Author's note: Well it's been awhile, hasn't it? I really didn't mean to take that long updating this, but well, life got in the way. So I give you chapter 12. Now this was suppose to be the last chapter before the epilogue, bu there were just too many loose ends to tie up so expect one more chapter by the end of next week, with a epilogue soon to follow. As always I hope you enjoy and take the time to review.

-Scarlet


Chapter 12

Stunned, Jann could only stare at the mass of flesh and blood that drooped over the claws of the creature Qing had become. She was dead? Was she dead? That was impossible. He turned towards a guttural laugh coming from the creatures mouth. A fire started in his chest and spread through the rest of him.

How dare he, How dare he...

The mantra filled his mind as rage took over and no longer considering his own survival, he leapt for the creatures throat.

Lei Fang struggled in and out of consciousness. There was a crushing weight on her chest. Nearby sounds glanced off her ears like bullets. Someone was quietly calling her name. It slipped in through the sounds of battle and the rushing of blood in her own ears. She was on her stomach, her hands brushing the abrasive concrete beneath her. Slowly, painstakingly, she managed ever so slightly to turn herself. Qing's arm, she was being crushed under Qing's arm. It twitched and she took her chance as it bucked forward, scuttling out from underneath. He seemed to be stuck, claws embedded in the wall; and there was somebody in between the wall and the claws. Her hands flew to her mouth as blood rushed out of Xiao's. The claws were buried deep into his intestines. Even if she could find a doctor, he was finished.

"Lei...Fang..." It had been Xiao calling to her.

"shhhhh..." she said soothingly. She wasn't a medical professional, but she could tell he didn't have much time left.

He shrieked in pain as the claws bucked again, shredding into his stomach, and the yellow bile began to spill out.

"I don't, I don't have much time."He grit his teeth. "I'm... sorry, Sorry for Lao, For everything."

Tears intermingled with the blood, "I'm sorry for everything, so fucking sorry."

She looked at his pain wracked face.

"Forgive me." he pleaded

Her mouth dropped open slightly, stunned at the request. This man had haunted Jann, killed Lao and under different circumstances, if Jann had been a minute too late, he would have killed her too. How she could she forgive him? He had tried to make things as right as he could. Was this man redeemable?

He coughed, causing drops of blood to speckle her face.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked wetly

"I-"

And then he was gone. With a triumphant cry, Qing freed his left hand from the wall. Xiao's body lurched forward and was tossed to the other side of the ballroom. She didn't hear the thump but she knew when he hit the wall, he was gone.

Rage.

It was a feeling she knew well. This body was failing. It had been failing for sometime now. She had never been so close before. Youth and inexperience were beautiful flaws in a person. Qing had none of the restraint the old Snake boss had. That man had know what he was dealing with. Never got too close or too angry. Temptation and promises were her only weapon, and even then she had been but a caged dog, well leashed when sicked on his enemies. Qing had given her free reign, She ruled over his business, his thoughts, his body. At last, she thought, would be free, but he had proven more difficult than she bargained for. His anger towards Jann Lee had kept her from full control. It had also kept her alive. She wondered when exactly Qing had noticed that his food no longer nourished him. She had used that anger to tap into his body, had whispered soothing words and fed. After hundreds of years of observation, she had come to believe that hatred was the strongest human emotion. It gave those on the brink of death the power to surge back into life. It had been her own hatred that had brought her to her fate. Hatred allowed her to surpass it. She, who in her lifetime had been a slave, an assassin, vengeance incarnate, and finally the devil's bride. Hatred had allowed her to rise above all things. However, the rage she felt from the young man who Qing hated burned like nothing she had ever felt before. Qing was failing. She could feel it in the sinew of his muscle, the tissue of his lungs, the sounds of his ragged breathing. He was failing as so many others had failed before him. Again she would be trapped. It was time to leave.

For the first time in many years, Jann struck blindly, the skin around the neck was thick and ridged with scales. There was no longer anything human about Qing. The Oni gave out an inhuman howl as it lashed out at Jann. He batted the arm away. He shouldn't have been able to, but he did. The creature struck with it left hand and the body on the claws flew off to the other side of the room, arcing over the few combatants that were crazy enough to still be there. He hurled one of his signature three punch combos into the side of the creatures mouth.

