A/N: Thank you reviewers and all of you who have favorited this story. The last part of this chapter is a conversation between Noob and Saibot, talking to each other in Noob's head. Saibot is talking in italics, as per usual, Noob answers in bold letters. I'm really looking forward to writing the next couple of chapters. Also, can we get a FUCK YES! for a) Noob Saibot returning to MK11 and b) Kuai and Hanzo apparently finally teaming up in the new game's story mode? I cannot wait for the 23rd.

CHAPTER 19: Out of the Shadows and Into the Fire

When she came to, the first thing she felt was heat. Scorching, burning heat that seemed to be eating her up from the inside. Breathing was hard. Every time she inhaled, she could taste nothing but ashes and no matter how hard she was breathing in, it never seemed to be enough and the air felt like acid in her lungs. Her shirt was drenched in blood, the stab wound in her stomach only covered by a makeshift bandage. This is where she started to panic. Her breaths became erratic, her heart was beating against her chest like a jackhammer and when the smell of rotten corpses and burned flesh hit her nose, she could not restrain herself any longer. She threw up on to the dirty ground of her dungeon cell until she felt like there was nothing left inside of her.

"Calm down. You're no good to us if you're dead." A deep, distorted voice spoke. She raised her head a little and looked up. Through the bars of her cell she saw a pair of black boots. Exhausted, she managed to turn around and sit, her back and head leaning against the wall, looking at the man from the corner of her eye. She recognized him as the man who had been in the forest with Marcus and her.

"Can't... can't breathe. Burns... hot..." she said hoarsely.

"The Netherrealm tends to have that effect on the living. You're a cryomancer. Use your power." Jaime looked at her hands and tried to focus. It took all of her strength to conjure the tiniest blue light between her palms. It faded away even before she could create a single splinter of ice.

"Can't... too... weak... too hot." She replied, her face distorted in pain. The black-clad man let out an annoyed grumble, then moved closer to the cell, touched his right hand to the ground and within seconds, the floor and all four walls were covered in ice. She instantly found it easier to breathe and managed to slow her heartbeat down a little. She took a couple of deep breaths, then opened her eyes, turned her head sideways and glanced at the man guarding her cell. His clothes were all black and most of his face covered by a mask. The eyes staring down at her were not human. They were white, with no irises – like Hanzo's – she thought.

"Who are you?" She asked hoarsely. "Why... Here?" She managed to add. Do not look at her. Do not speak to her. He heard the shadow whisper inside of his head. So he did not answer. Instead he turned his back to her and resumed guarding her dungeon.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Sub-Zero yelled at Smoke furiously. "Why was she even out by herself? In the middle of the night, while I wasn't there to protect her? Why?" He turned around and faced the window, his head hanging low. Kenshi had sent a message to Hanzo on their way back and ordered him see if Jaime was ok. When they had not been able to find her anywhere within the walls of Lin Kuei Palace, he had sent search parties out to look for her, but so far they had been unsuccessful. Kuai had been feeling somewhere between angry and desperate when they had finally arrived at the palace. Something was missing. He could not point his finger at what it was, but then realized, that he could no longer feel Jaime's presence around. He had never really noticed it before but ever since he had heard her scream in his mind, he felt as if she had been erased from existence, when before, her spirit had covered him like a warm blanket no matter where he was.

"Kuai Liang..." His friend tried to calm him down, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. He knew Sub-Zero's anger was not directed at him, not really.

"I should not have left. I should have stayed here. This is my fault. Hanzo was right." His voice now sounded desperate more than anything else.

"It is not. You are letting your emotions get the better of you, Kuai. Think, she was out there for a reason. And I don't think the fact that she had reason to leave the Lin Kuei temple right when you were not there was a coincidence... It was a trap. Someone made her go to wherever she went. And someone maybe made you leave."

Kuai Liang thought about this for a moment, when two guards entered the great hall, clearly out of breath and in a hurry. He also seemed to be greatly disturbed by something.

"Grandmaster!" One of them exclaimed, shaking Sub-Zero out of his thoughts.

"What now?" He yelled back, still angry, mostly at himself. The guard stopped in his tracks immediately, as he had obviously caught the Grandmaster in a terrible mood.

"What is it Rami?" Smoke asked the young man, stepping forward, putting a hand on his shoulder to get him to calm himself.

