Sparing session.

Chapter 19: Skarlet Nights. Pt 1.

“Keep moving,” Jade ordered, her staff cutting through the air in quick, practised arcs. Left. Right. A sudden feint. Then another strike aimed at Fenrir's ribs.

“I am moving,” he shot back, twisting out of the way as best he could while keeping his sword from meeting her weapon in return.

Jade answered with a sharp, efficient motion that caught him off balance and sent him stumbling to the ground. Before he could recover, the point of her staff came to rest a few inches from his face.

“Then stop being so sloppy, my dear,” she said with a smug little smile.

Fenrir exhaled through his nose, more amused than offended, though the dignity of being pinned there by his wife was certainly not helping his pride. Jade held the stance for another heartbeat, triumphant and poised, but even as victory sat comfortably on her features, there was a quiet conflict beneath it. Part of her was pleased to have outmatched him. That was no small thing. The three queens of Outworld and Edenia had all learned that Fenrir was not easy to defeat once he settled into his rhythm. Two of every three sparring sessions usually ended with him adapting, surprising them, or pulling out some hidden instinct at the last second. He had a way of turning the tide when it looked most unlikely. This time, though, he had not.

And that was exactly what troubled her.

Jade helped him up a moment later, though not before giving him a look that said she was not entirely satisfied. She turned away and made for the racks of practice weapons along the training ground, her steps firmer than necessary as she crossed the stone floor.

Fenrir watched her go with a faint smile. “You seem a little irritated, Jade. Was I really that bad?”

At the edge of the platform, Kitana straightened from where she had been watching and stepped down towards them, her expression calm but her eyes already narrowing with suspicion. “She has every right to be,” she said, her voice smooth and composed. “You are holding back.”

Fenrir blinked at her, genuinely puzzled. “Why would you say that? I’m fighting as I always do.” He rolled one shoulder, then looked back toward Jade with an easy grin. “The two of you are doing great this morning. That is all.”

The words were light, but they were not honest. He knew it. Jade knew it. Kitana definitely knew it.

The truth sat heavy beneath the surface of the training ground, pressing against the space between them whether he wanted it there or not. Ever since the revelation in Ixmucane, since the truth of his blood had begun to feel less like a distant mystery and more like a threat with teeth, Fenrir had found himself watching every movement with too much caution. After what had happened with Reiko in Sun Do, after how the adrenaline of battle could twist into something feral and ugly in a heartbeat, he could not shake the fear that one wrong surge of adrenaline might be enough to crack something open inside him. He did not fear for himself. He feared for them.

One missed step, one wild swing...One careless parry.

That would be all it took.

He knew how little it would matter if he lost control even for a second. He had already felt the edge of that darkness before, the unsettling sensation that something beneath his skin was waiting to answer violence with violence. The training helped. It sharpened his body, steadied his hand, kept his mind disciplined. But the possibility remained, and it haunted him more than he had let on. He was becoming careful in the wrong way, and the women who knew him best were starting to notice.

Unseen by any of them, another pair of eyes watched from deeper in the shadows.

Mileena remained hidden near the outer edge of the training grounds, silent and still, her presence swallowed by the darker stone and the tall pillars that framed the platform. She had been keeping herself apart for days now, a decision she had made and then never quite been able to undo. Something heavy lived inside her chest, something bitter and raw enough to turn affection into suspicion. Bitter toward her sister. Bitter toward the truth she had discovered. Bitter toward the way Fenrir seemed to belong to everyone and no one at once, while Mileena felt herself slipping farther and farther into the corners.

Kitana’s smile, though genuine, turned sharp with disbelief. “Thank you, darling,” she said, her tone almost sweet. “But that is, as your humans would say, bullshit, and you know it.”

Jade had already turned back toward him by then, her arms crossing over her chest in a posture that was both severe and unmistakably caring. “Agreed,” she said, not bothering to soften the edge in her voice. “What is wrong with you these last couple of days? You have been distant ever since our visit to Z’Unkahrah. You are here, but not really here.”

Fenrir's smile thinned. “There is nothing wrong with me. I just have a lot on my mind lately. Training on par with you two this morning was not one of those things, unfortunately.”

Neither of them believed him. That much was obvious.

