The trek through most of the villages had lengthened their search well into the night and Liu could see the sky changing colors as the sun rose. The three missing Earthrealm fighters had apparently traveled well into Outworld, as Raiden and Liu were passing through the last of the moaning trees of the living forest.
"This is isn't good." Liu said as he took in their surroundings. "I was hoping they could have made it back at least this far, but if they haven't, they may be more injured then I thought."
"Don't worry." Raiden said calmly. "There's only a few villages this far out into Outworld. We'll find them in one of them. Besides, tarkata can't hunt well at night, so hopefully that little head start they had on us has been shortened."
Liu turned back to look at the other man, but found him staring at the map, doing everything he could to avoid his gaze. Liu sighed, apparently he wasn't going to be forgiven as easily as he would have hoped.
"Thanks." Liu mumbled in reply. "You're right. We'll find them soon enough." They continued their walk in silence, with only the sound of their footsteps along the ground. Liu hated the silence. When they first met and during their sparring that day, he could see signs of their future relationship. The camaraderie they shared and the beginnings of the trust between them, and one moment possibly ruined everything.
He couldn't deny that he felt something for this human version of his mentor, especially after that kiss. His Raiden seemed so untouchable in the future. This Raiden was so much different. He still had that calm and collected air around him and that serious personality, but there was something else, something that put him in Liu's reach.
That still didn't mean anything. Anything he possibly wanted from this Raiden could alter the future in infinite ways and he couldn't risk it. There were lives at stake if everything in this time didn't go perfectly, and he couldn't risk the future of the realms no matter what he wanted.
He glanced over at Raiden, who was once again focusing fully on the map in his hands. When he finally turned his gaze on to him, his eyes held none of the previous warmth as they did before; now they were hardened much like the Raiden of the future, and it hurt to know that he was the one to cause it.
"We should head that way, toward those caves. They may have taken shelter there." he heard Raiden mutter.
As he followed Raiden toward the caves he sighed, he really hoped they found the others soon, or a least some tarkata. He didn't know how much longer he could deal with the tension between them.
There was only so much running the three of them could do in the condition they were in. Jax and Kung Lao ran as fast as they could while helping Sub-Zero, but the distance they had put between themselves and the tarkatan extermination squad wouldn't last long, especially since their wounds were still open. They all knew tarkata could smell blood from miles away.
"Guys, I may have an idea." Jax said as he stopped running. He took a deep breath and groaned when he stretched, forcing the wounds on his chest to reopen. He rubbed his hand over the blood and began to put on the trees around them. "If they smell blood from different places they'll have to split up and we may be able to handle them that way."
Kung Lao nodded and began doing the same. He looked over to the unconscious form of the Lin Kuei, "What about Sub Zero?"
"He should be fine. Most of his injuries are burns. Hopefully they'll be paying more attention to our scent than his."
Their task done, they picked up Sub-Zero and took off again. They needed to find some shelter, somewhere for them to regroup for just a little while. "Jax! Look up ahead." Jax looked over to where Kung Lao had pointed to and grinned. He could see some caves in the distance and knew that would be an excellent place to stop.
"Come on!" He shouted as they ran toward the caves. "We should be safe here for a little while. At least until the others can find us."
Liu knew they needed to take cover. He didn't know how the tarkata had managed to find them, but once they did, there was no way for them to lose them.
"Raiden! We've reached the living forest again! We can hide in the trees and wait for them to come to us!"
Raiden nodded and they split off. Each of them going to a different part of the wooded area. Raiden easily leaped onto one of branches and made sure he was completely covered by leaves and out of reach of any stray branches. Liu found a group of trees and hid between them, completely hidden by the trunks and the mangled faces in the trees. Hopefully this would confuse the tarkata long enough for them to launch an attack.
Baraka led the group of tarkata into the forest, inhaling the the air deeply he began to growl loudly. "There's blood in the air! They're near by! Spread out and make sure that when you find them, you leave nothing but scraps!"
Raiden's eyes widened when Baraka mentioned the blood. In their haste to find cover from the tarkata he didn't notice it, and he had no doubt that Liu didn't as well. Raiden looked around frantically and that's when he caught splotches of it on the different trees. It wasn't enough to be fatal, which relieved Raiden slightly. "They may be near by. We have to find them." he muttered to himself.
