AN: Let me start by saying that I have really enjoyed reading the reviews: NatsuXIII and Sarah Jones. Sarah, somewhere along the way, I'll have a chapter completely dedicated to Jun and Kazuya, but that won't be for a while. And so without further ado, enter Devil.

Chapter 5: Conversion

Kazuya couldn't quite put his mind around what was happening to him. There was no ground beneath him, only the crashing wind around him. He felt a mixture of exhilaration, fear, and disbelief. They all felt the same to him at that moment. He was so much in shock that he had no voice with which to cry out any longer. At some point, he simply closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable impact. There was no time to panic about his ensuing death as it breathed chillingly down his neck. There was no time to wonder if death would be quick and painless or long and excruciating. All these questions would be answered in a short moment.

And that moment seemed to come immediately. A sharp, jagged rock caught him slicing through his chest as if it were made out of butter rather than flesh and bones. Perhaps one could say he was lucky for not falling into the rushing water below and being swept underwater to drown. His impact had been so swift that initially he could not feel the extent of his injury. The rock had not ripped all the way through so he hung on the edge of it swaying in the strong winds like a piece of loose clothing.

It was only when he tried to move that he began to realize his predicament, but the only thing that was permitted to enter his mind was survival. He gripped the gray rock with both of his hands and began to push against it trying to wrench his body free from the penetrating object. His teeth gritted as the pain began to escalate more and more and the surface became increasingly sticky. Kazuya had no idea how long it took for him to break free of the rock as dizziness began to set in. Luckily, his hands still gripped the rock or else he would have finished his fall to the rapidly moving water. His grip was deathly hard. His fear of dying was so acute that his hands simply would not loosen from its life-giving grasp no matter what. Using his arms, he pulled the rest of his body on top of the rock.

He couldn't stop himself from coughing as he crawled forth slowly. He had no idea where he was going, but he found at some point that he was on a larger, flatter surface after crawling in the same direction for some time. And he continued to cough each time bringing up mouthfuls of his precious blood. His body decided to give out completely as the bleeding continued profusely from his wound and he closed his eyes expectantly. Agonizing pain throbbed throughout as he struggled to breathe.

"Are you really content to die?"

Kazuya heard the strange voice from somewhere above him. No one could have been down there with him so he assumed that he had somehow slipped into madness and was now hearing voices that were not really there. Since there was no one around to point and criticize, he responded despite himself.

"I have no choice," Kazuya managed.

"What if you were given one?"

"It would be a lie. No one can save me…"

"Oh, but the choice is a very real one. Don't you want to survive another day?"

"No."

"Don't you want to repay your father?"

"A son's duty…is to follow his…father's wishes. I have failed…My strength…I have none."

"To think you would want to give up so easily."

"I'll meet Mom again…"

"Isn't there something tying you to this world? Didn't you have dreams?"

"No…no dreams. Nothing."

"And Jun?"

"…she'll find a better person."

"When is it going to hit you? Your father has tried to murder you because he wants no more to do with you—he's never wanted anything to do with you in the first place."

"No!" Kazuya cried out, but this outburst caused more blood to spurt from his mouth.

By this time, Kazuya was very familiar with the taste of blood. A ghostly apparition floated near Kazuya in utter frustration because its plans were being ruined by pure stubbornness. It had chosen this moment specifically because he knew Kazuya would be at his most vulnerable. Its dream of world domination was as old as time and through the centuries it had chosen the wrong host over and over again. Now he knew exactly what he wanted and he had found those qualities in Kazuya—he would achieve his plans or more accurately, he would obtain his goal through Kazuya.

"Silly child, do you think your death will change anything? What impact have you left on the world? What exactly are you leaving behind?"

"…maybe in another life…"

It was just his luck that the person who seemed a perfect match for him was also some type of saint. He'd have to change that. The entity was known for manipulating one's thoughts, but within reason. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to trick Kazuya into hating his father or at the very least feel some disgust towards him.

"Kazuya. Don't you dislike your father? He killed your mother."

"No…"

"Yes. He thought of you as a piece of property which he must shape up for his own gain."

"No."

"Yes. Your father—

"Stop it; I don't want to hear anymore!" Kazuya shouted, "You know nothing of my father, you…you thing!"

For a moment, Kazuya lost consciousness after so much activity, but the brisk wind which knocked into him once again brought him back out of it.

"I will not stop."

"You…bastard!"

"You want to kill your father!"

"No—

"You hate him!"

"No…I…"

The dark entity pounced on his uncertainty. He had gotten all the edge that he needed. Uncertainty and frustration were tools that it could use even if they were towards things unrelated to what he was saying. Helplessness always begets frustration and ignorance to one's own feelings always begets uncertainty.

