"Deathfall, confinement of terror. Roundtrip to hell and back...Save me! Forever lost I'm in bounded in a place that one was heaven... Please don't let me go, hold me tight... All I am asking is to make it right..." - Children Of Bodom"
He couldn't stop staring at her, utterly dismayed. What the hell was she babbling about? Returning to Japan meant getting into trouble on purpose, that statement made no sense. What's the point of risking so much?
"Nina...Have you gone mad?" he said to her with all the candor he was capable of. "Do you realize what you just told me?"
"Steve, you have to listen to me! I know it sounds crazy, but we have to get back there. I have to help him stop it. We can't wait..."
"Help who to stop what? Nina!"
But the blonde didn't listen to him. She had already rushed upstairs, opened a suitcase and started throwing in clothes.
"NINA!" shouted the boy, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "Get your shit together, you're rambling!"
"You... You don't..." but she was unable to respond in front of the hard and severe look of her son, totally identical to hers.
She collapsed on the ground, holding her head in her hands, while Jun's words still rang in her head.
"You are the only hope...Follow and listen to your heart, always."
For the second time in her life she found herself panicked, totally unable to put ideas together in a coherent reasoning. Jun had given her a terribly difficult task, but she hadn't explained how to do it. Was it really enough that Jin saw her alive and well to regain his strength and defeat his father once and for all? Steve realized that he had literally yelled at her in a moment of obvious weakness and felt terribly guilty. He crouched next to her mother, trying to reason with her.
"I'm so sorry, Nina, I didn't mean to scream. But you have to understand that what you're saying is absurd. Why did you think of that?"
The woman raised her nose, shaking her head bitterly.
"You'd never believe me..."
"Well, try! You woke up in the middle of the night and turned on the television on the news for no apparent logical reason. I think I've already shown you my understanding." he said.
Having to come to terms with the fact that monsters, devils and evil genes existed wasn't easy, especially without having to deal with them firsthand, but Steve was willing to listen to her again.
"I've been having the same dream every night for months now..."
"The same dream? And why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Because I myself had no idea what it meant. It was just a shapeless set of blurred contours, darkness and desolation, but only recently it took shape and only tonight I understood everything."
"What did you understand?"
"Who was behind it and what she wanted to tell me. Jin's mother, Steve, appeared in my dream! And it wasn't just dream, she was perfectly conscious and made me aware of what is happening in Japan "
The blond was shocked.
"Jun Kazama? But how is that possible? You told me she died years ago, killed by that monster..." he exclaimed.
Nina sighed and patiently, but with a certain urgency in her voice she explained her dream and conversation with Jun, trying not to omit even the smallest of details. She spoke relentlessly for several minutes, repeating over and over the most salient passages. Steve listened to her in silence, and although it was clear that he was trying to maintain a neutral expression, his gaze betrayed a certain skepticism.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she blurted out when his son couldn't hold back another raised eyebrow.
"No, Nina, I don't." he sighed patiently. "And I'll tell you more: no matter how crazy this sounds, I believe you. But you absolutely cannot pick up two things and rush into danger as if nothing were and also exposing your children to the risks, including one who still wears diapers. I'm sure that in battle you would never, ever, ever have acted so impulsively without a plan."
Those words had the power to appease her panic like a cold shower and finally block her to reason. It was true. If G. Corp was seriously on her trail, she couldn't possibly run to the airport as if nothing had happened, Despite the fake documents, she risked to be identified anyway. They had to move differently, also the little Keiichi was unfortunately an obstacle in case of escape, he still had too many needs to be satisfied continuously.
"Okay." she sighed, trying to put her ideas in order and give them consistency. "Let me try to figure out how to get out of Ireland even though I fear that it will be necessary to do so by boat and then identify the countries still free from those bastards to take a flight."
"I'm gonna get the laptop." Steve said, leaving her alone.
It was incredible that he was indulging her in that madness, but how could she know that the war had broken out the moment the news was first reported in Ireland, perfectly on time? It was real-time images that were being transmitted, so Jun Kazama really appeared to her in a dream. But what exactly was her mother supposed to do? And above all, even more thorny and important question: what role did he and his brother play in all this? Confident that she would soon understand how to move, he handed the PC to the woman, who immediately turned it on and began to drum her fingers on the keyboard like a hammer.
"I didn't know you were also a hacker..." he commented, peering at the screen.
"I had to learn to be, and I'm not even one of the best. Fortunately, I still remember all the access keys and procedures to hide my IP address and infiltrate the various government portals." answered without taking her eyes off the monitor.
