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Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Mortal Kombat; it belongs to its creators Ed Boon, John Tobias, John Vogel and their crew.

Chapter Twelve

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself here?"

"Yeah. And I'll have that hellspawn with me so that's more company than I'm used to, really."

Okay, putting the insult about my cat aside, Mileena was definitely alluding to her relationship with Nightwolf. I'd caught that much. She really did feel neglected, more than I would have ever thought. I put my car keys in my pocket and leaned on the frame of my open front door.

"Mileena, I've got a minute. You sure you don't wanna talk about this?" I offered one last time.

She seemed peeved, but even more so sensitive, so I decided to leave her alone. Already she was dressed for bed and it was only just creeping up on eight 'o'clock. I guess when you were in the dumps you really didn't want to do much else but chill out indoors.

"Okay then, I'm going," I spoke while giving her a hug.

She released me and said, "Alright. Tell monk-boy and his friend to kick Ermac's ass for me, kay?"

I laughed and told her, "I will. Be safe. Don't open the door to strangers. And please don't kill my cat."

She gave me a cheeky smile that had me worried for my pet. But deep down I knew she wouldn't hurt him. She and French had a...complicated relationship that bordered on love-hate at times. Mileena would be okay here. It's not like my apartment is exclusively known by anyone other than the members of our little alliance.

From my place I traveled to OIA and then to Outworld. The place was packed at Kahn's, er, Ermac's Fortress. I still couldn't believe how many people had found out about it, people from Earthrealm that is. I'd think that if Ermac wanted to win he wouldn't have gotten many to fight for our side.

The front doors were wide open this time and so I filtered into the palace along with many others. the lot of us were guided to this huge dining room where a bunch of tables were set up. Talk about a spread fit for a king: there was so much food there, plenty of meat and cheeses and of course wine. A lot of the fighters were indulging in water, I noticed. Probably to keep a clear head for their match the next day. For those that weren't fighting in the morning, wine was the premier choice. I had to only search a second before I saw Liu and Kung Lao's waving hands. They knew I was coming and had saved a place for me. They greeted me in loud tones so as to be heard over the noise of the jovial banquet.

The noise was soon quieted by the presence of the formidable sorcerer up at the front of the room, demanding everyone's undivided attention with that hard stare alone. He surveyed the entire crowd before dropping his cold front and smiling warmly.

"Greetings, warriors." He boomed. "I trust you've enjoyed the evening thus far."

That wasn't a question; he knew that he could throw a mad banquet and was a top-notch coordinator. He didn't need to listen to the murmurings of impression to know as much.

"Now it is time for you to preview what is to come," He stated, and then I swear he looked right at me.

"Miss Blade if you will."

"I won't." I replied firmly.

He suddenly appeared at the table right in front of me and I straightened. That was the only exterior sign that he'd caught me off guard. Shang smirked down at me and held out his hand.

"A demonstration, Miss Blade, is all I ask of you." He claimed.

I rolled my eyes but eventually gave in. If he wanted to get knocked on his ass in front of all his 'guests' then that was fine by me. I didn't take his hand though. Rather, I pushed out my chair and followed him up to the front of the room, where a portion of the floor stood raised off the ground by several inches, like a stage. I stepped over to one end and waited for him to get to the other side. When he bowed formally at me, I returned the gesture and then lunged for him.

He was taking my hits in stride and not once did that smirk slip off his face. He seemed highly amused by my rushing him so I fell back into military stance and dished out two swift kicks; the last one caught him under the chin and made his head snap back. I fell back again to gauge his reaction. He was no longer amused.

Serves him right

Shang set his mouth in a tight line and bowed to me stiffly, ending our match. I did the same and also did nothing to hide my pleased expression.

He asked for it after all, I reasoned.

The crowd hooted and jeered. I was surprised Shang didn't keep going though. I guess he didn't care about what this little victory of mine did to his image. He crossed the stage over to me and tried to help me down. Again I refused.

"Miss Blade, you do not disappoint." Shang stated neutrally, "I trust you'll be using those moves in the tournament?"

I frowned, "I'm not fighting in this tournament. I just came to make sure you and Ermac don't pull any shenanigans against Earthrealm."

"Ah, but you are forgetting our agreement," He spoke cunningly.

I rolled my eyes and replied, "That agreement was a farce and you know it; if I knew it was really you instead of Ermac I wouldn't have made the deal. It should be null and void."

"But it isn't." He reminded me.

"Ermac isn't gonna just let me fight without paying," I pointed out.

Shang told me, "Just uphold your end of the bargain. I'll handle the...emperor."

