This is a re-write of the first story I published on here, called 'Maxi's Adventure'. I aimlessly wrote it and found myself with writers block with the story. I didn't want to scrap the plot, so I re-wrote it. I took a long break from this site, and wrote on and off. It's good to be back! Disclaimer: I do not own the Soul Calibur Franchise in any way.
Chapter 1
Maxi stood on the deck of his small ship. He proudly looked into the sea, it was a very beautiful day. He was on a mission; to get to Paris. He had no valid reason, but he wanted to treat his friends to the glorious city. It was a gift from him. A get away from the east, and an adventure into Europe. He still had a ways to get to France as he was just off the coast of Greece. Inside the hold of the ship, was Xianghua and Kilik. They were very close friends of his, who agreed to go to Paris. Suddenly the door opened, and out came Xianghua. She was still her small frame, and had short brown hair. There was only one thing that was different. She was pregnant!
The woman made her way to Maxi, about 4 months pregnant and asked him a question. "How much longer are we gonna be on this ship?", she asked. Maxi laughed nervously, he knew there would at least be 3 days left, but he really didn't want to deal with an agitated Xianghua. She wasn't always sunshine and smiles, especially when she didn't get her sleep. The door opened again, and a man came out. He wore a brown tunic with trousers and dark circles under his eyes. Kilik was not getting sleep either. Not that he cared. He came out to accompany Xianghua. Maxi answered the question. "Erm, the trip will be a couple days," he thought on his feet "but we could just dock at Greece! Just a small pit stop", he added. Xianghua sighed in relief, "Thank you so much Maxi. I just don't know how long I could be on water, because I already have motion sickness, and carrying around a small human doesn't make it better!", she said. Maxi waved it off. "No problem!". Xianghua headed back into the hold. Kilik nodded to Maxi. "Thanks. If Xianghua's happy, then I'm happy." He said, before trailing after Xianghua.
It was just morning time in Athens. The sun was slowly rising, showing beams of light through clouds. The Alexandra Bakery was ready and open for business, and their hours were even earlier since it was summer, which meant the days were longer. The smell of bread was a signal to most of the citizens of Athens that morning had come.
Cassandra really hated mornings. She was still asleep, forgetting yet again that she had to wake up even earlier for the bakery. The door slowly opened, and Sophitia stepped in to wake her sister. It wasn't always pleasant. Sophitia gently poked her sister. "Cassandra?", she asked. Cassandra didn't reply. Sophitia tried the same gesture again. Still nothing. Annoyed, she walked out. She came back with pans and shook her head. "Why must it always come to this?", she asked herself quietly. She bashed the two pans together, noisily. Cassandra flared awake, seemingly panicked at the sudden noise. She paused when she saw Sophitia. "Heh, hey Sophie", she laughed sheepishly. Sophitia set the pans aside. "Sleeping in again, Cassandra?", said Sophitia. "I've told you a number of times that you need to get up. Now, I expect you at the bakery in 5 minutes", she said before exiting the room. Cassandra rubbed her head. "Sheesh, always with the pans!", she grumbled. She rolled out of bed, falling on the floor. She groaned and crawled to the dresser. She had a single thought in her mind that repeated the start of every day. I hate mornings! She thought. She gathered her clothes on her bed, not knowing which outfit to choose. "Hmm. I'll choose. . This one!", she said. She put on a white tunic and a long brown skirt, to her ankles. Hey, it's comfy! She thought as she moved around in comfort. She put on sandals and grabbed an apron, not even bothering to look at her hair.
She ran across the passageway from her house to the bakery. Her house was very close to the marketplace, so it was a very easy walk. Neighboring the bakery was a tailoring shop, where the Alexandra's bought their clothing. At the end of the street, there was an Inn that most foreigners stayed at, and conveniently there was a local restaurant across the way. Only a few paces away from the bakery was a vendor which sometimes sold food exclusive to other countries and cities. Cassandra burst through the front doors and made her way to the back room, where the ovens were. On the way she could hear a voice call out to her. "Sleep in again, Cassandra?". She carried 3 loaves of wheat bread in a basket and brought it to the main counter. "You bet, Aleta", she answered handing the bread to the little old woman. Aleta was their best customer. She laughed and gave her the money for the price of the bread.
Sophitia called her sister into the backroom. She handed her a basket of plains muffins. "Could you put these next to the window", she asked her sister. Cassandra nodded. She whistled happily as she set the muffins down.
Xianghua was astounded at the marketplace, and looked at nearly everything in awe. Maxi walked ahead of Xianghua and Kilik, with his hands in his pockets. He waved back to the giggling girls who whispered and looked in his way. Kilik spoke up. "If we're going to stay here, don't we need an Inn?", he said. Maxi pointed one out, at the corner of the street. "There", he said. Kilik turned to Xianghua and Maxi. "I'll go check us in, could you get us some breakfast?".
