Chapter Text
“Quan Chi said that you sent me because my soul was tainted with evil. Is that true?”
“You are a formidable warrior, Sub Zero. Only you can decide your destiny. Not even the Elder Gods can alter your chosen path.”
“Was that a ‘yes’? Or a ‘no’?”
“... That was a ‘yes’... but only you can decide that.”
Those words… Bi-Han remembers those exact words from Raiden as if they were spoken to him yesterday. He remembers that, after he recovered Shinnok’s amulet from the Netherrealm, perhaps he had a chance to turn his life around and rid himself of the evil that taints his soul. That it wasn’t too late. However, at the moment, Bi-Han begins to doubt Lord Raiden's wise words as a fist engulfed in flames shatters several of his ribs. A pained gasp escapes Bi-Han’s damaged mask before another flaming fist lands under his chin and sends him flying through the air.
Bi-Han soars through the air before he crashes against the asphalt ground of the Netherrealm, tumbling until he rolls onto his side. His heavy breathing is heavy under the mask as he shakily gets to his knees, blood dripping from his side and staining the ground beneath him. What little strength he has fades as he collapses back onto the floor before hearing his opponent announce, “I have done it… I have finally avenged my clan.” Bi-Han hisses under the mask as he manages to look up at the one responsible for his current state and the one who has been chasing him from Hell and back. This warrior, wearing a similar attire to Bi-Han’s but with the color yellow, is the undead member of the Shirai Ryu. Hanzo Hasashi, also known as the spectre Scorpion.
As Bi-Han glares daggers up at Scorpion, the events that led to their battle in the Netherrealm replay in his mind ever so clearly. He, Sektor, and Cyrax were hired by Shang Tsung to ensure Outworld won the Mortal Kombat tournament against Earthrealm and ensured its victory. However, unknown to both Sektor and Cyrax. Bi-Han had secretly been given the task by the grand master to kill Shang Tsung to fulfill an old contract that the Lin Kuei once had. The reward from the sorcerer's death would have been enough to allow Bi-Han to leave the clan…, but now he’ll never get to do so. I was close… so close to finally being freed… and then you came… Bi-Han thought to himself.
He recalls how Scorpion challenged him in the tournament, and Bi-Han accepted in order to rid himself of the ghost that had been haunting him. The same ghost he killed while on a mission for Quan Chi before that sniveling sorcerer resurrected Hanzo to serve him as his slave. When Bi-Han previously traveled to the Netherrealm under Raiden’s orders, Scorpion seemed to put the destruction of his clan onto Bi-Han’s shoulders. Something that doesn’t make sense for Bi-Han since he wasn’t present when the Shirai Ryu were slaughtered, but he always just assumed Scorpion wanted to humiliate the Lin Kuei by besting their best warrior.
Suddenly, a green portal appears out of thin air beside Scorpion before a pale man covered in red and black markings steps out to see the aftermath of the battle. Bi-Han glances at this newcomer, his rage spiking upon recognizing it to be Quan Chi, the sorcerer who double-crossed him in the past. Has he come to gloat? Must I suffer his prattle? Bi-Han thought to himself. This is further evident by Quan Chi smirking at him before he looks at Scorpion, his smirk dropping.
“This is your retribution?” Quan Chi asked his slave, his tone full of mockery.
He points at Bi-Han and orders. “Scorpion… kill him.”
Fear shoots up Bi-Han’s spine before he looks at Scorpion’s pure white eyes out of instinct. He’s spent years killing to know when someone has the look in their eyes. The look that tells when someone is about to kill you. However, despite there being no pupils, Bi-Han can see the rage behind them, but also a hint of reluctance.
“I… I will not. He is beaten.” Scorpion said, the fires on his fists vanishing.
Bi-Han sighs with relief before a displeased Quan Chi questions, “Have you forgotten what he did? To your clan? Your family?”
