Past The Point Of No Return

Summary: Shinnok's invasion of Earthrealm claimed many lives. Even in its aftermath, four of the realm's young warriors - who were instrumental in its victory - had fallen, albeit too soon. But in the Netherrealm, their lives have just begun ... Revenant!Kombat Kids. Rated T for now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Kombat X or any of its characters; all of this belongs to Ed Boon, John Tobias and Netherrealm Studios. I only own the plot.

Chapter 1: We All Fall Down

It is the heart, the mind, the soul and strength that keeps the body going.

With every beat that sends a wave through each arterial and venal route in hopes of reciprocation, with the constant turn of multiple cogs and wheels that lie within the psyche, with each spark that the fire-like spirit unstoppably fans, and with the force that drives the delivery of actions and words, the body's purpose – to contain the self who happens to inhabit it and has control over the above aspects – seems aptly fulfilled.

But surely there is more to the body – this vessel – that walks the earth? Rather, it is not just a body. With its host's need to give and receive affection, their desire to create ties with others on a mental and physical level, their hope to create deep and meaningful connections, and the natural way in which they are able to exude a sense of capability …

… it is not just a body, but a somebody.

We are all somebodies, regardless of the deeds, or perhaps lack thereof, we have carried out in our lifetimes.

But that is the thing one has to consider: once you take away the heart, the mind, the soul and strength, the body has no purpose.

Then, the self has no purpose.

Certainly not in the realm of the living, where one's lifetime is as fleeting as a passing second. The self is released to goodness knows where.

The heart, the mind, the soul and strength were gone too soon …

She felt like she was floating in a pool of fire.

A scream banged at her clenched teeth, desperate to escape as the lava-hot pain coursed throughout her body. Instead, a whimper was all that managed to come out of her mouth as she tried to suppress the hurting sensation. Her eyes were shut tight, the edges of which were burning with the beginnings of tears. Her skin prickled as if it were being stabbed with hot needles by the hundreds of dozens.

And dearest Elder Gods, it hurt.

So.

Damn.

Badly.

Mom …? Dad …?

In her closed vision, faint images of two familiar faces appeared. One was that of a woman who bore a strong physical resemblance to her. The other was of a man from whom she had inherited spirited demeanour and of which she was extremely proud.

And yet, despite the blurriness of their visages, she could clearly see their looks of horror – of … grief? – as they looked back at her, their mouths moving to form words that she could not hear –

AUUGH!

Another wave of searing pain washed over her prostrate frame. It surged towards her chest, consuming her heart and charging it with the force of an electric shock.

Unrelenting. Uncontrolled. Unbearable.

This time, she allowed herself to scream.

Mom! … Dad! …

The two faces were unreachable …

Help me!

… and faded away as soon as they had appeared. There was nothing to look at but a void of intense black.

The tears streamed down her cheeks – they were hot like flames, but not as hot as the throbbing fire that burned beneath her chest.

Help me …

She shouldn't be in pain … how could she when she was supposed to be …

Please help me …

Be … d … e … a … d …?

"HELP ME!"

All of a sudden, she began to choke violently. It was if she had inhaled in a great deal of water, though it did not douse the fire within her body. For the life of her, she could not breathe.

No air … suffocation …

I'm drowning …

Her arms and legs had begun to flail violently. She arched her back, her lungs dying for oxygen. The throbbing in her chest intensified by a ten-fold. Her arteries and veins seemed almost fit to burst. Pure and utter panic overcame her senses, increasing her discomfort to the point that she wanted to pass out.

But she could not.

Her body would not let her.

Her head lolled back helplessly. She could do nothing but choke on her tears in this seemingly endless, pain-ridden purgatory. For goodness knows how long, she could not tell –

Oooww!

Suddenly, she felt something grab hold of her forearms, squeezing the bones beneath. Sharp implements (nails?) dug into her skin, threatening to tear through. Despite her weak efforts to pull away, they held on, the nails digging in ever further, thus stilling her thrashing movements. The discomfort from the grip caused her to scream, only for her to end up choking as scalding hot liquid ran down her throat.

LET ME GO! GET ME OUT OF HERE! MOM! DAD!

"HELP ME!"

Before she knew it, she felt herself being pulled upwardly – the movement was rough, and her arm sockets near well suffered for it. Her body reacted as one could imagine, twisting with resistance, but the heat within her heart erupted at that moment, sending out agony-soaked waves that paralysed her actions almost instantly. Her eyes shut once more, it's so damn sore, oh God help me …

Another shriek was on the tip of her tongue, and she opened her mouth to let it out …

"Hghhhg!"

… when oxygen suddenly entered her frame. Every fibre of her being immediately cried out in relief, but even her body, starved for so long without the precious element, could not deal with taking all of it in. Gasping, and coughing out the liquid that had lingered at the back of her throat, she nearly fell backwards in a sputtering heap, but the hold on her arms kept her upright (wait, am I standing?). Thankfully, the heat within her began to cool, and straight away the skin above her waist became cold; the rest of her seemed to be immersed in something warm.

W-What? Cold? Warm? But then, does that mean I'm na –

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she felt herself pulled completely out of the warmth. Voices echoed around her as her bare knees hit, and were unceremoniously dragged along, the hard ground, but they were discernible; God knew that her senses were all over the place. She tried to open her eyes, but the mysterious resin that she had been wallowing in had sealed them shut.

