"So, you are the one who succeeded Shao Kahn after his demise," Kitana said, looking over the current emperor warily.

"Not quite, Princess. I took the throne from Mileena when her succession of her 'father' proved ill-suited," Kotal Kahn clarified. "Once I did, I officially rescinded Outworld's claim to Earthrealm and ended the latest tournament cycle. I have since done everything in my power to maintain order in Outworld against Mileena's rebellion, Shinnok's return and the continued revenant threat."

Both Kitana and Jade sensed there was more Kotal was not telling them, but felt it best to focus on planning for their anti-Shao Kahn coalition.

It was an unusual scenario for all three. Kronika, the mad Elder Goddess of Time, had used her powers to merge the present time with aspects of the past. A consequence of this was the mass summoning of warriors from the Koliseum during Shao Kahn's tournament in Outworld. This included the emperor himself, Baraka, Skarlet, and those that had since gone on to lose their lives in opposition of Shao Kahn and become undead revenants.

The situation with Shao Kahn's death, the revenants and the corruption of Raiden in the thirty or so years since their time had been explained to time-displaced heroes by Kotal and the Earthrealm Special Forces. It was a rude awakening for the two Edenians to learn that they were to die a mere year into their future, though the exact details had yet to be revealed to them.

"And you said earlier that Mileena is now dead?" Kitana asked.

"Indeed. With help from Earthrealm's Cassandra Cage and her team, D- my forces were able to capture and execute her. I apologise for any distress this may cause you. After all, you and Mileena were raised as sisters."

If she felt anything over this, Kitana did well to hide it, saying nothing at all.

"And the two of us?" Jade chimed in. "You said we are also dead in your time?"

Kotal nodded mournfully. "I am afraid so. In the Invasion of Earthrealm, you and most of your Earthrealm allies were killed by Shao Kahn's forces. The late emperor had a long-laid plan in place, in the event his forces failed a second time; and when the all-or-nothing backup tournament failed, he enacted this vile scheme."

"I had not heard of this," Kitana stated, concerned.

"Shao Kahn would have been a fool to keep you in the know, considering what the scheme involved, Princess. Ever since her death, Shao Kahn had plotted to make use of Queen Sindel, in the event all other avenues to claim a realm were lost to him."

"Wh...What do you mean?" Although his relationship with Kitana could best be described as 'work acquaintances', Kotal still couldn't help but feel sympathy for Kitana. He could only imagine how he himself would feel, were it his father, Kotal K'etz, whose soul had been used in such a depraved scheme.

"I'm afraid to say that he had Shang Tsung resurrect her under a powerful mind-controlling spell, so as to use her to justify his invasion of Earthrealm."

Kitana's hands rose to her mouth in horror as Kotal explained the fate she had so narrowly avoided, thanks to the time merger.

"During the invasion, Shao Kahn infused Sindel with the power of Shang Tsung and the many souls he had claimed over the centuries. He dispatched her to eliminate the remainder of Raiden's resistance. She... killed the two of you personally, before being returned to her grave by a shaman named Nightwolf."

Kitana seemed to have something she wished to say, but was too overcome by emotion to do so. Jade, as she often did, picked up on this and asked the question on her behalf: "And she joined our future selves in Quan Chi's slavery?"

Kotal nodded gravely. "And now, all of them, including the three of you, are allied with Kronika's faction. I must agree with Raiden's assessment that we will need as many allies as we can muster if we are to stand a chance against this deadly alliance. And the first step in that direction is the stabilisation of Outworld. I understand that may come across as pure self-interest on my part, but I assure you, I have contemplated the matter and believe it to be the best course of action."

"How so?" Kitana asked, her demeanour now hardened and resilient.

"The Tarkata have always served the mightiest in Outworld. As most of them are from your time, my might is unproven to them. They will follow Shao Kahn unless we prove the might of our coalition and one of its leaders. To that end, I will travel to their camp and prove my might against Baraka. With a sufficient show of strength, he will be convinced to join us."

"Even after he and Mileena were both killed on your orders?" Jade observed.

"That... will very likely prove a fierce obstacle, but we have little other choice. The Tarkata's nature will provide me an opening with them. But Kitana must be the one to meet with the Shokan. I have been their enemy for years now, since Mileena brought Goro into our conflict."

"What happened?" Kitana asked. "It cannot merely be that you and Goro traded blows."

"Goro first fought my father. It was in that battle that Goro took his life."