What? Bi-Han thinks to himself before, with a wave of his hand, Quan Chi conjures a cloud of smoke that shifts until the show visions for both Bi-Han and Scorpion to view. Bi-Han looks at the visions with confusion while Scorpion is frozen in place, recognizing the place he once called home. Bi-Han raises an eyebrow before seeing Lin Kuei warriors attacking what appears to be the Shirai Ryu temple, slaughtering every member in their path. Bi-Han, not bothered by the sheer violence, is wondering what the point of showing Scorpion this is for… until he sees himself in those visions.
Bi-Han’s breath catches in his throat as he sees himself leading the charge onto the temple, cutting down men, women, and even children who dare cross his path. As he watches, Bi-Han thinks to himself, This… This didn’t happen. I wasn’t there… I couldn’t have been… I was at the Shaolin Temple when this happened. As Bi-Han’s mind is filled with questions, Scorpion watches, his white eyes glued to the visions as his rage begins to boil over. However… what is shown next is his breaking point.
The next image shown… is of a woman and child unfamiliar to Bi-Han, but they are people whose faces have haunted Scorpion. The woman and child are his wife, Harumi, and son, Satoshi. Both warriors watch as the vision shows Bi-Han standing before Harumi as she cradles a crying Satoshi while Bi-Han unsheathes his katana. As the vision shows Bi-Han raising the sword above his head, Bi-Han’s eyes widen as everything begins to piece together before him… before Harumi’s cries echo throughout the Neatherrealm.
The vision ends with Bi-Han finally realizing why Scorpion blames him for his clan’s demise. Scorpion believes Bi-Han himself led that raid and killed his family personally, but Bi-Han knows that it was Quan Chi who led that attack. The Lin Kuei literally asked Quan Chi to do this in exchange for the map to the Temple of the Elements. He must have used his magic to appear as me! All this time, he’s been pulling the strings. Setting Scorpion and I against another! Bi-Han thinks to himself before Scorpion screams out, “NO!!!”
Bi-Han is pulled out of his shock and looks toward Scorpion as the rage boiling inside him has finally been unleashed. Scorpion glares daggers toward Bi-Han as fear once again settles inside the cryomancer. Bi-Han scrambles back to his feet, cradling his bloodied side as he holds his hand out toward Scorpion, trying to calm him down to explain everything. “Scorpion! Wait! That wasn’t me!” Bi-Han yelled. However, Scorpion doesn’t listen as he rips off his mask to reveal his burning skull engulfed by the fires of Netherrealm.
Bi-Han backs up in fear and says, “Scorpion! Hanzo! Listen to me!”
“Die… DIE!!!” Scorpion yelled before opening his mouth and shooting fire at Bi-Han.
“NO! IT WASN’T ME!!!” Bi-Han yelled.
Time seems to slow for him as the flames draw closer to him with every second, while Bi-Han realizes he’s going to die here. His life flashes before his eyes as he sees how his life has played out all throughout the years. The people he killed for the Lin Kuei, the items he stole from those who needed them, and how he nearly doomed the realms. All of this cements in his mind that he is doomed to remain in the Netherrealm. However, a familiar memory flashes in his mind. A memory about a familiar demon he met when previously here, and who died helping. Confusion sets in as to why he’s thinking of her at this moment, but it doesn’t matter now. He closes his eyes and awaits his fate…
… Until…
“BI-HAN!!!”
Bi-Han hears his name called by a familiar voice before he’s suddenly engulfed in a bright, green light that shields him from Scorpion’s flames. Bi-Han’s breath hitches as the green light grows brighter all around him, so much so that he is forced to shut his eyes in response. Even with his eyes shut, the light grows brighter and brighter… before slowly fading. Bi-Han, his eyes still closed, feels a breeze hit him before he finally opens his eyes and is treated to the familiar night sky of Earthrealm. Bi-Han is initially confused but is soon filled with relief… but that is short-lived.
