💝☄️Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang, Kyson Castaneda/Qian Xue, Wanijima Misao/Delaney Castaneda Length: 2799 Words Rating: Mature Warnings: Crossover with an Original Project, Established Relationships, Portals, Team Dynamics, First Meetings, Everyone is as confused as each other tbh, Mystery, Arguing, Friends With Benefits, Heroes & Heroines, Superpowers Fictober 2025 Day 19: Crossover
Fictober 2025 Masterlist - Embers In Tundra Masterlist
Notes: You know how every so often I start a fic with “this is the most self indulgent thing I’ve ever written”? Well, all those other times I said that I was lying, because this is in fact the most self indulgent thing I’ve ever written and ever will write 😂 I wrote this for absolutely no one but myself, but I’m sharing it anyway lol. I’ve been lowkey wanting to do a crossover between MK and one of my original projects for a while now. In the end Embers In Tundra won, mostly because it actually lowkey started life as an idea for a SubScorp AU that splintered off enough to become an original work. I thought it would be a full circle type thing 😂 You don’t really need to have read anything from EIT to understand this, especially since there isn’t that much I’ve released publicly yet. This Non-Canon arc (calling it an arc because tbh I kinda wanna write more of this lol) does happen after the events of the 2nd Arc of EIT, But there’s no real spoilers other than couples getting together and a mention of defeating an antagonist. EIT doesn’t happen within the MK universe either, this is more similar to what happened in MK vs DC than anything else :) Title is from “Fireflies” by Owl City.
Strange portals had been opening all over Earthrealm.
Thankfully, no one had entered them, accidentally or otherwise, and nothing had come out of them either. Earthrealm's defenders had yet to figure out where they led. Special Forces scans had managed to pick up two things. One, that wherever they led didn’t seem to ping as any documented realm, and two, that they were opening from the other side, rather than in Earthrealm.
That meant there was something or someone on the other side making these things open.
If it was an attack or invasion, then it was a very strange one. There had so far been around 20 recorded sightings, they appeared for a few minutes, then closed again. Special Forces had begun to monitor them, and found there was a certain spike of energy an hour or so before they opened. They had essentially learned everything they could from this side of the portal. What was needed was for someone brave enough, or more accurately, stupid enough, to go through and see what was on the other side.
And that was why Kuai Liang and Hanzo found themselves standing in the middle of a forest, waiting for a portal to open.
“Hanzo?” Kuai began, listening to Hanzo hum in acknowledgement. “Is there something wrong with the both of us that caused us to agree to do this?”
“I suspect so,” Hanzo replied, shifting on his feet like he was growing impatient. “Let’s just hope whatever is beyond these portals isn’t some ungodly strong monstrosity.”
Kuai opened his mouth to make a quip, only to be beaten by a strange noise. A small orange light appeared in front of them. Slowly, the light expanded, almost looking like the world was somehow tearing in half.
“Ready?” Hanzo asked, preparing to run towards the portal once it was big enough for them to go through.
“As I’ll ever be.” And really, even with all the training in the world and things they’d seen, who the hell would ever be truly ready for something like this?
The portal ripped open down to the floor, at which point they both launched themselves at it. Kuai instinctively closed his eyes as he hit the energy, feeling warmth against his skin as he passed through it. His feet touched what felt like a concrete floor, and Kuai opened his eyes again, taking a look around his new surroundings.
They looked like they were in an abandoned warehouse of some kind, broken boxes littering the place. But, more importantly, it appeared that they were not alone.
Stood in front of them were three people, one man and two women, all wearing the most… curious of outfits. The man wore what almost resembled a military uniform, but had a devil mask perched to one side of his head. The first woman was wearing pink thrills, and a cape, with what appeared to be pink face paint over her eyes. The other woman was clearly a lot younger than her companions, wearing yellow and blue and similar to the elder woman she too had face paint over her eyes, but hers was yellow and she had small blue stars painted on her cheeks.
There was a sound behind them, and when Kuai turned to look, he found the portal had closed.
Well. It looked like it was time to figure out if these people were friends or foes.
As Kuai returned his gaze to them, he saw the elder woman’s eyes go hilariously wide.
“We’re not the ones who opened the portal,” she claimed in a panicked tone, holding up her hands like she was trying to show them she meant no harm. “We’re just here investigating it, we don’t know what’s going on either!”
The man turned to look at her with an incredulous look. “Was that really necessary?”
“Hey, they look like they mean business, figured I’d get that out the way before a misunderstanding unfolds,” she replied while throwing her arms up into the air. Kuai actually felt himself chuckle at that. He had a feeling these two were siblings, the argument reminded him so much of the bickering he and Bi-Han used to do.
“Well, I can not speak for my companion, but I appreciate you clearing that up straight away,” Kuai decided to tell her, having to hold back a laugh when she shot the man an ”I told you so” look. “So… I assume you can’t give us answers to what is happening here then?”
“Not really,” the man replied while shaking his head. “We’ve been trying to track them when they happen but by the time we get here, whoever is doing it has long gone.”
