And I Know You Won't Remember Memories In Ember
Chapter 2; Call My Name And Save Me From The Dark

Blinking a few times, he tried to let himself get used to the light, so he could glance around the room.

This place was completely unfamiliar to him. It was a blank white room with an oddly clinical feel to it. The only other things in the room were a table in front of him, and on the other side of it, it looked like a video camera was set up and pointed directly at him. There was a large metal door positioned at the other end of the room.

Trying to move one of his legs revealed they were also strapped to the chair. The majority of his armour and clothing had been removed, leaving him in only his tank top and his trousers.

His mind raced as he tried to remember how he got here. He remembered the feeling of being watched, the confrontation with the man in the suit, going to the inn to get a drink of water and… Well, it was all a bit of a blur after that, only the vague memory of feeling dizzy and someone lifting him up off the floor.

Shit, I was drugged.

How they’d managed to do so, he wasn’t sure. From what he remembered, the inn had been mostly empty, aside from a handful of patrons. The only person who touched his drink beside himself was the bartender. So… was she in on it? Fuck. He hadn’t stood a chance if that was the case.

Regardless, he didn’t exactly want to stick around and figure out why someone had drugged him. He gripped the armrests with both hands, intending to freeze and shatter them, freeing his arms and allowing him to get away.

Except, no ice was coming. He grunted and tried to concentrate harder, but all he could feel was a strange tingling sensation through his veins. He tried again, harder this time, the tingling became a full out sting and he sucked air in through his teeth. What’s going on? Why are my powers failing me? Why now of all moments?

Suddenly the door opened, a fair skinned man in a black suit and wearing sunglasses walked in. Kuai didn’t recognise him, he wasn’t one of the men who’d been following him at least. But the second this man’s eyes landed on Kuai Liang, he was grinning.

“Ah, I see you’re finally awake, sleeping beauty,” the man said with a chuckle as he shut the door behind him. He walked up to the table, placing down a suitcase on it. “It’s good to finally meet you in person, Sub Zero. I have heard a lot about you.” The man tilted his head slightly. “Do you mind if I call you Kuai Liang instead?”

Was this man some sort of government agent? But for which government? It was concerning that he knew Kuai’s name. Not just his codename, but his birth name, the name only those he was closest to knew about.

“Am I supposed to know who you are?” Kuai questioned, trying to keep his head high, but it was lolling around slightly, still heavy from whatever drug he’d been slipped.

“Oh, no, you have no idea who I am. I know who you are though.” The man was smirking to himself as he sat down on the table. “You can call me Agent X if you would like.”

“My apologies,” Kuai started in the best bored tone he could muster in the moment, “I wasn’t aware I’d walked into a cliché convention.”

To his surprise, Agent X began to chuckle, “for someone so cold, you have quite the fiery tongue.”

Kuai clenched his fist, trying to summon even the smallest amount of ice, but all that came was that sting. X tilted his head, eyes flicking down to Kuai’s hands, clearly knowing what he was trying to do.

“Ah, I’m afraid you’ll find you do not currently have the ability to use your powers.” X reached forward, placing a couple of fingers against the side of Kuai’s neck. Glancing to where they were, Kuai could just about make out a bruise. “We’ve been working on this serum for a long time. To help make people like yourself more… Well… Agreeable to work with.” He pressed the fingers in harder, and Kuai bared his teeth at the dull ache. “You’ll find they’ll be out of commission for the next few hours. Most likely longer since I’ll be giving you top ups.”

“You seem to have gone through a lot of trouble to get me here,” Kuai stated, glad when X moved his hand from his neck.

“Yes. Although, not for the reasons I would have liked.” X pushed himself off the table, slowly meandering around it to reach the camera. “But it’s my higher up’s choice. They aren’t as interested in you personally as I am, they have rather different reasons for you being here.”

“What reasons?” He watched as X started to set the camera to record. Or at least, that’s what he assumed the now blinking light on it meant. “Who are you working for and what do they want from me?”

