They can't believe it.
It's Jin….
Time seems to come to a halt.
No one says a word. The four of them stare at Jin. Jin stares back at them. The only sound comes from the city traffic outside his window. So many different things have brought them to this moment, and now that it's here, none of them know what to do. They all stay this way for sometime, too shocked to even breathe.
As Jin stands before them, they can see the challenges he has faced with the demon just from his appearance. His dark eyes are surrounded by circles of sleeplessness. His clothes hang from his body, worn in some places. Though he is still fit, he's smaller from lack of his regular food and exercise.
Asuka shakes her head, awakening herself from shock and makes the first move. Each of her steps awaken the others as well, as she closes in on Jin. She wraps her arms around him and squeezes.
"Good to see you're alright, cuz," she says muffled in his shoulder. "We've been looking all over for you."
Slowly, he reaches his arms around to hug her back as he realizes what is happening. His friends are here. They came... for him. There has to be redemption in that. He'll worry about the demon later, right now, he's just happy to see them. "Good to see you too, Asuka."
Ellie comes up next, her smile as wide as it can go. She adjusts her glasses a bit and clears her throat as if she is about to recite literature. "I've kept everything at the office up to date, Jin. You'll be happy to know all finances, contracts, and legal assignments are in order."
Jin mutes a laugh. "It anyone could keep up the entire corporation single handedly, it was you. Thanks, Ellie." He hugs her briefly and she dips around him into the hallway.
"I'm just going to grab Kiku," she says and then vanishes.
"You look dead, brother," Hwoarang teases as he saunters closer with his arms open and a slanted grin on his face. "But good to see you're ass is still breathing."
"Barely," Jin says. They slap hands and come in for a quick hug.
"You got that thirty dollars you owe me, yet?" Hwoarang quips.
"You damn bastard." Jin shakes his head, pushing Hwoarang away. He play swings at Hwoarang, who ducks and then fakes Jin out with half kick. They laugh, and suddenly it feels like old times. Old times for everyone except Xiaoyu.
So many thing want to burst out from her at once. She's shocked, no, floored at the way Asuka, Ellie and Hwoarang are acting. The three of them are pretending as if everything has been erased. Did they forget Jin's been hiding from them all this time? That he didn't even bother calling to let them know he was okay?
But then she is relieved, grateful that they found Jin before the demon destroyed him or Jin destroyed himself. Glad to finally see him in person and know that he's still fighting, though he is as worn out and tired as dusty ragged books that surround them. His hair is a wild mess, and a little longer now, especially in the front. His skin is a shade away from transparent, the veins clearly visible in his arm and up his neck.
And then there's that feeling she always gets when she's around Jin, like an orbital pull that draws her to him. Her heart is pounding in her throat, all the emotions boiling to a head. Her eyes are locked with his as she takes a step closer, and then another, and another until she is right in front of him.
She searches his face, the face she has been searching for for months. His eyes are dark, almost black as they stare back at her with unease. He opens his mouth to say something but before he can get it out, Xiaoyu slaps him hard across the cheek. Everyone sucks in a breath, even Xiaoyu who struck him way harder than she meant to, her hand suspended in the air in shock.
Again, time freezes.
Jin's doesn't react. He stands there and lets the slap manifest into a bright scarlet red on his pale cheek. He deserves way more than that, and will endure anything Xiaoyu gives him if that's what she wants. He meets her gaze again. Her almond eyes are glassy, tears building on her dark, wet lashes. Then she hugs him, wraps her arms around his waist as tight as she can, and Jin feels the anger melt away.
"Don't ever do that again," she tells him, still holding on.
Asuka and Hwoarang exchange glances as Jin pulls her in for an embrace. Being much taller than her, his arms comfortably rest around her shoulders, her ear lining up with his heart. They stay this way until Kiku bolts through the door.
"Mr. Neighbor, they found you!"
Jin pulls away from Xiaoyu to pick up Kiku, swings her around and sets her back down. Ellie comes in and leans against the doorway.
"Yes, Kiku," Jin says, looking at each of his friends, "they did."
Kiku shuffles back toward Ellie and pulls at Ellie's shirtsleeve until she bends down in front of Kiku. Kiku whispers something in her ear as the rest of them watch. Xiaoyu briefly steals a glance at Jin. There's so much she wants to say to him...
Ellie giggles and whispers something back in Kiku's ear. When she finishes, Kiku's eyes shoot up at Xiaoyu, wide with amazement.
"Really?" Kiku whispers to Ellie.
"Mmhmm. You can ask her."
Xiaoyu's eyebrows furrow upward with -ask me what?- written all over her face. Kiku comes closer with a look that seems like she's just discovered something spectacular about Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu swallows, bending down so she's level with Kiku.
"Is it true?" Kiku asks.
"Is what true?" Xiaoyu asks back.
