The "new path" That Kitana spoke of the night before seemed to be not much a path at all. More a blazing of steep, raw mountain terrain that no living thing probably ever traversed before. It made sense to Cecil why it was the smarter choice, after all, who would look for them off the beaten path? Didn't mean she had to like it though. Her calves burned from the angle of the rigorous climb. And it seemed she was the only one having trouble, she stumbled often, knees dirty and scraped. She tried to keep up with Scorpion and Kitana who blazed the path with no difficulty, but the dark specter seemed to have no interest in helping her this day. Luckily, Johnny was glued to her side, offering a hand each time she stumbled, and talking her ear off about things she had never heard of before. What in the world was a "Hollywood", a "Camera", "Paparazzi"? Still she listened, and smiled politely.

When at last the ground leveled out somewhat, the group took a small breather atop the small mountain they had just climbed. Cecil followed Scorpion's gaze to see a beautiful expanse of winter-worn trees, a slowly moving river in the distance with ice holding the edges of movement hostage, and miles and miles of rich frigid landscape. Cecil breathed deep, appreciating for once, the burning in her legs, for the trade of the picturesque scenery. Scorpion seemed to have different things on his mind as he glared in the distance at something only his inhuman eyes could pick up.

The air seemed thinner as Cecil breathed deeply. It hurt her lungs to do so, but the freshness of raw, untouched land around them made her feel more primal. It was hard not to be taken in when surrounded by such a beautiful scene.

They traveled the rest of the day on mostly an incline, until a small outcropping of land was found flat enough to make camp.

Cecil, eager to get through with making camp, offered to go collect firewood.

Scorpion started to walk towards her, intent on offering protection but it was Johnny who beat him to it.

"I'll tag along. Don't want a pretty girl like you to be wandering off by yourself. Not with so many people out to get you" He winked.

"Johnny..." Kitana muttered, throwing him a harsh glare at his foolish choice of words.

The tall martial artist had the grace to blush "Hehe sorry about that Cecil"

"It's ok. If Shao Kahn want's a piece of this pretty girl he will just have to wait in line like everyone else" She smiled.

Johnny Cage guffawed, and Kitana smiled. Scorpion just turned towards the woods and glared at an invisible demon only he could see.

It took Johnny and Cecil a good while to find a small collection of trees to begin collecting wood. She idly wondered what they would use to heat themselves as they got further up into the bare mountain. She laid out a thick stiff deer hide and began throwing pieces of wood on top of it, absently humming to herself.

"Sorry about what I said" Johnny said, breaking the cold air with puffs of hot breath "I figured you knew"

"There are a lot of unanswered questions I have about this whole journey" She said, standing erect and chucking a large branch into their growing pile. "But that is definitely one I was aware of from the start. When the Lizard man attacked me I kinda got the hint"

Johnny made a face "I always hated fighting with Reptile. He stinks" He said, wrinkling his nose. Cecil laughed. "He was one of the weaker idiots working with Shao Kahn but Im still glad he wont be a problem anymore. Thanks to you guys"

Cecil paused "He was one of the weaker ones?"

Johnny only nodded, fearing he'd let his mouth run away with him again. "You really don't know what you are up against do you?" He asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

Her green eyes dropped "Liu thinks it's for the best" she whispered

"That guy!" He all but screamed, throwing his arms in the air "Well I don't think it's a good idea for you to be randomly attacked by mercenaries of Kahn and not even know their abilities, their weaknesses!"

Cecil felt a moment of hope. Maybe Johnny would be willing to give her some real answers for once! At the same time, maybe Liu had a good reason for keeping her in the dark...

She battled with both sides of herself. And the curious side eventually won out.

"Ok then" She said, crossing her arms "What am I up against?"

