If it is in normal style, then it is speech.
If it is in italics, then it is thought.
If it is in bold, then it is the individual's natural tongue.
If it is underlined, then it is Devil and the Creature.
Generally, if it is in italics and has singular quotation marks ( ' ' ) then it is Mental Speech.
Don't own any characters except Razer, Detective Burton and the rest of the gang (excluding Hwoarang).
All other characters belong to Namco.
Seven chapters until the end.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: …A Flaring Ache
"Who're you?"
"Does it matter, Miss Athane?" The man inquired, clicking on his blue pen, clearly bored.
She continued walking down the shop windows, taking in everything that was there, "Yeah, it does."
"I am Detective Burton. Your friend, Seong-Hada, assigned me to investigate into your accident."
"Ah, so you are the guy who has been spying on me."
"I don't spy. I observe."
"Whatever… Go ahead. Label it suicide. I don't really care," She passed another shop and groaned inwardly.
"I am aware it was not a suicide incident. Your friend Hwoarang, gave me some information that helped me to realise that this was actually a homicide attempt. It makes things much more clearer, considering how you wrote as if you were two people, and how hopeful you were for his return in your diary."
A slap ensued. Detective Burton winced and rubbed his stinging cheek, and readjusted his large glasses. Razer's brighter-than-they-were-at-the-beginning-of-this-tournament green eyes glared at him angrily and childishly, "You went through my fucking stuff?!"
"I'm sorry, but it was the necessary procedure."
"Sure it was…"
The Korean tugged lightly at his light blue Gundam shirt that resided under his large, brown trench coat, before placing his pen to the paper and asked a question, "In my investigation though, there was something I could not conclude to. You waited for Hwoarang's return so as you put it one of your entries, 'he could fix this', as you mourned Jin Kazama. Why did you not simply ignore the devil within and piece yourself together?"
"That sounds a lot harder than it is, Burton. And it is not a devil anymore, it's a thing. Some awful thing that I inherited from my Mother for some unknown fucking reason. Before you ask, because you seem the type of person to put forth such a question, no I do not want it, and I cannot ask it to go away."
He continued scribbling down notes, his messy, moppy brown hair moving as he looked back up, a slight frown on his features as he opened his mouth yet again, "There is no cure for your condition? Anything at all?"
A scowl appeared as she moved onto the next window, "Nope. Hwoarang and I raided the Mishima Zaibatsu last tournament to find Genocell in production, which offered control… Of course it was still 'under construction'."
'Under construction'. 'Under construction'. 'Under construction' –
A scream of anger suddenly appeared out of no where as she raised her heel and allowed it to smash onto the console, the keyboard, the mouse, everything. Withdrawing from her Dynamite Heel attack, she pulled back her fist and slammed it into the screen, watching it shatter around her knuckles.
"I apologize."
"It is fine…" Razer growled angrily, peering past the shop's name on the window, looking at what was inside. Inside her jean pockets, her fists had been balled and scrunched together as a poor attempt to contain her fury. The dull ache that had resided due to such an incident slowly flared up.
Detective Burton followed the Greek girl step by step, before stopping and lowering his pen and paper, his eyebrows furrowing. He opened his mouth to speak, before thinking better of it, and deciding to bite against the bullet anyway, "What are you looking for, Miss Athane?"
"I do not know. Something."
"Like a present or something?"
"Yeah."
"Groovy. Would you like some assistance?"
The glare that soon followed was met with a just-as-harsh response, "No."
He nodded curtly, getting back to work, "I have one last question for you, Miss Athane."
"Oh joy. And what might that be, Burton?"
"How do you see yourself? This incident? Problem?"
"A pain in the fucking neck to all three."
"You answered me too sharply and hurriedly, Miss Athane, and you didn't think on it long enough," Still, he made notes on it, and slipped the pen and paper down into one of his long pockets. He folded his arms after adjusting his glasses, which had a nasty habit of slipping down his nose, yet again, "Think about it. You can reach me through Seong-Hada. I will be returning to South Korea tonight. This investigation is closed."
"And the conclusion is?"
"Aside from the fact that you are extremely sensitive, trapped in some past rut, striving to be independent yet naturally being reliant due to this past… That you are finding it hard to release this… That in this time period, you were having a hard time coping from being away from the two people who held you up, particularly Hwoarang… That you are still finding it difficult to live with this curse, after twenty years of it inhabiting you, and approximately ten or so of it being activated… That in conclusion, this was never meant to happen."
The glare returned. She span away from the new shop window she had been peering through, and stared at him angrily, "What do you mean this was never meant to happen? I was not supposed to have this creature? It was not supposed to try and kill me? I was not supposed to believe that Jin died? I was not supposed to be fucking abused by the two in the gang? I was never supposed to live?"
"What wasn't supposed to live was these negative feelings and the burdens you bear."
"I don't have feelings. Not when this burden is so heavy to disable them."
Detective Burton suddenly smirked boldly. He realised she was going into a defensive mode. She knew she had feelings. She just didn't… "You do not feel as if you deserve to have feelings because of this curse? Is that it? That your friends deserve a better friend than you? That Hwoarang deserves a better 'sister', so to say, than you? That Mr Kazama deserves a better lover than you? Are you -"
"You are worthless."
Razer bit her lip angrily, still standing straight and tall, feeling blood trickle down the side of her head.
