Uh oh, brother and sister are in trouble! What are we going to do? What are we going to do?! *raving like Courage the Cowardly Dog*. Okay, I'll stop now...Oh this makes me feel sad to write this chapter due to circumstances in life. Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! *blows nose*. Anyways, let's roll this chapter.

Chapter 17

The both of us followed Kitana silently, not daring to speak up. I have a feeling it's about meeting Shang Tsung in secret in order to train Mileena. Did she tell her twin about that? Or the fact my sister's involve so we'll both get punished for this!

Without a word, she instructed us to sit down on the floor while she stood on the opposite side along with Jade. God, she looks beautiful.

"The both of you are aware with the reason we called you?" Jade asked. Riana looked at her and nodded slowly. She then stared down at her hands, twiddling her fingers together every time there's tension in the room. Kurt suddenly climbed out of my sister's top, scurrying away from the room. He didn't even look back at Riana, who stared at her pet's departure in confusion.

"He'll come back," Kitana told her. "Now, tell us in detail what the both of you know. We can detect a lie from either of you. Let's start with you, my disciple."

I gulped. The way she said 'disciple' never sounded so menacing. Hesitantly, I told the princess about Shang Tsung's secret letter to recruit me to train Mileena because I have experience with a sibling, sincee Mileena technically has Kitana's gene so that makes her sister. Then I explained to them about our training, every battle we had in the Flesh pits and so on.

I'd rather not talk about that little fling Mileena and I had at the tournament. That's not going to end well with me. Then again I mentioned who was present with me at that time: Shang Tsung, Mileena, Reptile and finally my sister.

"Hold on," Kitana stopped me. "Riana was with you?"

"I was with him," Riana nodded. "Because Nash can't confide the secret for long so he needs at least someone who could not breathe the words. Since the both of us live here for now, I see no reason to accompany him."

"If Nash is training Mileena," Jade eyed me carefully, I bet she's disgusted behind her mask. "What were you doing at the Flesh Pits, Riana?"

"Watching from the sidelines," she replied coolly. "And of course keeping an eye out in case my brother becomes Tarkatan food."

"Riana!"

"Silence," Kitana silenced me from speaking further. All I could do was listen and only talk when she asked me a question. I waited for my mentor's next decision. Finally, she said: "Riana, you are dismissed. Nash, we'd like to speak to you. Alone."

Oh fuck.

Riana stood up, not long before patting me on the shoulder. "I'll pray for you, little bro," she whispered. That's not going to help!

Once my sister has left, I averted my eyes away from both the Edenian ladies. I'm pretty sure I'm screwed. But I decided not to back down, hoping I might gain something from this talk.

"I will speak to Shang Tsung about his errand with you in private," my mentor finally sighed. "But before I dismissed you and give you your punishment, I'd like to clarify something. Did you have sex with my bodyguard?"

"WHAT?!" I yelled out of shock. But Kitana again, silenced me.

"You're already in hot waters, Nash. I suggest you shut up before I changed my mind in terms of your punishment. Now, did you have sex with Jade?"

I looked at Jade, who had an unreadable expression in her eyes. She told Kitana or did Kitana know ever since we had that hell of a night?

"…Yes," I finally answered. God this is so embarrassing! What's going to happen to me now? Will I die here?

"Are you aware with the consequences?" Kitana now circled me, like a lioness trapping her prey. I watched her, eyeing her knife-fan weapon closely. "Shang Tsung will soon find out and it will not only be the end of you but everyone around you including myself."

"I-I'm sorry!" I begged her for forgiveness. But I bet that was weak as shit! I'm done for. I will never go home because I will get my ass sliced into little chunks.

"Be thankful that I don't have harsher punishments then what I am about to give you," Kitana glowered behind her blue mask. She extended her fan, revealing the deadly blades that were hidden. She pointed it at my neck. I almost let out a whine of fear. Like a bitch.

"Listen to me," she instructed coldly. "If you EVER harm my general, I will not hesitate to slice your neck. Disciple or not, you are not from this world. Not even this Earthrealm. I suggest we have an intense training until I said you have improved. Am I clear?"

I just nodded vigorously.

Releasing me, she dragged me to the training dojo where I will receive my punishment: an intense training to be a skill fighter for the next tournament. I never expected her to be this harsh on me. Sure she is stern but at least I could detect a hint of kindness from her eyes. Here, all of that kindness was replaced with ferocity.

"Again!" she commanded me to strike again. "You are overthinking. Do you want to go home? Then on your feet!"

I was about to collapse. I tried to throw punches but she blocked me gracefully with either her fans or her elegant legs. Damn she's got skills for a princess! But I will not give up in beating her.

