A/N: So sorry for the long absence! I hope a long chapter makes up for it. Thank you, my wonderful reviewers! I appreciate it. And to all those who newly favorited or followed, thank you! I got so many for the last chapter, it was great motivation. And a special thanks to FenceDaTanks, you were my 100th reviewer~ I feel like I should gift you something, haha. I hope everyone enjoy's this chapter. I will try harder to update faster!

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A warm ray of sunlight fell across my eyes, waking me up and causing me pain simultaneously.

I scrunched my eyes closed tighter, and tried to burrow my face deeper into my pillow. But there was no escaping the sun. I should have closed the curtains before I went to sleep.

I groaned as I remembered how much I drank the night before. It felt like I had cotton in my mouth. My stomach was upset. And just now my head was beginning to pound, right between the eyes.

I refused to open my eyes, but I could tell I was in my own bed, and still wearing the clothes I wore at the party. Just a little longer, sun. I'll get up soon—if my head doesn't explode first.

I was lying curled up on my left side, and I must have been sleeping like that for a while because my ribs were beginning to ache. As soon as I tried to roll onto my back it was met with something solid and bulky. I didn't have enough room to lay flat, because I was already right on the edge. Grrrr… What?

I tried a few more times, but something was in the way and wouldn't move. All I wanted to do was lie down. My brain was too sleep-addled and too hungover to process what was happening.

I reached back with my leg to find sure-footing on the offending, lumpy thing. Satisfied, I bent my leg bringing it forward again, and shot it back swiftly in a hard kick—shoving whatever was on my bed onto the floor.

It made an alarmingly loud thud. Even the furniture shook and I heard a few things fall off the end table.

"Can't be good," I murmured.

Resigned, I carefully rolled over onto my stomach – now on a perfectly spacious bed – and half-dragged my body to the opposite edge where the thing had fallen. I opened my eyes a crack, and peered over the side of the bed.

Scorpion was lying flat on his back with his hands over his face.

"My head…" he groaned.

The first thought I had was, Oops.

Then, Scorpion was in my bed…

Then, I forgot how to breathe.

I immediately tried to rack my brain for an explanation as to why he was here, but I came up with nothing. The last thing I remembered was having a chugging contest with Jax and Scorpion. I couldn't even remember who won. Not important!

The Shirai Ryu sat up slowly and I lay there, frozen in place. At least we were both still clothed, and I didn't feel as though anything had happened…

I couldn't help the blush that swept over my face, though.

"What are you doing here?" Scorpion asked when he finally spotted me.

"Me?" I said much too loudly. We both winced, and I whispered, "Me? This is my bedchamber."

I quickly glanced around to make sure. Yes, it was mine.

He groggily looked at his surroundings and comprehension flickered across his face. "Oh."

"Yes," I hissed. "Now, get out." I couldn't let him know. I couldn't let him see how he affected me.

He grabbed a corner of the bed and pushed himself up to a standing position. "How did I get in here?"

I looked up at him. "How should I know? I don't remember anything."

"Neither do I," he said defensively. "But I thought I was— I mean I thought that it was…somewhere else."

I blinked at him in confusion. He looked disappointed somehow.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly.

Scorpion nodded and began to look about him as if searching for something. "Where is my cape?"

"Cape?" I snorted. "You mean your cloak?" I just now noticed that he wasn't wearing it.

"Cloak. Cape. Whatever."

While he moved about my room looking for it, I moved into a more comfortable position on the bed and gingerly laid my head back down on a pillow. The stupid sun was still determined to shine right on my eyes, and as time passed it was slowly spreading across the bed.

"Oh!" I exclaimed as quietly as I could, as a sudden thought hit me. "Does your side hurt?" I thought maybe he'd hurt it when he fell.

Scorpion paused in his search to look at me. "I'm fine."

"I've heard that one before," I returned flatly.

He ignored me and continued to look for his cloak.

I knew his stab wound was mostly healed, but the impact with the floor must have caused him some pain. I briefly thought of how my own recent injuries scarred over nicely, but the pain in my thigh had taken the longest to go away.

I didn't want to be the cause of any of his pain. Unless he made me angry…then…well…

"Found it," Scorpion announced.

