:: VII :: Unholy Night

The hotel room was five-star, spacious, luxurious, and the temperature was just right. In fact, it'd got a little hotter since they'd arrived, but that was just Nina trying to humour herself, a compensation for the fact that she'd probably just made a bad mistake. But damn, what a mistake. Akio had been staying in the hotel for the past two weeks, and so they'd just gone right in without saying much and got down to it.

Nina had been amazed about how nonchalantly she'd walked into it. Not a care in the world, just all touch and feel and no words at all. That was how greedy it had been. The way she saw it, she deserved a little pleasure – talking could come later. And she was sure Akio had felt the same way.

So here she was in bed with him, and she was surprised that talking still didn't sound very appealing to her. Nina had always been the type to analyse her relationships, to analyse her lovemaking. It hadn't been like that at all with Akio. In a way, she felt guilty, and disappointed. As if it had only been lust, not anything serious.

She yawned. It was only ten p.m., and yet the day – and Akio – had worn her out.

"Tired?" he asked her, his arm round her shoulder, his hand gently brushing her hair.

"Not really," she replied, rolling over and kissing him. He responded, and it was just as things were about to get interesting again that the sound of her cellphone ringing shrilly shattered it all. She would have been inclined to ignore it, but Akio pulled away from her, gently, almost apologetically.

"It's your phone," he stated quietly. "It's probably about tonight. You'd better answer it."

With a sigh, Nina sat up and grabbed the phone. It was Heihachi.

"You failed and nearly got caught!" The familiar voice filtered through without even attempting a greeting. Nina groaned inwardly. She knew what Heihachi could be like in a mood.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay, but it's bloody hard trying to even get close to that son of yours!" She paused as Akio sat up beside her and switched the TV on with the remote control. "You should see all his damn security!"

"You're supposed to get past all that, that's what I'm paying you for!" Heihachi retorted irately. "Now listen; we're going to have to go onto plan B."

"Hang on a sec." Nina nudged Akio who was watching the TV beside her. "Akio, can you turn the TV down a minute?" Akio grinned and punched at the remote. The volume quickly lowered itself. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Right," Heihachi began without missing a beat. "This is what you're going to do…"

Nina was stunned at his proposal.

"I can't do that!"

She could hear Heihachi's grisly laughter from the other end of the line.

"You know what to do," he finished, before the line went dead. Nina stared at the phone a minute in disbelief. What Heihachi had asked her to do was practically tantamount to suicide.

"Was the old man being difficult?" Akio inquired, a small, knowing smile on his face. Nina chucked the phone back onto her pile of clothing and switched the TV off viciously.

"Shut up, Akio. You could at least comfort me instead of making a joke out of it."

"I could do that," he agreed, running a finger down her midriff contemplatively. His expression was suddenly sardonic. "It's funny – I don't usually mix pleasure with business."

"It's the first rule for people like us," she sniffed gloomily. "And we've just broken it."

He nodded. "It usually spells trouble."

"And do I look like trouble to you, Mr. Yumiko?" she asked innocently, drawing her face close to his.

"You look like a whole lot of it, Nina Williams," he replied lazily, the mask of indifference back on his face. "But somehow, I don't think I really care anymore."

"Get used to it," she murmured, straddling him and kissing him once more.

Lee had joined Anna at the bar, which seemed to be unusually boisterous that evening.

"What's all the ruckus?" he asked, planting himself firmly at the bar and ordering himself his usual drink.

"Contestants," Anna answered with a look of disgust. "That bumbling idiot, Paul Phoenix, from the looks of it." Lee cast a look back over his shoulder, while lighting a cigarette. In the background, Paul seemed to be gesticulating wildly to some friends. Anna ignored them. "So," she continued, glancing over at him slyly through thickly mascara-ed eyelashes. "Hear anything interesting between Kazuya and our darling Miss. Kazama?"

"No," Lee replied, after a moment's hesitation. He reckoned the less he said to her on the subject the better.

"Ah, what a shame," Anna replied, checking her burgundy nails lazily. "And here I was thinking there was something good to gossip about."

