Author's notes: This story is mostly based on Tekken 4 and the currently (2004) released information on Tekken 5 and its characters. Though some infos were taken from Tekken Official, some situations, events and characters are all fanmade. This is also the sequel to my previous fanfics, Tekken 5: The Kazama-Mishima Connections & The Kazama-Mishima Connections 2. Rated G
Disclaimer: Kazuya Mishima, Jun Kazama, Jin Kazama, Asuka Kazama, Wang Jinrei, Ling Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, Steve Fox and all Tekken characters referred in this fanfic are the property of NAMCO. This is only a fan fiction from the imagination of an obsessed fan. No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 21: Final Truth
Everything seemed to have fallen silent the moment Jun appeared at the door...yet, the silence was deafening. Her dark hair concealed most of her face but it failed to hide the way she grimaced in pain. With one of her hands over her stomach, she moved a few more meticulous steps inside the room. When she arrived at Kazuya's side, her knees buckled and gave away. Kazuya caught her by the waist just in time.
"Jun!" he shook her softly, careful not to touch her broken wing. Jun seemed to stiffen for a while before a deep sigh reverberated through her shoulders.
"K-Kazuya..." Jun whispered, her voice, close to cracking. "Gomen nasai..."
"Huh! What the--" a blue orb, exactly like the ones that enveloped Jin and Asuka, also wrapped around Kazuya and, like his children, he was levitated off the floor. "Jun! What's wrong with you! Let us go! JUN!"
Jun didn't heed. She simply straightened herself and moved her unwavering gaze over True Ogre, which was still trying to escape its spherical confinement. Kazuya continued to call to Jun, his screams loud enough to wake Jin and Asuka from their abrupt slumber.
"Uhhh...what happened...? M...Mother?"
"D-Dad? Mom! What's...happening!"
"JUN!"
"I'm sorry, Kazuya...children..."
They all fell silent when Jun spoke. With closed eyes, she turned to face her family and when she opened them, they were no longer that frightening golden color. Instead, they were back to those pleasant onyx pearls she always had.
"Jun..."
"Mother..."
"Mom..."
"I'm really sorry...to have you go through all this," Jun shook her head regrettably. "I suppose you'd want to know the truth?"
"What's wrong with you, Jun!" Kazuya pounded his fists against the orb. "We're so close to having everything! All we have to do is get out of this hellhole! All of us!"
"I'm sorry, I can't come with you," Jun shook her head again. "Please...listen to what I have to say...and then you'll realize how pointless my escape will be.
"I really don't know where to begin, but I'll try to explain as much as I can," Jun drew in a heavy breath. "Ever since I was a child, I've always been called the chosen one. And in the second Iron Fist Tournament, I was once again, called as such, by a man named Wang Jinrei..."
"That old bastard!" Kazuya brought his fists against the orb again. "You shouldn't have listened to him! He's full of sh--"
"No, Kazuya," Jun refuted. "He was right: I am the chosen one, brought to save you...but I..."
"You failed," Kazuya continued the sentence and looked down. "You failed because of me."
"You made a choice," Jun put on a tight smile. "You had to make a decision...but it was a selfless decision. You didn't think of yourself. There was no thirst for power in that choice. But either way, you would've lost. It's...what was meant to be.
"Thinking you dead, I secluded myself back in Yakushima...but you returned to me. You fulfilled your promise and it was then that I knew...I hadn't failed. I had saved that kind young boy I first met in those same forests and brought him back even though the tide had gone against me.
"Four years after Jin, we had Asuka," Jun turned to her daughter and beamed the warmest motherly smile. "You were just as adorable as your brother...but circumstances forced me to give you up. It was the hardest thing I had to do, but it was for the best.
"Then, six years ago, this thing...Ogre..." Jun gestured to the monster behind her, "...arrived at Yakushima forest. It sensed mine and Jin's presence and it quickly set out to kill me and assimilate my powers to its body. But then...someone came and fought the creature off. I'm not sure, but I believe it was you, Kazuya..."
Jin and Asuka snapped their heads in unison towards their father, whose lips remained sealed in that characteristic frown.
"You took me into G Corporation...kept me alive," Jun's eyes fleeted away for a moment. "When I woke up, I hadn't a clue as to who I was and so I was easy prey for G Corp's schemes. But as you know, everything came back to me in the last tournament.