"Are you friends with a panda?!"
Jin's sullen apartment fills with laughter. XIaoyu smiles widely, pulling out her phone to show Kiku a picture of her furry friend. "I sure am, and he eats a looooooot of bamboo. I have tons of pictures"
Asuka pulls out her phone, "I have one of Panda dancing with Xiaoyu."
Jin watches the girls with Kiku, feeling a familiar calm inside his body, and for a second, with Xiaoyu and Ellie's laughter and Asuka's snide remarks, it feels like home. Maybe it's the green potion Zafina gave him this morning taking effect on him, or maybe it's his friends, but the demon almost feels nonexistent. Almost.
"Jin," Hwoarang calls so only Jin hears. Hwoarang, unlike the girls, isn't so warm and fuzzy. Jin knows his friend has some words for him and not the nice kind either. He can always count on Hwoarang to give his raw opinion, whether Jin wants to hear it or not.
He knows they need to talk, so Jin nods toward his bedroom door. While the girls are busy showing Kiku pictures, Jin and Hwoarang slip into Jin's room, leaving the door just cracked open. The girls notice the guys going into the other room, but don't follow.
Jin should say something first, he knows it, but he also knows Hwoarang isn't the type who wants to hear an apology. Honest and straight is his best bet to tell Hwoarang exactly what's been going on the past two months. His best friend deserves that. Knowing what he has to say, Jin still chooses his words carefully. "I've been trying to deal with the demon on own. I hadn't planned on being gone this long, but I knew it would take a lot out of me and i didn't want you or anyone else to interfere, so I rented out this apartment. Zafina has been helping me this entire time, and I've been experimenting with her potions and methodologies to find a way to reverse the process and extract the gene."
Hwoarang folds his arms across his chest and leans his shoulder against the bare wall. His face is tightened into stern, serious lines as he processes what Jin has told him. "Well… any luck?"
The red potion that stopped the change from happening comes to mind. "I'd say so, yes, but we haven't found a way to extract the gene."
Hwoarang nods slightly, but doesn't say anything more.
"Hwoarang, I didn't mean for it to get out of hand." It's as close to an apology as the two of them are ever going to get.
Shifting on his feet, Hwoarang scoffs, "Which part exactly? The scouring half the city for a friend that doesn't want to be found part, the keeping up with Xiaoyu in the middle of the night part, harassing all the tenants in the area, or the getting cussed out part- that was fun. I can keep listing things if you need."
"All of it. If I knew you guys had been going through all of that trouble-."
"What did you think was going to happen?"
"I don't know," Jin says honestly.
Hwoarang's irritation heightens. "And you're supposed to be the intelligent one."
Jin lowers his voice to a hiss, wanting to keep their conversation private, "I told you I'd call if I lost control of the situation?"
"This is control?" Hwoarang waves his hand over the piles of torn clothes and books. "This looks like shit."
"You were the last person I saw before I left, and I told you what I was doing. I told you it was going to get ugly!"
Hwoarang points a finger at Jin's chest. "You should have told Xiaoyu."
Jin knows Hwoarang is right, he can't argue that. He should have told her, but he didn't because he knew she wouldn't accept it. Jin runs both palms over his face and lets out a frustrated sigh. "I thought she'd give up a lot sooner."
"I don't know what the hell it is with you two. You claim you know each other so well and then you say 'you think she'd give up' as if you don't know her at all. When has Ling ever given up?"
"I don't know."
"Never! That's when, especially when it comes to you."
Jin presses his lips in a thin line. "I was trying to protect her!"
"You failed," Hwoarang says flatly. "You failed to protect her."
"I scratched her! I could have killed her!"
"We know the risks, Jin." Hwoarang lifts his shirt and shows Jin the scars. Old thin lines lay marked across his ribs. "Remember? But you were there to tell me you were sorry. I didn't need to hear because I knew already, but Xiaoyu needs it. She needs to hear it. This time, you scratched Xiaoyu... and you left," he snaps his fingers, "just like that. And she's been running around thinking this entire thing is her fault."
"She said that?" Jin's heart is racked with guilt. How could he have known that that's how she would interpret his departure? He should have known. If he was any friend to Xiaoyu, he should have known how she would react. He was so concerned with the demon, so concerned with protecting all of them, he acted before he thought it through. "I'm sorry."
Hwoarang nods, and they both take a second to calm down. "I don't need your damn apology. You'll have to tell Xiaoyu that, but right now, believe it or not, we have bigger problems."
"Like what?"
"Kazuya," Asuka says as she comes in the room. Through the door, Jin can see Ellie and Xiaoyu still talking to Kiku, and he is grateful Xiaoyu didn't overhear. But a wave of uneasiness cuts through him at the thought of his father and he turns his attention back to Hwoarang and Asuka.
"How do you know about Kazuya?"
Asuka folds her arms, "Hwoarang?"
