Chapter 17: Affliction with Fiction

So far in the Sixth Tournament, I've had the luck of the devil (no pun intended!). I defeated Christie Monterio in the opening round and then defeated such veterans like Ganryu and Lei Wulong to advance within the tournament. In the next round of the King of Iron Fist Tournament, I requested my father, Lee Chaolan for my opponent. I needed to meet him, even if I had to face him in a father, daughter battle.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone, Miss Rose?" Mercy wanted to make sure that I absolutely did not want her help.

"Positive." I nodded my head, not without a second thought. I had to face him by myself, there was no other way.

I took the path to the Temple Grounds where my scheduled fight is. I paced myself slowly, designing my approach on how I'll face my father - This will be no happy family reunion. I haven't seen this man since our relationship became strained after the fourth tournament, almost a year ago. Since waking up from my accident, I have hated him with every fibre of my body.

"Violetta."My father's voice tentatively sounded.

My eyes connected with Lee's gray sorrowful eyes. Even though my mind prepared for this meeting, my body froze, I couldn't find the courage to speak. All I could do is glare at my father scornfully.

"What has happened to you?" Lee frowned at me, looking at his only daughter presenting him with such hate.

I balled up my fists with my arms stark at my sides. I looking away, I couldn't give him eye contact.

"Don't... call my, Violetta." I clenched my teeth in annoyance over my birth name being used.

"I've been trying to find you, now I see you're well and alive." Lee smiled half heartedly that soon disappeared. "This isn't you, what has Jin done to you?"

"...Jin saved me. He is the only who cares about me."

"Can't you see the great evil he has engulfed the world in? This diabolical war he has created." Lee raised his voice, becoming tense. "You have been brainwashed, he doesn't care about you, and he is using you. I care about you, you're my daughter. I love you."

"You're a liar."I shouted out, shaking my head in denial.

"The last time I spoke to you, I asked if you wanted to come back home with me. Do you remember that?"

"Stop poisoning my mind with your fiction. You never cared for me, you always wished I was never born." I raised my fists in my stance, ready to fight my father.

"I'm not going to fight you like this." Lee said coolly.

"That's not going to stop me, Lee." I advanced with a pirouette punch to my father's head, knocking him off his feet.

"Hit me all you want, I'm not going to hurt you." Lee squatted down, rubbing the area where I punched him.

"You have hurt me more than enough."

I went for another move but Lee clutched on to my wrist. "Listen to me! you can't let this hatred consume you."

Lee forcefully pulled me closer to him but I fought back, yanking my arm away from his grip. I took a few steps back to avoid any further contact, not taking my eyes away from Lee.

"You know, I've always wanted you to find pure love." Lee continued on, softening his disposition. "I wanted you to find a person who would love you back, care for you and make a family with. It's something you truly deserve, even though you don't believe you do."

I gritted my teeth over Lee's confession of me. He is purposely spewing lies to soften me up so he could defeat me - that's the only reason.

"You want me to find love, that's so hypocritical and cynical of you. You've never showed anyone love, you only see people as possessions."

"I'm not perfect, I admit that." Lee languished "I don't want you to duplicate my mistakes."

"Oh, right." I rolled my eyes with a fake laugh "That reminds me, Care to explain who Julia is? Is she your new little slut?"

I recalled surreptitiously listening in on Lee's conversation with Lars earlier. Lee asked Lars to find his friend, Julia captured within the G Corporation. This Julia girl seemed so familiar too me, but I just couldn't figure out why. My only impression that I could conjure is that Lee was screwing around with this girl.

"You mean, Miss Julia Chang? She is a friend and she is also your friend."

"Yeah, friends." I used air quotes to emphasis the word 'friends' at Lee's pretext.

Lee has played the martyr for too long and I've had enough. I smirked, preparing myself to make the next move, launching myself for a jumping cyclone kick. I stopped in mid-air, feeling a sudden sharp pain shooting through my head. I belly-flopped to the ground, clutching to the side of my head where the numbing pain was coming from. A series of flashbacks blinded me.

"Violetta, are you alright." Lee ran to my side to check on my wellbeing.

The pain subsided, but the images lingered in my brain. I blinked a few times, looking around at my surroundings. I looked up at my father in a state of confusion.

"Dad... What happened?" My voice croaked in panic. I could not identify where I was or why I was on the floor.

Lee tenderly smiled at me in relief, pulling me in for an embrace. Baffled, I returned the hug, wrapping my arms around him. I closed my eyes to conceive this moment – Why was my father hugging me like this? Lee never hugged me like this, not after I was a kid. I opened my eyes again, coming to an understanding beyond my cognizance.

"There is something I got to do..."I instinctively proclaimed. I let go of the hug, pushing myself off the floor avoiding any help from Lee.

I turned away from my father, not wanting to see his reaction. After taking a few steps, I paused in my tracks, to retract my indifference with my father before my departure.

"I'm sorry dad, please forgive me."

I told the officials that I forfeited the match with Lee with no specific reasoning. Right away, I returned to the Zaibatsu having a score to settle with Jin Kazama. Whatever happened to me in that fight with Lee, I'm now yearning to find definite answers.

I scoured the Zaibatsu for Jin but I had no luck. Jin is an extremely busy man and the difficulty to get a hold of him wasn't too disheartening. Frustrated, I opened a random door, with a glimmer of hope that Jin would be hiding in there. Obviously he wasn't in there, so I went to close the door, but something caught my eye.

On the floor there was a lifeless human body on its stomach. With curiosity, I walked over to the body and nudged it with my foot to confirm the body is dead.

I surveyed the body. It was a man with black hair, wearing a white linen coat like a doctor. I didn't want to touch the body again, so I got on my hands and knees to figure out who this dead person was. I crawled to the side of his exposed face. I gasped, sliding on my backside away from the body.

The body was of Dr. Kussow, the doctor who helped me during my accident. He was one person who could have given me answers to what had happened to me. It was like the Zaibatsu already knew of my intentions. I cowered to the wall to help me get to my feet. I had to get out of here, and quick. This is becoming reminiscence of how I reacted finding my deceased mother.

I exited the room in panic, slamming the door behind me. I stepped afoot to make my furtive escape from the Zaibatsu. Before I could even get far, I came face to face with the devil himself, Jin Kazama with Nina Williams in tow. I composed myself, acting like nothing had happened, but the way Jin is, he could see right through me.

"Your walls are breaking..." Jin surely said to me.

A/N: Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I suffered from the dreaded writers block during the course of the week and left this chapter half finished until the day after Christmas. My problem was that I needed to alter the next few chapters to make it flow better and make it easier for me to get through writing this one. Also my initial goal was to finish this fic before the end of the year but I don't see that happening. But oh well, I have three more to go (I hope!)