As soon as the tarkata closest to him turned its back, he attacked, leaping from the tree he was perched in with a flying kick so hard, he could hear the cracking of the tarkata's skull as he landed. Baraka and the rest of his squad instantly turned his attention on Raiden and began advancing toward him. This gave Liu the chance he needed and he fired a few fireballs into the back of one of the other tarkata, sending it into the mouth of one of the trees.
Baraka snapped his head toward where Liu had come from the trees and released a feral growl. "GET THEM!" He shouted as he charged toward the monk as and as the rest of his squad charged toward Raiden.
Kung Lao glanced up when he heard the shout. "Jax we may have company."
Jax and Kung Lao stood and walked to the mouth of the cave and and crept out a few feet. They could see partly into the forest and could hear the faintly hear the sounds of fighting. They could see the spark blasts from the blades of the tarkata and knew that the extermination squad had caught up to them.
"The others must have been looking for us and they came after them. We need to go help them." Jax started down to the forest but was instantly stopped by Kung Lao. "Man what are you doing?! They need help!"
"I know that." He sighed and glanced back at the cave. "You go. I'll stay behind with Sub-Zero. My arms are basically useless right now, so you'll be more help to him than I would."
Jax nodded and clapped Kung Lao on the shoulder before headed down to the forest. He moved his arms slowly, wincing when he saw a little trickle of blood from his shoulders. As he reached the forest he decided to shake things up a bit, and while he was still out of sight, slammed down on the ground with as much force as he manage. Smirking triumphantly he watched the ground shake and and one of the smaller trees break free of its roots and completely impale one of the tarkata.
When the ground wave hit, Raiden quickly brandished his staff to stay upright as the three remaining tarkata surrounded him. "Well great. My brother always did like putting me on the spot." he muttered to himself. He easily dodged the slashes of the first tarkata and managed to dodge a kick from another before he was kicked in the back by the last one.
Raiden stumbled forward and dug his staff into the ground before kicking the closest tarkata in the head and grabbing his staff and slamming it down on the skull of the mutant, then using lightning quick speed he didn't know he possessed, twirled his staff again slamming it into the side of the tarkata, its momentum knocking it off balance and sending it head first into another tree.
Raiden turned away as he heard the sounds of the tarkata being torn apart and dropped back into his fighting stance. The two remaining tarkata began circling around him, each growling and their blades released as the two charged toward him. Raiden kept his eyes flashing between the two of them, deciding on how he was going to attack when he saw the tarkata in front of him get slammed into the ground and began to get pummeled by Jax.
Jax knew he'd destroyed the one that had attacked him back at the village but destroying this one would just improve his mood oh so much. The tarkata kept trying to stab at him with its blades, and Jax had finally had enough and grabbed it's blade and before it could be extended back punched through it with his fists. The tarkata howled in pain and anger and attempted to throw him off. Jax grabbed it by the throat and looked at the blade in his hand, looked back at the tarkata, then back at the blade before shrugging and stabbing it into it's head, finally causing it to cease struggling.
Raiden chuckled and shook his head at the other fighter. From the enthusiasm he was showing he must have had a real score to settle with the tarkata and as he was knocked harshly to the ground by the one he'd forgotten about, he decided that he did too. Raiden struggled under the tarkata, barely dodging it's blade every time it impaled the ground looking for his head as a target. He had lost his staff when he was tackled and looked back at it, growling at the fact it was out of his reach.
"Looks like I have to do this the old fashioned way."
As it slammed it's blade down into the ground again, Raiden dodged it once more and headbutted it. He kneed it in the stomach multiple times in an attempt throw it off and was grateful when Jax realized what as going on and ripped the tarkata off and Raiden eagerly jumped up and grabbed his staff.
"He's mine! Send him over here Jax!"
Jax nodded and shoved the tarkata forward and it ran right into the tip of Raiden's staff and impaled itself on it. Raiden quickly pulled it out before slamming the tarkata in the head, before finally slamming it down one more time on its back, forcing it to the ground.
Raiden panted as he rested on his staff and began searching the forest for Liu. "Thank you."
"It's no problem." Jax replied. "Where's Liu?" He asked as he looked for the monk.
"He was fighting Baraka when I last saw him." He looked around the forest again, his eyes widening in horror when he caught sight of the monk. "LIU!"