Lee frowned. This was going to be a long night.

Across the bar, Lei's table was in pretty much an uproar. The racket they had been creating had earned their group several sour looks and grumbles throughout the course of the evening. Not to say that any of the ruckus had been Lei's fault. Or even Michelle's, or Law's. It was amazing that so much noise could be pinpointed to one single person – Paul Phoenix. All Lei had been doing was staring suspiciously over at Lee Chaolan and his companion, wondering what the 'Silver-Haired Devil' was up to. Then Paul had got drunk, and got into a fight with King, who'd been sitting nearby, nursing a beer of his own and minding his own business. It was only when that Armour King had intervened that the fight had broken up.

"More alcohol!" he'd shouted at the drunken King. "You can't do anything without your damn alcohol!"

"I can't handle it anymore!" King cried, his voice wavering in despair.

"You've can't handle anything! You've always been a loser! You couldn't even save those children!"

King had actually begun to weep then – even he must have been surprised. He was remembering. He was remembering his orphanage and how the Mishima had driven away the innocent children.

"All right!" he exclaimed to Armour King. "All right…! I'll stop. But I need your help. Please, godammit… Please help me." All the while he had been holding the cross about his neck.

The atmosphere had been too depressing after that. Lei and Michelle had decided to say goodnight and go back to their rooms.

"I've never seen a grown man cry like that," Michelle said as they walked back together. "I always wondered what was the matter with King. He'd changed so much after the last tournament. And we'd always got on so well."

"What happened?" Lei asked.

"Same as me," she replied wryly. "Revenge. Now I understand how he feels." She sighed. "He ran an orphanage in Mexico. The Mishima must have done something to the kids there." She shook her head in disgust. "The more I hear about those bastards, the less I want to know."

Lei frowned at the tone of her voice. "Trust me on this, Michelle. I'll find your mother for you."

She stopped and smiled up at him. "I know. And I do trust you." She looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "Well, this is my room. Goodnight."

He nodded. "Goodnight, Michelle."

She turned to open the door, then thought of something.

"Oh…Lei?" She touched his hand briefly. "Thanks."

He would have said something, if he could have found the words. As it was, it was all he could do to watch her beam up at him again, then go into her room, closing the door softly behind her.

Lei scratched his head, trying to get his cynicism back. It really was irritating. He was losing it quite a lot these days. He was about to scold himself mentally when he caught sight of Jun turning the corner of the corridor in the distance, and then disappearing out of sight. That puzzled him. He wondered why she'd finished her 'dinner' with Kazuya so quickly.

After Kazuya had dropped Jun off at her door, Jun had gone back into her room and thought hard about the evening. She'd taken off the dress and changed into something more comfortable, but that hadn't made her feel any more at ease. She thought about Lee, mostly, of what had, and would have, passed between them. She didn't like to admit it, but she found it very hard not to be attracted to Lee, and after what had happened that evening, whatever she had felt for him before was a lot more intense now. And then there was Kazuya, and the way she felt drawn to him. That was something different, dark and mysterious, something that she could not fully understand. But it was an attraction nonetheless.

Jun shook her head violently, trying to get rid of the uncompromising thoughts. It was one thing to get involved with one man during the course of an investigation, but two men at the same time was another matter entirely. Remembering that caused Jun to feel guilty. She knew what Lei would say. I told you so. Well then, she'd make sure she did something constructive tonight.

Grabbing the device Nina had given her earlier, Jun left her room, ready to begin her investigation once and for all.

Kazuya Mishima woke with a start. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for at least a week now, and he certainly hadn't slept properly since he'd met that girl, Jun. It was as though something was moving inside of him.

Kazuya placed one hand to the scar on his chest. It hurt, it hurt with the thing inside him. Tonight he felt saner than he had in years, and he didn't know why. The sanity pained him; he wasn't used to it. He was in a cold sweat now. He was afraid. For some reason, he knew without a doubt what he'd got himself into. He knew that he was losing himself to that thing inside him.

