Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm Blaque or B.T. and this will be my first post. Reviews are greatly accepted and encouraging to help me write more. Also, the title is subject to change so; if you have an idea of a new title for the story, don't be afraid to give me a holler! : )

Disclaimer: I do not own any Tekken characters announced or mentioned in this story, but I do own Justice, her mom, and the few OCs that will make guess appearances.

With that said, here's Chapter 1!

Chapter 1: Last Resort

Justice stared down at the almost lifeless body before her. For almost 3 weeks she'd been in this hospital, watching her mother fade away. She couldn't stand it but, this was their fate, and it had to be dealt with.

The on passing days and torturous nights were all Justice and her mother Henna, were used to. To Justice, the pale life form before her wasn't her mother anymore. Sure she was physically on the bed, gazing at the ceiling but mentally, she was long gone, locked in a shell. A shell that held in a woman who always smiled, who was so strong. Strong, that is what Justice remembered. Her mother was always a strong woman. She never gave up, even when the road was tough and rocky, she always held on.

That wasn't the case this day in time. The strong woman Justice once knew was gone and now replaced with a breathing corpse that just blankly stared at the ceiling all day, and night. Eyes glazed over, with lack of any kind of expression. Blank.

Justice sighed. She always stressed herself out when it came to her mother and her condition. The blonde African-American never could bring herself to say that without nearly balling into tears. She never wanted to say that but, that's what it was and forever will be, a condition, a life threatening one at that.

Henna suffered from brain damage. It wasn't brought on by genetics and it wasn't hereditary. It was all from a simple accident, which in a way wasn't so simple. The memories haunted Justice every night when she closed her eyes. It would all happen the same way. She'd close her eyes and after around 5 minutes, the scenes would replay the man, the yelling, the fighting, then the gun shots, then seeing her mother lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood, surrounding her temple.

Of all 18 years of Justice's life she never had seen her mother defeated. In a way, she thought she was invincible. Justice blamed herself for the whole occurrence. If she would have just stayed home, her mom, would still be the same, smiling, happy, alive. Anything opposite of what she was today.

It's almost been three days since Justice has slept, and the lack of sleep was placid on her once soft face. Justice was once a happy girl, always smiling, and eyes always bright. Not anymore. The lack of sleep and stress was getting to her, and causing her once glowing face to become a faint shade of grey.

She hated every single bit of all this. With every bone in Justice' body, she hated everything. She couldn't stand being in this plain white hospital, constantly listening to the beeps of the monitor. To her, it was the enemy, counting, counting how many heartbeats her mother was away from-

Justice had to stop thinking that way. She needed to be strong for her mother's sake. Even though she was in a minimal response state, she was still breathing, unaware, but breathing. That was better than nothing.

It's hard to keep hope alive, to keep believing when the one you love, has only a 50% chance of being who they were again, once they wake-up.

"We did a few tests and the results show there is a tumor forming near the wound that held the bullet that was inflicted into her skull"

Justice stared at the doctor in disbelief.

Could things get any worst?

"So what can be done to get rid of it?"

He stared down at his clipboard, chewing on his lip. He looked back at Justice.

"There is surgery."

Justice continued to stare at the doctor. At this time, any idea, anything, was of means of at least trying. Justice was desperate and anything sounded like a good idea right about now.

"Then what are we waiting for!? Do it!"

"Ms. Reeves, you must understand there are risks and also finances that must be discussed."

"Financia-what? My mother is lying here, dying, and you want to talk about risks!? She's been through enough, what's the worst that can happen at this point? Fuck that! We can evaluate later, right now-!"

"Please ma'am, calm down. You must understand, the surgery is not free-"

"I know that!" Justice was growing impatient. There was a way to repair the damage done to her mother and she was more than willing to try it, even if it was risky. Trying to talk sense at this point wasn't going to work out for her. "But her life is on the line!"

"Ms. Reeves!"

