Sub-Zero stood with a straight, firm posture. His hands were cupped around one another, his head slightly tipped, his eyes closed. It was almost as if he were in a meditative state.

He very well could have been, the few spectators in the room with him may think.

The Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei found himself sticking out like a sore thumb in this place and among these people, with the armed military guards of a Special Forces prison checkpoint. Sub-Zero had grown very accustomed to the exotic Chinese architecture of The Tundra, the home of the Lin Kuei. But here, in the United States, everything was different. Less comfortable, more imposing, soulless. The thick gray walls around him reached upwards, plain electrical lights illuminating the room. It was nothing like home.

Sub-Zero could have asked himself why he was even here… but he knew the answer all too well. Perhaps if he asked himself enough times, he would find a different answer, find an excuse to leave.

But alas, it did not come.

I need closure, he told himself.

It had been a few weeks since Kronika's defeat. Time had been torn, and now it was fixed once more… time restored to as normal a state as it could get. The younger duplicates were gone, their Revenant counterparts with them, and the thunder god Lord Raiden had vanished.

It was a real mystery.

But in the aftermath, peace had been achieved. Those that had been brought to this timeline had disappeared. Without them, the Revenants, Cetrion and Geras… the war for time was over. There was now only one person left who fought for the wrong side.

Sub-Zero had come to tie up that loose end.

"Grandmaster," a voice spoke out to him.

Sub-Zero opened his eyes and looked towards a familiar face: Cassandra Cage. The young yet proven Special Forces commander who could have retired at the age of twenty-five with her defeat of the fallen Elder God Shinnok a few years ago.

I somehow suspect she will top that moment in her career, he thought to himself with a proud sentiment, knowing he had been involved in her training.

Sub-Zero had seen her go from a struggling sergeant to a confident commander. The experience of battle had affected her like it once did him. In his own way, he truly was proud of her.

But he didn't make that so evident.

Perhaps this flaw is what brought him to this place today.

"Commander Cage," he greeted back respectfully, bowing slightly.

Cassie gave the slightest smile, but she knew this was no time for happy exchanges. She knew Sub-Zero was not here on pleasant business. Giving a subtle motion of her hand for him to follow her, Cassie walked in front of Sub-Zero as she led him out of the room he was in. Soon enough, they found themselves passing maximum security holding cells.

They were, after all, in a Special Forces prison.

"We've been keeping a close eye on her for weeks now," Cassie started, getting straight into business. "It was a bit difficult finding a suitable accommodation for her, with her uh… unique physiology."

Sub-Zero knew all too well what that meant.

"I appreciate that you have taken personal responsibility for this, Cassandra Cage," Sub-Zero told her as he closely followed behind. "This burden was not something I should have placed on you."

Cassie turned briefly, gave him a blank but sentimental look.

"It's alright," she assured him. "I get that this is a hard thing for you… I really wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to turn, walk out of here and leave this to me."

There was a moment of silence. But Cassie could see the regretful look in his eye. As if he was ashamed that he even had to be here.

"You… don't have to do this if you don't want to," she continued. "You can turn and go, if you'd like."

Sub-Zero was nonetheless not tempted, and maintained his driven resolve.

"No. I must see to this personally," he told her as much as he seemed to be telling himself. "It is my responsibility… and I was wrong to have ever made it yours."

Cassie saw and understood his commitment.

She could see there was no avoiding this. "Alright. Follow me, then."

There was a little more silent walking between them before they finally stopped.

Cassie had taken him to a particularly sturdy looking door. Sub-Zero too studied it, with a stern and yet contemplative look. The metal that comprised it looked thick and tall, enough so that no amount of cryomancy could possibly break one through.

He knew very well what was beyond that door.

Cassie however looked ever more uneasy.

"I'm sorry, Sub-Zero..." she lowered her head, and trailed her eyes away from him. "You're gonna hate what you see."

Sub-Zero did not react, and remained sternly glaring at the door.

Cassie elaborated. "When she was told that you were coming, she… tried to hurt herself. A lot. We had to restrain her, to stop –"

Sub-Zero raised his hand, stopping her. He understood what she meant without needing it explained in detail.

"I understand," he simply said.

The Commander let out a sad sigh. She didn't like this, it wasn't exactly protocol within the Special Forces on how they handled prisoners, she managed to make this happen simply for Sub-Zero being a friend and ally.

The soldier looked at the security scanner beside the door to the cell, a hand scanner. Advanced technology typically only found within the Special Forces.

