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The Angel Within
Chapter One: A Common Monday
Set three months after the events of Tekken 6.
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[Day 1]
Monday, 12:45 UTC (05:45 in local time)
North of Arizona, United States Of America
The sun brings itself to the beautiful view of the Grand Canyon as it rises. The rosy sky matches with the orange of the land. By the Colorado River, a woman is camping, alone. The soft breeze caresses the fringe of her hazel hair and swings the feathers of her tribal earring. Her simple brown dress floates in the wind while she is knelt down watching the sunrise.
She stands up and walks barefoot through the bank of the river. The water is cold, giving her chills. Suddenly, she steps on something, and looks down to see some sort of rustic pendant.
Frowning slightly, she crouches to analyze it. When she grabs it, a rush of memories goes through her mind. But not any memories. Memories of her mother. Oh, she misses her mother so bad.
All of a sudden, she snaps out of it, falling forward. She upholds herself by putting her palms on the ground before her face hits it instead. Her breath is coming in gasps and her head aches.
"Julia…" The wind blows harder, whispering her name.
"Mother…"
[Day 1]
Monday, 13:06 UTC (07:06 in local time)
Somewhere in Mississippi, United States Of America
A young man is laid on a hospital bed, in a coma. The room is quite small, and has almost no furniture. Besides the bed and some medical equipment, the room is empty. The room has a simple ceiling lamp providing illumination, since there are no windows. Everything in that room is white.
Everything, besides a mirror. It is situated in the wall on the right side of the bed. On the other side of the mirror, there is not only reflection, but also an observation room. Inside there, a man and a woman are watching silently, sitting on two silver metal chairs across a silver metal table. They both are wearing black leather attire, sunglasses and their own earpieces.
This is not an ordinary hospital. And none of these people are ordinary.
[Day 1]
Monday, 13:06 UTC (22:06 in local time)
Tokyo, Japan
A dark-blonde haired white man stands alone in an office room. He watches the night life of Tokyo from a wall of windows. The lights of the cars and the buildings contrast with the dark starless cloudy sky. The black suit he is wearing camouflages him in the darkness. The top floor of the Mishima Zaibatsu tower defenitely grants the vastest and best view of the busy city.
He closes his eyes and sighs, passing his hand through his spiky hair. Many thoughts are crossing his mind right now, and he really needs a rest. As he heads for his bedroom, which is situated on a door across the office, the telephone rings.
Raising an eyebrow, he turns back and towards his desk. Answering the telephone, he hears a sweet female voice.
"Lars."
"Alisa." He says, smiling to himself.
"Sorry for disturbing this late at night, but I'm doing as you've requested." She makes a pause. "He has been awakened."
His jaw drops slightly.
"When?" He asks.
"Just now. I have just received the message."
"Who else knows this information besides them?"
"Only us."
He keeps himself silent for a second, thinking of how to proceed.
"This call has just become cinis." He says. "Be prepared to take off tomorrow. I will request Rita to arrange the plane."
"Yes, sir." He held the urge to laugh at hearing 'sir'. Her job position requires that formality, but hearing that from his friend is quite funny.
"All registers regarding this call have just been deleted." She says, after a pause. "Anything else?"
"Yes. Inform them we're meeting up in two days." He answers. "That's all. Good night, Alisa. I see you in the flight tomorrow." He smiles again.
"Alright. Good night, Lars." She hangs up.
Lars presses one of the many buttons of his high-tech telephone. He is now calling his secretary. It rings twice before the woman picks up.
"Mr. Alexandersson. How may I help you?" Rita, the CEO's secretary, says in the other side of the line, on her usual monotone voice.
"I need you to arrange the plane for tomorrow morning, heading to Mississippi. The earlier, the better. Cancel all my scheduled appointments for the week." He makes a pause. "Inform Nina she is joining the flight, and that I will give her instructions only before we take off."
"Yes, sir." She answers.
"This call and this trip are under the cinis protocol."