Bi-Han suddenly feels weightless as he looks down, his eyes widening over the fact that he’s in mid-air. Bi-Han instinctively waves his arms before he falls straight down toward the concrete ground beneath him. Bi-Han panics as he attempts to stop himself, but he’s too late as he crashes down onto the concrete ground in a dark alleyway, landing on his shoulder. A loud ‘pop’ can be heard from Bi-Han’s shoulder dislocating as he cries out in pain, with the stinging pain being enough to affect his vision.
Bi-Han slumps to the ground, his body motionless as his blood seeps into the ground, creating a pool of his own blood for him to lie in. Before he blacks out, Bi-Han’s mind runs with so many questions over his current predicament, but he can’t answer any of them as he falls unconscious.
Inside of Bi-Han’s mind, all he can see for miles upon miles is nothing except the suffocating darkness all around him. As he stands in the middle of the darkness, it brings about a cold chill to the Lin Kuei warrior, something that rarely ever happens. As a child, the darkness always terrified him, but as he matured, it did little but unnerve him. Yet, now standing in nothing but pitch black, the darkness is now more unnerving than it has ever been for Bi-Han.
Luckily, that darkness soon fades away in the blink of an eye as Bi-Han soon finds himself standing outside a familiar temple. One that he has spent his entire life living in. The Lin Kuei temple, the place he could ever call home, is hidden in the snowy mountains of China. Bi-Han can remember when he was brought here as a young boy and the fear the sheer size of the temple brought upon him. Through time, however, it became the only place in Bi-Han’s life that held any significance. As he gazes at the ancient structure, he thinks to himself, What am I doing here? Is this a dream, or a hallucination?
However, he soon finds his answers in the form of grunts and the sound of fists colliding against one another coming from behind him. Bi-Han’s head perks up before he looks over his shoulder to see two young boys fighting one another in blue Lin Kuei training outfits. At first, Bi-Han believes these are two new initiates for the clan, but he’s proven wrong upon inspecting them more closely. His breath catches in his throat as he walks toward the pair, neither boy acknowledging him, before standing near them.
One of the boys looks a little older than the other and has longer hair, while the other has short hair. Bi-Han immediately recognizes the older boy as himself from when he was at least thirteen years old. As for the other one… he could never forget the face of the only family he’s ever had as he mutters the younger boy’s name.
“Kuai Liang…”
As he watches his past self fighting Kuai Liang, it becomes clear to him what he’s seeing before him. This is a memory from my brother and me as initiates… but why am I seeing this now? Bi-Han thinks to himself, crossing his arms. He watches as his younger self easily blocks a punch from Kuai Liang before his brother launches an ice blast, forcing Bi-Han’s younger self to jump back. His younger self is quick to counter as he ice slides toward Kuai Liang before creating two ice daggers.
Kuai Liang hisses before dodging the incoming slashes from Bi-Han, ducking under one of the attacks, seeing an opening for him to strike. Kuai Liang covers his fist in ice before punching Bi-Han in the ribs, causing him to yelp in pain before Kuai Liang kicks him away. Both brothers stand a great distance away from one another, breathing heavily from exhaustion, yet showing no signs of being finished. Bi-Han grits his teeth before his entire arm is engulfed in a blue, icy aura that causes Kuai Liang to gasp before doing the same thing.
Both brothers launch at each other, their fists set to collide with one another, or at least that’s what it seems to Kuai Liang. Bi-Han suddenly stops his attack before suddenly wrapping both of his arms around Kuai Liang, restraining him, before slamming his brother into the ground. Kuai Liang has the air knocked out of him before Bi-Han grabs his arm and pulls it back and slams his foot on Kuai Liang’s jaw. Kuai Liang is now fully at his brother’s mercy, and he knows he can’t win. “I… I yield.” He mutters.
Bi-Han hears this and slowly releases his brother, allowing Kuai to breathe steadily while Bi-Han stands over his brother. The older Bi-Han, having been watching from the sidelines, is reminded of how strong his brother was and how he was nearly his equal. His gaze softens just slightly as he thinks to himself, Kuai Liang was always a great fighter. He just lacked the tenacity. He watches his younger self breathe heavily before speaking.
