Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Kombat or any of its characters!

Liu Kang waited a few days for Kung Lao to cool off before speaking to him. He went to Kung Lao's cottage and knocked on his door.

"Hey." said Kung Lao, opening the door.

"How are you?" asked Liu.

"Never better." said Kung Lao, giving a small smile.

"Hey, um, Kitana...she um...told me about you two."

"Look, sorry that happened. I mean you were dead..."

"I know it's not your fault. It's not her fault either." Liu Kang sighed. "You're my best friend. You're like my brother. I just want us to move past this. I don't want things to be weird between us. Okay? You and Kitana...that's in the past. I don't you to feel guilty or upset. Lets just move on okay? We good?" Liu Kang stretched out his hand.

"Yeah, we're good brother." said Kung Lao who smiled and shook his hand.

"You wanna spar?" asked Liu.

"Yeah! Haven't sparred with you for a year. Also, you gotta tell me how you came back from the dead."

"Will do!" said Liu. They both walked to the temple to spar.

Later that week, Liu Kang and Kitana's friends came by their cottage to celebrate Liu's return. Everybody was happy that Liu Kang was alive again. Kung Lao was very quiet during the party.

"So great that Liu's back huh?" said Jax, who went up to Kung Lao.

"Mmm hmm." replied Kung Lao.

"Aren't you happy?" said Jax, perplexed that Kung Lao was not very enthusiastic.

"I am, I am...I'm just...surprised is all. I mean the guy was dead and now he's alive. I'm still surprised by that."

"Yo man, ever since I entered Mortal Kombat, nothing surprises me anymore. I didn't used to believe in gods, vampires, monsters, sorcerers, clones, cyborgs...nothing surprises me anymore bro." said Jax.

"You're right." said Kung Lao, taking a huge gulp from his bottle of beer.

"You're kind of quiet today. You sure you're okay man?" asked Jax.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

"I am so happy for you that Liu Kang is back!" said Jade to Kitana.

"I'm happy for you too! How is Kung Lao doing after you two broke up?" asked Sonya.

"He was upset, very upset. We haven't spoken since I called off the engagement. It will take time but I hope that he and I can be friends again."

"How are he and Liu Kang doing?" asked Jade.

"They are still best friends. I am glad that they were able to resolve things and their friendship is not ruined." said Kitana.

The Kombatants celebrated until 2am at night and then they went back to their homes. The next day, Liu Kang went to the temple to meditate and Kitana worked on the farm. She planted crops, fed the goats and ducks. She was on her way to feed the chickens, when she saw a trail of blood towards the chicken pen. Kitana walked slowly and cautiously, following the trail of blood. She kept walking until she saw that one of the chickens had been beheaded. Kitana was horrified.

"By the gods!" she said. Just then, she felt something hard hit her head and everything went black.

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Kitana slowly fluttered her eyes open. She was out cold for hours. Her head hurt so bad. She looked at her surroundings. Completely unfamiliar. It seemed that she was in a cellar or barn? There were no windows. Where the hell was she? She tried to move, but she felt chains on her wrists.

"What in the world?" she said to herself. She was fully awake now. She was tied up by her hands and legs. She struggled to get free but the chains were too strong.

"You can struggle all you want but it's pointless princess. You can't escape." said a man's voice. Kitana looked and saw her captor.

"Kung Lao?" she said shocked. "You did this?"

"I'm sorry Kitana but I had too. You and Liu gave me no choice."

"By the gods! Liu! What did you do to him? If you hurt him I swear I will kill you!"

"Don't worry, Liu is fine...for now."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I can't stop thinking of you Kitana. Seeing you and Liu together...it kills me. We're meant to be together Kitana. What we had...it was true love...it was real!"

"I told you, I was never in love with you. I'm sorry but that's the truth."

"You don't know what you're saying. Liu is back and you're so happy that he's returned that you're not thinking straight. But when he's out of the way, you will realize that we are meant to be together!"

Kitana was terrified. Kung Lao had lost it.

"I don't understand. Dead people don't come back to life! Liu was dead and he should have stayed dead! I hate to do this to Liu...really I do. I mean he's my best friend...my brother...and I love him...but I love you more Kitana. I love you more than I love Liu Kang. I have never felt love until I fell in love with you Kitana. And Liu Kang is not going to ruin our love."

"Kung Lao...please...don't do this. Do you really want to kill your best friend? Would you really want a life without Liu Kang?"

"All I need is a life with you." said Kung Lao, walking to the door.

"NO! DON'T DO THIS! NO!" screamed Kitana, desperately trying to get free.

Kung Lao left and shut the door.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Kitana.

Liu Kang came home by 2pm in the afternoon and he didn't see Kitana. He assumed that she probably went for a walk. Later on it was 6pm and Kitana was still not home. Liu Kang started to worry. He was about to go and look for her when he heard loud, frantic knocks at the front door.

"Kung Lao! What's wrong?" said Liu Kang, when he opened the door and saw a worried look on his best friend's face.

"It's Kitana!" said Kung Lao.

"Kitana?" said Liu, worried, "What happened to her?"

"Shang Tsung...Quan Chi...they took her! I tried to stop them but they took her!"

"Where? Where did they take her?"

"They took her up to the hills...they said that you should come and get her! They are using her to lure you to them!"

"Those worthless assholes!" Liu Kang said angrily.

"Come on! We have to rescue her!" said Kung Lao.

"Alright lets go!"

"I'll lead the way!" said Kung Lao.