Maybe I'll keep this up to tire her. People has got to have limits at some point, right?

But she just wouldn't fall! I am stuck with either trying to defend myself or attack her with sheer power. Along the way, she kept criticising me both physically and mentally.

"Your sister can defend herself better than you!" she taunted as she kicked me in the chin. My mouth was bleeding and I had my right eye blackened from one of her punches. Breathing in an erratic manner, I got into my stance at charged again.

"Get up Nash! Surely you are better than this! Or is Jade wrong about you!"

"NO!" I roared in anger before attacking her with blind rage. How dare she thought my feelings for Jade was casual! I was at my wits end until I felt a force of a kick in the skull.

On the ground, beaten like a dog, bleeding, Kitana towered over my fallen frame. Her expression too was unreadable. Or maybe I had a black eye so my vision is unclear.

"If you want to survive this realm," she told me. "You need to be more alert and work harder than you have today. We will train again by evening so make sure you are cleaned up." With that, she left me all alone, in my own bruised form feeling sorry about myself.

…

I decided to take a dip in a nice warm bath. Yeah…that would eased my tension before I faced my mentor again tonight. I was about to slide the door of the bathroom open when I heard a long drawn sigh.

"Oh…" I stared at the door in disappointment. "Riana's occupying the bath."

"Nash?" my sister's muffled voice on the opposite side called. "Come in! I'm almost done."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!"

Hesitantly, I opened the door and was greeted to my sister's naked back. It was fair and had a few chubs from her high school days but if anyone else had walked in on her either in the bathroom or changing room would have rushed out with repulsive looks. There's something else that enhanced her back to me:

The long and deep scars that were decorating her back like you could run a finger through each of them to understand them better. Most of the scars were caused by burns of the flames, leather whips, bullhooks and the famous one, a simple kitchen knife. But the simplest of weapons can leave the most horrible, deep-embedded scars.

I wanted to forget about the scars but this brought back some 'wonderful' memories ten years ago. I'd rather not talk or remember about it because I hear screams every time I see these scars.

"Quit looking at the past and get in the future," Riana scolded me, shifting a little in the tub so that I can enter. I noticed she's not wearing her glasses. Hesitantly and shamefully, I stripped myself nude in front of my sister before entering the tub. The water was warmer than usual…

"How did it go?" my sister asked, not giving a damn that her tall brother is naked with her. I'm not going to lie when I'm saying that my sister's weight matched the stacked racks she's grown into! Those Double Ds would make any man happy to be smothered by the twins or rest his head upon them.

How unfortunate that they had to passed one more test to make my sis interested in them: the wildlife.

After all that, my sister never had a high school crush. I mean, who wants to date an wide girl who would rather be out in the forest camping then studying for chemistry or even physics?

"Kitana doubled or maybe even tripled my training," I looked down, still sore from the training. I scrubbed myself with the soaps that laid on the counter. "She said she'll have a word with Shang Tsung about Mileena."

"Good," Riana leaned back with a relaxed smile, her breasts bobbing slightly on the water. "At least that will solve one problem. Now we need a to stop the second one."

"Wait!" I stopped her. "Are you referring to Mileena?"

"Who else," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "She's more deranged than Shao Kahn. And we've only heard or seen him briefly. This woman…you don't want to stick your dick in that!"

I blushed, covering my crotch when Riana mentioned about the possibilities of Mileena. Riana eyed me carefully despite being short-sighted. Please Riana, I'm having a bad day. Cut me some slack!

"I just want you to be careful," her expression changed from serious to relaxed again. "I don't want to go home without my little brother."

I sighed in relief. "Say sis, where did Kurt run off to?"

Riana shrugged. "Beats me. Hunting for a new type of bug. I swear, he's getting more independent since we arrived. He brought back an unknown species into my room, not knowing if it has venom or not."

"I'm sure it's part of growing up," I assured her by rubbing her bare shoulders to sooth her. "I know you loved him but he needs to develop his primal instincts too if he had to adapt in a different environment, right?"

Riana sighed but nodded in agreement. Then, she stood up, fully naked to my view before stepping out of the tub to dry herself. I watched her, hoping she might have anything else to say.

"You better clean up soon," Riana told me while drying herself and putting on her robe to cover her breasts and scarred back. Finally, she placed her glasses back on before turning her attention to me.

"Good luck, Nash. I'm going to find Kurt now."

"Wait!" I protested, getting out as well before covering my modesty with a wash cloth. "Let me help you find him. It will ease my mind a bit before I get back to training."

