From a Woman's Point of View

Friendly Advising to Commanding

Sub-zero felt horrible when she woke up. Her head was pounding and her vision was a bit hazy. She concurred that, for the second time in the same month, she was sick.Good grief. She thought. She stood up and went straight to the shower. She took a bath, put new clothes on and went downstairs. She sat down on the dining table.

"Good morning, Zeiva." Fujin greeted her as she helped herself to some food.

"Good morning, Fujin." She replied. Only Fujin, Nightwolf, Sonya, Johnny, Kenshi and Ermac were on the table.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Kenshi asked.

Sub-zero grimaced.

"Not really." She admitted. There would be no point in hiding it from them.

Ermac and Kenshi frowned.

"Are you all right?" They asked at the same time.

Sub-zero tried to smile and nod. Her head spun as she did so but she tried to act normally.

"Yeah, I suppose." She replied. After a few moments of poking at her food, somebody else sat down on the dining table, it was Scorpion. She tried to ignore the fact that he was sitting as far away from her as possible and continued on poking her food.

"You aren't eating." Ermac noted. He seemed to notice that she had not yet taken a single bite. Sub-zero shook her head and stood up.

"I guess I'm not that hungry. Here," she gave her plate to Kenshi who accepted the food given to him willingly. "You can eat it." She made her way out and noticed that Scorpion did not glance her way even once. She stepped out of the house and made her way to the closest river she could find and sat down on a rock. It felt refreshing to be out there enjoying nature.

"Think, Sub-zero, think." She said to herself. "Or better yet, don't think." She massaged her temples. Her head was throbbing. She touched the water and tried to freeze it, but found out that she was too weak to do so. She sighed. She tried stop thinking about the game last night, but failed miserably.

She remembered all the details of what had taken place, or at least, one of the events that took place. Sub-zero touched her lips as she remembered how it felt when Scorpion pressed his lips to it. She blushed at the memory.

"I shouldn't even be thinking about this." She said. She stood up and made her way back to the house.

OoooooooO

"Zeiva! I was looking for you!" Sub-zero winced as she heard the princess call out to her. She turned around and forced a smile.

"Hello, Kitana." She replied as amiably as she could. Kitana smiled in response. "What did you need from me?" she asked.

"Well, I just wanted to talk to somebody…a girl who isn't Jade." She muttered embarrassedly. Sub-zero nodded as Kitana led her to the sofa and she explained her dilemma.

"It's about Liu." Sub-zero bit her tongue. She knew nothing about intimate relationships; she had never been in one.

"What about him?" she asked.

"Well, you see…I actually like him…maybe even love him but…" she trailed off.

"But what?"

"But it seems like he doesn't like me back." Kitana looked at the floor. She looked so dejected that Sub-zero wanted to give her a hug, but she was too shy to do so.

"What makes you say that?" Sub-zero tried to focus on Kitana's dilemma instead of brooding on the fact that she was sick, her body was weak and her head felt like it would fall off because of its weight.

"Well…he seems so…different when I'm around. He's so fidgety and it seems as if he doesn't want to be in the same room with me." She continued to stare at the floor. Her beautiful face was sad. She met Sub-zero's gaze. "What do you think?"

"Well, I can't really be sure if he likes you or not, because I'm not him, but I do have a theory on that." Sub-zero said. She squinted as her head felt heavier. "You see, men tend to act like abnormally around the women they like. For example, Johnny, if you notice the way he acts around Sonya, it's quite different from the way he acts when he's around you or me…" Kitana smiled at her.

"So, do you think Liu Kang likes me?" Sub-zero tried to smile encouragingly.

"I think so. But that's what my theory tells me. You ought to tell him." I ought to know, I used to act like that when I was around Kitana and Sareena back then…

To her surprise, Kitana hugged her.

"Thanks, so much Zeiva. Yes, maybe I will tell him." She let her go and left her alone on the sofa. She could not help but feel a bit peeved. At least Sub-zero did not try to court her when she was still a guy. She did not take rejection easily. Hopefully, Sareena would still be available after she gets her gender back. However, thinking about it, her feelings for Sareena and Kitana had somehow dissipated after being turned into a woman. Stop thinking, Sub-zero. she thought to herself.

Most of the people were in their respective rooms, so there was nobody in the living room aside from her. She touched her forehead, and her temperature was above normal. She didn't want to bother anyone, so she didn't tell it to them.

"Zeiva," someone called her name and she jumped in surprise. She looked to her right and she saw Scorpion by the staircase. He looked mildly amused by her jumpiness.

"Hey." The two were quiet for some time and Scorpion sat down beside her on the sofa. He sighed, breaking the silence.

"Here's the thing Zeiva, I know you were upset about what happened last night…" and he trailed off. He looked absolutely uncomfortable. Maybe it was difficult for him to talk to somebody without sounding angry.

"No…not upset…just…it feels…awkward…" she managed to say. She was looking at the floor.

"It's damn awkward." He agreed. "I can't believe they made us do that."

"Indubitably." She nodded, ignoring the weight of her head.

Silence once again ensued.

She stood up. "I need to do go and talk to Raiden." As she took a step, however, she fell forward and the last thing she remembered was the feel of Scorpion's arms around her waist.

OoooooooO

Sub-zero opened her eyes. She was in her room. She looked to her side to find Scorpion sitting by her bed, staring at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked. He sounded concerned.

"No, I'm not." Sub-zero said groggily. Her voice was raspy. "My head hurts like hell." Scorpion looked helplessly around him.

To her surprise, Scorpion hugged her.

Although her head hurt like Netherrealm, she felt comfortable in his arms. He let her go and looked at her. Only then did Sub-zero realize that he was not wearing his mask. Sub-zero slid back into the bed and lay down.

"You know, I've never hugged anyone after my wife died…" he shook his head. "Do you need some kind of pain reliever?" he asked. Sub-zero nodded. He went out of the room and returned before Sub-zero could count to thirty. He sat down on the bed.

"Can you sit up?" Sub-zero shook her head. "Will it hurt you if I sit you up and support your weight?"

"I don't think any part of my body hurts." She replied. "Except my head. It hurts so much if I try and move it." She admitted.

"You have to drink this."

"I don't think I can." She rubbed her eyes.

Suddenly, Scorpion grimaced.

"To drink this medicine I need to…" He was saying something.. Sub-zero's head was too painful to make any sense of what he said so she just nodded. Then, she felt Scorpion's lips on hers and her eyelids opened in shock. She barely noticed the medicine that Scorpion passed from his mouth into hers, but she swallowed involuntarily. He pulled back and Sub-zero could still feel the shock on her face.

"Go to sleep." He commanded and Sub-zero closed her eyes and fell asleep all too quickly.