He left me then and was replaced with Liu and Kung Lao. Both of them had no kind words for the sorcerer or his sub-par performance. Their suspicion was raised by it. In retrospect, so was mine. He really had gone easy on me and that was strange. Maybe because it was just a demonstration? When I told the two of them what had transpired just then between Shang and I, they were even more wary.

"Perhaps you should do as he says and fight," Liu suggested, "So as not to raise trouble."

"And the more strong fighters Earth has on its side, the better," Kung Lao chimed in.

Since they put it that way, I guess I would humor the old immortal. But I was, under no circumstances, footing the bill for any of this mandatory participation.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao were working through the competition pretty well so far, and that was a good thing because the rest of Earth's warriors weren't doing so hot. Three days into the competition things were almost dead even for Outworld and Earthrealm. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but we only had one chance at this, not ten like usual.

But I had to admit, aside from the pressure of needing to do our best for the good of Earth, this was sort of fun. I mean, it's been awhile since I just fought like this, letting out all my pent up stress and getting cheered on for it. The other tournaments were hell, but this was a lot less tense. So long as Shang Tsung wasn't around, that is. He still gives me the absolute creeps.

It was after my latest match that I was sitting in the brown grass, cooling off and having lunch; turkey on wheat with a canteen of water and a red apple. Under the shade of a giant tree that fortunately didn't growl or have a face, I enjoyed the cool breeze and the quiet: far from the arena, I didn't have to listen to the sounds of flesh pounding flesh or Ermac's unnervingly sexy laughs. Yes, there is a way to absolutely loathe a person, er, host and still acknowledge that their laugh was a good one, albeit pretty dark.

"He better not be charging me," I muttered to myself.

That still hadn't been worked out, but I assume Shang Tsung had handled it like he said. Ermac didn't tell me anything when I fought in any of my matches. Oh wait, he had told me something about being 'pretty decent for a busybody lieutenant' or something of that nature. I guess when you take down somebody over twice your weight and height, you earned a veiled compliment like that one.

"Room for one more under there?"

Liu Kang was standing right where the sun was, making a ring of light appear behind his thick halo of black hair. He had a congenial smile and a small sack with what was probably his midday meal.

I told him, "Of course, come on. Have a seat."

The ground beside me I patted and let him join me. He settled himself in a reclining position against the tree's trunk with his legs wide open and his lunch in front of him. The monk threw back his head and then crossed his arms at his chest. I wasn't one to nitpick, but this was an odd position for the monk. Usually he had his legs folded and his hands in his lap. I only knew this much because I'd grown accustomed to seeing him in that position. But I shrugged and figured I was paying too much attention to it. This was the defender of Earthrealm, he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders so I suppose that's what warranted the change.

"Are you enjoying the tournament?" He asked.

I shrugged, "As much as can be expected, I guess. It's nice to be fighting again."

He nodded and said, "That fight with Shang Tsung the other day; what did you think of it?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know," I murmured.

I didn't expect that question, but now that he'd brought it up, I did think that fight was weird. It was no surprise that he'd target one of us to make an example of, but me in particular? Hm, I couldn't explain that. Also, the fight itself was weak, even if it was just a demonstration.

"I think he was holding back," I added.

Liu glanced over and asked, "Shang Tsung?"

"Yeah."

"Why is that?" he inquired.

"I can't say, but I did get the feeling that he was, I don't know, testing me."

Liu tilted his head and asked, "Testing you? For what?"

"I don't know." I admitted.

"He seems to be putting special attention on you, Miss Blade," he remarked.

I didn't like the way things were going in this conversation. The things he were asking me, I didn't have answers for and that perturbed me. So I changed the subject to something lighter.

"How are things in Edenia?"

It was best to sneak in little moments of easiness and tranquility where we could, because when we got back to the tournament it would be hard to focus on anything other than our matches.

"Things are well." The monk replied after a pause.

Liu didn't look like he was ready to leave the topic but moved on anyway. He rolled his shoulders back and once again folded his arms. He was definitely tense now.

I asked, "What about you and Kitana?"

"She is...also well." He answered tonelessly.

Now that was a definite sign the monk wasn't himself. Whenever he was asked about or spoke of the Princess, he would rave passionately about their good fortune in finding each other, or their pre-marital bliss, or whatever else he could find to brag about concerning Kitana: and by the way, he could find a lot. But now he only had that to say? I guess he really is stressed. Maybe it's best I leave him to his thoughts.

And tend to my own.

I sure had enough of them. At the forefront right now was my friend. I left her alone at my apartment with my cat and not for the first time I had doubts that the decision had been a wise one on my part. Hopefully they don't claw each other up or destroy my place.