So the both of us searched the garden everywhere to find the bearded dragon. But to no avail. Riana almost panicked as she kept gripping onto my arm, telling me to look harder.

In the end, we failed to find him. Heartbroken, Riana went into her from with me accompanying her from behind. Gotta make sure she doesn't do anything drastic behind my back. Suddenly, we both found Kurt lying on the bed with the laziest expression a lizard could make. Inside his mouth was something white and crumply.

"There you are!" my sister sighed in relief. "I thought a bird caught you or something. What's that in your mouth?"

Kurt's answer was crawling at the edge of the bed, dropping the crumpled paper into my sister's waiting palm. Smoothening the paper, Riana's eyes scanned the piece carefully before looking back at me.

"It's just a puzzle," she told me, crumpling the paper and then throwing it over her head. Well, I wouldn't know what was written in that paper if my sister hadn't thrown it away! "You best get dressed before your next training, Nash. Kitana is not going to be patient with you."

I wanted to protest but I knew that she's right. Exiting out of her room, I went into mine to get dressed. But I can't help but feel like there's an intruder in the palace. I can't tell who or what it was. I just felt it in my gut.

Something tells me it's either a ghost or is someone camouflaging.

…

Kristina had a wonderful time at the library. Ironic as it is, she enjoyed the sounds of the pages turning to the light footsteps of people shuffling from shelf to shelf to retrieve their books, thirst for knowledge. To add the icing to the cake, Ermac was with her.

Sure he may be a construct of souls with telekinesis but she felt comfortable around him. He was quiet, a good listener and can even handle a small snide remark. Of course not to the extend of insulting him!

Sheeva came in and found her reading with the Master of Souls beside her. She kept commenting on how Ermac has never acted that way at all. It was all so sudden, so new that it confused the both of them on why he did it.

The both of them again walked into the Outworld market to buy some supplies before heading back: herbs for healing, food and at least decent clothing. Kristina was heading towards a stall that sold meat when-

"Hey there, darlin'~" the well-known voice drawled. It was Erron Black. Honestly, besides shooting does he spend his time flirting with other ladies? Kristina hated those kind of men. Think they are nothing but fuckboys. As the years go by, more fuckboys are spreading around the world like AIDs.

And it's her job to avoid them.

"Stay out of my way," Kristina told him sharply. "What do you do most of the time? Flirt with other girls and then bum around?"

"Yes and no," he answered, twirling a pistol in his hand. "I am a hired man and I get paid. The more dough I earned, the more I get the job done."

'That kinda makes sense,' Kristina thought to herself. But the question is, who hired him. Judging by his speech and clothing, he's not from Outworld. Kristina decided to take a risk with this question. If shit hits the fan, she won't hesitate to kill him.

"You're from Earthrealm, aren't you?"

"I'm an Outworlder now, sweetheart. And soon, you will be as well."

"Unlike you," she sniffed. "I actually want to go home once the deed is done. I have a life there and a family. How about you? Don't you missed your home?"

Erron Black stared at her, silent for a moment. He remembered some good times with his family as a kid but as an adult, there's nothing for him. He's an outlaw, a wanted man, prices were placed if anyone captures him dead or alive. But here, he has his purpose.

"I do," he nodded, his voice becoming quiet. "But there's nothing left for me if I go back. Now back to the subject, what's a lady like you doing here again?"

"Don't fucking call me a lady!" she growled, offended by the label. "I'm not a lady!"

"Whatever my lady commands," Erron Black chuckled and bowed the same way a gentlemen from the Wild West would do to court a dame. Kristina's temper flared again, she rushed to punch him but he blocked her with the butt of his gun.

"That's not very ladylike," he smiled behind his mask in amusement. How her fiery temper excites him, wanting more of the flames. Her temper made her lose her focus as she attacked him so he simply dodged her before kicking her to the ground. He pointed his pistol at the side of her head.

"Bullseye," he whispered, mimicking the sound of his gun if it fired. Eventually, he helped her up despite her protest and her kicks. He looked at her in her eyes.

"A temper is a great asset," he told her. "But a calm mind is also important if you want to kill me the next time we meet. A better focus leads to a better aim, Kristina. Here's a deal, I'll treat ya to have a drink and then you can beat the shit out of me. How about it?"

Kristina eyed him suspiciously. One day he flirted her like she was those bitches in make up and plastic surgery and now he's giving her an advice on how to kill him and get her a drink?! Is this cowboy bipolar or something? Then again, she herself can be both pissed and have a smile at the same fine.

"Fine," she sighed. "Don't say I warn you if I could make you out of commission for a week. And again, this is NOT a date! Got it?"

"Crystal," he confirmed.