Kitana exchanged a glance with Jade, then turned back with something quieter in her expression. “Did we do something wrong?”

The question caught him off guard. “What? No!” He shook his head at once, more firmly than before. “You two are incredible. You always are.”

Again, the two queens looked at one another, confusion giving way to concern.

“Then what is it, Fen?” Kitana asked more softly now, though her voice carried an urgency she did not bother hiding.
Fenrir hesitated. He knew exactly what was wrong; he knew exactly what the truth would cost.

He could not tell them about the blood in his veins, not yet. Not the full extent of it. Not what it meant, not how dangerous it was, not how much danger it might bring to the women he loved simply by standing too close. The thought sat like a blade in his throat. And yet he also knew that silence, if kept too long, could become its own kind of cruelty.

So he gave them something real, though not everything.

“There is something I need to do soon,” he said at last, and the weight in his own voice made Jade straighten almost imperceptibly.

“The Shokan matter?” Jade asked at once. “If that is what this is about, you do not need to carry it alone. We can help.”

“No,” Fenrir said gently, though he shook his head with enough finality to prevent her from pressing it. “It is not that.”
He drew a breath. “I have to go somewhere else. Alone.”

The concern on both women’s faces deepened immediately.

“Fenrir,” Kitana said, her tone tightening with worry, “you are scaring us. What is going on?”

He looked between them, weighing the truth against the fear it would cause. Finally, he spoke. “After the situation in Kuatan is dealt with,” he said, carefully, “I need to go to the Netherrealm. There is a personal matter I have to settle there.”

For a moment the training grounds seemed to freeze around them.

Jade’s expression sharpened in shock. Kitana’s brows lifted, more startled than she would have liked to show. Even the air itself seemed to thicken with the weight of the words.

From the shadows, Mileena’s eyes widened too.

The thought struck her so suddenly it nearly drove her out of hiding. Go to the Netherrealm? Now? Alone? She had to force herself not to move, not to rush out and grab him by the arm and beg him to reconsider. To stay here. To stay where it was safe. With her. The thought of losing him to that place made something cold and desperate tighten in her chest.

“The Netherrealm?” Jade repeated, incredulous. “Why in the name of the Elder Gods would you go there, Fenrir?”

“I wish I could tell you,” he said quietly, and the sigh that followed carried more restraint than relief. “I promise I will explain everything once I return. But I should speak of it then.”

Neither woman looked entirely satisfied with that answer, but after a brief exchange of glances, both finally gave in. Kitana’s expression softened first, then Jade’s.

“Very well,” Jade said, though her tone remained serious. “Then be careful. I know it will not be your first time in the Netherrealm, but do not become overconfident. It is not the kind of place where virtue survives easily.”

Those words landed differently than simple caution. They seemed to through Fenrir and settle somewhere deeper, somewhere beneath the armour of his composure. Jade knew how to speak to him when it mattered. Not just as a queen. Not just as a warrior. As someone who could reach straight through him and touch the place where doubt lived...As her equal.

“I will,” he said, and when he reached for her arm, the touch was gentle enough to promise he meant it. “I promise.”
Hidden where none of them could see her, Mileena felt her heart jump painfully at the sight. He would come back. She knew he would. Fenrir always came back. He was too stubborn, too determined, too alive to disappear into darkness and remain there. Still, knowing that did not stop the fear from blooming. It did not stop her from wanting to be the reason he stayed.

At that moment, a guard came hurrying down the steps toward them and stopped short as soon as he realised who stood before him. He bowed immediately, posture snapping into place with military precision.

“Emperor,” he said. “They have arrived. Shall I let them in?”

The three of them exchanged a look, and Fenrir straightened at once, the private heaviness in him giving way to the wider weight of responsibility. He had nearly forgotten that the meeting with the Lin Kuei was scheduled for today.

“Oh, right,” he said, quickly composing himself. “Yes. Let them in, and have Erron and Scarlet escort them inside. Make certain they are watched at all times. I trust their judgment. I cannot say the same for their intentions.”

The guard gave a sharp salute, hand to chest, before turning on his heel and leaving as quickly as he had come.

“Go,” Kitana said, already regaining her own poise. “We will you soon. I need to change first, and it would be better if they saw you before they saw us.”

Jade nodded once in agreement, her expression already back under control.

