Post by snafuthegreat on Sept 25, 2007 16:18:48 GMT -5
This is my first Mortal Kombat fanfic. I followed the videogames rather than the movies, mainly because there was more stuff for me to draw upon. It is in two parts and it is a closer look into the relationships of Liu Kang, Kitana, Sonya and Johnny Cage.
Mortal Kombat: Reflections
A Mortal Kombat Fanfiction
By The Headcrook
Legal BS Disclaimer: All characters and other stuff belongs to Midway Entertainment. This is my first MK Fanfic, after writing Street Fighter and Resident Evil for some time now. This story takes place 2 years after the events of Mortal Kombat Deception.
Note: I know that I'm spelling Raiden's name Rayden. I like the other version of his name better than the original. Also, there's something about Liu that most people don't know (it's not real, just made up). There is also a reference as to who played Kitana in the videogame versions of Mortal Kombat as well.
Part One
[Liu Kang's New Wu Tai Academy]
It was past midnight as Liu Kang woke up to an empty bed. This wasn't the first time this has happened, since it was nearing the anniversary of his and his friends' deaths at the hands of the Deadly Alliance and their resurrection at the hands of Onaga.
That was two years ago.
A lot can happen in the two years following The Deadly Alliance's defeat and Onaga's demise. One was the fact that Liu was now married. To Princess Kitana.
He was Liu Kang, Mortal Kombat champion, Warrior for the Realm of Earth.
And now he had a new title to add: Prince Regent of Edenia.
While recovering in Edenia following Onaga's demise, Liu had reconnected with Kitana. The last time they had spoken to one another, Kitana had offered him her hand in marriage, but Liu declined. This time, it was Liu who had proposed, seeing as how after ten years, he was still in love with Kitana and she felt the same way about him.
This time, it was Kitana that ended up saying yes.
There was also the fact that he was not of noble blood, but since Edenian nobles were scarce since Shao Kahn's invasion and conquest of Edenia some ten thoudand years earlier, Queen Sindel overlooked that small matter, as long as Liu completed the training to become an Edenian Guard, to make his engagment to Kitana legitimate.
The training was harsh and nearly unbearable, but Liu's Shaolin training proved to be quite useful for the task that laid before him. Not only did he completed the training to become a Edenian Guard, but Sindel and Rayden have given them their blessings for their impending marriage. The wedding took place in the Edenian Capital, in the courtyard of the Edenian Palace, Rayden presiding.
All of their friends and allies were present. Johnny Cage and his date, Sonya Blade. Of course, Liu had suspected that they had been a couple since Shinnok's Earthrealm invasion attempt. Major Jackson Briggs and Cyrax was also there, as were the Lin Kuei grandmaster Subzero and his second-in-command, the reprogrammed cyber-ninja Smoke, rescued from the depths of the Netherrealm from the grip of Noob Saibot, which to Subzero's horror and shock was his brother, was the previous Subzero whom Scorpion had killed back on Shang Tsung's island some ten years ago. Kitana's longtime partner Jade was acting as the bridesmaid, while Kung Lao acted as the best man. Even Nightwolf, the Indian historian/shahman and Rain, now a general in the Edenian defense forces, also showed up.
The wedding went on without a hitch (no Outworld soldiers, Seido fanatics or mutants) and following the honeymoon, both Liu Kang and Kitana were back at work; Liu running the Wu Tai Academy, now relocated to the Hawaiian Islands, since the Chinese government had not allowed him to return back home for some unknown reasons. Reasons that were known only to Liu and no one else, and Kitana, juggling her duties as Edenia's princess and the Supreme General of Edenia's armies.
Seeing as how the two-year anniversary of their deaths and resurrections were coming up, both acted distant to one another, since as how it was still a rough subject to them both, mostly for Kitana, having been killed by Quan Chi, resurrected and brainwashed by Onaga and forced to guard her mother, whom the Dragon King held prisoner in the Edenian Palace. Liu didn't have it no better, seeing as how both Shang Tsung and Quan Chi double-teamed him, the end result was him getting his neck snapped by Shang Tsung.
Liu kicked the covers back and got out of the bed. Standing up, he looked at the small alarm clock. It read 1:59 am. Dressed in a white tanktop and pajama pants, his now-short hair in slight disarray (think Stephen Chow from Kung Fu Hustle), Liu walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, knowing where his wife would most likely be at this time of night.