“Well, I can’t tell you who I work for, but I can tell you that we don’t want anything from you as such.” X walked off from the camera, making his way back up to where Kuai was tied to the chair. He looped back around behind the chair, placing his hands on Kuai’s shoulders and causing him to tense up. “You are familiar with a man named Hanzo Hasashi, correct?”

“What does he have to do with this?” His first thoughts were that whoever these people were had been hired by the ex-wraith to take Kuai out. But he highly doubted Hanzo Hasashi would want Kuai to succumb to anyone’s hand beside his own.

“He has information that we require.” One of the hands on his shoulders tightened while the other came to cup his chin, forcing him to look at the camera. “You’re going to be the motivation for him to give us that information.”

That didn’t make sense to Kuai. Given how intently these people seemed to have been watching him, surely they would know that Hasashi wouldn’t fold to his bitter enemy being tortured. At least, Kuai assumed he was about to be tortured, he highly doubted if they were going to offer him some sort of deal they’d drug him and keep him tied to a chair.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Kuai started, attempting to shake the hand off his chin. The grip just tightened further and continued to force him to look towards the camera. “But Hanzo Hasashi doesn’t care one way or another what happens to me.”

“Perhaps,” Agent X practically purred in his ear. Kuai definitely got the impression whatever was about to happen was deeply intimate to X. It was extremely unnerving if he was being honest. “By the time I’m done with you, you’ll wish he did.”

Finally the agent’s hands released Kuai, and he hadn’t realised how uneasy the unwanted hands on his body made him until he gave a sigh of relief. X went around the side of him, back towards the suitcase on the table. He clicked it open, revealing all manner of weaponry and torture implements. Knives, hammers, power drills, some vials of something, some things that looked like they could give a nasty electric shock.

So, I was right, he is going to torture me.

The Lin Kuei had vigorous training in regards to torture, making sure none of their assassins would ever break under the hands of their enemies and give access to their deepest secrets. Except Agent X wasn’t after Lin Kuei secrets, and it wasn’t Kuai he was banking on breaking.

If Hanzo Hasashi is smart, he’ll know I’ve been trained to take this.

“Now then.” And once more, X’s hand was gripping Kuai’s chin. Kuai had no idea why that was worse than the thought of the torture he was about to go through. “Which of my toys shall I start with first?”

He could feel blood dripping down his body, although he couldn’t pinpoint which of his many injuries it was coming from. He was just barely holding onto consciousness throughout the pain and blood loss.

Agent X had not held back on his torture, and Kuai would have been impressed if it wasn’t him that it was being inflicted on. It had started with electrocution, increasing the strengths of shocks a little at a time until they practically burnt him. The knife had been used to cut and stab him, he’d had his skin ripped by the claw of the hammer before the flats had been slammed against his fingers. With how swollen they were, he’d definitely broken more than a few. The worst so far had been when X had brought out the power drill, placing it against his biceps and thighs and pressing the button to full power. How the fuck he’d managed to stop himself from screaming when he felt the drill bit hit his bones, he’d never know.

He wasn’t sure how long this had been going on, just that he’d been injected with whatever was in the vials several times throughout everything. He’d come to the conclusion that it was the so-called serum. If it lasted a couple of hours at a time, he had to be at least 10 hours into the torture, and he was actually somewhat amazed he hadn’t blacked out yet. The camera had been removed at some point, presumably to send the footage to Hasashi. That hadn’t stopped X however. Currently, they seemed to be taking some sort of break, just for X to decide what he wanted to do next.

Kuai was starting to get the feeling that Agent X was far more interested in hurting Kuai than whatever information it was they needed.

“I must say, I’m almost disappointed,” X spoke for the first time in a while. He was standing off somewhere to Kuai’s right, but he didn’t have the energy to try and look in that direction. “All these things I’ve done to you, and I haven’t managed to get one scream out of those pretty little lips of yours.”

“You’d have to take me to dinner first,” Kuai just about managed to mumble out, his voice slurred. It was probably not the best thing to say in this situation, but it was all he could possibly do to still show what defiance he had left.