The both of them found an unknown building built at the centre. Kristina knew instantly that it is a cafe. With the rich smells of roasted coffee coming from inside, it made her throat thirsty for a sip. The signed above the cafe said:

There And Back Again

Kristina herself had no creativity in coming up with a name for a cafe but this name was at least better than Bump n' Grind. That name made her puke in her beverage if she ever went there. Thankfully she didn't. Both girl and gunslinger nodded before heading inside the cafe.

It was a slow afternoon but most of the seats were occupied with different residents from Outworld, some Earthrealm FBI agents, even people Kristina has never seen before. All these people from different realms, drinking hot beverages and having a good time like they are friends.

Much different than in the tournament or outside of the cafe.

The both of them decided to sit at the counter, where there are only two seats left unoccupied. Kristina felt a bit uncomfortable that she's sitting next to the cowboy but will counter if he tries anything funny. The barista approached them to take their orders. Kristina had her mouth hung open when she found out who it was.

"AZRIL?!" she exclaimed, seeing the older man behind the counter. "You own this place? How? When did you even thought of this? Don't you want to survive? How-"

"Woah there!" Erron Black stopped her. "You're gonna burst his head if you fire another question."

"It's fine," Azril sighed with his unemotional expression. "I have thought of this since we'd be staying here for a while. Might as well make myself useful when I am not training. So, what will it be?"

"Do you have Blue Mountain?" she asked. "Two hot ones, please."

Erron has never had coffee for a long time. He even forgot what it tasted like. So he allowed Kristina to proceed with the order only if he paid. That's what a man does to treat a girl, right?

Azril nodded before getting to work. The sound of the beans grinding, the scent of the bitter coffee almost made the cafe welcoming. No wondered no one wanted to fight in this cafe. It's very relaxing!

Just then, a lady in a business suit walked over to the counter. Immediately they knew she's from Earthrealm. She had the most beautiful figure which matched her mocha-coloured skin. Her bosoms were pressed against the counter, trying to get the barista's attention.

"This is the best coffee I've ever had~" she gushed. "I wanted more. But first, I'd like to know about you, baby."

"If you want another," Azril sighed, not looking up from his work. "Please wait just a minute. I will be done with these two orders."

"Does your friend here have a girlfriend?" Erron Black whispered. Kristina shook her head. Now to think about it, Azril never had any interest in anyone. Not even Riana, who was in the same classes as he is in university.

"I don't think so."

"He doesn't look interested…"

But the lady called for him until Azril put down both the cups to focus his attention on her. His expression hasn't changed. Kristina wondered if he was ever like that as a kid. No baby has had an unresponsive face the minute they are born, right?

"What would you like?" he sighed a question.

"I'd like to know you," the lady answered. "How you did this cute art and make this place so welcoming?"

"I am flattered by your curiosity," Azril nodded. "But I can't tell you since I have to attend my customers. Maybe on my break?"

"That would be great!" she smiled sweetly. "See you soon, baby!"

Azril shook his head at the lady before handing the two cups to Kristina and Erron Black. Both of them were wide eyed and Kristina had her mouth hung open again.

"Close your mouth, Kristina," Azril instructed. "Unless you're planning to drink like Kirby."

"How?" Erron Black asked in awe. No one has never picked up a woman so easily as that. He himself had to flirt the women before going in for the kill. This…

"She was just inquiring," Azril told him with a sigh. "Nothing wrong from being curious."

"Dude!" Kristina wanted to reach him and knock some sense. "She's totally into you! You should go after her."

"That's a lot coming from you, Kristina," he commented. "Considering you're not the type to date but here you are. With someone."

"WE. ARE. NOT. DATING!" she yelled. Azril stared at her.

"If you want to fight, do it outside. This place is for people of all walks of life to relax and forget about the toxic world we lived in."

In defeat, Kristina drank her coffee which was so filling, warm it filled her heart. It's a comfort to drink such a beverage. Even the cowboy agreed. Something the both of them could not stay mad at.

When Erron was about to pay, Azril stopped him. "Just because Kristina is my friend, doesn't mean I will give it half the price."

Grumbling, he paid Azril before thanking him. Kristina stared at Azril again. "Azril, how did you find this place or thought of the location?"

"The rent is cheap."

If you are wondering, the lady who flirts with Azril was an OC of the two authors who inspired me to write this story: CW2K and Alwaysdoubted. Check out their stories too if you are into lemons and gore!

I found it funny that Nash isn't fazed by his sister in the same tub as he is. Kristina sure swears around Erron Black huh? I wonder how Sub Zero agreed to his disciple opening a cafe.

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