“We’ve learnt all we could about them from our side,” Hanzo explained, crossing his arms and glancing around the building. “So, we were sent to investigate further.”
“I don’t know if you two are brave or foolish for going through one,” the man told them, but still stepped forward and held out his hand to shake. “I’m Solar Flare. And this is my sister, Moon Halo.” He gestured to the elder woman, before pointing to the younger. “And my daughter, Starlight.”
Starlight shyly waved at them.
“Grandmaster Hanzo Hasashi,” Hanzo replied, meeting Solar Flare’s hand. “And this is Grandmaster Sub Zero.”
“But just Sub Zero is fine,” Kuai explained with a slight smirk. “I assume you are defenders of this realm, then?”
“Yeah, sure, something like that,” Moon Halo replied, seeming amused by Kuai’s use of words. “You said you guys have exhausted all you can learn on your end. Mind comparing notes?”
“We don’t have too much, just that they appear and disappear very suddenly, although there is an energy signal that can be located about an hour before one opens,” Kuai informed them, noticing the way Solar Flare and Moon Halo glanced at each other with surprised expressions.
“Have we picked up on that?” Moon Halo questioned.
“I don’t think we’ve got the technology for that,” Solar Flare replied, before looking back at Hanzo and Kuai, eyes flicking up and down to examine them in more detail. “I don’t suppose you brought that sort of equipment with you.”
“No,” Hanzo replied slowly while grimacing. “Mostly because it’s a big computer and not exactly portable.”
“Ah.”
Silence fell between all five of them.
“I can’t believe two people have come through the portal and we’re still in a dead end,” Moon Halo ranted, placing her hands on her hips. “We don’t even have any suspects.”
“Then there is no one in your realm you can think of who would do this?” Kuai asked, because it seemed strange that they appeared to be this places defenders and not know of any enemies who would do this.
“I mean we have plenty of villains running all over the place, but no one has powers that align with what’s happening here,” she continued. “That and we can’t figure out the motive. Aside from yourselves, nothing has come through the portal and as far as we can tell, nothing's gone into them.”
“We have had no reports of anything coming through,” Hanzo confirmed for them.
Kuai couldn’t help but think she was right though. If this was someone who meant harm, they would have done something by now, wouldn’t they? Or were they just warming up? Seeing how long they could hold the portal for?
When silence settled between them again, Kuai realised that he could hear something else. He held up a hand and tapped his lips, then his ear, to signal for everyone to listen. It sounded like voices and footsteps, approaching where they were.
“I think the signal is coming from here,” a voice echoed from a doorway.
Solar Flare had a frown on his face, whispering between his teeth “please tell me that’s not who I think it is.”
As if on cue, three more people walked through the door into the room, also a group of one man and two women, all wearing equally strange outfits. The man was short, even shorter than Kuai Liang, with a lop of black hair, a blue skintight suit, and a cape. He had feathers over his outfit, as well as two appendages that looked like wings coming out of his head. Again, the one woman looked older than the other, wearing a kimono styled outfit and a fox match on her head. The younger woman had patches of scales over her skin, and two horns poking through her blue hair.
“Yep, this is definitely where the portal was-”
The three finally looked up from a small device the younger woman was holding, seeing that they were not alone. The man gave a loud groan, throwing back his head in frustration.
“Of course you are here,” he reached a hand to rub his face. “I should have known.”
“What are you doing here, Xue?” Solar Flare asked, earning a glare from the man. Kuai assumed he was Xue then.
“Well, I assume we’re here for the exact same reason you are,” Xue replied, holding his hand up and looking at his fingernails like he was bored. “Looking for answers on those portals that opened up.”
The younger woman’s head jerked as she looked between her device to Kuai Liang and Hanzo.
“Uh. Hey, are those two guys with you from the other side of the portal or something?” She suddenly asked, and Xue and the elder woman both looked towards her. “Cause they are covered in the portal's energy!”
“You sound like you may have a plan,” the elder questioned, and the younger looked towards her.
“When the portals disappear, their energy goes with it. If I can isolate it from these gentlemen, I might be able to learn more about it.”
That sounded pretty good, but with how tense the meeting had been, Kuai had a feeling these two groups weren’t exactly friendly. Then again, Solar Flare and Moon Halo were looking as if they weren’t that against teaming up.
“Yes, we will team up with you, if that’s what you’re about to ask,” Xue replied, starting to walk towards them while rolling his eyes. The two women followed behind him. “We aren’t looking into this for any nefarious purposes, we just wanna know what’s going on.”
“And we’re supposed to just trust you when you say that?” Solar flare questioned, and Xue’s face immediately dropped to give a deadpan stare.
“Kyson, we teamed up to take down Dark Protector and we’re fucking on the regular,” Xue claimed, the matter of fact tone making Solar Flare sputter. Meanwhile, Kuai was smirking, seeing a little bit of himself in Xue. “I know we’re not boyfriends, as such, but if you still can’t trust me after that, I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Aw, what? You guys aren’t offical?” Moon Halo chimed up, giving her brother a devastated look. “What the hell, Ky? That’s so mean, why aren’t you dating him?” She gestured to the elder of the two women with Xue. “I mean, Misao officially asked me out straight after we defeated Dark Protector, but you can’t do the same for Xue?”