She lifted up her palm, and firmly pressed it against the device. An affirmative bleep was heard, as red lights shifted to green. When her hands returned to her, she looked back up at Sub-Zero, a hint of sadness on her face.

"Good luck."

Even Sub-Zero, with his complete mastery of his own emotions, had a thumping chilled heart when he entered that prison cell. The room wasn't too big, as was custom with prison cells. A few essential accommodations such as a bed and a toilet, but empty otherwise. It was dimly lit, dark enough to initially make him squint slightly.

But when his vision adjusted, he could see it.

A shadowed figure was on their knees at the center of the room.

All he could hear from them was a quiet rambling.

"Can't… I can't… not anymore… can't..."

It was a mere whisper, sounds that his ears barely managed to pick up.

Sub-Zero's eyes finally made out that the figure was restrained by the wrists, cuffs linking to a chain that ran into the ground itself. The sight was not unlike the stone carvings found in The White Lotus temple of Shinnok himself, visualizing the age when he was imprisoned in the Netherrealm so very long ago.

It made his heart sink. This must have been what Cage meant. They had to restrain her to prevent her from harming herself.

The past few weeks must've been nothing but deterioration for her.

"Frost," he spoke out, gently, in a mixed tone unsure if he wanted to be heard or not.

The figure merely winced slightly.

"Frost," he spoke out again, a bit more confidently, this time crouching down before her.

As if she needed to be snapped out of whatever trance she was currently in, she winced again as she became present in the moment. Sub-Zero looked on with not a twitch in his face as the figure raised her head up to him. Soon enough, he saw a pair of unnaturally bright blue eyes looking back, slightly illuminating in the dim light. She looked tired, with her jaw hanging weakly from her head and her eyelids half-closed. He could even see bruises and dried blood on her.

It was obvious to Sub-Zero that she had been restrained for good reason.

They stared at one another for a moment. It felt like a long time. Frost was the one to crack first, tipping her head and removing her eyes from him with a disgusted groan.

"It saddens my heart deeply to see you like this, Frost," Sub-Zero told her, his voice firm.

Frost's weak breathing continued a bit before she collected her emotions appropriately. Her metal fingers trailed across the ground, gently scraping her against it. Sub-Zero could see her messy hair hanging from her scalp, fading in colour with the subtle traces of her natural brown visible under the synthetic blue.

It was a miserable sight, and she was in a sorry state.

"Come to criticize me again...?" she asked quietly, almost a whisper, head still tipped.

Sub-Zero looked down upon her still. He shifted in his place, going to rest both his knees on the ground, sitting in a typical meditative posture.

"No," he answered plainly and with the same tone that befitted a master in a training exercise.

He heard another stuttered breath escape from her. Was it her relief? Or her disappointment?

As Sub-Zero sat with her, his eyes looked upon what she now was. Cyberised, more metal than human. Perhaps not to the same extent Cyrax and Sektor were, but cyberised nonetheless.

It disappointed him greatly to see what she was now. What she had done to herself. What she had lost in pursuit of her ambitions. Which he was at the center of, with her obsession to usurp him driving her to such extreme measures.

Was he at fault?

"Was I such a poor mentor?" he spoke more gently, his composed and slightly compassionate face still looking upon her. "Do you really despise me so?"

She did not answer him, but it was as much a question to himself as it was to her.

Frost remained in her shameful position. Sub-Zero remained where he was, recognising when silence was the best form of conversation.

He would sit here for hours if he must.

While it wasn't hours that passed, the two basked in each other's presence for what felt like quite a while. As Frost knelt there, her eyes would check to see if he really was still sitting with her. She would look to see if he had finally left her alone to sulk, but every time… he was still just there.

Just there.

Frost hated it. She wanted him to go, and leave her here.

Forever.

Every second she spent close to him was agonizing.

"Why are you even here?" she hissed out aloud helplessly.

Sub-Zero opened his eyes slowly, as though he had just been meditating. "Is my presence so distressing to you? Enough so that you would cause harm to yourself?"

She laughed weakly, a snide response.

"Why would you care… ?" Frost kept shaking her head. "Why would anyone care about me… ?"

There was pause, Frost seemed to be passing between the walls of rationality, before she rambled some more. "Kronika was going to make everything perfect… "

Sub-Zero straightened up slightly. Gazed into her expression, into the void of her bright blue eyes. It was becoming clear to him that Frost wasn't… truly there. The last few weeks had obviously not been kind to her. She had always had an unstable mental state ever since he first met her.

And she had not gotten any healthier.

"Kronika deceived you, Frost," he informed her firmly.

Frost's head tipped slowly once more as she forced a laugh from her saddened voice.

