Chapter I: Healing of tender pains

The forces of light begin to heal and pick themselves back up, the queen meets with the royal council, and an unknown warrior enters edenia...

March 10th, earthrealm year 2006

Edenian Royal Palace

"Come on, hurry up grandmaster! They'll be here any second!" Waiting at the bottom of the entrance to the royal palace was Jade as she seemed to be in a hurry and very anxious as well. "Humph… This had better not be one of our queen's "royalty emergencies" like last time… If it is, then I am leaving." A knowledgeable but soft spoken old man came around the corner frowning in annoyance. He was known as Grand Healer Yuhanna*. Coming around behind him were his top pupils in the healing magics.

Then Jade heard a loud ripping sound echo throughout the palace as she turned around and started running towards the portal.

"It's them! Come on!" Jade said with urgency. The grand healer walked down with Jade and crossed his arms "I hope you are correct for your sake General Jade. I will not have yo-"

As the forces of light came through the portal, the grand healer started to have a horrified look of absolute fear on his face as he saw the princess cradled in Liu's arms bleeding an atrocious amount of blood and it had already soaked his tunic and was dripping blood where he was walking.

"By the elders…. Our… Our princess…" The old healer couldn't stop shaking as one of the last ones to come out of the portal was Queen Sindel.

"Given that look on your face I haven't seen in so many years, you now understand why I had Jade go on ahead to get you Yuhanna?" The queen had an eyebrow raised as she looked right at the old healer. "Y...Y…Yes your majesty" Yuhanna took a deep breath and turned to his pupils. "Make haste for medical centre and prep for our arrival."

As the healer finished giving swift directions to his pupils, he walked quickly to Liu kang and scooped Kitana from his arms.

"I need to begin to heal her to slow down the trauma" Kitana had enough energy to sense that she was not being held by her partner's warm embrace anymore and had started to tear up and look around.

"Where… Where is Liu Kang?" she looked behind the healers' arms as Liu was out of her reach and now started to move around with such force that the healer nearly dropped her.
"Liu! No! Liu don't leave me alone! Please Liu!" She started to move more violently as the healer was barely able to keep her in his arms to heal her properly. "Princess, please calm down. I cannot focus on the spell while you're moving around like this".
Kitana eventually fell out of his arms and dropped onto the floor and she reached towards her beloved ignoring the pain that she was in and how much blood she was losing. She just wanted to be with him. To feel his warmth that soothes her.
"Liu… please… don't go please… don't leave me alone here…" Kitana said with a voice that made Liu kang's heart sink down into his chest from what he was seeing. He knew she was hurting bad from being apart from him for so long, but he now saw just how much she was holding back as he was looking into her eyes. Her eyes were a dark grey that looked like a rain cloud and tears falling down and she was shaking so much.

The healers began to run back to get Kitana again and just as they got ahold of her, Liu kang stepped forward.

"Grand healer please stop. let me carry her." Liu looked right into the eyes of the healer and he said something in Edenian to call back the additional healers. Liu nodded as if to say thank you and he ran over to Kitana and he carefully scooped her into his arms.

"My love, I'm here now. You can relax now" Liu softly said to her as he held her close while she had her face buried in his chest.
The healer sighed with relief a little but motioned liu over towards him.

"We must make haste to the healing center or she will not make it" the healer said. Meanwhile the others were being tended to by other doctors and healers within the center not too far from one room that was sectioned away from the others. Liu and the grand healer ran into the center with Kitana in Liu's arms coughing occasionally and eventually they came upon the room that had been prepared. "Is the room ready?" A short nurse nodded and bowed "Yes grand healer, the room is ready along with your pupils".

Liu entered the room along with Sindel and Jade and others who were able to walk. The healer ran towards the bed that had been prepared for Kitana. A set of doors opened and Kitana's room was right at the end of the hallway and with the help of some of the other doctors; they moved the cot she was to be placed on into healing room.

"Quickly, lay lady Kitana on this bed here" Liu nodded and gently placed Kitana on the soft bed and just as Liu was about to stand up right, he felt something tugging him down and he looked down to see Kitana holding his wrist with the last of her strength and had a tear swelling up. "Please…. Don't go…." The princess whimpered softly as her beloved went to go get a chair and he sat down beside the bed next to Kitana and he held her hand with both of his and smiled at her. "Don't worry my love; I'm going to be right here beside you."