"Nah ah!" Johnny waved a finger in her direction, and shot her a billion watt smile "I'm not gonna get in trouble again with Princess big boobs. I've already said too much"

Cecil looked crestfallen, but then an idea formed in her head. "Well can you at least tell me what a Tarkatan is? I heard it out of Scorpion's mouth, not yours, so you can't really get into trouble" She smiled back at him, hoping his wiley ways would prove to be his undoing...and her advantage.

Again his face contorted into a mass of pure disgust, turning a handsome man into something more earthen and relatable "A Tarkatan is quite possibly the ugliest of all creatures I've encountered. And I've been to several different realms and worked with the sleeziest people in Hollywood" His joke died there, and he had to remind himself that she had no idea what Hollywood was. "A product of Kahn, mean, fierce and ugly. They have a mouth twice the size of Mileena's and longer teeth" He raised his lip above his top teeth and gestured with his fingers "They have blades that shoot out of their arms. If you get stuck with those you're in trouble. I knew a young cadet who survived an encounter with a Tarkatan and called himself lucky. Until he died two days later from infection. Tarkatans are dirty, foul creatures"

Cecil tried to cover her fear with a joke "Remind me to stay away from any and all Takatans then" She said with a dry laugh.

Johnny was not amused, but stared at her incredulously "You don't have a choice. They're after you. All. of. them. Each one of Kahn's men will die trying to keep you from reaching The Hideout. Cryax, Sektor, Mileena, Sindel, Oh she's wicked nasty! Ermac, Noob Saibot is a cheating whore! And god forbid the rumors of Sheng Tsung still being alive are true. Then we're up shit creek without a paddle"

"But you guys have a plan right?" Cecil said, and then cleared the fear from her throat "I wouldn't have been sent on this mission without hope"

"Cecil, honey, you are our hope"

The brunette girl felt her throat suddenly go dry. Why did she ever think she could do this? All of those names, each one scarier then the last. So many ways to die. She suddenly felt very small, and cold. She wrapped her arms around herself.

Johnny, for all his naivety, was not blind to her change in mood. "Hey now, you're right. We DO have a plan. We're not gonna let anything happen to you. Sonya is in the process of convincing Goro and Sheeva to join our side. And now that Scorpion is on our side, he will protect you. He is-"

"Scorpion used to be on the bad side?" Cecil's voice, a few octaves higher than normal, interrupted him.

"JOHNNY!" Kitana emerged from around a large boulder. "Head back to camp, we have enough wood" Her pretty voice was level, but the fury in her eyes told promises of pain for Johnny. He cringed but brushed past the Edeanian Princess in defiance.

"I'm right and you know it" He whispered to Kitana as he moved to pass her "She shouldn't go into this blind. It will get her killed"

Kitana did not answer him, for she knew he was right.

"This quest will kill me. Wont it?" Cecil asked softly of the princess in blue.

"You don't know that. Already you have improved your skill. Liu speaks highly of you" Kitana said by way of placation. Although the ferocity of her conviction didn't reach her words like she had hoped.

"Not anymore..."

"What do you mean?" Kitana said, placing a calloused hand on Cecil's cold shoulder.

"Nothing" Cecil smiled, trying for levity, and failed. Kitana frowned.

"Let's head back. Scorpion might have a fit if you're not back in his sight soon"

This time Cecil did laugh, and it was accompanied by a small splash of color on her cheeks.

"Yeah, he is taking this mission very seriously"

"Raiden must have promised him something very valuable for his aid. Scorpion does not cooperate well with others if he can help it" Kitana said, seemingly lost in thought. Probably trying to figure out the Ninja's payment, Cecil thought. Good luck with that.

"So he was a bad guy?" Cecil blurted, unable to stop herself. The question had been burning her mind, and heart, since those words first left Johnny's tongue.

