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Seizing the Soul
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Once, honour had been his.
As a young boy trudging through the fresh soil of Yakushima, he would greet neighbours and travellers politely. A simple bow of the head, some soft spoken words and an offer to help them in their rice fields was all it took for him to be honoured.
Now Jin stands in a field of snow. Soldiers surround him. Guns pointed.
He is aware of curses people spew for him. He feigns a laugh and throws them off in multitude. Devil laughs with him until Jin can't find the difference any more. Devil had lived. He didn't have to look at his arm for that.
If only they knew what good we had done for them.
Ungrateful selfish humans!
His mind returns to the state of nostalgia where he stares at his reflection in the globe.
And then her face appears next to his. Blue eyes boring down into the crystal.
"Jin….," She pauses, "You're not a monster."
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The fire he caused was being dealt with by the snow. November had suddenly seen an onslaught of the white fluffy ice. He thought it was beautiful. The blue eyed blonde sitting beside him thought it was ugly and shivers. He guessed before that the coldness had a history with her.
A bitter history.
And then he had found out about her story.
A file of the Mishima Zaibatsu narrated it to him.
Her aim was to carry on with life as she had left it. She took no advantage of the chance of redemption- one he so desperately wanted for himself. Now he had it. But would he take it?
Jin wipes the mist off his window. There is nothing but whiteness out there.
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Nina had taught him how to show his face without hiding it. The poker face as she calls it helped him in keeping calm when dealing with difficult people like that old Rochefort man whose whole life was in his company. It helped Jin to show Eddy who is in charge, despite Eddy's pain reaching into his own heart.
"If you feel so much for them, then why are you doing this?" She asked once as they stand in the empty ballroom. They stand here again, as if to enact the past but in a different way.
He had said, "So no one ever has a curse like mine. If I destroy Azazel, the devil gene will be lost forever."
"Then what if your plan fails?"
"Then I'll have to think of another."
And this is where they are.
"The best thing to do is wait it out. Let Kazuya and Heihachi have their tiff first." Jin says. "Although it would be nothing different than last time."
"You do need recovery time." She says and nods. "But I do hope your state of mind has changed. No more sacrificing yourself."
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She was his inspiration. How she dealt with the public and how nothing- not even the snow storm shook her into submission. She walked around with a grace that not many women held. If a problem came up, she took care of it right. His company ran smoothly because of her and he imagines a life of normalcy. He would have had her in it for longer.
But he didn't deserve it. He had destroyed millions of families.
God should seize his soul.
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It was easier to fall asleep than pretend to be dead. They stayed at a cottage in Ireland. The snow settles on the hills and it is very peaceful. Money was no issue as Nina had inherited big portions of it from the Zaibatsu.
Their bed is warm with their lovemaking. Life seeping back into him as her fingers press against his skin. He takes refuge between her legs, his heart beating beneath his ribcage as she shudders beneath him. He follows her into the bliss. He is selfish to let himself this close to her. But he could never ignore her when their bodies touched.
"Live." She whispers as she brushes back his bangs, "Don't throw your life away."
And so it is, the murderer wants the monster to live.
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Blood runs in the snow, tainting it with a pinkish colour. Jin remembers faces. Jun, Ogre, Devil, Heihachi, Hwoarang, Xiaoyu, Panda, Kazuya Eddy, Zafina, Lars and Alisa. Some would hate him. Other's would miss him. Some might feel a bit of both. He hopes they all would forget him. Even Nina.
Jin's back in the snow. A scene now familiar.
There was no honour in living the life of a monster.
But he wanted to live.
As they raise their guns again, he waits.