"I... I am sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, Princess. In retaliation, I took Goro's arms and denied him a warrior's death. King Gorbak then sought revenge and I slew him myself in the same manner in which his son had killed my own father. With the entire royal bloodline dead or disgraced, a contest was held by Queen Mai to crown a new monarch, and Sheeva emerged the victor. Little did I know that crippling and dishonouring Goro in such a way would result in him becoming a threat to all the realms."

"Without his arms?" Jade chimed in. "What power could he have claimed to counterbalance that kind of handicap?"

"The power of Onaga."

The two Edenians shared a concerned look.

"According to Raiden, he received a vision of Onaga's plot to return from beyond the grave. He intervened and destroyed the last great dragon egg to prevent his return. However, he found an ally in Daegon, son of Argus. He facilitated Onaga's return with Goro as a vessel. I allied with Earthrealm, and even the Shokan joined us to exorcise Goro, once it became clear he would not lead them to a glorious future. Alongside an Earthrealmer named Shujinko, I slew Goro and condemned Onaga's soul back to the Netherrealm for good. As necessary as it was, Sheeva was once a bride of Goro, and so despises me for all the dishonour I have brought to the Shokan during my reign."

Kitana slowly nodded. "I see why Sheeva would be hesitant to join our coalition."

"Indeed. And the Shokan have no great love for Earthrealm and Raiden, either. However, with time, the Shokan have gained a new perspective on their time under Shao Kahn's thumb. As an Edenian, you might well be able to turn them around on our alliance. Especially with Sheeva's relationship to the late empress."

"I understand," Kitana said, nodding and choosing to ignore the manner in which he referred to her mother. "Then, I will meet with Sheeva and do everything in my power to make her see reason."

"From what I heard of Outworld's history in the previous timeline from Raiden, you formed a similar alliance with Goro around the time of Shinnok's original resurgence. I have utmost faith in your ability to strengthen our coalition."

"Thank you, Kotal Kahn," Kitana bowed respectfully. "I must prepare for my departure. Jade, you will go with Kotal." She raised a hand to cut off any objections, though Kotal wasn't sure he saw any signs of such from Jade. "Marching into the Tarkatan camp will be dangerous, and Kotal is a key player in our coalition. His followers are scattered, keeping Shao Kahn's forces from expanding. I will have Liu Kang and Kung Lao with me. Kotal will need your assistance more than I will."

"I see you have put much thought into this," Jade said, flashing her beautiful, reassuring smile.

"As always," Kitana smiled back, pridefully.

"Well, you sneaking onto the island against Shao Kahn's wishes-"

"Sparked a friendship with Liu Kang," Kitana interrupted, mildly irritated.

Jade shook her head, her smile never faltering. "Fine, fine. I will concede."

As Kitana departed, Kotal couldn't help but be overcome by a certain calmness. Jade had that effect on people alone, but seeing her with Kitana, bantering so confidently with one another, helped ease his worried mind for the first time since... the gods only knew how long.

"It's been too long, Kotal," Jade commented, bringing Kotal back to the present.

"Indeed, it has," he replied, though not quite as enthusiastically as Jade.

"I trust you are well."

"As well as one can be, given the circumstances."

"I hope this isn't... too abrupt a question, but..."

"Ask," Kotal encouraged, hoping to sound more reassuring than he had before now.

"How... How did Queen Sindel kill me?"

"She... " Kotal let out a deep sigh to steel himself to describe the gruesome image. "From what Raiden told me, Sindel tore your heart from your chest."

Jade shuddered at the thought, her hands instinctively moving to cover her chest. "I hope her doing the same to Kitana was more metaphorical than literal."

"It was. She instead used a spell to drain the life from her. Raiden theorised that a part of Sindel was resisting the urge to 'punish her daughter's treachery' and chose to make her death as painless as possible."

"Does that give us hope for our revenant counterparts to be as resilient?"

"After thirty years of obedience to the Netherrealm, I regret to say that there is little hope left for them. Sub-Zero and Jackson Briggs were fortunate enough to be restored before their souls were irrevocably corrupted."

"Then, the only hope for Kitana and I is to slay our future selves?"

"Yes," Kotal sighed. "But rest assured, if given the chance, I will make yours a swift death."

"Thank you, Kotal. That is... strangely reassuring."

Jade's slight smile, although small, did much to warm Kotal's heart.

"Come. We should depart as soon as possible."

Kotal agreed and guided Jade towards the stables. What he did not tell her was that, since hearing of the way in which Jade met her demise all those years ago, he had not once torn out an enemy's heart, no matter how deeply ingrained into the Osh-Tekk culture such an act was. Although perhaps not consciously aware of it until now, that was the effect Jade's demise had had on Kotal.