The cinis protocol is a measure that consists of suppressing every information recorded about something. It may be a call, it may be an experiment, a war attack, really anything; but if it has become cinis, it is like it has never existed. It is all turned to mere ashes. 'Cinis' is the latin word for 'ash'. A company as corrupt as the Zaibatsu has quite a vast purpose of the protocol.
"Yes, sir. I'm erasing all the data right now." Lars then hears light sounds of keyboard. He waits for Rita to finish the deletion.
"It is done. Everything about this call and the trip has been extinguished from the Zaibatsu database." She says after a few seconds of waiting. "I will assure there will be someone to accompany you to the flight tomorrow."
"Thank you. This is all." He hangs up and puts the telephone back on its place.
Lars catches a last glimpse of the night through the windows and heads to his bedroom.
[Day 1]
Monday, 13:11 UTC (14:11 in local time)
Berlin, Germany
A girl of light-blond short hair wearing a dark brown sweatshirt with the hood up enters in a café. The place is just as busy as the city outside, which makes her expression that one of a constant frown. I hate crowded places, she thinks.
She discretely heads towards the computers, taking her heads out of the front pockets of her dark blue jeans as she sits on the one in the corner. She wants answers. She needs answers. After some long minutes, she just can't find anything, just as yesterday. And just as all the other days. She sighs and decides to take the opportunity to check on her emails.
She raises an eyebrow seeing a new email, which arrived about forty minutes ago, from an anonymous sender. The email says:
Dear Mrs. Kliesen,
I have found some information that might be of your concern. They regard the one person you wanted to avenge in the last King of Iron Fist Tournament.
If you have any interest, head to the Fragrant Harbour. There, I will make my own way to meet you.
Don't bother to answer this message. You have one week to come.
Her jaw drops. She then keeps re-reading the email in astonishment. Who sent this? How have they found me? How did they know of my intentions? Fragrant Harbour? What is it's a trap? What if it's fake? These and many others questions race through her head.
She clenches her left fist and hit it in the desk out of frustration. What should I do?, she wonders. What is this?
She reflects for some minutes.
I guess there's only one way to find out.
[Day 1]
Monday, 15:23 UTC (10:23 in local time)
Miami, Florida, United States Of America
Four men are training in a small private dojo of their own. Training hard, very hard. Two of them are blonde and the other two are black-haired. Two of them are from the west of the world, and the two others are from the east of it.
"Chipping in to buy this dojo was definitely the best thing we could've done." Says Forest, while hitting on a punch bag.
"Hell yeah!" says Paul, half-answering Forest and half-screaming a battle cry as he drives his right fist to Marshall's jaw, who simply blocks the move. Both are loudily fighting on the small ring of the room.
"I couldn't agree more. Now I realize how much I needed some time away from the UK." Answers Steve, in his distinctive British accent, in between breaths while making push-ups.
Between the screams of Paul and Marshall, a cellphone rings in the distance. Steve recognizes his ringtone, and quickly stands. He walks a little to keep his privacy and then answers the call.
"Hello?" he says.
"Steve! How are you doing?" The man answers.
"Hello, Lei. I'm doin' good, and you?"
"I'm fine as well. But are you sure you're good? You sound tired." Lei remarks.
"I was just training, that's all." There's a very quick pause. "I've already invited you to join us here, you know."
"I know, I know. And you can be sure I would love to be enjoying Miami right now, if you know what I mean." Both of them laugh. "But both of us know I have some work to do here in Asia."
"And with 'some work', you actually mean 'making miracles'." Both laugh once again.
"Yes, pretty much." Lei says and sighs, slightly disappointed. He loves what he does, but everybody needs a break. "And that's why I'm calling you, actually."
"What's the matter? Have you found anything new?" Steve asks, the anticipation in his voice is clear.
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down there. It's not that. I mean, it is, but it's just not what you're expecting."
Steve frowns. "What do you mean?"
"I don't think we should talk about this through the phone." Lei says, ignoring the question. "Do you think you could meet me in person? You know where to find me. I would go to Miami, but I really can't leave here now, as I've said, you know."
Steve sighs. "Alright, alright." He answers, in some tone of defeat. "I'll be there within the week. I just need to buy the airplane ticket."
