and return to Onaga, claim she found nothing but a literal blood bath that had left her unpresentable for a number of days.

Of all things, it was the image of Queen Sindel, her temporary 'mother' that flashed in her mind. The queen that had abandoned her infant daughter and her people in her suicide. Was Mileena going to follow in her footsteps and become the kind of person who would eagerly abandon those who relied on her for her own sake?

No. No, she wouldn't. Gripping the red stone tighter, Mileena dug her thumbnail into her free palm until it bled. She then wrapped both hands around the stone and covered as much of its surface in her warm blood as she could. As the tome had promised, this caused the gem to produce an eerie red light that was utterly entrancing. The light was bright enough to bathe the entire chamber in its blood red glow. Following the book's guidance, she began the chant to begin the ceremony, making sure the creature's visage remained crystal clear in her mind's eye so that the stone knew what to target.

She heard sloshing below as the refuse at the bottom began shifting. Then came tearing as even the meat on the walls was tugged clean off to join the rest. Mileena was briefly concerned by this noise, but quickly regained her composure to mitigate any damage done by not maintaining her focus. She kept focused on her end goal: muscles, ears, a nose, heart, lungs, other organs, vocal cords, all formed from the anonymous, formless mass that had long since been abandoned in the well.

Once the ritual was completed, Mileena felt the stone's power slip into slumber as the room returned to its normal depressing colour scheme. She took a look at the pit, finding that not a spec of meat remained. The stone walls remained slick with blood, but the so-called 'Flesh Pit' now barely qualified for the name.

Even with the lantern in-hand, the bottom of the pit was too dark to see. Starting to grow worried, Mileena called out and received a deathly moan as her response. She hurriedly took the rope, tied it to the slab and began lowering the other end. After a few moments, she felt a tug on the rope and began pulling. The creature was notably heavier than before, which was potentially a good sign. She pulled and pulled, almost slipping a few times, but she eventually managed to pull the creature to the top.

Mileena stepped closer to the edge once more and held out a hand. She was met by a slimy, oozing, meaty hand grabbing hers, almost slipping free multiple times. With both hands on his, Mileena pulled him up fully out of the pit. The strain caused her to trip and fall onto her backside, but she had succeeded. She held up the lantern to get a better view of the creature as it stood tall.

As expected, the creature's bones were now coated in a thick layer of meat that looked shockingly natural to Mileena. The ears and nose had formed quite nicely, though how durable the nose would be without any cartilage was unclear - not that the creature needed to breathe anyway. There were imperfections, of course: hip bones jutting out and visible, collarbones much the same, slightly pronounces elbows, but it was fine.

There were two other points of note for Mileena. First was that the meat in the creature's left eye seemed to have been laid on a little too thick, forcing the eye to pop out and dangle limply from its socket (not that the creature seemed to mind). Second was something she noticed as her gaze trailed down past its waist.

Mileena blushed as red as the excess ooze constantly dripping from the creature's anatomically correct body. She quickly turned her head to calm herself down, setting her sights on some rags that she couldn't have scramble over to any faster. She threw the rag at the creature, who caught them and looked down, seemingly realising what she wanted covered.

She kept her back turned until she heard the creature murmur, and felt it tap her on the shoulder. To her great relief, she turned back to see the rags now secured tightly around its crotch, covering everything up nicely. She nodded her approval. The creature's twitching lips formed a smile.

"Okay, good. Now, let's just..." She tried pushing the eye back in, but there really wasn't enough room, as she'd suspected. Even so, the direct skin contact with the eye didn't seem to bother him. Thinking it best to leave it for now, she guided the creature towards the slab and sat him down. She poked and prodded, asking if he could feel it, to which he nodded yes. "Fascinating," she found herself saying aloud.

She had to stop herself from experimenting any further, suddenly hearing her own words echoed back in the deep, sinister, yet scarily comforting voice of Shang Tsung. She shook her head to clear out such thoughts, eliciting a curious head tilt from the creature.

It was now that Mileena realised she hadn't yet given him a name. That wouldn't do. But she had absolutely no idea what to name him. She had hardly had a reason before to pick a name for someone or something else, like a pet or a hypothetical child. If asked for such, she likely would have picked the name of someone she knew and left it at that. With a hand on her chin, she contemplated the matter for a while before realising she hadn't told the creature what she was doing.

"I'm thinking up a name for you," she clarified, in response to his quizzical stare. It then occurred to her to simply ask, "Any suggestions?"

Once again, it shrugged. Then again, she supposed asking a creature that hadn't yet learned to speak with its new face was silly.

As she thought, Mileena absentmindedly reached out for an errant strip of meat and folded it over the creature's arm, forcing it into place with her fingers.

"Muh... MMMMMuh..." the creature murmured, taking Mileena by surprise.

"Muh?" He showed promise, at least.

"MMMMMMMuh... ...Tuh..."

"Muh-Tuh?" Mileena couldn't tell if the creature was trying to say a specific word, or was simply testing what sounds his mouth could make now. "Muh-Tuh... Mutt? Meat? How about Meat?"

The creature's face formed an expression didn't quite recognise, but she fairly certain it was positive.

"Well, until you can think of something better, we'll go with Meat for now. How does that sound?"

Yet again, Meat shrugged.

Mileena sighed. "You know, I was hoping you might be a little more enthusiastic about this. Oh, well. At least that's resolved, right?"

Meat nodded.

"Good. Now, let's get your out of here before Kitana comes back."

Meat nodded.

"I expected you back long before now," Onaga declared from atop his massive throne.