The last time Kotal had seen Jade had been before the final Mortal Kombat between Outworld and Earthrealm. He had been imprisoned at the time, while Jade had been killed a year later in the Invasion of Earthrealm. Now, thanks to Kronika's miscalculations, Jade had been allowed to escape her fate. And Kotal was thankful for that.

He was also thankful for her reassuring presence on this mission. While Kotal had spent many years battling with Mileena for control of Outworld, Shao Kahn was the greatest threat to his successor's reign. Kotal had managed to secure the support of many of Shao's followers by showcasing his greater competence over Mileena, but given the choice, many of them would choose Shao over Kotal.

Even without his undeniable threat to Kotal's reign, Shao was a threat that needed to be put down. His support to Kronika's scheme was the greatest of all the factions she had thus far recruited; barring, perhaps, the revenants. If Kotal could best Shao, prove his might over the former emperor, it would be the tide-turner the anti-Kronika faction needed.

Of course, Kotal's leadership and might were known by his very name. As was the way of the Osh-Tekk, Kotal had been known simply by his family name until he achieved a feat worthy of being immortalised. Ruling the Maya in Earthrealm and influencing their very way of life would likely have sufficed, had it not ended in disaster. But overthrowing Mileena and stabilising Outworld from its throne earned the last of the Kotal bloodline the name:

"Kotal Kahn." Jade saying the title was truly surreal. It brought Kotal out of his thoughts and back to the present. "It is a fitting title for the son of Kotal K'etz."

'K'etz' was an Osh-Tekk title much like that of Outworld's Kahn, only originating as a title conceived by that realm's original unifier. Since then, no Osh-Tekk had used the name, until one of the Kotal family had reunified the Osh-Tekk many centuries after their homerealm's conquest by Shao Kahn. This act had earned Shao Kahn's respect and led to his employment of the Osh-Tekk within his forces, bringing glory back to what had become a scattered, nomadic people.

"I was reluctant to take it at first," Kotal admitted, "but it was necessary to win over as many of Shao Kahn's supporters as I could. After my father was killed by King Gorbak, I found myself feeling glad I accepted it."

"Better than to reach your age without a name-worthy accomplishment, hm?" Jade's smile was as radiant as it had ever been. And the way her green attire contrasted with her dark skin was an aesthetic he had seen none pull off as well as Jade in all his many years.

Kotal chuckled. "Indeed. Often times, I wonder what accomplishment my own son could add to his name, had I one."

"There is no new woman in your life? That is surprising."

"Because my predecessor had so many? Shao Kahn may have had two wives and a harem of concubines, both willing and unwilling, but I am Osh-Tekk. My people have always valued true familial bonds. It is a tradition I maintain as the last of the Osh-Tekk."

"I see," Jade averted her eyes, her tone and expression sympathetic. "You have my condolences for your father and your people."

"Thank you, Jade. But, I must not dwell on it. The Osh-Tekk live within me. I will honour them by defending our home from the man who took so much from us. And by crushing Shao Kahn's skull with my own two hands."

Jade chuckled now. "Only if you reach him before Kitana does. Some of Shao Kahn's court may believe Kitana's change of heart to be a sign of weakness, but she has a stronger will than those who bend the knee so willingly. And I am sure Queen Sheeva will see that."

"Ever so faithful. Were I so lucky as to have you in my court."

There was a slightly flirtatious edge in both Kotal's tone, and Jade's smile in response.

"How unlucky for you, then, that my loyalty is a difficult thing to earn."

"In that case, I should be careful, or Kitana might win the hearts of the people and take my place as Kahnum."

"Kahnum?"

"A title Mileena invented for a female Kahn. If anything, I suspect she simply wanted to make her own mark on the throne."

"That does not sound like the Mileena I knew."

"Even she had changed in the years since her father's death. She could well have become a better ruler, had she been as open to the words of her supporters as Kitana and I."

"And if she were more open to working with other rulers, I suspect."

"Indeed."

It was difficult to say whether the presence of Kitana's bodyguard was a sign that the Edenian princess trusted the new Kahn with her best friend's safety, or that she didn't trust him, period. It was also difficult to say how much Kitana knew of Kotal and Jade's history.

Centuries ago, while both still served Shao Kahn, Kotal and Jade had been intimate for a time. It had been kept a secret, so as to give Shao Kahn and his followers less ammunition to use against them, but there had been real passion there. It wasn't that their relationship deteriorated in any substantial way to bring it to an end. The passion had simply faded with time and the two had agreed to go their separate ways.

