From a Woman's Point of View

Battle Preparations

"Sonya..." Sub-zero rubbed her temples as she threw her cards on the floor. She slumped in her seat and eyed Sonya.

"Awww, come on, Zeiva. You know this game would be corny if less than seven people play it." Sonya reasoned. The others looked eager to play as well.

"But we've been playing it for like, three hours already!" Sub-zero complained. Scorpion nodded in assent.

"But everyone wants to play…"

"At least let me skip two rounds." She bargained. Sonya sighed and finally nodded and Sub-zero stood up and went outside the house with Scorpion. She sat down by the river and Scorpion mimicked her action.

"You're worried about Raiden, aren't you?" he asked.

Sub-zero frowned.

"He's been gone for over a week now." She replied. "I'm beginning to think he isn't coming back at all." It was so easy to talk to Scorpion. He patted her head.

"He'll be back." He tried to console her. She nodded. She stared at the flowing river. She touched it and almost immediately, the part she touched turned into ice.

"How do you do that?" Scorpion asked curiously. Sub-zero looked up, confused.

"Huh? What?" she asked.

"How do you freeze? Is it some sort of skill you master or are you born with it?" he asked. Sub-zero grinned and shrugged.

"I suppose I was born with it. But it isn't something that you could master overnight." She explained. "If my brother didn't teach me so well, I wouldn't have been able to freeze anything."

"Really? You're brother sounds like…a very decent person."

Sub-zero bit her lip shut. If Scorpion knew who her brother really was, 'decent' wouldn't be his first choice of words.

"I guess…" she replied uncomfortably and vaguely. Scorpion raised his eyebrow and Sub-zero avoided eye contact.

"So…what was your brother's name?" he asked trying to sound nonchalant. Sub-zero frowned.

"His name isn't important." She still didn't meet Scorpion's eyes. She stared at the river with sad eyes. Her brother became a wraith…it wasn't easy for her to talk about him.

"What happened to him?" his words burned with curiosity but it sounded like he didn't want to force the story out of her.

Sub-zero kept her eyes on the river. She took a deep breath.

"…He was a murderer." She blinked back the tears. Whoa, Sub-zero. Getting a little too emotional, aren't we? "He wouldn't spare anyone…He was evil." She said with heaviness in her heart. "I didn't want to admit it at first but I saw the damage he's done. He died and somehow came back to life…and he seeks to destroy me."

"…I'm sorry."

Wow, Scorpion? Sympathizing with me?

Sub-zero looked at him and smiled sadly.

"Don't worry about it."

The two sat in silence for a long time until they heard someone scream. They jumped in surprise.

"What was that?" Sub-zero asked as they ran towards the direction of the voice. Scorpion didn't answer and the two continued on running. They reached edge of the mountain and they saw an old man hanging on for his dear life. They hurried over to him. Sub-zero pulled him up. He panted.

"Look out!" the old man shouted. Sub-zero looked quickly behind her and was hit by what seemed to be a spark. She flew back and was thrown off the cliff.