Fenrir gave them both a small, silent gesture of acknowledgement, then leaned in to press a quick kiss to each of them before heading after the guard.

From the shadows, Mileena watched him go. For one heartbeat, Mileena considered following him.

The thought came so quickly that she almost acted upon it. She imagined stepping from the shadows, calling Fenrir's name before he disappeared through the palace corridors, perhaps even demanding that he take her with him when the time came. The Netherrealm was no place for anyone to wander alone, Nephilim or otherwise. She could protect him. She could stand beside him.

But Mileena did not move.

Her gaze lingered on the corridor through which Fenrir had vanished before slowly drifting back toward the two Edenians who remained behind, toward her sister.

Mileena's fingers tightened against her chest. So, it was true. Deep down, she had known. She had heard them that night. Heard enough, at least. Yet some foolish, desperate part of her had still clung to the hope that Fenrir's obligations to Kitana were nothing more than that, obligations. Political necessities demanded by crowns, kingdoms, and alliances. She had wanted to believe that perhaps, beneath all of it, he only truly desired her...Foolish.

Mileena clenched her fist.

Why did she always have to take everything from her? Drawing a slow breath through her nose, Mileena forced the bitterness down. She buried it beneath the same mask she had worn countless times in Shao Kahn's court, when a misplaced expression could earn punishment and weakness was little more than an invitation for cruelty.

Then she stepped from the shadows. Kitana noticed her first. Jade followed an instant later. “Greetings, Mileena,” Jade said, offering her a warm, genuine smile. “Where have you been? I was beginning to worry.”

There was no accusation in her voice. No hidden insult. That was simply Jade. Always serene. Always balanced. Capable of finding the proper words before everyone else had finished deciding which weapon to draw.

“I could ask the same thing,” Kitana said with her arms crossed, almost reprimanding her sister in the way she said it.

Kitana's voice changed everything. Mileena slowly turned her head toward her sister. The words themselves were harmless. Almost laughably so.

It was the way Kitana had spoken them.

That regal, measured cadence. Cold without appearing cruel. Judgment wrapped beneath centuries of courtly discipline, delivered with the composure of a princess who had spent ten thousand years learning how to wound someone without ever raising her voice.

Mileena knew that tone; she had endured it for weeks. At first, she had ignored the distant looks and clipped replies.
Kitana was confused. Hurt. Mileena had told herself that much. Their relationship had never been simple, and after everything that had happened between them, perhaps some tension was inevitable.

But this? Now? After what she discovered?

The knot inside her chest pulled tighter. “I do not have to explain myself to you, sister,” Mileena replied. Her voice was quiet, dangerously quiet.

Kitana's expression hardened.

Mileena walked past her without another glance and approached the weapon rack. Her fingers moved across the assortment of practice blades before settling around the familiar handles of two blunted sai. “I hold the same rank as you in this palace,” Mileena continued, casually testing the weight of one weapon before rotating it between her fingers. “That includes the privilege of privacy.”

Kitana stepped forward.

Jade immediately caught her wrist. “Kitana.” Only her name, nothing more, was necessary.

Kitana looked toward her friend and found a warning waiting in Jade's eyes. Think. For once, think before you act when dealing with her.

Jade had watched the change between the sisters unfold slowly. What had begun as uncomfortable remarks and petty arguments had become something sharper over the last few days. Their conversations lasted less and less. Their insults cut deeper. Even the way they looked at one another had changed.

There was history behind those eyes, centuries of it. Love. Resentment. Jealousy. Guilt. Wounds neither sister understood well enough to heal.

Jade feared what would happen if one of them finally decided to tear those wounds open.

Kitana pulled her wrist free. “Kitana,” Jade warned again. Yet the Edenian queen ignored her.

A smile slowly crept across Mileena's lips. “Would you care for a spar, sister?”

Kitana stopped. Mileena turned to face her properly, resting one sai lazily against her shoulder. The challenge was obvious, so was the mockery.

“Unless...” Mileena tilted her head. “You are tired.”

Kitana's jaw tightened. Jade closed her eyes. “Elder Gods give me patience,” she muttered.

Kitana said nothing; she crossed toward the weapon rack and took her dagger-fans. The metallic snap of both weapons opening echoed throughout the training grounds.

