Chapter Fifteen
Sareena was still fuming as they walked across the hot stones of the Netherealm. She wasn't swearing in any human tongue, but Frost could still tell the curses she was throwing out were not something to be said in polite company. The she-demon looked like she would start combusting at any moment.

Unfortunately that meant Frost wasn't going to get any of her questions answered anytime soon. There were a lot of nagging questions that were driving her crazy now that she thought about the Sub-Zeroes and Quan

Chi and the clan history. Sareena might not know it all, but if there had been something fishy going on, she'd be more likely to tell Frost about it than any of the annals the clan had written.

There was a man kneeling on the ground in the distance, and Frost was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even give him a second thought until they were out of sight again. He looked like he had been drawing something on the ground, but what? It wasn't likely he was preparing a game of hopscotch. Maybe it was another sorcerer.

Maybe it was a figment of her imagination? The heat was certainly getting to her, as was the acrid air. Every breath she drew felt like rubbing sandpaper on her throat and lungs. Her lips were long past cracked and bleeding and into the realm of excruciating pain. No wonder everyone in the Netherealm was a bastard, it was hard to be friendly when you felt like shit.

She hardly noticed Sareena had stopped screaming. Those fingers were still clenching and unclenching angrily, and every muscle in that demonic body was taut, ready to tear something apart. Frost just didn't want that something to be her. Dying now was not an option.

She didn't know how long they had been walking; she just knew it had been too long. It was hard to tell which way they went or how long it took without any landmarks. There could have been anything in the distance, but the smoke obscured anything more than a few hundred yards away. Sareena had to have some supernatural way of sensing their direction, because there was no way to do it by human or mechanical means.

They came abruptly to a wall. They would have seen it coming from a mile away literally if they had been above ground. It was carved with some sort of primitive arcane symbols, all sharp lines and vague horn shaped figures. It reminded her an awful lot of the animal cave paintings she had to study in her Art History course, but these were much, much older.

"This way!" Sareena made it sound like an order. She stomped to the right, following along the wall like it was a guide wire, one arm touching it at all times. Frost followed along dumbly, not caring where they were or where they were going.

Sareena seemed to be cheering up. "We're almost there," she said flatly. Well, cheered up for Sareena, anyway. Then she paused. "Do you hear something?"

Frost did. It sounded like voices, male ones. Sareena's form was changing, twisting, shrinking until it became the familiar female form she was used to seeing, strange tattoos and all.

"I'm going to check it out," the she-demon hissed, creeping forward. Frost hung back a few steps; it was someone else's turn to get something pointy shoved in their face. It wasn't like she was going to be worth anything if it was something dangerous, she was so tired she could barely walk in a straight line.

It sounded like the first voice was giving orders. It was a cold voice that made Frost's heart sink as soon as she heard it. It was the kind of voice that enjoyed hurting others. "Catch him from the back," was what she could make out, and Frost was sure the owners of the voices were going to hurt someone.

Sareena seemed very interested in what was going on, but there was an almost sad look in her eyes. "I know that voice," is all she said as she broke into a run. There was silence and Frost fought to keep up and then, one solitary scream of agony followed by a lot of thumps.

Sareena was the first to see them, and took off sprinting, yelling something incoherent but furious sounding as she went. Frost could just see the figures in the distance, but there was no way of telling who or what they were. It was a fight, but she couldn't tell who was doing the fighting. Two against two it seemed, with one side losing badly.

Her lungs and legs were aching, begging her to stop running, but something told her that she couldn't stop or she'd regret it. She could just make out Sareena on the losing side, fighting bravely but being knocked back time and time again. There was someone down and she was keeping in front of him as a sort of defense.

Something was wrong. Sareena didn't protect people.

It was the black figure she had seen earlier talking to the Oni. He and what looked like a robot were trying to slip around Sareena and get to the armored figure behind her. She would recognize that armor anywhere now.

Sifu was down on his knees, and although it looked like he was trying to force himself to his feet, he couldn't do it. Even from the rapidly closing distance she could see the glistening red dripping from his chest into the puddle beneath him.

