Work Text:
Geras’ steps are heavy and measured. Before him sits Liu Kang; Raiden's chosen one. His body slacks against the chains binding him to the chair, but a mix of hope and anger still flicker across his face.
If Geras was one to feel jealousy, or really, feel anything, he'd envy Liu Kang. Held up by friends and gods and maybe even a lover. Pushed towards his ambitions by the mushed thoughts and feelings he had for others. But in the end, that's all they were. Useless sentiments. Ones Geras had long surpassed. He did not need these wasteful ideas between him and Kronika. She was right. If Geras could be sure of anything in this universe, it was that. And he would defend her until his dying breath, then his next one, and the next after. It was his duty, and one he served well. No meaningless words could convey that.
Geras stops in front of him, the clicking of his armoured plates ceasing.
“A new look, just for me?” A rough edge settles into Liu Kang’s voice. “You shouldn't have.”
Geras pauses. For just a small, miniscule moment, something washed over him. Remorse, maybe. A hint of longing.
Unusual.
His face, if it even changed at all, was impossible to decipher. He had centuries of practice managing his few and slight emotions. So what was it now? And in that second, that inconceivably short amount of time, a memory settles in his brain. No, not a memory, but what could've been one. In another world.
Gone are his tight and dull clothes fitted upon him by Kronika. In their place are loose, more traditional pieces of fabric. Red pants that bag around his ankles. Something heavy and golden upon his shoulder. Wraps of beige going down his arms. His arms, his skin, saturated and carved. No longer the angular puzzle pieces etched in by his creator but instead rounded curves that flow into one another. Before he can even think about his new self, an oddly familiar voice calls out to him.
“Geras, my old friend! I didn't know you were going to visit today. Is anything wrong?”
“Yes,” he wants to say. “Everything is wrong.”
Instead, his new, softer voice replies for him, pushing the words from his mouth before he can consider what they might be.
“Nothing today, Lord Liu Kang. I simply.. wished to see how your duties are working out.”
Lord Liu Kang? That could not be correct. And yet, as he turned to face the man in front of him, that is who he saw. Liu Kang, all the same, yet all the more different.
Faintly glowing pupils where once stared deep, mortal brown. A sharper, somehow older face. And, most confusingly, a smile. Warm and genuine, without even a trace of malice or snide remarks. A profile that looked upon this Geras with a fondness.
Liu Kang- no, Lord Liu Kang stared at Geras for a beat before speaking again. “A new look, just for me? You shouldn't have.”
There was something almost.. loving, in his tone.
Before Geras can respond, the not-quite-a-memory fades, Liu's grinning face imprinted on his mind.
He's been staring too long. Even if just by a second, it was entirely too much. He will know, somehow. Geras turns away from Liu Kang, indifference still deeply set into his face.
It meant nothing. It was not real. There is not an existence where Kronika does not remain. No existence where he and Liu Kang become allies. Friends. More. It does not exist. Neither will he, without Kronika. Her vision must prevail.
As always.