Liu had been ensnared in the branches of one of the more angry trees in the Living Forest and was struggling to get his arms free. Baraka's twisted tarkatan mouth widened in what Liu thought was a grin as he released his blades once more. He began to rub his blades together, sharpening them. He charged toward the captured monk and began to spin, eager to slice his opponent in his tracks.
Liu quickly tried to figure out a plan to keep himself from being chopped. He looked behind him and smirked, luckily he wasn't facing the mouth of the tree. When Baraka became close enough, Liu ran up the tree and balanced on the branches as he watched Baraka's blades embed in the tree. He dropped back down behind him, thankful his blades had embedded themselves in the tree instead of in him. He heard the shouting of his name and saw Raiden rushing toward him with Jax following close behind.
Raiden began roughly pulling at one branch while Jax began working on another, but they had to hurry, Baraka was getting his second wind and was eagerly pulling his blades free
from the tree. No sooner had Liu been pulled free and pushed out of the way did Baraka break loose and strike the target closest to him with his blades...which was Raiden.
Raiden clutched his chest in pain and staggered back towards Jax and in that instant Liu saw red. He gathered up his energy and blasted Baraka with a volley of fireballs. Baraka managed to dodge most of them, but wasn't prepared for the dragon charged bicycle kick that knocked him unconscious and sent him into the vicious branches of another tree.
Liu's eyes burned in fury as he watched Baraka get more tangled up in the branches but when he heard a hiss from behind him, he was instantly next to Raiden checking out his wound. "Are you all right?"
Raiden winced and shrugged him off. "I'll be fine." he said coolly. "Let's just get the others and get out of here before Baraka comes to or gets free."
Liu tried to ignore the confused look Jax sent him as he muttered "Great idea." as he led them to the cave where Kung Lao and Sub-Zero were.
Kung Lao met them in front of the cave with Sub-Zero. "Are all of you all right?"
Raiden nodded. "Nothing some bandages and rest won't fix, but what about you? I saw the blood on the trees. How badly are you hurt?"
"We'll be fine." Jax said. "That was just to throw them off our trail and confuse them. Now we should get back, it's gonna be nightfall by the time we get to the castle."
As they headed out of the forest, a set of red eyes watched them from a distance. Quan Chi couldn't help but smirk as he watched them leave. "So they've taken the bait." he whispered softly to himself. He growled as he looked at the injuries he sustained from the battle the day before. He had managed to get to a village near the forest and recover. Those Earthrealm fools were going to pay for this and killing Raiden would just be an added bonus.
They reached the castle just as night was beginning to fall. Raiden, for once in his life, was relieved when he saw the courtyard finally appear, but something caught his eye. In a window of one of the higher floors, he could see the fury filled gaze of his brother staring right at him, and something changed for Raiden in that moment. Usually he would have ignored the glare and the slight shiver of fear it sent through him, but this time he stared right back at Kahn and smirked.
Sorry brother, but you won't get rid of me that easily.
Liu noticed the smirk on his face and stared at him quizzically. "Is everything all right?" he asked with a bit of hesitation.
Raiden nodded and looked straight ahead to the castle doors once more. "Everything's just fine."
They made it back to the library where the others were and set Sub-Zero against a bookcase. Jax and Kung Lao eased into some chairs as Sonya began to look over their wounds. "What happened to you guys?"
Jax snorted. "Where do you want me to start? The fight with the tarkata at the village or being chased by another extermination squad for hours on end?"
"Relax Jax," Raiden said as he walked in and began to bandage his chest, "You survived and you succeeded in what you had to do." Raiden looked up when he noticed the sudden silence in the room. Everyone's eyes were focused on large bloody gash trailing across his chest. "Is there a reason why all of you are staring at me?"
"I'm sorry, it's just the wound on your chest. It looks very bad. Are you all right?" Kitana asked.
"I just had a run in with Baraka's blades. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."
Kitana nodded, "All right. If you say so." She looked around at the others before she shakily stood. "We need to get some rest." She glanced over at Liu, "We'll regroup tomorrow morning before the fight. We need to to talk."
Everyone nodded and filed out of the library. After making sure everyone made it back to their rooms and had their wounds taken care of, Liu and Raiden headed back to their room. Between the final trial tomorrow and the tension between them today, they needed to clear up some things between them. If Raiden was to beat Kahn tomorrow, he needed his mind focused and clear.
