Chapter XV
Shadows
"Out of respect for your father, I ask you to lay down your weapons and surrender, Princess."
Hotaru's face was a stern scowl, and his blank eyes cold and accusing. He was flanked by three other Seidans—each armed with a naginata of their own—and their helmets made them seem like soulless automatons waiting for their commander's order.
"Honestly, Hotaru," she said. "Do you really believe I'd come this far just to surrender to you?"
His eyes narrowed, and he somehow managed to scowl even more. "Take her."
With the close quarters of the pyramid's hall, the three Guards were unable to properly surround her. She slid among them like flowing water. Slashing with elegant, dance-like movements, she deflected their blades and struck their weak points. Their armor spared them mortal wounds, but within moments, all three men were down.
Hotaru shook his head in annoyance and held up his naginata. "I never knew what to make of you, Princess. I'll allow you likely served Shao Kahn due to ignorance of your true realm. And I suppose your turning on him upon discovering the truth is admirable. Yet …"
"Yet what?" she cut in. "You don't approve of me?"
"If it is truly peace you wish to bring to Outworld," he said. "You should've pledged yourself to my cause. Long did I hold the city of Lei Chen free from Kahn's rule. You should've looked to me as an example."
"Free?" she repeated. "I know the stories of what you did in Lei Chen. You're just as brutal as Kahn ever was. The only difference is he did it for his own amusement. You do it to serve your twisted view of law and order."
Hotaru charged. His blade and her fans clashed loudly in the narrow corridor. Living up to his status and reputation as Lord Commander of the Seidan Guard, he didn't fall as easily as his comrades. His attacks were precise, measured, and patient. He swung his naginata, though less with the intention of wounding or killing, but to test her abilities.
Knowing he was looking for a weakness, Kitana played defense and wouldn't reveal the extent of her skills. She saw he was equally guarded in his attacks, ensuring she wouldn't get a sense of what he was fully capable of either.
"Why do you resist?" he asked. "The Dragon King has freed your home. He has brought peace to the realms. Are you so ungrateful you would throw that away because his methods are not to your liking?"
"You mean aside from the earthquakes tearing the realms apart?"
"Those will pass," he said. "When he fully masters the Kamidogu, the Dragon King will set things as they should be. Even those abominations you came here with will be done away."
"I'll sooner die with those 'abominations' than live in your master's demented paradise."
They resumed their battle, and Kitana detected a pattern to his movements. Hotaru was faster and more agile than would be expected for someone in full body armor—Seidan armor in general seemed to offer more movement—but his offense, while exact and quick, was also blunt and stiff. An opening wouldn't be easy to catch, but when she found it, the fight was hers.
He lunged with the naginata, trying to force her into the corner. She evaded and drew first blood with a quick slice in his armpit. It was a good hit, but to her shock, he didn't even acknowledge the wound and jabbed her in the gut with the blunt side of his weapon. She staggered back with the wind knocked out of her and understood the danger of his stiff, blunt attacks. If he gained the advantage, he'd easily overpower her.
"Your error, Princess," he said, "is you delude yourself with notions of good and evil and equate them with brutality and mercy. There is only order and chaos, and it sometimes takes a brutal hand to maintain order."
"I've seen the kind of order you enforce," she said. "Sterile, lifeless, and cold. That's the kind of order your master would bring to Edenia and spread to other realms. I'll have no part of that."
"And that is Shao Kahn's taint destroying you. You so fear you're his daughter you tell yourself peace can be achieved without order. You allow too much without the might to keep it in line." He looked her in the eye. "That is why you lost Outworld."
His tone was blunt and almost monotone. He didn't speak to taunt her or even goad her into making a mistake. He spoke as if it was plain and simple fact. And that somehow made Kitana angrier.
She lunged, aiming to cut his crown from the rest of his head. Hotaru ducked the attack and drove his armored fist into her gut. The air left her body as she doubled over, leaving her back open for him to rain blows onto her kidney.
