Ice surrounded you. It painted the walls and draped down from the ceiling like jagged puppet strings. You recognised this place as the one from your previous visions of Bi-Han. What looked like a fighting ring stood in the centre of the room. The ring seemed as though it had suffered its own personal ice age, no doubt Bi-Han's doing. You stood in the very centre, letting the tiny flakes of snow flutter all around you as you spun around. It was beautiful. Ice shone like crystals in the sunlight as it streamed.
You wandered around a little more, softening snow crunching beneath your feet as you went. The way the light glistened off the meltwater as it dripped from the hanging icicles was captivating, so captivating in fact that you didn't realise what you were sent here to see had already begun until a foot phased through you. You jumped back and away from two men as they fought. They paid you no mind but then again you weren't actually there. You were just an observer, a crow perched on a garden wall sent only to watch what occurred within.
A woman and a child were stuck frozen to the sides of the cage now and you rushed to them. They were still alive, their breath slowly melting the ice at their chins. Why on Earth had he done this to them? What crime had they committed against his precious clan? You turned your attention towards the two men fighting now. Bi-Han you of course recognised. His movements were swift and calculated but brutal, ferocious. The other man had difficulty keeping up with him. He looked familiar, the man you had seen in this vision before.
He was losing the fight. Quite badly. Maybe your gut had been wrong for once? Maybe Bi-Han didn't die here. You dared not let yourself hope.
You watched them fight for another small moment. Bi-Han was quite mesmerising in the way he moved, the same way a snake did when she slithered towards a shrew in the grass. He looked like he was going to kill that man, a dagger of ice raised and aimed at his throat.
A kunai pierced his arm from behind then and yanked him back with such force that he was flung near twenty feet through the air. You cursed and moved to get a better look. One glance at Bi-Han's bright eyes told you he was afraid of that man. When the hooded man took off his mask and revealed his face, Bi-Han for all his might and composure looked frightened, pale. You had never seen him afraid of anything, he didn't seem capable of it. The hooded man seemed to have some control over fire, it oozed from him, radiated from his flesh, but that didn't seem to be why Bi-Han was afraid of him.
They fought. The hooded man a much more even match for your lover. He seemed motivated by something deeper, some foul rage or retribution, not duty.
Bi-Han was once again flung across the room, this time he crashed into the cage. You could hear his heaving breaths, saw the way his movements slowed from exhaustion. Both the man you presumed to be Cole Young and the hooded man came at him at once now and although he held his own, his energy was draining. One of them even managed to knock off some of his armour and pierce his flesh. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight, you saw the pain in his eyes.
He turned towards the door and your heart leapt. For the most fleeting of moments he looked as though he would walk away from the fight.
But he didn't.
He slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two men again, ripping off his cowl to reveal his battered face. Blood oozed from his mouth, his nose. It clung to his chin as though he'd just torn some animal apart with his teeth. You noticed the red flowing from his chest then too and trembled, helpless.
"For the Lin Kuei."
You shouted and it of course fell on deaf ears. He couldn't hear you.
The kunai pierced his chest again, right between two plates of armour. He froze. Cole lifted his body and threw him against the cage wall before the hooded man pulled the kunai from his chest roughly, blood spraying from the wound. He fell forward but knelt back up once again, seeming as though he was gathering all of his strength to make one last effort to win this.
But then fire engulfed him. It was all around him, loud and thrashing. You squeezed your eyes shut and covered your ears to muffle his scream. It didn't do much to muffle the sound.
You awoke thrashing and crying. Your chest heaving as you shot forward in bed.
He did die. He would die. And there was nothing you could do to stop it.
"What is it? Are you hurt?!" Bi-Han's voice cut through your terror. Concern blanketed his features, his eyes wide as held your head in his hands before checking you over for any injuries. When he found none, he looked back to your face, searching for some clue as to what ails you.
You shook your head, trying to stifle another sob but it crashed through you regardless. He took you in his arms then, tugging you into his lap as he held you close to his bare chest. He wasn't any good at comfort, it wasn't in his nature, but he knew that letting you feel held, feel protected, couldn't hurt. You didn't know what else to do other than just let him hold you.
"Are you alright?" He asked once your breathing evened a little. The very sight of his features looking so soft, so genuine had your stomach lurching again but you fought back another wave of tears as you nodded quickly. You couldn't quite speak just yet and he didn't press you to. He just held you and petted over your skin in soft, comforting circles.
