The Woman of White Wings

Chapter Four: In Which the Final Battle is Won

Kazuya Mishima was only one step away from facing his father, having only now to wait for Heihachi to finish and win his bout before father and son advanced to the Quarter-Finals. It gave him less grim pleasure than any of the previous times he'd been at this point. As with every time they fought, Kazuya had to believe he would win, lest his own attitude be his undoing. But he had no interest—today—in a fight to the death with his father. In fact, what he actually wanted more was to speak to Heihachi. He couldn't remember ever having a simple conversation with him. One sided lectures in his youth were common. As was spitting curses and insults as they fought as adults, equals and enemies. And maybe, though he very much doubted this, fighting side by side as allies, had weakened his resolve. He left Heihachi to die then, flashing his father a small smile as he did so. And just a month later, here they were on the brink of seeing each other once more, and Kazuya found himself with no interest in his father's potential demise.

He wanted to talk.

The fifth tournament of the Iron Fist had forced Kazuya to finally accept something he'd been trying to deny for over twenty years. Every step he took, everything he thought he knew, every goal he'd set for himself…it was all a result of Heihachi manipulating him. He was deceived, tricked and defeated every time they faced off. Kazuya could go for years with no contact from his father and still play right into his hands. He didn't even know when it began, how far it reached, what Heihachi ultimately wanted. With no information at all, he couldn't formulate an appropriate counter-measure. Fighting with the intent to win, that alone had never served him well. Every time they fought, the where and when was dictated by Heihachi. Even when Kazuya thought he was the one pulling the strings, he was still Heihachi's puppet.

Did this start with Grandfather, or had you been plotting against us all even before that? He'd brought Jin and Kazuya both to Honmaru; he had chains there to suppress the Devil in them both. Raven had spoken of something concealed underneath it.

Heihachi had had those chains for a long time. He had seen a supernatural shadow over his father and contained it before it could become a threat to him. But he didn't have any of that power himself. He wasn't willing to use himself has a guinea pig.

Did you throw me to Devil on purpose? It wasn't out of the question for Heihachi to want to plant this power in someone young that he could control. That he could watch develop, and then decide if it was worth contaminating himself.

The one time I defeated you…I won because you let me. It wasn't even something Kazuya could bring himself to phrase as a question. Heihachi had wanted him to win. Heihachi wanted to know what he would do. Apparently, he had either outgrown being a worthwhile experiment or the results were negative. It was the second tournament that Heihachi fought Kazuya with the intent to kill. The first time. Maybe even the only time.

Kazuya had accepted that he was a pawn. He didn't like it; he was possibly more disgusted with his father than he'd ever been. But he had to know, towards what end had he been used? How much of his life was only his? Did Jun Kazama enter his life because Heihachi wanted a new specimen to continue his experiment on after doing away with Kazuya himself? Making love to a woman because your father wanted you to procreate before he killed you—what a repulsive thought. If so, did she know? Or was she has blind as him? If she was a tool, he hoped she went unknowingly. At least then, she would have been an ally to him, as he'd always thought of her.

And what of Jin? Was he—as he rather looked—just Heihachi's second Kazuya? Or was some portion of his life his own? Kazuya didn't have any particular attachment to Jin. To a degree, it even seemed to him that they wanted the same thing: Jin wanted his Devil side gone and Kazuya wanted to reclaim it; they wanted to be rid of Heihachi. If Jin would stop attacking him for a moment, they might even reach a truce. It was a little vexing that Jin wanted him dead. They'd never even met before the fourth tournament. He supposed that Heihachi could have filled the boy's head with propaganda, but he probably knew better by now that to listen to anything his grandfather had to say. Or he could be bitter about his father never being there for him, but that seemed silly. The less they see of Kazuya, the better off most people are. He was, of course, quite aware of his tendencies for the violent, murderous and immoral, and by not being a part of Jin's life, the boy had been spared any of this directed at him. Or he could be angry about the whole demonic possession thing, but Kazuya did want to fix that.

But now, it was time to wait.

Not long ago, Jin had no allies at all and refused to accept help. To be an associate of his meant you were in danger, if not from his enemies, then from himself. Somehow—and he did wonder how—he had acquired a chatterbox of an angel, whose existence had finally been proven, and a tough talking teenage girl. Jin had expected Asuka to be more like his mother once she was up and about. They had the same power and he expected the same gentleness. She was blunt and crass. Nosey. She fought for fun before she fought to defend the weak. If anything, she liked picking on the weak.

She wasn't afraid of looking just plain crazy like Jin was either. She chatted with Angel in public with as much volume and animation as she would anyone else. He tried to pretend that she wasn't with him, but Asuka would have none of that. She was basically cheerful, though. She'd failed to avenge her father but that Jin and Angel didn't reject her for it seemed to encourage her. When she went back to Osaka, Asuka told him, Jin should come too. She didn't know of any relative named Jun, but they could ask her father and if he didn't know either, he could probably suggest someone who might. It would be fun to know how they were related, she said, now that they were friends. He could attend the dojo, too, and learn Kazama style.

Jun had taught him very little of the family's traditional school of martial arts. What he did know, he'd fused together with the Mishima style his grandfather taught. He conditioned himself to stop using Mishima-ryu in favor of the karate he learned in Brisbane. A side effect had been losing Kazama-ryu as well. Jin liked the idea of learning his mother's moves after so long. If he fought like her, maybe he could feel her with him…

"We should go soon," Angel was telling Asuka while the three of them sat in that same coffee house that Jin had first met her in. "We have to get to Kazuya before Heihachi does or it might be too late."

