Chapter Text
Screams filled the air all around him, screams of valour and for mercy. These raids were always brutal but necessary to the survival of the Lin Kuei. This was the first time Bi-Han ever had any reservations about a raid. Sektor was too brutal, too callous. He didn’t raid for resources or land he raided for pleasure, for fun. That was something Bi-Han never had during these raids. Tearing children from their families, husbands from wives. It never sat right with him but he was far too beholden with the clan to interject until today.
Dust burst into the air as a result of the sheer number of boots on the ground. Some fleeing and some fighting. He caught sight of his brother effortlessly tearing through guards to his left with Smoke phasing between them, smooth as a stream.
Amongst all the chaos, the fire and clashing of swords, it was you who stole his attention away from everything else. You fended off Lin Kuei assassins as though they were flies. You blocked each blow with your very own steel, using each rock on the ground or puff of dust in the air to your own advantage. You were brutal. Breaking joints and crushing toes as you protected the people that cowered in the small hut behind you. Most of them were children it seemed, some adults desperately attempting to shield their eyes from the violence unfolding before them though he suspected they’d already seen enough.
Bi-Han made his way over to you once you cut down your fifth adversary. He stood, hands folded behind back. Watching. He looked on as you downed a sixth assassin, a spray of blood now covering one side of your face. Then your attention turned to him, your blade poised in his direction. He always liked a challenge. He extended his own blade, covering the end of it in thick, sharp ice. Your eyes widened and you gripped your blade tighter before screaming for the people you’d been protecting to run. And they did, taking off into the forest without a single glance behind them.
You studied the man before you, a wild look in your eye. He recognised it as the sheer will you had to protect your people and survive. That and pure adrenaline. You lunged for him and he simply side-stepped your front-loaded attack, twirling his blade in his hand. He was testing you if nothing else.
He was entirely bored of this entire pillaging endeavour and figuring out how an unsuspecting villager killed a half dozen Lin Kuei assassins was much more entertaining.
When you lunged at him again, your blade made contact with his mere inches from his chest. He blocked it at the last second, his reflexes faster than you ever thought possible. You shoved at him but his stance was too solid to be budged so easily. He stood firm, observing you. What he wasn’t expecting was for you to slam the hilt of your sword into his face. An unholy crack sounded from his nose and blood began to stream from both nostrils.
You fought dirty, desperately and without an ounce of flair. You were the polar opposite of how the Lin Kuei fought but Bi-Han was absolutely enamoured by it. Enamoured to the point where he ignored the rusty, copper taste on his tongue as he readied himself to fight you again.
He advanced on you this time, landing a strong blow that you blocked with your blade. Another and you felt the metal begin to weaken. A third and it cracked.
Shit, he was strong.
You kicked his knee from the side and landed your foot against his stomach to gain you just a few slivers of time to recover. When he stood and turned his attention to you his eyes grew wide at the sight. In your hand shining, just radiating light and warmth was a blade. He noticed the torches surrounding you had since withered out.
You had stolen their light. Not only that but you controlled it, manipulated it and solidified it. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. You were equally as shocked, you hadn’t successfully done that in awhile without immediately collapsing from exhaustion.
When next you attacked with your blade of light it met his and cut right through the steel in one slice. He was forced to go hand to hand, landing a few blows to your side and chest before kicking you with such force that you hit the dirt and the hardened snow that adorned it in patches.
You were the first person he had ever seen with abilities that in any way resembled his and Kuai’s.
When he approached you to offer a hand, you slashed his leg and sent him falling down beside you, blood still streaming from his nose and dripping into the mud below. His head hit the ground with an unceremonious thud. You both panted and heaved, just pleading with the air to enter your lungs. He turned to look at you where you lay beside him in the muck only to see you staring right back at him, watching his every move. He still couldn’t believe the sight of the blade you had created.
Bi-Han groaned as he tried to get to his feet, “You need to go. Now.” He watched you stand and return to your fighting stance although your foot couldn’t find a solid base in the mud.
“What? Are you afraid you can’t beat me?”
He was actually, if only a little. But that wasn’t why he was letting you go. In the corner of his eye he saw Sektor advancing towards you both, one of the assassins pointing in your direction. There was no way you could take all of them at once.
Bi-Han kicked you backwards and through the door of the hut you’d been defending before raising his hands up in surrender.
“You have abilities.”
You frowned, your blade still poised and ready to strike should he make even the tiniest movement, “As do you, what of it?”
“The man walking over here will end you for it, that and you killed at least a half dozen of our men.”
“You attacked my home and tried to kill my friends! What was I supposed to do?” You couldn’t hide your desperation. You and your people just wanted to be left alone. You saw the vigor in his eyes falter and he looked almost remorseful, his jaw clenched as he looked between you and the ground. You felt better knowing the blood dripping down his face was your doing.