The doctors and healers had spells at the ready as the grand healer began to cut off the injured princess' armor to expose the wound and as the parts were coming off, the amount of blood that was dripping made him curse in edenian and when he finally removed the last part, he shuddered at source of all of her pain and bleeding.

"Gah… it's worse than I thought…" The healer snarled as he looked at her wound and he looked back at the healers all busy with other patients.

"I need ANY available healers to me immediately!" an older gentleman and lady came running to the bed and were ready to help.

He glanced over at Liu "I need you to prop lady Kitana onto her side as gently as possible with her face towards you" Liu nodded and gently rolled her towards him and Kitana was cringing and whimpering in pain as she was being rolled onto her side. The grand healer took a look the wound on both sides and he snarled.

"Curses! The wound goes right through!" The grand healer began to get into a ready stance as the healers rushed back with various bottles of sedatives and medicines for Kitana to take. Liu tilted her head and helped her take the numerous sedatives and medications and he looked at the healer who had a bright white energy flowing around his body.

"Healers, restrain the princess as best you can." Liu held onto Kitana's hand and nodded towards the healer.

The grand healer then unleashed a powerful healing spell at the side of the wound where it was bleeding the most. The spell was very powerful as the healers had a hard time trying to restrain the princess who was in an indescribable amount of pain aside from a hazy yet numbed mind from such heavy loss of blood, but her body tensed up from the spell as she let out a shriek that sent chills to anyone inside the palace. Sindel pardoned herself from the room quietly as she had trouble holding back tears. Jade noticed the queen leave and followed to comfort her quietly. As Kitana was thrashing about, Liu was stroking her head and running his fingers through her long, thick black hair to try to keep her somewhat calm. Whatever was left of her consciousness, she felt her beloved trying to keep her calm and her thrashing about began to stop as the sedatives were starting to kick in as Kitana began to slowly pass out and the grand healer smiled softly and began to focus more on the spell.

A few hours later, the grand healer had just finished up the healing along with a layer of bandages to help keep everything together and let out a sigh of relief as he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so exhausted.

"Good gracious… It's been centuries since I felt this spent" He got up and Liu was still sitting by his beloved's side not moving an inch. He walked towards liu and put his hand on his shoulder.

"You mustn't worry now, lady Kitana should be safe from the worst of all pains now, but due to the severity of the wound, she will need a lot of assistance to help her heal properly." Liu followed quietly with a large empty sack in his hands and looked up.

"I will be there with her ensure that she gets better grand healer. Even if it means that I have to suffer in any way to make sure." The healer smiled and took out two large bottles of the sedative and another small sack of the mixing powder.
"Make sure that is mixed in together before she takes the medicine." Liu nodded and the grand healer's eyes looked at him with a less business like glance which had worry in them. When he spoke, he spoke very softly.
"On a side note… She'll need a lot more than just medicine and rest…" Liu looked at him with determination and clenched his empty hand. "I will do everything within my abilities to be with her and help her through this" The old healer bowed at him. "Very well master Liu kang, I will fetch the queen now and retire to bed. I shall be back tomorrow morning or at around noon to check on her progress."
Liu bowed back to the grand master and he walked back over to Kitana as she lay on the bed numbed from medicine and the effects of the sedatives. Sindel and Jade rushed into the room and saw Kitana all bandaged up from where the wound was and to help the shattered ribs heal properly too. Liu was sitting in the chair next to her silently as if he was within his own thoughts. Sindel gently let the mortal kombat champion she was here and said softly "Come, we need to get her into her own bed now. Liu nodded and scooped her up carefully as Sindel nodded at him and started walking towards the door at the end of the hallway.

The walk towards Kitana's bedroom was slow and very quiet as no one would dare say a word as to what they saw in the healing room. Sindel glanced back at her daughter who was cradled in liu's arms and looked down and sighed. Liu knew that he had his own sanity to keep in check, otherwise he felt like he couldn't help Kitana with her problems. Jade opened the doors and pulled back the bed sheets as Liu walked in and gently placed his beloved into the bed and Sindel walked in not too far behind him. As Liu went to sit up, he felt that same tugging like earlier and he looked down at her and saw the same look in her eyes. Never has he seen her so broken, so helpless so…defeated before in all the time he has known her.

