KOF Extras

The Turning Point

The words stung him like a stab in the chest, images of a childhood he never had appeared before him. The smile of his sister was still so warm in his memories, contrasting the scowl she wore now, but was she his sister at all? Whip just burst his bubble.
Krizalid knew that his life was slowly slipping out his grasp, crushed beneath a boulder almost as heavy as than the weight of treachery. His life was a lie, a deceit disguised as the truth. He was nothing but an extract of K', Whip made that very clear, and there was nothing he could do about it. He could see him smirking at him, amused by his stupidity of believing the words of his superiors.
Krizalid didn't know if he would have a second chance, didn't think he would either. Tears of anger and betrayal escaped his eyes the moment his last breath was released. He was found by the Ikari Warriors, who took his remains out of the ruins, but then something else had happened.

Krizalid didn't expect to be roaming about once more, alive again, as he worked under the commands of Original Zero. He still worked for NESTS, but he seemed more compassionate towards him, genuinely caring for his well-being.
Clone Zero was finished during the last tournament and Krizalid learnt that he was the one who landed that boulder on top of him. He still wasn't able to forgive him.
"What about Seirah?" Krizalid asked. "Where is she now?"
"She isn't your sister," Original Zero said. "The memories... they aren't yours."
Krizalid frowned to himself. "I know."
Original Zero could see that Krizalid still had trouble accepting that he wasn't the original, that he was a clone of K'. Zero assured him that Krizalid was still a unique being from K', and he knew that Krizalid knew that as well. He still saw Seirah as his sister, though Seirah never once thought so. She never accepted him as a brother of her own.
Krizalid tried to keep those thoughts away as he fought alongside Original Zero and Ron in the 2001 tournament, once again coming face-to-face with the K' team.
It still pained him, how K' and Whip fought alongside one another, being a team and having the kinship he was denied of. Being on the other side from them sucked too, seeing how they were marked as the enemy by the party he stood for.
Maybe he gave in, Krizalid couldn't really remember, and Seirah ended him once more with the clutch of her Voodoo and the bullets of her Desert Eagle.
At that moment, Krizalid wondered if his life truly had no meaning to it. Resurrected from the dead and here he was again, fatally shot. Was there no way he could escape this, choose the life he wanted on his own instead of having those around him do it for him instead?

Years later, a time when everyone nearly forgot about Krizalid, he was referred to as a piece of history. Who would've thought that he would get resurrected again.
Certainly, he didn't as well. It all started when he found himself on a crater in Ireland. Of all the places, it had to be in the place he most associated with. The one place he could refer to as his homeland. The one thing that was his identity alone and not K's.
It all happened so quickly, he found himself a stash of belongings that belonged to a bad guy on the run, got his life together, and there they were.
The K' team. Once again, he was facing them. Flashes of the '99 and 2001 tournament appeared before him, reminders of the treachery he went through became clearer.
Krizalid tried to run, he tried to hide from them, but did that really work? It started with a short interaction in a provision shop, and then they somehow tracked him down to a restaurant in another state while he was blissfully having lunch.
He had escaped that, but then they appeared at the doorstep of his new home.
When he thought it would end there, when he thought he had finally left them behind in a different state, they appeared once again. This time, at the door across his hotel room. They had come over with some friends he didn't recognise, together with the unlikely duo of Iori and Kyo. He shut the door the instant he caught sight of them, but that didn't stop them from trying to ambush him anyway. Then again, it was clear that they didn't actually know who he was since he was clad in an obscuring hooded coat each time they met after his second resurrection.
"What do you want from me?" Krizalid asked when they wouldn't stop banging on his door. He frantically scanned the area to see if there were any ways for him to escape. It wasn't like he was scared of them, but every interaction he'd had with them in the past had only ended with him being killed. "Why won't you leave me alone? I just want to live in peace!"
"Oh don't lie to us now," a voice boomed on the other side of the door. It was K', he was sure of it. "You've been following us ever since we were in Dublin!"
"I didn't," Krizalid truthfully said. All he wanted was to get away from them and here they were tailgating him each time. "You're the one that chased me!"
"Well yeah," Maxima said next. "You stalked us everywhere!"
Him stalking them? They were the ones that kept appearing whenever he went, but Krizalid realised that it was pointless to argue about that now.
"What do you want with us?" A feminine voice spoke up next. A voice so familiar to him, a voice of someone he thought was his own kin. "You seem to only be interested with us!"
Seirah. Krizalid couldn't believe it. He gasped before he responded.
"S-Seirah? Is that you? Is that really you?"
There was a brief silence on the other end
"Who are you?" Seirah finally asked. "How do you know my name?"
Krizalid gave up at that moment. He had tried running away from them, and what did that lead to? They would eventually find him again, and what next? Run? Does this mean he would always be on the run? He came to a decision at that moment.
"It's me!" Krizalid said. "I'm your brother. Or at least, what's extracted from him..."
"You don't mean...?" K' asked in surprise. "Maxima, how come you didn't know?"
"I deleted his data," Maxima said in dismay. "Assuming he was dead, I just thought his data wouldn't be of any use to us. I needed to clear some clutter in my databank, so I deleted his data."
Krizalid couldn't help but snort at that. After all, he found it hard to believe that he was standing here again himself.
They had a short discussion outside before Krizalid heard Kyo's voice.
"Open up, you idiot," Kyo shouted at the door. "Or else we're gonna burn the door down and make you pay for the damage!"
Krizalid saw no reason to leave now, they already knew who he was anyway. He opened the door and was immediately greeted by a ball of flame from Kyo's hand. His coat burned off, unmasking him before the K' team and all of their friends. They stared at him in shock.
Of course, they demanded an explanation and he gave them one. But what surprised him the most was the fact that they didn't in the least bit seem like they wanted to fight him after that reveal.
They even invited him downstairs for dinner, where he went after getting another coat to fight the cold weather. It was awkward, but at least there wasn't a trace of hostility in the air. Everyone quietly sat to eat their meals, Kyo and Iori were even chatting each other up like they were friends. That was a change he never thought he'd see, but it was a good sign nonetheless.
Krizalid realised that K' kept his gaze on his plate, silently eating his meal like the rest of them.
"Friends?" Krizalid said as he held a hand out, making the younger man look up in surprise. "I know, I did lots of stupid things, but... that's all behind me now."
K' stared at his hand, his eyes quivering slightly, then turned to look at his face. Krizalid couldn't help but remember the events of the '99 tournament where K' himself had gone through the pain of not remembering a single detail of his past. He wouldn't be surprised if the younger man had decided to not be a hundred percent at peace with him after everything.
But then K' sighed and shook Krizalid's hand with his gloved one.
"Friends," the younger man begrudgingly said.
And that was the biggest turning point in Krizalid's life.