"Good," I sighed. "Get out."

"You're always kicking me out of your room," he muttered, complaining.

"Then stop coming into my room," I mumbled into my pillow; I had to hide my face to shield my grin from his view. I heard his footsteps cross the room to the door and I stopped him. "Wait! Close the curtains first..."

"No," he said. "It's your room. You close them."

"Please," I said, swallowing my pride. "I can hardly move…"

He was quiet for so long that I had to lean up on an elbow and open my eyes to see if he had just up and left.

Scorpion took that opportunity to throw the cloak at me. The thick fabric smacked into my face, enveloping my arms as I tried to untangle myself.

"Bastard!" I growled.

He merely laughed as I heard him open the door and leave, shutting it quietly behind him.

Grumbling, I settled down in the bed again, still with the cloak wrapped about my head and shoulders. At least it kept the sun out.

And it still smells faintly of him…

…

I drifted off again while wondering when I had become so pathetic.

It was sometime around noon when I finally felt well enough to venture down to the dining hall.

Sonya was sitting there alone when I got there, just finishing a meal it looked like.

I sat down at the table, across from her. "Hello, Sonya."

"Hey," she smiled. She sounded tired but looked otherwise cheerful. "Sleep well?"

More like blacked-out well.

"Yes, I think so," I replied.

A few groggy kitchen servants came to serve me a light breakfast and kindly poured me some tea. I sipped at the tea gratefully, hoping it would settle my stomach.

Sonya was smiling at me coyly. I knew that couldn't be good.

"So…I saw you leave with Scorpion last night."

I froze – no puns intended at all – my body breaking out into a cold sweat. "What?"

"So, really, how was your night?" She gave me a suggestive wink.

And I wanted to die. Fuck! She knows!

But how could she know? I never said anything…

I cleared my throat. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sonya. I woke up in my own bed this morning, thank you."

"Without any hot-bodied company?" Her tone was mocking.

"Yes," I lied. Thank the Elder Gods I did not blush. I had enough of that. "We went our separate ways last night. I don't know what's going on in your perverted head."

Sonya looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, really!"

She did not look convinced. "I know you have feelings for him!"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because," she spoke softly, and this time it was her turn to blush. "I just noticed the way you are around him. I noticed because I feel the same way about Johnny…"

Ah.

And it was plainly obvious to everyone that Johnny and Sonya had a thing for each other, but had it been so obvious with me? Who else knew?

I started to feel a bit panicked. And Sonya must have seen my expression.

"You do like him!" she shouted triumphantly. "I knew it!"

I sighed in surrender. "How long have you known?"

"A little while," she said. "I've had my suspicions."

"Swear to me you won't tell anyone," I pleaded seriously. "It's bad enough that you know."

She didn't say anything for a long moment.

Damn.

I spoke through gritted teeth. "Okay, Sonya. Who did you tell?"

"I told Jade…I'm sorry!"

My eye twitched. "Why?"

"Well, I had to tell someone. She is my roommate, you know. Girls talk."

I gave her a look.

She rolled her eyes. "I know I'm not all that girly, but I don't act like a guy, Sub-Zero….. Stop looking at me like that!"

"Has she told anyone?" I asked anxiously.

"I don't think so. I can tell her not to, if you want."

I put my head in my hands. "Please."

"All right… Sub-Zero, why don't you just tell him—"

"No!" I snapped my head back up and looked at her like she was crazy.

She laughed. "Why not? I definitely think you could do better, but it'd be cute."

I'd never seen Sonya have such romantic notions. I didn't know she had it in her.

"No one else can know," I told her. "Scorpion especially. He barely likes me as it is, can you imagine what he would do to me if he found out?"

"Pledge his undying love to you? He pretty much did that already…"

"Sonya! This isn't a joke. He's straight, remember? He had a wife that he still loves very much."

"Well, you never know." She leaned back in her chair. "I didn't think that you were gay, at first."

I flinched at the word. I didn't think I was either. "I don't know… I never looked at men that way before."

"Maybe you're bi-sexual."