The two warriors walked for an hour. Kung Lao told Liu how Kitana was on the farm and he came by to visit when the sorcerers appeared and they grabbed her. He tried to fight them but he was overpowered. They kept walking and walking. It had been two hours now and it was getting dark. Liu Kang thought it was very strange that Kitana got overpowered so easily by the sorcerers. Kitana was a very deadly Kombatant. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi couldn't have just so easily grabbed her. Also, Kung Lao was very quiet during their walk. Liu Kang couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong.

"It's pretty weird that Kitana got captured by those two so easily huh? She is very strong. I'm surprised."

"Yeah...weird." said Kung Lao, "Even the monks couldn't help her."

"The monks?" said Liu Kang, perplexed.

"Yeah. The monks at the temple."

Liu Kang stopped in his tracks.

"I thought you said she got captured at the farm." said Liu Kang.

Kung Lao stopped walking and turned to face Liu.

"Are you lying to me? Just what the hell is going on? Where's Kitana? Why did you lure me so far in the woods?" asked Liu.

"Kitana is safe. Don't worry...I would never hurt the woman I love." Kung Lao smiled menacingly.

Liu Kang was shocked.

"What did you just say?" asked Liu.

"Did I stutter?"

"Kung Lao, what the hell is going on?"

"You were dead Liu. Dead people don't come back to life. Why did you come back? Why did you take her away from me?"

Liu was so shocked that he was speechless. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"When you died...I was devastated. But the only good thing about your death was that I fell in love with Kitana. I lost my best friend but I gained the woman of my dreams. You're in the way of me and Kitana's love. When you die, she and I will be together again."

Liu had so many emotions going on. He felt betrayed. He felt sad that this guy who he considered as a brother wanted to kill him because he wanted his girlfriend. He was sad that Kung Lao wished that he didn't come back to life. Why was his best friend acting like this?

"Brother...come on...don't do this...I don't want to fight."

"You don't have a choice...brother." Kung Lao immediately threw his hat aiming for Liu's forehead. Liu's reflexes were quick, and he leaned back, dodging the deadly attack. Kung Lao's hat flew back to him. Before Liu Kang could even recover, Kung Lao threw his hat again but Liu was able to dodge. Liu Kang threw a fireball at Kung Lao's hat as it was flying back to him, knocking it away from its owner. Liu Kang then did a bicycle kick, sending Kung Lao to land hard on the ground.

"Kung Lao I don't want to hurt you! Stop this!"

Kung Lao got up and charged towards Liu. He was punching and kicking him but Liu was blocking every attack. Liu did not want to fight him. Kung Lao uppercutted Liu Kang, sending him flying in the air. Liu landed hard and then Kung Lao pulled him up. He used his knee to hit his jaw, and then used the edge of his palm to hit the back of his neck. Liu fell down in pain. Kung Lao picked up his hat and put it on.

"See this key Liu?" said Kung Lao, dangling a key in his hand. This is the key to the shed that I'm keeping Kitana. I could even hand you the key because you're going to die. You won't be able to get to her anyway."

Kung Lao then kicked Liu's torso, knocking the wind out of him and then kicked his face multiple times. He pulled up Liu Kang' head by grabbing his hair. Liu had blood dripping from his mouth.

"When I kill you, Kitana will be all mine. I will make sweet love to her and she will scream my name."

That was it. Liu Kang had had enough of this shit. He grabbed Kung Lao's arm that was holding his head and twisted it. Kung Lao released him, groaning in pain. Liu Kang then got up and punched his face again and again and then he gave him a powerful uppercut. As Kung Lao was landing from the impact, Liu threw a fireball at him and he fell down on the ground in pain. Kung Lao's face was bruised and he had a black eye. He started trying to get up. Liu went up to him and stretched out his hand to help him up. Liu Kang realized that he and Kung Lao would never be friends again, but he did not want to kill him. He did however want to end this fight. Kung Lao took his hand and he got up. He immediately tried to use his hat to slice his stomach open but Liu dodged his attack and then jumped behind him. He fired up his hand and punched his hand through Kung Lao's stomach. Kung Lao looked down and saw Liu's hand covered in fire and blood. Liu removed his hand and Kung Lao fell to the ground. Blood was profusely pouring out of his stomach and blood was pouring out of his mouth. Liu Kang started crying. He knelt down and held Kung Lao in his arms.

"Damn it Kung Lao! Damn you! You're my best friend! You're my brother! Why did you make me do this to you? Why?" cried Liu Kang.

"I am sorry brother..." Kung Lao managed to speak, "I love you...but I love Kitana more..."

Kung Lao then died.

"Nooo..." said Liu, "NOOOOOOOO!" Liu Kang hugged his best friend, crying loudly.

Kitana kept tugging at her chains, trying to get free. She had to stop Kung Lao. She kept hoping that he had not killed Liu. Just then, the door opened. Kitana was so relieved when she saw it was Liu.

"Kitana!" said Liu, running to her.

"Liu!" she said.

Liu used the key and unlocked her chains and when she was released, they hugged each other tightly.

"Are you okay?" asked Liu.

"I am now." she said. "Kung Lao?"

Liu bowed his head sadly.

"Oh Liu...I am so sorry." She hugged him.

"I didn't want to fight him. I didn't. But he was going to kill me. I had no choice...I had to kill him. I didn't want to but he gave me no choice."

"Oh Liu..."

"That person was not Kung Lao...that was a complete psycho. The good person that I had known all these years...was gone." Liu said sadly.

Kitana was so sad that Liu had to kill his best friend and she was sad that Kung Lao had completely lost his mind and became murderous. Kitana and Liu continued to hug.

"Come on, lets go home." said Liu, releasing the hug. They held hands and walked back to their cottage.