The Swarm

Wait. Them?

He sat up with a gasping breathe, ignoring a sharp pain in his side at the sudden movement. Sat not too far from him, was Hanzo Hasashi and his apprentice, Takeda. Right, he remembered now. They had been mid-confrontation when the explosion happened. When he saw the wall of fire coming towards them, he'd instinctively thrown himself in front of them, making sure they were in cased in the walls of ice too.

Thankfully, they both were sat up, looking a little dazed and confused but physically unharmed.

“What the hell was that?” Takeda questioned, the first to break the silence.

“An explosion, I believe,” Hanzo replied, patting himself down as if he was looking for injuries. “How did we survive?”

“Sub Zero protected us.” That reply had them both turn their gaze to Kuai Liang. “Why did you do that?”

“Instinct.” Despite his short reply, both Shirai Ryu seemed to accept this as a satisfactory answer. Kuai attempted to push himself to stand, only for the pain in his side to flare up again, causing him instead to stumble back to his knees. When his hand went to where the pain came from, his fingers immediately met something wet. He finally glanced down and under his breathe growled “shit,” upon realising he was bleeding. He must have been hit by some stray shrapnel.

He jumped slightly when he realised that Hanzo was now right beside him. He had no time to react as Hanzo reached to take Kuai's belt off. A comment about Hanzo being upfront died on his tongue as fast as it entered his head. Tearing the fabric of Kuai's armour he almost wanted to protest, only for Hanzo to hold it to his wound taking the belt, tightening and clipping it so that the cloth would stay in place.

“That should keep pressure on the wound until we can find a more permanent solution.” It took a few seconds for Kuai to realise that Hanzo was helping him. He didn't understand why, maybe it was in repayment for his own actions, but he wasn't about to question it aloud.

“Thank you,” he weakly chose to say instead, giving Hanzo a rather unsure smile. He didn't smile back, but did nod in acknowledgement.

Next Kuai knew his arm was being thrown over the other man's shoulder as he was lifted to his feet. It hurt, but it wasn't the worst injury he'd ever had. He knew he wouldn't be able to just walk it off, but with Hanzo supporting the majority of Kuai's weight it didn't feel as bad.

“Uh, you two might wanna see this,” Takeda suddenly called to them, now standing on the edge of the cliff, only turning his head to them for long enough to grab their attention. Kuai shared an unsure look at Hanzo, before letting himself be guiding towards the edge.

The second Kuai surveyed the surrounding area, he knew exactly why Takeda had told them to look.

Everything was dead. The trees, the flowers and plants, nothing living except them had survived the blast. In the distance, Kuai could make out a city in ruins, buildings reduced to nothing but rubble. There was no way anyone could have survived with this amount of damage. Kuai's breathing hitched at the thought, his free hand clamping over his mouth as if to stop any noise coming out.

“What the hell could have caused this?” Hanzo grumbled, though Kuai was sure he didn't actually expect an answer. “Outworld? Netherealm? The Black Dragon?”

“What if this isn't the only place?” Kuai wondered aloud, Hanzo stared at him with a look of unease on his face. “What if this is a realm wide attack?”

“You mean like, the end of the world?” Takeda asked. Kuai couldn't explain why he didn't like it put into those words. The end of the world. It just sounded wrong.

“Whatever it is, we can't stay here,” Hanzo declared, shifting his hold on Kuai Liang ever so slightly. “First, we need to take care of Sub Zero's injury, we might be able to find supplies in the city, and maybe if we're lucky, some other survivors.”

“I don't see how anything could have survived this,” Kuai muttered, shaking his head and taking in the sights again. Everything was so still, completely lifeless.

“We did, thanks to you.” Kuai barely registered those words at first, and despite the gratitude in Hanzo's voice Kuai couldn't help but think their survival was nothing more than a complete fluke. “Maybe there are other's who got lucky.” Hanzo looked to Kuai, and if he didn't know the elder man better he'd think he looked concerned. “Are you well enough to walk?”

Oh, he is concerned. That was a new feeling. “I will be fine,” he said, before smirking slightly and adding, “I'm not quite a damsel in distress yet.”

Hanzo snorted, before gesturing with his head to Takeda. A silent order for the three of them to start walking. Before they turned to find a way down the cliff, Kuai couldn't help but look out across the devastation one last time. He felt a twisting in his gut.

Is this the end of the world?

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