They had worked together on a number of occasions since, and they had joked and bantered about how they used to be, but the two were content with their friendship. Kotal even longed for Jade's counsel after he became Kahn, finding her one of the most trustworthy of all those that had ever served his predecessor. If Edenia were to ever be restored, he felt confident that Queen Kitana would prove a great ruler with Jade at her side. After all, she had a talent for observation.

"Those ruins," she noted, pointing to what little remained of an old fort. "They are Edenian."

"Indeed," Kotal replied, ashamed. "To this day, Edenia remains a part of Outworld. The Unity Orb remains lost."

"Could Mileena have taken it?"

"I suspected as much when she resurfaced with Tanya and Rain by her side. However, that she never restored the realm and used my inability to restore it to turn Edenia's people against me suggests she did not."

"Or, she was planning to usurp Outworld's throne first, and use its armies to crush any resistant Edenians."

"Assuming Tanya and Rain would allow that."

"Desperation can drive even the most rational of us to irrationality. They may have accepted it, so long as it suited their vision of Edenia; an Edenia without those loyal to Sindel and Kitana."

"True. I fear what those two may be plotting. They remain at large to this day."

"Between you, Kitana and myself, Tanya and Rain are no threat."

Kotal chuckled uneasily. "I have always respected your confidence, but their last ploy with Mileena involved Shinnok's amulet. I cannot afford to doubt their resourcefulness."

Jade looked thoughtful for a moment. "Have any other Unity Orbs emerged yet?"

"Alas, no. I've no doubt realms such as Vaeternus could prove a useful ally in times such as these, but most of their people remain underground, and their orbs remain even more elusive."

"Perhaps, we could ask for Raiden's help, once Kronika and Shao Kahn are defeated?"

"Perhaps. The Raiden of the past certainly seems more amicable than the corrupted version he became in this time."

"Imagine it: all the realms once conquered by Shao Kahn, freed after thousands of years to form a vast network of allied realms to oppose the dark forces that seek domination."

"A network that I doubt would include Earthrealm." Kotal's tone was decidedly ashamed.

"Why?" Jade asked, concerned more by Kotal's tone than his words.

"Earthrealm sent its young warriors to assist me in putting a stop to Mileena's rebellion and retrieve the amulet, which had been under Earthrealm's protection before Mileena got her hands on it. Despite their invaluable assistance, I then seized the amulet and imprisoned them. And my pride was such that I was too blind to see that the loyal D'Vorah was actually an agent of Shinnok, even after the amulet I entrusted to her disappeared. I believed she was allied with Earthrealm and I sought to seize the amulet from them. And worse, I then sought to ally with Shinnok when his victory over Earthrealm seemed all but certain. Were it not for the intervention of Sub-Zero, I might well have killed Earthrealm's future myself."

Jade remained silent throughout Kotal's explanation. Her silence continued for some time as she contemplated what he had said. Eventually, though, she did respond.

"It... is not my place to judge you for your mistakes, Kotal. I could assume your actions were a result of your desire to protect Outworld and its people being twisted by your desperation. It is certainly a level of desperation I would never expect to see in you, but as I said before, desperation can take possession of any of us. You perhaps were deeper into that spiral than most, but if you sincerely regret your sins, is that not a sign that you can be better?"

Kotal chuckled. "It is a sign that you bring out the best in me."

Jade smiled in response to Kotal's words. That smile stirred something deep within Kotal that he had thought long since buried.

But he had little time to dwell on it, as Jade pointed to the tarkatan camp just below the ridge ahead of them. As they and their escort dismounted their horses, Jade moved quickly to the ridge edge to spy on the encampment. From their position, they could see no one of significance. Only the tarkatans. And they were many.

"Such numbers," Jade uttered in dreadful marvel. "Could Shao Kahn have mobilised the Tarkata of your time as well?"

"No. The Tarkata were driven to near extinction in the war with Mileena."

"Extinction!?" Jade's tone made clear her shock and disgust.

"They all sided with Mileena. And with Baraka's death at D'Vorah's hand, Mileena had them all swear a blood oath of vengeance against myself and the Kytinn."

The Tarkatan blood oath was infamous among the Outworld populace. It was a ceremony that involved the tribe's crest being painted onto their forehead in the blood of the tribe's sworn enemy, driving their bloodlust and allowing them to use the blood's scent to sniff out the enemy from great distances. Combine that with a target that utilised blood magic and the Tarkata were one of the most dangerous groups in the realm.