"She came to me when I had nothing else… recognised me for the potential you never saw."

"No," Sub-Zero straightened up, as though to place himself above her. "Kronika sought only to use you. As she used Bi-Han. As she used us all."

Frost wanted to retort, to tell him that he was wrong. Her little face tightened up, a sternness filling her bright blue eyes.

But no argument came from her.

Instead, her glowing pupils trailed from him, and she breathed deeper. It was obvious that she too knew the truth.

"I know." A soft reply came.

Frost looked miserable to admit that. That Kronika was manipulating her. It looked like she was swallowing a nasty pill. Her stern expressions twitched, and she sniffed. Her head was unmoving as her chin dipped slightly. The bright blue eyes began to water.

"You knew?" Sub-Zero spoke, surprised. "And yet you served her all the same?"

Frost was ashamed that her grief was visible to him. But chained by the wrists, there was nothing she could do about it. The display of her emotions was a picture free for him to see.

"You couldn't understand, you idiot." she spat out.

She didn't take emotion well. Anger was always her natural response. That was the case back when she was his student, and it was the case now. It was obvious to Sub-Zero that she had never grown as a person over the years. She was, mentally, still that young adolescent that had come to him long ago.

She was still like a child.

"Humour me," he simply said.

And just as simply, she scoffed. Her eyes scrunched up, as if it were some effort to stop them watering.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me… after I left The Tundra?" she began, quietly and bitterly. "Do you have any idea how hard it was BEFORE I ever came to you?"

His face was blank. But not surprised.

"I always assumed you were burdened with a troubled past," he said. "But that doesn't justify what you have done."

Justification didn't seem to be what she was looking for but instead? An explanation.

"Kronika gave me the chance to amount to something!" she blurted out, bobbing and making her chains rattle. "Something you denied me any hope for!"

It was a feeling she had desired for so long. A feeling that was difficult to put into words. How could she possibly make him understand?

"What the fuck does it matter now?" she swore, shaking her head.

Her eyes glared at him, with such fiery hate in those otherwise icy eyes. She slowly straightened up on her knees in front of him, wrists struggling against the chains.

"Without her, I have nothing," Frost muttered with despair. "You've all done your best to destroy my life. Take away what little I have."

Sub-Zero had come to see how Kronika worked. The way she had manipulated her allies just as much as her enemies. Frost was as much a victim as anyone else.

If not more so.

"So why are you here?" she would ask, face stern and serious as she glared at him. "That blonde bimbo said you'd come. What was it you said once… the Lin Kuei are done with me? And yet here you are."

Sub-Zero was silent. It left her to ponder. Someone of Frost's mentality quickly saw what she believed was a logical explanation.

"Ah, I see." she breathed out, almost relieved. "Kano is gone. Cetrion is gone. Sektor is gone. Bi-Han is gone. The Revenants are gone. The past duplicates are gone. Kronika is gone. I'm all that's left."

Still, he was blank. Frost only continued to goad.

"You come to fix that? Tie up loose ends?"

Her stern face showed a glimpse of relief, and his silence left her thinking she was right.

"Do it, then," she said firmly. "I'd rather be dead than face whatever justice these Special Forces fools have planned for me. It may as well be you, right?"

Sub-Zero looked down upon her little angsty face, a scowl that may as well have been plastered onto her.

He didn't think he had ever seen her sincerely smile.

"C'mon then, mighty grandmaster," she spoke provokingly, voice gruff and deep. "Put down the lost cause."

Sub-Zero's lack of expression was all she would see as she glared up at him. He met her with a decisive stare.

"No."

It was a simple reply. But a powerful one. It made Frost look up again, her face filled with confusion.

"No?" she repeated, her eyebrows arching. "Whaddya' mean no!?"

She wanted an answer, an explanation… but he did not indulge her. Her face grew into a displeased frown before she resumed her onslaught of goading him. "Hah? I defied your wish for peace with the Shirai Ryu. I tried to usurp you!"

Sub-Zero nodded.

"You did," he agreed.

He nonetheless looked unconvinced. She breathed in to continue.

"I allied with Kronika. I aided Sektor, your old enemy. We tried to kill you. I tried to kill you."

His face was unmoving.

"You did."

Frost continued glaring at him. Sub-Zero stood up now, lifting himself up from his knees. She however remained chained to her current posture. And that was very frustrating.

"Well? Don't you want to get revenge!?" she spoke, agitated and more loudly. "Deliver vengeance to the one who wronged you?"

Still, he was unmoving. Just the mere sight of him being so unresponsive was enough to fuel her rage. And make her unstable once again.