Liu's intuition was right. Seated at the dining room table, hunched over a steaming cup of jasmine petal tea, was Kitana, former Outworld ward to Shao Kahn, current Princess of Edenia and faithful consort to Liu Kang.
The Edenian princess/martial artist was dressed in a simple tanktop and a pair of cotton shorts that did absoulutely justice to her stunning figure. Her shiny dark hair, which she had grew long again, was tied back with a blue bandanna - Kitana's favorite color since her days as an Outworld assassin under Shao Kahn.
She looked up from her tea when she realized that he was standing over her. "Sorry if I woke you up," she replied, her tone soft with a hint of her Edenian accent, her chocolate brown eyes staring into Liu's chestnut brown orbs.
Liu took a seat across from her. "Couldn't sleep?"
Kitana shook her head. "I haven't been getting any sleep lately."
"So I've noticed."
Kitana took the cup and took a sip of her tea. Liu noticed that she has been under a lot of stress as of late. With their impending anniversary just days away, Kitana seemed more distant than usual. Add the fact that Shao Kahn was alive and that her former ally Goro were working together to rebuild their power back in Outworld, not to mention that Seido was trying to expand their influence over in Edenian territory that did not go too well with the ten-thousand year old princess.
An uneasy silence settled between the both of them, Kitana continuing to drink her tea. Liu looked over to the living room's mantle, where a picture of them, Johnny and Sonya rested. It was taken while they were at a carnival shortly before their wedding.
Liu knew that Kitana had first-hand knowledge of Earth's electronics and technology, having been to Earth more times than she counted in her long lifetime, so she knew how to work many items. She even had a driver's license and a passport under an assumed name, thanks to an Outworld cell that was hiding out somewhere in North America.
'What kind of name is Katalin Gable?' Liu had wondered when he saw her passports.
He couldn't complain, since Johnny had even worser names for his characters in his movies. He knew that she and him had to talk, otherwise it would not get any better between them.
"You know," he began, "I made a lousy monk. I know that sounds strange to you, me being the Mortal Kombat champion and all, but it's the truth."
Kitana looked up at him.
"When I was nine, my parents died in a freak accident, but I heard rumors that the Chinese government was responsible for their deaths, because they were active in the underground," Liu continued. "Shortly afterward, my older brother abandoned me and I was taken in by the Shaolin monks. I was a little monster, rebelling against the elders, not doing as I was supposed to. I was disciplined almost on a daily basis. I guess I was angry at my parents and my brother for abandoning me. But most of all, I was angry with myself."
Kitana could sympathise with him. She had never gotten to know her father and despite the fact that Kahn had driven her mother to suicide, the Outworld emperor was the closest thing she had as a father...that is until she had found out the truth about her real family.
"But there was one old monk that saved me from myself," Liu went on. "His name was Lo Chen Wong. He was a martial arts teacher that saw that I had potential to do great things. Despite the abbott's misgivings, he taught me Pao Chui."
"Pao Chui?" Kitana repated, obviously puzzled.
"For a 10,000 year old princess, you sure don't know that much about monks," Liu replied, grinning.
"Maybe it's because Kahn never sent me on assigments as to where I had to kill Shaolin monks," Kitana replied. "I never heard of Pao Chui before."
"Pao Chui means 'Three Emperor Cannon Punch,'" Liu explained. "It's also connected with Chen-style Tai Chi Chuan. I didn't learn Jun Fan until maybe, eight, maybe nine years before I was invited to Shang Tsung's island. Anyway, I owed everything to Master Wong. Because of him, I managed to join the White Lotus Society and continued my training." His expression then darkened. "When I came back after Baraka and his Tarkatans raided and destroyed the temple, I found Master Wong's body. He died while trying to protect the temple."
Kitana remembered that part all too well. When Shao Kahn found out that Shang Tsung lost the final Mortal Kombat that would allow him to finally seize control of Earth, he was so furious that he ordered Baraka to attack and destroy Liu's home in retaliation.
"Remember when we first met?" Kitana asked.
Liu snorted. "If you call THAT a meeting,"
Flashback
Hollywood, California, ten years ago. Following the Shaolin Temple's destruction, Liu has met up with the sole survivor of the carnage: Kung Lao. They were then greeted by the younger brother of Subzero, who took on the namesake of his older brother following his demise at the hands of Scorpion.
When they arrived at the set where Johnny was shooting a commercial by means of a Lin Kuei jet, they found that he was already under attack by Shang Tsung, who was given his youth back by Shao Kahn.