"After they abducted me, G Corp tortured and brainwashed me into doing their bidding. A young scientist named Dr. Vivian Vetra and an orderly, Carlos Roesch, reversed the process but I wasn't able to thank them. The moment I regained my memory, I saw nothing but the horrors I underwent in that corporation. I...I gave in to the malice introduced in my veins and killed everyone...even those who had helped me.
"I quickly fled that godforsaken place. I didn't want to kill anymore. I kept thinking about all three of you and the life I wanted to lead with you. When I felt your presence, I was elated. I immediately set out to return to you but I feared that G Corp may have sent some agents to hunt me down...and I know that once confronted with one, I would kill again. So, I hid myself under another name...disguised myself..."
"You didn't do that to hide from us?" Asuka cut in.
"No, dear..."
"Then, why did you deny us?"
"I'm getting to that," Jun tucked her lips in. "I didn't think anyone would recognize me so soon, but when I stepped through the gates, he was right there, waiting for me..."
"Dad?" Asuka's eyes rested on Kazuya for a moment.
"No," Jun answered with a sigh. "I wish it had been, but it wasn't. It was Wang Jinrei."
"I'm beginning to hate that man," Jin declared through clenched teeth. "What did he want this time!"
"I felt the exact same way...even more so, when he told me the truth," Jun looked away. "In fact, I almost killed him...but that, in itself, was enough to convince me that he was right. I wasn't normal...and I was never meant to lead a normal life. I had bigger responsibilities...bigger than that of my own family.
"Wang-san told me to go, but I stayed on rebelliously, hoping to have a glimpse of you. Then, Kazuya came to me...and I denied him...twice. I approached my own children but when they approached me, I denied them. For that...I'm terribly sorry..."
"But why did you do it, Mother!" Jin demanded. "You came to the tournament to be with us, right!"
"I left the tournament and headed to this very temple," Jun continued instead of answering. She raised her head to Kazuya and gave him a small smile. "It was here that I met your grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima, for the first time. I saw why you two had been close. Even with the cursed blood in his veins, I was able to see the man he was.
"Back when we were together, your father used to talk about his grandfather all the time," Jun explained to her children with a nostalgic smile on her face. "It got so I decided...to name my first son after him. Coincidentally, it's a name close to my own."
Jin gaped at Kazuya, not a sound coming from his open mouth.
"Jinpachi-san challenged me...to prove that I was truly the chosen one. After I defeated him, we both set out to destroy Ogre," Jun grimaced again, her hand hastily clutching her bruised abdomen. "Unfortunately, we...we underestimated it. It was far too strong for both of us. Jinpachi-san realized that the combination of the Devil and Ogre blood in his body was the very thing that gave the creature its strength. He told me that he still wanted to see me return to you and said that whatever happens, I must use my power to seal the door.
"Jinpachi-san sacrificed himself so that I may escape. So as not to let his efforts go in vain, I immediately left to fulfill his last wishes. I was still trying to make a powerful enough barrier when you three came along..."
"Why didn't you just tell us what you were trying to do! Why did you have to fight us!" Jin flared, masking his hurt and confusion with anger. Asuka, on the other hand, was staring intently at their father, who had gone deathly silent.
"Because by then...I realized that I would never be able to permanently seal the entrance," Jun presented her back to her family, her wings moving ever so slightly with the force that was beginning to emanate from True Ogre's incarcerating orb. "Sooner or later, this creature would be able to break free...or someone else would be able to break the seal in the same way you did. I just can't allow that to happen. If this monster were to wreak havoc in the world, there would be nothing left but suffering and death. And so...I must do what I must do..."
"NO!" Kazuya suddenly cried out, startling both Jin and Asuka. He began pounding vigorously on his sphere again. "You can't do this Jun! Don't do this! NOT NOW! Not now when we're so close to accomplishing everything we have yearned for! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
"Dad! What's Mom trying to do!"
"M...Mother...? You're not..."
Jun turned and confronted her family once more, her pale face, expressionless.
"I am the chosen one," she affirmed. "Prophecies of old have foretold that the chosen celestial, one who has joined opposing forces in a single bond and emerged from the abysmal oblivion of death, would come to save this world from the destruction that would be brought upon by the foremost adversary. In order to undertake this immense task, the chosen one...must make...the ultimate sacrifice..."
Those words hit like a lightning bolt, its ominous meaning commanding silence to all. Kazuya shut his eyes tight, as if to deny what was happening...but the cold, hard truth he had known for quite some time bore down mercilessly upon him the instant Jun spoke the words he had been dreading to hear.
"I have to die..."
Chapter 22