Chapter Eighteen
Jin rolled over to his side painfully and looked up at the hole in the ceiling that was made by Teal's blast.
"Teal! Jin!" He heard Xiaoyu cry out from above, but he didn't say anything.
After standing up slowly and looking around, he realized that Teal wasn't next to him anymore.
"Teal?" He called out, but no one answered.
A couple of seconds went by and he felt a sudden, burning sensation in his back, and fell down to his knees. He felt another sharp hit to the back of his head and fell to the ground, on his stomach. Then he heard Kazuya's laughter and became angry again.
"Very nice work Teal." Kazuya said, causing Jin to roll on his back and look up. Both his father and Teal were looking down at him; Kazuya with that famous smirk of his, and Teal with a blank expression.
"Teal...you have to snap out of this..." Jin said to her.
Again, she did and said nothing; only looked at him.
"Nothing that you say is going to help, Jin. You should've surrendered when you had the chance." Kazuya shrugged, then waved her off, "I would leave and let you kill him, but I actually want to see this with my own eyes. Teal, kill him."
Teal grabbed Jin up effortlessly, but he managed to punch her and she let go of him. Realizing what he had just done, he immediately felt remorseful.
"Teal, I'm sorry I did that. You need to snap out of it!" He yelled to her.
She didn't say anything, she just wiped the blood from her mouth and charged at him again. Jin managed to dodge and duck most of her attacks, but she did catch him off guard at one point. Teal jumped up and grabbed Jin's arms, throwing him to the ground violently. He stood up slowly again, and was breathing heavily.
"You just don't give up, do you?" Jin heard his father say.
"I'm not like you...I'm not...a coward!" Jin said between breaths.
"I'm just waiting for the finale, Jin. Why haven't you transformed into the Devil, yet?" Kazuya asked him.
The Devil! Jin thought. Teal's around me, so I can't transform into him. I have to get her back to her normal self, so that she can finally end this whole thing.
"Teal, this is taking too long. Finish him, now!" Kazuya said.
Teal grabbed Jin quickly and slammed him up against the wall, and began choking the life out of him. She had a pretty hard grip on him, and he wasn't able to get out of it this time. He could feel his body shutting down because he couldn't breathe correctly, and managed to look Teal right in her blank, cold eyes.
"Teal! Come...on! It's me!" Jin choked
(Quick A/N: This part is like a series of Teal's flashbacks that she begins to have after Jin says that. It starts when they were younger, and ends with the recent altercation they had (you know, the one where they 'did the do'. Lol). Think of this part like a movie, when someone is having multiple flashbacks back to back. I tried to describe and put it the best way I could. Okay, back to the story!)
"Jin! Wait for me!"
Jin stopped running and waited for Teal to catch up to him, which only took a matter of seconds. When she ran up to him, she attempted to tackle him on the grass, but he ended up catching her in the air.
"Whoa, you're trying to tackle me again, Teal?" He laughed.
"Maybe." Teal said. "Or maybe I just wanted to see if you would catch me again."
"I highly doubt that."
"Well you shouldn't." Teal grabbed Jin's nose and squeezed it, causing him to laugh again.
"You asked for it!" He yelled.
Jin lifted Teal high in the air as she squealed and laughed, begging him to put her down. When he finally did, he landed her softly in the grass, and she sat down, bringing her knees up to her chin. Jin sat next to her Indian-style, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Will you ever leave me Jin?" She asked him.
"Of course not, you're the only family I have, besides my mother." He answered.
"Promise me you won't leave me."
Jin roughed Teal's already wild hair and hugged her. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."
…
Teal ran out of her house and up the empty forest trail. It had to be no later than 1:30 in the morning, and she knew she would get scolded by her mother if she was caught. But she had to do it. She saw the flames from her house...she followed the burning smell and the smoke, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was. The smoke eventually led her to Jin's house, which was really up in flames, to her horror.
"Jin! She cried out. "Jun!"
She ran to the front of the burning house, looking around and searching frantically for the woman who she treated like a second mother, and the boy who she had grew closer to throughout the years. She ran to the side of the house and finally found him. Jin was on his knees, shaking, with ash in his hands. Teal couldn't tell if it was ash from the burning house, or something worse. She ran up to him and began shaking him.
"Jin, what happened? Where's Jun?" She frantically asked him. When he didn't answer her, tears began falling from her face. "Where is she?!"
"She's GONE!" Jin yelled back. "That...that monster took my mother from me!"
This caused Teal to fall to her knees also and hug him. "I'm sorry, Jin. I'm so sorry."
"It took my reason for living..." Jin trailed off.
Teal realized that he was crying too, and it was the first time she had seen him shed a tear in...ever. That made the situation even more heartbreaking. On top of that, it had began to pour down rain. Ultra cliché, right? The fire eventually died down, and the smoke began to gradually go away. After what seemed like forever, Teal and Jin stopped crying, and he helped her up.
"You can stay with me, Jin. You can stay with me and mommy." Teal told him.
He didn't say anything, and Teal grabbed his hand as they walked on the trail again, making their way back to their house. Like she suspected, her mother was in front of the door, getting ready to scold her when she told her what happened. Asai's attitude changed completely, and she gave Jin a huge hug, offering him clothes and a place to stay. Jin quietly thanked her and took a shower, changing into new clothes and falling asleep on their couch almost immediately. When Teal woke up hours later to check on him, he was gone. No letter, no message, no final goodbyes, nothing.
…
Jin reached over and pulled Teal on top of him with ease, placing her fingers in between his. Her usually wild curly hair was finally laid down, caused by sweat of course. They were both exhausted, and breathing heavy.
"Do you realize what we just did?" She asked him, still in shock at what had just happened.
Jin laughed and nodded, "I'm pretty sure I do."
"I still don't forgive you." She said.
"Oh?"
"No. What makes you think this will make me forget about how you left without saying-"
She was cut off by Jin suddenly sitting up and giving her a heated kiss. He broke away a couple of seconds later and moving some of her damp hair behind her.
"I love you." He whispered to her.
After a couple of seconds, Teal smiled at him. "I love you too." She whispered back.
…
"Teal, you need to snap out of it! You can't kill someone you care about and love. Don't let the evil take over you. SNAP OUT OF IT!" She heard Jun's voice yell suddenly.
Teal was finally beginning to get her normal vision back, and a single tear fell from her eyes when she realized what she was doing to Jin. What am I doing?! I can't do this to him! She thought. She finally released her death grip on Jin, and he fell to the ground. She knelt down in front of him while he was coughing and grabbed his arms.
"Jin! Are you okay?" She asked him. "I'm so sorry!"
"You're back.." Jin managed to get out in between his coughs.
"Hmph, you really are useless." She heard Kazuya's voice behind her. "Not worth anymore of my time."
Jin noticed Kazuya leave the basement and looked back at Teal. "Don't let...him get away.."
"What about you?" She asked.
"I'll be okay. You need to track him and Helena down... I'll catch up."
Teal nodded and stood back up, turning around to leave the basement as well.
"Teal, wait!" Jin called out. Teal stopped and looked back at him. "I love you."
"I love you too." Teal said almost immediately, and continued to run out of the basement.