And Shang had brought some backup.
Kung Lao looked out thw window, where a tiger-striped Shokan with spiked harnesses was in battle with a beefed-up back man in red, white, and black tights, and combat boots.
"Is that Goro?!" Kung Lao gasped.
Liu shook his head. "No. But whoever's fighting it won't last long."
Subzero had Liu and Kung Lao dropped off on the first pass, while he would surprise them on the second round. Liu had first rushed to Johnny's aid, where Baraka and the masked woman in blue wielding the steel fans were giving him one hell of a time.
The woman saw Liu and broke off her attack on Johnny, giving him some much-needed breathing room to fully focus on the Tarkatan warrior. She closed her fans and slipped them behind her back, assumed a fighting stance and attacked. Liu saw that she knew Bagua zhang, as well as Ying Jow Pai, or the Eagle Claw style of Kung Fu.
Between these two, it turned out to be a full-blown Kung Fu fight...but Liu noticed something was wrong. She wasn't trying to kill him, much rather convince Shang Tsung that she was. Shang tried to catch Liu with a cheap shot by firing one of his Flaming Skulls at him, but he missed, forcing the two combatants to back off, the mystery lady back to Shang's side and Liu back to Kung Lao's side, just as he flung his hat at the hulking Shokan, catching him in the chest and forcing him to back off from his opponent.
"It looks like I got reinforcements!" the black guy yelled as he hopped back.
Shang was not pleased. He was hoping to see Kintaro pound his opponent into the ground. "What's this?!" he seethed.
"Any enemy of Shang Tsung's is an ally of ours," Liu stated. From the looks of things, he was ready to have a go with the sorcerer himself for a second time.
But that had to wait...
End Flashback
"I'm surprised you didn't try any harder," Liu said as he remembered their first confrontation.
"I'm surprised you didn't try and kill Shang Tsung right then and there," Kitana replied. "But then again, some people rarely stay dead in these tournaments. Like you, for example."
"But Shang and Quan Chi is," Liu replied. "I saw the battle between Onaga, the Deadly Alliance and Rayden through Shang's eyes. He and Quan Chi are pretty much dead."
Kitana held herself, trembling slightly. "But still...the fact that we were all killed by the Deadly Alliance...and being resurrected and brainwashed by Onaga."
Kitana was still obsessing over the fact that she and the others had failed in stopping the Deadly Alliance and were killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Onaga had resurrected all of them and specifically used her to guard her mother, the Dragon King knowing full well that Sindel would never lay a hand on her daughter. Or course, Jade was there and she didn't share Sindel's concerns, seeing as she was hiding in the shadows when Onaga brought Kitana and the others back to life and placed them under his spell.
Once everything was back to normal, Sindel had reassured Kitana that it wasn't her fault. Rayden also told her the same thing, eventhough Kitana suspected that there was something...different about the thunder god, something...dark about him.
She felt her husband's reassuring hands on her shoulders. She looked up and found herself staring into his warm face. The former Shaolin monk gently pulled his wife up to her feet, so that she would look at him face-to-face.
"You're still thinking about Onaga?" Liu asked, reading the expression on Kitana's face.
Kitana nodded. "I can't help it," she replied. "He resurrected me and the others, then brainwashed us into being his slaves, and not only that there's..."
"Mileena and Tanya?" Liu guessed.
Kitana nodded. When Mileena found out that Kitana was one of Onaga's bodyguards through the Tarkatan Baraka, she took her place as general of Edenia's forces against Baraka's Tarkatan armies. When Mileena came to realize that she was in control of the most powerful army in Edenia and Outworld, she tried to silence Baraka, who knew the truth.
However, despite being a liablity and known for his fits of rage and decapitating offenders left and right, Baraka wasn't stupid. When Mileena asked to meet with him at the Beetles' Lair, Baraka had sent a body double in his place. His suspicions were confirmed when Mileena emerged from the lair, smelling of blood, following throwing the fake Baraka into a throng of flesh-eating beetles. Then the real Baraka showed himself and literally ripped her apart.
As a gruesome wedding present, Baraka presented Kitana and Liu the head of the mutant clone that Kitana once regarded as her sister.
Jade, on the other hand, would personally see Tanya dead. Jade had snuck into the Edenian Palace, rescued Sindel and locked Kitana inside her cell. Unfortunately, Kitana's screams had alerted Onaga's forces and just as her and Sindel escaped through the portal, Jade had seen the traitorous Tanya at Onaga's side.