Steve stared at her and pinned down the names of countries, airports, geographical coordinates and everything the blonde dictated to him for minutes, which became hours. After the initial moment of total bewilderment, she had returned to being the stoic and very organized Nina Williams, whose fame preceded her for methodicity, precision and effectiveness. Indeed, knowing how high the stakes were, she was even more focused and determined to find a way out. Not even Keiichi could afford the luxury of being a distraction at that time, in fact the older brother went to feed him with milk powder and change him: he knew that the blonde's behaviour was not negligence, but only pure survival instinct that for the first time in her life extended to other people, as well as himself. It couldn't fail. The first amber lights signaled the arrival of dawn filtering through the purple marquee of the living room. It had been an exhausting night for everyone, but rest was far away. Nina had managed to arrange a route to leave the country and return to Japan, taking into account all the hostile variables of the case: troops, controls, searches. They would reach England by ferry, from there they would go to Finland, through Denmark. They would then take a train to Saint Petersburg and then drive to Moscow, where they would fly to Tokyo. They would be days of hard and endless travel, but it was the only way to drastically lower the chances of being intercepted by G. Corporation. What worried her most was to evade the exit controls from Haneda airport, but she hoped that the false papers and the usual disguises would be enough. Knowing how to forge passports and ID cards had become another item on her résumé, and thanks to the resources of the Mishima Zaibatsu she had learned the trade quite well. She hoped with all her heart that everything would go smoothly and that they would arrive safely. However, a doubt caught her off guard like a bolt out the blue: she had spent hours and hours studying a plan of action as infallible as possible, considering all the pros and cons, and suddenly she felt incredibly stupid not to have calculated a crucial factor. She watched Steve carefully, fiddling with his pen, drumming it on the table and biting the cap from time to time, then his gaze shifted to Keiichi, who had fallen asleep in his stroller after the lavish snack. She had been talking and thinking at plural all that time, but it hadn't occurred to her to ask the person concerned what she thought. She really had lost her mind.
"So, summing up..." sighed the blond, wearily. " The boat to England sails in the late afternoon, so we have to leave here to reach the port by 10:00 at the most, considering the queues and exodus, indeed, we do for 9:00 and...Nina?"
He paused before the woman's dismayed expression, who seemed to have turned into a statue of salt.
"Did you hear me? What happens now?" he asked alarmedly.
"N-no... I can't." she muttered with a broken voice, full of anguish.
"You can't what?" he asked, shaking his head.
"Forgive me, I'm a fool!" she exclaimed, hiding her face in her hands.
"NINA? What is it, speak for fuck's sake!"
She got up and quickly went around the table, crouching next to her mother, whose body couldn't stop shaking.
"I don't know what's wrong with me! I spent my whole life thinking about myself, but now I can't. There's only me anymore, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"That I can't, I don't have to and most of all I don't want to put you and Keii in danger. I didn't ask you anything, and I got you involved in a suicide mission that doesn't even concern you. What kind of mother am I if I don't think about protecting my family in the first place?"
Steve looked out, hearing those words. Not so much for the truthfulness of those statements as for the sincere concern that transpired. She really felt sorry for them. And she was right, it was the priority of any parent to protect their children from any threat. Yet they had become a family, and Steve promised himself that nothing and no one would separate them.
"It's true, protecting us is your priority. And that's exactly what you're doing, with all the associated and connected risks."
"Steve, mine is a mission is suicide, not..."
"Oh Nina, please! Did you hear the television, or not? War is rediscovered and is back on a world scale! There is no corner on this Earth that can be considered safe, if I have to die I prefer to do it trying to fight, not running away. And no, you don't need to ask me any opinion, because I've already decided to follow you everywhere. Do I wish to fight? Honestly? NO! Do I have other alternatives? Yes, I would, I would just take Keiichi with me and deny you, on the other hand I would also be credible. Am I going to do it? NO! Am I going to abandon you, leave you alone, risk losing you again? Holy shit, NO! So, as you can see, I don't have many other options."
A tense silence followed. Nina would never think of many things in life, first of all to become a mother of two children. But even more, that one of the two reminded her in a frightening way her father Richard, for strength of mind, determination, courage and attachment to the family. He had losthis life because he wanted to protect her and Anna at all costs. Steve was willing to do the same, despite everything. Her heart kept pounding at her chest so hard, it felt like it was about to explode. She never wanted to be in such a situation, but she had no alternative. Steve Fox was a grown man and he had already chosen for himself. She would never change his mind.
"All right." she said with a firm voice. "But on one condition."
"Go ahead." he pressed.