She was handling this better than I was. And secretly I was glad to have someone to talk to about this, no matter how uncomfortable I felt. "It… It doesn't bother you?" I asked.

"Of course not," she smiled at me. She reached out a hand possibly to comfort me, but thought better of it and pulled back. "I think we've been through enough crazy shit that someone's sexuality doesn't really matter."

I guess that was good to know. I cleared my throat. "Honestly, I think whatever this is will go away."

"What, like it's just a crush or something?"

I nodded.

"That's possible," she conceded. "Maybe you should try avoiding him for a while. Just till you get your head clear."

Maybe, but I had a feeling Scorpion wouldn't take that so well…

I decided to change the subject. "And you and Johnny? How was your evening?"

Sonya let out a huff. "I spent the whole night nursing him as he heaved over the toilet or whatever you call that here." Then she blushed. "That doesn't mean I wanted something to happen but…"

"Yeah." I got it. Her night sucked.

"Hey," she said suddenly. "How many women have you been with?"

This time I did blush. "Sonya, that's kind of a personal question…"

"Oh, c'mon… We're just two friends talking."

"Only a few," I admitted reluctantly. This was embarrassing. And I was beginning to think that Sonya's grin was pure evil.

"Oooh, did you love any of them?"

"Sonya….they were whores."

She choked on whatever she was about to say and started coughing. "Sub-Zero!"

"What?" It was the truth.

"You can't just say things like that!"

"You wanted to know!"

She frowned. "Haven't you ever loved anyone?"

No, I thought. At least I didn't think I had. I was fond of my friends. I cared about them—some more than others. Bi-Han… Smoke…

I didn't want to think too seriously about what Scorpion meant to me.

"I wasn't allowed to love." I started to play with the food on my plate; no longer feeling like eating. "But I still had certain…urges. And sometimes while away on a mission it wasn't uncommon to bed a whore."

"Well, that's…really sad."

I shrugged. I never thought it was that bad. But then, I never really thought about it closely before. My mind was always on the mission. To please the Grandmaster.

My hand curled into a fist.

Kung Lao came into the room then, dragging himself over to where we sat. He wasn't wearing his hat, and his hair was sticking up in different directions.

"How's it going?" he mumbled as he took a seat next to Sonya.

I shot her a stern look, silently warning her not to say anything.

She merely rolled her eyes and took a long sip from her drink.

Kung Lao looked between the two of us. "That bad, huh?"

I managed to give a weak smile. "Just tired."

He nodded in understanding and yawned. "You guys missed Raiden last night."

"WHAT?" Sonya and I exclaimed in unison.

Kung Lao appeared pleased with our reaction and folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, both of you went to bed kind of early—" I snorted. "—and missed the look on his face to see his mighty warriors completely wasted."

I could only imagine.

"What did he say?" I asked. "What happened?"

"Not much," he shrugged. "We weren't all together so he didn't want to explain too much, but I don't think he got a lot of help from the Elder Gods. He looked kind of tired. I guess there's not much of a threat happening right now from the bad guys, so he said something like we might as well go home."

I raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound so sure."

"It's a little foggy," he admitted.

"So we're going home?" Sonya asked hopefully.

Kung Lao smiled big. "Yep! And soon, it sounded like."

While my friends babbled happily about returning to their homes, I sat silent and thoughtful.

I was happy to finally be going home, but I was nervous too. I hadn't made any definite plans on what I would do when I got back. And now I had a whole new set of problems.

I had told Scorpion that I would help him track down Quan Chi. Only now I felt that in order to get rid of this 'crush', I would have to avoid him for the time being. It's what normal people did, right?

If these feelings didn't go away then I didn't know what I was going to do.

I felt extremely pathetic. But now determined.

I would just have to stay away from him.

Smoke suddenly showed up, quietly sitting down beside me, and proceeded to seemingly melt onto the table-top. His eyes were closed as he rested his head against the cool surface. I noticed he was keeping his hair tied back in a low ponytail more often these days.

"Rough night?" I asked with a smirk, momentarily forgetting my own problems.

He nodded once and blinked up at me. "You have no idea."

"I saw you with two different women last night," Kung Lao said to Smoke.

"Three," Sonya chimed in.