When the opportunity presented itself, Jade executed her plan. She allowed herself to get captured by Tanya and a squad of Tarkatan soldiers, then when Tanya was close enough, Jade lobbed a glass orb filled with concentrated Tarkatan pheromnes, making the double-crossing Edenian reek like a male Tarkatan.
Their primal instincts kicking in, thinking that Tanya was a rival male, they attacked and killed Tanya. Once she was dead, Jade decapitated her and threw her head over one of Outworld's many cliffs.
"You do't have to worry about them," Liu said. "Not anymore. They are dead and gone. Possibly rotting in the Netherrealm with the Deadly Alliance. But I understand all too well where you're coming from. And believe me when I say that being killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi is the one thing I would much rather forget."
"At least we know how Johnny felt when he died during the Outworld invasion," Kitana added, grinning.
Liu admired his wife's face. Ten thousand years old and she looked like she was in her early to mid-twenties. "You look cute when you smile," Liu noted.
"Remember the first time you said that?" Kitana reminded him.
Flashback
The Living Forest, Outworld. There was something else here, Liu noticed.
Someone was watching him.
Before he could fire off a Dragon Flare, a calm female voice spoke. "I am not your enemy, Liu Kang. Calm down."
The woman stepped out, her face concealed by a dark cloak.
Liu looked at the newcomer. "Who are you?"
The woman removed her hood, revealing to him that the woman was the same one he had fought back on Earth. She was still wearing her outfit, her face covered by her mask.
Liu's first thought was to beat her down, but she raised one hand. "Wait. I had to fight you, otherwise Shang Tsung might catch on to my motives."
Liu reluctatly lowered his fists. "What motives? Who are you?"
"Princess Kitana," the woman introduced herself. She then looked at Liu. "You're not what I expect from the man who defeated Shang Tsung."
"I get that a lot." Liu then stared at her. "Wait...princess? Then that must mean that you're Shao Kahn's daughter!"
Kitana shook her head. "Stepdaughter. He killed my father, drove my mother to commit suicide and adopted me as his daughter."
Liu's expression softened. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you all these years."
Kitana scoffed. "Ten thousand years is a long time to live under his rule."
Liu balked. "Ten thousand years! You're 10,000 years old?"
Kitana nodded. "Outworlders, Seidans and Edenians have longer lifespans that those on Earth." She shrugged her shoulders. "Either that or time passes very, very slowly here." She took a step forward. "Liu, I've been waiting for a long time for the perfect moment to overthrow Kahn and free Edenia from his rule. Now, with you as Mortal Kombat champion, we have that chance."
Liu thought about it for a moment. "You're taking a big risk in coming here like this," he said. "How I can trust someone who is working for the enemy?"
Kitana moved closer so that she was less than a foot from the Chinese fighter. Her eyes bore into his as she replied, "You just have to trust me then, won't you."
Liu was wondering what she looked like underneath her mask. He had already seen what Mileena had looked like, since he was the sole witness of her executing an offending soldier in Kahn's army. The last thing he wanted was to trust a woman with Tarkatan teeth.
He reached out with one hand. Kitana looked alarmed, but she realised that he wanted to see her face without the mask, and allowed him to slip it down her face. Needless to say, he was completely surprised to see a beautiful woman's face.
Liu summed up his feelings in one word: "Nice."
That caught Kitana off guard. She did the only thing she had rarely did in her life: she smiled at Liu's compliment.
"You should smile more often," Liu noted. "You look cute when you smile."
"Maybe when Shao Kahn's finally brought down and Edenia's free, then I'll smile more."
End Flashback
"I should apologise to you, Liu," Kitana said. "I guess with the whole thing with the Deadly Alliance and Onaga coming up, I guess I became a total bitch." She sighed. "Just thinking about it still gives me chills."
She was cut off when Liu embraced her. Almost by reflex, her arms wrapped around his back and rested her head on his chest. Liu kissed her gently on the forehead.
"What's in the past is in the past," Liu said. "Regardless of what happened. Some memories can be painful and to forget can be a blessing in disguise."
Kitana pulled back from Liu slightly so she can look at him. "I never thought you were that deep."
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me. And there's a lot of things that I don't know about you."
Kitana leaned in and have him a light kiss on the lips. "Then I guess we can learn together then, right?"
Liu held his wife close. "Of course, my darling wife. We have out whole lives to learn."