"You had another vision?" He asked, and you nodded again, wiping the tears from your eyes and attempting to even your breath.
"I did." You sniffed, "And it confirmed my suspicions of your fate." More tears fell and you tried to clear them in vain, "I'm sorry," You laughed but it came out a croak, "I've just told you you're going to die in a few days, I shouldn't be the one crying. It just kills me that there's nothing I can do to stop it."
He pulled you back into his embrace then, kissing your temple repeatedly and pressing as much of your skin to his and you flung to him, revelling in the solidness of his form. "I am sorry you had to see that."
"Don't be." You squeezed him so tightly you were sure it must have hurt, "I'm so sorry. You don't deserve such a death."
"Trust that I do deserve the most painful of ends." Your eyes snapped up to meet his, searching his face for some rhyme or reason as to why he thought that way, "You know little of the horrors I have committed, or the pain I have inflicted in the name of my clan. When death comes for me, I shall welcome him..." He kissed your forehead now, seeming relieved to finally voice those words, "But you, you have a long life ahead of you and I intend to ensure that you get to spend those years free."
He meant that. He would see to it that Shang allowed you to walk free if it was the last thing he did.
"You're willing to throw away your life to honour your clan?" He didn't need you to say that to know he died in their service. It was how he wanted to die. He wouldn't have it any other way.
"Without question." If there was even a sprinkling of hesitation in his voice you would have told him everything. How he would have a chance to walk away and all he had to do was take it. "My only purpose is to serve the Lin Kuei and I will do so until my dying breath." Despite everything they took from him, the life he was forced to lead, he would die and kill in their name in an instant... but why?
Should he not have the freedom to forge his own path?
He paused. Looking past you as if in deep thought, his brows furrowed. Until he met you he would have said he would have kept fighting, kept killing and fulfilling his duties as their loyal assassin until his final day but now he wasn't so sure. In truth, he hadn't the faintest idea what he might do given the chance to be free of their grasp. It seemed you were both prisoners in a way, at least he was until the day he began to enjoy what they asked him to do. Killing came as second nature to him now but it wasn't always that way.
"Once you are free of this place, where will you go?" He asked, swallowing whatever thoughts were troubling him, "Edenia?" You looked Edenian. Your very presence held the grandure of their people.
"Edenia? I'm not Edenian!" You laughed, eyes still wet and puffy but gratefully for his attempt at a distraction, "But thank you for the compliment. I'm from Earth or Earthrealm as I'm sure you know it by."
That surprised him. He supoosed you showed the humility and kindness unique only to those from Earth but that didn't explain your abilities as a soothsayer.
"My brother and I are from Earth. But our mother was partially Edenian..." he trailed off, the mention of his mother seeming foreign when falling from his own tongue. He hadn't spoken of her in years.
"You have a brother?"
"Yes. Kuai Liang. He is still on earth. I think you would like him, he is exceptionally kindhearted." Much kinder that he could ever be. Kuai was always more his mother's son whereas Bi-Han was a product of purely whatever the Lin Kuei desired him to be. He was beginning to understand that now.
"You must miss him." He sat back against the towering pillows, taking you with him as you both relaxed a little, moulding your body to his.
"Yes, but the life of an assassin was never meant for him. He was meant for much... better things."
"And you?" You asked, cupping his cheek, "What were you meant to be?"
A killer , he thought. "I... I don't know.... but I think I was meant to meet you." He meant that, truly. He'd only known you a few days and the impact you had on him, not just on his body and desires, but his very sense of self was beyond that of anyone else even hoped to achieve.
"You do?"
He hummed in agreement, "My only regret is that we did not meet sooner. Maybe not when I was young. I was a fool back then and would not have appreciated you as you should be." He brought your palm from his cheek and instead to his lips so he could show you that he meant every word, "But I wish we had more time."
"As do I." You replied with a sigh. Your time together was beyond limited. He could die today for all you knew. Shaking the thought from your head, you began to trace a scar that stretched along his shoulder, it had the same thickness as the one that tore across his taut stomach. It looked like it could have been the same blade.
"A kunai belonging to a man named Hanzo Hasashi, the leader of a rival clan who I was sent to kill. The same man responsible for this." He answered your questions before you could even ask it, tracing his own fingers over the large scar on his abdomen. That scar looked especially brutal, like it could have been fatal had he not been gifted as he was. You turned your attention to that one instead now, your fingers brushing his as you did. He fought the urge to shiver at your touch. You had spent the night in each other's arms, touching one another in the most intimate places yet your fingertips still felt electric on his skin.