Punctuating with a knee to her midsection, he then wrapped his arms around her and flipped her over his shoulder. Kitana somersaulted through the air and came to an ugly landing face-first on the stone floor.
Before she even had a chance to realize what was happening, he gripped the back of her neck and wrapped his arm around her throat. She flailed as the flow of blood to her head was cut off, knowing she only had seconds to escape before she passed out.
"Peace can only be achieved through perfect order," he said, tightening the hold. "And it takes a heart of steel to maintain that order."
Clawing at his armor did nothing. Snatching at his hair or trying to gouge his eyes was fruitless. Her vision already blurring, she kicked at her fans and managed to get them back into her hands. With a desperate roar, she used all her strength to Fan Lift herself with him on her back.
There was too much weight to hold them, and they fell to the floor with Hotaru taking the worst of it. He grunted and released his hold on her, allowing her time to catch her breath and roll away from him.
Still dizzy and not even waiting to regain her bearings, she caught him with a Pretty Kick. Hotaru spun through the air and hit the floor with his face. Wasting no time, Kitana snatched his hair and pressed her fan against his throat.
"Will you kill me now?" he asked. "Murder as your step-father taught you, or are you still telling yourself that you're somehow above that?"
She hesitated. Her instinct was to kill. Her conscience told her to show mercy. Part of her remembered what a mistake it was to spare Shao Kahn. Another urged her to be better than that.
"You've the worst of both worlds, Princess. Shao Kahn's fury, but without the steel to use it for order. That is why no matter how many battles you win, you will always lose the war."
Shutting her eyes tight, she let out a harsh roar and slammed the blunt side of the fan against his head, knocking him unconscious.
It was said Drahmin was once a mortal man. A powerful warlord so evil and cruel, upon his death, he was damned to the 5th Plane of the Netherealm. There he suffered centuries of the worst punishment until he turned into a creature consumed with insane rage and bloodlust. Now an Oni, he became one of the 5th Plane's most infamous and feared torturers—inflicting the same horror and agony onto damned souls he himself endured.
Sareena and her comrades generally stayed clear of his domain. But when she betrayed Quan Chi to help Bi-Han, it was to the 5th Plane she was banished as penalty. And it was there she became all too familiar with the Oni-Tormentor.
For years she suffered his torments. She sometimes wondered if her former masters didn't specifically tell the Oni to target her. Even after she finally escaped the Netherealm and found sanctuary with the Lin Kuei, her nightmares were often haunted by Drahmin's mask and the snarling, decayed face behind it.
Those memories returned to her as she faced him deep in Onaga's pyramid. While Scorpion fought Moloch behind her, she drew her kama blades and prepared to battle the creature responsible for so much of her pain.
"Prettier than I remember," he said. "Shame Shinnok didn't give you to me in this form. Like you better this way."
"We're not in the Netherealm anymore, Drahmin."
He made a noise that might have been a laugh—a dry, gurgling croak that did nothing to make his devilish mask any less eerie. "I remember your screams," he said. "I remember how you begged and cried for mercy. Of all the damned souls I've worked on, I remember you."
Anger kindled, and Sareena didn't fight it. There was fear that came with the memories of her years with Drahmin. But fury smothered it to almost nothing. She had indeed suffered at his hands. Now she had a chance to pay him back.
In a flash, she struck with her Skull Bash attack which bounced his face off the floor. With a roar, she leveled him with a roundhouse kick that sent him spinning through the air and into the nearby wall.
Before he could get back up, she pressed her assault with knees and kicks to his midsection and face. He snarled and tried hitting her with the iron club fused to his right arm, but she dodged and plunged the kama blades into his shoulders. She then spun behind him and flipped him over her back, tearing chunks of rotten flesh off his bones.