"We found... we found...," he stammered between breaths, "we found Skewer. In the southern forest. He's dead."

"What?" Tomas said in disbelief.

"Looks like there was a confrontation. He was stabbed..." Rami explained, his voice shaky, seemingly terrified of saying something else. Tomas immediately noticed this and it wasn't lost on Kuai Liang either.

"Stabbed by whom?" The Grandmaster, now in a calmer, yet still tense tone, inquired as he stepped towards Rami.

"I don't know, Grandmaster, truthfully." The young Lin Kuei was obviously hiding something. He exchanged looks with Tomas, but did not dare to look Kuai in the eyes.

"But...?"

"A Kori blade, Grandmaster. He was stabbed with a Kori blade." Kuai looked at him in shock. There were only two people in the world left that he knew of, who were able to create such a weapon. Himself and Jaime.

She sat with her back against the dirty concrete wall, trying to make her body touch as much of the thin layer of ice that covered the cell as possible. After having overcome the first wave of panic that hit her when she had woken up, she now tried to stay calm and use as little energy as possible. Her eyes closed, she tried to meditate, clear her mind and find a solution for the mess she had – admittedly – put herself in. She knew she should not have listened to Marcus, she should have gone to Hanzo for help. Ironically, she also realized why Marcus had been so angry about her presence. She was Kuai Liang's biggest weakness. And he was hers. She had sensed that something wasn't right but she had panicked. Because of Kuai. She let out a sigh and when she opened her eyes again, she saw the black-clad man still standing in front of the cell, his back turned to her. His form and posture seemed oddly familiar to her. Even his stern, threatening voice had sounded like something she'd heard before. And when her gaze drifted to the ice he had created to make her breathe a little easier, she suddenly knew who was guarding her. She drew in a quick breath at the realization, covering her mouth with her hands in shock, then let her eyes wander to her prison guard once more. I should keep my damn mouth shut. But if he is who I think he is, then maybe he will help me. Or not. He could kill me. Easily. I'm weak. I don't know if or when I can use my powers down here. But why hasn't he killed me already then? Shit, why does it have to be so hard to breathe? What did he say again? I'm no good if I'm dead? So he needs me. They need me. Who's they? I have to find out. Her thoughts were running wild inside her head, but once she had decided that she had nothing to lose and that the odds couldn't possibly be even less in her favor than they already were she eventually decided to speak.

"I... is there any chance that you could get me something to drink?" She asked carefully. No answer. "I know you probably don't require hydration anymore but I do. I'm sure you remember that about humans." she continued, not willing to give up at the first try. Still no answer. She now slowly tried to get on her feet. She managed to stand up just barely before her legs gave in and she crumbled to the ground again. Everything seemed to be harder here, every move required twice the effort, the air seemed to weigh heavy on her shoulders, pushing her back down. Since standing up wasn't an option at the moment, she used what little strength she had left to crawl to the entrance of the small cell, grabbing a hold of the bars and pushing herself up again. She panted as she was finally standing on her feet, right behind the hooded man, holding on to the rusty metal bars for support.

"I said...", she began whispering hoarsely close to his left ear, out of breath, sweat dripping down her face despite the ice surrounding her, "I need water, Bi-Han." As he twitched ever so slightly at the sound of the name, she knew her assumption to be right. This was indeed Kuai Liang's brother. He turned around slowly, revealing his covered face and white eyes to her, his expression unreadable.

"You are in no position to make demands." He said sternly.

"But you said... you said I was no good if I was dead. And I... will most certainly not last long here if I don't hydrate." She replied hoarsely. He stared at her for a few moments, taking in the sight before him. The weapon his master and the Emperor of Outworld were after, clinging to the bars of her prison, her body limp and powerless, her hair falling into her face dirty from the ashes and wet from the sweat that was covering her pale skin. Her breath still smelled like vomit, yet only slightly covering the stench of dried blood, sweat and the slowly rotting flesh of the wound she had received from Marcus' dagger.

She is not wrong. She is dying. We can smell the infection spreading in her wound. Saibot whispered to him in his mind. Noob nodded in agreement, then reached a hand through the bars, grabbing Jaime by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up. She instinctively grabbed on to his arm, protesting, trying to free herself, but to no avail. She tried to say something under her shallow breaths but he did not let go.