"Was? He still is dear" Kitana said, and then sighed, seeming to come to a conclusion in her head "There are, and have always been, two sides to this war. General Hasashi was neutral. He had no motive to fight on either side. But there was a time when he was tricked by a powerful sorcerer named Quan Chi, to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament, and other battles, against us. He is very powefull and we lost many to his demonic fire. Raiden held no grudge. After the first defeat of Quan Chi, Scorpion was freed from his hold and hardly remembered the horrible things he had done. That is not to say that he hasn't done some horrible things on his own. His lust for revenge is as strong as they come. We all have our reasons for fighting. His were merely warped for a time"

Cecil listened with rapt attention. She had learned more about her stoic companion in the last few minutes than she had in months of traveling with him. But Kitana's words turned the contents of her stomach sour, twisted her heart string. She tried to imagine Scorpion, for all his scary appearance, being evil. It surprised her how easily she could imagine it. How quickly they surfaced and would not sink. Her brain did not have to strain, to reach far before those images made sense to her. Scorpion was deadly, she already knew. But dangerous to her? Evil?

Cecil felt the sting of tears in her eyes and screwed them shut against the images her mind conjured. She had always felt so safe with him...

Just then a small ptarmagin flew out of a bush, disturbed from it's hiding place by the two female travelers. It's plummage was pure white, it's tiny body somehow knowing that it needed the snow colored feathers to blend in with the surrounding landscape. But it couldn't hide from Cecil and her sling. She brought it down without second thought, tying it's legs to her belt, and began scanning for another. One bird would hardly feed four grown people. But despite her hunting skills, two women made it back to their camp without the second meal Cecil was hoping for.

When she caught Scorpion's eye, she halted. He looked the same as she remembered. Where was the evil man from her horrifying vision? Where was the murderer? He looked relieved to see her safe, and with a stark realization Cecil found that she knew where the murderer was. He was gone. Dead. None of the things Kitana described could be attributed to this man. Maybe once, long ago, when he was bewitched and confused. Not anymore. Now he was just the man who had come to be her protector, her friend. The man who had saved her life countless times and still followed her into more peril of his own free will. Maybe once he was evil, but looking at him now, making camp beside two good people, he was nothing more than a man with a dark past.

Relief and real happiness flooded her veins and she approached Scorpion with a warm smile that seemed to him to light up their little camp, which seemed so barren and drab with her gone.

"Look what I got" She said, holding her prize up for him to see.

"Mine is bigger" He said, holding up a large plump wild turkey. Her green eyes smiled back at him vigorously.

"Well I better get started on these then" She said with a wink and smile.

Johnny and Kitana watched in amusement as the demonic warrior and the once timid village girl got to work on their evening meal. It was an amusing thing to watch, and Johnny sat on the cold ground watching the two hustle around the campfire in perfect unison. Cecil got to work plucking the two birds while Scorpion began to boil water. When Cecil was done gutting, she handed the knife absently to the dark man, who cleaned it without second thought. It was like a perfect little domestic dance, with unknowing partners. They probably didn't even notice how well they executed each move, so used to the task and comfortable with it's routine.

Kitana thought how odd it was seeing the once evil General of the Shirai Ryu cooperating willingly with something so...normal.

The fire was built up just high enough to provide them with adequate warmth while they ate their meal. Johnny dragged on and on about how well the meal was cooked, how tender each bite was and how well seasoned. He even went on about how it was the best meal he'd ever had the pleasure of eating, while Cecil blushed furiously into her collar and Scorpion scowled across the fire.

In an attempt to quickly change the subject Cecil spoke to them all in unison "So what will happen if Goro and Sheeva join with Shao Kahn?" She said as nonchalantly as she could muster. Scorpion's head whipped in her direction faster than humanly possible, dark eyebrows drawing together as he fought to find the words "...how.."

Johnny choked on his water, and coughed heavily into his sleeve, while Kitana patted him on the back, probably harder than she needed to.

"How do you know about Goro? And Sheeva?" Scorpion said at last.

"I...uh.."

"I told her, alright" Johnny said, standing and wiping the wetness from his chin.

"You what?" Scorpion said, voice low and dangerous.

