The Devil In You

An Eye For An Eye

Suggested listening: Amaranthe - Enter the Maze

"KAZAMA!"

Hwoarang made it just in time to lift the defenceless body of Jin Kazama, laying on the ground, and push him away from the hand grenade which had just have been thrown their way. What the Korean didn't account for, or maybe just didn't care for, was that there was no time left for him to escape the blow that crushed him a few seconds later.

A furious ring invaded his head, making it sting like a motherfucker; his ears were half deaf and everything around him was just pure chaos. Was Jin even safe? All he could see was smoke and all he could feel were the debris of the explosion under his soaring hands. After the terrible sting was gone, Hwoarang could still feel pain in his right eye. "Something's wrong", he thought. He tried to stand, protecting his eye with a hand, even though everything seemed to be spinning around him. Jin was nowhere to be seen, and that was good. It meant he had been able to escape. But when he tried to open his right eye, all he could see was black. Nothing but black. "Son of a -" and those were the last word he could think of, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

//

A constant bip woke Hwoarang up; every bone in his body was made of hurt and he could feel the pressure of something on his right eye. He could feel the sting of a needle in his left arm when he tried to move it, and a soft pillow under his head where the hard ground used to be the last time he was awake. Opening the remaining eye, he discovered with little surprise to be in a hospital bed, back to Japan. It took a little time before he could focus on what was around him: hospital machines, the drip-feed and the blood sack on his left, what was left of his clothes on a chair beside the door. He laughed at the irony of the whole situation: the last time he had been in a hospital bed was when he finally beat Jin Kazama, only to witness his transformation into a monster that barely left him alive. Today, he was there for saving him after he transformed into the very same monster. "Damn me and my reflexes, I should have let that monstrosity die instead of taking the hit". At least, last time Baek was there for some company and a laugh here and there. Now, he was completely alone.

"My eye!" Hwoarang ripped up the bandage on it, too impatient and scared to find out the truth. And the hard truth was, all was black. He was completely blind from that eye. "Fuck. Fuck, fuck you Kazama, and fuck me for never staying in my place". He punched the bedside table, making the fake flowers on it tremble and fall, the water in a plastic cup spilled everywhere.

-Wrong moment, I take it.- The voice was calm and warm, as usual. -I can come back another time.

-Kazama.- Hwoarang hissed through his teeth. It indeed was the worst moment of all.

-You saved my life. Why?

-It's what I'm still trying to figure out myself, you know.- his voice was petty and sarcastic, as usual.

-All the same. I owe you.

-Can you give me my eye back? Because you know, that would be splendid.

Only then Jin noticed the dullness of his right eye, and his typical impassibility shuddered for a second. It was all his fault, not only he was in a hospital, he had also lost an eye.

-I'm sorry, I didn't...

-You didn't what? You didn't know? Of course not, you ran away. And the worst is, that is exactly what you were supposed to do, or all this would have been in vain. This is all my fucking doing, Kazama, I played the hero, I lost. I should have left you there to die, and I wouldn't be here, alone in a fucking hospital bed without a fucking eye!- by the time he finished the sentence, Hwoarang was shouting at Jin.

-I'm sorry. Truly.

-Sure, play the self-righteous one now. So easy to say you're sorry, it won't change the fact that I'm half blind for life. Your excuses mean nothing to me, so save your breath for something more meaningful... or for your next run. You might need it.

-I'll leave you alone then. I only wanted to thank you. For saving my life.

-You're my archenemy, who else I'm going to crush under my talon if you get yourself killed? You still owe me that win, Kazama, no cheating monster this time. And don't think that an eye less will give you advantage, I will still destroy you next fight.

-If you say so. I would focus on recovering, for the time being. You don't look so good.

-Same for yourself, you've seen better days.

Jin made a slight nod with his head and left the corridor he never moved from. He didn't ever enter the room for the entire conversation. Hwoarang was, again, alone with his thoughts, possibly angrier than before, but also quite comforted to see that he had succeeded at saving Jin's life. Which rendered him quite confused and annoyed, because the only thought he wanted to associate to the Kazama guy was crushing his skull with a well-placed kick.