Mileena's smile widened. “That is what I thought.”

Kitana settled into her stance. Perfect posture. Balanced footing. One fan raised defensively near her chest while the other remained lower, prepared to strike from beneath Mileena's guard.

Mileena stood differently. Loose. Almost careless. Her shoulders remained relaxed, her sai hanging at her sides as though the entire affair bored her. Yet underneath that facade lay a predator in disguise.

Kitana knew better. Mileena had never fought like an Edenian. Shao Kahn had not created her to duel honourably in palace courtyards. She had been bred to hunt. Tarkatan instinct lived alongside Edenian agility in every movement she made.

Her style was vicious, unpredictable, deliberately uncomfortable to fight against. Where Kitana controlled a battle, Mileena consumed it.

Pink energy from Mileena's magic flashed. Kitana moved immediately, yet Mileena had vanished.

A second flash erupted to Kitana's left. She pivoted. Nothing, no strike. Another behind her. Kitana spun, one fan cutting through empty air just as Mileena disappeared again.

“Too slow,” Mileena whispered from somewhere nearby.

Kitana's eyes narrowed. Pink light erupted above her. Mileena descended from the air, a fly kick pointed downward as she threw the full weight of her body behind the attack.

Kitana rolled aside; the attack struck stone. Before Mileena could properly recover, Kitana was already moving. Her first fan swept toward Mileena's ribs. Blocked. The second came high. Mileena ducked. Kitana pivoted elegantly on one foot and drove her heel toward Mileena's jaw. Mileena barely leaned away in time; the kick ed just inches away from her face.

Kitana continued the rotation, transforming the missed strike into another sweeping attack with her fan. Metal crashed against metal.

Mileena grunted; Kitana pressed forward.

One strike. Then two to three.

Every movement flowed naturally into the next, the practised elegance of an Edenian assassin refined through thousands of years of combat. There was no wasted motion. No unnecessary brutality. Only precision and grace.

Mileena retreated beneath the assault, twisting her body away from one fan before catching the other between the prongs of her sai. Where Kitana pulled, Mileena held firm.

For a brief instant, the sisters stood nearly face-to-face. “You seem angry,” Mileena whispered.

Kitana glared at her. “Do I?”

Mileena grinned. “Yes.”

She slammed her forehead into Kitana's.

Kitana staggered. “Mileena!” Jade barked...Too late. Mileena spun and drove a roundhouse kick into Kitana's side, sending her sliding several feet across the stone.

Kitana recovered quickly, planting one hand against the ground before gracefully rising back into her stance. The sisters stared at one another; neither smiled now.

Jade's arms slowly crossed over her chest. She didn't like this, not one bit.

“Not bad, sis,” Mileena said, beginning to circle Kitana. “Not bad at all.” Kitana followed her movements carefully. Mileena twirled one sai. “Though I expected more.”

“Shut up.”

Mileena stopped. Something flickered behind her eyes. Kitana threw both fans. The weapons screamed through the air. Mileena bent backwards beneath the first, its sharpened edge ing directly above her face. The second curved toward her from the opposite direction.

Mileena jumped. For one beautiful instant, she ed directly between both spinning weapons, twisting gracefully through the narrow opening before landing in a crouch.

Even Kitana looked surprised. An almost shy, proud smirk produced on her lips. Mileena noticed that too; her grin returned. Proudly...Yet it soon died.

One fan immediately curved back toward Kitana's hand, summoned by its mistress's magic; the other did not. It struck the stone wall behind Mileena and buried itself between the bricks.

Kitana's eyes flickered toward it. In that moment of weakness, she struck. Mileena closed the distance like a starving beast finally released from its cage.

Kitana barely raised her remaining fan in time. Sai struck steel. Again and again. Mileena attacked in a chaotic rhythm. That was what made her so difficult to predict. Kitana understood patterns. Every trained warrior had them. Habits built through repetition. Even the greatest kombatants in the realms unconsciously favored certain movements.

Mileena seemed to reject them entirely.

A sai thrust became an elbow. The elbow became a spinning kick. Kitana blocked. Mileena dropped low. Kitana retreated. A sai swept toward her stomach. She twisted away. Mileena reversed her grip and punched with the pommel.

Kitana caught her wrist. For one heartbeat, they froze.