"You know how unrelenting their blood oaths make them. For the sake of a stable Outworld, I had no choice but to face them with equal ferocity. Enemies will be made on the path to the throne. And many will never become allies."

"It seems that you have changed most of all in these years, Kotal," Jade whispered mournfully.

Before Kotal would respond, the ground beneath then began to shake violently. Earthquakes in Outworld were believed to be tied to the stability of the region. As such, they had become relatively rare since Mileena's rebellion had been put down. Kotal had almost forgotten what they felt like. As such, he had a harder time maintaining his footing than a Jade plucked from the twilight of Shao Kahn's rule.

The ground behind them exploded outward, sending debris and Kotal's men flying. From the large crater emerged a massive insectoid creature. It would resemble a giant spider to an Earthrealmer, but Kotal recognised it as a carrier, one of the Kytinn's less humanoid forms. In addition to the massive pincer arms they bore at the front, they also had a set of four large mandibles emerging from around their mouths. These features allowed them to efficiently transport Kytinn eggs to other hives or away from danger. Carriers were deceptively fast and, while not bred for battle, could pose a serious threat when needed to defend their vulnerable offspring. And now, there were two of them.

Kotal drew his macuahuitl from his back and staggered to place himself between the carriers and Jade. Positioned at the edge of the cliff as they were, and with Jade's only weapons being a staff and triblade that had no hope of penetrating the thick armoured hide of their ambushers, it fell to Kotal and his heavy blade to deal the bulk of the damage.

As one drew close, Kotal lunged forward, managing to crack the creature's hide with an overhead swing. It wasn't deep enough to bleed it, but certainly enough to enrage the thing. It swung at him with one of its huge pincers, which he hooked with one of his sickles, using his smaller blade to hook the pincer over his macuahuitl, before bringing his elbow down on the offending appendage. This blow dug his blade into the pincer, drawing blood, and also forced the weapon loose from its place in his quarry's hide. He could now bring his weapon down a second time in the same spot to really do some damage.

The second of the attackers attempted to attack from the side, where its compatriot's pincer was close to being dismembered. Jade managed to nail it in one of its many eyes with her triblade before it could do so, however, sending it staggering back. As Jade held out a hand to call her projectile back, she was suddenly seized from behind by what felt like a set of strong shokan arms, but looking down revealed them to be the mandibles of a third carrier that had crawled up the cliff face behind her. The arms were as sticky as they were strong, keeping her bound in its grip. Before she could do much of anything else, the creature pulled back and dragged her off the cliff and down a deep tunnel that lay at the bottom of the cliffface, deep down into the earth below.

Her scream alerted Kotal, who barely had time to see her booted feet disappear off the edge by the time he turned toward her. Before he could think, her name erupted from his throat as he charged for the edge, just spotting the third carrier as it carried her backwards into the subterranean tunnel. He had precious little time to save her, and the two carriers still coming after him were not going to stand in his way. Fortunately, as the cliff narrowed towards the edge, they had to come at him one at a time.

The first was the one he had already wounded. One thrown sickle, batted aside by one of its mandibles, distracted it enough for him to swing his mighty blade once more into its cranium. The fractured shell shattered into hundreds of jagged chunks as azure blood erupted from the wound. The creature finally fell dead at his feet.

The second, still bearing Jade's triblade in its eye, simply scrambled over its dead comrade to continue the attack. The added elevation left its soft underbelly vulnerable as Kotal slammed his full weight onto the hilt of his weapon, forcing the blade out of the leaking flesh of the first carrier and into the soft flesh of the second. Kotal used the momentum of the attack to swing the creature overhead and over the edge. He held onto the hilt of his weapon tighter than ever he had before as he leapt over the edge to ride the creature down the tunnel after Jade.

Its smooth exoskeleton allowed him to slide down the tunnels quickly enough to finally catch sight of the third enemy as it carried Jade down an offshoot tunnel his ride could never reach. Pulling loose his own weapon and Jade's, Kotal leapt from the corpse, up to the next tunnel, and continued the pursuit on foot. With any luck, there would be few divergent tunnels ahead and he'd be able to keep up with the creature enough to save Jade from the clutches of the creature he knew in his gut was at the heart of all this: D'Vorah.


The creature finally came to a stop inside a massive cavern, the walls of which were lined with larvae and the rotting, mutilated remains of dozens of creatures; mostly tarkatan. Off to Jade's left, just barely within the range of her vision, was another massive insect. This one was a striking yellow, with much larger eyes and a massive abdomen. This, Jade knew instinctively, was a Kytinn Queen - 'was' being the operative word here. The thing was completely motionless.

