Choose your Destiny (Raiden x OC) Part 2 : Where It all collides

Chapter 7 : Witch Hunting

- Inside Shang Tsung's Palace -

Sonya slowly started to regain consciousness and, as she opened her eyes, she realized that she could not move or speak. She was lying on a flat rock. Actually, she was tied to it, and a gag was covering her mouth so she could not talk or scream. When she looked at her left arm, she saw a sort of bracelet that was pumping her blood towards a huge golden fountain filled with the blood of the other hostages besides her: Johnny, Mileena, Kotal, and Ermac. When she turned her gaze around as she tried to break free — in vain, she finally saw Havik and, next to him, her daughter Cassie, Jacqui and... Raiden. All of them seemed possessed by the Kamidogu due to their blood-red eyes. But something about the Chaosrealmer hit Sonya: he held Shinnok's amulet in his hand.
The lieutenant guessed quickly that he finally managed to obtain all the Kamidogu daggers and, as Raiden was here too, he probably had something to do with it. As Havik examined the amulet carefully, he started. "Raiden and the Elder Gods believed that they could hide this magnificent weapon with cloak-and-dagger... literally. But the amulet of Shinnok refuses to stay hidden."
He then put the amulet around his neck and raised a Kamidogu dagger, followed by Raiden, Jacqui, and Cassie who respectively stood next to Kotal, Mileena, Johnny, and Sonya. The Chaosrealmer continued his speech. "All champions are afflicted with the same delusion. A belief that History can be shaped by powerful individuals such as themselves. Ha!"
All the possessed raised their Kamidogu up, ready to stab their victims under their gaze, as Havik added. "No mortal champion or otherwise can alter the course of History. History is shaped by larger forces, trends inherent in nature. And the greatest of these is chaos! Once you defeated Shinnok and the Netherrealm, all your "champions" thought you could enforce order. A fool's errand."
The demon held strongly Kotal's chin to make him face his red eyes as the Outworlder grimaced with pain. "Today you learn that order cannot resist chaos... and neither can you!"
Suddenly, Havik stabbed Kotal with his dagger, followed by his 3 "servants". The four hostages started to scream in agony, letting against their will the demon invade their entire body. Soon, their eyes turned as red as blood, and they started to say altogether : "Chaos has no emperor! Every throne is a cage! There are no heroes! Order is death!"
With a smile on his face, Havik turned to his final victim, Ermac, while he raised Shinnok's amulet upon him. "And death is order, which is why we must destroy the great evil that is Netherrealm. This what we saved you for, Ermac..." The amulet's green energy started to pump out all the souls that were trapped inside Ermac. "Raiden's cosmic barriers protect Netherrealm as much as they blockade it. But by charging the amulet with your many souls, we'll punch right through..."
He stopped as he felt a sharpened whip winding around his wrist to cut it straight away, making the amulet fall down with his hand to the ground. Angered, he looked behind his back to see Takeda who mocked him : "I have to hand it to you, Havik. Looks like you've been busy."
Soon, Sakuya appeared behind him, shocked to see the number of souls that Havik was controlling at the moment. Her heart broke as she met Raiden's cold and severe gaze, but tried to focus on the reason why she was here: set them all free from Havik's grip.
Cassie and Jacqui then started to run towards them. Takeda warned the goddess before he attacked : "The brunette is mine."
Sakuya dodged Cassie's first attacks and responded right away with a strong kick to her stomach, making the young girl crush into the wall behind her. But the demon's power gave her such a strength that she got back on her feet in no time and tried to fight back faster. After a few missed attacks, Cassie managed to punch the Nature Goddess's face. Sakuya started to feel the anger grow inside of her, so she decided to raise roots from the ground to hold the girl still. Then, one of them released a strange odor which made Cassie partly numb. The demon inside was still resisting to wake her up, but Sakuya was certain that she would do no harm during the next following hours.
The goddess then turned to her only ally Takeda, who didn't seem to win his fight against Jacqui as easily as Sakuya did. She told him as she looked at Havik and his puppets. "They are too numerous and the Blood Magik makes them even more powerful than they already are."
"What should we do then?" The boy asked her.
Before the goddess could speak, she was interrupted by a noise coming from behind them. When they turned to see what was happening, they were speechless: a huge golden portal, from which D'Vorah, Sheeva, Erron Black, and many other allies came out to face Havik. The insectoid woman approached Sakuya with Kotal Kahn's portal stone on her hand, followed by the Texan cowboy to whom she asked. "Ready for your redemption?"
"Just tell me who to fight."
"Keep the Thunder God occupied..."
"No !" Sakuya cut her off. "Raiden is mine."
As Takeda ran towards Havik, Sakuya looked around to watch her temporary allies fight against Havik's temporary soldiers. She started to walk inside the palace which turned into a huge battlefield, looking for the Thunder God, who suddenly teleported in front of her. The Nature Goddess froze as her gaze met his. She was not used to seeing him look at her like he did: cold, angry, he was not looking to his immortal love, but to an enemy. And his enemies had to be destroyed by his hand.