As they held each other, they forgot about their responsiblities, their obligations and even their own dark pasts. What counted was that they had each other to draw support from and encourage each other.
Maybe things will be okay...for now.
Mortal Kombat: Reflections
A Mortal Kombat Fanfiction
By The Headcrook
Legal BS Disclaimer: All characters and other stuff belongs to Midway Entertainment. This is my first MK Fanfic, after writing Street Fighter and Resident Evil for some time now. This story takes place 2 years after the events of Mortal Kombat Deception.
Note: I know that I'm spelling Raiden's name Rayden. I like the other version of his name better than the original. Also, there's something about Liu that most people don't know (it's not real, just made up). There is also a reference as to who played Kitana in the videogame versions of Mortal Kombat as well.
Part One
[Liu Kang's New Wu Tai Academy]
It was past midnight as Liu Kang woke up to an empty bed. This wasn't the first time this has happened, since it was nearing the anniversary of his and his friends' deaths at the hands of the Deadly Alliance and their resurrection at the hands of Onaga.
That was two years ago.
A lot can happen in the two years following The Deadly Alliance's defeat and Onaga's demise. One was the fact that Liu was now married. To Princess Kitana.
He was Liu Kang, Mortal Kombat champion, Warrior for the Realm of Earth.
And now he had a new title to add: Prince Regent of Edenia.
While recovering in Edenia following Onaga's demise, Liu had reconnected with Kitana. The last time they had spoken to one another, Kitana had offered him her hand in marriage, but Liu declined. This time, it was Liu who had proposed, seeing as how after ten years, he was still in love with Kitana and she felt the same way about him.
This time, it was Kitana that ended up saying yes.
There was also the fact that he was not of noble blood, but since Edenian nobles were scarce since Shao Kahn's invasion and conquest of Edenia some ten thoudand years earlier, Queen Sindel overlooked that small matter, as long as Liu completed the training to become an Edenian Guard, to make his engagment to Kitana legitimate.
The training was harsh and nearly unbearable, but Liu's Shaolin training proved to be quite useful for the task that laid before him. Not only did he completed the training to become a Edenian Guard, but Sindel and Rayden have given them their blessings for their impending marriage. The wedding took place in the Edenian Capital, in the courtyard of the Edenian Palace, Rayden presiding.
All of their friends and allies were present. Johnny Cage and his date, Sonya Blade. Of course, Liu had suspected that they had been a couple since Shinnok's Earthrealm invasion attempt. Major Jackson Briggs and Cyrax was also there, as were the Lin Kuei grandmaster Subzero and his second-in-command, the reprogrammed cyber-ninja Smoke, rescued from the depths of the Netherrealm from the grip of Noob Saibot, which to Subzero's horror and shock was his brother, was the previous Subzero whom Scorpion had killed back on Shang Tsung's island some ten years ago. Kitana's longtime partner Jade was acting as the bridesmaid, while Kung Lao acted as the best man. Even Nightwolf, the Indian historian/shahman and Rain, now a general in the Edenian defense forces, also showed up.
The wedding went on without a hitch (no Outworld soldiers, Seido fanatics or mutants) and following the honeymoon, both Liu Kang and Kitana were back at work; Liu running the Wu Tai Academy, now relocated to the Hawaiian Islands, since the Chinese government had not allowed him to return back home for some unknown reasons. Reasons that were known only to Liu and no one else, and Kitana, juggling her duties as Edenia's princess and the Supreme General of Edenia's armies.
Seeing as how the two-year anniversary of their deaths and resurrections were coming up, both acted distant to one another, since as how it was still a rough subject to them both, mostly for Kitana, having been killed by Quan Chi, resurrected and brainwashed by Onaga and forced to guard her mother, whom the Dragon King held prisoner in the Edenian Palace. Liu didn't have it no better, seeing as how both Shang Tsung and Quan Chi double-teamed him, the end result was him getting his neck snapped by Shang Tsung.
Liu kicked the covers back and got out of the bed. Standing up, he looked at the small alarm clock. It read 1:59 am. Dressed in a white tanktop and pajama pants, his now-short hair in slight disarray (think Stephen Chow from Kung Fu Hustle), Liu walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, knowing where his wife would most likely be at this time of night.
Liu's intuition was right. Seated at the dining room table, hunched over a steaming cup of jasmine petal tea, was Kitana, former Outworld ward to Shao Kahn, current Princess of Edenia and faithful consort to Liu Kang.