Two thoughts passed through Jade's mind at once. First was whether or not this was the corpse of the last queen of the Kytinn, Al'Sheva. Second, sickeningly, was whether or not this carrier had brought Jade down here to grow a new queen larva inside her. The answer to the first, unbeknownst to her, was no. This was A'Vital, who had undergone the process of becoming a queen thirty years ago, after the destruction of their previous hive. The answer to the second came seconds later when another woman entered the cavern.

Despite her craggy grey complexion, glowing yellow eyes and intimidating facemask, Jade recognised her own face instantly. Commanding the creature to hold her still, the revenant Jade approached her still living self and stood mere inches away. The carrier lifted Jade slightly, bringing her to her doppelg?nger's eye level. The revenant slowly, purposefully, removed her facemask and smirked at her brown-skinned counterpart.

"It's like looking in a mirror," she mused, tauntingly.

"A broken one, perhaps," Jade retorted.

The revenant rolled her eyes. She brought up one hand and gently ran the backs of her fingers across her counterpart's cheek. To Jade, it was like a block of granite was rubbing against her face. "I had forgotten how smooth and beautiful my skin once was." Her tone was almost mournful. "That will be fixed in the New Era."

"Are you really so deluded as to think Kronika will keep up her end of whatever bargain she struck with you?" Jade demanded.

Again, the revenant rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Nobody in our alliance is that foolish. Except for Kano, perhaps. Each group is simply using the others until they known how to overthrow Kronika and seize her hourglass, while she is using us until she has everything she needs to wipe us all from reality. The only thing we all agree on is that you and your comrades are obstacles to be eliminated."

"What do you intend to do? Kill me? Won't that erase you too?"

Revenant Jade, despite her best efforts, could not hold back her laughter. "Oh, dear!" she exclaimed theatrically. "Was I really this simpleminded?" She gripped Jade's cheeks with one hand forcefully. "Think, Jade. Those rules do not apply to us revenants. We are already dead. What would altering the cause of our deaths change? Whether by Sindel's hand or mine, you will still become a revenant. You will still become me."

Jade forced her face free from her undead self's grasp. "I would rather-"

"Die?" the revenant scoffed. "Finally, we are in agreement."

She rose her staff into the air to smash her past self's skull, only for her counterpart to extend her own staff - which she had been slowly, subtly removing from her belt to perform this exact action - into one of the eyes of this creature and towards the stomach of her future self. The revenant dodge to the side, only as much as she needed to, and swung her weapon down. Jade was already free from her abductor's grip and moving away by the time the staff came down, smashing into the head of the giant bug and sending it retreating down one of the tunnels. Her blow evaded, Revenant Jade fixed her mask back over her face, making her expression difficult to read from her glowing eyes and stone-like skin alone.

"I'm sorry it has come to this, Jade, but you must join us for the sake of Edenia."

"For Edenia!? You are in alliance with Shao Kahn!"

"Better him than Kotal Kahn."

"How? Shao Kahn is a vile, barbaric conqueror."

"And Kotal is so different?"

"He-" Jade had to stop herself, realising that she had no argument in Kotal's defence, based on the things he had told her earlier.

"Yes, you see it now, don't you?"

"Kotal... He has made many bad decisions, but he is trying-"

"Is he? What about Edenia? Is he truly trying to restore it? He has had decades to do so, and yet... nothing."

"The Unity Orb was stolen."

"Can you be sure Kotal did not simply 'misplace' the orb to keep Edenia as part of his domain? To keep his powerbase as large and consolidated as possible? You have missed much of Kotal's reign as Outworld's Kahn. Did you know he attempted to side with Lord Shinnok against Earthrealm because his own advisor betrayed him? Did you know he drove the Tarkata to near extinction for opposing his rule? Kotal Kahn is a hypocrite and a fraud. Shao Kahn, at least, is honest about the kind of monster he is. He is readable and exploitable. Kotal is underhanded and self-serving, but masks it in a holier-than-though shroud. If you and Kitana insist on standing by such a man, then Edenia will never be saved in this timeline. We, you and I both under Kitana's command, will fix that in the next one."

"I will never serve the Netherrealm!" Jade took her battle stance, staff in hand.

"Look at me, Jade. You already have." Her revenant took her own, with her staff and her triblade.