Still trying to catch her breath, she tried again to pull back her arms, but in return a voice sounded in her left ear:

"Don't struggle, dívka, lest you desire to be struck."

It was a harsh tone, an unearthly, resonant hiss laced with an unidentifiable accent.

"Who … are … you?" she rasped, her eyelashes beginning to untangle themselves; as she looked up at her captors through her unclear vision, she could make out dark shapes of humanly figures, albeit with a vague yellow glow hanging about them.

"Who … are –?" she rasped again, but her inquiry was stopped short as another unnatural voice barked in her other ear, "Speak when you are expected to, and not before. Let us hope you are not like your father in the latter regard."

She would have protested, but her throat was still quite raw. Her heart beat like a pulsating ball of fire. Her knees, her legs and even her midriff were suffering something fierce as she was being dragged by … whoever or whatever the hell these characters were.

Where in the hell am I?

She would get an answer to that question soon – in a few more minutes, to be precise.

Suddenly, they stopped in their steps (thank the Elder Gods, otherwise I would've had to buy out the mall for all their skin lotions). Pulling her up so that she was balancing on her knees, the one pinned her arms behind her back, while the other – who owned the second voice – rumbled:

"Emperor. The process is complete. She is ours."

"Ours"? The heck …?

A hissy "Ugh!" issued forth from her mouth as the sharp-nailed hand grabbed hold of her hair, pulling her head back, forcing her to look ahead – at what, she could not fathom because of the damned stickiness in her orbs. But her keen ears picked up the slow yet authoritative tramp-tramp! of boots making their way towards her. It stopped right before her, and she could make out a lean, muscular figure wearing armoured apparel and enveloped in a yellowish haze akin to the light of a flame, beholding her with a canted head and luminescent eyes.

Who is he, the poor man's version of Hercules or something?

But the one guy called him "Emperor" …

"Even in your current state, you have your mother's strong bearing," the figure intoned, cupping her chin with tepid fingers, much to her obvious chagrin; sensing her irritation, he chuckled and continued, "And yet you also have your father's attitude. I've no doubt that you have his tongue."

Before she could retort to that, she flinched as those fingers glided over her cheeks towards her eyes. It was like being touched by a doddery, doting (and no doubt deadly) old aunt. She cringed inwardly as those thumbs pressed against her shut-tight eyelids, rubbing them one-two-three times over.

"But here, Miss Cage" he murmured, withdrawing his fingers and flicking off the glutinous substance, "you have no ties to them, nor to that godforsaken realm you once called home. You were reborn here, a single entity in itself but with a difference …"

When Cassie Cage opened her eyes to find the one and only Liu Kang standing before her, he saw that the formerly baby-blue orbs were now a fiery, golden colour, much like that of himself and of his compatriots Kung Lao and Smoke (or Enenra, as he titled himself) who held her by the hair and the arms, respectively. Within those ardent globes swirled a mixture of confusion, fear and – ah, how delicious – sudden realisation.

"I was … I'm a …" whispered Cassie, her glowing veins pulsating wildly along her parchment-grey skin as her newly-revived heart beat at a rapid pace.

Liu Kang nodded.

"Yes, Cassandra, you are now a revenant," he said. "You fell soon after your battle with Lord Shinnok. Your soul had somehow passed into this dimension, and we had no qualms about claiming it."

"No," she said, ignoring the pressure as Lao pulled back on her hair. Her voice had a reverberant quality about it. "There's no way I could have ended up here. Earthrealm is –"

"The Netherrealm is your home now," Liu Kang interrupted, waving a dismissive hand. "A preferable alternative to that other place. No, the Thunder God can have Earthrealm, for all I care. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add to my ranks."

He paused. "Whether it was the sorcery of Quan Chi or your contact with Lord Shinnok, the explanation behind your soul's arrival has yet to uncover itself. But, given that we managed to resurrect you, you are tied to no one but me."

He expected her to protest at that, offer a loud exclamation or something of that ilk. Instead, the former Shaolin monk watched as the girl's face crumpled up in horror. Beads of tears formed at the edges of her burning eyes.

"So I really died," she choked in an affected echo, anguish cruelly consuming her. "Mom and Dad … Jacqui, Jin and Takeda … I'll never see them again."

She held back a sob. It nearly escaped when Liu Kang cupped her chin again.

"That holds true for your parents, but as for your friends …"

He forced Cassie to look at him, watching her undead eyes widen in horror as he proclaimed:

"They were the first to die. You, Cassandra, were the last to fall. Fitting, since it is always the heart that is the last thing to go when one perishes."

"No, no," she whimpered in response, shaking her head and her tears loose. "This isn't … they can't be –"

"But they are," Liu Kang emphasised before saying, with a cruel smile twisting his lips, "Jacqueline Briggs … Takahashi Takeda … even the tainted Kung Jin … they're waiting for you right now."

A/N: Gosh, this was hard to write, and not only because I killed off the Kombat Kids (forgiveth me!). All the revenants will be making an appearance in the story, but they'll probably come in about two or three chapters time, but we'll see how we go. :) Other appearances by Sonya, Johnny, Kotal Kahn and his crew and everyone else will happen. But first we have to find out how CC, Jacqui, Jin and Takeda died (poor things). I also need to update Stained Glass, it's taking me forever to finish the second chappie.

Reviews are welcome!

*~AI07~* :)