"Stop struggling. You are only making it worse." He commanded. "Calm yourself." He said as his free hand suddenly reached for the gash in her abdomen. She inwardly panicked and flinched at the touch, she wanted to scream out in pain but her voice was too weak still. His hand was burning on her bloodstained skin, like fire gnawing at the fibers of frayed tissue, like sandpaper on a raw nerve. And then, just as she was ready to pass out, she felt a cold, soothing sensation penetrating the wound. Her eyes darted downwards and saw a thin sheen of ice gluing her broken skin together, the cold numbing the pain enough for her to finally relax a little. When he removed his hand, the wound was gone, and left was only a thin, blue-silverish scar. He then put her feet back on the ground and let go of her collar. Jaime instantly grabbed on to the metal bars again, as she was sure she would not be able to stand on her own just yet. She looked at her stomach with a mix of shock and amazement.

"Don't touch it." Noob growled as she moved to inspect his work with her fingertips. "It's not healed, just holding up the infection." Jaime withdrew her hand from her freshly treated wound. "Here. Hydrate." He added as he produced an icicle from his hands. She looked at him in surprise but then quickly took it from him before he could change his mind. She carefully bit off a piece and let it melt in her mouth, the cool liquid soothingly dripping down her sore throat.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"Has your wraith been successful yet?" Shao Kahn asked, sitting down on his throne, seemingly relaxed. But Quan Chi knew the Emperor was impatient and also inwardly annoyed with the sorcerer, or, more precisely, annoyed with the fact that he had to ally himself with the Netherrealm after his daughter had betrayed him, taking with her all those still loyal to her to join Earthrealm in the fight against him. His armies had gotten significantly smaller as many of his soldiers had lost faith in him after his defeat at the hands of a mere human, his remaining daughter had already once failed to deliver the cryomancer girl to him and neither Reptile nor Baraka had shown any interest to set foot on Lin Kuei territory again to challenge the mighty Sub-Zero. Shang Tsung had then proposed an alliance with the Netherrealm sorcerer. An alliance built on distrust.

"He has. The girl is locked away in my fortress as we speak." Quan Chi replied politely, yet with a touch of arrogance in his voice that he had not even bothered to hide. He wanted to rub it into Shao Kahn's face that his servant had accomplished in a very short amount of time what none of his fighters even dared to try – outplay Sub-Zero. "And your sorcerer?"

"They still think they fought Noob Saibot in the southern forest." Shang Tsung's voice echoed through the halls as he appeared out of thin air on the right next to the Emperor's throne.

"What of the Lin Kuei boy? Has he received our gratitude for his assistance?" Shao Kahn further asked.

"He has. May he rest in peace." Quan Chi said grinning contentedly.

"Well then, sorcerer, bring the girl to me. I want to see what she is capable of for myself."

"My Emperor," the sorcerer began, his grin fading as he was trying hard to bite back an annoyed sigh, "with all due respect, she is not ready. I have to... reprogram her first."

"That shouldn't be too much of a difficulty for you, seen as you are somewhat of an expert in creating fiercely loyal lackeys." Shao Kahn retorted. Quan Chi inwardly rolled his eyes, then took a deep breath and began to explain:

"She is different, my Emperor. She is still alive. And it is not a loyal lackey that you want. You want a weapon of mass destruction and it is her emotions that can turn her into that weapon, her ties to the world. I cannot simply turn her into a revenant, as it would remove these very emotions and she would be only half as powerful."

"The Netherrealm will drain the life right out of her, it is no place for the living. She will most certainly die there. Do you take us for fools, Quan Chi?" Shang Tsung hissed at him, sensing betrayal.

"As a fellow sorcerer, you surely know that there are ways to keep someone alive in the Netherrealm. Or maybe you don't, because you have never actually been there. I am from the Netherrealm, I am its master. How could you even assume that I have not thought of that? She will stay alive just enough..."

You were not supposed to do that.

I'm supposed to keep her alive. She's alive. For now.

You didn't tell our master that she was injured when you reported back to him.

Would you have preferred that I did? We are walking on eggshells as it is. I did not want to compromise our mission by telling him that we got the package sliced open like a fish.

And how are we going to hide this from him? As you said, the wound is not healed and it won't heal any time soon. Not here.

You will have to make a trip to his lab.