Chapter 25
Julia could feel her body cool as Devil Jin alighted. Footsteps echoed, growing louder. Light sputtered from the body of the approaching figure. Its dark wings swept to each side of its silhouette and its horns pointed straight ahead. His whole body had taken on an edgier appearance. His muscles were larger but more chiseled, the angles of his face were sharper, and purple marks like tattoos ran along his body. Julia shrank back as he held her with his unearthly stare. It was as though there was a hole where his pupils should have been and instead of reflecting light they allowed light from behind to shine through. He grinned with teeth meant to rip chunks of flesh from bodies.
"Holy shit," Hwoarang said, pulling on Julia's arm and stepping forward to put himself between Jin and the girls. "Get back."
"Jin!" Xiaoyu cried from behind Hwoarang.
The world before Julia turned blue as the pendant began to glow once more. "Stay away," she told Hwoarang and Xiaoyu. She relaxed her mind to allow the spirit of Jun to speak. "Stop." Jin froze in his tracks at the sound of his mother's voice. "You are better than this, and you know it. Fight it, Jin. Don't you dare drink their poison. You are as much mine as you are your father's."
Julia could feel the pull of Jun's power. It extended out from her hand to Jin, wrapping him in its warmth. Jin's eyes dimmed slightly. He staggered; his shoulders hunched; he clasped a hand over his face. Julia stepped forward at Jun's command. "My death was not your fault. It was a weakness of body, not of spirit. Weakness in the body can be remedied; weakness in the spirit cannot. Do not let Heihachi's teaching corrupt you. You have learned what you needed in spite of him, not because of him.
"Anger is a blade you hold against your own wrist. Don't hold onto it anymore. Let it go, Jin." Julia felt her arm lift and gently caress his cheek. At her touch, the markings on his body lit up and faded away into smoke. The dark wings melded back into his shoulders and the horns withered and fell off. Jin slumped forward into Julia's arms.
The light from the pendant dimmed. "It's okay, Jin," Julia said. She felt emotionally and physically drained but at the same time there was a feeling of fulfillment. 'I have found him,' Julia thought. 'A man of perfect character.'
Placing her lips next to his ear, she whispered her wishes. It was beneath the bed in her room, take it and fulfill the legend. She asked for his promise and his lips moved soundlessly in reply. Xiaoyu and Hwoarang stepped forward to support Jin and drag him away. Julia knelt on the ground, not trusting her knees to stay solid enough.
She felt arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Thank you," Xiaoyu whispered. "You saved him."
Julia shook her head. "It wasn't me. It was Jun Kazama - his mother."
"Through you. Who else would have been able to do that? Hwoarang? Me? If it wasn't for you, Jin would be lost now. You saved him too."
Julia gave Xiaoyu's hand a squeeze. "I suppose you're right."
"Of course, I'm right. Now I think everything's wrapped up here. Here." Xiaoyu dropped a set of keys in Julia's palm. "Why don't you go find your mother and we'll get out of here?"
Julia stood with Xiaoyu's help. "I'll be okay from here," Julia told her. "Stay with Jin. He'll need to see a friendly face when he comes to."
Xiaoyu saluted.
Julia took one last look at Jin. He looked like a baby who had cried himself to sleep with his puffy eyes and red face. There was no hint of the devil that had broken free, but Julia was under no illusion that it had been completely purged from his body. It was a part of him. It was in his blood. But then everyone had some beast raging within themselves. At least Jin had conquered his once. That would make it a little easier to do it again should it free itself. Only a man of perfect character could live with the devil within his soul and not be corrupted completely.
"Remember your promise," Julia whispered before leaving the room.
* * *
Michelle leaned weakly against the bars of her prison. It was long past the time when a guard was supposed to leave a bowl of watery food and empty the chamber pot. How long had she been here? She hadn't even found a rock chalky enough to mark off days on the wall. Not that she would be able tell when one day ended and another began.
The room was an lazy artist's rendering of a medieval prison who never got around to finishing the background. Torches lined the walls, illuminating a small circle of bricks that was quickly eating away again by shadows. The dank smell of unwashed sweat only added to her discomfort, the humidity, the enclosed area so far from her native lands of Arizona was almost enough to break her. Even the reservation had never caged her spirit as this place as she languished with the endless squeak of rats, like unoiled gears, turning the world.
"Michelle!" A voice echoed down the hallway. "Mother!"
Michelle tried to shout in return, but nothing but dust and moths flew from her throat so rusted from disuse. She grabbed the nearest food pan and rattled it against the bars. Light ran along the sand colored skin of the figure coming down the hall.
"Mother, you're safe!" Julia pressed her hands up against the bars. Keys jangled from a ring around her wrist. "Here, let me get you out."
There was no sweeter sound than the key unlatching the locks and the creak of the hinges as the door protested Michelle's freedom. She reached out an emaciated arm to hug Julia. There would be time later to eat properly, to sleep in a comfortable bed, to live as she free as she once was, but there would never be another time to show her gratitude - how proud she was of Julia. Oh, how her daughter had grown. No, not physically - it could not have been more than a month since had been locked up by Heihachi - but in so many other important ways.
"It's okay, mother. I'm here." Julia moved to support Michelle.
"What of Ogre?"
"Defeated."
"And Heihachi?"
Michelle saw Julia tightened her fist at the mention of him. "I see. It's enough for now that you've defeated Ogre and overturned Heihachi's plans. Now let's go back to Arizona, where the land awaits us."
* * *
Xiaoyu was crying in Hwoarang's arms when Julia and Michelle returned. Michelle propped herself against the wall and waved Julia on.
"What's wrong, Xiaoyu? Where's Jin?"
"He's gone," she managed between sobs. "He's gone. They took him."
"Heihachi," Hwoarang clarified. "He stormed in with a bunch of his cronies, threw us around, and slapped some handcuffs on Jin and marched him away at gunpoint. Bunch of cowards."
"Julia," Xiaoyu sobbed. "What do you think they're going to do to him? They're family, right? Heihachi wouldn't hurt Jin like he did Kazuya, would he?"
Julia laid a hand on Xiaoyu's shaking shoulder. "I don't know, Xiaoyu. I hope not. I'm sure whatever shackles they put on him, he will free himself."
"He'd better," Hwoarang said. "We still have a fight to finish."
Julia nodded. It would be too much to ask Hwoarang to change his ways. He was a man who lived for his own gratification. At least he was willing to stand by them this time. However, with both Heihachi and Jin gone there would be confusion as to who would control the corporation. Perhaps in the confusion she and Michelle would be able to find a ticket back home.
All of the warmth in the pendant had fled. It was nothing now but an empty turquoise shell.