The Edenian princess/martial artist was dressed in a simple tanktop and a pair of cotton shorts that did absoulutely justice to her stunning figure. Her shiny dark hair, which she had grew long again, was tied back with a blue bandanna - Kitana's favorite color since her days as an Outworld assassin under Shao Kahn.
She looked up from her tea when she realized that he was standing over her. "Sorry if I woke you up," she replied, her tone soft with a hint of her Edenian accent, her chocolate brown eyes staring into Liu's chestnut brown orbs.
Liu took a seat across from her. "Couldn't sleep?"
Kitana shook her head. "I haven't been getting any sleep lately."
"So I've noticed."
Kitana took the cup and took a sip of her tea. Liu noticed that she has been under a lot of stress as of late. With their impending anniversary just days away, Kitana seemed more distant than usual. Add the fact that Shao Kahn was alive and that her former ally Goro were working together to rebuild their power back in Outworld, not to mention that Seido was trying to expand their influence over in Edenian territory that did not go too well with the ten-thousand year old princess.
An uneasy silence settled between the both of them, Kitana continuing to drink her tea. Liu looked over to the living room's mantle, where a picture of them, Johnny and Sonya rested. It was taken while they were at a carnival shortly before their wedding.
Liu knew that Kitana had first-hand knowledge of Earth's electronics and technology, having been to Earth more times than she counted in her long lifetime, so she knew how to work many items. She even had a driver's license and a passport under an assumed name, thanks to an Outworld cell that was hiding out somewhere in North America.
'What kind of name is Katalin Gable?' Liu had wondered when he saw her passports.
He couldn't complain, since Johnny had even worser names for his characters in his movies. He knew that she and him had to talk, otherwise it would not get any better between them.
"You know," he began, "I made a lousy monk. I know that sounds strange to you, me being the Mortal Kombat champion and all, but it's the truth."
Kitana looked up at him.
"When I was nine, my parents died in a freak accident, but I heard rumors that the Chinese government was responsible for their deaths, because they were active in the underground," Liu continued. "Shortly afterward, my older brother abandoned me and I was taken in by the Shaolin monks. I was a little monster, rebelling against the elders, not doing as I was supposed to. I was disciplined almost on a daily basis. I guess I was angry at my parents and my brother for abandoning me. But most of all, I was angry with myself."
Kitana could sympathise with him. She had never gotten to know her father and despite the fact that Kahn had driven her mother to suicide, the Outworld emperor was the closest thing she had as a father...that is until she had found out the truth about her real family.
"But there was one old monk that saved me from myself," Liu went on. "His name was Lo Chen Wong. He was a martial arts teacher that saw that I had potential to do great things. Despite the abbott's misgivings, he taught me Pao Chui."
"Pao Chui?" Kitana repated, obviously puzzled.
"For a 10,000 year old princess, you sure don't know that much about monks," Liu replied, grinning.
"Maybe it's because Kahn never sent me on assigments as to where I had to kill Shaolin monks," Kitana replied. "I never heard of Pao Chui before."
"Pao Chui means 'Three Emperor Cannon Punch,'" Liu explained. "It's also connected with Chen-style Tai Chi Chuan. I didn't learn Jun Fan until maybe, eight, maybe nine years before I was invited to Shang Tsung's island. Anyway, I owed everything to Master Wong. Because of him, I managed to join the White Lotus Society and continued my training." His expression then darkened. "When I came back after Baraka and his Tarkatans raided and destroyed the temple, I found Master Wong's body. He died while trying to protect the temple."
Kitana remembered that part all too well. When Shao Kahn found out that Shang Tsung lost the final Mortal Kombat that would allow him to finally seize control of Earth, he was so furious that he ordered Baraka to attack and destroy Liu's home in retaliation.
"Remember when we first met?" Kitana asked.
Liu snorted. "If you call THAT a meeting,"
Flashback
Hollywood, California, ten years ago. Following the Shaolin Temple's destruction, Liu has met up with the sole survivor of the carnage: Kung Lao. They were then greeted by the younger brother of Subzero, who took on the namesake of his older brother following his demise at the hands of Scorpion.
When they arrived at the set where Johnny was shooting a commercial by means of a Lin Kuei jet, they found that he was already under attack by Shang Tsung, who was given his youth back by Shao Kahn.
And Shang had brought some backup.
Kung Lao looked out thw window, where a tiger-striped Shokan with spiked harnesses was in battle with a beefed-up back man in red, white, and black tights, and combat boots.
