Chapter 26

Pain radiated from the base of skull. Jin moved to rub it but the guards on each side tightened their grip on his arms. The guard behind who had pistol-whipped him gave him a kick. "Keep it moving."

The transformation had taken so much energy to start and maintain that he wouldn't be able to do it now. But it had all been his: the power, the strength, the anger, the sin. With it he would have been able to throw off these guards like the pawns they were - there would be nothing on earth that would have been able to stop him. Jun was right to drive it away, to lock it deep within his soul. Men should not have the power of gods, least of all men of the Mishima bloodline. He glared to the side where Heihachi walked beside him.

"I must say, Jin, I was initially very disappointed." Heihachi placed a cigar in his mouth and lit it. Smoke plumes came from his flaring nostrils. "I've been planning this tournament for a long time. A long time. All to capture Ogre for research. Do you know how extraordinary that creature was? Imagine, Jin, slowing the aging process, accelerated healing. Medical breakthroughs there for the taking."

"Don't try to bullshit me now, Heihachi."

Heihachi grinned. "Bravo. So the little boy has become a man at last, eh? See all, know all, is that it? I suppose you're right though. I did train you. It was only a matter of time before you would be able to see through what I was planning. It was good while it last though." Heihachi let out a hardy laugh.

"Besides, boy, we found out something new about you." He slapped Jin hard on the back. "Maybe what you've got in you is better than the Ogre gene. After all, you're the one still alive from that fight. All we need to do is fly you back to Japan, get you into the lab, and take some tissue samples."

Jin shook his head to remove Heihachi's hand from it, prompting Heihachi to laugh again. They were heading back through the tunnels to the portal where Heihachi could return to his stronghold. He would lock Jin up, subject him to experiments. He would be nothing but a bug in a jar for Heihachi to pull wings and legs off of in his attempt to extract the one part of Jin he really wanted.

A scout made his way back to Jin and Heihachi. "No good, sir. The portal's been taken down from the other side."

"I had a feeling that was going to happen. Was the helicopter brought in like I requested?"

"Yes, sir. Refueled as well."

"Let's get going then. The sooner we leave this god-forsaken land the better." He gestured to the guards to drag Jin back down the tunnel.

* * *

The helicopter was waiting for them in the valley above the temple. Inside the pilot slipped on his helmet and adjusted the mouth piece of the headset. He gestured to them get in. "Come on. Weather's been finicky. We've got a storm rolling in. I gotta get this bird off the ground before we get too much chop."

Jin was hoisted up and pushed through the side door. Two guards hopped up and sandwiched him in. Heihachi got into the co-pilot's seat and twirled his fingers to indicate he wanted to take off.

"What about the other contestants?" the pilot asked.

Heihachi produced a remote control from the folds of his coat. "They can claw their own way out of the rubble."

Needing no further prompting, the pilot lifted off and held the helicopter at a hover over the buried temple. Heihachi poised his finger over the keypad.

Jin struggled to rein in his panic. With his hands cuffed behind his back there was no way he could attempt to grab it from Heihachi, and while he might be able to lean back far enough in the seat to kick it from Heihachi's hands the movement would give him away before he could lift his legs.

Heihachi pressed the first number in the code. Abandoning reason, Jin shoved himself forward so that his shoulder rocked the front seat.

"Hey!" Heihachi still held the remote control but had turned sideways to glare at Jin. The two guards roughly grabbed Jin by the shoulder and yanked him back into his seat with enough force that Jin was able to pull his feet high enough to clear the top of the seat and swat the controller sideways. He saw the black box leap from Heihachi's fingers, up over his grandfather's shoulder, and out the side of the helicopter.

"Impetuous. Just like your father. I killed him, you know, and now it looks like I have to do the same to you. Like father like son." Heihachi pulled a pistol from one of his coat pockets and leveled it at Jin's forehead.

"Still trying to bullshit me, Heihachi? You said so yourself. You need me alive."

Heihachi guffawed. "You heard me wrong. I said all we need was a tissue sample."

The barrel of the pistol loomed in Jin's vision. He found himself staring right down its middle as if it were a dark tunnel beckoning him to another world. Light flashed and in the whiteness he thought he could see Jun smiling as she stretched out a hand towards him. Before he could take his mother's hand he felt his head tilting back and she fell out his sight. No, it wasn't she who was falling, it was him. His hand closed upon the air. A door slammed with enough force to shake the bones in his body, and with its closing took away all the light from Jin's world.

* * *

'Deep breath. Deep breath.'

Jin breathed. His throat burned, his tongue swollen and grainy like desert sand. He could not feel his chest rise or his heart beat. Groaning, he opened his eyes and pushed himself off the ground. He was still in the helicopter, but nobody else seemed to be aware of him getting up. Everyone was facing away from him, looking out the windshield.

