Mortal Kombat; A Second Chance
~A/N~ Eno-on: Well that delay was massive, I hope this wait is shorter.
Eno-on: This will be the last cool-down chapter before the next arc begins, so without further ado...
"Speech" 'Thought' "Read Text" Flashback
Disclaimer: I don't own ~'Mortal Kombat'~
~Chapter 17 What I can do~
When Mileena opened the door to the training room she was surprised to find it occupied by the only Edenian in Earthrealm.
Jade was running through stances and practising her strikes, a clear look frustration on her face, Mileena watched as she attempted to reach for something at her waist, only to stop part way with an angry grunt.
"Hi Jade" Mileena said nervously, stiffening slightly when the Edenian turned to face her with a fierce look "sorry I didn't mean to disturb, I-I'll just go"
"Stop" said Jade, Mileena freezing in place at the former revenant's tone "Sonya Blade has requested that I instruct you on Edenian combat" she paused for a moment "and I agreed to do so… against my better judgement" she muttered at the end.
Mileena grew excited at the prospect of learning about her Edenian heritage, that joy dimmed when she heard Jade's quiet words, her mood went either unnoticed or ignored.
"First summon your weapons" Jade instructed "we'll go over some basic forms and build from there"
Mileena drew her sai from their holsters and lowered herself to a combat stance.
"Is this a joke to you!" the sudden shout startled Mileena, who was curious about what she did wrong "I said summon your weapons, I was including Shao Kahn's hammer" Mileena's confusion must have been visible despite her mask "do you not know how to summon your weapons?"
The question felt harsh and insulting to her "no I don't" she answered, swallowing the nervous lump in her throat.
"Unbelievable" Jade grumbled "many beings, not just Edenians, are able to channel their inner energy into their weapons" Mileena sheathed her sai and focused on the lesson "by doing so, we are able to bind that weapon to ourselves and it can be seen as an extension of ourselves"
Mileena thought about Jade's words and remembered Kitana calling her fans to herself.
~Flashback~
It was cold in the flesh pits, it was always cold, Mileena always fell asleep despite the cold, regardless of where laid down, sometimes she would see others, and other times she was alone.
Mileena didn't like being alone, but almost always found herself isolated, Shang Tsung would often visit her to 'check her development' but wouldn't talk to her much.
Sometimes she saw a man in black and red every now and then, he was quiet as well, but something inside her made her want to hug him.
Her rarest visitor was a red headed woman, she only came when it was dark and no one else was around, she always looked tired and sad, Mileena wanted to reach out but never found the energy.
One day she awoke on a table, as her vision focused she saw she wasn't alone, she had never met this woman but her mind supplied the information she needed.
"Sister!" she called out in excitement, she rose off the table, she absently noticed the strips of white cloth covering her privates, looking back to her sibling Kitana had backed away from her.
"So pretty, so fair..." Mileena said, thinking through the information she somehow had, but she couldn't help but compare herself to her sibling "so sad and alone…"
A little idea popped into her mind to end her isolation "come" she said with arms out stretched and a smile on her face "let us be a family!"
"You are not my family" Kitana declared, a pair of fans appeared in her hands in quick flash of blue light "you are a monstrosity!"
~Flashback end~
Mileena was unable to repress a shiver at the memory, she barely choked back a sob as tears pooled in her eyes, she quickly dried her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket, when she looked back up she couldn't help but flinch at Jade's glare.
"You aren't even paying attention are you?"
"I-I am" Mileena denied "I just remembered an example, of that" she paused to gather her thoughts "when I... met Kitana in..., in the flesh pits" she gently clenched her fists "her fans appeared in her hands in a blue flash"
"Yes Kitana would often summon her fans to her, but it is more than just that" replied Jade "essentially one can never be disarmed with the technique"
"But I disarmed you in the Netherrealm" said a confused Mileena, she immediately regretted her choice of words as Jade's eyes became ice, "I-I just uh…"
Jade looked moments away from attacking her, and Mileena could feel sweat building on the back of her neck, 'I think I should have chosen a different mask today' she thought nervously, mentally scrambling for another topic.
"How did you do the uh.. thing with your glaive?"
The Edenian looked tempted to not answer, finally with gritted teeth she provided the answer "when calling a bound weapon or tool to oneself it is easier and more energy effective to call it through the air than to have it appear in hand" she closed her eyes and released a deep breath through her nose "you can feel the connection with your bound tools and call them with a strong mental pull, experienced users can do this in a blink"
"So, if my sai are bound to me, I'll be able to feel my magic inside them?" asked Mileena.
"That is surprisingly correct"
Mileena took everything she just heard to heart, she sat down on the floor and drew her sai from their sheaths, she then placed them on the floor in front of her, Mileena closed her eyes remembering the calm breathing technique Kenshi had shown her.
'The power comes in response to a need, not a desire' she told herself, every time she'd used her magic in the past came with that truth, a need to prove herself, a need to survive, a need to protect, she focused on these thoughts.
In her mind's eye she could see a ball of pink flames sitting in her core, as she pictured her magic, she reached for the light and felt it's warmth start to spread throughout her body, she focused on this feeling and searched for any other sources of this feeling.
She found two small sources directly in front of her, opening her eyes revealed her sai on the floor where she placed them, it brought her joy to know that her long time weapons were connected to her like this.
"I felt it" she said simply "I could feel the same magic where I put my sai that I feel in myself"
"Ok, so you have an established connection with your weapon" Jade replied "if you can focus on that feeling, you can pull it back towards you, like so" without warning the Edenian drew her throwing glaive and tossed it across the room, before it could hit any of the walls is stopped in mid air with a slight green glow and then flew back into her hand.
