The Jin Saga 2 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Evil

Jin and and his devil counterpart stared at each other, both standing, from across a short distance. A light smoke passed through lowly around their legs in a barren gray expanse.

"Chaos," Devil said, his gold eyes glistening with wickedness. "Put the world into chaos. That's what it wants."

They were discussing the unknown source calling them together, to act, some voice from that destructive night in the forest and the sense of something more even after overcoming Jinpachi. With his intention to get rid of Devil, Jin had been able to maintain a distinction of these aspects of himself for the time being.

"How do I know you're not lying just to get what you want? You'd demand that of me even without it." Jin stood with his arms folded. It was a habit he'd developed recently, guarding himself against everything now that he had accepted Devil's power as a means to an end.

"Why did you tell me your end game so quickly, kid? We cannot lie to each other, not now that we're both awake and listening."

"Kid?"

"Oh, am I allowed to call you by name now, Jin?"

"I suppose," Jin conceded, closing his eyes with a disinterested shrug. "If we must speak, I'd rather you call me that than ‘kid.' Do you have a name?"

"Just the one you humans have given me. You could call me Glitter for all I care."

Jin couldn't help snickering in amusement. "'Devil' it is. For now."

"Yeah, when we meet Daddy, it could get confusing." Devil smiled.

Jin scowled for a moment and then shook it off. "You're right. I told you by instinct. It would have been in my best interest to just play along and wait, yet the words just flowed into you from me."

"Exactly. So…chaos. We both want to know, so let's do it."

"I don't understand how you can't know. You hear everything."

"The noise is bothersome," Devil admitted, referring to a general cacophony that ran through him, filled with sounds and dark desires all across the world. Jin could hear it too though it was faint. "It does give me the sense of going home, whatever that means."

"It's waking up, and you are probably a part of it, so it plans on taking you from me."

"Maybe. I'm sure we'll learn more as the chaos ensues like it wants. A pity if true. I wouldn't mind staying. Your blood is special, and you're a lot more fun when you're evil. Don't expect me to go quietly into that good night, Jin."

Jin's eyes shifted quietly to the ground for a moment. Then he looked back up and met evil's gaze. "I will be rid of you or die trying." The words were spoken fiercely with determination.

Devil took a few steps forward. "Your suicidal nature only benefits my immortality. If you cannot die or be rid of me, then what?"

"Then I die inside…somehow."

"You can't even do that now. You'd have done it already if it were that simple."

"What do you want me to say, wretch? Huh?!" Jin shouted at him, breaking his arms apart in protest, guard down. "That you win? Of course you win. You don't need to hear it from me. You've already won. It's just like you said in my nightmares. I'm just a shadow of that ‘kid' as you called him. I am gone. I died two years ago when that old man shot me." Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to stop them.

Devil smiled an oddly sympathetic smile with no gloating or mocking behind it. After all, he had drilled it into this child and could feel what Jin did. He stepped forward again so that his body was parallel to Jin's. They stood next to each other, facing opposite directions. He lifted his head to their mind's sky. Above was a mass of dark clouds in motion. A few drops fell onto the pair in a light drizzle. Jin had stifled his tears. Devil closed his eyes briefly. "I know, kid." He held out his clawed gauntlet to feel the rain and brought his head down to stare at it. "They wronged you: that grandfather and the father who only saw you as a vessel containing me. They deserve every bit of hell you bring on them. ‘Wrath' is what you are feeling Jin and unlike most humans, the power to act on it is yours." He looked to his left at Jin's profile, studying the muscular young figure beside him.

"I really am evil now, aren't I?" Jin turned his head to his own left to meet the creature's eyes. The words hinted at regret, the shadow's remorse. "Even if I do it all in the name of finding that voice, of following the belief that I am somehow saving the world by creating chaos and ridding myself of you…." He looked away and straight ahead. "I am evil."

"Power is everything," Devil said thoughtfully as he looked straight ahead as well, only facing the opposite direction. "That's your new motto, right? Plunge the world into chaos, and your power increases because it feeds me, who is now a part of you, and strengthens your own human resources. Those who get in the way will suffer or will die. Sure, you care a little about that, but it's not going to stop you now, like it would have before, is it?" He returned his gaze to Jin's neck. "Hell yeah, it's evil."

The air grew cold, much to Devil's pleasure. The drizzle stopped. Fun Jin was about to appear and this downer of a shadow was about to go back into hiding. He had been properly consoled with a mere affirmation of his existence. "True." The human figure took a few careful and measured steps forward, turned around, and folded his arms once more, facing the black wings and scrawled dark markings on the back of his inner demon. Devil turned around. Their positions had swapped as they once again looked at each other, standing a short distance apart. "I get the feeling you have more to say on this chaos than just that word, so what is it?"

"When I still lived inside your father, the plan was to make the Mishima Zaibatsu its own country. That's not your starting point but a step to be taken soon. Once done, use that as an excuse to take resources, defend or claim land, whatever you want. That woman, Nina Williams, she is your starting point. Ogre had possessed her when you met, but she has been free from it since your fight back then. If you don't hire her as soon as possible, someone will undoubtedly hire her to kill you. She's not a threat, of course, but she is exactly the person you need at your side. She is an assassin, and you don't have to worry about petty moral concerns with her."

"Useful," Jin noted. The clouds had cleared, and the barren landscape grew lighter. Jin glanced around at their surroundings. "Morning approaches. You know the drill for the day."

"Until next time," Devil faded with a flurry of black feathers that surrounded Jin's body.

He woke up in his bedroom. Jin sat up and stared at his bare human hands. He opened and closed them and felt no pain. His blood felt cool running through his veins. The nightmares had stopped since defeating Hwoarang, and sometimes Devil formed within to talk as had been the case this night. The wicked voice still flowed in Jin's mind, depending on what was happening outside of the body, but its physical form had kept itself retracted since they defeated Jinpachi. The two were learning to cooperate with a shared body. Their end goals were not the same, but the steps to reach them were.

Jin suddenly heard a ferocious roar outside the door. Upon opening it, he saw none other than Heihachi's pet bear, Kuma, standing fully with arms raised ready to swipe at Jin. Kuma roared again. The new head of the Mishima Zaibatsu narrowed his eyes, now filled with contempt. He shoved the bear back into the wall of the hall with a strong force. "Leave. Now."

Kuma stood up dazed but ready to attack again. Only a few blows more before the bear lost consciousness. "Eyesore," Jin muttered.

Kill him.

Jin glared at the fallen beast, carefully evaluating Devil's suggestion and the consequences of how the other humans would react if and when they found out such cruelty. Was there anything to be gained by such an act? Not really, just one less nuisance and he regarded most people as nuisances now, so it was hardly a good reason. Don't be absurd. He's just a helpless animal.

Never stopped me.

I will not kill him. There is no power to gain here. He is no threat to me.

Then you need to get rid of him somehow. You have better things to do than swat away an annoying bear all day.

The young CEO had Kuma placed on a helicopter and rode with the unconscious mass of fur. The helicopter flew over the Hokkaido wilderness. Just kick him out. He'll live. Jin first searched for a clearing to land instead, but Kuma started to awaken before one could be found. It could not be helped. With a swift kick, he tossed Kuma out into the brush below. Kuma roared in distress, but Jin had no doubt that the strong pet of his grandfather could survive.

"Sir…" the pilot said, not really sure what to add.

"He's fine," Jin told him. "You may have lost control and been killed if the bear fought me here."

The pilot went quiet.

I will not needlessly sacrifice a pawn over something so trivial.

Yup, evil.