The carrier had escaped Kotal's sight some time ago. He had managed to keep up for a time by focusing on the sounds of the scurrying of the creature reverberating through the tunnels. But after a while, even this died down until he was navigating by intuition alone. There were some tracks left by his quarry's spindly legs, but they became difficult to track as it crawled around the walls and ceiling of the tunnel to throw him off. Eventually, he came upon another fork in the path, both with tracks leading down them. It seemed that another carrier had joined its fellow to help throw Kotal off the trail. No doubt, this indicated the presence of a higher intellect among them. That could only mean one person:

"D'Vorah." The word stung on Kotal's tongue as it passed through his lips. He had been a fool to ever trust that Kytinn wretch. His foolishness had facilitated the return of Shinnok and almost cost Outworld everything. If he found that cockroach in these caves, he could finally break his vow and rip her blue heart from her chest. But first, he needed to find Jade. Trusting his instincts to guide him where he needed to go, he took the offshoot path to the left and continued on.

Soon, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber that looked to be a storage place for Kytinn eggs. No doubt, D'Vorah intended to supply Kronika with an army of her disgusting kind. Once he and Jade were out, he would flood these tunnels with flames and eradicate the Kytinn for good.

As he cautiously stepped into the tunnel, he kept his ears open for an ambush. A gentle scuttling sound above him tipped him off to just such an attack. He quickly gripped the hilt of the macuahuitl on his back and swung it forward, narrowly missing the head of D'Vorah. She evaded the attack and launched herself from the wall above the entrance, landing a few feet in front of Kotal.

He hadn't gotten a proper look at her in the koliseum, but it was clear now that D'Vorah had changed since her betrayal. Aside from looking overall dirtier and mangier, the plating on her face and thorax looked thicker, and her shoulders now sported what looked like small hives. Kotal was not familiar enough with Kytinn physiology to say if this was some sort of evolution or mutation for the Kytinn, but he anticipated she would have some new abilities he had yet to see.

"You will bleed for your betrayal," Kotal declared.

"This One acts only for the Hive's survival," D'Vorah retorted.

"By siding with Shinnok and Kronika? Are you truly foolish enough to think either of them will honour their words?"

"Bold words from the one who broke his pact with Earthrealm to side with Shinnok."

"I have always acted in Outworld's best interest!"

"As the Earthrealmers say, birds of a feather-"

D'Vorah's insinuation that the two were at all similar was cut off as Kotal swung his blade for her head. She had clearly anticipated this - possibly even intended it - as she deftly evaded, going low to strike at his unprotected midsection. He stumbled back, avoiding having her wrist mandible dig deep into his gut, but it did manage to pierce a few centimetres deep.

Immediately, he could feel his muscles starting to slow and tighten from the poison. Luckily, he had tasked Reptile, Ferra and Torr with hunting Kytinn to extract their venom for use in creating an antivenom. While this endeavour had cost Ferra and Torr their lives, Erron Black had managed to create the antivenom, using his own experience of doing the same with Earthrealm serpents. Extracting a vial from his belt, Kotal downed it in one gulp. The effect on his now loosening muscles was instantaneous.

D'Vorah was upon him quickly, attempting to poison him again with her pincers. Kotal managed to grab one mid-thrust and slice off its barb with his remaining sickle. D'Vorah staggered back and Kotal swung his macuahuitl, slicing open her abdomen. He pulled back his blade and went to thrust it directly into her chest, only for something large and heavy to knock him off his feet. It was a male Kytinn, which were much larger and less humanoid than their female counterparts. The females had greater versatility in their ability to mutate, but the males made up for their lack of long-term options with greater ferocity and naturally thicker armour.

Kotal dug his sickle into the attacker's exposed neck, forcing it off of himself. He then scrambled to his macuahuitl and brought it down onto his opponent's skull, cracking the armour enough for a second such blow to rend its head clean in two. He then turned to where D'Vorah had been standing, finding only a puddle of blue blood on the ground. Sighing deeply and seeing no reason to remain any longer, Kotal recovered his sickle from the ambusher's flesh, licking it clean to add some more Kytinn immunity to his system. There was another opening across the chamber, which seemed to correspond with the direction the other tunnel branch had progressed.

Passing through, he soon found himself in a larger chamber where Jade was currently engaged with her future self in front of a dead Kytinn queen. And from the looks of it, the revenant had the upper hand. Based on the theoretical effect of killing one's past self, Jade's death should erase her present self as well. But then, being dead already, there was no guarantee of that.

The revenant threw her triblade at her currently disarmed counterpart, digging deep into her shoulder. Before she could respond, Jade was then knocked off her feet with a staff strike to the jaw. The revenant stood over her defeated opponent and prepared to bring her staff down directly into her heart. She was so focused on her task that Kotal throwing her old triblade toward her caught her completely off-guard. It struck her face, knocking her mask off and cutting her face.