"What are you doing…?"

Kazuya no longer understood his own thoughts and he kept flashing in and out of consciousness.

"I know your true goal," the entity said steadily, "You want to kill your father. Is that not right?"

It waited for Kazuya's answer, but it never came.

"Is that not right?" the entity yelled out. "Say it!" it commanded with unrelenting force.

"I…"

"Yes?" it enticed.

"I…I want him to pay! I want him to die!"

"Yes, you do. And you would do anything to achieve that end."

"Yes."

"Then make the final decision. Allow me to take your soul."

Kazuya had grown unconscious again with his brows creased in utter confusion. The entity could only hope that he would pull out of it again.

"Allow me to take your soul…and I will let you live," the entity elaborated with a hint of desperation in its tone.

"Yes…" Kazuya finally said with a cough, "You can have it…I've never had…any use for it."

/

Kazuya found himself staring up at blue skies. For some reason, all the events that had taken place yesterday or sometime before—he wasn't certain—remained vivid in his mind. But it had to be a dream…it had to be. His father would never actually throw him off a cliff; he always had his best interest at heart. The insistent voice had been nothing more than a hallucination brought on by a rampant imagination. He was here staring up at a cloudless sky because he had finished training early. Besides, he still felt the familiar soreness from before…but there was something else.

He slowly reached for his chest and he felt it. A long, diagonal scar that went right across—it had not been there before. Then his eyes grew wide with fear as he shot straight up when realization suddenly took over.

"No…oh, God, what have I done?"

"Nothing worth dwelling on."

"Huh? Where…?"

Kazuya could slowly make out a shadowy mist gathering in front of him.

"I have just saved you from certain death. Show a little gratitude."

"What are you?"

"I am known as Devil to the vast majority—you'll have to suffice with that nickname."

"I should be dead," Kazuya said with disbelief, "Reverse everything—I'll take back the pain…mistakes…everything!"

"Well, aren't you quite the masochist. It's too late for that sort of talk. Maybe you should have thought things over before you accepted my help so hastily."

"I…I don't know what I was thinking."

"I know."

"If you've really taken my soul…then why don't I feel any different?"

"Taking over one's soul isn't always a simple thing. There has been a lot of resistance, but that is to be expected, I suppose."

"Then…I still have a chance."

"Ha! Please, don't fool yourself. The decision has already been made."

"For as long as I live, you'll never have your way."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Very."

Devil was quiet for a long while as it pondered over the situation. "This could be a problem."

The shadowy mist advanced upon Kazuya and brought about a temporary resting state.

"This is going to be harder than I thought. In fact impossible if I don't do something drastic right now. Kazuya…if I wasn't specifically looking for you, I would not bother with putting in so much effort. There are people out there who would have accepted me without question and their souls would have been easy to control."

Kazuya's soul, Devil realized, shined so brightly that even for a human he was abnormal. Devil had to examine it carefully to pinpoint the presence of evil. It brought this evil forth and effectively destroyed all that was good. Before, he had not been able to do this. However, when Kazuya had uttered those magic words, he had gained enough authority to do as he pleased with his soul. This was in no way a permanent fix—Devil knew the human soul to be infuriatingly resilient, but for now this would have to do.

"Now wake."

His eyes slowly opened and again he was presented with a bright sky, but he immediately grew bored with it and turned his attention away.

"We have to leave here," Devil said promptly.

Silently, Kazuya stood up. "To where?"

"Away from your father. You have to get stronger. I will make you stronger. Right now, you're much too weak to ever hope to take him on."

Kazuya began to walk in no particular direction. By nightfall, he found himself in a thickly wooded area and when he was tired, he simply laid down on the ground and promptly fell asleep. The next morning, Kazuya stared blankly at his surroundings and thought that it seemed vaguely familiar.

"I'm hungry," Kazuya said to the air.

This time he simply heard Devil's voice in his mind without any visual aid. "It looks like you're out of luck. Do you see any food around here?"

"This place…"

Kazuya climbed to his feet slowly and went in a direction that drew him forward. It wasn't long until he found himself in the meadow that Jun had shown him years ago. And there was the makeshift shelter. He walked to it and stood there as if expecting something to happen.

"meow," came the cat that now cowered inside of it.

Kazuya bent down and reached into the shelter. The cat avoided his hand like the plague, but Kazuya eventually found the tail and grabbed hold of it.

"Come here…kitty."

He dragged the cat forth despite its hissing and scratching until it was in broad daylight. Kazuya held it up by the tail and it dangled loosely in the air. The cat's paws still clambered at the air and Kazuya finding this amusing simply watched for a while.