“Oh, still so much fire,” Agent X chuckled. Kuai felt the other man’s hand trail across his collar bone, then suddenly he was in front of Kuai once more. He was looking down at Kuai with a positively evil grin, and Kuai got the distinct feeling he was going to regret provoking him. “I’d like to try one last time.”

Kuai was surprised when he felt Agent X’s weight pressing down on his thighs, the other man now straddling his lap. Kuai jerked in his chair, hissing at how it caused his injuries to start hurting again. X took hold of his face with one hand, forcing it to one side. All Kuai could see in the corner of his eye was X’s manic face and the knife being slowly brought towards the top of his head.

The knife was pressed against his skin, and slowly X began to drag it down, hard but slow. Kuai began to quake from the pain, closing his right eye, blood immediately pouring down his face. He could feel the blade scraping against his skull, hell, he could fucking hear it echoing against his brain. By the time the knife was at his eyebrow, Kuai couldn’t hold back any longer, as a blood curdling scream ripped from the back of his throat.

“Yes! Yes that’s what I want,” X exclaimed cheerfully. The knife kept travelling down, and he could feel it push against his eyelid, splitting it effortlessly. He kept screaming, terrified that it had broken past and damaged his eyeball. “Keep going, you’re doing so well.”

His cheek was next, the knife dug so deep into his flesh Kuai wouldn’t be surprised if it broke through to his mouth. All Kuai could do was scream, the agony was just so much. Too much. They said everyone had a breaking point. Kuai guessed this was his.

The pain was so great, he didn’t even notice when X finally finished his work and removed the knife. Kuai felt his face being forced forward again. He didn’t dare try to open his right eye, he could feel his flesh beginning to swell up, that entire part of his face still burning.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” X patted Kuai’s hair in a condescending manner.

Kuai hiccuped, his left eye welling up with tears. He tried to hold back, he refused to cry in front of this man the way he did as a child, but his body betrayed him completely. He began to brokenly sob, pulling on his restraints like that would help him.

“W-why?” Kuai got out between his cries. “Why are- are you st-still doing this?”

The camera was gone. There was no reason for X to still be torturing him. Why was he still going?

“Oh. I think I’ve given you the wrong impression here.” X’s hand tangled in Kuai’s short hair, yanking on it and causing him to yelp. “I do apologise, let me explain it to you more clearly.” X lent forward, until his eyes were directly in front of Kuai Liang’s. “You are never leaving here.”

Kuai’s stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”

“The deal with my higher ups was that once your use to them had come to an end, that I get to keep you,” X explained, voice full of giddy glee like a child who’d been given a new toy.

“Keep me?” Kuai choked on his own spit, now feeling rage boil up. “I’m not a pet.”

“Oh, but I had the loveliest baby blue collar selected out for you.” X released his grip, hands going to Kuai’s tank top. He took the knife to the top of it, using it to start slicing through it. “You see, you are extremely fascinating Kuai Liang, even amongst others with your power set, you are so very unique. I would be a fool to let you walk away when I have the chance to really understand how you work.”

“Fuck you,” Kuai growled, teeth bared as X cut away the remains of his top.

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.” X slowly began to carve something into Kuai’s chest. A glance down revealed he was cutting in the same sort of pattern that’d be used to perform an autopsy. “I just want to study you. And well, if I have to tear you apart and put you back together to do that effectively? It’ll be worth it.”

The knife now dug into his stomach, like X intended to gut him right there and then. He could feel his entire body shudder, shaking his head vigorously. Fuck, god, this is a dream, just a really bad dream, please I want to wake up now away from all this. Please, fucking please…

He felt the knife push deeper inside him, and it was enough to remind him this was all unfortunately, very very real.

Then, the room started to flash red, and a loud alarm blared.

Agent X immediately pulled away, and Kuai choked on his own breath from relief.

“What?” X hissed, but Kuai barely registered it between the ear piercing sound of the alarm and the sudden respite it had managed to bring. Right up until X was angling his head to look at him again. “We aren’t finished here. I’ll be back for you, Kuai Liang.”