"Good, then it's settled." Lei answers, in a happy tone. "I don't wanna disturb your training." He says, after a pause. "I see you soon, my friend."
"See you. Good bye." He hangs up and leaves the cellphone in the same place it was.
He silently goes to a punch bag in the right side of Forest, and starts using his boxing technique on it.
"Hey, Steve." Forest says, looking at his friend.
"What?" Steve stops and looks back.
"When are going on that Cuban pub again?" Both of them smirk.
[Day 1]
Monday, 15:48 UTC (17:48 in local time)
Cairo, Egypt
Watching the sunset in the pyramids of Egypt is certainly not a privilege many people will have in this life. Only the gold of the sky could momentarily steal the gold of the pyramids. In this time of the day, the ancient buildings are all but a huge black shadow that contrasts with the orange and yellow sky behind them. A woman in her early twenties is watching it intensily, her dark brown eyes now in an orange tone thanks to the reflection.
The woman closes her eyes for a second. The world should be always this beautiful. Unfortunately, the evil got in the way, she thinks. She opens her eyes again, not wanting to miss the sight. I thought I could have saved the planet from the evil. I guess I was wrong. She sighs and her eyes meet the ground.
"Zafina!" calls a female voice. Zafina looks up to the person.
"Hello Jasmine, my friend." She says, smiling.
"This is definitely a sight, right?" Jasmine asks.
"Yes, indeed." Her gaze meets the sun.
"I couldn't help but notice that you seem upset. Is everything alright?" Jasmine says, in a concerned tone.
Zafina looks to her friend for a second. She is wearing a light blue jumpsuit of a simple fabric, constrating to Zafina's golden tank top and white long pants. Jasmine looks not that different from Zafina. Besides bigger eyes, longer hair and a more tanned skin, Jasmine is just like her. They could've been twins. Zafina smiles at thinking of this.
"I am just worried, that's all." She answers.
"Zafina." Jasmine says with a low voice tone, putting her left hand on Zafina's right shoulder. "I know it is not that simple."
Zafina sighs. "So do I."
Jasmine then hugs her friend from the side, with her left hand now holding Zafina's left arm, and right hand being held by Zafina's left hand in the front, as they watched the sun go away.
[Day 1]
Monday, 17:12 UTC (18:12 in local time)
Barcelona, Spain
Two men are running as fast as they can through the back alleys of Barcelona. Their long orange and black hairs flying angrily, their leather boots stomping on the pavement.
"Dude, I'm definitely coming to Barcelona more often!" Hwoarang says, keeping his pace as fast as he can while on leather pants.
After running a couple more minutes, they come to a stop, breathing heavily.
Miguel bursts out laughing. "I will be pleased to have you back here." He answers, only now.
Both sit on the ground, backs facing the walls. Miguel unbuttons his orange shirt, in an attempt to cool himself. Hwoarang seeing that, he copies his friend's idea and unzips his strapless vest. They put their hands on the full back pockets of their pants. But not full of anything: full of money.
"Those bastards earned it." Miguel says, in his thick Spanish accent. "No one kicks me and mi amigo out from a bar!"
Hwoarang chuckles. "We lost their good beer, but got a good fight. And some money." Miguel smirks at this remark.
The partners start counting the money as the bustling city around them continues to buzz.
"I got 400 here." Hwoarang breaks the silence.
Miguel finishes counting around the same time. "I got 450."
Both start to get up and walk back to Miguel's place.
"Might I ask you somethin'?" Hwoarang says.
"Sí."
"Doesn't this place bring back too many memories?"
Miguel keeps himself silently for a few seconds. "Sí. And that's why I stay here."
Hwoarang smiles an imperceptible smile. "You must've really loved your sister. Not that I doubted, though."
"She was the reason I woke up everybody." Miguel says. "I mean, literally, because she would throw cold water to wake me up in the hangovers."
Hwoarang bursts into laughter. "My master does the same to me."
"He's almost like a father to you, ain't he?"
Hwoarang takes some seconds to answer. "Almost? No. He is."
Miguel smiles to his friend. "You have a good guardian. Baek is a nice guy."