He got to his knees, only to get a stiff kick to the sternum that knocked him flat on his back. "It's not the same when I can fight back, is it?" she shouted. "Is it, you son of a bitch?!"
Drahmin roared and came at her with swings of his club. She dodged and chipped away at him with her kamas, which enraged him further. While that didn't slow him down, it did make him sloppier and easier to hit.
Nearby, Scorpion and Moloch were locked in their own struggle. The bigger Oni was stronger and difficult to hurt, but Scorpion was nimbler and precise with his attacks. As long as he evaded Moloch's grip, Sareena was confident he would overcome the beast. That left Drahmin to her.
She made another charge, hoping to slice his throat with the kamas and maybe take his head. He ducked and evaded the follow-up swing. He then blocked her kick attempts and kept his distance without trying to counter.
Although his hoarse breathing gave away his anger, he didn't let it consume him. She found it hard to imagine a raging Oni fighting with finesse of any kind, much less have a plan. He stared at her, his mask giving away nothing, and she remembered it was said to channel his anger and help him focus.
With a sudden wave of his hand, he sent a dozen or so of the flies buzzing around him into her face. It didn't hurt, but the distraction was enough. Drahmin drove his club into her stomach, causing her drop her kamas. With his free hand, he gripped the back of her neck and smashed her face into the stone wall. The taste of blood filled Sareena's mouth as her vision became blurred and dark.
Dazed, she offered no resistance as he threw her across the corridor into the opposite wall. Before she could collect herself, he took hold of her head and rained punishing blows onto her body with his club.
He squeezed her throat and lifted her up with a crazed laugh that was more of a snarl. "I missed this," he growled. "Scream for me. For old time's sake."
She spit in his face.
Still gripping her neck, he slammed her into the wall with such force she actually blacked out for a moment. She gasped for breath and feebly clawed at his wrist. He pressed his club against her chest, choking out whatever remaining air she had.
"You won't die here, little Sareena. I will keep you. It will be even better now with your pretty face and pretty eyes."
Her strength faded. She couldn't feel her legs and would surely have collapsed if he wasn't holding her up. Blinking spots clouded her vision, and soon the only thing she could see was Drahmin's awful mask overbearing her.
"No one to save you," he hissed. "No escaping this time. You belong to me. Forever."
His words echoed in her mind, and centuries of pain and fear flooded back into her memories. Not just Drahmin, but Quan Chi and Shinnok before him. All saying the same thing: she was nothing … she was property … she belonged to them …
The demon in her stirred, and she found strength in her rage. Her eyes glowed red, and an inhuman grown emerged from her throat. Black claws grew from her fingers, and she plunged them into Drahmin's ribs. They sank into his rotten flesh, and she didn't stop until she felt bone.
With a guttural roar, she tore out part of his rib cage, causing him to howl in pain and release her. In near frenzy, she then cracked him in the face as hard as she could and knocked his mask off.
He staggered away, and it took a moment for him to realize his mask was gone. His bare face was exactly as she expected: a gaunt, ghoulish horror with milky bloodshot eyes, rotten teeth, and flesh like dried mud. She met his gaze and looked him in the eye as she stomped her foot onto his mask, shattering it.
Veins bulging across his forehead, he let rip an animalistic roar void of any sanity he might have had. She answered with a roar of her own, and the two demons charged at each other.
Without his mask, whatever finesse Drahmin possessed was gone. And while Sareena was caught in the midst of her own demonic fury, she retained enough control to outfight him through speed and skill. She kept him off balance with kicks to his legs while clawing at the wounds in his midsection. The more she outfought him, the angrier he got. The angrier he got, the more he lost control.
She beat him back until she had him trapped against the wall and tore into him with haymakers to his unprotected face. She pounded and clawed at him until there was little left but rotten flesh hanging off his skull.
"… not over …" he gurgled, despite missing his eyes and most of his face. "… you belong … to me …"
"I belong to no one."