Her mind was like a rollercoaster.

"Huh!? Well!?"

Frost jolted up a bit, her arms making her chains jingle. Her face was looking distressed, her breathing loudening slightly. And yet, he was unmoving.

"Well!? Say something!" she yelled out again.

In his mind, the thoughts of disappointment filled him. Though he did not show it, it was upsetting to see how much Frost had fallen, both in body as well as spirit.

Just this angry, bitter young woman.

"Look at you… standing all high and mighty… the powerful grand-bastard," she began to rant, disgust plastered on her fierce face. "Thinking you're so above me. You're all the same! Every one of you!"

As if she was getting increasingly heated, her arms made a single struggle against her chains, her fierce face practically spitting at him.

"You all look at me like I'm worthless!"

And it was this fear of weakness that she dedicated so much of her life to disproving. To validate herself to the world. But now, finally… she considered if they were right. If she really was worthless.

And if it was true, she'd rather not live.

Her anger was pointless, however. Sub-zero was unflinching and unmoving. Her breath was being wasted. He definitely had no intention of granting her her wish. And that pissed her off most of all… she always saw him as an obstacle, and even now he was still being just that.

The very thought of being kept imprisoned here, awaiting the day trial and justice would be dished… death was her one hope for escape. And even this wish would not be granted.

"Fucking asshole… " she said weakly, her throat choking slightly.

Frost's body relaxed, she hunched over and tipped her head from her neck. Once again, her hair hung messily from her scalp.

"I'm not going before a damn judge and jury," she hissed. "I will DIE before I leave this cell."

In a show of how emotionally unstable she was, Sub-Zero could hear a faint whimpering. Sniffling. Crying. When he realized that, something in him came to life. Some sort of paternal instinct. Something he didn't know he even possessed.

Before him was someone that he valued.

And they were at their absolute lowest.

"You will not be facing a court of law, Frost," he spoke, finally breaking his silence.

He crouched down next to her. His hands went to hold the chains that bound her to the floor. He held the metal links firmly, before frost and ice began to coat them. A loud cracking was heard, before the chains gently collapsed into fragments.

"But you will also not be meeting Death anytime soon."

Frost realized quickly. Her wrists became free. Her chains were broken. She knelt there, confused. Before looking up at him.

"What… ?"

Sub-Zero stood up. Slowly, so did she. She hadn't stood up straight in so long… there was numbness, even by cyborg standards. There was a slight wobble in her posture, her hand resting on her knee.

"You have wronged many," Sub-Zero continued. "The Special Forces however were not subject to the pain you have caused, that would be me and the Lin Kuei."

Frost had a fierce yet confused look on her face, she didn't seem any less displeased than she did earlier.

"Atone," she repeated that word, practically scoffing it. "You all don't deserve my atonement. What have you all ever done for me? What has anyone on this fucking planet showed me beyond contempt?"

She was upsetting herself. A clear effort was being made to hold back her tears. That instinct continued to kick inside Sub-Zero.

"You know that's not true," he told her, taking a step forward. "Frost… I have tried to help you. I wanted what's best for you. I wanted nothing but success for you. But you have discarded my efforts time and time again. Why?"

She stood there, shaking her head slightly in denial.

"Will you just fucking kill me!?" she demanded, helplessly and desperate, as if she wanted it merely so he couldn't probe her with more questions.

"No!" he told her once again. "Listen to me."

He had stepped forward, his hands took hold of her arms. She squirmed a bit, displeased by the very notion that he would touch her.

"Get off m-"

"Listen to me!"

With his louder tone, more commanding and powerful, he got her to be quiet as she looked at him with those bright blue eyes… wide and twinkling.

Sub-Zero breathed in.

"When I first met you on The Tundra all those years ago, I saw that you could very well have been the closest thing to kin I'd have left," he said, softly. "I had lost my brother and my closest friends to Quan Chi and Sektor. You were my chance to show that my life is not but a tragedy."

She was a cryomancer like him, both of them some of the very last individuals of an entire race. To Sub-Zero, Frost was a chance to make things better. To have someone that wouldn't be taken away from him like all those he was close to had. Bi-Han, Smoke, Cyrax, Hanzo...

His eyes looked down on the empty slot in her chest that housed her power core.

"Even after your exile, when I saw that you had allied with Sektor, and saw what you turned yourself into…"

He paused for a moment as he studied her body. Sub-Zero's face tightened as he held back the grief, burying the visible pain.

"I felt the stinging pain of failure. Of loss."