With a sweep of his hands, Jin smacked the two guards' heads together and then leapt over the seat to deliver a leaping side kick to Heihachi and knock him out of the cockpit. At least that's what he would have done if his hands and his kick hadn't passed directly through the guards' and Heihachi's heads with no effect. He stepped back and looked down at his hands. Beyond his hands, at the bottom of his vision were two feet pointing up - his. His body was still laying on the ground. He dropped to his knees to shake his other self back alive.

They came to him then from outside the helicopter. Jun walked along the air as if it were water she did not want to cause ripples in. Her white summer dress ended at her knees and swayed only to her movements, not the wind. On the left, opposite Jun, was a tall, muscular man who strode towards Jin. His left eye looked bloodshot, but as he neared Jin saw that it was the pupil itself that was red. A jagged scar crossed his chest and the black hair that swept up and away from his face and the heavy, angled eyebrows gave no doubts that he was Jin's father.

Jun beckoned. Her soft smile and the gentle curve of her jaw line was as he remembered. The light behind her brought tears to Jin's eyes as he looked at her. He cast his eyes away, suddenly feeling unworthy to be in her presence. For the past four years, he had trained under Heihachi in an effort to develop the strength to avenge her and yet had forsaken her teachings to do so. Jun stretched her hand to him like an angel offering forgiveness.

Kazuya lifted his chin and looked down at Jin. His hands were sheathed in red gauntlets, but instead of reaching out to Jin, he crossed his arms across his chest as though to tell Jin that he would offer no help up; Jin would need to prove his own strength.

Jin looked to Jun. "I'm sorry, mother. You did everything right - you did everything you could for me, but I cannot be like you. I wasn't strong enough then." Jin turned to Kazuya as he took in the strength in his father's stance, the majesty of fire and anger that cloaked his skin. "And I'm not strong enough now."

With a grunt, Jin pushed himself to his feet. There was unfinished business that he could not do alone, but with the power of the devil ... he could. Some day, perhaps he would be able to rest - to let go of the hatred and fury that drove him. Maybe some day he would be strong enough to follow his mother's path, but until then he would have to bargain with the devil. A smirk appeared at the corners of Kazuya's mouth and he reached out and took Jin's hand.

Pain ripped through Jin's arm. It felt as though his hand were being crushed in a vise, no, more like it was caught between two gears that was grinding the bones and moving up his arm as his body was dragged in. He went to his knees.

"Come on, boy, get up." Kazuya tightened his grip. Light flashed across Jin's vision. A third eye opened up on his father's forehead - red and piercing in its gaze. His skin discolored to the purple hue of an old bruise. Horns extended from his head, jagged teeth danced as he laughed. "Get up. Get up, and let it burn. Let it spill out and consume the world of all who have hurt you, who have taken everything from you. Let your pain become their anguish."

The world around them shook. Jin clenched his fist around his father's hand. He couldn't let go; it was as if Kazuya's hand had melted around his. His father's face bubble like boiling wax, dripping onto his arm and burrow into his veins. The heat coursed through his bloodstream, coalescing within the pit of his stomach where something was clawing to be free. His heart pounded again with the deep resonance of a prisoner throwing himself against the door. Each thump of his heart fluttered the eyelids of his supine body.

In the background he heard Heihachi speaking. "A family of fighters" he had said so long ago, that's what Heihachi had told Jin he came from. He had never mentioned the backstabbers. He had killed Kazuya in the second tournament. He had known about Ogre long ago and had done nothing about it. Heihachi could have stopped it before it had killed Jun. He had abducted Julia's mother to steal their heirloom to control Ogre. Was there a thing Jin cared about that had not be desecrated by Heihachi?

Jin's eyes snapped open and he rose from the helicopter floor. The guards were still facing away from him. He tapped them on the shoulders. The dumb struck expressions they had on their faces when they turned around were priceless. Jin rammed his clawed fingers into their eyes, tightening his grip on their cheekbones, and threw them out of the cabin. Heihachi turned at the sound of their screams and drew his gun. His eyes widen for a moment, and then he seemed to regain his senses and opened fire.

The bullets didn't even pierce his skin. Jin let Heihachi fire a few more rounds to let him know the futility of his actions before swatting the gun away behind him, grabbing Heihachi by the neck, and ramming his head through the windshield. A backhand knocked the pilot back sending the helicopter into a nauseating spin before the pilot wisely concentrated on flying the helicopter instead of helping Heihachi. The pilot pulled the helicopter out of the spin.