"You think Heihachi is going to kill him?" Asuka asked.

Angel frowned. "I don't know what he wants, but if he does want to kill Kazuya, he's perfectly able to. Devil used Kazuya's first death to cement their bond and push me out. If he dies again and Devil doesn't revive him, his soul is lost. If he dies again and Devil revives him again, they'll just bond closer. They could become the same entity."

Asuka smirked and cocked her head. "No worries. You get me over there and I'll purge him the same way I did Jin."

"I don't think that'll work. Jin wanted his Devil side gone. Kazuya is a willing host, so we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

Asuka's smile turned predatory. "Even better."

Angel shook her head. "This one is mine."

There should have only been two entering the stage, but there were five. It was a surprise to both Kazuya and Heihachi to see Jin arrive on the scene, pushing a teenage girl in a wheelchair. Heihachi didn't see their other companion, the angel dressed in white, but she had the majority of Kazuya's attention. If Heihachi had been a less honorable fighter, he would have attacked Kazuya while he was distracted. As it was, he chose not to move, but only watched. Judging by his body language, his grandson had not come for him, but for Kazuya and as far as Heihachi was concerned, the boy could do what he wanted with his father.

"This ends now, Devil," Angel said, spreading her wings and taking to the sky. She didn't know if Kazuya would allow Devil to come out this time and prepared to dive bomb him until her true opponent surfaced. The demon seemed to agree and Kazuya transformed.

Heihachi stifled a gasp at the sudden, and to his eyes, unprovoked change. In the air, he could see Devil throwing punches, kicks and energy blasts at nothing. Kazuya, it seemed to him, had finally lost his mind completely.

The battle Jin and Asuka saw was fought by two beings rather than one. Their fighting styles were identical and it looked like their reaches were as well. Twenty years ago, when they were evenly matched in spiritual power, their physical strength was also presumably the same. No wonder their battles had gone nowhere. Now, Devil's strength had been cut in half and the other piece of himself was dead. Angel dominated the battle. The only thing that kept her from knocking Devil out of the sky was how badly she wanted this fight. For it to end quickly wouldn't satiate her own blood lust. She was not an angel from heaven, but an angel from a Mishima. She herself was a dark creature, buried underneath all those good intentions.

Finally, when Devil could no longer keep himself in the air, he landed, panting heavily but not defeated yet. He wanted to retreat into Kazuya, but refused to give Angel the satisfaction of putting him on the run. His opponent landed neatly a few feet away and assessed him for a moment.

Devil had been quite weakened, Angel thought. If he let Kazuya take over again, he could begin to heal and regain what meager strength in had, but she had no interest in letting him to that. Like she said, it was ending.

"Asuka."

The girl in the wheelchair began to pulse with a white light. It started weak, flickering like a dying light bulb, but as she concentrated on tapping into this power of hers on purpose, it grew more steady. Brighter. Stronger.

A purple haze began to lift from Devil's skin, revealing patches of Kazuya beneath, tan and scarred. The wings and horns dissipated into nothingness instead of shrinking and reentering his body. The third eye closed.

Then there was only Kazuya standing there, with both eyes brown and swaying on his feet. He collapsed, unconscious. Jin, feeling Angel's alarm and desperation, leapt from beside Asuka's chair and ran to his father's side in only a few strides.

Still not comprehending what he was seeing, Heihachi made a vague, reaching gesture towards his son's body, but Jin snarled, "Stay away from him!"

"Jin," Asuka called, wanting to run to him, but stuck in the wheelchair and too weak from her own injuries to propel it herself, "Your cell phone! Call for help! He needs to get to a hospital!"

Somehow his brain had been to muddled with fear and a fierce protective urge to think of that himself, but now that Asuka had told him to, Jin reached for his phone and started dialing frantically.

"No, Jin Kazama," Angel said softly, drawing his attention. Jin's alarm spiked and he whirled to face her, strained to hear her. "It doesn't matter. He won't live long. Devil was too much a part of him for his body to survive without. There is nothing that can be done."

"But—"

"We saved him. Be grateful for that. The Mishima curse ends here."

Confused, Asuka murmured, "I thought he hated his father."

"It's my fault," Angel said, meeting Jin's eyes with a regretful smile. "I wasn't paying enough attention. I assumed nothing changed. I thought I was still Kazuya's goodness. But I'm not, Jin Kazama. I'm yours."

Jin swallowed. "Why would my goodness need to be someone else? I've always tried to do the right thing. Not like…" Why was his mouth so dry?

"You rejected your love for your father, Jin Kazama, but love is too strong to just go away. You could never really hate him, but you tried so hard, rejected your true feelings so forcefully, embraced your need to be healed, that you called me. I thought it was strange that I always knew where you were, always knew what you were thinking, followed behind you like a shadow but could do none of those things for Kazuya. He was the one I wanted to be near. The one I wanted to heal. But it was you all along.

"But now you are healed. And now you are letting yourself feel your fear and pain at the thought of losing him before you ever really had him, that I'm fading back into you.

"I should have seen it before.

"I'm sorry, Jin Kazama."

He wept.

The End.

I was intimidated by the thought of writing this chapter for a long time. It's been 10 months since the last update. But once I sat down and forced myself to get to writing, it came out very easily and I'm quite pleased with it. I'm actually really proud of this whole story; I think it is one of my best.