"I can't go through with this," he gasped to himself. "I must stop myself."

Then he felt it – the other side to the darkness. A spirit, a woman, an angel. She was putting her arms round him, trying to comfort him. He'd seen the angel, before. She'd always been on the borderline, watching. She was with him now, trying to help him. He felt as though he'd let her in. This time he hadn't driven her away.

No, Kazuya.

There was that voice – except it was not a voice, rather a hiss, brittle on the air, like the ancient whisper of the wind through leaves. The woman had gone, disappeared.

It's too late to stop now, remember? You wanted to do this, it was what you wanted.

Kazuya could not remember a time when he had wanted it. All he could remember was the pain, of wanting to get rid of it. The ancient spirit had offered him comfort and sanity; Kazuya had grabbed at the chance of it.

"No!" he cried, and then he saw it, the spirit – only it no longer looked the way it had done at first. Now it was becoming human, and what was more, it was becoming Kazuya. That frightened him – he was looking almost at a mirror-image of himself.

The being was close to him now, its features, although like Kazuya's, were old and ancient, wise even, but evil, cold and misty. It was speaking again, in that low, guttural hiss.

Remember the pain and the anguish, Kazuya. Remember the pain of your mother's death, of your father's betrayal, of falling from that tall, cruel cliff.

Kazuya remembered. The being put the memories there. He recalled his mother, lying, dead – her face covered by the thin, white linen, the hollows of her eyes gaping like shadows through the cloth. He remembered his new brother coming into his life – ten year old Lee, a substitute for Kazuya, a 'strong' son, the one who would be heir to his father. And then of Heihachi, the shadow in the background, the cause of all the pain – throwing Kazuya off the cliff, saying: 'You are weak. Only the strong survive in this family.'

That was what Kazuya remembered. And the memory of that fall, of nearly dying, of the blood on his chest, the scar… it was immeasurable pain, one that tightened within him to a flooding crescendo. He was shaking, sweating with it.

Remember too, the pleasure of your revenge, the spirit continued. Of throwing Heihachi from the same cliff many years later. It was closer to Kazuya now, near his ear – he could feel the poison pouring in. All you have left now is to destroy. To destroy your father, Kazuya.

That was it, Kazuya remembered now. That was his purpose, that was why he was here, why he hated.

Kill Heihachi.

Yes. The spirit was fading away, quietly, into the darkness. Remember, Kazuya. You are mine, and I will give you all that you ask for.

No; it was not a dream. It was real. Kazuya understood that, as the being melted into the shadows. He'd asked for it. He'd wanted to hate. Now he could not turn back.

His soul was the Devil's.

Much to Jun's dismay, the infrared device that Nina had given her had refused to work on the keycard system. She'd tried pressing in various codes on the keypad, all without success. Each time her password was denied.

"Dammit!" she muttered under her breath. All she wanted was to find the bear, Kuma – or Dr. Bosconovitch, or anything. Then she'd feel that all her troubles that day had been worthwhile. Just as she was about to give up, the lights in the lift began to flicker and wane. Jun was not the type to frighten easily, but when the elevator suddenly gave a violent lurch, she began to get anxious. Attempting to open the doors made no difference, and just before she had time to puzzle over that, the lift gave another rolling quake, made a strange screeching sound, and then, to Jun's immense surprise, began to ascend at a tremendous speed. The force was so great that Jun lost her balance and tumbled back up against the cold chrome wall. She gazed up in shock at the screen above the sliding doors. Each floor number was flashing past in a blur. That left her with some idea of how fast the lift was travelling. Her stomach was churning.

"Oh my God, what…?"

She'd barely got the words through her mouth when the lift jolted to a stop and once again Jun was thrown to the floor. With a neat chime, the doors slid open.

Jun picked herself up from the floor in bewilderment. A look at the screen told her that she was on the uppermost floor – Kazuya's private domain. Not even his closest advisors had access to this area.

