Most people don't really believe you'll see your lost loved ones again after they die. Our bodies become shells that rot in the ground, and the time between us grows. No one has had to live to see their parents twice.
That was both a blessing and a curse. When Raiden granted Liu Kang the power of Godhood, and in turn extended that toward me to spend the eons, I knew it meant Sindel and King Jerrod, mom and dad, would be alive again, some where in time.
What I had not anticipated was that they would have no clue who I was. I was a complete stranger to them and, honestly, them to me.
It was a baby that was taken by Shao Kahn, and my mother died before I even learned to walk. When she came back, she was nothing more than a revenant and she killed me.
Strange, in one timeline we would have been united in death, gone, but together. In this, she reveres me as a Goddess and has named myself after myself. The younger Kitana has rarely met me, for I did not truly belong in Edenia. Even as I had saved it from Shao Kahn in this timeline, it was merely to just save my parents.
So, the look in her eyes when she stares back at me is that of a worshipper to a Goddess. Kitana the deity of Edenia and ruler of Outworld. We didn't get to play in the fields back at home, she never taught me what it was like to be princess, to be fair. My father never taught me to hunt, or rule the kingdoms in his stead.
Still, I gaze back, with the love of a child for her mother. A smile to welcome her and arms to let her know she is safe in them.
"It has been too long, Queen Sindel." We met at the great hall that lead to my private chambers.
She bowed, as a worshipper would, "Goddess."
"Who have you brought from Edenia to fight at your side?" The hall was still long, but the sun shined brightly between those pearly pillars, a good place for a walk and talk.
"Tanya, Rain, and of course, your guardian Jade." She added, before I could comment, "and the Outworlder, Bo' Rai Cho"
"A wonderful selection, mothe– Queen Sindel." It is still hard not to say it.
"Bo' Rai Cho has been most patient with training them all, but we will succeed."
At the large portal doors down three more halls that lead up the coliseum palace stair case, where the entertainment could be seen with relative safety, we were greeted by three of my trusted handmaidens. One, a tarkatan, another a shokan, and the third an outworlder.
Sindel did her best to tolerate the presence of my wonderful Tarkatan handmade, with her own beauty but, to be honest, when her face was covered by a veil, she reminded me too much of Mileena. A face I had wished to never see again.
At the edge of my Kahnum sized bed, covered in furs and clothes of linen, and earthrealm silks embroidered by the finest women of the growing Japanese empire, we sat together and allowed the maids to tend to us.
The opening ceremony would begin as the sun machine would come up and this tournament will be everything my mother desires.
"Kitana Kahn!" Jade intruded.
Anyone else would have been stopped by guards well before they reached the great hall. Jade was allowed to move freely. She would never betray me.
I had hoped.
Her eyes were locked on mine, posture stressed and itched to move, but she held herself until I got up and responded.
"What is it?" Sindel joined me, our voices almost the same as they spoke in unison.
"An army approaches from the Centaur Hills, and–" I didn't give her a chance to finish.
"That'll be all ladies." The maids were dismissed, it was time to be a Kahn.
There were four gates into the Coliseum. Two private entrances for the Kahn and guests, then a private one for prisoners. The other two were opened for the public to fill their seats and combatants to enter the field of battle.
Today, the seats would be full, something not seen for generations of Mortal Kombat.
There were words of Ko'atal having returned from his journey, and joy filled me, or so I thought, but as I had climbed onto the staircase that lead to the Kahn's entrance and those great wooden portals pushed open, I saw a terrible sight across the field.
At the center of the field a large throne had been erected for me to sit and watch center-stage to oversee the fights. On that throne someone sat and passed chants amongst the crowd.
The crowd erupted in chants for "Kotal Kahn!" The centaurs marched as an army beside him, Motaro at the forefront.
Ko'atal had returned.
Traitor.
"What is the meaning of this?" I marched out, but as my foot hit the desert sand of the field, the combatant's portal broke open and the wood splintered. A massive metal hammer crashed through and all eyes turned toward Shao Kahn, his own army behind him.
What an opening ceremony.
No one was more surprised than Ko'atal to see Shao Kahn alive. I had known, but did not realize he had been freed. Had he been hidden within Coliseum's city this whole time?
"Jade?" There were no answers in her eyes, but she knew something I didn't. She may as well make herself useful. "Get Goro, Sheeva, Baraka, Kintaro, hell, get all of my champions. We start this now."
She wouldn't.
It wasn't easy to notice across the field, but at Motaro's side, Kotal Kahn stood with Rain, Tanya, and my Father King Jerrod.
"I am sorry, Kitana." Sindel spoke, her head low. "You have become twisted by corruption, and your actions have seemed closer to Shao Kahn as of late than that of an Edenian." She broke my heart with her voice, "Edenia will not fight at your side in this tournament."
"Mother?" It had to come out. Those words, spoken by her? She didn't understand, no one could.
As Sindel parted from me, so did Jade, but she turned, her eyes seemed disgusted and heartbroken all the same, her words choked on my sin, despite my sincerity, "you let Shao Kahn live?"
"I imprisoned him!" To beg reason in this moment would not work.
"You have betrayed us. Betrayed Outworld."
They don't understand!
He had to live to save us from Onaga.
He could not be killed. The scar across his chest would show that I had tried, but just his presence alone meant more these people that I had betrayed them than the efforts to act on my lies.
In this moment, my heart and body sank. Was I so rugged and naive to think I could touch the very soul of holding every bit of life that meant more to me than my own? All these strings I've tugged on now cut loose from me, or is there a way to earn them back?
Kotal Kahn is a great Kahn of Outworld, I know, I would have given it to him if I could. However, he could not protect us from Onaga, or the Elder Gods, nor another great evil like Kronika. The reason I've held so stubbornly to this throne was to stop those evils that Liu Kang refused to get involved with.
What will it take to pass bliss amongst the crowd and allow me to walk across this field unchained?
Victory over Mortal Kombat?
"Kitana?" Goro touched my shoulder and I felt relief for the first time in what felt like forever. He was here for me. Sheeva at my other side and Baraka behind me.
"Goro, Sheeva, Kintaro, Baraka, I will be changing the rules this time around. Be ready."
"Anything, My Kahnum." Sheeva, ever loyal.
This would be the greatest tournament the realms had ever seen.
It will be the last.