"A lot on your mind?" Liu spoke to me.

I sighed. "Just wondering how Mileena is doing."

"She is with the shaman, ne?"

"Actually no. She's been staying with me for a little while."

"Oh. Interesting."

"Yeah."

Liu commented, "You two must be close then."

"Something like that." I said honestly.

"I see." The monk said quietly.

Then, without having eaten at all, he took up his humble sack and stood. After he stretched, he bowed his head and gave me another smile.

"Well I'll see you later on."

"Yeah, see ya." I called.

For some reason, I had this bad feeling in my gut. I had no clue why. I think it had something to do with Liu, though. I was getting weird vibes from him throughout the entire conversation we shared. Perhaps it was the atmosphere around here getting to me, making me extra wary. At any rate, I was still worried about Mileena. Had she talked to Nightwolf yet? Had they worked things out? Did he do the 'Nightwolf thing' and come to my apartment to see her? I didn't know and wouldn't know until I got to see her again. I just hope

Sports. News. Weather.

This sucks.

Cooking. Reality. News.

Like really sucks.

Game Shows. Cartoons. More sports. More news.

Sucks ass.

By this time she knew that, with all the amenities offered by premium cable, there was still nothing on television. Having come to this realization, she cut the screen to black by switching it off with the remote. The fact that there wasn't anything on wasn't the worst part. A boring documentary or standard chick-flick she could stand, but not with that damn, abominable beast of an animal that Sonya dared call a pet sitting at her feet. No matter where she rested them, the cat would settle near them, be it on the carpeted floor or the coffee table or the couch, where they now were. The thing even had the nerve to purr contentedly. She tucked her feet closer to her body and glared at the green-eyed, grey-colored feline. He blinked, yawned, and climbed atop her bare feet once more.

"Damn you," She muttered softly.

It's not the 'damned' cat you're mad at, that voice told her.

She hated that voice but she knew it was right in this case, and because of that she knew she couldn't be too hard on the animal. So she discarded her pride for a moment and let her hand reach down towards him, let her fingers delve into his long fur as she stroked him almost affectionately. With this attention he hardly ever received from his mistress, French moved from her feet to her lap. The young woman allowed this and scratched the beast behind his ears gently. He purred again and nuzzled her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah," She griped, "This changes nothing, you little spawn."

Yet she continued to rub the feline in her lap as she pondered her life up to now in the silent apartment. She couldn't say that she was totally happy with it. Things weren't going too well and she mostly blamed herself.

Of course you do, you should; this life is mediocre.

"Shut up." She growled under her breath.

At that the cat stirred. She subconsciously scratched behind his ears again and he put his head back on her thigh.

That voice. That stupid voice. She thought it was gone a long time ago. Well, it was gone, back when things were going pretty well. Those were the good times, when she and Nightwolf didn't fight so much and there was nothing but love. But then Nightwolf kept leaving her more and more. It wasn't his fault, it was the elders. They started calling on him a lot more. They didn't approve of her at all.

Of course not. Those old bastards hate you, the voice reminded her.

"Hm. I don't know about that," She spoke aloud, "But they definitely don't like me."

On several occasions she'd heard as much from their own mouths, though they didn't know that she'd understood them because they were speaking in their native tongue. Unbeknownst to them, she'd learned Apache, well, mostly learned. She still stumbled around sometimes, clumsy in this new speech, but for the most part she'd grasped it. All thanks to Elan and even Tvari; on the instance where the general was correcting her, that is. However, taking the initiative to learn Apache went completely unnoticed by the group of elders.

"It's like I'll never be good enough," She frowned, "No matter what I do."

All the clothes she wore had been altered yet again to suit their tastes and that hadn't been enough. She had changed the way she acted in the village because she knew her playful flirting and physical sparring with the village warriors were things the elders frowned upon.

"A good Apache woman that does not make." She quoted with a pout.

Even when she approached them and told them that she knew she didn't measure but that she was still trying didn't help. They had lessened up for a while, but then she'd gone and chopped off half of Tvari's precious blonde locks and caused trouble for herself.

"The Prick had it coming," She smirked.

Yes, another of their ritual arguments had escalated into a fight that both of them were counting on and things had gotten heated. Somehow Tvari had gotten his hands on her sai's and had tossed them into the lake. She had a feeling their location would work against her, but she couldn't have predicted he'd have made such a bold move. That was usually her thing. Anyway, after she'd fished them out of the murky earth in the deeper end of the clear waters, she'd returned to the barracks to give her special friend an equally special sort of makeover. She intended to have him looking like a shorn sheep, but halfway through the job she'd been caught, resulting in an even more hilarious dilemma for the general.