"Liu… Liu please don't leave me again… I need you…" She softly spoke with just enough energy to speak. Sindel sat on the opposite side and stroked her head. "Liu Kang will be offered a bed and room darling, he will be close to you, but now you need to rest." He nodded and spoke as well. "She's right Kitana, I'll be right here with you from now on"
Kitana laid her head on the pillow and smiled a tiny bit. "Heh…We…We did it… Didn't we?" Liu nodded and rubbed his warm hands on her cheek. "Yes we did my love, but your mother is right, you need to rest now." Sindel sat up once Kitana had been claimed from a mix of exhaustion and the sedatives and looked at liu kang. "Given what has transpired here, I assume that you want to stay as close to her as possible?" The queen asked quietly. Liu nodded and the queen nodded back and looked at the doors to see Jade along with some of the guards carrying in a futon and mattress with sheets. "With the futon in here, you'll be as close as possible to Kitana now to help her take any medications. As for me, I cannot stay awake anymore and need to retire to my chambers." The queen looked at Liu and lightly bowed her head and left.

Jade wandered in after sharing a few thoughts with the exhausted queen and saw liu beside Kitana with a pale look on his face. When she approached him, Jade kneeled down to meet with his eyes. "Do you have a moment?" the general asked quietly not to wake Kitana from the much needed rest she needed. Liu looked at her then back at Kitana as he still held her hand. "Yes I do right now actually". The two warriors walked out to the balcony bench and sat on opposite ends. Noticing the monks bloodied and bruised knuckles, "Hold out your hands for a moment, I'll fix them right up" as she prepared a basic healing spell that she learned over the years.

Liu held both his hands out and watched her heal his wounds. It felt a bit like a little burn, but strangely soothing at the same time. It was only then that he realized just how badly his beat down on shao Kahn was. She finished up and Liu moved his newly healed hands and smiled at her. "Wow, thank you so much for that" "The general chuckled a bit "Not a problem, you're going to need them to help Kitana get better. I knew that she was holding in everything to keep herself going, but deep down I knew that she hadn't given herself enough time to properly heal… Now I know just how bad it is" The champion felt such regret that others around her had to suffer when he knew full well that it was learning that he had died was the reason why. "I don't know what I can actually do to help" His eyes then met the worried generals with a smile. "but it's all over, we've won and we must move forward now. As Jade was leaving, she stopped and looked back with worry "Right now, she needs a lot of comfort, rest and knowing everyone that loves her is here for her, but most importantly, you. Please take care of her for me."

Quietly making his way to the other end of Kitana's room, Liu set the futon and comforter that the palaces assistants had brought to the edge of her bed and changed into simple pyjamas and looked over at Kitana who looked to be sound asleep, he leaned over her forehead and gently placed a sweet kiss and brushed her long ebony black hair back with his hands. "Hang in there my love… I don't want to lose you ever again" He softly whispered and reluctantly he laid down on the futon and closed his eyes.

In the middle of the night, the princess had awoken from her short slumber hoping to see her champion next to her, but when she opened her eyes and saw no one around, her eyes started to swell up and she shot up ignoring any pains from her broken body while looking around the room for liu.

"L-Liu? Liu where are you?" She heard a quiet snore near her bed, so Kitana looked over the edge to see who it was and there on the futon asleep was her champion and she let out a sigh of relief to see him there. She felt her heart flutter just at the look of him lying there fast asleep. She wanted him closer to her. "I'm probably going to regret this later...but I don't care, I need this" the princess thought to herself as she stumbled out of her own bed, she cringed from the pain of her healing wounds and using up whatever strength she could muster, Kitana managed to herself to the futon and lay as close to him as possible. She then turned over onto her side now facing him and she felt his warmth close to her body and she let out a blissful sigh. She knew that he was fast asleep, but knowing that he was right next to her helped the princess relax just a little bit more. Kitana then thought to herself while laying closer to him. "I don't know how to talk to him about my nightmares and flashbacks of him being killed, but for now I'll wait until he's awake" As she closed her eyes and shortly fell asleep from exhaustion.

March 11th

Queen Sindel had woken up a little earlier than she expected to. When she realized she had a little bit of time to spare before she was to meet with the Edenian Royalty Council, she put on a light robe and made her way to her daughter chambers wondering how she was doing considering everything that she has been through in the past few months. Letting out a sigh, the queen carefully pried open the doors to Kitana's chamber and saw her daughter curled up on the floor next to Liu kang... With a confused look, she walked over to the sleeping couple and gazed at them and to her surprise, on Kitana's pale face was a very tiny smile as she was cooing while sound asleep next to him. The queen chuckled quietly and left to her meeting with the council.
While making her way over to the council, her trusted general saw her walking and jogged up to catch up with her.