"I have enough experience to assess individual situations and sense the dangers. I know how to cope, and I will do everything to protect you. But you have to swear, right here, right now in front of me, that if I tell you to take Keiichi and run, you will. If I tell you to abandon me and save yourselves, you will. Don't try to disobey me, it's definitely my head they want once they realize I'm still alive. Your one and only priority will be to protect yourself and take care of your brother. Am I clear?"
Her peremptory tone didn't admit replicas of any kind. Steve weighed the words of his mother, strongly fought. He looked at her first, then at his beloved little brother, still peacefully asleep and then again at her. Her words were true, he had a better chance of saving himself, though he would rather die than leave her alone. He also knew how stubborn she was and that she would never come to terms with it. But they shared the same blood and he was as stubborn as her. He just nodded, looking her straight in the eye. He felt bad lying to her so shamelessly, but it was a good lie. He couldn't accept those conditions, but for the time being he had to put on a brave face. However, he seemed to convince her, and what happened next was incredible: slowly Nina stood up and for the first time, held him in a tight embrace. It was a warm, reassuring and desperate contact at the same time, as if in that moment she was trying with all of herself to communicate her feelings as she had never been able to do. And she did, Steve sensed them all. He squeezed her back, while a tear slipped out of his eyes and spitefully twisted his cheek. In that embrace they both enclosed themselves, aware of how much they had managed to build and how much they risked losing. The blonde parted after a few moments and the boxer noticed that she also had shiny eyes.
"Very well then. Let's pack our bags and get moving."
Their journey to hell was about to begin and no one was sure it would be a roundtrip.
Another rumble. Another shock. The earth didn't want to stop shaking under that siege of fire and blows, the smoke was so dense and dark that it sucked into its coils all the light and made the air unbreathable. The screams of civilians had now disappeared, suppressed by the explosion of bullets and bombs that destroyed their lives. There was pain and despair in that hell, there was destruction and death, and yet some rejoiced. Kazuya was no longer in his skin, and his patience in waiting for his son to show up was over. He no longer cared about destroying the planet, if that meant taking back what was due him, he was now a slave to his perverse goal and nothing and no one would stop him from achieving it. He knew it was only a matter of time before Jin, willingly or unwillingly, showed up, he was well aware that he would endure an apocalypse like this only to a certain extent. He had enjoyed playing the big man and the braggart roles, by unleashing a war with the sole intent to awaken Azazel and defeat him, convinced to eradicate his bloodline, when in truth he was little more than a little boy still slave to his emotions and his pathetic memories. Lowering his guard that night with Jun had been one of the most serious mistakes he felt he had committed, the birth of their son had been a full-blown self-sabotage. But he would find a solution to his mistakes, he would put things back the way they should have always been. Jun was dead. His bastard father was dead. Akuma had been destroyed. That little parasite was the last obstacle to the fulfillment of his evil project that he had been trying to accomplish all his life. He would stop at nothing, not even at death itself. He was on the verge of becoming even more powerful than it. The devil made man looked pleased at that scene of devastation, with a sadistic smile distorting his face. The red eye shone with an evil light and more and more lit. By now the act was about to take place...
"Come out, Jin, if you dare... I'm waiting for you..."
Hidden in a maximum security bunker in the basement of the Violet System, four other pairs of eyes watched desolate and horrified the disaster unfold. How many people had already lost their lives and how many more would disappear. Time was up, he could no longer back down. The pleas of his companions served no purpose, in an attempt to make him desist on the fact that he was not yet ready, he had accepted his fate and with death in his heart he mentally prepared himself to face the last battle, the most important and difficult of his life. No one else could have done it for him.
And finally, another pair of blue eyes opened wide in front of an image projected on a monitor of a very common PC. She hadn't been able to oppose the categorical request of her boss and had spent the last few days trying in every way to trace her sister, reconstructing her last movements. In her heart she knew that she could not really be dead, she had always been a champion in getting by and in any case their father's lucky star would never abandon her. She hated her sister, who seemed to have 9 lives like cats, every time, even in the most desperate situations she had always managed to escape the danger. And she wanted to flush her out and deliver her to Kazuya, to feel proud of herself for accomplishing her mission, to feel important... Up to a second before she saw that frame taken by a pharmacy security camera. She would have recognized her among a thousand people, and behind a thousand disguises, but she had also recognized the object she had purchased on that occasion, dating back almost 9 months before. It couldn't be true. No, her sister...Impossible...No. And suddenly she understood everything. She understood why her boss had entrusted her with that task. She understood his intentions and realized what was really behind that request. And she wavered. For the first time in her life, without even understanding why, Anna Williams wished to spare her sister's life...
Author's note: shit is soooo going to hit the fan.