Kitana saw her sister. Not the queen or Shao Kahn's creation. Mileena. Her eyes were wild. Angry. Hurt... full of sorrow. Could she...? No. She couldn't have. It was impossible; who would have told her?

The hesitation cost her. Mileena ripped her wrist free and attacked. Kitana raised her fan...Too late. The sai slipped past her guard. A thin line of pain burned across her cheek.

Both women stopped.

A single drop of blood ran down Kitana's face. Mileena stared at it. Her expression changed, only for an instant. Shock. She had not meant to...She couldn't control herself.

Kitana touched her cheek; her fingertips came away red. Something inside her eyes hardened.

Mileena saw it happen; the shock disappeared from her own face. Fine. If that was how Kitana wished to look at her...Mileena swept Kitana's legs from beneath her. Kitana struck the ground hard, her remaining fan slipping from her grasp and clattering across the stone.

Mileena stepped forward, one sai pointed toward Kitana's throat. Silence. Kitana stared upward. Mileena stared down. For the briefest moment, neither stood in the palace training grounds. They were children again. Two daughters raised beneath Shao Kahn's shadow. Two girls who had been taught that only one heir could ever truly matter.

One born.
One made.
One princess.
One replacement.

Yet underneath that bitterness, there was still a bond. Now almost buried yet still as strong and everlasting as the day it was born. The day Kitana was reprimanded by her father, Mileena came to reassure and comfort her without a second thought. That was the day that bond was born.

Mileena's fingers tightened around her sai, almost twitching in doubt.

“Enough!” Jade moved between them. Her staff slammed against Mileena's weapon and forced it aside before Jade shoved her backwards with enough strength to create several feet of distance between the sisters. “What the hell are you two doing?” Jade demanded, but neither dared to answer. Jade looked between them incredulously. “Have you both lost your minds?”

She immediately crouched beside Kitana and helped her stand. The wound was shallow, barely more than a scratch, but that did little to calm the fury building inside Jade towards her friend's recklessness.

Her attention snapped toward Kitana first. “I warned you.”

Kitana covered the cut with her fingers. “Jade—”

“No.” The firmness of Jade's voice silenced her. “I told you to think before acting. You refused to listen. Again.” Kitana looked away. “And look where that has brought you.”

Jade turned. Mileena still stood several feet away; her sai remained in her hands. Her eyes remained fixed on Kitana.

“And you.” Mileena said nothing. “What were you thinking?” Jade demanded. “That was a sparring match, not Mortal Kombat. Were you trying to kill her?”

The accusation struck harder than Jade intended. Mileena's eyes widened. “No....” The answer came immediately, softly.
Mileena looked away, shame briefly pulling at her expression. She had not wanted to kill Kitana. She had not even meant to cut her. For all the anger burning inside her, the sight of Kitana's blood had frightened her.

But then Mileena looked back; Kitana was staring at her. Not with anger, not entirely. There was something else there.
Disgust. Again. Even after what had just transpired, she couldn't even bring herself to speak with her. Mileena's shame vanished. “You should ask her,” she said coldly.

Jade frowned. “What?”

Mileena's eyes never left Kitana. “She is the favourite, after all.”

Kitana's face twisted, standing up. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Mileena smiled bitterly. “You know exactly what it means.”

“No, Mileena, I do not.”

“Oh, please.” Mileena laughed, though there was no amusement in it. “Do not insult me by pretending ignorance. You have always been so very clever, haven't you?”

Kitana stepped forward. Jade immediately blocked her path. “Mileena,” Kitana said through clenched teeth, “if you have something to accuse me of, then speak plainly.”

“Why?” Mileena asked. “So you can look down your nose at me and explain why I am wrong?”

“I have never—”

“Liar.” The word echoed. Kitana froze. Mileena's breathing had grown heavier. “I have done nothing wrong, Jade.”
Mileena continued, though her words were meant entirely for Kitana now. “I never did.”

Jade's expression changed; there was something buried beneath that sentence. Something much larger than the fight.
Before Jade could question her, Mileena turned away. “Think of this as a statement, Kitana.” She began walking toward the palace. Kitana watched her go. Mileena stopped at the entrance. Slowly, she looked back. “Do not ever think of me as something lesser than you.”

