A/N: Sorry guys, life's been tough lately. Depression is kicking my arse to Earthrealm, then the Netherrealm and back again, several times. And I know it's warm in the latter, but its not fun warm. Might put on a silly hat, maybe eat a little more chocolate than I should, and get my festiveness on, decor and the like. Hope you enjoy a certain lady's appearance and role here, she's more significant than meets the eye...

Wrapped In Cotton Wool

Raiden awoke brusquely from his nightmare, finding his room empty. In his dream, it hadn't been. It had been occupied by a deranged, bellowing Viper, eyes streaming, throat raw as she held a knife shakily to his chest. This was something he knew she'd wanted to do. As opposed to Kara who would protect him with her life, Viper would take it easily, with no qualm. However, instead of looking menacing, the clone looked frightened, panicked. Raiden opened his door, and saw a younger, frozen Kara standing there, hand mid-knock, fist clenched. As still as a statue, he just about managed to move around her, afraid if he knocked her, she would simply fall and break apart.

He walked downstairs, a light shuffling noise the reason. Viper was there, this time waving the same knife about, a nasty smirk on her face. Various facets of her 'personality' came pouring out.

Each time he saw her, she acted differently, as if torn. She was a clone. She had no heart, nothing real inside her. And, unlike Kara, inside her lay no light, only pitch darkness. A younger Kara stood opposite her, hands now at her sides, body taut. She had zero control here, similarly to her imprisonment in the energy chamber. She wasn't real here, only a figment of his imagination, and a terrible one at that.

Her cheeks were hollow, no longer speckled pink, rather, white. Skin stretched to breaking point over thin limbs and knuckles. Limp, lackluster hair fought its way out of her usually well presented ponytail. Her eyes contained nothing, as if drugged. Peridot veins stood out, a stark contrast to ivory, pearl-like quality dimming, becoming translucent. Cloth draped over her frame as if she wore a sack, shapeless, formless around her once slight curved figure, now not a shape he could distinguish...

He swallowed, throat dry and stomach twisting. Nausea greeted him, a bitter old friend with its barbs in deep, leaving more than mere flesh wounds. Rather, deep, lingering wounds, that left nasty scars, reminders of a time the God would like to forget.

In his infinite life, at some point, he would forget?

Right?

He told himself. A lie. Another to add to the pile of notes spread across his mind, thrown to the wind, only to end up right back where they originated from. Infinite wisdom also came with infinite grief it seemed...

"Rai...den", Viper curtsied, swinging the blade in her hand as she did so, "what?" She looked confused at his expression, tilting her head ever so innocently. "Shouldn't you be pleased to see me?"

Raiden didn't deign her a reply. She did not deserve one, no matter how she came to be, who's magic fueled her brash foolishness and tyranny.

She frowned, painting it upon her face like a master artist, strokes precise, decisive.

"Oh? Why not? What did I do to deserve silence from you, huh?" She span around, posture questioning. The thunderer looked away. "Am I that bad? That", she hissed, "repulsssive?"

Raiden was done, he wasn't about to listen to her for a moment longer. His forefinger and thumb pinched the bridge of his nose, a heavy sight accompanying the gesture. He was tired of this nonsense. Viper's existence drained him of substance, will and sanity. All she did was plague him and his memory, and she knew just how to do so.

Oh so very well. She dared to use Kara's knowledge and friendship with him to her advantage, tweaking it so it had the effect she wanted.

Tweaking it so it drove him mad. Not just with grief but guilt.

He caught her off guard by teleporting next to her, wrenching the blade from her hand, and going to return to his spot prior. Viper had other ideas though. She let him grab the knife before grabbing another one from behind her back and slicing him across the chest. The God grunted and fell back, clutching the fabric of his robes to his skin. It stuck fast, fabric reddening quickly. He used his free hand to trap his assailant in a vortex of lightning. She did not struggle, merely looking at the wound. He took a look himself.

It was a graze compared to injuries he'd had in the past. The initial spurt of blood ceased quickly, a trickle all that was left. It did not sting until he peeled back the cotton. He sighed and walked over to the sink, near Kara.

She was still, no life came from her. No joy, sadness, anything. This perturbed the God, leaving a bad taste in his mouth, and a turn of the gut.

"You know", Viper looked Kara up and down, contempt clear, "if she wasn't so useless, that wouldn't have happened, would it?"

Her sneer only served to further rile the God as he untied his robe, letting it drop the the floor, and washed out the wound.

"Stop this".

Viper blinked. "Now I get a responssse? It's true though, isn't it? Even in her old age, she's still pretty much as useless as a...huh", she paused, "what's that human saying again?"

"Don't suffer fools gladly?"

The clone cackled.