Justice immediately jumped and covered her mouth. Here she was, telling a doctor, what was right and what wasn't risky. She muttered a sorry and dropped into her seat. Her flipping out on the doctor was not going to make matters easier, not for anyone.

"I'm sorry." She silently said again. Justice settled herself and readjusted herself at her mother's bed side.

The doctor released a sigh of relief and continued on with his statement.

"Like I was saying previously, a surgery is needed-"

"How much", Justice interrupted.

"Judging by the procedure and the area we have to operate on, and since there is a 50/50 chance of survival…"

"50…50", Justice questioned.

"Yes, 50/50, the cost would be around 300,000 at the least, and that is just the surgery if you don't add in the medication, and the physical therapy she will have to go through to help her regain memory..."

The doctor trialed on but Justice wasn't paying attention. First the surgery was way too expensive and next to that it's only a 50/50 chance she'll live through it. She began to tug at her blonde locks, which didn't go unnoticed by the other occupant of the room.

"We tried to work something out with your insurance provider but unfortunately, they don't cover such procedures."

"I know that much." Justice stared back at her mother's lifeless form. "If we would've known something like this was going to happen then-"

"Yes, I understand, no one plans for something like this to happen to a loved one."

Justice slowly closed her eyes, still slightly tugging at her hair.

'I don't know how the hell we're going to afford this but, I'll find a way.'

It was 5 a.m. and Justice was still awake. This wasn't anything new for her.

Her eyes were still locked on her mother, haven't left since earlier when the doctor dropped in with the news. A frown slowly adorned her lips while her eye brows furrowed.

There was no way she could come up with that much money in so little time. Her insurance plan didn't cover 'high risk surgeries', and she couldn't pay monthly because that would mean a life time of unpaid debt, and on top of that, Justice didn't have a job.

She couldn't even remain paying her tuition at the dojo, sure she could stay and train for free but, she still wanted to contribute towards something. The only reason she got to stay was because she was their second best fighter, and if she left then, there wouldn't be a woman to represent the dojo at the competitions.

Justice' thoughts were interrupted by a certain vibration in her left pocket. Noticing it was her cell phone, she went to fish it out. After 5 minutes of a one sided struggle, she finally retrieved the mobile device. She slowly opened it noticing she had 1 new message, from an anonymous sender.

'How in the hell do you text in private?'

She made a mental note to research that later on; she began to read the message when a somewhat shocked expression came across her face.

Do you want to save your mother?

Justice scanned the room for evidence of another life; when she found none she headed to the window, peering outside for any suspicious activity. When once again, she found nothing, she slowly sat back down, and replied to the message.

Yes

After a moment or so later, a new message arrived.

King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 you win, you get the money plus more to save your mother's life

'Who the hell is this, and how did they know-?' Justice stopped herself in mid thought. Who was she kidding? She honestly could careless, someone out there knows what she's going through and they want to help her. She smiled to herself.

You in or not

Justice thought thoroughly on this issue. She could sit here and hope for the best or, she could join the tournament, win and will be guaranteed the finances needed to cover the hospital bills and other debts she may owe. This was her opportunity to save her mother's life.

Yeah, just tell me where to go

Justice looked over at her mother's glazed expression, watching the ceiling. Justice always wondered what her mom found intriguing about the plainness of the tiled one above. Maybe it was something she could see that Justice couldn't, obviously.

Justice leaned back in her seat and began to watch the ceiling herself, admiring it in her own way. She had no idea what this tournament had in store for her but, she knows, entering the tournament can make life much easier, but what if she lost? Then all her hard work would go to waste and her mother would die, because of her. She couldn't think like that, and she refused to. She was going to win and that was a fact. A smirk crawled on her face, a small laugh escaping her lips, thinking of all the good that could come out of this win.

For the sake of her mother, she had to win. Justice made the decision not to just enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament for fame or sudden fortunes, no, she had to, this was her last resort.

To Be Continued

Please Review!