Then she disappeared into the shadows.

Silence returned to the training grounds. Kitana stood rigid. “How dare she?”

Jade stared at her. Then something inside the Edenian finally snapped. “How dare you be this irrational?” Kitana turned sharply. “This is unbecoming of you, Kitana.”

“You are taking her side?”

“There are no sides!” Jade's voice thundered across the courtyard.

Kitana fell silent. Even Jade seemed momentarily surprised by the force of her own words. She drew a breath. Then another. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter. But no less firm. “That is the problem,” Jade said. “The two of you keep insisting there must be sides.”

Kitana's anger faltered.

“I do not know what has happened between you,” Jade continued. “But I have watched this grow for weeks. Every conversation becomes an argument. Every glance becomes an insult. And now you are drawing blood.”

“She attacked me.” Kitana retorted defensively.

“You accepted her challenge.” Kitana opened her mouth, yet nothing came. Jade stepped closer. “I warned you not to.” Kitana lowered her gaze. “The next time I see either of you behaving like this, I will intervene before the first weapon is drawn,” Jade said. “I do not care which crown either of you wears. I will not stand aside while two women I love destroy one another over pride and wounds neither of you dares to speak about.”

That struck something in Kitana; her eyes briefly lifted. Jade's expression softened, only slightly. “We cannot afford this,” she continued, placing a hand on Kitana's arm. “Not now. We are fighting a civil war. Reiko is still out there. Shao Kahn's shadow still hangs over this realm, whether we wish to it it or not. Our enemies would sacrifice entire armies for the opportunity you and Mileena are giving them freely.”

Kitana remained silent. “They do not need to break this family apart,” Jade said quietly. “You are doing it for them.”

The words hurt. Jade knew they would. Perhaps they needed to. She looked directly into Kitana's eyes.

“We cannot betray one another's trust. Do you understand?”

Kitana breathed slowly; her anger had not disappeared. But shame had begun to temper it. “I do,” she finally whispered. “Forgive me.”

Jade's expression softened; she gently squeezed Kitana's arm. She believed her. That was Jade's mistake. Because when Kitana looked toward the darkened entrance where Mileena had disappeared, something remained behind her eyes. The cut on her cheek stung. Mileena's accusation echoed in her thoughts.

The favourite.

Kitana's fingers slowly curled. Once, she had looked at Mileena and seen her sister. A difficult sister. An infuriating sister. The sister she loved and trusted despite it all.

Now, to her, a sister born from Shang Tsung's sorcery and Shao Kahn's obsession, perhaps, but a sister nonetheless.
They had laughed together...Trained together. Put their lives at risk for each other. Shared secrets beneath the cold halls of the fortress when Shao Kahn's footsteps were distant enough that they could pretend they were merely two girls instead of weapons waiting to be used.

Kitana ed those days; she desperately wished she did not. Because now, whenever she looked at Mileena, another memory forced itself forward. Covering the warmth in those childhood memories.

The Flesh Pits. The vats. The smell. The abominations Shang Tsung had created...And the truth.

Mileena had not been born beside her. She had been made to replace her, if not a countermeasure, if she ever left his side.

A better daughter for Shao Kahn, a more obedient princess. A creature wearing Edenian beauty over Tarkatan blood, created because Kitana had ceased to be useful. Or perhaps just fear of what she could become if she learned the truth about who her real father was. He was right, that bastard. Here she was, alive. Sitting on his throne in defiance of everything he once stood for.

Kitana closed her eyes. "She is your sister. This is not her fault. She never chose this life." Her heart whispered it. Kitana begged herself to listen. But another voice, one filled with anger, had begun whispering louder. "She is your replacement."
When Kitana opened her eyes again, the palace entrance was empty. Mileena was gone. Yet Kitana could still see her standing there. Sai in hand. Blood on its edge. For the first time in centuries, Kitana did not see the girl she had grown up beside. She saw the creature from the Flesh Pits. The imitation.

The abomination Shao Kahn had ordered into existence when his true daughter disappointed him...A monster.
Kitana's stomach twisted; she hated herself for thinking it. She hated Mileena for making the thought so easy. And somewhere beneath both feelings lived a realisation far more frightening than either.

Something had to be done...Kitana simply did not know whether she was strong enough to do it.