"No problem!", replied Xianghua. She stepped, leading Maxi to the Alexandra Bakery. She immediately perked up and ran ahead. "Look! Muffins!", she pointed at in the window. She opened the door, a bell chiming as if signaling a new customer. They waited in line a little bit. Voices of greetings and questions filled the bakery. A blonde woman with her hair in a braid stood at the front counter. A blonde man, a brother of the woman handed her a basket. "Thanks, Lucius", said Sophitia. "Could you help Cassandra in the back? There's a heavy box and-". A loud crash and "Crap!", came from the back room.
Cassandra had tried to carefully remove a box, and failed. It happened to be on the top shelf. How convenient, a sarcastic thought in her mind. She got up on her tip-toes, and reached for the box. Underestimating the heaviness of the box, she dropped it, and took out a shelf. "Crap!", she yelled. She slowly peaked her head out from the doorway. Shocked/surprised faces looked at her. "Heh, hi", she waved nervously. Sophitia made her way to the back room while Lucius stayed at the counter. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought; we'll just have Rothion fix the shelf."
"What in the gods names was in the box?", asked Cassandra.
"Cookbooks", answered Sophitia. She took loaves of bread out of the oven. She handed a pan of dough to Cassandra. "Could you put these in the oven? I need to slice the bread", she said. Cassandra did as she was told, and sat down for a moment.
Sophitia called the next customers, and saw that it was none other than Xianghua and Maxi! But of course, she didn't know that. "And what can I get you two?", she asked. Xianghua looked carefully at the sweets and loaves of bread in the bakery. She rubbed her belly, thinking I'm eating for two, but what should we get? Sophitia looked at the woman in surprise. "Oh, you're pregnant? I have the perfect thing for you". She carried over a whole basket of goodies, which smelled great. "It's got a lot wheat, which is great for your nutritional level, and there's more than enough here for a family of five". Xianghua took the basket and inhaled the aroma. So good! She thought. "How much?", she said. "It's on me, I can tell you're foreigners. You just got into town, and you're looking for breakfast", concluded Sophitia. "Wow! Thank you so much!", said Xianghua. As they turned to leave, Sophitia asked a question.
"How many months?", she asked. "About 4", answered Xianghua. "We'll name the baby Leixia if it's a girl, and Xiba if it's a boy". Sophitia smiled.
"Well I think you are the most adorable couple", she said. Maxi made a gagging face, and Xianghua snorted. "Oh, we're not together; my husband is checking us in. Maxi is just a friend", said Xianghua. "Oh, sorry. I didn't catch your name, miss?".
"Xianghua. Chai Xianghua." The two ladies began talking about their journey to Paris, and pregnancies, and shopping. Maxi just wandered around, not knowing what to do. He heard humming coming from the backroom. "Soph, I'm taking the bread out of the oven!".
Cassandra put her oven mitts on and reached for tray. She settled it down on the counter. As she set the old gloves aside, she hit her hand against the hot tray. "Ouch!", she said, checking for burns. What a splendid morning this is! She thought with a grimace. She waited for the tray to cool before she picked it up. "Hah! You won't burn me this time!", she whispered triumphantly. She exited the back room with the tray and saw that they still had customers.
"Hello!", she said with a smile. She stood behind the counter with her sister, while on the other side were surely people who had traveled there. One of them was a small Chinese woman. She had short messy brown hair, and a large stomach. The other customer was a male. He was very muscular, and wore a tough expression. Cassandra waited for the muffins that were 50% off if you had a coupon. She pulled up a stool and had her head resting on her arm. She was 'resting her eyes' she claimed. There was an awkward silence between the three awake people. Xianghua waited patiently for the muffins, since she decided she really wanted a muffin.
Sophitia cleared her throat. "Are you paying attention to the muffins?", she asked.
Cassandra waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever". Sophitia looked apologetically at Maxi and Xianghua. "Sorry, it's just that someone slept in, from staying up to late, tinkering with her shield." Cassandra returned with the muffins. "There was a crack in it!", she argued.
"Oh, no need to apologize. A certain someone gets that way also if she doesn't get enough rest", said Maxi as he pointed at Xianghua. She smacked his hand. "Would you like the muffins frosted or not?".
Xianghua pondered the question for a stupid amount of time. "Frosted", Maxi answered. "Oki-doki", Sophitia answered in an all too cheery tone that Cassandra found to be quite irritable. Cassandra was left with the customers. Again, there was awkward silence. The three made eye contact with each other. Maxi stepped away to read the signs, next to the pastries while Xianghua looked grimly at her badly chipped nails. While he wasn't paying attention. Cassandra took a gander at him. He's really attractive, She thought. she wasn't used to having a crush, because she grew up with the boys in the village and thought of them as annoying brothers she never wanted. That, and they were afraid of Lucius. He looked up for a moment, catching her. She quickly averted her eyes to the open cookbook on the counter, the page opened on Chapter 3: The Quest for the perfect dough. She pretended to read while Maxi as well observed her. This time, Xianghua noticed and elbowed him in the stomach with a smile and a look that said You were staring at her!