"I take it he didn't go down willingly?"
He breathed out a laugh, "No, he certainly did not." He would spare you the details as you settled down with your cheek upon his chest. You were still alert, eyes still red and gazing at his scar as you traced it. Your fingers mapped his skin as though he was the night sky and you some ancient astronomer with little knowledge that they had no meaning, they really were just stars. He loved watching you as you caressed him with such adoration, such care.
He pressed a kiss to your forehead, gentle, chaste. "Rest. I'll keep your nightmares away." His self-assuranse was emboldening. It would have been comforting had you not the knowledge that it would also be his downfall.
You tugged the covers over you both and he settled down further so you could get comfortable enough to sleep. You nuzzled your face in his shoulder after pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw, so content with just being so close to him. His body was cold but you didn't feel its sting, all you felt was the warmth of his embrace and the way his arms treasured you.
You knew being so close to him would likely prompt another vision if you weren't careful. That was likely what had happened as a result of you making love, but he felt like home. He felt safe and dangerous all at once and you couldn't bring yourself to leave his embrace or put even an inch of distance between you.
Bi-Han on the other hand had never done this with anyone. Ever. He'd never held anyone so tenderly but it felt right, it felt good. Your body moulded to his in such a way that he wasn't sure how he lived so long without it.
A knock from the door roused you from your sleep a few hours later. Bi-Han was quick to answer it, kissing your temple before gathering you in his arms and setting you down on the bed. He pulled on his trousers and walked to the door, standing firmly in the doorway so as not to let your presence be known. You couldn't help but admire the curve of his back, the way his muscles moved as he walked. The few lite scratches left from your nails last night shone bright crimson even now.
"I-I'm sorry to disturb you, Sub-Zero." One of Shang Tsung's guards stood at the door, clearly out of breath, "Shang Tsung requests your presence at once. He has found a way into Raiden's temple and requests that you leave with the others."
He just glared and shut the door, not caring in the slightest about what Shang did or did not request. His impending death recontextualised his entire view of the man.
You sat up in the bed, covers pulled over your chest and your mouth set in a pout like you would have to wish him goodbye. Instead he leant down and captured your lips with his and lay back down beside you.
"I won't beg you to stay. I know you must go."
"Know that I will stay with you as long as I can." He knew he had to leave, but he didn't want to. His mind now torn between fulfilling his duty and promise to Shang Tsung and between staying here in your arms until his body withered to nothing but bone.
"Can I ask you something of you?"
"Anything." He replied.
"If there's anything you've always wanted to do, anywhere you've always wanted to go, please go now for I know not how long left you have."
"I am already there." There was nowhere else he would rather be. And he was far too arrogant to attempt some last amends with his brother. "Your presence provides such reprieve, your body such solace. You have made me feel human, truly human and for that I can never repay you."
"And you'll never have to."
But oh how he wanted to. He wanted to worship your body for hours or days. To kiss and caress every inch, every crevice of your skin. To give you everything you could ever want or wish for and more still but he would have to settle for securing your freedom.
When you did eventually manage to pull yourselves from each others arms and dress, another guard having already pestered you both then Mileena, who only had to open the door and stare for Bi-Han to realise he really did have to go.
"Good luck, Bi-Han."
"That reminds me," he reached into the gap in his armour then and produced your shining silver pin, "You will need it more than I."
"No." You closed his fingers over it, "You can return it to me another time."
Oh, that broke his heart. You still held out hope that he would return alive and well despite what you had seen, despite what you knew would happen. And he would grant you that, grant you the hope that you might see each other again. If not in this life then perhaps the next.
You couldn't bring yourself to say any more. Neither could he. There was no more to be said and no more to be done although he did wish that he might hold you just one more time before he had to go but if he did then he might have never let you go.
If he had a heart he would have loved you. But he didn't know how to love and now he never would.
He left you with an absolutely bone crushing hug. One in which you felt every ounce of his pain, of his gratitude to you for showing him what he could have been in time. When you eventually reluctantly pulled back from one another, you saw the strangest thing. His eyes changed from their usual bright blue to a soft, almost chocolate brown before the icy blue overtook them again. Bright blue to a warm cinnamon, just for the most fleeting of moments.
Then he was gone.