How dare he treat her body in such a fashion. The flesh on which he stood shook as the creature tried to rise and he forced it down again, maintaining his advantage. He kicked the creature in the jaw and it head snapped to the side. It would suffer for what it had done to her.

A beam above where Jann and the Oni had fallen groaned and fell. The building was no longer structurally sound. Kasumi grabbed the man she was fighting by the band of his pants and tossed him out the window like a bartender with an annoying customer. They had to get out of here. Most of the ballroom had been evacuated. All but a few headstrong or too stupid to care thugs were still trying to keep order. A body flew over her head and slammed into the wall, dodging flying fighters and debris, she ran to assistance. The man was beyond her help. His hand grasped out impulsively, and caught her by the wrist.

"Lei...Lei Fang... help Lei Fang" and with one last shuddering sigh, he passed from the world. Kasumi turned toward the battle in front of her. Where was Lei Fang?

"Ayane!" She screamed over falling chunks of concrete and steel. She spun around frantically, "Ayane!" To her left, the creature tossed off Jann Lee and began a steady ascent back onto two feet, she moved frantically between violently displaced office furniture.

"Ayane!"

"Here!" came an annoyed grunt. Ayane was pined beneath a large chunk of concrete and the wall beside the bomb, she ran to assist.

"Tsk, Tsk, What a mess. Housekeeping is going to have a fit when they see this place, don't you think?"

Christie laughed manically, staring down at the chaos below from two floors above.

Beside her, Bayman's face remained carefully neutral. "Just do it."

She shook her head at him. He needed to learn how to enjoy the moment. She leveled the remote control over the edge of the pit and pressed the small, glowing blue button.

At that exact moment, there was a whoosh from above and Christie pulled back just in time to avoid colliding with a black blur.

Ryu landed on the second floor with a thump. The creature appeared not to notice, struggling as it was with Jann.

"Jann!" He called out, Jann Lee turned his head to look and the creature threw him against the back wall of the ballroom. Lumbering forward in triumph, the creature climbed out of the basement pit and lurched forward into the ballroom. A flash of purple caught his eye as Ryu moved to go after them. Ayane, and with her was Lei Fang.

Her heels dug into the floor as Lei pushed at the block, Ayane pushed too. Groaning, The block scrapped against the floor.

"Almost, ugh, got it..." She huffed.

Abruptly there was a loud beep and the bomb flared back to life, a big, blue 10 minutes flashed on the screen and began to count down. The eyes of both women widened.

"How is that...?" Ayane cursed under her breath, "Hurry!" she shouted in desperation, "We have to get everyone out of here! Push!" With a final effort she shoved the block loose and Ayane limped free. Arms encircled both her waist and Ayane's.

Ryu only spared a moment to glace at the bomb, before gingerly carrying the two women out of the pit.

"Take this," shoved the small white urn into Lei Fang's arms. "get it to him. She can only be destroyed with this. I will get the remaining people out. "

"Lei!" Kasumi shouted relief evident in her voice as she saw the three of them. Ryu didn't waste anytime, handing the injured Ayane over to Kasumi as he quickly explained the situation. Lei Fang broke into run towards the monster and Jann Lee.

"You don't even stop to consider the danger to yourself, do you?" Ryu muttered to himself. Warranted, he had sent her into the danger, but she could have refused. Even though he knew many loving couples, he knew very few who would face a rampaging Oni for each other. He said a silent prayer for the two of them as he ran to clear the building.

Kasumi backpedaled towards the ballroom, waving her arms at the remaining fighters.

"Everybody out! There's a bomb!"

"Bomb?" a sallow face thug gulped on the word. In a few seconds, the last, most loyal of Qing's thugs turned tail and fled. All but one, anyways. The remaining group ran towards the Kitchen door, Zack was the first one to realize that Tina wasn't there.

"Won't be but a moment, sugar." Tina huffed, unaware that they had already left. This was undoubtedly the toughest fight of her life. Her captor went for her left side. Dodging, she sent a vicious uppercut that almost caught his jaw. Her opponent twisted out of the way and parried catching her arm and tossing her forward. At that moment, Qing's foot slammed the ground and she lost her footing completely Seizing on the momentum, He flung her to the floor and slammed the heel of his boot into her stomach. The "Ugh" was forced out of her along with some blood. Huh, her opponent thought evilly as he kicked her side and then her head, what do you know? She bleeds just like everybody else. Tina tried to right herself only to be pummeled back into the marble. She wasn't going to go down like this, please god, not like this. She was Tina Armstrong, for Christ's sake. She took another blow to her head, and this time caught his ankle, throwing him forward.