And like that Agent X was at the door, practically running out of it. Kuai let his head slump down against his chest. The alarm had saved him for now, but he highly doubted it would last that long. His head was pounding, brain screaming at him to do something, to find some way to free himself and get out before X came back and ensured Kuai would never feel freedom again. But he was so tired, all energy had been sucked out of him. He closed his eye, hoping desperately that he’d just pass out and not have to endure anything more, at least for a little while.

His hopes were dashed when he heard the door open again, a set of footsteps slowly approaching him. He did not react, not even to open his eye, just sat in unease, awaiting those unwanted hands all over him. The footsteps stopped, and a hand touched his shoulder. He involuntarily let out a gasp, baring his teeth and bracing himself. The hand lingered, but there was nothing more.

“Sub Zero?” A voice asked, familiar and definitely not Agent X’s.

He opened his eye, turning his head as best he could to see who it was.

Staring down at him was Hanzo Hasashi.

What is he doing here? Hasashi’s face was blank as ever, a man so trained in hiding his emotions and yet there was a stiffness to his body that suggested he wasn’t happy with what he saw in front of him. There was no way he was actually worried about Kuai, it couldn’t be possible. The sickening thought was that he wasn’t actually here, just a hallucination Kuai’s exhausted mind had come up with to give him false hope.

He began to giggle brokenly to himself.

“Oh. I’ve gone insane, haven’t I?” He questioned between laughs, delirium taking hold and his head slumped back down. “Positively mad.”

The hand finally let go of his shoulder, reaching down to his wrist and he felt the strap being undone. He suddenly found he was able to move his right arm. Oh.

“I’m quite real, I’m afraid,” Hasashi grumbled, bending across to undo the other strap, and then undoing the straps around his ankles. “Can you stand?”

Kuai had no idea, he highly doubted that he could, but decided he was going to try anyway. He pushed himself up onto his feet only for his knees to immediately buckle under his own weight and he went tumbling forward. He was caught by a pair of large arms, snaking around him, falling head first into Hasashi’s chest.

“Okay, okay, I’ve got you,” Hasashi soothed, holding Kuai to his chest with one arm, while he hooked the other under Kuai’s knees and he effortlessly hauled him into a bridal carry. If Kuai was slightly more coherent, he might have made a comment about how easily he was being man handled but his body was feeling heavy in Hasashi’s arms.

The smell of cinders should not have been as comforting as it was in that moment, but Hasashi was warm and after everything he’d just been through it felt like being rescued by an angel. He closed his eye, letting himself be lulled into a peaceful state by the slow rocking of Hasashi’s arms as he began to walk.

Wait, aren’t I bleeding? He had no idea why that thought came to him, but his eye flicked open to find Hasashi’s yellow uniform stained with red.

“Sorry about the blood,” he slurred, closing his eye once more as he heard Hasashi give a somewhat bitter-sounding laugh.

“That is the least of my problems right now, believe me.”

Kuai could believe that, but he didn’t get the chance to say it, as finally his body and mind gave out on him, and his world faded to black.

When he woke up in a soft bed with warm sheets all over him, he was extremely confused. He could feel bandages all over his body, with one wrapped tightly around his head, particularly focused on the right side. He went to push himself to sit up, until his entire body protested the movement with an ache that burned right into his bones. He gave a pained whine, and instead tried to turn his head to look around. He was in a small room, it was decorated in a manor that he recognised as being traditionally Japanese in origin.

That might confirm that Hasashi wasn’t a hallucination or dream.

But the question of why he came to Kuai’s rescue remained.

The sound of a door sliding open caught his attention, and he turned his head to the opposite side of the room to see Hasashi standing in the doorway.

“You’re awake then,” Hasashi stated, sounding strangely reassured by that fact. “How do you feel?”

“Like I was hit by Shao Kahn’s hammer,” he admitted, once more struggling to try and sit up. Hasashi quickly made his way to his side, gently pushing him back down onto the bed.