"Ah Jade, there you are. Is the council ready? Letting out a sigh of boredom, the general nodded and walked with the queen to the room."Yes my queen, they are finally ready." Jade then leaned in to whisper to Sindel "Although they tend to drag things on for too long if you ask me" The queen couldn't help but laugh as she knew this was true.

Meanwhile, Liu kang had woken up but as he looked around, he saw Kitana curled up into his chest fast asleep. He looked down at her beautiful face ignoring the paleness from being so weak and couldn't help but notice a tiny little smile on her face as she slept peacefully in his arms. In fear of waking his beloved, Liu decided to just lay there on the futon with Kitana and occasionally brushing her hair with his hands and kissing her forehead. Eventually Kitana let out a tired moan and Liu looked down at her as she slowly come to and looking around her surroundings and saw Liu in front of her and she started to swell up with tears. Liu started to have a worrisome look on his face seeing her tears flow down from her face and he gently placed his hand on her cheek. "What's wrong Kitana?" "It's just... I'm just happy to know that you're alive again..." The princess quietly murmured. Her champion wiped her tears with his thumb and placed his forehead against hers gently. "I don't think I could have been able to return into my body without your help." "Oh Liu..." She started to swell up even more than before and she buried her face into his chest and liu quietly held her as close to his chest as possible without aggravating her injuries. The princess looked up into her champion's light honey brown eyes. "Please don't leave me again..." She was sobbing harder and more uncontrollably and Liu felt his heart shatter from the inside knowing that his death was the primary reason why Kitana was so broken.

Liu finally understood the true depths of the princess' sorrows and pains over the past few months and what has been killing her from the inside as he held her in his chest, and then he placed two fingers under Kitana's chin to lift her head up so that he could look into her eyes. He saw her eyes up close carefully and saw that they were hollow looking as if they were a hole, dark black bags under her eyes from lack of proper sleeping, and her bloodshot eyes from so much crying and sobbing in his arms. With compassion and such care, he pulled her closer and planted his lips upon her own and it felt as bittersweet as it felt like time had stopped suddenly for them to revel in the feeling of such love and tenderness.
It has been nearly a whole decade since they last kissed and Kitana cupped her hand onto Liu's cheek until the reluctantly pulled back from each other with the need of oxygen and press each other's foreheads amongst one another and while wiping off the warrior princess' tears, he noticed a tiny flicker of hope within her eyes. "I've missed you so much..." the champion quietly murmured and the Kitana couldn't help but tuck her head under his neck with such comfort. "I've missed you too Liu... So much..."
Liu planted another kiss on her forehead when they both heard a knock on the door, feeling like the moment had been ruined for them both, Kitana frowned letting out a sad sigh as well as little bit of a pout.

"I think that's the grandmaster" Liu softly said to her. "Ugh... He just had to come now and ruin this moment... Well, could you help me into my bed then?" Kitana smiled as she was scooped up into the arms of the man she had placed all of her love into and when he went to put her down in her bed, she didn't want to let go as she pouted again urging Liu to lean in for another soft kiss on her lips. After the need for oxygen overcame the moment, Kitana reluctantly let go of him and looked towards the door as Liu opened it to see the grandmaster outside her chambers with a tray of several medicines and dishes of pre-made foods.

"Ah good morning master liu, has lady Kitana awaken yet?" giving a slight bow to the mortal kombat champion and passed off the tray to him. Bowing back respectively to the healer, Liu took the tray and followed him to Kitana's bed. "yes sir, she just woke up not too long ago actually, I have helped her to maneuver around her room so she could tend to her personal needs".

Pulling up a chair to sit near the wounded princess, the healer looked over her carefully and took notes as he inspected. "How are you feeling this morning madam? Any kind of pains or irritations with the bandages?"

Kitana shrugged with a dulled look on her face.
"Well... As well as anyone in my position would be I suppose... I'm just glad that I'm even healing at all sir."

The grandmaster let out a small sigh from hearing the princess was doing well, then he pulled out a rod that was the length of Kitana's forearm.
"As glad as I am to hear that you are doing well madam, however I need to inspect the healing spots and bandages to see if they are healing properly and if anything needs adjusting or not."
Kitana groaned and she had liu help her to remove her clothes to reveal the bandages that were pale white in some spots, but Yuhanna noticed crimson red in some other locations
"Hmmm... I think your body isn't reacting very well to the medicine madam, it looks like in order for it to work properly, and you will have to eat right after taking it so the swelling stays down."