It still made her smile when she thought of her handiwork.

But that stunt had once again put her out of favor with the elders. She didn't live up to their standards of an acceptable wife of their beloved Chief, but they could do nothing about this. Nothing except make her miserable by calling on the shaman so much and tearing him away from her. She didn't want to despise them, so she told herself that if they really knew how deeply they were hurting her they would back off.

They don't care about you or your pathetic tears, you weak bitch.

"Whatever." She murmured.

As her husband spent less time with her, her mood got worse and the voice grew more acerbic in its comments and remarks. She was seriously getting depressed without him. But when she wasn't crying alone in their bedroom because he was hung up with the elders or some other business, she was incredibly angry with him. She didn't know where all this anger had come from but it was there and it was strong. She hated to fight.

With Nightwolf, that is.

But sometimes he just made her so very angry! It wasn't anything he did, but rather what he didn't do. He knew full well what was going on between her and the elders but what did he do? He'd try to keep both sides assuaged. He tried to put his wife in a more favorable light with the elders and with his wife he did his best to make up for their behavior. He did things, wonderful things, to make her happy and that was good. For a bit. But that could never be better than just being able to spend more than two full days out of the week with him without any interruptions.

Without her knowing, tears slid down her cheeks, under her chin. She wiped them angrily. She was tired of feeling this way. She wanted to get away from the place where she didn't quite fit in, away from the old wizened eyes that saw into her soul and her former life and judged, judged, judged her for all of her misdeeds. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so inadequate and so 'not-good-enough'. Maybe then she and Nightwolf could have dinner without the passive aggressiveness or the curt replies and cold shoulders. Maybe then she'd remembered why she turned down her old ways for love.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEP!

The sound of Sonya's obnoxious heating machine, er, microwave made Mileena jump. French, who was enjoying the peace, leapt deftly off of her lap and blinked up at her. He knew that, of the two females in the household, she was the crazier but this sudden sense of urgency in her confused the feline. He followed the girl into the kitchen, the girl who wore small shorts and a sweatshirt that Sonya most likely forgot she even had. From the microwave she procured a bowl of foul-smelling chicken wings, so French took a trip to the bathroom. Mileena went back to the couch and again wiped at her eyes. She wanted to forget about these feelings for a few hours so she cut the tv back on. However, only about thirty minutes and fifteen chicken wings later, there was a knock at the door.

"What the..." Mileena frowned.

In all the days she'd been at Sonya's place alone, nobody had come to the door, making her nearly forget about the lieutenant's warning. She was too short for the peephole, so she stood on her toes and saw what looked like a young male. He was shivering in his thin black coat.

He's come to kill you, the voice accused.

It had gotten no less paranoid over time. Mileena rolled her eyes and opened the door with the chain lock still in place. The young male had green eyes that stood out against the blackness of his hair and the paleness of his white skin. Around his neck was a strange charm hung on a rope.

"Can you, that is, do you have, er, may I use your restroom?" He stammered.

Mileena frowned. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just cold." He admitted, "May I use you restroom?"

"...Yeah, hold on."

She didn't really see the harm in that, but just to be sure, she closed the door and grabbed her sai's from the coffee table and slipped them in the loops of her belt. She slid the chain out of the way of the door and let the young man in.

"It's this way." She told him after looking him over.

He shivered and nodded, wiping the bottom of his boots off as he entered the apartment. While her back was turned, she heard the door lock and that's when she knew, just knew in her gut, that she'd made a grave mistake. Even before his arms wrapped around her waist and she felt his cold breath on her cheek, she knew she'd done the wrong thing. Very expertly, though, she slipped away from him and put some distance in between the two of them.

"Please don't make this difficult," He implored her.

While he asked that, he had also slipped into a predatorial stance. She also readied her body to fight and scoffed.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

The man lunged for her then and she wryly noted that the voice had actually been right; this man had come to kill her. Possibly. In any case, she was glad she'd grabbed her sai's.

From the center of her body she channeled light pink energy through to the tips of her weapons, straight at the incoming man. The apartment was only so big though, so when the blast hit him, he went crashing into the door. There would surely be a dent there. She winced, but shot another beam of energy at him.

This time the man was quick in evading the oncoming attack. He not only dodged the energy beam, but shot one of his own: something green and bubbly.

Mileena dropped to the floor but as she did, the liquid projectile went sailing past her face. It was hot and smelled absolutely putrid. As soon as it hit its unintended target, the opposite wall, it hissed and ate at the paint that covered it, making for an ugly, olive-green rimmed hole.