With that, she charged her Gut Buster and drove his skull into the stone wall. His head popped like rotten fruit and sprayed blood and puss onto the floor and ceiling. The Oni-Tormentor let out one final croak and collapsed at her feet twitching.
Sareena shut her eyes and took a breath, reining in her anger. When she opened them and took in the sight of Drahmin's dead body, she allowed herself a moment's relief. Even pride. Quan Chi and Shinnok were long gone, and nothing could erase the years of suffering, but she felt vindicated ridding herself of one of her tormentors with her own hands.
She truly was free.
Her relief was short-lived. Just as she was about to aid Scorpion against Moloch, she caught movement in the corner of her eye and felt an icy draft in the air. When she looked down the corridor, she saw nothing but darkness. But then the shadows moved.
He appeared from the blackness without a sound, looking like a reaper of souls. His dead eyes stared at her from beneath his hood, and Sareena's blood ran cold. She had been warned, but seeing it with her own eyes was another matter.
Noob Saibot had come.
Like Sareena and Scorpion, Mileena sensed something wrong with Onaga's pyramid. She was sure Kitana did, too, but it was the Tarkatan part of her than smelled danger in the very brick. They had defied a being that manipulated reality, and he responded by plunging them into a maze. She knew there would be more awaiting them than Seidans and Shokan.
Confirming her dread, shortly after the sliding wall separated her from Kitana, a passageway to her left opened. Inside was a narrow stairway which led down to an ominous green light. The smell alone was enough to put her off. Though the Tarkatan in her was drawn to the scent of blood and meat, it was overpowered by the stench of decay and another, different odor she couldn't place but seemed familiar.
She wasn't eager to play Onaga's game, but with nowhere else to go, she twirled her sai and descended the stairs. "Damn it all."
Halfway down, she picked up the sound of dripping and something boiling. The smell became more potent, and it made her eyes water. It was a chemical scent like potions or the fluids used to clean corpses. It was the smell of a physician or sorcerer's laboratory.
Then she realized why it was so familiar. She had been here before.
The stairs led into a looming chamber filled with glass tubes and steel slabs. Blood stained the floor, and chains and hooks hung from the ceiling. Half-formed creatures and partially dissected bodies were strewn about, some hanging from the chains.
She was back to the place of her birth: Shang Tsung's Flesh Pit. Recreated in Onaga's pyramid by the Kamidogu in all its horrific glory.
"Cute," she muttered.
Moving through the chamber, she was admittedly disturbed at its accuracy. One of the bodies hanging from the ceiling was indeed an incomplete clone of Kitana with her chest opened and insides hollowed out. One of the glass tubes held a malformed creature that looked half like Kitana and half like a Tarkakan floating in green chemicals.
Mileena's eyes moved along her fallen "sisters." The clones before her that were deemed imperfect or defective—some too similar to Kitana, others too Tarkatan. She had been the last, but how many were created and killed before her? How many failures did they go through before they settled on her?
"Is this what it was like for you, sister?" she wondered aloud. "Stumbling on Shang Tsung's good work?"
Her foot hit something on the floor, and she found yet another incomplete clone. This one seemed almost entirely Tarkatan. The only thing to suggest any Kitana in her were the eyes, which were frozen in horror.
What startled her, however, was how chewed up it was. Its body was torn up with claws and bite marks, and half of its face was ripped off. This one wasn't dissected for study. Someone or something took their anger out on it.
Going further in, she found more damaged and ripped apart clones. Limbs torn off, hearts pulled out, and flesh damaged. The only thing in common was all their faces were a ruin regardless if they looked more Kitana or more Tarkatan. Whoever did this wanted to destroy their faces above all.
She turned a corner and found a shattered glass tube with the remains of another deformed clone on the floor before it. Hunched over the dead copy was a creature wearing torn purple and black rags. It twitched and growled, and a foul chewing noise could be heard. Sensing Mileena's presence, it stopped what it was doing and faced her.