Hmm.

Smoke grimaced. "That was the rough part. It would appear that I had promised all of them my uh… 'attention'. But I don't remember doing that. And they found out. And they were mad."

I chuckled. "That really doesn't sound like you."

"I know," he groaned. "It was the alcohol…"

I supposed it had to be. My friend was usually a gentleman with female company. I also supposed he was a little too gentlemanly last night.

"Kung Lao says Lord Raiden came back," I told him.

Smoke sat up. "I know. I saw him briefly."

"Oh."

Sonya and I exchanged a sheepish look.

"Two days," Smoke sighed.

"What?" Sonya asked.

Smoke turned to her. "Raiden said we'd be leaving in two days. The Edenians know how to open a portal to our world."

Two days. My palms became a bit sweaty. That was so soon…

"He wants to talk to all of us before we leave," Smoke continued. "To see who all is staying behind."

My head jerked violently towards him. "What? What do you mean by that?"

He couldn't easily meet my eyes. "I've decided to stay here for a while…"

Sonya looked just as shocked. "What the hell for?"

"I just want to," he shrugged. "Just for a short while. I don't have much to go back home to anyway."

Neither did I, but I had felt better knowing my best friend would be there with me.

"Huh," Kung Lao said. "I wonder who else is staying."

My first thought would have been Liu Kang, if only to stay with Kitana. Kung Lao apparently had the same thought at the exact same moment I did, because he abruptly excused himself and took off running down the hall.

Sonya rubbed her face with her hands. "Well, there's nothing keeping me here."

When I looked at Smoke again, his expression was searching mine for some kind of understanding. But I couldn't bring myself to give him any.

I stood up and excused myself also, not daring to look back at my friend.

As I was leaving the room, I heard Sonya say, "We'll talk later!" But I ignored it.

Perhaps I was acting like a sulking child but I couldn't help it. Things were changing. And it sucked.

It's not like he said he would stay here forever, I told myself. But he could have at least given me a head's up.

I was going to be alone again.

Just at that moment Scorpion walked around a corner at the other end of the hallway from me—so I turned and bolted in the opposite direction.

Definitely pathetic…

Two days passed rather quickly, and the whole castle seemed filled with excited energy. Today we would be going home. Finally home to Earthrealm. I was even happy to be wearing my uniform again, minus the cowl. I decided to discard it. Possibly as a symbol for further separating myself from the Lin Kuei.

But I was exhausted—my last two days having been spent panicked and on edge.

Scorpion was not someone who was easily avoided.

The whole time he would appear behind me or around me without a single sound, but unfortunately for him I was also a trained ninja and managed each time to escape his presence.

I did feel kind of bad, though. Ignoring him without even an explanation.

It wasn't even really working as my thoughts were still mostly focused on him. Only this time focused on keeping him away.

There was a close call the day before, when Scorpion managed to grab onto my wrist, but I had managed to twist out of his grasp quick and shoved him back hard. I would have laughed at his surprised expression as he landed on his ass had I not been so panicked.

I also felt very cowardly running away from him like this. Sonya still thought it was a good idea, but she was so amused by it I was beginning to wonder why I was trusting her judgement.

I sighed as I walked through an unfamiliar part of the castle.

There were rows of windows to my left, and rows of doors to my right. Doors to what I couldn't guess. All I knew was that we were meeting up in a special room reserved for certain Edenian rituals. It was only a portal. Did everything have to be such a big event?

I was reflecting on how I hadn't seen much of my friends the last couple days, how I might not see some of them for a long time or ever again, when one of the doors next to me flew open. A hand shot out and grabbed me by the back of my collar and yanked me inside.

I was completely caught off guard.

The door slammed shut behind me, rattling on its hinges, and my back was roughly smashed against it.

I had a very angry Scorpion looming over me, the front of my uniform now bunched up in his fists. And even considering that there wasn't a huge difference of height between us, it was still pretty intimidating.

Before I even managed to find my voice, Scorpion snarled at me.

"What did I do?" he demanded.

Huh?

"You didn't do anything—" I began, but he cut me off.

"Why? Why have you been running from me? What have I done to you?"