Jun hesitated. She had no clue as to why the elevator had so conveniently led her to this place. What was more, she felt irrevocably drawn to this floor, as though someone was calling her, inviting her even. It was, however, not a warm, cosy invitation. A chill rippled up Jun's spine. No; there was no warmth, only ambivalence, as if this were only a meeting of convenience. Reluctantly, she stepped out of the lift and into the room.

It was inexplicably large, and dark. She could hardly see a thing, and the light from the elevator cast an eerie glow over the walls. No; not walls, but mirrors, mirrors lined on every wall so that the room seemed to go on forever. She hesitated, and yet something deep inside her told her to move forward. With a tentative step, Jun did so, her reflections following. That fact unnerved her – her duplicates seemed somehow sinister. Yet all the while that voice within her intensified, beckoning her into the centre of the room.

She stopped, and looked about. There was nothing, only her many reflections in the dim light. And then, a voice, a hiss, faint, very faint.

…Jun…

She started, whirled around. In the corner of the room, in the panel of mirrors there, it was standing, nothing more than an obscure outline she could not make it. That didn't matter. Her heart froze instantaneously. Instinctively she knew it was this being that had called her to this place.

"It's you," she breathed, the understanding flooding into her mouth. "You're the one who's drawing me to Kazuya."

The thing, whatever it was, said nothing, but moved forwards a little, always within the mirror, not in the room. As it finally stood in the thin shaft of light, Jun saw to her amazement that it was the likeness of Kazuya Mishima. But this was not the head of the Mishima Conglomerate at all. What she could sense was not human, something very old, and very sinister.

"Who are you?" she gasped, suddenly finding her breath becoming laboured. "What do you want?"

The face of the being smiled, an insidious grin that chilled her to the core.

It doesn't matter what I want, came the reply, cold and faint. Not yet, anyway.

"Not yet?" Jun repeated. She was not afraid, only curious, and somehow that curiosity had been planted in her by this being, right from the very beginning. She knew now that she'd been drawn here, drawn to Kazuya. "I don't understand," she spoke at last. "What do you mean?"

That your fate in this tournament, Jun Kazama, has already been decided.

"Decided? By who? You?"

The being smiled, its red eyes glittering.

You will know, soon enough.

Somehow, through the terror and the stupor, Jun's anger flared.

"Tell me! Why have you brought me to Kazuya? What purpose do I have with the Mishima?"

The being laughed, low, murky, the sound reverberating through the whole room.

You are naive, Jun, very naive. Haven't you seen the actions that have been going on around you, haven't you seen the eyes that have been watching you? There was a smirk on the shadowy features, one that she shuddered at. Don't worry, Jun. You will be well taken care of. For as long as it takes.

"I don't understand," she repeated, her mind working rabidly. Who was this person she was talking to, if it was a person at all? Why did it look like Kazuya? And then, something suddenly clicked in her mind. "You're Kazuya's secret advisor, aren't you," she stated, her voice quieter, tauter. "What have you done to Kazuya?!"

Nothing that concerns you yet, girl. I told you: your part to play will come soon. The spirit grinned. I thought you would be a nuisance at first, but now… The eyes glittered, gazing into her hers with a glacial coldness. Kazuya's soul is mine. You will not interfere.

Something struck Jun, cold and shocking. She understood and yet she did not understand. "His soul…" she whispered, "…yours?" It was falling into place now – the hatred she felt in Kazuya, the blackness. Somehow this being had penetrated his thoughts, taken him over, increased Kazuya's hate for his father a hundred-fold. And then the realisation moved within her, and she felt something new. She felt pity for Kazuya, the need to help him, a strong need. Her hands balled at her sides, her eyes flashed as she returned the glare of the thing in front of her.

"I'll stop you," she said at last, and her voice seemed different, strange. "I won't let you do it, I won't let you take over Kazuya, or his soul! Whatever happens, I will do everything in my power to stop you!"