“That will not matter to him,” he cocked his head to the side, listening to the stomping footsteps of Sektor as he approached, “Quick, cut me. Then run.”
You didn’t need to be told twice. You went for his face but he dodged the worst of the blow at the last second, the blade sliding along the side of his cheek.
When he turned to look at you, you were gone out the open window, the curtains billowing in the wind, barely grazing the ledge. You made haste into the forest behind your village and made to put as much distance between you and the Lin Kuei as you could. Why he had let you go you had no idea, it certainly wasn’t empathy that motivated him to do so. You were quite sure that anyone working for or with the Lin Kuei wasn’t capable of it.
The gash on Bi-Han’s cheek would at least make it more believable to Sektor that you had escaped of your own accord. He’d never seen this much blood on his face. His nose still streamed, leaving a bloody trail over his lips and dripping onto his robes. Not to mention the blood oozing from the gash on his cheek or the mud he was covered in. He wasn’t sure why he let you go, only that it was his gut instinct to do so.
That was the first time he had ever deceived the Lin Kuei and it wouldn’t be the last he did so in your name.
Sektor was enraged at your escape. Not at Bi-Han, oh no, not at his father’s prized warrior, but at you, the one who broke that prized warrior’s nose and pride.
A few hours later Bi-Han found himself back at the Lin Kuei temple. But this was one of the few times he’d ever had to go to the infirmary for injuries sustained from someone other than his brother after they trained together. He wasn’t used to it and he didn’t like having a lot of people tending to him at once, especially when his injuries were in no way prolific. He just wasn't used to being beaten, even if he did let you go.
“Anyone and I mean anyone resembling that description, I want them brought to me so I can stick their head on a pike myself!” Sektor shouted to the servant who desperately scribbled down the orders. Bi-Han all but rolled his eyes at Sektor’s theatrics, shooting his brother a knowing look.
“Sub-Zero,” the grandmaster said, ignoring his son’s ramblings, “just what kind of abilities did they possess?”
“I do not know. Some kind of command of light or fire. There’s no way to be sure.” He finished speaking just as the doctor cracked his nose back into place. His brother chuckled at the pained sound he made.
The Grandmaster looked deep in thought, entirely unfazed at the sound of Bi-Han’s shoulder being popped back in its socket either, “That could be invaluable.” You’d really done a number on him, on the best assassin the Lin Kuei had. Oh, how useful you would be to have as an ally rather than an enemy.
Sektor looked utterly beholden. He couldn’t believe his father would suggest such a thing given how many Lin Kuei lives you took that day, “You want to recruit this creature? It killed a half dozen of our men!” The servant beside him flinched as his words grew louder and louder.
“Precisely. Send out a bounty but I want them captured, not killed.” Bi-Han couldn’t deny the wave of relief that washed over him. Both from the realignment of his bones and the knowledge that when you were inevitably captured, you wouldn’t be killed. No, there was so much he could learn from you, so much you could learn from each other. KIlling you would be such a waste.
“Father I-“ the grandmaster sent him a warning look, denying him any chance at pressing further.
“I care not, Sektor.” He held his hand up to silence him, “Come now, let us leave Sub-Zero and Tundra in peace.”
When the room cleared and all that was left were the two brothers, Kuai finally spoke. He was always far too afraid to speak in either the Grandmaster or Sektor’s presence, entirely too worried about speaking out of turn. He pushed himself off the wall and sat instead took a seat in the chair at the bedside where the grandmaster once sat, “Sektor speaks of that warrior as if we weren’t attempting to destroy their home today.”
“Indeed, but Sektor would think his own reflection an attacker unless his father assured him otherwise.” Kuai chuckled at the observation, but it was true. Sektor had never had an original thought in his life. “Have you ever created a specific weapon out of ice?” Bi-Han asked but didn’t look at his brother, he instead stared with unfocused eyes at the far off wall as he touched the gash in his cheek. The blade had felt hot on his skin to the point where it sizzled. It was the strangest sensation he’d ever felt.
“A weapon in detail? No, nothing so concrete, only vaguely sharp objects. Why?” The most Kuai could ever make was something resembling a very sharp icicle. Which was less than his brother but they were both still learning, still trying to figure out this gift their mother left them. But you, you might be able to help them hone their gift as you had done yourself. They already tried training with Smoke but his abilities were much too different from theirs to have any real impact.
“Well, that warrior conjured a dagger made of light today. It was quite… impressive .” You were the only person in that entire village who showed any signs of being different in the way that you were so there was no way you’d even had training. How great would you be if you had been trained?
“You? Impressed?” Kuai scoffed, “Just how hard did you hit your head, brother?”
“Enough to wonder just how hard that warrior is capable of hitting.”