"Aren't you tetchy? Sheesh".

The 'sheesh' came out in Kara's childish tone. The white haired God's head snapped back and he glared at her.

"Stop. You are dead, a figment of a tired mind".

"Tired?" Again, she looked to Kara. "She been keeping you up all night, eh?"

That did it. Raiden had to bite his tongue.

"Okay, okay! I'm kidding. She's more chaste than a nun, and that's saying something. Girl needs a chastity belt, about as frigid as they come". She laughed at her own unintentional double-entendre. "As they come? Hah! Bet dust'd come out if she tried".

The God couldn't believe his ears. Kara did not have that side to her. Even if she did occasionally speak a little blue, it was never this brazen, this immodest. The word 'stop' would not suffice, nothing would. He decided to let her vent, knowing this was all just a bad dream that would come to an end.

It would, he would wake up, a new dawn would greet his eyes, chirping birds his ears and the seclusion of his room. Safe seclusion this time...

"You must have done something to her, had an impact. The first thing inside her head when I woke up was you".

"At least you've acknowledge that you are not her, nor will you ever be".

That came out snide, a remark Viper ignored as she continued.

"Why not her family, her friends? Why you in particular? She was so angry at something, poor love".

Raiden snapped back, finished with kind formalities.

"At myself? Perhaps. I kept her at arms length for some time. At being kidnapped", his tone grew dark, as did his eyes, "her imprisonment? Her torture!"

"She was foolish. If she'd have been more aware, or, more importantly, not abandoned by the people she cared for, none of thissss would have happened. I wouldn't have happened".

Shining, unfocused eyes were her response. She cursed.

"Look. If you're gonna kill me, just do it already. I know you wanted to the first time, you just didn't have the nerve. You'd think a God would have a spine, but", she tried to point, huffing as she failed, "you prove that no, they don't need a backbone".

Raiden breathed through his nose, denying himself the opportunity to lose his temper.

"You know not of what you speak. You have fragments, the rest you made up yourself. You can leave now, the damage done long ago was since mended, and will be amended if need be".

Much to his surprise, Viper smiled.

"You shouldn't be so nice to me. Despite everything I did"...

She was cut off.

"You didn't do anything. Shang and Shao did. A bystander in this, that's all you were. I misdirected my anger at you, when all you did was exist for others gain".

"I know", she smirked, "I had fun with it too. Being an assset was more fun than I thought'd be".

And, she was back. Back to the derogatory. Back to being Shao's piece of meat, on a blood drenched platter...

"You could have been much more before your 'life' was cut short. Unfortunately, it was the wrong time, the wrong place, the wrong people around you. They shaped you to be an agent of chaos, and, sadly, they succeeded. You shouldn't have been created, but, it wasn't your fault. It needn't be, and shouldn't ever be". He softened his tone, thinking it necessary to keep her calm. Viper just thought it patronizing, but fair, given he spoke the truth.

She nodded, he blinked, and she was gone.

He awoke in his room, disorientated, but finally free of troubled thoughts in the dead of the night.

The hushed tones of words spoken to him. Dire words that spoke of bloodshed.

The muffled screams of ones, whose lives were snuffed out in front of him.

The words spat at him when he failed. Harsh, laced with poison, designed to cripple him.

All of that vanished upon the knock on his door...

He stood, shuffling feet outside guiding his feet to the ones outside his room. Opening it bore Kara, worry filling in the lines in her forehead. She felt a disruption in the flow of energy around him, the house. It flowed down the tether that she had with him, so powerful the shift, it easily traversed the realms between them. She hugged him, but did not step into his room, deeming it a step too far, but she was close enough to the line that crossed it and the landing to feel as if she were intruding.

She wasn't, but that wasn't important right now.

"I know", she whispered into his chest.

I know...

Raiden woke up again, to find himself alone in the home. Of course he was. Kara was at the Lin Kuei training grounds, not here, with him. Unsure as to whether or not he was still dreaming, a thought popped into his head.

Pinch yourself. Apparently that works. Never tried it though. My Dad pinched my cheeks enough as a kid for a few lifetimes. I'm not about to start doing it myself.

Kara's 'advice' brought forth a chuckle from the God's lips.

Groggily, he pinched his arm and reacted to it, pulling his arm away.

He was awake, his head didn't feel weary, his home felt like home again, warm and secure, and, at some point, he'd invite Kara around for tea, talk things over.

That hit him, causing him to draw back. He propped himself up against the headboard of his bed.

Talk things over...

He pondered before nodding, agreeing with the idea.

Yes. It's about time that we do...

I'll say Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, and or I hope your 25th and new year are an awesome time for you, just in case I don't finish this by new year. Ya'll are awesome, and very much appreciated by moi. :)