It was female. Her body was lean and muscular with small spikes protruding from her shoulders and upper arms. She was mostly bald, but a few locks of black hair hung from her scalp. The top half of her head was wrapped in purple bandages, hiding what was clearly a Tarkatan face—her orange, devilish eyes gave it away. But her jaw, covered with blood, appeared perfectly human. From nose to chin, she was Kitana.
She stared at Mileena, her head twitching from side to side in curiosity. She wiped blood from her chapped lips and said, "Sister … you've come at last."
She stood, revealing that she had been chewing on the dead body's face. Mileena backed away and held her sai up.
"Oh," the clone said. "You're not Kitana. You're one of us."
"I'm nothing like you," she replied. "I am Mileena. I am Shao Kahn's true daughter."
"Mmmmi-leeeeennn-nnna." The clone made a bizarre clucking noise that might have been a giggle. She clicked her tongue and sucked blood off her fingers. "You're the one he kept," she said. "He gave you a name. He picked you over me. Over us."
She stretched her arms, and like a Tarkatan, blades emerged from her wrists. But unlike the usual single blade, one grew from the center while two smaller ones came from either side.
"You have a pretty face," she said, crossing her arms. "Give it to me."
"Bi-Han? D-do you recognize me?"
Kuai Liang had warned Sareena of his brother's fate shortly after they met. Although she really didn't know Bi-Han—they barely had time for it when he made his journey into the Netherealm—she was saddened to learn the man who'd defied Quan Chi and Shinnok ultimately wound up their slave anyway. A literal shadow of what he once was.
"Bi-Han," she said. "It's me. Sareena. You … you spared my life. Remember?"
He didn't answer. He only stared at her, his face a vague black shape nearly invisible in the darkness around him. His eyes were cold and lifeless. He didn't even appear to be breathing. For a moment, she dared hope it wasn't really him but some illusion conjured by Onaga to trick her.
"I saw Bi-Han," she said. "He's on Earthrealm with his brother and the Lin Kuei. You … you're just some—"
"Onaga summoned me here to finish what the White Huntress could not," he interrupted, his voice deep and void of emotion. "Hasashi will not save you this time."
She shivered. "If this is you … then you were Bi-Han only days ago. You must remember what it is to be human. You were reunited with your brother. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"I was reminded of weakness." He reached into his own chest, which seemed to almost be made of ink, and revealed a sickle. "But I am free again. I have been restored to my true self. Reclaimed my true name."
He sprang at her, aiming to cut her throat with his blade. She barely evaded the slice but caught an elbow to her stomach and knee to the chin that sent her stumbling back. Losing track of him in the shadows, she almost didn't realize he was already behind her.
Grabbing a handful of hair, he pulled her head back to expose her neck. In desperation, she tore herself from his grasp and back-flipped away to create some distance. As she tried to catch her breath, Noob Saibot let the locks of hair ripped from her scalp fall from his fingers.
"No … no, I don't believe you," she said. "You cared about Kuai Liang. He told me. You … you were flawed, but there was good in you. You could've killed me years ago, but you spared my life. That had to mean something!"
"You read too much into nothing," he said. "The whim of a man long dead. Whatever feeling Bi-Han had for you, I would just as soon be rid of it."
Without warning, an inky shadow-double sprang from Noob's body and tackled her to the floor. Her head bounced off the stone and left her too dazed to defend against the double's blows. Holding her arms back, it then picked her up and held her in place for Noob to finish her.
"When I am done with you," he said, lifting her chin with the sickle's point. "I shall return to the Lin Kuei and deal with my family. The last of Bi-Han will be gone at last. Only Noob Saibot remains."
He raised the blade to strike her dead, but was distracted when a large shape was thrown from over his shoulder. The severed head of Moloch roll to a stop at her feet, and he turned to find Scorpion standing over the rest of the Oni's body with a chained kunai in his hand.
