Chapter Text
Kitana looked intensely at the hourglass that flowed before her, focusing on every grain; studying the way it fell and ever so slightly shifted the sand under it. It was now up to her and Liu Kang to restore the timeline and bring the realms back in order, but neither of them knew how they wanted to go about sculpting the sands.
Liu Kang tasked himself with visiting previous timelines, taking note of how things fell into place; what worked and what didn’t, anything he felt would help him figure out how to best sculpt the sands.
Kitana meanwhile, offered to stay and watch the hourglass, preferring not to interfere with mortal life. She figured she could scrub through the timelines using the glass and observe just as well as Liu Kang was doing on mortal land. This also allowed her to familiarize herself with the foreign object.
She waved her hand over the glass, focusing on her own timeline to conjure an image on the glass. She caught a glimpse of herself as an infant, innocently naive to any of the hardships she’d soon face. She knew better than to tune into the downfall of her own people, so she scrubbed past the hard parts, swallowing hard. As the quick flashing images of her life passed by, something caught her eye. She slowed down the glass, allowing Kitana to see herself in her room asleep. She could only barely make out a large dark figure looming over her bed, holding a tuft of her hair and cutting it loose from her head. Her face twisted into that of disgust as she came to the realization as to what she was witnessing.
She paused from viewing her own timeline to follow who she now knew to be Shao Kahn as he delivered the locks to Shang Tsung. She once again scrubbed through the twisted trials Shang Tsung went through, until finally, Kitana caught her first glimpse of her “sister”. She let the hourglass flow normally as she watched the first sparks of life awaken in Mileena. Kitana’s face softened as she watched Mileena struggle against restraints as Shang Tsung continued to experiment on her. Hearing her wailing in agony made Kitana once again scrub past the tough parts, hand over her mouth as she processed what she saw.
Kitana found herself in familiar territory once more, now seeing herself in the fleshpits the fateful day she discovered her. She looked on in horror as Mileena, arms open ready to accept Kitana as family, was met with a swift beating by her own hands.
Kitana had always promised herself she’d never inherit her father’s cruelty, yet there she was, plain as day coldly rejecting her own flesh and blood who never asked to be born. Her throat tightened and her stomach knotted itself as she realized the gravity of her actions. There was no excuse.
She continued to look on once more, not able to bring herself to speed past the harder to watch events this time. She followed Mileena’s timeline closely, making note of every struggle, every rejection, up until she was cast from her own throne and unceremoniously executed.
So pretty, so fair, so sad and alone…
She paused the hourglass, not wanting to look further into the events that followed.
Kitana knelt before the hourglass, holding herself as she struggled to keep the tears from making themselves known. She knew what she did was wrong, but why should she have given such an affront to the elder gods her kindness? Mileena stood for every lie Shao Kahn had ever told her. She couldn’t bear to look at her, and as a keeper of the hourglass, she wouldn’t have to.
She couldn’t let her very being be violated again, nor could she let Mileena live through a life of suffering, so surely the solution would be to prevent her creation all together? After all she was an abomination; her very existence a slight on the gods, not to mention an extreme breach on her own existence. Would it be right to just never allow it to happen; to never allow her sister to be born to suffer? What would Liu Kang think if he saw her considering wiping someone’s existence entirely?
Or does she allow the laws of nature to be defied once again; for her own soul to be defiled for the sake of bringing life to Mileena? Only this time, with a promise of being the family she desperately needed. Kitana wouldn’t turn away her kin, and instead she’d reach out a hand to her, Just as Liu Kang did for her so many years ago.
Kitana pondered her life for a moment, imagining where she would be if Liu Kang never showed her the mercy and kindness that was taught to him, would she not be so different from her sister?
Kitana rose to her feet, her hands beginning to sculpt the sand. Before she could do anything however, she felt Liu Kang phase into the space. She quickly waved away the images of Mileena and allowed the sand to flow unbothered. Kitana turned to greet him, sharing a quick kiss before speaking up.
“You’re back earlier than expected.”
“I felt guilty leaving you alone for so long,” Liu Kang held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. “We only have each other now, so we mustn’t take our company for granted.”
Kitana nodded slowly, tightening her hold on her lover.