“You’ve gotten better. But it’s not good enough.” Younger Bi-Han said.
Kuai Liang manages to stand up and say, “I’ve been trying, brother. But our masters… they demand so much”
“It is to be expected. We have expectations to meet thanks to our father. We can’t show an ounce of weakness.” Bi-Han said coldly.
Kuai Liang closes his eyes for a moment before saying, “I know. But Smoke has helped me immensely in my training.”
Bi-Han nods, “That’s good. Though I wouldn’t get too close to him if I were you. His compassion could lead him to failure.”
“Smoke is an excellent fighter, brother. He looks after me, and I look after him.” Kuai Liang said, his tone defensive.
Bi-Han shoots him a cold glance before sighing, “... At least you have someone.”
Bi-Han doesn’t say anything else before walking away from Kuai Liang, while his brother watches him leave with a hint of sadness in his eyes. Older Bi-Han watches his younger self walk away, his gaze reflecting his younger self’s coldness with a hint of anger. I only wanted to ensure Kuai Liang survived our training. The grandmaster tolerates no weakness… and I didn’t want to lose him. Bi-Han thought to himself. He always knew how much Kuai Liang looked up to him while they were children, but Bi-Han believed his brother should have had a better role model. Someone better than himself.
Back outside of Bi-Han’s mind, his body still lies in a pool of his own blood in the dark alley as the lights from nearby buildings illuminate the sky. At first, he seems to be in no danger currently, but the residents of this city know better than anyone that on a night like this… no one is safe. For Bi-Han’s exposed blood is a scent that only a specific type of creature can smell that humans can’t, creatures that are seen as predators for the human race. And those predators are in the form of two figures leaping off from the nearby rooftop and landing right next to Bi-Han’s motionless body.
These two figures are both male, with one having blonde hair and the other having raven black hair, both wearing masks over most of their faces. The blonde’s mask is a white, angelic mask, while the black-haired man wears a demonic black mask. Their eyes are in full view, but they’re completely black with red, glowing irises piercing through the air as they gaze down at Bi-Han. Though these men appear to be humans, their eyes are a clear indication of what they really are… Ghouls. Ghouls that need to feed on human flesh in order to survive.
The black-haired ghoul kneels beside Bi-Han before the white-haired ghoul asks, “Is he dead?”
The black-haired checks for a pulse and sighs, “Nope. But going off these wounds, he should be dead.”
“It doesn’t matter. Dead or alive, we need to eat.” The white-haired ghoul said.
The black-haired ghoul sighs before saying, “We need to be more careful about hunting this late. There are investigators running around now thanks to Rize.”
“I know. But we have to eat something. Then we can just lie low for a while.” The white-haired ghoul said, his tone on edge.
“... Fine. Come on then. Let’s get this over with.” The black-haired ghoul said, slowly pulling his mask off.
The black-haired ghoul looks down at Bi-Han before leaning down, opening his mouth to take a bite out of Bi-Han’s arm. The white-haired ghoul kneels on the other side of Bi-Han to feast on his body with his friend… until he hears the sound of a blade piercing through flesh. The white-haired ghoul freezes for a moment, his mask nearly off, before looking over to his friend, only to see a horrific sight. His friend, the black-haired ghoul, is frozen in shock with a blade made of ice piercing his throat and in the grasp of an awake Bi-Han.
“Wha… no…” The white-haired ghoul muttered while his friend coughed up blood.
“... Disgusting.” Bi-Han said.
He suddenly flips his grip before pulling the blade and cutting the black-haired ghoul’s entire head in half, with pieces of his brain splattering on the ground. The white-haired ghoul gasps in shock and horror as he watches his friend fall to the ground, dead, before crawling away from Bi-Han in fear. Bi-Han, meanwhile, manages to get back to his feet slowly, hissing in pain due to his dislocated shoulder. He glances at his arm before gripping it tightly with his other arm, biting his lip, and popping it back in place, releasing a loud cry in the process.