"Come here."
The spear found its mark and plunged into Noob's chest. The chain snapped taut as Scorpion pulled him close and then leveled him with an uppercut that left the wraith on his back. Before a follow-up attack could be made, both Noob and the double holding Sareena dissipated into darkness and reformed as one further down the corridor.
Scorpion helped her to her feet. "You okay?"
"No," she said. "He won't listen. I can't get through to him."
"There's nothing to get through to."
"No," she insisted. "Scorpion, I know you have a grudge against Bi-Han, but I have to at least try—"
"Bi-Han is dead, Sareena."
His tone struck her. At first, she thought Scorpion only saw the man who'd killed him. But she remembered Kuai Liang had a similar tone when he told her about his brother. Her eyes met Scorpion's, and she knew he was asking the same question Kuai Liang had: Can I trust you?
She looked toward Noob Saibot, who stood in the shadows ahead of them, waiting. Since their first encounter, she had long wished to meet Bi-Han again. The more she learned about him from Kuai Liang, the more her curiosity grew. She always wanted to know why he chose to spare her. She wished to truly know the man she met all too briefly before Shinnok tore her away from him.
She couldn't say she loved him. She would never claim he loved her. But there were questions she longed to have answered.
But some things just go unresolved.
"You're right," she said, nodding. "I can't help him."
They approached the wraith, who showed no seeming concern. Scorpion took the lead and would've made the first move, but Sareena was suddenly struck in the face by another of Noob's doubles hidden in the shadows.
The distraction allowed Noob to land the first blow on Scorpion, and what followed was a chaotic battle in the narrow corridor. Noob and his shadow fought in near perfect sync, bobbing and weaving between their opponents and seamlessly switching from Scorpion to Sareena and back again.
Sareena likened it to trying to grab hold of an oily eel. She and Scorpion could barely keep up pace. The shadowy corridor made keeping track even more difficult, and at one point, they nearly hit each other. Noob again took advantage of their delay and picked them apart with his double like a surgeon.
In desperation, Scorpion summoned a burst of fire from the floor to buy himself and Sareena time to get their bearings. Noob Saibot backed away from the fire, his eyes as cold and focused as ever. Despite being outnumbered, the wraith managed to outfight the both of them with frightening ease.
Scorpion caught his breath and stared at their enemy. "Sareena," he said. "Go on without me."
"What?!"
"I'll handle Saibot alone," he said. "Get to the apex."
"But …" She stammered, trying to find the words. "I'm not going to just leave you! We have a better chance fighting together!"
"You saw what just happened. He'll use his doubles to play us against each other. I'll fight better alone."
"I'm not—"
"The Amulet is what matters, Sareena! Ermac and Havik will need you more than I will!" He looked at her, and his eyes softened. He placed his hand on her shoulder and quietly said, "You said it yourself: you can't help him. Noob Saibot is my mistake. Let me deal with it."
She bit her lip and looked from him to Noob and back to him. She hated leaving him on his own. She hated abandoning the fight. And, she admitted to herself, she hated giving up on the chance she could still reach through to Bi-Han.
She nodded and started down the corridor, leaving Scorpion to face Noob Saibot alone. She only a moment to look back and lament she still would never get the answers she sought.
This isn't the same. Hotaru isn't Shao Kahn.
Kitana stood over Hotaru and his comrades with her fans drawn. They were all unconscious and could easily be dispatched. There was a time she wouldn't have even thought about it. But she had been a different person then—cold, loyal to her step-father, and even cruel at times. She'd changed since then.
She wanted that part of her life behind her. That was why she didn't finish Shao Kahn when she had the chance. She told him—told herself—she wouldn't inherit his cruelty. She wanted to believe in mercy, as Liu did. It was why the people of Outworld chose her to be Kahn, wasn't it? Her heart had won them over, hadn't it?
And it allowed her mother to restore Shao Kahn and ruin everything.
