From a Woman's Point of View

Happiness, Dashed

"Okay. Stay put Zeiva!" Sub-zero sighed as she blew a strand of hair off her face. It was tiring to stand up for almost three hours.

"I hear you." She replied. It was uncomfortable to wear such a revealing outfit but Sub-zero had no choice in the matter. Jade, Ashrah and Sareena were dressing her up. They made her wear an outfit similar to Kitana's swim suit-like outfit but it was aqua colored. Its sleeves were made of a translucent, loose, light blue material and reached up to her wrists. "Do I really have to wear this?"

"Don't be such a baby! It suits you really well." Jade complimented. Ashrah was fixing Sub-zero's hair into braids.

"You should sit down now." Sareena made her sit down on a chair. Sub-zero tapped the floor with her foot lightly. Her boots were blue and black and reached up to her thighs. Sub-zero thanked the Gods silently when they finally decided not to make her wear high-heeled boots.

"All right, I'm done." Ashrah announced and the three stood back to admire their work. All of them were grinning.

"She's still missing something." Jade said. She opened her closet and searched it. She found what she was looking for. "Zeiva, wear this." She held her hand out. It was a necklace with a bluish crystal for a charm. Sub-zero took it and wore it around her neck.

"Perfect." Ashrah and Sareena grinned at her. "Come on! Let's go!" They grabbed her by her arm.

"Oh, no! I am not going to let people see me like this." Sub-zero tried to pull away from their grasp, but fighting off three female kombatants was more than what the Lin Kuei grandmaster could handle.

They towed her out of the room and pushed her into the living room. They were showing her off as if she were a trophy. The people gaped at her when they entered. Sub-zero stared at the floor in embarrassment, one hand on her face. She looked up and met Scorpion's eyes. He looked dazed as he stared at her, and she focused on the floor again.

"Too bad I can't see anything." Kenshi sighed and the room was filled with laughter. Even Sub-zero laughed.

Jax whistled.

"You should wear that more often." He commented and Sonya hit him in the head and they laughed again.

"Can I take this off, now? Grandmaster Sub-zero doesn't make us wear such revealing outfits." she complained. It was odd to be refering to herself in third person.

"He better not. I'm the only one in the temple allowed to show some skin to him." Sareena quipped, and the rest of the team laughed. Sub-zero colored slightly. "And no, you can't take that off. It took us three hours to turn you into this. We will not let you ruin our masterpiece in mere seconds."

Sub-zero sighed, and sat down beside Kenshi and Scorpion.

"You know better than to show your skin off to everybody." Scorpion said. Sub-zero blushed and punched his arm playfully.

"It's not my fault. Jade, Ashrah and Sareena wanted to dress somebody up and they picked me." She shrugged. "As if I could fight them all off."

"Point taken." Scorpion replied.

"Kenshi, what time is it?" she out of the blue.

"I don't really know. It isn't as if I could 'see' it." He said sarcastically. Sub-zero could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Sorry." She muttered.

"It's half-past four." Scorpion answered her question. He glowered at Kenshi. "Why do you ask?" He still continued on glaring at Kenshi.

"...Just thinking of what my clan might be doing at this time." Sub-zero replied. She looked upset at Kenshi's response.

"Sorry." He looked surly. He stood up and walked away. Scorpion frowned at his retreating figure. Suddenly, a loud ringing reached their ears and looked up to see Sonya checking her cellular phone. She raised her eyebrows.

"Who is it?" Cyrax asked.

"Raiden." Sonya answered the call. "Have you found-?" she stopped mid-sentence and her eyes widened. "What do you mean-?" Her jaw fell.

"Raiden has a cellular phone?" Sub-zero asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we gave him one so he could contact any one of us." Jax explained. Sonya still looked as if she would faint anytime.

"Raiden…" she muttered in the receiver. "Come back here with his body…" Raiden's answer was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"I CAN MAKE DECISIONS ON MY OWN!" he shouted. Sonya was at a loss for words. It was the first time Sub-zero heard Raiden so angry. "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONTACT ME. I WON'T BE ANSWERING ANYWAY. GOODBYE." Sonya stared at her phone. Kitana looked absolutely distraught.

"Sonya…what happened…? Is Liu all right…?" she asked. Sonya shook her head from side to side. She bit her lip and did her best to keep her voice steady.

"Liu Kang...has been…murdered by…Shang Tsung…" Kenshi, who had arrived at that moment, snarled at the mention of the name. Kitana fainted and Mokap caught her and laid her on the sofa. Sub-zero and Scorpion sat in silence.

"What happened?" Nightwolf asked.

"Quan Chi and Shang Tsung teamed up. Shang Tsung broke his neck." She paused. "I have no idea what Raiden has in mind…what he wants to do…he was so upset."

"Yeah, we heard." Johnny winced.

Sub-zero inhaled sharply. Kitana woke up. Sub-zero and Jade rushed to her side as she cried.

Their house was in mourning.

OoooooooO

Raiden didn't come back the next day. Sonya and the others became worried. Sub-zero stood on the balcony with Scorpion by her side. The two didn't speak to each other; they were already satisfied with being in each other's presence. Sub-zero was worried. Worried about Raiden…about Kitana…

"I feel so…sorry for Kitana." She said. Scorpion nodded.

"I know how she feels." He said.

"Scorpion? Do you miss your family?" she asked him. It took Scorpion a while before answering.

"I do…I miss them a lot. But I can't do anything about it now." He said.

Sub-zero looked at Scorpion's face. His family was undoubtedly a painful subject for him.

Sub-zero wrapped her arms around his waist. Scorpion stiffened and finally relaxed. He hugged her back. There in Scorpion's arms, she felt safe. She forgot all her worries.