"Are you sure you're ready?" Smoke asked as he kept up with his friend's resolute pace.

Sub-Zero nodded, the cybernetics covering his entire body creaking as he did. "Yes, Smoke, I am ready. And even if I were not, I must. Earthrealm is in too much danger for us to hesitate now. Our enemies do not yet know of my defection, and we do not yet know what it is that they are planning." He looked at his newly metallic hands. "They may have taken my body," he then clenched them, "but they will not take the realm that we call home." He lowered his hands and looked back at his apprehensive friend. "Do not worry, my friend. Now that I am free from this body's programming, they now face something far more deadly... the human soul."

"Yes, but still!" Smoke looked down, frantically trying to find some way for Cyber Sub-Zero to stay just a little bit longer. When he finally did, he looked up, put up his dukes, and asked, "How about we have ourselves a bit of a quick sparring session? With a body like that," he nodded towards Sub-Zero, drawing attention to his friend's new body, "I wouldn't be surprised if your instincts and reflexes were a bit rusty."

Sub-Zero calmly placed his hands over one of Smoke's fists and gently forced him to lower it. "I appreciate your concern, but time is of the essence. I must be heading off."

"Sub-Zero!" Sub-Zero heard Smoke cry just before he make his leave.

Sub-Zero turned around once more to face his friend. "Yes, Smoke?"

Much to his surprise, Smoke stood at attention, placed his hand over his heart, and bowed his head. "Be stealthful as the night."

Sub-Zero let out a tiny gasp of surprise before returning the gesture and reciting, "And deadly as the dawn." He then turned around to begin his mission, but just before he did, glanced back at Smoke from the corner of his eyes and murmured, "Thank you, my friend."

Smoke simply stayed where he stood, staring at the door his friend had exited through for a long time. He sighed. It seemed as if lately all he could ever do for his friend was watch helplessly as he was taken away from his life and put into mortal danger. True, now was completely different from then, when he was advised to stay hidden as Sub-Zero was taken to have his body forcibly turned into what it was now, but if Sub-Zero were to get caught, and within enemy lines at that, then...

"I was unaware that the Lin Kuei were capable of such comradery," a gentle and soothing voice said from behind him, successfully breaking Smoke out of his self-inflicted trance.

Smoke turned around to find that the voice had belonged to the dark-skinned Edenian. As Jade slowly made her way to Smoke's side, Smoke simply went back to looking at the door, and replied, "The Lin Kuei are capable of many things." He then shook his head dejectedly. "Though I suppose comradery is no longer one of them, if the Lin Kuei were willing to subjugate one of their own and force him into forfeiting his soul for their own needs."

Jade nodded solemnly. "You and Sub-Zero feel betrayed," she stated. She looked at the door alongside the gray-clad ninja. "You have my condolences."

Smoke glanced at Jade from the corner of his eye before nodding his head and saying, "And you have mine."

Jade nodded her head thankfully before the two of them went back to staring at the door in silence. Jade didn't exactly know why she was joining him on this particular endeavor, but if she had to guess, it was probably because staring at a door and contemplating about life was a bit less stressful than wondering whether the enemy was going to launch a surprise retaliation attack on them any second now. After a while, however, the long, uninterrupted silence became too awkward for Jade to handle, causing her to fidget a bit before turning to Smoke and asking, "You know, I've been wondering," she nonchalantly nodded towards the mask Smoke was wearing over the lower part of his face, "why is it that you still wear a mask?" Jade gave him an amused look. "Perhaps you are a bit... nervous around the person who defeated you in kombat?"

"Humph," Smoke scoffed. "Do not flatter yourself. I am not nearly as shallow as Johnny Cage."

"THAT is an understatement. No one is as shallow as Johnny Cage."

"I suppose that is true." Smoke sighed upon realizing that he had to give her a satisfactory answer. "I must admit... it's a fairly silly reason."

"Well then, by all means, tell it. After hearing the shallowness of Johnny Cage's jokes, I could use a good laugh."

Smoke let out another exasperated sigh as he shook his head, defeated. In all his years, he had never met a woman more persistent than the one standing beside him. "Fine. If you must know," he sheepishly indicated towards his mask, "the mask... calms me. It helps to remind me of simpler times, times where I am not fighting for my life as intensely as I am now." He shook his head shamefully. "A Lin Kuei who is afraid to face the present. I truly am pitiful, aren't I?"

"Under normal Lin Kuei standards, perhaps," Jade answered. "But here?" Jade shook her head. "I would think not. If anything, it would only better everyone else's view of you if you told them this. It's comforting, knowing that a trained assassin could also be familiar with the feeling of fear as anybody else can. And if it's any consolation," she hesitated uncomfortably, "Kitana and I are just as pitiful."

Smoke scoffed. "Is that so?"

