Author's Notes: ...This last chapter has been finished for many months, and I completely forgot about it... It’s been so long since I updated this fic, I’ll be surprised if any of the readers are still alive... (sweatdrop)
Any of you guys who are left, you have my congrats! I genuinely thank anyone who supported and urged me on, since I will always remember this as my first actual epic fic.
As a prior warning for this chapter, I will say it contains more of what I would definitely classify as extreme violence...
Also, this may be the last thing I post for awhile... Not sure... I’m having a lot of medical problems at the time being, along with a lot of homework...
The Past is the Past
Chapter 12
Just because it can be forgotten
does not mean the past will ever end...
For the sheerness of one’s memories
is where the past always descends...
Yoshimitsu remained petrified in place, completely and utterly bewildered by the scene present before him. Bryan and Lei were arch-rivals who detested the very thought of each other. The Manji leader took note of the way the perfidious Fury had either of Lei’s wrists pinned against the hard metal of the desk the detective also seemed to be pinned upon. There could only be one possible explanation for this.
Fury was planning on forcing Wulong. Raping him.
Yoshimitsu was purely disgusted by this, his eyes aghast at the striped view of the two fighters through the cracked blinds about the translucent glass. The ninja knew he couldn’t allow Bryan’s sickening game to progress to the next level. Luckily, the office door was fully open to Yoshimitsu’s sure delight, meaning this would indeed make things to come much easier. Reaching his right-arm behind his head, he grasped the handle to his fluorescent sword in an unyielding firm grip; proceeding to slowly inch his armored form into the office room step by step.
Still holding Lei’s wrists in a tight seize, Bryan broke from the aggressive kiss he’d indulged himself into craving, tracing his lips down to the other fighter’s neck. Lei licked the newly arisen blood from his lips and moaned at Fury’s continued proceedings upon him. His eyes were tightly closed in bliss; his thoughts betraying him when one on how good his own blood actually tasted crossed his mind. When feeling a firm hand slide into the base of his jeans, Lei’s eyes shot open at the feeling, but soon took something else into view.
Yoshimitsu. Sword raised. Correct that.
Coming down.
Wulong used every ounce of strength he had at this point to push Bryan’s body to the side as Yoshimtsu’s glowing-green sword came flying down, stopping just in the knick of time at Lei’s chest. Infuriated with rage of having been both interrupted, and nearly struck with by an illuminating stick, Bryan’s arm shot out in a lighting-fast motion as he took the base of the Manji’s arm into a firm hold with every intension of breaking it into tiny pieces.
“Bryan, stop it!”
Bryan ignored Lei’s demand. Yoshimitsu struggled to free his arm, but Fury proved to be too powerful, just as figured. “I’m going to rip your fucking head off!” Bryan growled, preparing to do just that.
Then suddenly, his grasp on the ninja was released; Bryan instead giving way in a stumble of pain. His breathing picked up, and in an instance he knew he didn’t have much time left.
Though it couldn’t be seen due to the mask, Yoshimitsu’s expressions had been overlapped by confusion, and Lei’s by fear.
“Bryan?!” Lei found himself half-exclaiming.
“Fuck...” Bryan groaned, keeping himself in a stabilized standing position with his left-arm against the wall, and his right-hand on a nearby desktop, trying to retain his breathing back to that which would be considered a normal rate.
“My gods...” Yoshimitsu muttered; shocked. Very shocked. Shocked as hell. “You two were really going to...”
Lei felt his face to flush even more than it already had been – out of both embarrassment, and a hint of shame. Still, he didn’t have time to explain any of this at the moment, not that he even knew where to begin on the issue, anyhow.
Bryan fully stood once more, the pain his form had endured suddenly vacant of presence. “I have to find Abel,” he spoke in a firm voice. “I’ll not live much longer, and I refuse to die until he does.”
“Well here’s your chance; get down!” Yoshimitsu exclaimed, doing just as he had suggested directly afterwards.