"Is that Goro?!" Kung Lao gasped.
Liu shook his head. "No. But whoever's fighting it won't last long."
Subzero had Liu and Kung Lao dropped off on the first pass, while he would surprise them on the second round. Liu had first rushed to Johnny's aid, where Baraka and the masked woman in blue wielding the steel fans were giving him one hell of a time.
The woman saw Liu and broke off her attack on Johnny, giving him some much-needed breathing room to fully focus on the Tarkatan warrior. She closed her fans and slipped them behind her back, assumed a fighting stance and attacked. Liu saw that she knew Bagua zhang, as well as Ying Jow Pai, or the Eagle Claw style of Kung Fu.
Between these two, it turned out to be a full-blown Kung Fu fight...but Liu noticed something was wrong. She wasn't trying to kill him, much rather convince Shang Tsung that she was. Shang tried to catch Liu with a cheap shot by firing one of his Flaming Skulls at him, but he missed, forcing the two combatants to back off, the mystery lady back to Shang's side and Liu back to Kung Lao's side, just as he flung his hat at the hulking Shokan, catching him in the chest and forcing him to back off from his opponent.
"It looks like I got reinforcements!" the black guy yelled as he hopped back.
Shang was not pleased. He was hoping to see Kintaro pound his opponent into the ground. "What's this?!" he seethed.
"Any enemy of Shang Tsung's is an ally of ours," Liu stated. From the looks of things, he was ready to have a go with the sorcerer himself for a second time.
But that had to wait...
End Flashback
"I'm surprised you didn't try any harder," Liu said as he remembered their first confrontation.
"I'm surprised you didn't try and kill Shang Tsung right then and there," Kitana replied. "But then again, some people rarely stay dead in these tournaments. Like you, for example."
"But Shang and Quan Chi is," Liu replied. "I saw the battle between Onaga, the Deadly Alliance and Rayden through Shang's eyes. He and Quan Chi are pretty much dead."
Kitana held herself, trembling slightly. "But still...the fact that we were all killed by the Deadly Alliance...and being resurrected and brainwashed by Onaga."
Kitana was still obsessing over the fact that she and the others had failed in stopping the Deadly Alliance and were killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Onaga had resurrected all of them and specifically used her to guard her mother, the Dragon King knowing full well that Sindel would never lay a hand on her daughter. Or course, Jade was there and she didn't share Sindel's concerns, seeing as she was hiding in the shadows when Onaga brought Kitana and the others back to life and placed them under his spell.
Once everything was back to normal, Sindel had reassured Kitana that it wasn't her fault. Rayden also told her the same thing, eventhough Kitana suspected that there was something...different about the thunder god, something...dark about him.
She felt her husband's reassuring hands on her shoulders. She looked up and found herself staring into his warm face. The former Shaolin monk gently pulled his wife up to her feet, so that she would look at him face-to-face.
"You're still thinking about Onaga?" Liu asked, reading the expression on Kitana's face.
Kitana nodded. "I can't help it," she replied. "He resurrected me and the others, then brainwashed us into being his slaves, and not only that there's..."
"Mileena and Tanya?" Liu guessed.
Kitana nodded. When Mileena found out that Kitana was one of Onaga's bodyguards through the Tarkatan Baraka, she took her place as general of Edenia's forces against Baraka's Tarkatan armies. When Mileena came to realize that she was in control of the most powerful army in Edenia and Outworld, she tried to silence Baraka, who knew the truth.
However, despite being a liablity and known for his fits of rage and decapitating offenders left and right, Baraka wasn't stupid. When Mileena asked to meet with him at the Beetles' Lair, Baraka had sent a body double in his place. His suspicions were confirmed when Mileena emerged from the lair, smelling of blood, following throwing the fake Baraka into a throng of flesh-eating beetles. Then the real Baraka showed himself and literally ripped her apart.
As a gruesome wedding present, Baraka presented Kitana and Liu the head of the mutant clone that Kitana once regarded as her sister.
Jade, on the other hand, would personally see Tanya dead. Jade had snuck into the Edenian Palace, rescued Sindel and locked Kitana inside her cell. Unfortunately, Kitana's screams had alerted Onaga's forces and just as her and Sindel escaped through the portal, Jade had seen the traitorous Tanya at Onaga's side.