Is that so? The being looked amused. Then can you defend your promise with your fighting skill? So saying, the spirit's eyes opened wide, bright as headlights, hypnotising. Jun stood back in temporary brightness at the glare. For a moment she could not move; and then a strange beam of light was emanating from those eyes:- no, not light, but raw energy…

Jun hardly had time to react when something hard crashed into her from behind. With a tight gasp she toppled to the floor, just as the beam of energy hurtled past her and into the wall of mirrors behind. All that was left was the smoking remnants of singed glass. Jun swallowed, her wits still whirling. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was Kazuya who had pushed her out of the way of certain death, and who was now standing over her, shielding her. She stared up at him with a mixture of awe and amazement at his changed face. He didn't look so haunted anymore; something had gone.

"What are you doing?!" he was shouting to the thing in the mirror that so resembled himself. "I told you to leave her alone!"

The spirit laughed mockingly.

What's the matter, Kazuya? Have I offended you?

"I thought we had an agreement," Kazuya returned through gritted teeth, to which the spirit once again laughed.

Yes, we had an agreement. But you seem to have forgotten it, Kazuya. There was a strange light glowing in the being's eyes as it gazed upon Kazuya coldly. Haven't you?

To Jun's consternation, Kazuya suddenly doubled over, his hands clasping his chest, his breathing heavy. It was is if the eyes of the creature seemed to have some sort of devastating effect on him, something physical as well as mental. She crawled forwards, tried to look into Kazuya's eyes, but he was bent over too far for her to see.

"Mr. Mishima!" she cried, shaking him. She was frightened now, frightened at the state he appeared to be in. What was going on here? "Mr. Mishima, please speak to me!"

His voice came out strangled, staccato.

"Help…help me."

"Help you? How?"

No sooner had she got the words out when suddenly Kazuya lashed at her with a hand, hard enough to send Jun crashing to the floor. In dazed amazement she looked up to see him standing over her, fury on his face, his eyes wide, wild.

"Didn't I tell you never to come here?!" he raged, his voice somehow different and much more frightening. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my affairs?!"

She could not think freely enough to react. All she knew was that something was terribly wrong with the head of the Mishima Conglomerate, and that this stranger had something to do with it. But she had no time to analyse any of it before she found herself being grabbed by the collar as Kazuya lifted her up until her feet were off the ground.

"Get out of here!" he screamed into her face. "Before I get rid of you myself!"

Jun struggled to free herself, the power of his threat sending panic signals zigzagging through the length of her body. But no matter how hard she tried, his strength seemed to have doubled into a rock solid force that mocked her own.

"Please," she tried to speak, gasping for breath. "I know this isn't you. Please stop!"

For a moment she thought he would kill her, but then, something seemed to catch his eye over her shoulder. Fear crept into his dark pupils, and then remorse.

"I'm sorry," he began to repeat, but not her, to whatever it was behind her. "I'm sorry!"

In trepidation Jun turned her head to see whom it was that Kazuya talked to. At first she could see no one for the darkness. And then, standing in the mirror as the malevolent spirit had been standing before, she saw a woman, dressed in white, staring at them both with a calm, serene look on her face. Jun's mind began to whirl. Another spirit? But this one a good one? And what did Kazuya have to do with all this? She turned to look at him, and suddenly, without reason, she felt inexplicably stronger, as though the woman behind her had joined her strength with her own.

"It's all right, Kazuya," she told him, her words not her own. "Don't give into it, that hatred. I'll always be there to protect you. You don't have to hate again."

The fear fell from his face, and he dropped to the floor in sudden pain, releasing Jun as he did so. She watched him as he held his hands to his face, and the strength she had just felt in the face of him seemed to fade away. She could not understand why it was that she had said those words to Kazuya, nor what they had meant. All she knew was that this was the strangest feeling she had ever had, as though she was not herself. And now that it had left her, there was only fear.

She stared down at Kazuya again as he groaned into his hands, his voice full of pain. She would have felt pity for him, but all she felt now was panic. Whatever was in the room lived there, and it had not gone.

Turning around, Jun raced back towards the elevator and began to punch wildly at the 'down' button.

Next: Jun begins to question her involvement with the Mishima and Kazuya's true intentions…