Bryan’s gaze reverted to the side and through the cream-colored blinds shading the thin layer of glass. An army of Tekkenshu stood in patent view; guns raised and aimed for fire. The kind of guns which would fire bullets powerful enough to pummel a trail straight through anything standing in their path. In the center of the Tekkenshu stood none other than Dr. Abel himself... With a single wave of the doctor’s hand, the guns went off just like that.
The window’s glass shattered in a quick motion, spraying out everywhere within the office as bullets penetrated both it, and the walls. The desk and machinery along with them. Electrical sparks filled the air while the electronics were dismembered piece by piece. A dispersal of what would now be considered as debris filled the dilapidated room’s confines.
The firing halted.
As the dust began to clear and settle, Yoshimitsu sighed in the relief that he’d gotten away with only a couple not-too-bad grazes to the leg and arm, thankful his sword had once again been reliable.
Lei’s breathing was intense. His eyes slowly aimed to crack their way open to examine the after-effects of the vicious firing attack delivered a mere few seconds ago, taking everything in. He was facing the back of the office, suddenly in question as to why he hadn’t received so much as a single hit. Then he was hit with something. A pair of arms were wrapped around him from behind, holding his own arms in a crossed manner against his chest, and his back pressed against cool flesh.
Bryan had shielded him.
Fury flinched in pain. He’d taken the bullets, the glass, everything. He felt his actual blood as it began soaking into his already crimson-stained clothes, accompanied by thin slices to the flesh in numerous places from the explosion of thick glass everywhere that had taken place. True, the bullets didn’t ever fully penetrate into his body, but the flesh was still sometimes broken in the process of it all. Bryan couldn’t deny the fact that it hurt like hell every time, despite the accustomed feeling he’d grown for enduring the fires. He usually never took quite this many, and he could tell more than just a few of his veins and arteries had been crushed or sliced in certain places. This was a sure sign that he had become even much weaker than he had before thought, and these had to be damn strong guns. Most likely an enhancement made on them with his own name particularly in mind as the target of choice...
Bryan sighed in determination of the task he had to fulfill while he still could.
It was time.
Everything after this was a blur; it happened so fast. Fury’s grasp on Lei’s shaking form tightened even more so for only a second, before in a sudden movement, Bryan forcefully pushed his body forwards with enough might to cause the Chinese to slam rather roughly against the edge of the angular desk; torso first. The pain was intense. Wulong felt himself give way to the floor before he even had time to think about the prevention of trying not to.
Bryan turned, and sprinted at full speed out of the broken-down office. He didn’t let the bullets or the pain or anything else stand in his way. When reaching the line, he instantaneously grasped the elongated end of the machinegun one of the Tekkenshu was holding. Rather than just jerking the gun free, he made sure to instead jerk the soldier’s arm.
Bryan ripped it right off.
“Die, goddamnit!” Bryan exclaimed in pure and utter rage, unleashing his full wrath. Bryan then took the gun he now held, and was quick to fire a shot at every standing Tekkenshu within the large workstation. A scream of pain followed every gun fire, giving Bryan a sure feeling of sickening delight. He threw down the arm he held, which was dripping repetitively with blood. The soldier he’d taken the limb from was still on the ground, wailing in pain. Without any hesitance whatsoever, Bryan stomped the man’s head straight into the ground. Those that tried to exit the room never made it in time. With his unsatisfied carnal hunger, Bryan tore them limb by limb, piece by piece.
Organ by organ.
Until finally there was only one man standing. Fury’s arm flew forward; his fist going right through the Tekkenshu’s armed chest as it fully penetrated him. Bryan ripped his heart out, crushing it within his palm as an outburst of thick crimson sprayed out to pepper the unstained portions of his skin in yet more blood.
Lei was watching, and felt as if he would pass out from the visions his eyes were taking in. Horrible visions. The kind that would eternally scar your mind and take away every prerogative it had to eradicate these visions in the future.
Bryan was quick to disappear, apparently in retracing Dr. Abel’s previous steps into fleeing.
Yoshimitsu eventually stood. Before finding anything else, his gaze found the sheet of paper which had apparently printed before the laptop had been blown out by gunfire. To his relief, it was just as he had hoped.