My body was instinctively tense from the sudden attack, but as I looked into his eyes a quiet voice in the back of my mind reminded me that this man would never hurt me. At least I did not believe that he would.

I let my muscles relax slowly, and gently tried to pry his hands off of me. He held on stubbornly and I tried to ignore the look of confusion and hurt in his face.

I felt ashamed. I guess his emotions were even more fragile than I first thought. He probably felt betrayed. The avoiding thing had been a bad idea.

And even now, I could feel my body reacting to his close proximity. To the heat I could feel radiating naturally from his body. I needed a little distance between us before I did something extremely embarrassing.

"Scorpion," I tried again. "You didn't do anything to me. I just wanted to be alone. To think. We're going back to Earthrealm and I had a lot on my mind."

I was lying. Hopefully it was convincing.

"I'm sorry," I added. And I actually meant it.

To my surprise, the other man blushed. He let the fabric of my uniform slip through his hands as he let go, and took a few steps back from me.

Now I was thoroughly confused. But that was quickly forgotten when I saw how miserable he looked. I mentally berated myself. If I had been feeling lonely before, I couldn't imagine what I had put Scorpion through.

I hoped I hadn't ruined my previous efforts in becoming his friend and ally.

Crush be damned, I wanted to help this broken man. I would just have to deal with it.

He was staring at the floor. "If I did anything to offend you, it should be me apologizing."

Well, he could have apologized for throwing my body against a hard surface. But I'd let that go for now.

I was getting good at letting things go.

The silence in the room became awkward. The only thing I could think of to do was turn and open the door.

"It's my fault," I assured him. "Let's go."

Everything was ready. My friends and I stood gathered around as the portal was being opened.

I gathered that of the Earthrealmers, only Liu Kang and Smoke were staying. Raiden was coming with the rest of us, as he was the guardian of Earth anyway.

As everyone started milling around to say their goodbyes, Johnny and Sonya came up to me.

"Sub-Zero!" Sonya said excitedly. "Johnny's got something to ask you."

"What is it?" I addressed the actor.

Johnny was even more excited than Sonya. "I was going to offer you a place to stay with me!"

I felt hope stir in my chest. "Are… Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" he smiled happily. "I was thinking about it and remembered that I have a spare bedroom in my apartment. I mean, assuming I still have an apartment. But you're welcome to stay for as long as you need. I wouldn't mind the company, either."

"I appreciate that, Cage. I wouldn't want to oppose…"

"It's no problem, man. Really."

I smiled. "Then, I accept."

Johnny slapped me on the back. "Great! I gotta go ask Scorpion."

I almost fell over. "Eh?"

"Scorpion," Johnny's tone implied that he really wanted to say 'duh'. "I know he doesn't have a place to stay either. I don't have another room for him, but I figured one of you could sleep on the couch or take turns or something… We'll figure it out!"

The actor walked cheerfully to where the Shirai Ryu stood far apart from the rest of us.

I was watching intently for Scorpion's reactions when Sonya nudged me with her elbow.

"So," she said. "You gonna be okay with that?"

I turned to her, mildy annoyed. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Immensely!" she grinned. "I still think you could choose a better partner, but even I have to admit—he looks damn good in that leather."

I glanced back at Scorpion, even his golden armor had been polished. He did look good.

"I don't like you," I muttered to Sonya.

She laughed and gave me a half-hug. "I'll be visiting. Stay out of trouble. And take care of Johnny. I don't know how he's managed to live alone for so long."

I didn't want to tell her that the actor probably wasn't lacking for company back in Earthrealm.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" I just wanted to be sure.

Sonya gave me a light shove. "Of course not. You think he would be quiet about it? I swear, only Jade knows."

I looked around until I met Jade's eyes. She winked at me.

I sighed with my whole body and Sonya laughed again.

The portal was fully opened now. And after a few more goodbyes – some longer than others, I had to forgive Smoke, after all – it was time.

Raiden stepped forward and looked back at us.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

There was an anxious consensus of nodding heads.

"All right. Let's go home."

A/N: Yay! They're finally going home! And sorry for any grammar mistakes. The bad thing about long chapters is I get lazy about editing lol. Thank you for reading!