"It's not right! Liu shouldn't be keeping things from her that could potentially get her hurt. Or worse"

Scorpion rose too and strode through their campfire without thinking, Johnny had a millisecond of looking horrified, but covered it well upon seeing that the fire did no damage to the other man. Why would it? He was reborn in flame, wreathed in the pain of it's heat.

"You have no right..." Scorpion began.

"I have all the right! She needs to know what she is up against!"

"All you have accomplished with your fools tongue is to make her afraid"

"I'm not afraid" Cecil said, with more confidence than she felt. No one seemed to have heard her, so she stood, ready to defend herself.

"Maybe a little fear is what she needs" Johnny said, taking a defensive step towards Scorpion.

"You know nothing!" Scorpion said with vehemence, the air around him warping with heat and anger.

"What are you afraid of?" Johnny said, stepping even closer and glaring back at the demonic warrior. Kitana, sensing the rage, literally boiling to the surface, stood as well "Johnny, that's enough" she said in a voice that showed she was used to being obeyed. To her shock, it didn't work. Johnny seemed to want to play with fire.

When Scorpion didn't answer Johnny found his opening, and it shocked him to find the meaning to the silence. He immediately filled the opening with words meant to cut. For he had no physical weapon to best Scorpion. The martial artist knew he was bested in every way when it came to the man he fought "Are you afraid I told her about you? Hmm? About your past?"

Scorpion found he had no words, and his eyes shifted to Cecil, who at once looked both horrified and hopeful.

"...because I did" Johnny said, through his teeth. Jabbing the final words like knives meant to make bleed.

Scorpion focused so fast on Johnny that the ex-actor barely had time to register what a huge mistake he had made. In a flash a gloved hand, as hot as flames, shot out to grab him by the throat, lifting his feet a full twelve inches off the ground.

Johnny's eyes widened, and he gripped the hot flesh of Scorpion's arms in an effort to relieve the pressure on his neck.

Cecil watched in horror as Johnny's legs flailed about uselessly until he managed one, two, three kicks into Scorpion's side. The tall man didn't budge, but grunted with each contact.

She heard Kitana yelling, but she couldn't make out the words, or register that the deadly princess had taken out some sort of battle fan and had taken battle stance behind Johnny.

Her legs wouldn't move, as much as she tried to run to them. To help her new friend, she just didn't have the power to move her damn legs. Then, a small cry from her lips alerted her to the fact that, if he legs couldn't work, her voice still could.

"Hanzo!" She cried loudly. It was more of a weak plea then the forceful demand she was trying for, but it worked. Scorpion faced her, eyes whiter than she had ever seen them, tiny flames beginning to take shape around him. Their eyes met, and she felt her heart break. How could he?

She knew he saw the pain in her eyes, for he dropped Johnny to the ground with as much care as a dirty old blanket. He coughed violently, pawing at his throat which burned from more than pure force, but with the flame of Scorpion's hatred. Kitana knelt beside her wounded comrade, never taking her eyes off of the dangerous man before her.

"We're taking Cecil with us. She is not safe with you" Kitana said accusingly "We will make sure she arrives safe"

If they expected a reply, a protest, anything, they didn't receive one. Scorpion stood before them, breathing heavily and staring at his hands. How could I do this? How could I let this happen? It had been years since he had let his emotions get the better of him. Everything had been so damn confusing lately. His ups were downs. His lefts were now rights. Everything had turned upside down. But he couldn't let them take Cecil. Agreement or not, he promised to see her safetly to Liu Kang. Would she even go with him now?

He turned to face her then, eyes meeting hers and seeing a mirror of his own horror reflecting back at him. Her mouth was slightly agape, as if she could not find the strength to close it. To even pretend she was not afraid. Afraid of him.

"Pack your bags Cecil" Kitana said "Were leav-"

The princess in blue was cut off by the sound of a low whistling sound. It started soft, gradually gaining volume until the whistle became a loud, piercing, scream.

A long wooden arrow pierced the ground between Cecil's feet.