"I apologise, Emperor," Mileena replied, on her hands and knees and bowing until her forehead touched the floor. "The stench of the Flesh Pits has a grip stronger than a shokan bearhug, especially when one is submerged beneath the gory fluids. I did not wish to offend your senses with such a foul odour."

"And you found nothing?" he asked, seemingly disinterested in her reasons.

"No, Emperor. Shang Tsung seems to have scavenged the pits for himself before departing for his new palace. He left those gemstones in hidden compartments of the quarters, however. I hope they will suffice as reparations."

Onaga plucked out one of the stones - the yellow one that granted invisibility - from the box Mileena had presented upon entering the throneroom. He considered it for a moment before replacing it into the box and shaking his head. It is unfortunate, but these stones might yet prove useful. You may leave."

Mileena stood, bowed, spared one last unsure look at Kitana as she stood dutifully by Onaga's side, and departed.

"You're sure you didn't see her acting suspiciously?" Onaga asked Kitana in a low voice once Mileena was out of earshot.

"I am, Master. She was not in the Flesh Pits when I arrived, though it is possible I simply could not see her in the dark depths."

"And you mentioned bloodstains on Shang Tsung's sheets?"

"Yes."

"Sheets that haven't been used in at least year?"

"Yes."

"Keep an eye on her. She's hiding something from me."

"As you wish." Kitana bowed and followed her 'sister's' lead.

However, Mileena had taken precautions to make sure they wouldn't find Meat, or any tangible evidence of her secrecy. From some notes Mileena had taken from the pits, it seemed that Shang Tsung had been attempting to replicate his success with Skarlet by creating a new creature with blood-based powers. This power, while currently only manifesting as Meat's constant production of more fluid to bleed, gave him some mystical link to the older blood-user. He could sense where she was, and Mileena had Meat guide her towards the 'beacon' of blood magic he could sense.

Since the death of Shao Kahn, Skarlet had disappeared from the fortress. Whether this was some contingency plan of his, or simply her escaping from his control like Ermac had, Mileena couldn't say. Regardless of the reason, the two found Skarlet in a small fishing village. According to the locals, the village had, until recently, been plagued by attacks from vicious wild animals and bandits. Since 'Ruby's' arrival, the attacks had mostly stopped.

The cloaked Meat pointed Mileena towards a house by the river, which Mileena approached and knocked on the door. Skarlet opened the door a crack, her expression one of concern upon seeing one of Shao Kahn's servants at her door.

"I'm not here to cause trouble," Mileena assured her quickly. "I need your help. We need your help." She moved Meat into Skarlet's line of sight and lifted the hood enough to allow her to see the eternally oozing face of their fellow abomination. "His name is Meat. He is of the Flesh Pits, like us."

Nodding her understanding, Skarlet cautiously stepped back and opened the door to usher the two inside. "Were you followed?" she asked as she bolted the door shut behind them and not-so-subtly drew her tanto from her hip.

"No," Mileena replied. "I made sure of that." She pulled down the hood to fully reveal Meat's imperfect face. Skarlet stepped closer, placing a hand on his cheek and observing him.

"I sense... some sort of connection between us."

"It seems Shang Tsung was proud of his work with you and wanted to make a second attempt," Mileena explained.

"This doesn't seem like Shang Tsung's work. Too messy, no sign of his expertise."

"Well... he was only a skeleton with eyeballs when I found him. I had to finish him up myself, as best I could. With this." Mileena held out the red stone. Skarlet, enraptured with the energy the stone gave off, slowly took it from her and held it into the light.

"And you brought him here... why?"

"I fear what the new emperor might do to him if he learns of his existence. I was hoping you might be able to keep him safe."

"Me? I am an assassin and nothing more. What makes you think-?"

"The people of this village see you as a guardian, Skarlet. You are not bound by the purpose for which you were created any longer. You can be that guardian for Meat. Please. He needs protection that I cannot provide. Kitana would find me, and him."

Skarlet sighed. "Fine. I can take him in. But not for you. For him."

"Of course. You would make a far better sister for him than I would, anyway." Mileena placed a hand on Meat's cheek. "I have to leave now. You stay here and be a good boy for your other big sister, okay? I'll come visit when it's safe."

Meat's expression was one of discomfort, but he nodded his agreement, regardless.

"Good boy." She held her forehead against his and smiled. He returned the smile. "Thank you, Skarlet."

"It's Ruby now," the red assassin responded irritably. "Never use that old name around here. I don't want anyone knowing who I am... was."

"I understand. Thank you, Ruby."

Mileena left the small wooden building, sparing one final glance back and sharing a wave with Meat before turning her back on the two and returning to Onaga's fortress.

With the door closed, 'Ruby' turned back to Meat, who stood waiting for... something. "You are like me, huh? If you get thirsty, there is a dead bandit draining in the bathtub. Feel free to take some of his blood, I guess. We can probably go with the family excuse for cover, say you were the victim of some sort of curse. No one should question it, given what Shao Kahn's forces are known for. I guess, welcome to your new home, Brother."

Meat said nothing.

Skarlet sighed again. "Your name is Meat, right? That's a stupid name. I bet Mileena gave that to you. Don't you have anything better to call yourself? What do yo want to be called?"

Meat, with a previously unseen determination twisted his lips to form the word he most wanted to say. "MMMMMM... MMMMMMMuh... MMMMMMMeat."


I've been working on this one for a little over a week. I put it on pause for about a day to write up The Shadow's Release, which was going to be apart of this originally, but it didn't really fit. An early title for this chapter was "Un-Finished".