Bi-Han takes slow, deep breaths as the pain in his arm finally fades before he glances over at the terrified ghoul, raising his eyebrow at the ghoul’s black eye. What in the Elder Gods’ name is he? A demon from the Netherrealm? Bi-Han thought to himself. Despite not knowing entirely what the ghoul is, Bi-Han knows that this ghoul might have some answers as to his current location. Bi-Han can already tell he’s somewhere in Earthrealm thanks to the buildings around him, but he doesn’t know exactly where.
The ghoul, noticing Bi-Han looking at him, scrambles to his feet in an attempt to escape, only for Bi-Han to launch an ice ball at the ghoul in the blink of an eye. The white-haired ghoul’s breath catches in his throat as he’s suddenly engulfed in a block of ice, something that shocks the ghoul. Bi-Han, cradling his side, walks toward the ghoul while forming another ice blade in his hand as both fear, and the cold of the ice shoots up the Ghoul’s spine. As Bi-Han stands before the ghoul, the ghoul wonders what exactly Bi-Han is because no human can just conjure ice.
Bi-Han brings his blade to the ghoul’s neck and speaks, “Tell me, demon… Did Quan Chi send you after me?”
“I… what?! What are you talking about?!” The ghoul muttered out before Bi-Han pressed the blade harder against his throat.
“Do not lie to me, demon! You may look human, but I saw you trying to eat me!” Bi-Han yelled, his patience wearing thin.
The ghoul tears up and yells, “We didn’t have a choice! You were the only thing we could eat!”
Bi-Han raises an eyebrow and speaks more calmly, “Why? Because I was defenseless against you, demon”
“D-Demon?! I’m not a demon, you psycho! I’m a ghoul!” The ghoul yelled out.
Bi-Han is taken aback before asking, “A ghoul? What is that?”
“I… You don’t know?” The ghoul asked, genuinely confused.
Bi-Han takes a moment to think to himself, As much as I hate it, by the way his eyes look, he is telling the truth. But… I’ve never heard of a ‘ghoul’. Bi-Han soon notices the change in the air, despite it being hard to notice. The air feels different around him, similar to Earthrealm, but not entirely the same. Is this even Earthrealm? Everything, the air, the buildings, this ‘ghoul’... It’s all wrong. Bi-Han thinks to himself.
He looks back at the ghoul before asking, “What city is this?”
The ghoul is taken aback before answering, “This… This is the 20th Ward of Tokyo.”
“20th Ward? In Tokyo? There’s no such thing.” Bi-Han said.
“Then… you’re either delusional, or you hit your head harder than you thought.” The ghoul said, attempting to gain some footing.
Bi-Han looks away, muttering, “... This isn’t home… This isn’t Earthrealm.”
This further confuses the Ghoul before he says, “Earthrealm? What are you—Agh!”
The ghoul is suddenly silenced when he feels Bi-Han’s hand around his throat, slowly squeezing it and cutting off his air supply. The Ghoul gasps for air as he stares into Bi-Han’s eyes, seeing nothing but the coldness in Bi-Han’s eyes… before suddenly feeling his neck start to freeze. The Ghoul is unable to see Bi-Han’s hand covered in frost as he freezes the ghoul’s neck until it’s nearly entirely ice, causing a burning sensation to rise in the ghoul. The Ghoul lets out a silent cry before muttering, “P… Please… don’t…”
However, his plea falls on deaf ears as Bi-Han uses his strength to suddenly rip the Ghoul’s head off, his spinal cord still connected, causing blood to gush out across the ice. Bi-Han holds the severed head of the Ghoul as the blood covers his fingers and drips onto the pavement. Bi-Han stares at the head for a moment before dropping it to the ground with no regard or care as he processes the information he’s just received. It becomes clear to him that he’s no longer in Earthrealm, or at least the one he knows.
He can feel it through the air, how it feels so different than what he’s experienced his entire life. As he looks up at the sky, a dark cloud begins to gather, with rain beginning to pour from the sky, while one thought runs through Bi-Han’s mind. Where am I?