Sakuya tried to get back to her senses, repeating inside her head that this was not Raiden, but a demon. Raiden was trapped inside and she needed to save him. As she started to be prepared for the inevitable fight, she could not help but say. "Raiden, if you are there, I hope that you know I do not want this."
As the Thunder God grinned at her, he threw several red flashes of lightning towards Sakuya who stopped them by crossing her arms in front of her face. She felt like a deja vu of the first time they met. Just like then, she was forced to fight him against her own will and even hurt him. The Nature Goddess did not want to go through this again, but here they were.
Raiden attacked her again with a bolt of lightning but as she retried to stop it he gave her a kick to her knee, making Sakuya fall over and hit the ground. Despite the huge pain that she felt, the goddess still got back on her feet, as the god was walking around her and watching her scornfully. The demon spoke through him : "Such a disappointment. I would expect better, even from a demigod."
"I do not want to fight you..." Sakuya murmured.
The Thunder God smirked and prepared his best punch for the Nature Goddess who managed to dodge it by moving to her left and responded right away with a high kick on Raiden's back. The god fell down and gritted his teeth due to the pain, but still managed to stand up as the goddess was watching him with a saddened look on her face.
He mocked her. "You do want to fight me Sakuya, deep down. I know that there is anger in you. A part of you craves chaos, so embrace it!"
"I'd rather die!" She yelled.
With an evil smile on his face, Raiden murmured : "So be it."
With no warning, the Thunder God threw a huge lightning towards the Nature Goddess who did not have the time to stop it and was propelled to the wall far behind her, her face hitting the floor instantly. She struggled to get back on her feet and was groaning in pain as Raiden teleported right in front of her and looked at her for a few seconds. Sakuya could not use her magic, she felt too weakened to do so. It was like the demon took all the energy she had to feed itself with it. Besides, the one standing in front of her was not even someone that she could hurt on purpose. But at this moment, she felt like she had lost him for good.
As she could not raise her head to face him, he leaned over to hold her by her neck and slowly raised her up. The goddess tried to fight back but in vain. She could only look deep into his eyes, and she could see no Raiden inside. Only a puppet, a toy that was serving a monster. She still felt sorry for failing him. It seemed like the gods wrote Sakuya's destiny with a sort of irony; dying by the hands of the one she loved.
But then, white lights started to take over the Thunder God's eyes, and Sakuya suddenly recognized the Raiden she knew. At first, his facial muscles were relaxed as the demon disappeared and his soul took back the control of his body, but soon after, he realized what he was doing and a horrific expression appeared on his face
"Sakuya?!" He said with shock. "By the gods, what am I doing?!"
As he let go of the goddess who fell down, coughing and breathing deeply, Raiden looked around him, and it seemed like everyone got back to their senses. Takeda probably had managed to stop the demon one way or another.
The Thunder God tried to approach the Nature Goddess. "Sakuya... I am so sorry..."
But she stopped him instantly by raising one of her hands, while she was rubbing her neck with the other one. Her hair was hiding her face as she was looking down, trying to regulate her breathing.
"It is fine. I am fine." she whispered.
Sakuya then got back to her feet, still not believing that she was alive. But she still did not dare to meet the Thunder God's gaze and was reassured when she saw Takeda coming back with Shinnok's amulet in his hand.
The young boy said, out of breath but still with seriousness. "I have Shinnok's amulet and..." but he noticed the redness on the goddess' neck, so Takeda frowned. "Sakuya, are you alright ?"
"Yes." she sighed. "You have managed to stop Havik as I can tell."
"Actually, Master Hasashi did."
This time, the Nature Goddess was the one confused. The boy then threw gently the amulet towards Raiden who caught it with a concerned look on his face.
Takeda warned him. "Try to hide it better, for the sake of us all."
Sakuya finally turned her gaze to face Raiden, even though she was hesitant. She did not know what to say or to do after this incident. She should be glad: she managed to save Raiden and everyone else from the Blood demon. But at what price? He hurt her a lot, by keeping secrets, being distant towards her, lying to her face. And none of those things could be justified by any kind of influence.
The Thunder God tried to talk to her again. "Sakuya, you need to know that..."
"You are sorry." she responded. "I know. It wasn't you, Raiden."
"No." he said. "I mean for everything. For my poor decisions, my attitude towards you. You did not deserve to be treated like I treated you. You deserve much better than this."
The Nature Goddess tried as hard as she could to not burst into tears in front of the god. She felt mentally tired due to all these tensions and conflicts that happened during those last few days. All she wanted to do now was to leave all the bad things behind and move on for good.
She then nodded weakly. "Takeda is right. You need to hide it better this time. I guess we cannot trust the Elder Gods on this one."
Raiden agreed and took a few seconds to analyze the amulet very closely before he turned back his gaze to look at the goddess who still seemed lost in her thoughts. Actually, she was lost about everything.