It was not going to end like this.

"She's dead, you know." the voice spewed from the Oni's mouth, the seductive sound was offset by the pure horror of the Oni's appearance.

" I told you it was inevitable. We are not so different, you and I. Qing's memories tell me this."

How had she gotten so tall? She towered at least two stories high.

"It's not my fault, you know. The world is to blame. It betrayed you like it betrayed me. But it doesn't have to end like this. We can get back at it, together."

"What?" Jann Lee was incredulous. "Don't be ridiculous"

"All I need is your body, Give me your body. I can show you things you never even dreamed of. The world will be at your feet. There is nothing I cannot reverse. We could even find away to bring her back."

Briefly, he almost considered the thought and then stopped, disgusted with himself. He would not allow her to be used as the enemy's weapon. He was stronger than that. Her memory was worth more than that. He would respect her death, not shut it out.

"No." he spat the word venomously at the creature "Nothing you could do would ever bring her back. Take Qing and go back to hell where you both belong"

"Too bad, I don't need your permission" the Oni's arm swung forward and the eye resting in the base of the palm, now the size of a bowling ball flew out and hurtled towards him with dark purpose. The now just Qing Oni immediately began to shrink, and then to shrivel. Jann didn't have any time to notice the transformation as he leapt out of the way, causing the eye to slam into the wall behind him. It wriggled out and sped at him again. He dropped to the floor and rolled. His hand landed on a piece of support beam. He swung out at the eye at it attacked him a third time and hurtled it across the room.

"Jann!"

He whipped around and for a very brief moment, time stopped.

Lei Fang stood there, alive and whole. She was covered in dirt, blood and god knew what else, but she was alive. Lei smiled at him ever so slightly, hair wafting across her face. She held up whatever was in her hands triumphantly. For an illogical moment he thought it might be a trophy. Her mouth moved into a startled "O"

"Watch out!"

The eye slammed into Jann's chest. He flew through several sets of debris before smashing into the marble wall where Xiao's body lay. The eye did not stop her assault. She gored into his chest, he punched her and pushed at her, succeeding just once at pushing her off before she managed to bore back in. There were red tendrils sinking into his brain, eating away at his sense of self. He was not Qing, he was not going to just give in. He fought with an inner strength he had not known he possessed and for awhile it seemed as though it was going to work. Until his limbs began to move on an accord not his own. In a shriek of triumph, Akiko forced Jann's body up from the floor. He fought lashing out against his own mind as they stumbled forward, the eye fusing with his chest and shrinking again into the small, seemingly harmless pearl that it had pretended to be for the last few hundred years.

Lei Fang leapt over falling beams and concrete "Jann!" Her throat was choked with dirt.

He moved jerkily towards her. She stopped where she was.

"Lei Fang" the voice that spoke sounded as if it had never met her before. The greeting was a hollow recognition of her person, not who she was or what she meant to him.

Something was terribly wrong.

"Who, who are you?" she asked uncertainly.

"Clever girl," Jann's voice said against his will. He chuckled. "I wonder if your friends will be as smart. I can be very very good at hiding myself. Will they believe me when I tell them Qing has killed you, I wonder? Or will you be a good girl and let me have my way. It would be easier for you, maybe even rewarding."

"What have you done to him? Give him back, monster." She held up the white marble urn like a christian would hold up a cross. Akiko frowned.

"Oh, not going to play nice, are we? He chuckled again. "I don't know what you've got there. But it's not going to save you." She pulled one of Jann's palms back, chanting softly. There was a sickly glow of crimson energy. "I warn you, walk away now or you will not like how this ends."

As she had with all things involving Jann Lee, Lei Fang stood her ground.

"Have it your way."

The ball of energy launched forward, but she didn't try to run or even to duck. She held the urn out in front of her and the impact shattered it. Marble chucks flew everywhere, releasing a fine snow white cloud that blanketed both the possessed Jann and Lei Fang.

Akiko held one of Jann's hands up to catch the dust.