She turned and started down the corridor but hesitated. No, Hotaru wasn't the same as her step-father, but leaving him alive could be disastrous all the same. And he was a heartless fanatic anyway, a part of her insisted. Would the realms be any worse with him gone?
She almost went to finish them off, when a voice called out: "Kitana! Stop!"
On reflex, she held her fans up and braced for battle. From down the darkened hall, a figure appeared in armor she didn't recognize. It was Seidan influenced but had a more elegant, regal flair to it and colored in shades of blue, purple, and gold.
The soldier came forward holding a Kwan Do and removed his helmet. His dark hair was pulled back and beard trimmed. But his eyes were troubled, and his face set in a saddened frown. It took a moment for Kitana to recognize him, but when she did, her stomach dropped.
"Father?"
"I didn't want it to come to this 'Tana," he said. "We'd hoped we could get you back peacefully."
Her knees felt weak, and a wretched jolt went up her spine as dizziness came to her. Out of desperation, she latched onto denial. "No," she said, struggling to breathe. "No, no. This … this is a trick. One of Onaga's illusions. My father … my father's back in Edenia …"
"Commander Hotaru informed me what was happening after you escaped with Mileena," Jerrod said. "He told me the truth. I was summoned here by the Dragon King himself."
The walls seemed to close in. Kitana felt she might vomit. "Stop it … please, stop it … I can't do this …"
"I didn't want you to find out like this," he said. "But you just wouldn't stop …"
He reached out to take her by the shoulder. She screamed and jumped away from him, pressing herself against the wall. He took a step closer, his hands up like he was trying to talk her off a ledge, and she backed away like he was contagious.
"Why?" she asked, her voice cracking. "How could you? After Shao Kahn … how could you let this …?"
"It's exactly because of Shao Kahn I'm doing this." He shut his eyes and took a breath with his fists clenched at his sides. "Ten thousand years, Kitana. For ten thousand years, Shao Kahn held my soul. Do you understand what that means? I saw what he saw. I watched everything he did … to our home, to our people … to your mother … to you. And I had ten thousand years to think about how I failed to stop it."
"So you trade one tyrant for another?" she asked. "Onaga instead of Shao Kahn, and it makes no difference to you? I thought … I thought you were …"
"Thought I was what? Gentler? Kinder?" he said, shaking his head. "Hotaru was right. It takes a heart of steel. If I had been stronger then … if I had the steel necessary to defeat Shao Kahn … but I failed. And I am not letting that happen again!"
Kitana stared at her father, desperately trying to find the man she'd dreamed he was. The man she knew all too briefly just a few days ago who held her close and made her feel safe. For so long, she only knew her father as a mythic, benevolent figure cruelly slain in her infancy. He couldn't be this bitter, harsh man standing before her, could he?
Just like her mother—the tragic queen who would rather die than be Shao Kahn's bride—couldn't be the sadistic monster that relished her torture. Just like Liu Kang was her beloved Chosen One who would never stand aside and let her suffer. Or Jade … or Sheeva …
"I know what you must think," Jerrod said. "I understand how this all looks. But the Dragon King is righteous. He only wishes for peace. He brought me back, 'Tana. He gave us Sindel … as she's supposed to be. As I remember her. And I know Seido can seem harsh, but their way is the answer. With their strength, we need never fear losing our home again."
Her strength left her. The fans in her hands never seemed so heavy. She looked around in a daze, feeling like she was in a dream. "Why am I here?" she asked. "I don't … what am I fighting for?"
"Kitana?"
She stared at the floor. Decades of struggle and pain and disappointment came upon her at once. "I have nothing left to give," she said, her voice like a dying breath. "I just want to sleep. Please, let me sleep …"
The fans slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a metallic clang. She couldn't even cry. She felt as though her soul had been drained from her body. She sank to her knees wanting nothing more than to sleep forever.
End of Chapter XV