Frost has been listening carefully to his words. words. Her eyes had trailed from him. Her face too was hiding emotion, albeit less successfully than her former mentor.

"I've turned against you at nearly every turn," Frost reminded him. "Why would you care about me now, after all that? Why not just leave me here to rot, and never have to deal with me again?"

She sounded surprised. Surprised that Sub-Zero was affected as much as he was at the sight of her cyberization. It wasn't the impression she got when she faced down both him and the late Grandmaster Hasashi.

And her question had Sub-Zero ponder about what he thought of her. How he always saw her.

"You were flawed. But you were my student. I wanted to see you overcome your demons, whatever they may have been. I wanted to see you grow." his hand moved up to touch her shoulder. "Not become… this. Not what I once was."

Sub-Zero had never forgotten what it was like to be cyberised. The extra strength and power was no substitute for the loss of spirit and soul.

But like him, he knew Frost could be redeemed.

"Then you shouldn't have exiled me," Frost whispered, turning her head with a hiss.

Sub-Zero nodded in admittance. He remembered the day he stood above the defeated young warrior, squirming on the ground. He remembered how furious he was that day. How rashly he demanded that she leave The Tundra… and not return. He remembered watching her leave with what few belongings she had with a stern look on his face. And contempt on hers.

He realized now he had made a mistake that day.

"I was angry that day," he said. "For so long, I was angry with you. There was not a single day that went by where I did not think of you, where you might be, what you were doing."

Frost shook her head in disbelief.

"You sound as if you're my damn dad."

She meant it as a joke, but it was clearly no joke to him. And that, she saw.

"For all your flaws, I have come to accept you as not just my pupil… but also as kin," his eyes trailed down a bit, difficult even for him to look at her in this moment. "I did so then, and… "

There was a pause. But during that pause, their eyes made contact.

"...and I still do now."

She heard his words. Moved them around a bit in her brain. Understood its meaning. And it was a hard thing to swallow, and realize. A small moment had passed as Frost let the touching speech sink in.

And when it did, it was obvious. Her eyes merely closed, her face turned slightly. To her shame, streams of tears began to fall silently down her face.

Sub-Zero could see it clearly. Seeing her like that made that paternal instinct kick in him once again. Drove him with a desire to comfort her. So, reluctantly, he moved his hands to rest on her shoulder. The metal shoulder. Cold to the touch. He would place it firmly on her.

Frost had a surprised look on her face. Her eyes trailing to look to the side at her shoulder, the eerie eyes glowing. She didn't know what to do. It was very awkward for her.

They stood there for a while. As she collected her emotions. Sniffling, twitching her nose.

"We shall return to The Tundra together," he pledged. "And we will begin your atonement."

Frost's wetted face could barely look at him. So much of her world was suddenly tipped upside down by what he had told him. The amount of validation and appreciation she had just received, it felt like more than anything else she ever experienced in her life. It was something more than the rush of power, or the drive of ambitions. And yet, it was so simple.

It was just love.

"I don't think I can do it," she whispered miserably.

The past few weeks were complete misery for her. Her spirit was broken. Her drive shattered. But Sub-Zero, as usual, would always have words of motivation.

"When you hit rock bottom, the only path before you is up."

"How can you possibly forgive me for what I did to you?" she asked, still quiet and weakly. "I've betrayed you. I've… killed. Killed people. Your people. Am I not some kind of monster to you?"

Her eyes wanted to see him change his mind. To indeed deem her a lost cause, to leave her here to rot and fade away. But his determination was strong. He had already given up on her once before.

Never again.

Instead his hand simply raised, and his finger delicately wiped the tears from her face.

"The fact you have tears to shed proves the opposite, Frost," his gentle words went on. "The pain you feel has touched your soul. And your soul is good. Allow me to help you realize it."

Frost didn't truly believe his words. But the validation and appreciation she had received from him had moved her greatly.

She sighed. This wasn't the direction she figured this conversation would go… yet here she was.

"Maybe...I can try," she croaked.

Sub-Zero was pleased. That was all he wanted from her. It was all he ever wanted from her.

To try.

Frost continued to sniffle. She wasn't good at crying. It made her feel dirty for some reason. But the feeling of grief was met by the sensations of warm fuzziness inside her. Even within the metal body. It was a good feeling. The best she had felt in so long. She could feel how much he valued her. It made her feel so good.

Especially when his hand went to squeeze her shoulder.

"No pain lasts forever. This too will pass."

His words always seemed wise. Always seemed uplifting even if she couldn't see it. But now, she was willing to try and see it.

He was her mentor, after all.