As the healer walked around and poked and prodded her body, Liu felt his hand being crushed from Kitana squeezing it so hard, but he didn't give a thought to care about it as all he was focused on was her.
After finishing up the testings and adjusting her bandages, the grand master bowed to the couple. "It looks like you are on the mend madam, but it will still be quite some time before you are able to do anything physical on your own am afraid."

"I'll take what I can get at this point sir and thank you so much for everything" Kitana nodded back at the healer as he left the room and closed the doors to give them privacy.
Liu sat at the other end of the bed rubbing her arm and looked over at her still cringing from the prodding. "How are you holding up?" Liu then leaned into her and gently kissed her cheek making her heart nearly skip a beat or two from such tenderness and care.

"I'll live I guess, although I'm quite tired now from that test" She inched closer to her champion and laid her head upon his chest and took in his scent and drifted into a deep sleep from the medications and sedatives. Liu then laid down with her so she could rest without being in anymore pain.

Meanwhile in the council's meeting/courtroom...

Once all the respective councils were present and accounted for, Sindel then stood up to speak. "I thank each and every one of you for coming on such short notice. As you all are aware: the war is finally over and we can now turn our attentions to rebuilding and refortifying our realm. Does anyone want to add anything?"

"I do your highness; if I may be permitted speak." Standing up and giving a respectable bow was one of the more recent members of the council but exceptionally talented as well as intelligent, councillor Jordan was in charge of the borders and any issues that were outside of edenia. Sindel nodded in return of the gesture and sat back down. "You may speak young councillor."

"Thank you your highness. As you are all aware that even though the war is over, and edenia is in peace right now. This poses a question to me that should be highly considered." The councillor spoke as she paced around the room. "How TRUELY safe is Edenia right now? We have no knowledge of where any of the most wanted criminals to our kingdom are and what plans they have in motion. What are we going to do to reassure ourselves tha-"

Interrupting the councillor suddenly, Jade stepped forward with a smirk on her face. "As you may know already councillor, but on the off chance that you do not: before returning to edenia, the queen asked me to send an emergency bird to the admiral to deploy the omega battalion within the main city. While doing routine sweeps and scouting, they have captured and detained several intruders who were hiding out in our realm. We also acquired knowledge of the whereabouts of one of the two edenian traitors thanks to our allies in outworld that defected over to our realm after the fall of shao kahn's armies."

The young councillor chuckled at that statement. "Ah yes, our "allies". Quite a hell of a gamble to believe them general if I say so myself. Kind of like what our lady Kitana did with our army's whe-"

With rage filling the queens white eyes, she stood up and glared at the young councillor.
"You utter a single word more about that, and there will be no healer that is alive that will be able to fix what I do to you councillor. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"
Paralyzed with fear for her own life, she bowed to the queen and took her seat.

Sindel made her way back to her chair to speak with all of the council once more. "Now if there is nothing more to discuss, we shall meet again tomorrow morning to begin the prejudgement of the prisoners. Dismissed."

Edenian Portal Station

Mid-day March 11th

Standing guard around the station were 5 of the soldiers of the royal guard. They were not to allow a single person into the vulnerable realm without giving proper clearance. When out of the blue, a new portal opened up in the middle of the station with unknown energy signatures.

One of the soldiers ran up to an office room and opened the door with another soldier in the room. "Ma'am! There is a new portal opening up and these energy readings don't match any known realm signatures."

Inside the office room was the commanding officer at the moment as the other commanders were at the palace. She looked up at the soldier as she placed her helmet on.

"Alright, I'm coming over now. Tell the others to be armed and ready" The small soldier ran back to the main area and the officer following closely. When the two made it back to the central area, they dropped the weapons they had in their hands in total disbelief. The other soldiers had been knocked out cold and were lying unconscious with several indents in different parts of the armor. Without hesitation, the officer took out the signature scimitar that all were given upon completion of the entry of the battalion and looked at the other soldier still in shock and barked at him to get his attention.

"SOLDIER! GET YOUR ASS TO THE PALACE IMMEDIATELY! ALERT THE QUEENS GUARDS! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! AND TAKE MY PORTAL ID TO SAVE YOU TIME! ON THE DOUBLE!

"Y-y-yes ma'am!" The smaller soldier ran to the opposite end of the station that was for officers only which had a portal to instantly reach the royal palace and went through it.