Mileena pushed her sai further away from herself, she focused on the sensation from before, the same warmth echoed back to her from her weapons, she stared intensely as she tried to mentally reach out for the sai, her eyes narrowed as one of them twitched slightly.
Mileena could feel a pressure building behind her eyes at the unfamiliar feeling, just as one of the sai twitched from it's position on the floor she couldn't take the headache she felt, she stopped pulling with a tired groan.
Jade scoffed at Mileena's attempt at the technique, she turned to leave in an annoyed huff, the hybrid looked up from her seat on the floor "Where are you going?" she asked "I thought we were training?"
"I'm not going to train someone, who isn't going to put in the effort" Jade said with a harsh glare, making Mileena flinch back slightly "Kitana was able to master this skill as a child and yet you've done nothing, so I'm leaving"
Mileena stayed silent on the floor, she flinched again when Jade slammed the door shut behind her, she hugged her knees to her chest and couldn't help but sniffle.
"Idiot" she muttered "she's not your friend, you were lucky that she even thought of trying help you, she probably wouldn't have if not for Sonya", she quickly dried her eyes before she started to cry, she then climbed to her feet with a determined look in her eyes, she grabbed her sai off the floor.
'I need to master this technique if I'm gonna save Kitana' she thought to herself before throwing one of the weapons across the room 'So I need to keep going, even when it hurts'
Focusing Mileena called upon her magic, feeling its warmth course through her body before reaching out for the same heat in her sai, almost immediately she could feel the same pressure from earlier and her nose started itch, but she ignored it and stayed set on her task.
She grit her teeth when the pressure became painful, she didn't close her eyes because she knew she wouldn't get that luxury in battle "dammit" she muttered through her clenched teeth "you are my weapon! and you will be in my hand", the bubble of pressure in her head suddenly burst, for a moment she felt weightless and her vision was covered by a pink light.
When Mileena opened her eyes she found herself on the floor, upon realizing her position tears started to form in her eyes, "I… I failed" she mumbled, she reached up itch her nose, only to pause in shock as she saw her sai in her hand "I did it…" she sat up in celebration, only to headbutt the wall in her excitement.
"Ow, why is the… wall?" she stumbled with her question, looking around the room, she could see her placement had changed, "did I… teleport?" she stood up and walked back over to the room's center, a quick glance around revealed she was alone and the doors were still shut, carefully she removed her mask and rubbed her itchy nose.
"I need to master this" she said to herself, turning she hurled both sai across the room, reaching out with her magic in the process "here we go"
Jade stormed down the corridors of the Special Forces Base, her bad mood noticeable by anyone nearby, she rubbed her temples in an attempt to calm herself down before she lashed out.
"Um excuse me" said a voice from behind.
Jade turned around to see an unfamiliar woman "yes? can I help you?"
"I'm doctor Lewis and I was hoping to talk to you about Mileena"
"Why do you want to talk about her?" Jade asked, barely keeping her tone even.
"I was first assigned as her doctor when she started her recovery" said Lewis, growing sad as she remembered the girl's physical and mental state "from what we know she is a hybrid of Edenian and Tarkatan, however there seems to be something shifting where her genetic structure is concerned" she exhaled before continuing "to truly understand what is happening, we need a base sample of either Tarkatan or Edenian DNA"
Jade could tell what the woman was going to request and was tempted to refuse out of spite, but an errant thought stopped her 'why does this woman care'
The doctor looked the millennia old warrior in the eyes with a firm gaze "can I ask you to donate some blood samples, so we can get to the bottom of this?"
"And if I refuse what will you do?"
Lewis's gentle expression immediately became as rigid as steel, "I'm only asking as a formality, I believed that explaining the situation at hand, you would like to help" she said sternly "but one way or another, I will get a blood sample to help my… patient"
"Very well I'll assist for now" Jade replied, honestly shocked at the woman's determination.
Lewis released a sigh of relief "Thank you, I'd rather things not get violent" she turned back towards the way she came "if you'd just follow me for now"
"You seem incredibly driven where Mileena is concerned" Jade commented "why is that?"
"She needs me, 'and I need her', she has nothing in this world except her goal to save her sister" Lewis answered "I want to help her, because she's a good girl who needs help" she smiled thinking back on the previous week "she likes to learn and her eyes light up with every good thing she experiences" the doctor looked to her companion "I'm proud of her"
Jade was left stunned at this stunning review of the hybrid's character, but what shocked her even more was the tone she recognized in the woman's voice, a loving mother talking about her daughter.
Jade was left unsure of what to think with everything that she'd learned today, maybe Sonya was right, she didn't like the idea of being wrong, but what did she really know about Mileena, what had truly stunned her was what she learned from 'Smith' in the lab, Mileena's DNA was, for all intents and purposes, crumbling.
As she entered the training room she could see that Mileena was still there, she'd discarded her jacket into the corner and sweat was soaking through her vest, she seemed to be swaying on her feet slightly.
"Mileena" she called, she couldn't help but notice the way the hybrid stiffened at her voice.
Mileena looked over her shoulder towards the new arrival and left Jade speechless at the sight, both of her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was bleeding profusely, her teeth were on full display and she was panting heavily.
"Hi... Jade… I'm still… trying…" she gasped out each word, as she tried to turn and face the Edenian directly, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
Jade was left stunned at the revelation Mileena's words implied, in the several hours she had been away, the other girl had been practising that one technique repeatedly, not caring about the strain overusing magic can do to her body.
'I really was wrong, wasn't I?'
~A/N~ Eno-on: Well Jade you were wrong about one thing, and right about another. Finally someone said it! It's about time!
Eno-on: As stated before, this will be the last chapter before the next arc in the story, there will be some fluff sprinkled in as well, until next time…
Eno-on: Eno-on out.