Jin yanked Heihachi back through the glass and slammed him face first into the control panel. He would be made to suffer for his transgressions. Jin swatted away a feeble attack before lifting Heihachi over his head and throwing him into the back of the cabin with the cargo. Wooden boxes splintered beneath the force. Jin stormed back and lifted Heihachi back up. Pottery shards loosened from the packing material and fell at his feet. He paused as he drew his fist back.

The shards reminded him of something - a promise he had made. He dropped Heihachi and peered into the broken crate. She had come to Jin asking him to help her recover what Heihachi had stolen from her and her people and taken to Japan. Japan, if he started now he might be able to make it there and back to her homeland in time.

Violently, the world tilted and the sound of engine increased to a high whine. Jin pitched toward the cargo door opening and managed to grab it before falling out. Heihachi had managed to wedge his body between some of the heavy crates. He had recovered pistol and fired at Jin's head. Although the bullet didn't hurt, it jerked his head back causing him to lose his balance. By the time he had righted himself in the air, the helicopter was racing out towards the horizon.

Jin watched them go. Heihachi had many headquarters around the world, and it was likely that he wouldn't return to Japan until he knew he was safe there. That would give Jin enough time to grab the water jar and return to America with it. But one day, one day Heihachi would slip up and Jin would be waiting. He flew off in the opposite direction.

* * *

The jar was where she had whispered it would be in the compound. He replaced the floor board and moved the bed back to its original position at the center of the wall. The jar felt light and delicate. Carrying this in the crook of his arm, he picked up the wing tip of an eagle and the pouch containing a handful of cornmeal. It had all seemed like such a small request, but the look in Julia's eyes had shown him that she felt it was a matter of life and death. More than that, he had promised her.

The walk down to the ocean was peaceful. It was hard to believe that just days before this had been the site of a deadly tournament and that one of Japan's most dangerous men had orchestrated a plot that would have given him power over an evil once hailed as a god. The compound had been deserted, probably on Heihachi's orders. He was done with this island and would be moving onto another base of operations. He was a man without any roots, a fungus that decayed the land he anchored himself to. Scape him off and he would find another dark, dank place to attach himself to long enough to allow a poison plan to erupt and release its spores to infect more people to his cause. Jin would scrape him off permanently one of these days, but until then there were other promises to keep.

Only a person of perfect character could do this. The devil had corrupted him in return for power, but there was a part of him untouched by its taint - a part of him he had set aside in the possession. He reached into his mind and pull out the small box that contained the memory of Jun. He knelt in the sand and let the warmth of her love fill him. He had been afraid that she would have denounced him for giving into his father's weakness, but she had chosen to be a mother. She had loved Kazuya despite his path; he had not been born evil, but he had been misguided by Heihachi. So it was with Jin. Perhaps the ends did not justify the means, even if Jin made the deal to live and end Heihachi's bloodline of anger and hatred he was still damned. In the mean time there was good he could do with his power, and as his mother promised before she vanished there would be a time for redemption.

Not a breath of wind stirred across the surface of the ocean. Jin knelt at its edge, removed the wax at its mouth, and gently placed the jar in the sand beside him. At the very edge of the water, he stuck the feather into the sand and drew a line with the cornmeal towards the west where the Hopitu dwelt. He closed his eyes and breathed. To a desert people, there is nothing more sacred or beautiful than water, and so for Julia he envisioned a world of nothing water - all deep blue and sunlit green, azure and sapphire, and the white sparkle of foamy bubbles and diamonds. He saw it as still and reflective as a mirror; he saw it swirl and twist in the wake of tide pools; he saw it crash against jagged rocks in an explosion of mist. Water. Falling upon rocks worn as smooth as pearls, streaming through mountains, trickling within caves, and dripping from melting icicles. Water ... water.

He opened his eyes and the water seemed to swell within its bed. The ocean was alive, rolling and frothing as it rushed towards Jin. The waves gathered around him like a pack of playful dogs. Water bubbled in the sand around him, and Jin dug the sand out with the tip of the eagle wing. He placed some seaweed and tiny sea shells inside the jar. Laying the eagle tip down, Jin plunged his hand into the sand and felt its gritty surfaces scratching at his skin like hundreds of miniscule claws. Lifting the sand to the sun, he asked the sun for its blessing and sprinkled it into the jar. Finally, he cupped his hand and inhaled. The ocean came towards him, falling into his hand. It was cold, like a northern wind, and he fought to keep from jerking his hands away. Very slowly, he scooped the water up and poured it into the jar.

Jin worked the wax that had originally sealed the jar shut in his hands transferring warmth to soften it. When it was pliable again, Jin shaped it into a cone and stopped the opening of the jar, spreading the surface out to completely cover the lip. The ritual finished, Jin collected the fetishes and left.