“This gives the location of the good Dr. Boskonovich,” Yoshimitsu sighed in sure satisfaction.
“Go,” Lei muttered.
“What?”
“I said go!” the long-haired man spoke up in a slight yell. “Hurry, before more come!”
“But what about—” the Manji was cut off.
“I have my own destiny...” the elegant fighter whispered. “Let me handle it my way.”
Despite the contradicting thoughts Yoshimitsu was having on the issue of leaving Lei here alone, he could only respect the detective’s wishes nonetheless, figuring he knew what they were. The ninja nodded.
“One thing...” Lei murmured.
Yoshimitsu halted and looked back, right as he was about to take off into the halls.
“Don’t try to help Bryan, or he will help you to your death...”
The manji then turned in a swift moment before taking off through the partially broken doors, and into the hallway.
Holding his outer right-arm, Lei stumbled forward step by step. The room was filled with the distinct olfaction of blood; so thick in the air Lei could almost taste it. The very room itself had been painted; the walls and floors alike highlighted and splattered in dark shades of red. The floor was flooded with more than substantially large cerise puddles, surrounding the bodies of the many dead soldiers, whose bodies were completely disremembered all about the room.
Lei looked down into the thickest and widest collection of crimson on the floor, so dark it was nearly black. He saw his reflection in it.
Lei fell to his knees. His left-hand moved to grasp his right shoulder, as his right-hand moved to grasp his left shoulder. The raven-haired fighter couldn’t contain it. Holding himself on his knees, he cried.
Hard.
His tears fell to land below, causing the slightest of ripples within the thick pool of blood he had fallen to land in. He felt the validity of his very life to vanquish in this moment.
He wanted to die.
Lei felt weak. Pained. Drugged. Torn. Broken.
Dying.
Dead.
It was all too much. Everything. His emotions were completely fucked at this point, as they spun and twisted to mar at his very soul, nipping away at it piece by piece.
“Why? Why is the world so fucking cruel?” Lei murmured as the tears continued to fall.
Then the sound of an alarm suddenly began echoing throughout the many halls and rooms. Not the same kind as before, though. This was the detonation alarm...
The sound of footsteps coming to a halt was heard. Wulong didn’t even look up. His gaze had been fixated on the endless blood before him, and the added reflection he saw in it was enough to clarify that a Tekkenshu was clearly standing in the doorframe.
“Do it...” Lei whispered. “Kill me...”
“Working like a charm,” Yoshimitsu snickered, noting the way the hallways had begun to clear in a frantic. “They all apparently think this place is really going to explode.”
The elder Boskonvich couldn’t help but slightly laugh in tune to this.
“Don’t worry, the helicopter will be here shortly,” the ninja continued in assurance.
“And what of the final match between Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin?”
“Nothing, yet,” the Manji leader replied, accompanied by an alongside sigh. “We’ll try to get word as soon as possible. So, where is it from here?”
The doctor nodded before speaking. “To stop the bio-weapon.”
“That’s just what I thought you’d say.”
Lining the front of the Mishima Zaibatsu, the street was crowded by what appeared to be at least half of the Tokyo International Police Force. Tekkenshu were arrested one after the other as they hurriedly fled the colossal building. In the midst of the crowd stood the Hong Kong detectives Okura Kita, Kokan Masaki, and Han Zhang.
“Well, it looks likes things are finally being taken care of here,” Zhang sighed in relief, though obviously boasting himself at the same time. “Thanks to me, of course.”
Kita and Masaki sighed, both shaking their heads in a combination of annoyance, and amusement.
“I think Wulong’s the real hero here,” Kita stated in hope; hoping Lei would emerge safely from this business compound if he was indeed in there. “Zhang, how do you know he’s even in there for sure, though?”
“Because Bryan Fury is. Remember? He was tracked by air after fleeing the murder scene in front of that grocery store,” the tall Chinese man guaranteed. “And if Fury’s in there, then Wulong is, too.”
“But how do you know that?”
“I just know...”
