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Of souls and swords
Collection of Soul Calibur vignettes by regie27
Standard Disclaimers Apply
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Author's notes:
These vignettes were originally featured in the May edition of the GenreChallenge Live Journal writing community. Feel free to check these and other multifandom and original drabbles.
-oOo-
I. Compassion
Cassandra Alexandra rushed to the village as fast as her feet allowed but it was already too late. Another village that had been attacked sacked and reduced to smoldering flames by Nightmare and his minions. The Athenian brought the round hoplon over her face to shield herself from the flames that still devoured the humble huts from what was left of the peasant village. The scent of burned skin made her nauseous. Each door she forced herself to open drew no survivors, just the sad remains of the brutal massacre.
Sensing her legs faltering under her due to the lack of oxygen and the gruesome images, Cassandra began to move away. The crackling sound of the flames enveloping wood and straw still rang on her ears. Suddenly, a high pitched sound startled her. Without a conscious command, she hurled herself towards the sound and found herself entering the neighboring forest when her eyes caught the sight of a puppy lying down bleeding profusely from the snout. She came closer to the animal and it stared at the girl with big, fearful eyes. Cassandra put down her weapons on the ground and as carefully as she could manage, scooped him up and the puppy calmed down while licking her hand. The girl began to sing a folk song from her childhood and as the song faltered, the tiny body lay still on her arms.
Hours later, as she resumed her search for Nightmare, a Greek warrior shed tears for a puppy and for herself.
hoplon: round Greek shield
-oOo-
II. Chosen
Seung-Mina had been ecstatic the day she had sneaked again from her home to leave in search of the legendary "Sword of Heroes." Back then, she hadn't taken lightly the fact her father Seung Myong had favored his pupil Hwang over her for the task. She had proved herself over and over as a capable and skilled warrior deemed to carry the Seung dynasty and worthy of such important mission.
That night, with her heart beating hard and fast inside her chest, she had left with dreams of glory and fame. She would return triumphantly with the sword and her country would be at last able to repel the dreaded invader.
Now, as she struggled to get back on her feet, her left ankle bleeding profusely as the whip-sword wielder stared at her in utter contempt, she feared she had made a mistake, letting her pride override her better judgment. The Englishwoman withdrew the sword, the sharp links tearing flesh and skin from her leg, the sharp pangs of pain making her feel dizzy with the loss of blood. With a malicious grin, the Briton hurled the sword towards her again. Limping, the Korean girl readied in a defensive stance as she desperately fought the tears in her eyes and the intense pain that made her legs tremble.
"Seung-Mina, you've been such a fool."
-oOo-
III. Blessed
"Cassandra, you shouldn't make fun of your sister's devotion or beliefs" her parents had chided her in countless occasions when she had questioned her sister's almost blind obedience to a god no one had seen but her. When Sophitia had left her home armed with weapons she claimed were a gift from Hephaestus, she had thought she had gone insane for good. Sophitia had managed to miraculously return barely hanging on to life, but that didn't stop her from leaving home a second time.
"The gods' blessings will be with me Cassie" the elder Alexandra sibling had affirmed as she donned armor and travel clothes again. This time she had returned unharmed, ready to become a wife and mother and everyone had believed this would put an end to her "sacred" quests.
Now, as she held her elder sister's injured body while rushing towards the nearest town, Cassandra wondered what favors the fickle gods had really granted her sister this time around. Her sister's children waited for her mother to return and liberate them of the taint of Soul Edge that had been impregnated to them from the evil sword's shards in her own body. Her parents had waved both daughters goodbye not knowing if they were going to return. Cassandra watched in horror how the blood kept gushing from her sister's wound. With a voice drenched in fear and rage, she mumbled:
"Sophie, I'm sorry. I'm afraid your blessings have finally run out."
-oOo-
IV. Temptation
At the battlefield she personified the epitome of temptation and danger, utterly seductive but potentially mortal. Clad in black like a pagan goddess of lust and destruction, Isabella Valentine taunted and provoked with her mere existence. So many fools had encountered their demise at her hands finding themselves too enraptured by the statuesque British warrior as her blade found expertly its mark, her luscious lips curved in a contemptuous smirk. No one had survived her.
No one but him.
What began with his victory and her frustration, the Countess still too shocked to admit defeat at the hands of the mercenary knight had ended upstairs in the room of a nondescript inn. Siegfried took the utter pleasure of disarming her of her lethal whip-sword as he readied to face an even more dangerous weapon: her body. The German knew he was fighting an even more dangerous battle as he allowed her to remove his armor, swaying him like a puppet under her spell but the passion he'd seen flicker in her icy blue eyes when their clashing blades sparked proved too intense for him to ignore. It was then he'd vowed to make her his.
Yielding the control of his body and passions to her, feeling himself burn by her fire, he grimly understood his foolishness. Her mocking smile revealed the truth. In the end, she had been the victor after all and he had been as just one more of the victims she'd left in her wake.
Such a lovely death...