Jade nodded. "Yes," she gently insisted. "Throughout the entire war so far, in order to help us cope with all of the death and destruction, Kitana and I have made a competition out of it."

Smoke's eyes widened in a mixture of bewildered and horrified surprise. "A... competition?"

Jade nodded her head with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. "Yes." She folded her arms as she looked up and began to reminisce about the past. "We used to do it all the time whenever Shao Kahn sent us on missions. Whoever killed the most enemies by the end of the mission, or whoever succeeded in killing the target of our mission would be the winner. Naturally, Kitana would always win, but between you and me," she leaned towards him and whispered, "I may have let her win a few times."

"Really?" Smoke asked, slightly amused by the exotic woman's retelling of the more lighthearted parts of her past.

Jade smiles cheekily. "Really. Kitana was the emperor's daughter, after all. He expected much from her, sometimes too much. As Kitana's friend and protector, it was my job to protect her from igniting her father's wrath... even when she couldn't help but ignite it on occasion anyway."

Smoke let out a small, lighthearted chuckle. "I can certainly relate. Sub-Zero and I were practically the same way in our younger days. That does beg the question however," Smoke folded his arms, "if we manage to end this conflict, and you happen to survive, what will you do next? The princess is a princess no longer, just as you are no longer the princess' protector. What will you do once we rid the realm of Shao Kahn and his forces?"

Jade took a moment to think of the best possible answer before resolutely saying, "Princess of Outworld or not, Kitana is, and always will be, my best friend. Protecting her isn't my duty, it is my will. Besides, from what she has told me, she is interested in restoring the land of her mother, Edenia. I wager that that will keep us busy for quite some time; and if we do succeed in bringing it back, then she will have to rule it, making her a royal and I her protector still."

Smoke nodded. "Well said."

Jade tilted her head to the side out of curiosity. "And you? What do you plan on doing after Shao Kahn has been defeated?"

Smoke thought about it for a second before answering, "The Lin Kuei must be redeemed after what they have done to themselves. I was thinking that perhaps Sub-Zero and I could rebuild the clan from scratch, if we had to." Jade nodded her head understandingly. "And if not, then I will just devote the rest of my life to protecting him. It's the least I could do after all of the trouble and suffering I've caused him."

Jade's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing this. "I fail to see exactly what type of 'trouble and suffering' you are referring to."

Smoke sighed upon realizing that he was going to have to explain to her what he meant or else she'd persistently try to get the answer out of him herself. He rubbed his eyes wearily with one hand before dejectedly muttering, "... It should have been me."

"What?!"

"It should have been me," Smoke repeated firmly. "I should have been the one turned into a cyborg, not him!"

"Stop that, this instant!" Jade sternly scolded. "That type of talk isn't going to help anyone!"

"But it's true!" Smoke argued. "I heard Raiden himself say that in the original timeline, I was the one taken and turned, not him! My survival has doomed him to a life possibly worse than death!"

"Inadvertently!" Jade cried. "And even if you had been taken, then all that would mean is that Sub-Zero would be the one standing here grieving over the same thing! I've seen with my own two eyes the bond that you two share with each other, so do not try to deny it!" Upon witnessing Smoke hang his head, Jade placed a hand on his chest and gently pressed against it. "Now listen here and listen well," Jade gently instructed. "You did not condemn Sub-Zero to a fate worse than death. You saved him from it! If it weren't for you, we would have never freed him from the Lin Kuei and Shao Kahn's control! He would've still been our enemy! And now, you've given him the chance to atone for what he's done under their influence!" She slowly removed her hand. "And if you still insist on making 'amends', then continue to look after him as you have always done and help us end this conflict, once and for all, so that he may never be forced to do the enemy's bidding ever again."

After a long and gut-wrenching silence, Smoke finally nodded his head, much to Jade's relief. "Understood," Smoke said, rolling his shoulders and stretching his neck as he did. "I will not fail him a second time." A sudden thought then crossed his mind. "But if I do -"

"Do not say that!"

"But if I do fail Sub-Zero, by dying in this conflict before he does," Smoke said firmly. "Then I ask you, as a fellow friend and fellow protector... to protect Sub-Zero in my stead."

Jade gasped. "This offer...," she shook her head, "I cannot accept -"

"We are at war, and war is unkind and unforgiving. It takes people away on a whim without a second thought. So promise me, that if this war decides to take me away, that you will protect Sub-Zero in my stead."

Jade looked long and hard into Smoke's eyes before thinking it over and saying, "Not unless you promise to do the same for Kitana if something were ever to happen to me."

Smoke nodded. "Then it is done." He bowed. "Thank you."

Jade returned the bow with one of her own. "Likewise."

Author's Note: Whether you pair these two up romantically or not, you must admit, they have quite a bit in common. It's a shame they couldn't get more time to interact in the actual story. Something tells me that they'd at least get along fairly well. Ah well, hope you liked it!