"And to think I almost lost him some years ago… I mean, I'm not sure if I could've stayed in Korea if that happened, just like you've stayed here in Spain."
Miguel frowns. "Almost lost him? What do you mean?" Then he realizes this might be a delicate topic. "I mean, if I might ask."
Hwoarang laughs softly. "It's fine." The Blood Talon runs his hand through his red-orange hair, thinking. "Some God of fight, or something like that, was taking down many good fighters some years ago. One of them was Baek."
Miguel's jaw drops, but he keeps silent so Hwoarang can continue. "That was one of the reasons I entered the Third King Of Iron Fist Tournament."
"Revenge on the monster?" Miguel concludes out loud.
"Yes." Hwoarang answers. "And on that goddamn Kazama."
Miguel frowns again. "Why?"
"We had a draw in a street fight some time before the tournament." Hwoarang sighs in frustration. "I was obviously doing better than him, you know."
Miguel laughs at this. "So you're rivals?"
"Yeah." The Blood Talon shrugs his shoulders.
After some minutes of silence, Hwoarang breaks the silence as they arrive at Miguel's place.
"I don't think I need to say Baek can't know about this, right?"
Miguel laughs loudly, and gives him a friendly tap in the back. "Of course you don't."
Monday, 17:35 UTC (12:35 in local time)
Somewhere in The Bahamas
(*the Fiji theme from Tekken 1 is playing in the background*)
Lee's enormous tropical mansion is electric as the many guests pass by, heading either to the dance floor, to the pool or to the private bar.
"Nothing like a good party in The Bahamas" Lee says, laughing, while laid on a sun lounger, his grey hair pushed back by the black sunglasses on his head.
"I couldn't agree more." Anna says, sipping some champagne in a sun lounger by his side. "I wish Kazuya would transfer headquarters every month."
Both laugh. "Having some more days off in the calendar would definitely be good." Lee says.
"Although I can't deny being away from good ol' Kazzy," Anna says, playfully, "is quite a torture." She pushes her short brown hair back with her hand in a sensual manner.
"You mean relief?" Lee says, and both laugh again.
"You know damn well what I mean." Anna says, seductively.
Lee narrows his eyes playfully. "I thought you preferred my company."
Anna examines him from head to toe, then locks her gaze with his eyes and smirks. "You should be enough to get by."
Lee is served a glass of champagne as he watches the party. He wears simply blue swimming trunks.
"Has Kazuya already said where the new headquarters are going to be?" Anna asks.
"Not yet." Lee sighs and sips the champagne.
"So how are we supposed to go back tomorrow if we don't know where to head to?"
Lee looks to Anna, shrugs his shoulders, and raises both eyebrows, as to say 'that's how it is with him.'
"The plane is going to be here for us, regardless of our knowledge of the destination." Lee says, already looking back at the party.
Deciding that paying mind is stupidity when there's a wild party going on, Anna gets up and leaves her empty glass in a desk.
"I'm going to dance. Are you coming?" She asks Lee seductively.
"I'm just going to finish this glass. Go ahead, I join you later."
Lee watches as Anna walks, in her usual seductive way, to the dance floor. He checks her bikini body up and down.
"Excellent."
End of Chapter One
Author's notes: Hello! My name is Carolina, and this is my first fanfiction. :P
I'll be leaving all author notes in the end of each chapter so you don't have to bother skipping it in case you don't want to read it.
As you may have already realized, this fanfic will be describing what's happening with many characters at the same time. But it all will eventually culminate together in the end. More characters will eventually appear in the story. So relax - if your favorite is not in this chapter, it might be in the next one. Stay tuned!
In this first chapter, specifically, I was trying to be more mysterious, that's why the descriptions are rather short - it's purposeful. It ended up being quite short actually (something around 2900 words without the author's notes), but the next ones will be longer.
I would like to cite the writers that, upon reading their works, inspired me to write a fanfiction of my own: SomeStoriesDeserveToBeTold, Psychoblue and Desiderio. (If you're in the Tekken fandom, you probably already know them. :P)
I hope you liked it, and don't be embarrassed to review! :)
Thank you!