A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback! :) This chapter is short, but I hope not too disappointing, haha.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

I landed on my back; unprepared from when I was dragged into the portal.

We were all in Edenia now, and in the same grassy lake area from before.

I immediately jumped to my feet and faced the others.

"We have to go back!" I shouted.

"What? Why?" asked Sonya.

"Scorpion didn't make it through! Open the portal again," I said as I looked to Kitana.

Kitana looked tired, and unsure. The others looked exhausted as well. And not the least bit concerned.

That made me furious. I still had the image of Scorpion in my mind, and the prickly feeling of anxiety in my chest. I did not want to think about what was happening to him.

And he's alive, I thought. So much had happened, but somehow the former spectre had regained his life. Or at least that's what appeared to be the case.

I decided that if anyone in the world deserved a second chance it was Scorpion. And I would not let him be killed if I could help it.

Again, I pushed thoughts of him in mortal danger out of my mind.

"Why not?" I finally asked when I received no response from my allies.

Jax sighed. He was sitting on the ground, resting his arms on his knees. "He's probably already dead, man."

The others murmured in agreement.

I frowned. "We don't know that for certain."

Jax let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh yeah? With all those monsters around there that we were running from? It's not worth it."

My chest tightened in anger. "What do you mean, 'It's not worth it'?"

"I mean, it's not worth risking our lives again just to go back there to find out that he's dead. It sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it. And I doubt he'd do the same for any of us. AND in case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly in the right shape to fight again so soon. I'm tired. We're all tired. And hurting."

I bit my lip and looked away. If I hadn't I might've ripped his head off.

"Scorpion is a man of honor, he would have gone back if it was one of us. He would have-"

"No," said Kung Lao. "For you maybe. But not for the rest of us. He's not honor bound to us."

"And we're not to him?" I demanded. "If it wasn't for him we might all be dead, or captured."

"Well I don't know about that," Sonya said. "I think we would've had more or less the same outcome without him."

Raiden spoke before I could respond to that statement. "What happened after the three of you went through the portal the first time? How did Scorpion regain life?"

Liu stepped forward. "A dark orb of light hit him. We don't know where it came from. But Reiko was speaking to someone…"

"Who?" Raiden asked.

"I can't remember if he said a name. Everything happened very fast. And it was odd. I know that he called out for a master."

Raiden blinked in surprise. "A master?"

"Shinnok," I sighed in frustration. "Shinnok is what he called out to."

The thunder god's jaw dropped. For a moment he looked pale.

"Lord Raiden? Do you know what a Shinnok is?" Liu turned to him.

Raiden nodded but he looked lost in thought. "It doesn't make any sense…"

I didn't have time for this.

I didn't care about a Shinnok. Or a dead Reiko.

Kitana was looking around herself in happy recognition, and I was almost sorry to interrupt her.

"Princess Kitana, please open the portal once more." I hated having to plead. But I didn't know what else I could do.

She looked at me sadly. "I don't think it would be a wise decision…"

"Please," I said again.

"I don't know how long I can keep it open this time. And to risk all our lives—"

"I'll go alone."

"WHAT?" was the common response from my allies.

Although I was beginning to question the term 'allies'. These people didn't even want to help me.

"I'll go alone," I repeated. "I can do this by myself if I have to."

Smoke walked up to me and grabbed my bandaged arm. "Have you lost your mind? Look, you've reopened your wounds."

There was blood seeping from the bandage, but it wasn't too bad. I could ignore the pain.

I wrenched my arm out of his grasp and looked expectantly at Kitana.

"Why do you want to do this?" she asked me.

Because I owe him.

Because he's honorable.

Because…

"I want to do the right thing." I didn't have to add 'for once'. I think she could read it in my eyes.

Perhaps she understood, or just simply thought I wouldn't give up, because finally she nodded.

"Okay," she said. "I'll open it, but I'll have to close it behind you. I cannot allow any of those cursed creatures into my home realm. I'll wait here for one hour and reopen it. But if you're not back in time…"

"I understand." I would have agreed to anything at this point. "Thank you."

Smoke shook his head. "Sub-Zero, this is reckless."

"And we don't want to waste time waiting for you," said Raiden. He seemed to snap out of whatever was bothering him. "We still have much to discuss about our enemies. And we still have to escort the princess to her castle."

"It'll be all right," Kitana said. "I'm not sure if my people will accept me here, but we can give Sub-Zero a little time… Nobody seems to know we are here yet in any case."

Raiden nodded after a moment.

"Wait," said Smoke. "I'm going with you."

I looked at my friend and smiled. He moved to stand next to me and I could tell he did not want to do this.

"I'll make it up to you," I told him.

To my surprise, Johnny Cage went to stand next to us as well. "I'm going, too!"

"What?" cried Sonya.

Johnny shrugged. "Hey, Scorpion is part of our group. Sure, he's kinda terrifying. But he seemed like a cool guy."

"Johnny, don't be stupid. He's probably already dead." She glanced at me quickly. "We don't even know how loyal he is to us. What if he switched sides?"

I closed my eyes, trying to restrain myself from saying anything. I respected Sonya as a fighter, but I really wanted to tell her to shut her mouth.

Johnny laughed. "I'll be fine! I mean, I may not be as stealthy as a ninja, but with these two I can't go wrong. Plus, I just don't know if I could sleep at night knowing I didn't do anything to help a fellow Defender."

I rolled my eyes. The actor was determined to make that title stick.

Okay. That's enough.

"We're ready," I told Kitana.

"Anyone else?" She looked around to be sure.

Nothing.

And that was fine. I decided it would be easier with fewer people. Easier to hide at least. Johnny was right, Smoke and I were ninjas; we could melt into the shadows if we had to.

Kitana began the process of opening the portal, and we all tensed, anticipating the possibility of some Tarkatans slipping through. But as the portal grew in size, nothing threatening happened.

I looked at Smoke, who smiled. And at Johnny, who was grinning with confidence too.

Good. I suddenly felt optimistic.

"Let's go!" Johnny shouted, leaping into the portal first.

Sonya yelled at us to be careful as Smoke and I followed suit.

A/N: Ch. 9 should be coming soon! I would've crammed it all into this chapter but it would have been too long. Please review! Or not! I will love you anyway! Lol