"We better get everyone in on this. Ling?" he calls for Xiaoyu.
Xiaoyu and Ellie say something to Kiku and she returns to her own apartment. The girls meet the rest of the group in the room.
When they all join up, Hwoarang fills Jin in, "Ling and I crossed paths with Kazuya last night."
"Crossing paths is putting it lightly," Ellie huffs.
"Is that what happened to your lip?" Jin asks, turning to Xiaoyu. He noticed it the minute he saw her, but didn't want to bring attention to it as if it would bring attention to the scars on her back that he was responsible for. "Did he hurt you?"
"Indirectly," she says. Her eyes meet his only for a brief second before she glances away. "He put his men on us, and asked us to relay a message."
"What'd he want?" Jin voice comes out in a low growl, hatred for his father spewing on his words.
"To extract the devil gene," Asuka tells him.
Jin dismisses the absurdity. "Impossible."
"That's what we said," Hwoarang says. "Kazuya claims he has an unorthodoxed approach."
"And all the materials he needs," Xiaoyu adds.
"The orb," Jin says to no one in particular.
"So this is about that Egyptian tomb?" Ellie turns to Hwoarang. "You were right."
"Is that why you had Nina in Egypt?" Xiaoyu's voice digs around Nina's name.
Nina is the only person on Jin's payroll he trusts enough with securing something as precious as the orb. He wants to explain that to Xiaoyu and the others, but advises himself better of it, not wanting to get into the details about communicating behind their backs. Instead, he simply answers, "Yes."
Asuka grimaces, full disgust present on her face as she speculates, "I bet Zafina is working with Kazuya. She's probably holding that orb somewhere in her magical house of evil waiting for a chance to extract the gene."
"Zafina had the orb but doesn't any longer," Jin relays. "It's safe to assume Kazuya probably has it."
Asuka is set in her beliefs. "They're probably still working together."
Jin shakes his head. "Zafina is on our side."
"Bullshit. She has her own motives! Two evil stars, remember? She didn't even help us find you!"
He is reminded of what Zafina last told him. I've made my choice... and I chose for Kazuya to die.
"Then Zafina is on my side," he defends adamantly. His friends are not convinced, but he has to trust Zafina's word. She's helped him this far, and if comes down to Jin and his father, he can't afford to have one less ally in his corner. He will need all of them.
Ellie raises her finger. "Question. I thought this orb had the power to only extract the gene? How can that benefit Kazuya?"
"Zafina has this theory," Jin begins. Asuka rolls her eyes as the others listen, "that if one of us, Kazuya or I, import our devil gene into the orb, the other has the ability to absorb that power."
"Meaning double the devil?" Xiaoyu asks in horror. She can't imagine Kazuya with that much power. It's unthinkable.
"Correct," Jin confirms grimly.
"That's dangerous," Ellie says, "No matter which one of you absorbs the power."
They all take a second to consider both outcomes. Though the thought of Kazuya with double the power is terrifying, the thought of Jin being the one to harness those powers equally sends a shudder around the room, even through Jin. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want any of it.
"That may be the case, but we also have to think of the alternative," Hwoarang says, after a moment.
Ellie combs through her hair. "Which is what?"
Turning to Jin, Hwoarang says, "That Kazuya wants to extract your devil gene so he can kill you."
Zafina sits perched on the edge of her couch, absently watching the single bird in the cage that has been there all morning. One single bird, but there will be another. She can feel Kazuya coming. It's just a matter of when. She nervously flips the STAR tarot card in her hand, not the bleak grey one belonging to Jin, but the dark, troubling card that emits a black aura like a smoke from a fire, continuously sifting through her slender fingers and evaporating before the blackness reaches her chest.
Her stomach is tied up in knots, hoping that Jin's fate isn't already sealed. If Kazuya truly has the orb then taking Kazuya out will be much harder than she initially believed. She closes her eyes and tries to pinpoint Kazuya's exact location using meditation like a radar, but it's like following ripples in a large pond, hard to narrow down. She opens her eyes, and like an expanding balloon, another bird appears in the cage, fluttering about.
Zafina stands immediately, pressing her fingers against the card to keep them from shaking. She didn't expect him so soon. She may be able to fight him off, but not for long, especially if he turns into the demon.
The door handle jiggles and then swings open.
It's Miguel.
He shuffles inside and slams the door behind him, the front of his shirt wet with sweat from the gym. Zafina closes her eyes briefly in relief, but still holds onto the card.
"Is he gone?" Miguel grunts, obviously still angry about the morning when he and Jin nearly ravaged her entire home. Zafina managed to clean up most of the mess after Jin left this morning, but the wall is still crumbled in and the coffee table in shambles.
"Did you see anyone outside?"
Miguel shrugs. "Like who? Jin?"
She shakes her head. "No. He left a couple hours after you did."