She had no idea what she was going to do. Half of her brain told her to keep running past them all and find the portal. The other half was telling her to turn around and run in the other direction. But her heart was telling her she would never forgive herself if she did either.

She wasn't even sure if she made the decision to do something, or it was force of habit, but suddenly she was airborne and coming down on the back of the robot thing. Its gears whirred angrily as she landed on its back heavily, hanging onto it piggy back style. It tried to fling her off, but she hung on with the grim determination of a rodeo cowboy.

The other creature was bum rushing her, but Sareena blocked its path, transforming again into her hideous form. It bought her some time, but to do what? The thing was made of armored metal, and it was still clawing at her. Eventually it would catch her and throw her and then what?

Finally she pushed her hands into the wires of its neck, and willed them to freeze. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she concentrated on nothing but making him freeze. Everything she had left was put into forcing his limbs to slow down, making his internal temperature drop. He was freezing, she could feel it, and he was turning into an ice statue, ready to be shattered.

She fell off him heavily, landing on the ground on her rear, unable to do anything more graceful. Her legs were unsteady underneath her, but she crawled towards Sub-Zero as he struggled to rise himself. When he saw what she had managed to do, he sent an ice blast at the black creature, knocking him away from Sareena and freezing him to the ground.

Sareena turned to the two of them, and then to the rapidly melting ice. "We've got to go!" she said, gesturing towards where Frost guessed the portal to be.

Frost finally pushed herself to a semi-standing position and staggered the way the she-demon pointed as Sareena yanked Sub-Zero unceremoniously to his feet. He looked unsteady, but tottered dutifully in the correct direction, leaving a crimson trail as he went.

She had never seen anything so beautiful as the portal shining in its ring, even if it was purple and not blue like she had hoped. She tripped over the edge and fell through, but she didn't care, they were out of the Netherealm. Sareena came through after her, dragging Sub-Zero by the hand like he was a school kid.

The she-demon was saying something, but Frost couldn't understand her, it was like she was underwater. Everything was blurred and moving strangely, and all the sounds sounded distorted. But Sareena grabbed her by the arm, and she was forced to follow behind as Sareena pulled her.

She had no idea where the portal had led. It might have been the plains near the Living Forest, but it was hard to tell with everything looking like a purplish blob. It didn't really matter, in any event. Sareena was pulling the two of them along like they were rag dolls in her demon form, and they just followed along where she went.

There was more movement ahead, more garbled voices, and someone grabbed her other arm, putting it over their shoulder and letting her lean on them. Someone else grabbed her other side, and soon she was staggering along, blindly following whoever was helping her. She could just make out someone calling her name, and someone was hugging her as she sagged against his chest.

The familiar smell of moss was there. Min. Another pair of cold hands grabbed her, and took her from her first two helpers. Her friends had faired better than she would have imagined.

Her vision and hearing was clearing too. As her eyes readjusted themselves, Frost could see several other familiar faces, including one who was supposedly dead, but she let that one go for the moment. The Outworld Investigation Agents were all there, and Kenshi was helping Sub-Zero to sit down next to a robot that looked almost exactly like the one she had seen in the Netherealm, but canary yellow.

She recognized several other Earthrealm natives too, Johnny Cage and one of the monks she had met on Shang Tsung's isle. Princess Kitana was there too, looking quite happy to see her recently resurrected companion, which probably meant that Queen Sindel and Jade had completed their mission successfully.

For once something had gone right.

Min and LiXue helped Frost to a smooth rock and sat her down. "Are you okay?" Min asked, concern in his eyes.

"No," Frost said simply.

"Let me rephrase that," Min said. "Are you injured?"

She shook her head. "No." She swayed a bit even while sitting. "I'm just exhausted. I just want to fucking go home."

Sifu was being attended by Sonya, who was trying to staunch the flow of blood with someone's shirt. It might have even been his own. The color had completely drained from his face, leaving him an inhuman shade of pale. She tried to get his attention, but he only turned his head from her. She swallowed back a sob, and turned to Min.

"I just want to go home," she repeated.

Min hugged her again. "I know. Just a little bit longer and this will all be over."