The golden sunlight gently illuminated the tapestry, the image of Krizalid seated on a regal throne printed in elaborate embroidery. There was another right across it, the image of K' seated on his dark motorcycle in sunglasses and his signature leather jacket.
Krizalid couldn't help but smile at the tapestries hung in the room, the room he shared with K', while he got ready. K' was at his side of the room, rummaging his table for something.
"Did you take my cologne?" K' asked at last.
"Dash, why would I?" Krizalid sighed, smirking slightly. "Did you check the bathroom?"
K' quietly left the room and returned a moment later with a glass bottle, which he placed on his table after spraying some on.
"Where are you guys taking me anyway?" Krizalid asked, fixing his bow tie in front of the mirror. "Must be somewhere posh if we have to dress up fancy."
K' groaned. "Just shut up and get ready."
Krizalid couldn't help but snort at his reaction. It seemed like that they were doing a pretty bad job at trying to disguise the surprise. He turned around to look at K' once he was done with his bow tie and found him still fumbling with his.
"You need any help with that?" Krizalid ended up asking.
K' sighed and gave in, going over to him. Krizalid carefully did it and patted his shoulder.
"Let's go," K' said, pulling Krizalid's arm.
They exited the room and the rest of the K' gang were there, even Nameless, who somehow joined them during their adventures in Ireland, and have since called himself Zayn. He grinned at them as soon as they appeared.
"Aww, you two wore matching bow ties!" Zayn chuckled. "I still have no idea how to tie one so I left it behind."
Krizalid laughed. "Need me to help with that?"
K' pointed his thumb at him while nodding at Zayn. "You should ask him. He helped me with mine."
Zayn frowned, then turned to walk back to his apartment next door to retrieve his bow tie, which Krizalid then helped him with as well. Somehow, the two of them came to accept him as an older brother figure.
"Is Seirah coming?" Krizalid asked once he had finished helping Zayn. "She told me that she was."
"She's already at the venue," Maxima piped up, dressed in an equally fancy outfit. "You three done?"
K' couldn't help but smirk when seeing how even Kula was nicely dressed and complete with makeup. He nodded at them and they all finally left the apartment to start on their journey to this mysterious surprise venue.

The drive didn't take long, seeing how they had made a few turns along the inside of Minato City. Lo and behold, they ended up in The Sheralbon Hotel, a luxurious five-star hotel with great restaurants and buffets.
"What did you guys do?" Krizalid said when the car he was in pulled into the hotel's parking lot.
"It's a surprise," Zayn grinned, giving him a nudge.
Krizalid sighed. "Well, it's hardly a surprise now, is it?"
They found parking spots beside the lift lobby and got out, then led Krizalid over to the lift lobby like there was any suspense left in their plan.
"Are we having dinner or something?" Krizalid asked, watching as K' pressed the lift button to go up.
"Nah, it's my friend's wedding," Maxima explained. "Doctor Makishima, you know?"
"Isn't she already married?" Krizalid asked, confused.
Maxima shrugged. "Vow renewal ceremony."
Like that was convincing. But still Krizalid decided to just act like he bought it and followed them up to the banquet hall where all of their friends waited.
"Wow, I never expected this," Krizalid said as he scanned the faces seated in the hall.
K' sighed. "You don't have to lie, Kriz."
Krizalid laughed. "I know, but this is actually pretty nice. You guys didn't have to plan all of this."
"This isn't even half of it, Kriz," Zayn smirked as he gave him a nudge. "There's more."
That was news to Krizalid.
The party was a great feast, an unlikely mixture of everyone from the KOF tournaments and their friends, all of them gathered now to celebrate Krizalid's birthday.
The 'there's more' turned out to refer to a holiday the rest had booked, a holiday to Dublin of all places. Apparently, they thought that the last two holidays they went there turned out to be a disaster since the first one was merely a mission to track a bad guy down—and also when Krizalid spotted the K' team members in the provision shop—and the second one was foiled by another member of their past.
"This time, we are enjoying," Kyo enthusiastically said, though a little drunk, while pointing at the table as if it was a plotted treasure map. "No more bad guys, no foiling." He turned to Benimaru. "And no more uploading live updates on Instagram. You're responsible for like ninety percent of the bad guys finding us on holidays."
Benimaru couldn't even argue since it was true. He just grinned sheepishly and patted Kyo's back.
It was still quite strange, Krizalid found it a little hard to believe as well, how his life had changed drastically after all those years. Maybe it was NESTS's fault, how he was denied a happier life before, but at least things looked up now that he had put the cartel far behind him.