“Hey, look up there!” someone amidst the crowd shouted. Everyone immediately redirected their glances to above the vastly large business building; so tall you could barely even point out the top. Still, a helicopter was obviously taking off despite how dimly it could be seen. The sound of rapidly spinning propellers reverberated throughout the air while those who focused on it watched as it just flew away into blue skies.
“Ah great,” Zhang cursed. “I bet some of these guys are escaping right now. I wonder how many other helicopters they’ve got up there?”
“Uh, guys?”
Masaki, Zhang, and Kita all turned to the side at the inquiry of one of the many policeman.
“I think I have someone over here you’d like to see.”
The three Hong Kong detectives shrugged, following the officer to the back of the crowed thereafter.
“Well? What are we supposed to be looking at here?” Han inquired with impatience, but his jaw soon dropped when saw what, or rather who, the officer had been referring to.
Masaki gasped, just as the others did. “Is that... Lei...?”
“It... it is...” Kita whispered.
Wulong was apparently unconscious as he lay atop a white stretcher. Correct that.
Red.
His entire body was drenched in several layers of blood, both dry and fresh. His long hair hung down over the back end of the stretcher; crimson drops falling to stain the pavement below. It was horrible, and purely terrifying to look at. It looked like Lei had literally swum blood.
“My gods...” Zhang murmured. “Is he...?”
“No, he’s not dead,” one of the overhearing medical examiners spoke in remark. “Just a bit of hyperventilated shock. Surprised he didn’t have a heart-attack, as fast as his pulse was. Whatever happened in there... it wasn’t pretty...”
“I can see that,” Zhang replied, more along the manner of a ‘duh’ tone of voice.
After taking a closer and more observant look at Lei’s blooded body, he was apparently fidgeting in sharp motions on and off.
“How’d he get like this?” inquired Masaki.
The medical examiner shrugged. “Don’t know for sure. Some solider named Ryo brought him out like this. Said he found him lying in a pool of blood surrounded by pieces of dead bodies... Also has a couple fractures to the right-arm and an overdose of morphine narcotics. Actually, I’m surprised he’s not dead after all he’s endured.”
“He always was one to surprise you...” Zhang muttered.
One week and three days later...
The sun crept over the mountainous horizon, as the midnight indigo sky began to break apart into an array of warm colors at its edge. Dawn was here. The air was cool for this time, yet summer was distinctively present within the scent.
Lei Wulong stood behind a short, wooden fence with spaciously parted bars which separated the edge of the high mountain from a wide cavern of mid air. Leaning his lower arms against the top of the chocolate-brown fence, Lei remained standing still for a few moments, watching as the darkness was overtaken by the light.
His mountain house within the very interior depths of China’s heart was one of the very few places he felt he could truly be at peace with his own spirit, as well as with those around him. This place screamed of life and light and rebirth and so many things Lei had come to have taken for granted and forgotten about in his recent times. The light would always shine through to outweigh any darkness, for the light could beam and spread throughout it, but no darkness could ever darken the actual light.
Only hide from it.
This is why Lei knew it was important to keep the light present within the world. As long as there were those fighting in the way of good, there was always hope.
A mix of rose and sakura petals were carried in the wind as it blew back through Lei’s hair, and once more he thought of the information he had received just before leaving to train here in the mountains. He wanted some time to gather his thoughts.
Bryan Fury was alive, and he wasn’t the only one...
Not at all...
So may hidden secrets... The detective knew he could uncover them by looking in the right places.
Indeed all of the answers would be waiting for Lei Wulong, at the next tournament. He now knew he couldn’t run away from his past any longer, not when so many pieces of it were part of the future’s puzzle.
What would happen? What were the answers? What was the truth?
And of course, what of Bryan Fury? What would happen when their paths crossed once more?
Lei sighed to himself, and in a sudden motion, turned away from the spectacular sunrise he had before been viewing to instead redirect his glance to the unlit portion of the sky. It would without a doubt return just as soon as the light began to vanish, just as it always did.
The darkness.
Yet... maybe Wulong was more at home here than he thought...
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--The End