The next time you encountered one-another was in the Lin Kuei temple itself. You were crouched as low to the ground as you could, snow crunching beneath your feet as you went. You and a small company of mercenaries and other warriors who’d all been burned in one way or another by the Lin Kuei, crept into the compound one night. Snow fell in droves, the perfect time for you to get in and get out without your footsteps giving away where you went. Snow was good in that way, an ally to any deed done in its presence.
One of the guards on night watch was a recruit from a town they’d invaded at one point or another. He was firmly on your side. He kicked in a few planks of wood in the least well-lit corner of the wall that surrounded the hulking settlement. You’d all funnelled inside quietly, quickly. You stuck to the shadows and timed your movements so no guards would be aware of your presence. The grandmaster was the real target here but none of you ever made it to his chambers.
There were too many guards. Far more than you could ever hope to take out without alerting the entire temple of your presence. You were tasked with taking as many of them out as you could, drawing them out by stealing the light from the torches that surrounded them so they were left stranded in the darkness. The others went along with the rest of the mission and you never saw any of them again.
All was going well for you until you felt the room growing colder. Your breath became visible in front of your face, not abnormal on a snowy night but you were inside where fires roared and the cold couldn’t leak into your bones. The sudden iciness meant one thing. He was here. Just your luck.
You crouched in a dark corner and listened for approaching footsteps and they came. But they were significantly more brash and clumsy than you expected. Nonetheless you withdrew from the shadows at the first sight of dark blue robes and a head of black hair. You pounced, knocking him straight to the ground and pressing your blade to his throat. He shrieked and attempted to hide his face.
“You!” You all but shouted until he turned his head to look up at you and it dawned on you, “You’re not him.” He certainly looked a lot like the man you were looking for but he seemed at least a half decade younger than the one you sought out. But why had the room grown colder? And why did ice cover the young man’s fingertips?
“I take it you were looking for me?” You heard his voice behind you, you’d recognise it anywhere, “I would appreciate it greatly if you didn’t kill my little brother.” You immediately dropped the younger man’s collar and let his head hit the floor.
The man you had fought looked largely the same as he had done the first and only time you’d seen him before. Although at that moment taking in his appearance wasn’t really your top priority, fighting for your life was. At least his nose looked like it had healed correctly for the most part.
“Given the fact that you haven’t killed me already, I take it that is not your intention?” He crossed his hands behind his back, his posture that of a man who was trying to seem relaxed but was still very much tensed and ready to strike. You raised your blade in his direction as he circled you.
“I wanted to speak to you first.” He nodded his head and relaxed his stance fully, opting to stand in one place. He wasn’t sure why he trusted your word, but he did, “Why did you let me go? There were guards right outside, you could have just let them have me.” That had been eating at you everyday since you fought him. He was very clearly a formidable warrior, he could have ended your life in a moment but instead he chose to let you go despite the fact that you were enemies. You had to know why.
“It would have cost more Lin Kuei lives than you are worth.” He was a terrible liar. His voice held not a single note of sincerity. His little brother scrambled away from the floor then and went to stand at his side.
“Oh, you could have taken me yourself if you really wanted to. I ask again.” You noticed he stared straight at you, his brown eyes held such a ferocious intensity that you almost wanted to drop his gaze. His little brother on the other hand let his eyes dart between you, his brother and the floor.
“You could be useful and you are no use to anyone dead. Had you been captured, you would have been killed.” You didn’t need to ask him who you would be useful to, you knew he meant the clan as a whole. But what you neglected to realise at that moment was that he also meant to him.
And Kuai of course.
“Thank you for your honesty. It’s more than I would have expected from a Lin Kuei.” You took a step away from him to leave but stopped, “I’m sorry about your nose.”
“No, you are not. But I must express my remorse at the bounty on your head.” Why was he acting like this? As though you were friends. You supposed that fighting someone to the point of blood and broken bones might do that to people. You didn’t like how easy he was to talk to you or how couldn’t deny how handsome he was. He was the enemy, you had to at least try to remember that.
“Well, I’m right here should you wish to claim it. I heard it’s a pretty price.” You were taunting him, teasing him, just daring him to try.
He saw the mischief in your eyes and couldn’t help but admire it. He liked you toying with him, he wasn’t used to anyone having the guts to do that. “As tempting as that might be, money is of no use to me.” He made sure to speak slowly, quietly and low enough that you felt a shiver crawl it’s way down the back of your neck. A shiver that wasn’t at all unpleasant.
“Well, aren’t I lucky?” You offered him a grin and a nod of your head before taking your leave down a nearby hallway and into the darkness, stealing any nearby light as you went in case he or anyone else should follow.
He didn’t. In fact he just stared after you into the darkness that swallowed you whole. Or he would have if Kuai hadn’t interrupted him.
“ That’s that warrior that broke your nose?”
“Yes...,” He placed his hand beneath his brother’s jaw and moved it upwards so his mouth was closed, “Careful, you’ll catch flies.”