When the opportunity presented itself, Jade executed her plan. She allowed herself to get captured by Tanya and a squad of Tarkatan soldiers, then when Tanya was close enough, Jade lobbed a glass orb filled with concentrated Tarkatan pheromnes, making the double-crossing Edenian reek like a male Tarkatan.
Their primal instincts kicking in, thinking that Tanya was a rival male, they attacked and killed Tanya. Once she was dead, Jade decapitated her and threw her head over one of Outworld's many cliffs.
"You do't have to worry about them," Liu said. "Not anymore. They are dead and gone. Possibly rotting in the Netherrealm with the Deadly Alliance. But I understand all too well where you're coming from. And believe me when I say that being killed by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi is the one thing I would much rather forget."
"At least we know how Johnny felt when he died during the Outworld invasion," Kitana added, grinning.
Liu admired his wife's face. Ten thousand years old and she looked like she was in her early to mid-twenties. "You look cute when you smile," Liu noted.
"Remember the first time you said that?" Kitana reminded him.
Flashback
The Living Forest, Outworld. There was something else here, Liu noticed.
Someone was watching him.
Before he could fire off a Dragon Flare, a calm female voice spoke. "I am not your enemy, Liu Kang. Calm down."
The woman stepped out, her face concealed by a dark cloak.
Liu looked at the newcomer. "Who are you?"
The woman removed her hood, revealing to him that the woman was the same one he had fought back on Earth. She was still wearing her outfit, her face covered by her mask.
Liu's first thought was to beat her down, but she raised one hand. "Wait. I had to fight you, otherwise Shang Tsung might catch on to my motives."
Liu reluctatly lowered his fists. "What motives? Who are you?"
"Princess Kitana," the woman introduced herself. She then looked at Liu. "You're not what I expect from the man who defeated Shang Tsung."
"I get that a lot." Liu then stared at her. "Wait...princess? Then that must mean that you're Shao Kahn's daughter!"
Kitana shook her head. "Stepdaughter. He killed my father, drove my mother to commit suicide and adopted me as his daughter."
Liu's expression softened. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you all these years."
Kitana scoffed. "Ten thousand years is a long time to live under his rule."
Liu balked. "Ten thousand years! You're 10,000 years old?"
Kitana nodded. "Outworlders, Seidans and Edenians have longer lifespans that those on Earth." She shrugged her shoulders. "Either that or time passes very, very slowly here." She took a step forward. "Liu, I've been waiting for a long time for the perfect moment to overthrow Kahn and free Edenia from his rule. Now, with you as Mortal Kombat champion, we have that chance."
Liu thought about it for a moment. "You're taking a big risk in coming here like this," he said. "How I can trust someone who is working for the enemy?"
Kitana moved closer so that she was less than a foot from the Chinese fighter. Her eyes bore into his as she replied, "You just have to trust me then, won't you."
Liu was wondering what she looked like underneath her mask. He had already seen what Mileena had looked like, since he was the sole witness of her executing an offending soldier in Kahn's army. The last thing he wanted was to trust a woman with Tarkatan teeth.
He reached out with one hand. Kitana looked alarmed, but she realised that he wanted to see her face without the mask, and allowed him to slip it down her face. Needless to say, he was completely surprised to see a beautiful woman's face.
Liu summed up his feelings in one word: "Nice."
That caught Kitana off guard. She did the only thing she had rarely did in her life: she smiled at Liu's compliment.
"You should smile more often," Liu noted. "You look cute when you smile."
"Maybe when Shao Kahn's finally brought down and Edenia's free, then I'll smile more."
End Flashback
"I should apologise to you, Liu," Kitana said. "I guess with the whole thing with the Deadly Alliance and Onaga coming up, I guess I became a total bitch." She sighed. "Just thinking about it still gives me chills."
She was cut off when Liu embraced her. Almost by reflex, her arms wrapped around his back and rested her head on his chest. Liu kissed her gently on the forehead.
"What's in the past is in the past," Liu said. "Regardless of what happened. Some memories can be painful and to forget can be a blessing in disguise."
Kitana pulled back from Liu slightly so she can look at him. "I never thought you were that deep."
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me. And there's a lot of things that I don't know about you."
Kitana leaned in and have him a light kiss on the lips. "Then I guess we can learn together then, right?"
Liu held his wife close. "Of course, my darling wife. We have out whole lives to learn."
As they held each other, they forgot about their responsiblities, their obligations and even their own dark pasts. What counted was that they had each other to draw support from and encourage each other.
Maybe things will be okay...for now.