The moment of shock was all the time Kotal needed to get close enough to strike. In spite of the intruder, or perhaps to spite him, the revenant attempted to complete her elimination of her past self. Her staff was mere inches from impact when the desperate Kotal's macuahuitl drove through the staff, splitting it and cutting off the force of her trust from the lower end, which hit Jade's chest weakly and clattered to the ground beside her.

Jade barely had time to register that she had not taken the mortal blow before she saw that Kotal's thrust had pushed his weapon much farther than just the staff's path. The blade was now sticking out of her future self's back. The expression of shock on her own greyed features was a haunting image for Jade. And for Kotal as well. He quickly pulled the blade from her flesh and caught her as she collapsed, paying no mind to the sheer amount of blood that had splashed across her living counterpart as he did so.

He gently lowered the undead Jade and cradled her as the last of her unnatural life ebbed out of her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, averting his gaze.

"I don't want your pity," she coughed spitefully through the blood leaking out of her mouth. Her yellow eyes burned with a never-before-seen hatred. "If you had ever cared, you would have kept Shinnok's amulet and led your army to save us, not attempted to ally with our enslaver." She spat blood into his eye. "You are a hypocrite and a fraud. I'm disgusted that I ever loved a man like you. The realms will be better off... once you are erased in... the New... Era..."

With that, Jade's soul left her body for the second and final time. If nothing else, Kronika and Cetrion's betrayal of the other Elder Gods had cost them their ability to revive the dead outside of the one-resurrection system, meaning she would never again serve the forces of darkness and could now, at long last, rest in peace.

The chamber became deathly still once Jade's head fell back lifelessly. All was still, silent, save for the scuttling of Kytinn in the adjacent chambers and the occasional shouts of the Osh-Tekk rescue party in some nearby tunnel. Eventually, Kotal spoke up.

"I would like to bury her where she will not suffer the indignity of becoming nourishment for these parasites.

"I fear there may not be time for that. Every second we waste, we-"

"Waste? It would be a waste to give you a proper burial!?"

"I appreciate the sentiment, Kotal, but our primary concern must be to meet up with your followers and reach the tarkatan camp before nightfall."

"You may be right, but... Although what we had ended long ago, it seems you always held onto my heart, even all these centuries later."

"Kotal... Whatever remained of me in her, it was none of the things you loved. She was twisted, she was evil-"

"She was my Jade!" Kotal bellowed, the words echoing throughout the caverns and causing whatever creatures remained to observe the two to flee in terror.

Even Jade recoiled, despite her best efforts.

"I... I apologise," Kotal mumbled. "That... didn't come across the way I had intended."

Jade lowered herself to one knee and placed a gentle hand on Kotal's shoulder. "No, no, I understand. You are right. I am not the woman you spent those years with. Thanks to Kronika's power, she and I are now two separate beings. Bu that doesn't mean I will never become her. In a way, I feel relieved. It's reassuring to know that my part in the advancement of evil will come to an end by your hand." Jade leaned in and kissed Kotal on the cheek. "You will find another love, Kotal. One who can see you through all your remaining years as Kahn. One for whom your passion will ever shine like the sun you worship."

Nodding slowly, Kotal lowered the remains of his former lover to the ground and rose to his feet, offering Jade a hand to lift her to her own. Soon after, the rescue party entered the cavern and rushed to their Kahn's side. He commanded two of them to get Jade to the surface for medical attention. Once she was out of the cavern, he turned to one of his warchiefs.

"Make preparations to burn every last one of these creatures out of these tunnels. I want nothing to remain but charred bones and burst egg sacs. Ensure not one of them leaves this place alive."

Though it may disgust Jade when she inevitably found out, even if he must become a monster, Kotal would do whatever it took to ensure that Jade, and his people, would have a future as bright as her loving smile.


TFW you realise you're unironically writing a KotalXJade fanfic... Really, I was inspired after I proposed this idea on Twitter:

"Imagine if Kotal had saved Jade from her revenant by killing her and being disgusted by what he had to do, but being reassured by Past Jade that he'd freed her future self's soul and granted her peace."

I also felt the need to explain the deal with Kotal's family name that the writers refuse to elaborate on, and to present how Jade and Kotal being exes would have worked better than claiming they were still together in the previous games. It was also important to acknowledge how flawed Kotal is (something MK11 refused to do) and to acknowledge that Jade is not Kotal's Jade.