"You'll tire yourself out, kitty."

The cat continued to hiss.

"Let me put you out of your misery…"

In a sudden spurt of strength, he slammed the cat into the ground so viciously that it died instantly. It was then that Kazuya was aware of another presence. His eyes quickly made contact with the person only to find that it was Jun. The only thing she could do was stare at him with big, glassy eyes.

"Wha-what did you do?" Jun whispered weakly.

Her eyes were trained on Kazuya's now. Despite the force of the strange apprehension she felt, she rushed at him in a manic manner and continued to pound balled fists onto his chest as if she was frantically knocking on a door. But it all stopped when Kazuya finally retaliated with one quick punch to the guts. She fell down in utter pain and the tears began to flow.

"You should leave," Kazuya said to the whimpering heap before him.

It took her a moment to respond as she tried to wipe away her tears. She waited until she was sure her voice was steady before she spoke. Then she gathered her courage as she lifted her face to look into Kazuya's eyes once again. Her brows furrowed in mystification as she began to realize that she could no longer read them. Some piece of him seemed inactive…even dead. Maybe he was upset about something.

"Kazuya, what happened? Something happened, didn't it?"

He only stood there silently. She could feel some other presence there and it was beginning to become suffocating.

"What happened? Please tell me. What did your father do?"

"My father?" Kazuya said with a grin, "It is because of him that I have something to look forward to. Before, there was nothing, but—how did he put it?—now there is something that 'ties me to this world'."

Kazuya still held the dead cat in his hands as he looked at her. She seemed at a loss of words as if something was stopping her from speaking. He turned then when she remained quiet.

"If you never meet me again—you should count yourself lucky."

It wasn't until he disappeared from sight that she was even able to move again. There was no doubt about it—there had been an evil presence at work. This was no longer the Kazuya she had met before. Somehow, he was different and she only knew that it had something to do with his father. Jun rose to her feet and scrambled all the way through the woods back to her house.

Meanwhile, Kazuya returned to the meadow.

"Do you even know how to cook that thing?" Devil asked in Kazuya's mind.

Kazuya studied the motionless cat which he had lain on the ground beside him. "Good point."

Then he began to claw at the ground as if he were digging for lost treasure.

"This is pointless," Devil hissed angrily.

But the comment was largely ignored as he continued to dig. When it was large enough, he simply tossed the carcass in and covered it back up again.

"If you were smart, you might have asked that Jun girl for some food," Devil teased.

"It's too late for that. I don't want her anywhere near me."

Kazuya stood up once again and started off in another arbitrary direction. His ears heard a steady trickle of water and he followed the sound until he found himself at a stream. He didn't stop to wonder if the water was safe to drink from before he did just that. When he had his fill he laid down beside the stream.

"Devil, whatever you have planned, why don't you start already?"

"I have."

"Right," Kazuya replied in a belittling tone.

"Since you're in such a rush…"

He cried out suddenly when a slicing pain tore throughout his body. Kazuya turned his head to look at his arm—bluish veins which were painfully visible began to etch across his skin. The same phenomenon occurred with his other arm and then his legs and body. By then, he was too worn out to shout any longer and simply gritted his teeth as things progressed.

"Devil?" Kazuya asked forcibly through his teeth.

"It's almost over," Devil spoke smoothly.

His head was the last to be attacked and it hurt the most. Kazuya could only lie still as he grimaced at what felt like his brain exploding.

"This is a very necessary process, Kazuya. I must fully assimilate with your body."

"Assimi…late?" Kazuya managed.

And just as suddenly it had begun, it ended. Kazuya could finally breathe freely again.

"Now," Devil whispered with excitement.

"What are you doing?"

But Kazuya found that he no longer had a voice of his own. He was staring out into the world through a red haze. Wings sprouted from his back and his skin tone changed completely. A devilish tail swished back and forth as glowering red eyes stared emotionlessly. Devil looked down and noted his claws that were on his hands and feet. And there was the third eye.

"This is why I chose you," Devil spoke in his otherworldly voice, "Now I can have my own form. I am no longer a simple formless mist—I am a true being."

Devil took off into the sky flapping its bat-like wings.

"I previously scouted an abandoned building where you would stay and there you will train to your heart's content fueled by the hate of your father. Understand?"

Devil sensed the other's acceptance and continued soaring through the sky.

/

AN: A chibi Devil? Hmm…Don't worry, Kazuya never actually sees what he looks like so it's still somewhat cannon that Tekken 2 would be first time he actually looks at him. And those who are looking for more Jun…she won't be in the next few chapters, but she'll be back at some point after the next story arc [which is pretty integral].