As the door shut behind them, Liu sighed and leaned back against it as Raiden sat on the edge of the bed, Raiden wasn't outright ignoring him like before, but there was still a heavy amount of tension between them and it needed to go.
"Raiden, can we please talk? It's obvious that we still have some things that need to be cleared out between us and I thought we should get it out the way."
Raiden still refused to look at him. "Go ahead."
"I thought we had made some progress back to how we were before. I mean you risked your life out there for me. Baraka could have-"
Raiden instantly cut him off. "I trusted you and I do consider you a friend. After what you've done for me I couldn't let you die out there, no matter how I felt at the time. Besides I owed you, you and your friends saved my life. I thought I'd repay the favor."
"Stop interrupting me!" Liu shouted angrily. Raiden looked up at him in surprise and remained quiet. He saw the fire in Liu's eyes. He could tell he was frustrated and upset, but for a split second there was something else there, something that intrigued Raiden. Liu walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, "When you kissed me, I know I could have reacted better and then after what happened today..."
He gently held Raiden's cheek in his hand and wasn't surprised when Raiden continued to remain still. "I have to do this. I could be screwing up everything for everyone with what I'm about to do but...I'm not gonna ignore this any longer." He leaned into Raiden and slowly pressed their lips together. The kiss was soft and gentle with Raiden grasping Liu's shoulders to stay upright. Raiden let out a soft sigh as Liu hesitantly deepened the kiss, nipping at him bottom lip as he gained entrance to his mouth. As they broke apart Liu had a small smile on his face. "I couldn't ignore this any longer."
"Liu...I..."
"Isn't this what you wanted?"
"Yes, but..." Raiden pushed away from Liu before turning his angry brown eyes onto him, again looking much like the God Liu was used to seeing in his time. "I don't want you to do this because you feel obligated; because you hurt me and then I ended up saving your life and you feel you owe me something. This is far from what I wanted if that's the case."
"Is that what you really believe? You may have only known me for a very short time, but do you honestly think I would do this because I felt that I owe you something?" Liu couldn't stop the anger that had begun to seep into his voice again. He didn't know what was pulling him to Raiden like this, but he was sure it was definitely more than feeling the need to repay a debt.
"Well what else could make you change your mind so quickly from before? If it wasn't the fact I saved you today, then what else could it be?" he asked softy.
How about the fact that after tomorrow I'll never have another chance to do this.
Or that after tomorrow you'll probably forget I was ever here.
"I don't want to live with regret. Tomorrow, you fight Kahn and I don't want anything to happen without me having done this." Liu spoke instead. "This is something I want and right now damn the consequences."
Raiden smiled at him. A true, honest, genuine smile. "Well it's about time you managed to figure out the right thing to say." he said with a soft chuckle. "Now hopefully I can do this," he said as he leaned in for another kiss. "Without the same results as before."
Liu felt his eyes flutter shut as his kisses with Raiden grew more passionate. He could let his mind rest and just enjoy what was happening. He was relieved that for once, his words hadn't made the situation worse. Though part of him wanted to say that his actions may have just done the same thing.
As the two on the bed became more wrapped up in each other, a set of dark brown eyes watched from the door. A cruel smirk firmly plastered on his face, Shang Tsung backed silently away from the door using every ounce of his marital arts training to assure he went unnoticed. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he absorbed the latest development in his mission.
"So the monk and the God huh, well that was unexpected." he muttered to himself. As he reached one of the rooms, he opened it and slid back inside, wincing as the door slammed loud enough to wake the room's other occupant, Kung Lao.
"Sub-Zero what are you doing? You've been unconscious since you fought Shang Tsung. You need to heal up from your wounds."
"I know. Things seemed tense between Liu and Raiden earlier so I went to check on them, to make sure that everything was all right."
"All right, but get some rest. We need everyone at full strength tomorrow. I have no doubt the deadly alliance will try something. It is their last chance after all."
Sub-Zero nodded and went over to the other bed. "I am well aware of that and shall be prepared for tomorrow."
Kung Lao nodded and soon relaxed back into sleep. Shang Tsung breathed a sigh of relief through the mask. That had been close. He couldn't let his little charade be found out just yet. He had a job he needed to complete and from what he had just witnessed, it had just become much more interesting.