"He shouldn't have stayed here to begin with."
"Please," Zafina begs, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger "Not right now."
"Then when? After he destroys this household and demonizes our spirits?"
"Jin is not a demon."
Miguel looks at her, partly amused and partly frustrated. Strands of his curly hair cling to his forehead. His pushes them back with his palm. "He is, Zaf. That thing is literally a demon. He needs to be stopped."
Miguel doesn't get it, and she doesn't expect him to. He's never been keen on reading people's spirits, seeing the true good or evil is someone that lies underneath. Yes, Jin is physically part demon, but nowhere in his soul does he possess demon qualities. To her, Jin is a desperate man fighting to clear his soul of the darkness, the battle going on within tearing him to shreds. "What he needs is our help. Jin is not entirely at fault, if at all."
"Why do you keep defending him?" Miguel's tone rises to a harsh, accusatory pitch. He crossed his arms in front on him which are like two large muscle canons. Not once has she ever been afraid of Miguel, but something inside her feels uneasy. Miguel huffs, "You said he an evil star. You have been doing all this research on him and his father, determined to end their lives for greater humanity. You said as long as Jin breathes, as long as the devil lives within, the world is in harm's way."
"I know what I said," she says calmly, trying to diffuse some of his anger. "But my plan has altered."
"Into what?" Miguel hard eyes stare into Zafina's so coldly, she can almost feel the shiver. She reaches for his hand and he pulls away, but not before their fingers brush. She feels a surge of his emotions and concentrates on it until his anger, rage, and hatred for Jin washes through her like a flood. It goes just as quickly as it came, but not before she is able to understand him.
Her voice is quiet. "You think I've betrayed you."
"Stay out of my head," he warns her, but he doesn't deny it.
"Miguel, darling." She rarely uses such words with him, but it seems necessary to convince him of the truth. His broad shoulders relax at the verbal gesture. Zafina goes on, slowly and clear. "Jin did not intentionally kill your sister."
"But he did kill her… right Zafina?" His tone is even, though he seems to be taunting her.
"Technically… no."
He steps away from her, opening the space between them. His dark eyes don't move from hers. "You weren't there, Zafina. You didn't see."
"I know, but he told me-."
"Fuck what he told you!" Miguel shouts. His deep voice rattles her insides. "I'm telling you! I've told you over and over again, and now all of a sudden my word's not good enough."
She shakes her head. "I never said that."
"You didn't have to."
"Miguel, please. You haven't seen his aura, his soul. When I save him, you'll see."
"You want to save him?" Miguel's tone takes on a deep, harsh quality. "I'm telling you he can't be saved. When he flew over the church, when I ran after him after he murdered my sister, I saw his face. I saw a man who didn't give a shit about what he'd just done." Miguel walks closer now, and doesn't stop until his towering over Zafina. Heat radiates from his body, but she forces herself not to take a step back. Miguel goes on, "I looked into the eyes of a soulless man… and there is no magic or sorcery or damned Egyptian orb that can grant him one."
Miguel starts to walk off before she can say something, but what is there to say? It is clear Miguel's mind is made up and is unlikely to change. She doesn't want him to feel as if she's abandoned him, but she simply cannot agree to killing Jin when she's seen the good inside. Even we he raged into her apartment and pinned her against the wall, she didn't see the seed of the devil, she saw a desperate man, fighting on the inside. Where does she draw the line, between duty and humanity? If she has been tasked with protecting humans from evil, doesn't Jin deserve that same chance?
"Forgive me," she says to Miguel, who has gone halfway down the hall.
He stops and glances over his shoulder at her. "There was a time we once fought for the same thing. We understood why we belonged on this earth, what our missions were. It's what brought us together." His last sentence carries a bit of sweetness on its words. Unexpected tears touch the corners of her eyes as she is reminded of their early days together. When they first moved in, when he would accompany her to exhibits and undiscovered archaeological sites. That time seems decades ago. "I admired your quiet strength, Zafina, strong as a storm. You may have forgotten your purpose, but I have not forgotten mine." Now his tone is threatening. "If you want to keep your new found allegiance to Jin, I suggest you never bring him here again."
The front door flies open, and a plethora of black birds fills the bird cage.
"Not to worry, Miguel." Kazuya Mishima clasps his hands together, as two dozen men flood inside the apartment. Kazuya chuckles to himself. "My apologies. I know my intrusions can be a bit abrupt. I seem to be doing that a lot lately."
Zafina and Miguel instinctively come closer together, but are smart enough not to fight when they are so outnumbered. Kazuya mouth twitches into a smile. "You don't have to worry about Zafina bringing him here, because your little enchantress is coming with me."
Author's Note: Hey Guys! Thanks for being patient with this story as I know I can take a long time to get an update out. Also, thanks for all your favs, follows, and comments. Means a lot and feels super good. :)