“Wait, why do I have to be the one to ask him out?” Solar Flare objected. “Why can’t he ask me out?”
“Oh come on Ky, look at him!” Moon Halo gestured wildly at Xue. ”Does he look like the sort of gay that can ask a man out?”
“Hey!” Xue huffed in an offended tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Alright, as interesting as all this relationship drama is,” Kuai finally interrupted, deciding things had gotten a little off course. “And believe me, someone is going to have to fill me in on the details a bit later. But maybe we should return our focus onto the mysterious portals that keep linking our realms for now.”
Everyone backed down, with Solar Flare looking at the younger woman and saying “what do you need, Dragonloom?”
“I think I’ll only need one of them, but it’ll be better at my lab, as I have better equipment,” Dragonloom claimed, although she was still looking at the device in her hands and clicking. “Um. That said, the readings seem stronger from the one in blue, for some reason.”
“Fine, how about this, Sub Zero, you go with Ice Raven, Freefall and Dragonloom” Solar Flare claimed, and he couldn’t help notice the sudden switch to what Kuai assumed were codenames. He assumed Misao was Freefall, with Xue being Ice Raven, which was oddly thematic and made him wonder if he had more in common with the man than he realised. “Grandmaster Hasashi, with me, Moon Halo and Starlight. We’ll see if we can find any clues about who is doing this.”
Kuai looked to Hanzo, who looked a little apprehensive, no doubt about the pair splitting up in an unfamiliar realm. Unnecessary, really, but it was sweet that his husband was so concerned and protective over him.
Kuai lent towards Hanzo, giving him a kiss at the side of his mouth. “We’ll be fine. Go with them, see what you can find, we’ll team up later.”
Hanzo sighed, pressing a more deliberate kiss to Kuai Liang’s lips. “Be careful, I would like us to return to Earthrealm together.”
“Well, if this is what we’re doing,” Misao started, walking over to Moon Halo and giving her a big smooch. “We’ll catch up later, Babe~”
“Love you,” Moon Halo replied in a cutesy tone.
And then everyone turned to look at Kyson and Xue, who were staring at each other, knowing that everyone was wanting to know what they’d do. Kyson looked like he was about to just run for it, but Xue looked positively pissed.
“No, you know what,” Xue exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “You don’t get kisses. Kisses are a boyfriend thing, and we are not boyfriends. So. Yeah. Yeah.” Xue suddenly turned on the spot and began to storm off. Kuai instinctively followed after him, as did Misao and Dragonloom. “You want to kiss, you have to ask me out, until then eat shit!”
“That’s incredibly immature,” Kyson called after them, prompting Xue to hold up his hand and flip his middle finger at him. “That’s even more so.”
“I don’t care, screw you Kyson!”
If Kyson replied beyond that, Kuai would never know as they exited the room and began walking through a winding corridor.
“Can I ask you something?” Xue suddenly questioned, glancing at Kuai Liang with a curious expression. “Kyson called you Sub Zero. Do you… Have ice powers?”
Kuai held up his hand, letting his power form in his hand. A small ball of ice formed on his palm. “I was going to ask you the same question, actually.”
Xue followed Kuai’s example, holding his hand out and letting the cryomancy dance between his fingers. The magic looked similar in colour, yet different in how it formed. Despite both having cryomancy, Kuai was content that Xue was not a descendant of Cryomancers. His magic looked like it might have stemmed from a different source.
Something else came to Kuai’s mind.
“And, out of curiosity. Does Solar Flare have well… pyromancy?”
“Yes, why are you-“ Xue stopped himself, pausing on the spot as his brows drew together. “Oh. Don’t tell me your partner also has pyromancy?"
“Yes.”
The similarities between them all were becoming a little too eerie in Kuai Liang’s opinion. Especially now he was close and could see this man also shared a facial scar, granted his ran from his right cheek across his nose and up to his left eyebrow.
“Wow,” Misao commented, one hand on her hip as she looked both cryomancers up and down. “It’s like… he’s from an alternate universe where you became a sad bear rather than a sad twink.”
“I’m not a twink,” Xue muttered lowly, glancing to one side and pouting.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Misao teased, sharing a bit of a smirk with Kuai Liang.
“Uh, not to be a pain, but can we focus on getting back to the lab?” Dragonloom questioned while she peered around them all. “Just, even though the energy is holding, I’m a little concerned it’ll disappear before I can get anything useful from it.”
“Then let’s continue,” Kuai agreed, sweeping his arm to indicate for them to lead the way. He turned to Xue slightly. “You can tell me all about your relationship problems there.”
“Alright, but we’ll be talking for hours,” Xue said with a shrug, but still he continued walking.
This realm seemed curious, and Kuai wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it all. Still, he hoped they’d find an answer, and that he and Hanzo would return to Earthrealm triumphant.