"And you will always be worthless."
Her eyebrows furrowed hard. God she hated that word as much as 'monster', "I am not worthless."
"Yet you feel it inside."
Who does he think he is? A psychologist? He's a fucking detective!
"You do, do you not?"
Worthless monster.
"Shut up," The 20-year-old growled through gritted teeth.
He looked taken back. Detective Burton swallowed, feeling anger rise, "Sorry…?"
"Not you, her."
"Oh…"
The ache continued to flare deep in her heart, for he was right. Yes, she felt worthless for not being more independent. Yes, she felt worthless for being such a burden at times. Yes, she felt worthless for… just…
The Korean felt satisfied, realising she could see things his way, in an objective, outsider's point of view… A view that some of her other friends may have at such times. He took a few aching steps forward towards her and put a hand on her shoulder comforting, offering a supportive and sympathetic smile, "Everyone has some worth, even the creature inside of you. Everyone gives benefit to the people around them and themselves. Don't give up. The flaring ache will pass… Think about the question I have given you. It would be interesting to know what you think. Just call up Seong-Hada when you are ready and ask for Detective Anavel Burton."
She nodded firmly before looking from her feet to the presumably partial-German man, "Alright."
"Take care, Razer Athane. I hope to see you again in the future in a better time and place."
With that, the man smiled one last time and then left her alone once again in her search for a gift, most probably to deliver his final findings to his boss. Her head was for the first time in a while, spinning rapidly, her inner self drowning in the new thoughts and the flaring aches the conversation had awoken once again.
Lei Wulong's eyes scanned the document open on his lap top one last time. He had received more information from headquarters about the Syndicate's assassin that was targeting Steve Fox. The news was mildly surprising, but the connection between them was much more shocking and intriguing.
'Current Location: Hotel Leanne'.
He shut his lap top immediately, placing it on his bed, before taking off out of his room, his gun in his holster. It was time to stop this assassin before Steve Fox managed to be wounded… And judging from where Steve said he was going this afternoon (the furthest side from the mall), that would not be a good sign.
The cop was stopped at the hotel door by Kazuya Mishima, who glared down at him menacingly. Great. First he drips over a plant getting to his room to check the information, and now the son of the guy who was hosting this tournament is standing in the way of the exit, giving him the evil eye. Just great.
"And where are you off to, Wulong?"
"This is classified police business. You are to move out of the way this instant, Kazuya."
A chuckle. He took one stride to his left and watched as the shorter man ran off hurriedly and somewhat comically. It was almost as if it were a matter of life and death, in his eyes. Sure. Whatever. It didn't concern him, no matter how amusing it was… The younger Mishima passed through to the other side of the foyer.
Lei continued sprinting, shooting straight through the mall, past pointless shops, past a grumpy Razer, past Miharu and Xiao who appeared to be on a lunch break, past a clothes shop, where a tall Brazilian man appeared to be, past a music store, eventually out of the mall and all the way to the other side where he knew Hotel Leanne would reside. He never realised how large the mall was until he reached the end with a huff and a sigh.
Fox said that he would be going to the British bar that was nearby, for the ones that were around here apparently were 'shitty and did not feel as homey to me'. He needed the charm that resided in his home-country's bar. And this was the only one in this area that resembled anything of the sort. Twenty minute walk, or as Lei had managed, a ten minute sprint-as-fast-as-you-fucking-can.
After a small pause, he opened the door to Hotel Leanne and sprinted up the stairs, gun in hand, ready to fire. People didn't seem too afraid, for they could see the badge upon his jacket, but they remained wary of the gun. He inched closer and closer to each door, opening it slightly, peering in, before backing out if it wasn't the room he was searching for.
And when he finally found the one containing the blonde in purple, he kicked it open, aiming, "FREEZE!"
Nina Williams dropped her sniper rifle and whipped out a smaller gun, firing at the copper. Lei moved out of the way, back down into the corridor to avoid the shots, and eventually peered back in with a ready gun to find the place was empty. He furrowed his eyebrows and ran towards the window, looking out it, to find the Irish woman running across the street already.
He thought quickly for a means to catch her, and found his escape in a pipe, Perfect!
Though the annoyingly ride was bumpy on the way down, it did the job quite well, taking him all the way to the ground. He sprinted across the road in hot pursuit of Nina Williams, stopping immediately once he found her staring half longingly, half confusedly, and even a smidge warily, at the renown British boxer, her current target.
Her son.
Wulong breathed in deeply, gripped the gun firmly and pointed it at her one last time, "FREEZE!!"
Steve looked between them both hurriedly, between his friend and his fellow tournament participant, who was definitely about to run. His mind was racing a mile per minute, and amidst the chaos, he started to tackle the 47-year-old man to the ground, growling in frustration. What was she going to do? Why did he want to –
The gun clicked off as they fell to the ground in a mess of arms and legs. His blue eyes looked over his shoulder to see that Williams had copped the bullet in the leg. She lay sprawled on the floor in pain, breathing in and out steadily in a very vain attempt to reduce the impact of the wound.
Another noise went off. Fox's head span back down to Lei, who now appeared unconscious.
And then the next hours were a confused blur, and he could not help but shake a flaring ache.
"So we are ready at any time?"
"At any time, sir."
"Excellent work, Earwicker. You will wait until I say to send in the forces."
"Yes Mr Mishima."