Sonya is gonna kill me, the girl lamented.

The assailant was upon her, literally, and had her pinned under his body. She struggled but the first thing he did was disarm her; he grabbed her wrists and then did something that totally freaked her out.

His tongue crept out of his mouth and kept coming, coming, coming down to her hand. The red, slimy appendage stretched all the way from his open mouth and wrapped around her sai. He used his tongue to then fling the blade across the room.

"What in the actual fuck?!" Mileena cried in bewilderment.

However, she wasn't too shocked to fall for the same thing twice. So when he probed his tongue towards her other sai she pushed the brunt of her energy to her right hand and the man released her, his fingers sizzling at the contact.

Mileena made use of her semi-freedom and stabbed her sai into his other hand, the one that pinned her wrist to the floor. He jerked back with the weapon still lodged through his palm and recuperated. Mileena scrambled from the floor and ran to Sonya's bedroom. She locked the door and looked for the gun that her friend kept under the bed. Sonya really kept plenty of weapons hidden all over the house, Mileena had just discovered this one recently.

Meanwhile, her attacker had kicked down the bedroom door and was striding right for her. There was a gash in his hand from where the sai had penetrated through the bone and all. His blood was green. That was the least of Mileena's worries, though.

She was under the bed and her fingertips had only just brushed the cool metal of the gun when rough hands seized her ankles. The man dragged her from under the bed. She fought to get free and flipped onto her side, curled her feet away from him.

He in turn grabbed her upper legs and pulled her beneath him. Thick, warm green blood coated her skin and the pain of his fingers squeezing the insides of her thighs made her cry out. With an expletive that fell on deaf ears, too.

The man hooked his legs under her knees and put his forearm right on her throat. She coughed and pooled the last of her energy to her legs. She untangled them with great effort and shot one powerful kick to the middle of his chest that sent him sailing into Sonya's dresser. He didn't stay down for long.

When he got up, he vanished. Completely disappeared.

Mileena stood on shaky legs; He's not gone, she knew. She forced her arms to steady in a block position as she tried to sense where he was. Her body was trembling, luckily with adrenaline for now. She knew that once that wore off, exhaustion would take its place.

Suddenly she was tackled from behind and brought to the ground. A knee was shoved into the small of her back and her hands were bound behind her. She couldn't move and what's worse was that two fingers pinched at one of her pressure points. In about twenty-eight to thirty seconds she was going down. Her training with Tvari had taught her that much. She fought to get free but it was no use.

He had her.

Why do I get the feeling something isn't right?

I don't know but it was starting to disturb me. The day was nearly over, the two suns here were getting close to the horizon and as darkness pervaded, so did anxiety and unease. I had no more matches for today and neither did Kung Lao. He and I were watching Liu make short work of his latest opponent. When they were done, I pulled them both to the side.

"What is it, Sonya? What's going on?" Kung Lao asked.

Liu frowned and asked, "Did Shang Tsung do something? Or Ermac?"

I shook my head.

"No, it's none of that, I just have a horrible feeling and...never mind."

Now that I was speaking aloud, my worry sounded groundless and almost irrational.

"Are you sure?" Liu asked.

I nodded. "It's just, well, I've been feeling strange ever since I talked to you earlier."

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?" I frowned.

"Nothing much, except for...I barely saw you today," Liu spoke slowly.

I didn't comprehend him at first.

"What do you mean? In the field, under the tree, around noon-ish."

"I wasn't there." Liu denied.

Before I could say anything more, my mind popped an image of a certain sorcerer into my head. I then remembered that this sorcerer liked to impersonate people and damn if I hadn't fallen for it again.

"What's going on?" Kung Lao asked.

I narrowed my eyes and told them, "Shang Tsung impersonated Liu Kang earlier and we had a conversation."

"What was discussed?" Liu immediately asked.

"I'm thinking about it." I murmured, wracking my brain.

"Um, I remember you, I mean him, asking me about the tournament, and about the demonstration and about him targeting me."

"What else?"

"I...we talked about Edenia and Kitana."

"What about Kitana?" Liu asked desperately.

I shook my head and said, "Nothing, he didn't have much to say on that. He really wanted to talk about me."

Sick old creep, I grimaced.

Liu sagged in obvious relief and Kung Lao laid a hand on his shoulder. The hat-clad Shaolin turned to me.

"Anything else?"

"I don't think so."

I froze. "Oh shit."

"What?"

"...Mileena."

A/N: That's it for now! Thanks for reading everybody!

Please review if you want more :)

~DymondGold~