Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Kombat Franchise or any of its characters! All rights go to NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros.

ONE-SHOT

Cassie Cage often wondered what her life had become ever since the Special Forces failed attempt to defeat Kronika. Everything was just starting to go their way too until a former Outworld emperor and his recently revived wife decided to launch a sneak attack against them. The past version of her mother was first to go down, she followed soon after and then the past version of her father. Loath as she was to admit it, Shao Kahn and Sindel were operating on a completely different level.

"Deal with the jester. I will school this unruly child." The Kahn spoke boldly.

"You school me? You know I toasted Shinnok, right?" She replied arrogantly.

"Ha! Shinnok schemed because he was worthless in battle. That you beat him only proves that truth."

Shao Kahn was right. When compared side-by-side with Shinnok, the fallen Elder God's battle prowess was indeed lacking. The Outworld emperor made short work of her and Cassie would be lying if she didn't say that getting taken out so quickly was a huge blow to her pride. She defeated a literal God but couldn't defeat a dragon man in a shiny helmet wielding a war hammer.

"Now you understand true power." was the last thing she heard him say before the world went dark.

When next she awoke the battle was over. Kronika was dead and Shao Kahn managed to get his filthy claws on the keeper of time's hourglass. He was no longer just an emperor; he was now a titan with the ability to restart history and reshape the realms however he saw fit. He used this great power to finally take Earthrealm like he always wanted and absorbed it into his own. All of his enemies were either subjugated or forced into the arena to fight and die for his amusement as he retook his throne and the people of Outworld cheered.

Cassie herself should've been erased from history when Shao Kahn rewrote it but instead, he used his new powers to keep her around regardless of the changes he made. She was angry and confused as to why he wouldn't just let her fade away into nothingness until he gave his explanation.

"You will join my concubine."

"One - eww, two - piss off!" She scowled.

"I like females with fire."

And so, from that day forth she was his favorite concubine. Her days mostly consisted of being all dolled up in fancy robes and dresses, standing by the emperor's side as living proof of his conquest, feeding him grapes, and attending to his needs. She honestly felt like Princess Leia when she was enslaved by Jabba the Hutt. Thank God Shao Kahn wasn't as disgusting looking like Jabba. He kept himself in great shape and was huge were it...

Cassie quickly shook off the thought as she accompanied her emperor to the coliseum. She'd been here many times with him, watching her former allies who didn't even know who she was anymore, fighting and dying to the roars of a restless crowd. Seeing people she once knew slaughter each other broke something inside her. Maybe that was why Shao Kahn brought her along on these little excursions. She wasn't really sure.

She knew he fully well he intended on breaking her down until she finally obeyed, and she did most of the time. She couldn't fight him and win and past attempts to do so always ended the same. Her knocked flat on her ass with him standing over her laughing.

"Is that your best?" He mocked.

After multiple strings of failures and re-education courtesy of the new timeline's Shang Tsung... she decided it was in her best interest to not raise her fists against her emperor anymore. No, any rebellion on her part would be small acts of defiance when she was having a particularly bad day or just felt like being a general thorn in his side. Sometimes she spat in the food she was meant to serve and others she would purposefully undermine him.

Shao Kahn took her rebellion as a challenge and Sindel more or less found their little game amusing as well. She, Mileena and the new timeline's Kitana all did. At the coliseum she noticed Shang Tsung was there with her mother which she found greatly disgusting. The same was true of Sindel with her father who made it no secret she found Johhny Cage attractive. What even was her life anymore.

Down in the arena, the former Earthrealm champion Liu Kang was going was locked in combat with Hsu Hao of the Black Dragon. Needless to say, the fight didn't last too long and seeing the original mortal combat champion turn into a dragon and eat the man didn't really surprise her. Cassie had seen so much death in this place that she was somewhat desensitized. What was Outworld if the stands weren't running red with blood.

Speaking of... the blood mage Skarlet walked into the arena guiding another poor unfortunate soul to their death. They begged and screamed for mercy, but Shao Kahn wasn't exactly known for his mercy. The emperor reached out his hand to give the frightened man a thumbs down as the crowd roared. The next sound Cassie heard were agonized wails as Liu Kang lit the pleading man on fire.

She actually winced seeing that. Anything involving fire, the eyes, or the mouth did that to her. Once Shao Kahn had his fill of death it was time to return to the palace. Dinner was always interesting and awkward with the usual suspects in attendance. The royal family, concubine, consorts, sorcerers, assassins. All of whom were unaware of the new timeline except for the emperor and his wife. Exposing them would do no good as Shao Kahn could just rewind time and make them all forget. She knows, he's done it before.

After a strange meal of something she couldn't remember the name of, everyone vanished to do their own thing. Sindel left with Johnny, Mileena scurried off with Liu Kang, Kitana probably went off to the training grounds, she didn't even want to know Where Shang Tsung was going with Sonya, and of course Shao Kahn ordered her to follow him back to his chambers.

"Prostrate yourself, EarthRealmer." he ordered.

"Can't, took an arrow to the knee." Cassie mocked him.

"I will suffer no excuses."

In the end Cassie obeyed after a good back and forth. As she lied awake at night in the dark looking up at the ceiling and listening to the loud snores next to her, she couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if she had won that fight back then. She could be back home with her family, with Dylan. Her mother might not think too highly of him, but she could tell he was in it for the long haul.

"So how are things with you and Bob? Sonya asked.

"For the last time, his name is Dylan." Cassie reminded her.

"Why learn his name if he's not sticking around?"

Cassie sighed and tried not to dwell on what could've been. This was her life here and now. This power fantasy of Shao Kahn's wouldn't last forever. Every Tyrant fell eventually, and the day would come someone else came along to put the big bad in his place. It happened to Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Shinnok, Kronika, and he would be no different. Someone would rise; of that she was certain.

For now, she would rest. Tomorrow would no doubt be another busy day and she needed all the sleep she would get. She turned to the side and cuddled close to her titan emperor. It was only a matter of time until this all came crashing down. "Just a matter of time."

The End...?

Author's Note: There isn't really any content for Shao Kahn and Cassie Cage and their intros in Mortal Kombat 11 basically told us the former was interested, even if the latter was repulsed. Anyway, that's it for this one-shot. Have a happy holiday everyone and a merry Christmas.