"What's this?"

The wind began to whisper, a soft hushing sound that echoed in the arena of broken beams and chunks of stone.

"Akiiii, Akiii"

Jann's eyes widened in confusion.

"Impossible!"

"Akiiii, Akiiikooo"

"Satoshi" Jann snarled, "It can't be, you're dead." She utilized Jann's familiar smirk to finish the comment. "I should know, I killed you."

"I'm sorrrry, Akiiiii" the whisper said, the dust stirred it's self into a cloud that settled around Lei Fang.

"Dddeeeatth doesn't woooorrrrk like that."

Lei breathed deeply and she could hear the voice inside her head. It was soft and undemanding, but strong nonetheless.

"I am sorry, my child, but I will need to borrow your body for the moment. As you can guess, it is very hard to do anything as ash."

The fine dust from the urn was ash? She tried hard not to think about the fact that she was breathing in human remains.

"She has stayed too long in this world. I did not have the strength to destroy her when I was alive. but it is my calling, even from the grave. Strike at the pearl. Without the pearl, she will be called back to her master."

Jann Lee? Will Jann Lee be alright? She thought at the voice. She felt his sigh go through her body.

I do not know. But to even have a chance at freeing him, we must destroy her.

The ash settled around Lei Fang's hands, giving them a faint silvery glow. She dropped into her fighting stance.

"Oh? Does Satoshi want us to play?" She took up Jann's stance easily.

"Show me" there was a flicker of light across his dark eyes and for a moment Lei thought she could see the real Jann Lee, unobscured by Akiko's darkness. "Show me that you belong in my world."

Akiko threw back his head in laughter as Lei's jaw set in determination.

"I won't lose."

Tina's world blurred in and out clarity. So this really was it then. It was a shame, there had been so much she wanted to do, and she hadn't even won a Dead or Alive Tourney yet. Her attacker stood over her, Cackling maniacally. He brought his hand up for the final strike.

Zack struggled against Eliot and Hitomi. He had to get back in there, Tina was in there. The ground shuddered and the building swayed warningly. Police were clearing the area. The ballroom was mostly caved in. Hitomi didn't want to admit it, but it was very unlikely that their friend was still alive. Tears blurred her vision as she held Zack back.

Oh Tina...

To her left there was a whirring sound, and then so fast she almost didn't see it a motorcycle zoomed by her on a collision course with the one last window left in the whole place.

"TIIIINNNNNNNAAAAAAAAA!"

Tina looked up at the shattering sound. Above her, bathed in light, was her father. The motorcycle slammed down on her assailant with a crunch. What a way to go, she thought, staring at the place where he had been.

"Helllloooo Princessss" Brad Wong stumbled to the rescue as Bass tried to free his motorcycle from the corpse. With one last heft of the front wheel he managed to get the bike loose. He protectively grabbed his battered daughter from the groping hands of her rescuer and placed her on the bike in front of him.

"Hi, daddy," she managed to cough out. Bass gave a proud smile. His little girl may be all grown up, but she still needed her daddy to get her out of the big scrapes. Wong jumped on the motorcycle as Bass revved the engine. He raced up a support beam and back out the window.

Just then, the bomb went off.

Jann possessed fought like, well, Jann possessed. Akiko hadn't been lying when she said she could improve him. He was quicker, hit harder, screamed louder. She had turned him into a force of nature. By contrast, Lei Fang felt like she was underwater, she could see the moves miles before they came. She was totally calm. It wasn't natural to be fighting like this. Then again, she was fairly sure that it wasn't her fighting at all.

"You think you can just come back and make everything right, again. Don't you?" Akiko's tea kettle whistle of a voice slipped out from Jann's lips as a punch caught Satoshi and Lei Fang in the chest. Satoshi did not reply. He stayed honed on Jann's chest. Akiko aggressively pushed him back, but the offense was masking her defensive moves.

"I'm not sorry for killing you! I'm not sorry I did it!"

