An Unexpected Journey

You never wanted to be the champion and participate in Mortal Kombat. You were a good fighter, but you decided to live your past behind and finally live a life that you wanted. But gods had a different path for you so now you were laying on the sand with several burns and bruises. If you knew that the dragon tattoo will appear on your leg when you will kill the man who wanted to steal from you and tried to kill you.

"I've never wanted it in the first place" you gritted through your teeth trying to stand up, sharp motion strains the wounds making you wince in pain.

"Stop whining like a baby, Y/N. Not everything is about you," Kano's voice echoed against the walls.

"Get your head out of your ass, Kano," Kano knew where to push and when to punch to flame your anger. He chose the perfect time to say his word.

No one believed in you. It hurt, even though you weren't admitting it. Everyone was training for a long time to be able to present earth in Mortal Kombat, but you happened to be here by an accident. The weight of responsibility for billion lives pushed you to the ground.

Realization dawned on you, crushing your system completely. You wanted to blow out the steam, bitting the shit out of Kano. Using all your force left after the fight you've got on your feet and dashed towards Kano with your fists ready for the blow. Kano, on the other hand, was ready too, directing his laser at you. You've been able to dodge it, but you couldn't stop fast enough, so your stomach bumped into his fist sending you backward. Your insides burst in pain intensifying the impact from the former wounds.

You gave up. Gave up, falling into the hands of the last person you thought will care about you. It was Kung Lao, whose strong hands caught you before you will collide with the ground again. 

"Stop it! Training is over," his loud and stern voice made you flinch, body hurts everywhere. You tried to stand up, but failed, allowing him to help you. His strong hands embraced you tighter, carefully lifting you from the ground.

"Let me help," his eyes didn't give any emotion. Mighty Kung Lao helps you? You thought he can only care about Liu Kang. Why do you even have this thought? They need you only because you are a fighter and you must be alive to fight with Shang Tsung.

He took you to the cribs that day carefully putting you down on one of the beds. He took off his hat sitting beside you. His eyes filled up with...understanding. It happened only when you were alone. For you it was obvious - he must be strong and don't give up any emotion to train masters of the fight. But when you were alone you felt humanity in him, you were drawn to him by the power you didn't know about. Every time you wanted to touch his hand, lean closer and feel the comfort. But he only slightly smiled your way and said "Get some rest. It will be another training tomorrow".

It won't end, only with death, so you decided to make it as fun as possible. If die, why don't use the time you were given.

With each training session, you felt stronger. Now you were allowed to fight with Liu Kang, who highlighted your strength and commitment. Now and then you caught a stern glance of Kung Lao, who was observing your every move from the shadow of the stone walls.

"Let me fight with her" Kung Lao said finally stepping out of the shadow. "If you think she is ready, brother".

Your every move he blocked, holding your legs or arms far from his body. He dodged every punch, making it almost impossible to get to him. With the last blow, he just knocked you over and pushed you against the ground.

"Give up this attitude of yours, or you will lose every time," he said still holding you against the ground, hands gripping your clothes. "Give up your shitty monk act," you spatted into his face only to met with a smile of his. His futures relaxed, sparkles appeared in his eyes. He enjoyed your act and it was a sign to keep your kinky attitude. You caught yourself on the thought that you can do a lot just to make him smile. At least it's fun now.

Now you were training with Kung Lao most of the time. Sometimes you even punched him few times that made you so proud of yourself. You hoped you were improving. With every little win against him, you felt powerful and more confident, trying to play coy. Once you even managed to steal his metal hat but it only resulted in a large cut on your hand when he summoned his weapon back.

Finally, you felt like a part of the "earth team", even though such jerks like Kano were part of it. That dinner you sat in only free sit besides Kung Lao, who met you with his signature stern look. But you didn't take a bite of your food, because fear of loss tore you apart. You stood up early heading to your room. When you positioned yourself on your bed you heard a quiet knock.

"It's open". Kung Lao appeared at the door. "I'm sorry for disturbing you," he said calmly getting closer to your bed. "It's alright. What are you doing here?"

"You left early today. Is everything alright?" He said, standing near your bed. His question took you aback. You glanced at your bandaged hand.

"Is it even matter to you?" You said, sitting on the corner of your bed. He chuckled.

"Live it. You can't act like this all the time. Of course, it is"

"Yeah, because you need to train us for the Mortal Kombat" you didn't allow him to continue his speech.

"You are wrong" his eyes gave up an emotion you've never seen before. It was something between sadness and passion. "You are a great warrior, even if you didn't realize it yet" his rough fingers touched yours, making you flinch. Grazing against your skin his hand glided up, covering your whole palm. He squeezed it lightly, ensuring that everything he said was true. Shivers appeared where his hand was carefully holding yours.

"You are angry. I understand. We all have our own fates that we need to follow. You can accept it, or give up" his hand still on yours made you gulp the saliva that built up deep in your throat. You forget about everything you decided to follow and only his eyes on you felt important. You were numb, not able to get away. He knew he had this effect on you. He just raised from the bed and get to the door.

"Wait" you didn't want him to go. These short words of comfort made you warm. For a moment you forget about everything that was going on around you. You felt a draw to him.

Frantically you tried to come up with a reason for him to stay. "Sleep well, Y/N" he smiled one last time and stepped out of the door, closing it behind him.

The next day Kung Lao appeared on the training ground. "Sonya Blade, come to fight".

"Y/N, we will train together," Liu Kang said, motioning for you to get to the training ground. "I thought we will train with Kung Lao" you hesitated. "Kung Lao noted your achievements and asked me to train you this time" shivers ran down your spine. What happening? You shrugged all your hesitations and stepped on the training field.

After few painful blows, you hit the ground, blood streaming from your nose. You took a ham of your drenched sweatshirt to wipe the blood out of your lips and chin. Liu Kang looked at you with a concerned look, Stretching his hand in an attempt to help you to get on your feet. Instead of accepting the help you jumped up "let's keep going".

Your words made your opponent step back. "I appreciate your willingness to improve your skill, but you better take a rest"

"No" your voice cracked. You wanted to prove you are a warrior, like everyone else, that you are capable to defend the earth.

"I won't fight with you now" he refused to continue. "Brother" he motioned to Kung Lao, nonverbally asking him if he will join the training. His gaze lingered on you for a moment then returned to Liu Kang.

You hoped he will support you in some way but it didn't happen. "I will not fight with Y/N" his voice sounded stern. You still hold your gaze on him, begging him to look at you, but it was worthless. Yesterday was just an act to make you stay.

"Please, get some rest and we will continue tomorrow" you took a deep breath exhaling loudly with disappointment. "It's all pointless" you threw your hands in the air turning away from the training field. Everything went blur. You didn't realize you were crying.

You didn't even see where you were going. You were running through the desert. You stopped after a long run, exhausted and dehydrated. Sun was burning your skin, drying out the tears that were streaming down your chicks. You wiped your eyes with your shirt taking a good look around. You realized you were in the middle of nowhere. Everything left was just to run for the hills and probably the death.