After an eternity of stealing glances at each other, Sophitia finally returned with the now frosted muffins. Xianghua payed and took the basket, waving bye to Sophitia and . . um
"Oh sorry, what was your name?", Xianghua asked. "Oh, it's Cassandra", she said while taking a bite of one of the extra muffins. Sophitia raised an eyebrow to Cassandra. "Oh, but I dont think I caught your name", she said to Maxi. he turned around, surprised that she spoke to him. "Oh, it's um-". He was bashful. "Maxi", Xianghua finished. Cassandra gave him a small smile. He smiled back. Sophitia saw the two practically staring at each other. "Anyways, we've got to get back to our little hotel. Hope to see you soon!", Xianghua said. Maxi and Cassandra were in their own little worlds. Xianghua snapped her fingers in front of him. "Hellooo?".
"Oh, hey Xianghua."
She rolled her eyes. "Bye Cassandra and Sophitia! Thanks for the basket!". Sophitia waved goodbye.
"Bye Maxi and Xianghua!", Cassandra spoke.
Maxi waved.
Xianghua tugged on Maxi's arm to get him to move. He fell a little, accidentally taking out a display of muffins, then shuffled toward the door. He sighed, lovestruck. Cassandra sighed, lovestruck. Sophitia picked up the muffins, and sighed with annoyance.
As the two walked out, Xianghua punched Maxi in the arm, rather hard. "Ouch!", he winced. "Oh uh-ahem, I was expecting that", he said quickly. She rolled her eyes. "Sure you did. Anyways. . . that bakery was nice wasn't it?". Maxi didn't pay much attention to her. "Mm-hmm". Xianghua kept the conversation going. "Everything was so lovely, including that blonde girl, erm. . what was her name? Kathandra? Lysandra? Amanda? Shakira?"
"Cassandra", Maxi corrected, annoyed with the ridiculous names.
"Figures you'd remember her name!", she giggled. "What?", he said, his face getting somewhat warm. "You couldn't keep your eyes off of her! you should talk to her!", she suggested. Maxi shrugged with a smile. "I'm glad we stopped here," he said. Maxi liked the idea of meeting a girl. He always had some pickup lines up his sleeve. Some earned a slap, and occasionally, a punch. The last time a girl liked him, she ran off - or rather sailed off with his ship. He was heart broken, it was his favorite ship. He remembered back to when Sophitia had said Cassandra stayed up all night to work on her shield. That meant she was a fighter. Maxi admired women who could knock out some villains. And if Cassandra was anything like that, he was already head over heels for her.
Xianghua shook her head and laughed. "I'm sure we'll need more bread soon!".
Cassandra swept up the back room, grumbling. Sophitia leaned in the doorway. "Having fun?", she asked. "Ugh", grumbled Cassandra. She thought back to that man who just walked in, and took out the muffin display. He stared at me! I wonder why? Could it be that I had caused a huge commotion? Or that I had flour in my hair? Or. . . . She continued pondering and sweeping, and she thought more. Did he think I was . . . pretty? No, she shook away the thought. She thought back to when Rothion had met Sophitia. He walked into the bakery almost every day, looking at her with wistful eyes. He often admired her from afar, until Sophitia had struck up a conversation about dough, and the rest was history. Cassandra sighed, and kept sweeping. The last time she had a major crush was when she was 16, and he ended up getting close to her only for Sophitia. In the end, Cassandra beat him up.
She closed her eyes only for a moment. A dream bubble appeared over her head, Maxi was in it. Cassandra was a princess in a castle while Maxi was her knight in shining armor. Cassandra stood on the balcony of the tower she was locked in. She waved her handkerchief as he unsheathed his sword. "I've come to rescue you!", he spoke valiantly, as he got off his noble steed. "Hurry!", she called. As she spoke, a dragon made it's way towards the knight. The dragon was Sophitia, a metaphor for how Sophitia always weirded out boys who liked Cassandra with questions and odd things such as 'when will you get married?' and 'How many children will you have?' and the most famous 'Cassandra once threw up trying to eat 3 loaves of bread under half an hour'. Cassandra gasped as Maxi dodged the flames, and tricked the Sophitia dragon into letting Cassandra free. He climbed the tower and Cassandra jumped for joy, awaiting her true love.
Sophitia walked into the backroom, a cookbook in hand. She found Cassandra kissing the broomstick, pretending it was her knight. "Ah-hem", Sophitia cleared her throat and Cassandra threw down the broom. "What's gotten into you?", asked Sophitia. "Nothing!," she said defensively.
"Is it that boy that walked in a few momen-" Sophitia was cut off "NO!", yelled Cassandra. Sophitia raised an eyebrow. "I'm just-well, I'm busy!", yelled Cassandra as she picked up the broom.
"Don't kiss the broom", teased Sophitia. "GET OUT!", yelled Cassandra with such furiosity that citizens who walked around the village were afraid. Cassandra now stood alone in the supply closet and snapped the broom in half. Cassandra had a crush, whether she'd admit it or not.
AN: So this is the beginning of a story and I have the outline of it. I've been planning on finishing this chapter for months, and today I finally sat down and did it. I did brief research on the whole-grains thing, since I didn't know myself what pregnancy is like, so excuse me if my facts are wrong. Hopefully I can update very soon!