Japan, Feudal era

He moved quietly down the corridor, taking care to hide his shadow from the rice paper screens. The lord was becoming more cautious than ever it seem. The nightingale tiled floors and ceilings were new, but Satoshi was certain the Hiroyuki did not know about them. He suspected she had a lover, of course. But it was the unfounded suspicions of a man in love with something he could not have. The fact that his brother confided in him was proof. He quietly entered the women's quarters. Two maid slept and unnatural sleep, barely breathing on the wall, he could feel traces of spite and jealousy emanating off of them. He was correct then. He had found her. He carefully healed the women. They would wake in a few hours with no memory of what happened. In the next room, she sat waiting for him. He knew she knew he was there when her half moon shaped eyes narrowed and she greeted him.

"Master ninja, does Lord Hiroyuki know you are sneaking into his wife's bedroom?"

"I imagine he would be upset if it were still Lady Haname in there, Aki" he replied. He did not stand in a fighting pose. That was not what he was here for.

"You still presume to call me by my childhood name? We are Aki and Sato no longer."

The string of pearls around Lady Haname's neck glinted red in the moonlight.

"You fulfilled your purpose. You killed my brother. You avenged your homeland. Why are you still here?"

She chuckled darkly. "Do you think I stayed for you? Do not fool yourself, Satoshi. I have allied my self with a power far greater than you. I have had my revenge. You are no longer a useful tool."

He continued as though she had not spoken, "I think you do not want to return to your master. Repent, take responsibility for your mistakes and allow me to purify you."

"So you come in your roll as priest then, at least that is more respectful than begging lover."

She absently rearranged the lady's kimono around her.

"I am tainted, and not by my lord. Your brother tainted me. He tainted with his flesh! I am unclean, and will always be unclean."

"Aki," he moved closer, and she glared at him.

"What is it you pretend to offer me, salvation? You could have been my salvation. You could have stopped him!"

"Aki... I have always regretted that I did not intercede. I allowed my love for my brother to overshadow my love for you. If anyone is tainted, it's me.

"Oh, Satoshi." she moved forward and embraced him. He was far too trusting. She stabbed him in the back. Once, twice, three times. He died there in her arms. "I...will...come back for you..."

"It was always too little, too late. At least my lord does not lie the way you do. I waited for you. I waited for you to burst in the door. But you just stood there. You stood outside and let him have his way. You couldn't possibly love me and do that. Go to the other side knowing you are not forgiven and that my wrath is YOUR fault."

"You... have killed the only chance you had at salvation. Our next meeting...will not end well."

Jann Lee did the only thing he could do. The only thing he had ever done. He fought as hard as he could. When Akiko wanted his arm to go left, he told it to go right. When she wanted to take a step back he tried to move forward. He wanted Lei Fang to beat him. If she struck him down now, she would be able to get out before for the building collapsed. She would survive. That was enough for him. But she wasn't striking to kill, rather she moved to incapacitate. There was an ethereal glow to her hands and rather than trying to comprehend the situation, he just accepted he had no idea what was actually going on.

A beam crashed down behind her and he cursed to himself. If she stayed any longer there would be no way out for her. Gathering his strength, he put it all into one last effort.

Jann's body suddenly stilled. With a triumphant "Hiya" Lei's hand landed on the pearl. There was an almighty crack as the pearl shattered. Jann's body flew into the nearest wall. Suddenly released from Satoshi's grip, Lei ran to him, shouting his name. A cloud of red dust appeared and took the form of a woman, her face was covered in cuts and bruises. She was missing an eye. The true form of Akiko, the Devil's bride, once the most beautiful woman in all of japan, was an ugly mess.

"YOU!" She shouted as she towered over Lei Fang, "I will make you suffer for what you have done. Why should you be allowed to be happy! Why should you get a happy ending?"

The ghost leaped for the couple only to be tossed aside by a white figure. Satoshi.

"Go back to your master." an orange light emanated from a crack in the hotel floor.

"NOOOO!" she shouted, leaping again for Lei. Satoshi caught her and carried her, kicking and screaming toward the hole.

"Come, I will go with you. My penance for not stopping my brother. You shall not be alone."

His reassurance did not faze her and she screamed until they were out of sight and the light vanished.

Lei stared at the spot on the floor, until Jann's cough brought her back to the present.

"You must get out of here."

"What about you?" she asked. He coughed again.

"I'll slow you down." She shifted his body so that his weight was on her shoulders. She felt as though she were thirteen again, bringing him back from his initiation.

"I'm not giving up on you" she said against gritted teeth. Together, the stumbled out of the last available exit as the building blew up behind them.