“Try not to move too much. Your injuries are severe, you need to take it easy and rest.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “You are also extremely susceptible to infections right now, so we will need to keep a close eye on you. If anything feels wrong at any point, please tell us, even if it doesn’t seem significant.”

“I see.” Kuai agreed, although internally wondering who Hasashi meant by we. A glance around the room told him they were alone, and he hadn’t missed some other third party. He blinked, realising he still didn’t actually know where he was. “Where are we?”

“The Shirai Ryu fire gardens,” Hasashi answered and Kuai couldn’t help but frown. He didn’t want to ask the obvious question. As if he knew what Kuai was thinking, Hasashi mumbled, “I am re-building the Shirai Ryu.”

“Oh.” Good for you. He didn’t voice that thought, his input on such matters wouldn’t be appreciated. “Why did you rescue me?”

Hasashi was silent for a while as he looked away. What little Kuai could see of his face was that impassive blankness that Hasashi wore so well.

“The information they wanted from me had nothing to do with you. It was unfair and dishonourable of them to drag you into it.” That wasn’t the answer that Kuai was expecting, especially the part about it being dishonourable. It did make him curious just what exactly they had wanted to know. “And despite our past animosity, I don’t believe you deserve what they did to you.”

“Oh. Good.” He had no idea how to actually react to that. He guessed it was a good thing that Hasashi didn’t think Kuai deserved cold blooded torture or being kept as some sort of fucked up science experiment. He felt bile in the back of his throat, as the weight of that second part actually hit him. Hasashi would not have known that they wouldn’t have released him. “They weren’t going to release me. Even if you gave them the information, they intended to keep me there.”

Well, Agent X intended to keep him there, but it seemed like the entire agency was enabling his sadistic desires, so it was fair enough to say they were behind it.

Hasashi’s head snapped around to him, eyes wide at this news. There was a weird emotion in his eyes, something like guilt but that couldn’t possibly be it. Hasashi would have had no way to know what was going to happen, given that plan had only been revealed after the camera had been taken away.

“Just before you got there, that… Agent X guy, or whatever the fuck stupid ass name he gave himself.” Kuai could feel his eyes stinging, the humiliation at the thought of being so weak as to end up in that position. “I- He told me he was planning to keep me and… study me or something. I- Just- I-“

He remembered those hands gripping him so tightly, the pressure on his thighs, knife cutting into his face, his shirt being torn away. The condescending way X spoke to him. Kuai began to struggle to breathe. Had the thing about the collar just been a way of taunting him, or had X been serious? Kuai could see it going either way and that thought made him want to throw up.

I- I can’t breathe!

“Shh, Sub Zero,” Hasashi’s deep voice cut in through his hyperventilation. A gentle hand cradled his face. Hasashi looked at him far kinder than he’d ever seen before, not just at him but at anyone. “You are safe now.”

Kuai tried to slow his breathing, gulping back the lump in his throat. His body was quaking still, but his breathing was starting to get under control.

“I-I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure why he was apologising. “I- it just hit me and- I- I-“

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Hasashi reassured him. “I understand that this entire ordeal has been traumatic for you. None of this is your fault.” He clenched his fist and a small amount of flame emerged around it. “Believe me, they will not get away with what they have done to you.”

That was odd, but Kuai quickly decided that it wasn’t for his sake. It was more likely that whoever this group of people were, they had used underhanded and disgraceful methods to get what they wanted out of Hasashi. Or at least, that’s the only way it made sense in Kuai’s head. He just couldn’t tell what was happening anymore, his head hurt as much as the rest of his body.

“I should let you get rest,” Hasashi quickly declared, pushing himself up off the bed. “I will be back to check on you later.”

“Right,” Kuai agreed, watching as his saviour walked off towards the doorway. “Um… Thank you.”

“Try to get some sleep,” Hanzo advised, briefly turning around to offer a small smile and nod.

Then, he was leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. With nothing left to do, Kuai closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him once more.

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